The Full Story
Healing Services
My clinical practice ranges from treatment sessions, 5-day intensives and family clinics to workshops and more. I use The TARA Approach as my primary clinical modality. As you will see in My Healing Journey and in these testimonials, The TARA Approach is an effective and safe healing modality. Click on the bubbles below to learn more about The TARA Approach and its unique approaches towards healing, trauma and shock
Treatment sessions
Treatment sessions are highly individuated – each treatment session is tailored to the client through pulse diagnostics, the client’s pre and peri-natal history, and attuned dialogue. Generally, when working with adults we begin with clarifying the treatment goal, then move into assessment, treatment, integration and Self-Care recommendations. Working with pregnant women follows similar lines, but I am also working with the child in-utero, and I can actually hear the unborn child’s energetic pulse! Treatment is affecting both the mother and the child, so a softer sensitivity is in play. When working with children and teenagers I tend to utilise the family clinic model.
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Treatment options include Jin Shin TARA, Cranial, The Rediscovery Journey – attuned dialogue is woven throughout the sessions.
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Treatment sessions take 1.5 hours. It is advisable to clear some space in your schedule after the treatment session to assist your integration of the treatment experience. There is no expectation on you to have ongoing treatment sessions. In saying that, a series of treatments will bring you more deeply into the changes you seek. For some people one session gets them what they were looking for, for others, like myself, I returned again and again to treatment sessions and workshops because I continue to receive deep benefit.
The Rediscovery Journey
The Rediscovery Journey™ (RDJ) is a fundamental pillar of the transformative capacity of The TARA Approach. Taking this profound journey was central to my emergence from a healing crisis breakdown in 2018. The RDJ continues to support my healing and evolution in surprising ways. This technique offers a repatterning of the neural pathways, enabling ongoing transformation and unprecedented insight into the root cause of our wounding and compensatory behaviours. It provides a magnitude of change, while providing a gentle and safe experience.
Cranial
Dr. Stephanie Mines taught me Cranial Applications from the perspective of The TARA Approach. They are based on Stephanie’s years of study with the Upledger Institute, Dr. Ed Stiles, and Stanley Rosenberg. Using a collection of safe, sensitive, nuanced, and precise applications, Dr Mines has created a protocol for freeing compression, restriction and stagnation from cranial structures. The cranial treatment can be blended with other TARA protocols to add value to the TARA experience, including the Rediscovery Journey™ and the resolution of shock and trauma.
Jin Shin TARA
Jin Shin TARA is a component of the TARA Approach. It is an evolution of the ancient Japanese healing artform of Jin Shin Jytsu. Through gentle applied touch we can awaken an innate healing capacity – an internal equilibrium which enables us to be in the present and in touch with our resources for wellbeing and development. Jin Shin TARA is safe and easily learned and can be used for Self-Care and/or shared with family, friends, or clients.
Dr Stephanie Mines studied extensively under Mary Burmeister until the time of Mary’s death in 2008. Stephanie has continued to dive deeply into and uncover new understandings of Jin Shin TARA
Mandala in the healing process
I utilise Mandala in individual treatments, family clinics, the 5 Day Intensive, and TARA workshops. The mandala speaks where words have no form, it deepens understanding and provides a mirror for our internal world, it gives motion to dynamics that are in play, it fosters insights and realisations, and its creative and fun!
“Art speaks where words are unable to explain.”
– Pam Holland
The Five-Day Intensive
The Five-Day Intensive formula is a design that Jiro Murai transmitted to Mary Lino Burmeister and that she, in turn, transmitted to her students. Behind the format is an energy medicine concept that creates a container for personal transformation. The idea is to construct an opportunity for individuals to overcome whatever obstructs their movement forward in life. Obstacles on any level are addressed in two treatments a day for five days. According to Jiro Murai, this pace stirs a soup of bioelectrical reorganization, particularly if the recipient can focus, without distraction, during the intermission periods.
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The Five-Day Intensive is a collaborative process. This means that the practitioner and the recipient work together to address specific needs that are pre-identified and those that arise during the five days. Each session includes pulse listening, assessments and hands-on treatment. The recipient is always fully informed of the nature of treatment. The TARA Approach additives of the Rediscovery Journey (tm), cranial treatment and intentional dialogue enhance each session.
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Recipients of the Five-Day Intensive have reported they value most the opportunity to to clearly define their goals and needs and have time to isolate themselves and take time to clearly define their goals and needs. Modern life seems to limit such options and so we need at times to deliberately create them. Such purity of attention is a rare and precious choice. The entire process is like taking a microscope or a zoom lens and using it on mind, soul, body, and spirit. The Five-Day Intensive process can assist towards increased clarity about the essence of self, the past and energetic movement into the future
Family Clinic
The context I prefer to use when working with children and teenagers is the Family Clinic model – working with child(ren) within the context of the family system – this means also working with parents to some extent. Sessions with the child/teen always have an adult present, and I work in the family home if that is possible, as this is usually the safest space for the child. The Family Clinic process arose from The TARA Approach, and we utilise The TARA Approach augmented with therapeutic play and story. The process is appropriately paced and involves debrief and reflection sessions as well as a recommendations report. Treatment and other wellbeing approaches can be learned by the child(ren) and parents – Self-Care or within-the-family-care - this is very empowering and healing.
Testimonials
“I have tried many types of therapy since I was 12 years old. And I can truthfully say this therapy has already helped me understand and heal myself, more than anything else I’ve tried.
We are all humans. We have all dealt with some form of shock and trauma in our lives, and this therapy tends to this is such a progressive, but gentle way”. ~Bella
I had been experiencing some severe PTSD symptoms that were inhibiting my day to day functioning quite substantially. After a 90 minute session with Pete I felt much soothed. He provided me with a variety of very simple and subtle tools which I continue to use 8 months later to great effect. The episodes I had been experiencing reduced by a huge margin in frequency and intensity. I was able to identify signs of an episode up ahead and utilise tools I had learned from Pete to soothe myself and avoid an episode being triggered. I feel so much more grounded and steadier. Pete's healing was one of total empowerment. The space he creates in the session is skilfully tailored to the requirements of the client. He is immensely perceptive and responsive, very respectful, and aware of boundaries and continues to check in throughout to ensure the correct direction of the content, and also an appropriate level of intensity. He made me feel extremely safe whilst in a very vulnerable state. From the core of me - thank you Pete. ~Anon
“My session with Peter helped me a lot, I feel I'm holding less tension in my body, I feel lighter and my throat Chakra feels clear. I could feel the exact moment when there was a release in my body and mind, a moment of pure joy and relief at the same time, which was very powerful. The self-care handout I was given is a god send to me, knowing I have these resources I can tap into whenever I need them is very empowering” ~Nga mihi Nui Donna Helms
“I can affirm how The TARA Approach helped me at a very deep level...My own scepticism washed away along with the anxiety I have accumulated over these past few stressful years. Trauma is something we carry with us, often from very early childhood…our response in dealing with this is often very unhelpful through life. I have been fortunate; I have been self-empowered rather than disempowered” ~Dave
“Last Thursday night at our Full Moon Drumming fire I connected with the beautiful brother that is Peter, and he invited me to come and experience The TARA Approach with him the following morning. Now, it's no secret I won't just lie on anyone's table. As a Medicine Man, and a damn good one, I not only have a pretty clear idea of what my body needs and what it doesn't, I've unfortunately seen the work of many "healers" who really didn't know what they were doing. None of this resistance came up for me though, I knew the moment Peter asked me that I would be safe in his care, as well as knowing he was someone who could offer me help I hadn't yet been able to offer myself. I was positively blown away with the progress I made in the session. I'm still forming words to describe the experience completely, but the experience was deeply healing for me, and I left the space feeling like I'd unloaded a decade of baggage from my cells.
The approach was in no way invasive, and in fact I felt it invited me to be more open. I'd recommend TARA with Peter to anyone working to release trauma and rewire belief systems related to that trauma. I would recommend it so much, I've already decided to learn this wonderful system in a training from Peter at a time that suits Thank you Peter!” ~ Wolf
“Thanks Peter. I got so much out of today and am feeling ok with my grief. Thank you for your time, energy and support. I'll be in touch to book another treatment for next week sometime” ~Jo
“Thank you Peter, the work you did with me yesterday was gratefully received. I am good today. I dreamt last night and it was related to that same energy of feeling like things were my fault. I've just been breathing into those feelings and acknowledging. I have recorded the dream and related it to our session. I will put into practice what you have sent me. I would like to continue to work with you. Much appreciate your time” 💜~ Barb
“Gratitude and love flow through me after spending 2 days at the Self-Care workshop with our incredible facilitators Peter & Stephanie. Such a nurturing and safe environment to do this work in and experience the wisdom that is TARA approach. These learnings will continue to empower me (and those around me) on this healing journey” ~ Chan
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“A session of Jinshin TARA with Peter had a very therapeutic effect on me. I have always felt comfortable and confident opening up and talking with Peter because of his ability to listen, show compassion and understanding, connect with people on an emotional level and give appropriate guidance towards healing. Combining that with the techniques of Jinshin, helped us both to accurately understand where negative energy was blocking me in my life and also helped me to feel an immediate sense of healing, relaxation and understanding. I highly recommend Peter and Jinshin to anyone needing to work through the past, release any negative energy that may have built up over many years and anyone needing to recharge their batteries with positive energy. Thank you Peter” ~ Angus
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“I recently experienced a Somatic Trauma Resolution session with Peter @ NZ Spirit festival. The session was very deep and took me back in my timeline around my birth and even in utero as a developing human being. I came away feeling a lot clearer about my journey and also felt that my autonomous nervous system had been de heightened to a beautiful ease and I could feel the flow in my whole being, this is incredibly important work that I intend to continue and I wholeheartedly recommend Peter as the Healer/Conduit for this amazing modality. The healing I got was absolutely amazing and it just sat so well with me for the remainder of the weekend and even the few days after. I’ve just had this lovely sense of serenity and I guess I’m more in touch with my inner being” ~Marcus
My Healing Journey
For many years I suffered from crippling anxiety and depression. At times I would find a technique, a methodology, medication, or self-medication to stave off the black dog. Regularly and with increasing severity I fell back into the rut of suffering. In 2017 I had a healing crisis and suicidal desires became dangerously real.
My existing tools and self-medication failed. Fortunately, Dr. Stephanie Mines (TARA Approach founder) had travelled to New Zealand and was running a TARA Self-Care workshop. Within the first 2 hours of the course, I had found someone who understood, and who knew the remedies I needed to survive. I continued with private treatment after the course and after a year had not only reached equilibrium but had a newfound hunger for resilience and growth. Dr Mines returned to New Zealand annually for the following 3 years and I joined every course I could. I was so impressed by the magnitude of change in my life that I decided to train as a practitioner to help others and to continue deepening my own healing.
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Inspired by the change I saw in clients, I completed the TARA Self-Care and Foundations modules, Cranial integration with TARA treatments, and how to work with families through the study of TARA Paediatrics. I have a private clinical practice and continue to study. I also have ongoing mentorship with Dr. Mines. When possible, I teach beside Dr. Mines. I am a lineage holder of The TARA Approach, and I am committed to perpetuating this transformative healing modality through workshops around NZ and presenting at festivals.
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Something I love about The TARA Approach is that the healing is in us, awaiting our consciousness and the application of easily learned techniques – this healing is our birth-right. It requires no magic hands or years of study – it is available to us with ease and
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What is The TARA Approach?
Journey helps people to move beyond their trauma through the use of The TARA Approach – a method for resolving shock and trauma. This approach is safe to use with any age group, and is applied very successfully within the family environment and with infants and pregnant women.
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The TARA Approach is a fusion of Eastern and Western medicine. This approach incorporates Neuroscience; Pre- and Peri-Natal Psychology; Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, and the Cranial Therapy and the Social Engagement System. Through the use of Jin Shin TARA – an applied touch energy medicine system evolved from Ancient Japan, sensitive and empathetic language, and the foundations of modern understanding of trauma, the TARA practitioner helps the client to awaken their innate healing and resolve Trauma and Shock. The practitioner teaches the client how to use Jin Shin TARA and other tools from the TARA medicine bag so they can continue the promotion of healing and nervous system resilience whenever this is needed.
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You can learn more about The TARA Approach at the website of TARA Founder, Dr. Stephanie Mines: www.tara-approach.org
The TARA Approach is equally successful in person or online, and there are a range of workshops on how to use the TARA Approach for oneself or others. This is a very empowering process, to have the tools for nervous system resilience in ones’ own hands. TARA is easy to learn and apply in your life – it awakens your innate healing and provides a reliable and effective way to repattern coping mechanisms, habits, and behaviour at a deep energetic level. She wakens our capacity to continue developing beyond the trauma and shock which may have previously held us back.
Benefits of the TARA Approach
• Helps people to break out of the cycles of PTSD, depression and anxiety.
• Enables you to move beyond compensations and habits which no longer serve you.
• Supports your ongoing development across emotional, cognitive, physical and spiritual contexts.
• Equips you with reliable Self-Care tools which increase your resilience and recovery in the face of sickness, challenging situations, and injuries.
• Journey Beyond Trauma: Beyond Trauma is such an exciting place to be. Not only can one be free of the burdens which claimed so much of our lives, but the gifts and resources that awaken in us when we resolve trauma are worth more than gold. The TARA Approach is very good at resolving trauma, but it goes far beyond this to harmonising the nervous system, supporting us through sickness and injury, and optimising our lives. Even more profound is the way TARA un-layers what has been obscuring the realisation of our potential. When the un-layering happens we can easily step into our purpose, which is a place of inspiration and flow.
Lineage of the TARA Approach
My teacher Is Dr. Stephanie Mines. Dr. Mines studied Jin Shin Jytsu under Mary Lino Burmesiter. Mary studied under Jiro Murai.
According to ancient written records, which remain in the Archives of the Imperial Palace in Japan, Jin Shin Jyutsu was widely known before the birth of Gautama Buddha (India), before the birth of Moses (recorded in the Bible) and before Kojiki (Record of Ancient Things, Japan, A.D. 72). For many centuries this knowledge was passed from generation to generation by verbal teachings. Gradually the true concept of this art was lost then rediscovered in the early 1900’s by Master Jiro Murai in Japan.
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Jiro Murai was born in Japan in 1886. His father and elder brothers were physicians. Murai didn´t follow the family tradition. He went in search of the meaning of life. In 1912 at age 26 he was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. As he was waiting to die, he started to deal with various philosophies, spritiual practices and the mudras he had seen. After restoring his health Jiro Murai devoted the rest of his life to studying and understanding the process that enabled him to regain his health and expanded his knowledge that would later become Jin Shin Jyutsu. He dedicated his research to Ise Jingu, the Imperial Shinto Shrine at Ise, Japan.
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Thirty-four years after his initial discovery of Jin Shin Jyutsu in 1912, Murai began to teach. Mary Mariko Iino, a young Japanese-American woman, attended one of his lectures and then became his student for 12 years.
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Although Jiro Murai never left Japan, he wished to make the Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu available to the world and Mary seemed to him to be suitable to accomplish this vision.
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Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1918 Mary Iino arrived in Japan in the late 1940s to serve as a translator and study diplomacy when she met Jiro Murai and began to study with him. Mary’s father, Uhachi Iino, also became a student of Jiro Murai.
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In 1953 Mary Iino left for America to marry Gilbert Burmeister and to continue her studies with Murai through correspondence. During the next phase of her life as a wife and mother she studied Jin Shin Jyutsu and began to work on family and friends. Like Jiro Murai, her studies and developments in Jin Shin Jyutsu never ended. Mary placed considerable emphasis on the practice of self-help and created practical and simple applications of Jin Shin Jyutsu on oneself.
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Dr. Stephanie Mines studied extensively with Mary Burmeister from 1978 until Mary’s death in 2008. Stephanie has continued to evolve the Art of Compassion, Jin Shin TARA, a one of the fundamental aspects of The TARA Approach . Dr Mines is a neuropsychologist whose unique understanding comes from her academic research as well as her extensive work in the field. Her stories of personal transformation have led many listeners to become deeply committed to the healing journey. Dr. Mines understands shock from every conceivable perspective. She has investigated it as a survivor, a professional, a healthcare provider, and as a trainer of staffs of institutions and agencies.
She fuses embryology, Pre and Perinatal Psychology and Western somatic therapies with the wisdom of the Extraordinary Meridians that is the basis of Jin Shin TARA. Dr. Mines is a renowned trauma therapist and theorist. Her books include We Are All in Shock, They Were Families How War Comes Home, and New Frontiers in Sensory Integration. In 2023 two new books will be released: The Secret of Resilience and The Great Physician.
Dr. Mines is a Fellow of the Planetary Health Lab at the University of Edinburgh
Shock - from the perspective of The TARA Approach
How is Shock Different From Trauma?
• Shock is the most severe form of trauma. It occurs when resources are non-existent, insufficient, or impossible to access.
• Shock is more debilitating than trauma.
• When shock that is stored in the body is activated, all unresolved shocks are simultaneously activated. This activation occurs at unconscious levels that are neither logical nor consistent. Trauma, on the other hand, is activated thematically. In other words, one can feel odd, nervous, impulsive, ill, uncomfortable or any other sensation, and not know that this is the result of shock activation. When trauma is activated, there are patterns that are understandable.
• The physiological responses to shock are long term. Chronic conditions represent an adaptation to shock. For this reason, the resolution of shock is dependent on resourcing. Prenatal shock is tenacious in its impact because it represents formative, non-cognitive experience.
• The TARA Approach is unique in providing interventions specifically adapted for the resolution of shock.
The Polyvagal System
Polyvagal theory explains how our animal brain, drives our biological and psychological state of being in response to danger that is perceived or real. Our responses then, in turn, drives the way we engage with others.
Another way to refer to this process is to reference the fight/flight/freeze/fawn states of being. When our animal brain is leading us, we have a greatly reduced ability to utilise our emotional-relational and thinking-planning brains. When our animal brain is leading repeatedly or for a long time, there can be significant impacts on our psychology, emotional state, relationships, and nervous system.
The TARA Approach has proven very effective at tonifying the Vagus nerve, which in turn brings our polyvagal system into equilibrium. In other words, we can move from a state where the animal brain leads, to a state where the emotional-relational and the thinking-planning brains can lead us. Speaking from personal experience, when I learnt how to shift out of the animal brain, my life fundamentally changed for the better. My entire approach to life transformed because the resources which keep me well and help me evolve are available in ways I had not previously experienced. For me there has been an evolution in how I relate to myself and others, which in turn has nurtured my personal growth and happiness.