Blog Post

Be Wary of the King Institute and TKM®!

CR writes: "I was at an introductory workshop (free) teaching a few TKM® procedures. It seems a little new age to me, but it is also based on research and espoused by a Christian institute.  Do you know anything about it?"

From what I have read about TKM®, this technique is the construct of Glenn Thomas King, who holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Science from Pacific Western University and a Master's Degree in Acupuncture.

According to the bio appearing on his website, Dr. King studied a variety of natural health methods which including nutrition/diet and herbology, eastern medical practices such as acupuncture/acupressure, shiatsu, and jin shin jyutsu® and the very New Age reflexology and B.E.S.T. method.

He claims the roots of TKM® come from the writings of Jiro Murai, a Japanese energy healer who died in the early 1960s. Murai supposedly ruined his body from excessive living and when no one could heal him, decided to climb up to the top of a mountain to die alone. While there, he went into a meditative state and was "guided" (by whom?) to do some simple "finger holds".

"Over and over he fell into a deep state of unconsciousness, feeling colder every time he came to," says this site dedicated to Jin Shin. "The seventh time he came to he was burning from head to toe with 'rivers of fire' running through his body.  When it was over he was well.

"He vowed to bring this healing art back to mankind, donating his findings to the oldest shrine in Japan, Isai.  Jiro gave up all normal life and practiced this art releasing each energy point and meridian hundreds of times."

Dr. King claims that his method has nothing to do with the spiritual energy forces and meridians that Murai was referring to, but is rather based on the body's natural energy system. He insists that his method concerns "bio-electromagnetic" energy - which is a legitimate and scientifically proven kind of energy - but has neither subjected his technique to any scientific testing nor published any peer review articles about it. This is a big red flag!

If it's proven science, why not let science prove it!

Further, his technique, which is based on keeping the body's electrical currents flowing through its "established  circuits", requires practitioners to do things that are much more associated with New Age "energy" healers than modern medical techniques.

For instance, TKM® practitioners are taught to place "the middle three fingers of both hands lightly on two different and precise locations on the body over clothing. The positive polarity of the right palm and fingers and the negative polarity of the left palm and fingers stimulate the body's energy to move in the same manner electricity is stimulated to move, travelling along established pathways from the location of one hand to the other."

The idea that our hands have a negative and/or positive polarity is a belief found in theosophy and the New Age.

I don't want to wander too far into the weeds on this one, but the bottom line is that there is a good reason why Quackwatch includes Dr. King's Institute on its list of questionable practices.

It also explains why his website includes a very long and detailed disclaimer to avoid lawsuits, thereby  stripping the consumer of any recourse should they spend money on this technique and get no relief.

I'm sure he is sincere in what he's doing, but consumers have a right to more than just user testimonials when it comes to medical practices that claim to be able to heal them of potentially life threatening conditions such as those mentioned in these testimonials.

 

 

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