The mission of Insight Acupressure is to empower individuals, families, and communities to attain whole being health and consciousness.

The Insight Acupressure Faculty Alliance (IAFA) is dedicated to preserving the integrity and promoting the principles and practices of Insight Acupressure.

The four basic principles of Insight Acupressure:

1. Energy flow in the body promotes wellness and opens new awareness.
   2. Touch and the flow of love from the heart are healing and strengthening.
   3. Every person carries their own healing and wisdom within.
   4. The purpose of Insight Acupressure is to empower that inherent wisdom.

Jin Shin Jyutsu 

Decades before it became popular, Dr. Raheem was keenly aware of the need to address the whole-being simultaneously—body, mind, emotions, and soul. In addition to being a visionary, master teacher, and a psychologist, Dr. Raheem knew that talk therapy alone was inadequate to address the roots of the healing process. She soon understood that some form of bodywork was essential for the method she was developing. Her choice to use acupressure as the primary vehicle for this method is rooted in the ancient healing wisdom of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine because it addresses the body, mind and spirit simultaneously. 

Master Jiro Murai 

Although the traditional practice of acupressure is thousands of years old, there have been many variations throughout history. The style of acupressure we use in  Insight Acupressure is attributed to Master Jiro Murai, a Japanese healer who practiced and taught in the mid 1900’s. His work, Jin Shin Jyutsu, was brought to the United States by Mary Burmeister. The special focus of this method that makes it different from many others is the intentional and profoundly effective use of the eight extraordinary vessels. The deeper nature of these vessels makes this work especially well suited to working with stress and trauma, as well as cultivation of self-awareness at a very deep level. 

Two Branches of Jin Shin Jyutsu 

Two major branches of this method have been developed and taught by contemporary teachers in the United States. One is Iona Teeguarden who developed Jin Shin Do, and the other is Dr. Aminah Raheem, who taught Soul Lightening Acupressure internationally for 40 years. In 2000 she founded Soul Lightening International (SLI), a non-profit organization dedicated to the practice and teaching of this work for individual and global consciousness evolution. This organization was dissolved in 2023 after her death. Insight Acupressure was formed to continue her work with the approval of her family. 

Our Founder

Aminah Raheem, Ph.D. is the originator of Soul Lightening® Acupressure (now Insight Acupressure). She developed the holistic methods of Process Acupressure and Clinical Acupressure after more than 20 years of study in various psychologies (including Process Work) and hands-on body modalities, along with 40 years of spiritual practice.

This work began with her development of Process Acupressure, which works through the body’s energy systems to assist conscious development and the realization of soul purpose. She is also the originator of Clinical Acupressure which specializes in the dynamic, multi-dimensional aspects of the human energy system but does not incorporate psycho-spiritual processing skills.

Dr. Raheem is the author of three books. Soul Return: Integrating Body, Psyche and Spirit, a book at the forefront of defining the relationship of body and soul; Soul Lightning: Awakening Soul Consciousness, which charts an individual and global path for reaching soul consciousness and The Way of Soul Lightening, a book that gives Dr. Raheem’s most current vision of the potential for Soul Lightening. Through her writing, we find models we can apply to our own lives that demonstrate how to complete the past and create a new life, woven from the stuff of our own souls. Her stories confirm that we, too, have had “soul lightenings” that can lead to soul consciousness. These books help each of us to move along more confidently on our own soul journey.

Dr. Raheem worked for over 30 years with body/soul coherence, as a transpersonal psychologist, bodyworker and teacher. As a master teacher of psycho-spiritual development, Dr. Raheem has taught holistic theory and practice to bodyworkers and psychotherapists throughout the world. She was adjunct faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology for 10 years, and her courses can now be found at venues such as Esalen and the Upledger Institute.

In addition to earning her Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology, Dr. Raheem was a Zero Balancer, Zero Balancing Teacher, and a Diplomate of Process Work. She ws the Originator and Spiritual Director of Soul Lightening International, now known as Insight Acupressure.

8-23-2023   It is with sadness and joy that I announce Aminah Raheem Smith passed on August 23rd, peacefully in her sleep and shortly after visiting with her family. This bird has flown, God rest her soul. Aminah frequently expressed her love and appreciation for her many teachers, students and community. The family thanks Soul Lightening for your dedication to your healing mission.    Philip, Aminah’s son

Following Aminah's death in 2023, the non-profit Soul Lightening International was disbanded. The remaining dedicated faculty renamed Aminah's work Insight Acupressure with the permission of her family, and reorganized as the Insight Acupressure Faculty Alliance to continue teaching her original work.