Accessing Original Brilliance - the Essence of Pure Possibility

Whatever the modality used, the aim of my work is always to support the regenerative power innate within us all.

This may be through easing muscle tension, releasing blocked energy pathways or dissolving mental perspectives that no longer serve. 

Hence also my passion for self-care -

that invite to slow down and soothe our senses, so we can free up our nervous system's capacity to tap into our original brilliance.

This term was coined by Dr. Stephanie Mines, founder of the TARA Approach, as the secret to our innate resilience. 

She also describes it as our embryonic intelligence - 

just as a tadpole holds the innate potential of a frog or an acorn that of an oak tree -

so our original brilliance holds the vital impulse that guides our journey, from the physical development of our bodies to our life on this planet. 

It is our capacity for 'problem-solving and somatic strategizing, fueled by sensory responses to emergent conditions,' (S. Mines) that begins in utero and carries us throughout life.

It is that innate knowing of life's intelligence in us...

Opening a doorway

There are books that instruct and there are books that are more like a doorway. And, I'd say, The Secret of Resilience by Dr. Stephanie Mines, who first introduced me to the Art of Jin Shin, definitely falls among the latter.

It is less a manual to be studied than a companion to be listened to - more like paying attention to a stream rippling over rocks or the sound of wind rustling in the leaves.

Mines, a neuroscientist, healer and survivor, writes with the intimacy of lived experience. Her story is woven with threads of childhood trauma, activism, heartbreak and healing. 

Yet, what emerges is not a tale of suffering, but one of remembering: that resilience is not something distant or hard-won, but something seeded deep within us.

A Story Rooted in the Body

Mines speaks of her own encounters with violence and disconnection, but she does so gently, with compassion. Her narrative is not heavy - it is grounding.

Out of her personal history arises a question: How do we find wholeness when our life has been profoundly fragmented?

Her own answers came through her direct experience and in depth study - both of the Neuro-sciences and the ancient practice of Jin Shin (aka Jin Shin Jyutsu or the “Art of Compassion.”) 

This is a very gentle, non-invasive approach: placing the fingertips lightly on particular points of the body, inviting flow where there was holding, stillness where there was strain.

The TARA Approach

Mines' discovery of Jin Shin through Mary Iino Burmeister - and subsequent study under Pamela Markarian Smith combined with extensive academic studies - opened not just a healing path, but an in-depth research trajectory.

Her direct, embodied experience of healing and of supporting many others on their journey, led Mines to develop the TARA Approach.

Short for Tools for Awakening Resources & Awareness, this modality combines the gentle touch of Jin Shin with sensitive dialogue. In particular, it offers the Rediscovery journey format to acknowledge and rewrite challenging past experiences.

It engages both our pre-frontal cortex (enabling mindfulness) and brain-stem (responding to touch) to re-calibrate our nervous system, rewire our neural networks and release limiting perspectives. 

We come to know our original brilliance not as a mental concept but as an embodied experience of deep self-worth - like when the body sighs after releasing a burden carried for too long.

During prenatal development, the embryo is faced with the stupendous challenge of forming itself within the context of unique environmental conditions. This requires somatic intelligence of the highest order. 

~ Stephanie Mines

A Blueprint of Resilience

One of the most compelling aspects of Mines' book - and the TARA approach - is how it bridges hands-on healing with deep science.

Mines reminds us that long before we could speak or make choices, our embryonic selves carried the pattern of resilience. 

She explores how Jin Shin sites may correlate with embryological development.

In doing so, she argues that resilience is not something we learn later in life - instead, it’s in our developmental blueprint.

Mines calls this morphogenesis - the original blueprint of life, unfolding in energetic pathways within the developing embryo. Trauma may bend these currents, create dams or divert their natural flow. Yet the rivers are still there.

This is a hopeful and profoundly comforting vision: resilience is not something we create from scratch; it is something already inscribed within our bodies. 

For the Reader on a Healing Path

This is not a book to race through. It asks for stillness. It asks for pauses between chapters, perhaps for laying the book aside and placing our hand gently on our heart, to feel what stirs.

Readers who are survivors of trauma may find comfort in Mines’ story - her steady assurance that healing is possible, that agency can return, that resilience can be remembered.

Practitioners of energy medicine will likely be deeply inspired by the way science and energetic awareness are woven together.

Anyone wanting to feel more grounded, creative and connected to their body will benefit from the reminder that our nervous system is a friend waiting for reconnection. 

Dr. Mines understands both the tragedy of trauma and the opportunity it creates for us to regain agency and remember who we are. She offers a blueprint that we can use to access primal energies at the source of our authenticity. 

~ Yvonne R. Farrell

Points of Balance

This book is neither clinical nor mystical, but something borne from the sacred intersection of both. 

While it moves gracefully between science and subtle energy, for those of us meeting embryology or meridian pathways for the first time, it may feel nourishing to take deliberate time out for reflection as we read, to breathe and let the words settle before moving on.

And while Mines offers a beautiful orientation to the practice of Jin Shin, her book is not a step-by-step guide.

Instead, it lights a lantern on the path, inciting our curiosity to further explore this approach, if we feel drawn to deepen into the practice itself. 

A Book for the World, Too

At its heart, The Secret of Resilience is not only about personal wellbeing. Mines places our individual healing within the larger context of planetary healing.

Just as rivers within the body can flow freely or become blocked, so too can the rivers of our Earth.

By tending to our own resilience, our capacity to move from disconnection to wholeness begins to ripple outward - into our families, our communities, and into the Earth itself. 

Once Original Brilliance is exposed, given space and nurtured, its buoyancy is dependable. Indeed, buoyancy is the nature of embryonic, Original Brilliance. It cannot be deflated. It will always bounce back. 

~ Stephanie Mines

A Closing Reflection

This book is not loud. It does not shout instructions or offer quick fixes.

Instead, it feels like sitting by a fire with someone who has lived through darkness and found her way back to the light. She doesn’t hand us a map - she reminds us that the map is already written within each one of us.

The secret of resilience is perhaps not a secret at all. It is a quiet remembering. It is the seed sprouting again, the river flowing again, the body sighing again.

So... I'd invite you to read this book not for answers, but for companionship on the path.

It reminds us that we, too, were born with resilience and that it is waiting - always - to thrive through us.

To purchase The Secret to Resilience by Dr Mines click here.

For more info on receiving a TARA Approach session, get in touch here. 


For related blogs see:

The Art of Jin Shin and the TARA Approach - Harmonizing Tools at Our Fingertips
Celebrating Five Years of Sharing Jin Shin
Be Your Own Testimony (Part 1)

Get in touch

More on Jin Shin