5 Gifts of the Spine

In this post, I offer a look at 5 gifts of the spine as seen through my chiropractic lens. They are protection and support, proprioception, emotional access, mental mapping, and channel to Source.

I.

The first and perhaps most obvious gift of the spine is protection and support. The 24 movable segments, call vertebrae, connect the back of the skull to the pelvis through the triangular bone at the base called the sacrum. The only thing in the body harder than bone is teeth (which are technically not bones). The delicate tissues of the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) are encased in the protection of bone. Life, however, is characterized by movement and the way these bones move in relationship to each other allows force to travel in waves and spirals along this central axis. The architecture of the skeletal system naturally provides support in the form of compression structures to create and maintain space for the softer organs of the body. The spine, although referred to as a column, does not actually behave like one. Columns are straight, relatively unbendable, and lose their ability to support when tipped. Our spines continue to be able to support us regardless of what position we put them in.

II.

The five “special” senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell) provide us with information about the outside world. The sixth sense, known as proprioception, tells about our inner world, specifically our body’s position and movements. All muscles, ligaments, and joints contain sensors that respond to stretch and/or pressure. These sensors constantly relay this information up the spine to the brain, where the brain then “maps” the relative positions and tension of these muscles, ligaments, and joints. The brain includes the spine as part of the conversation to integrate sensory information with an appropriate motor (movement) response. When the muscles, ligaments, and joints of the spine do not move freely within a coordinated range, it creates interference in the channel between the body and the brain. The fundamental aim of chiropractic is to locate these areas of interference and to adjust the spine to allow the nervous system to “get back” both on line and in line.

III.

A third gift of the spine is what I will call emotional access. In her book, The Molecules of Emotion, Candace Pert outlines the discoveries she made about how certain molecules (neurotransmitters) have a special relationship with our nervous system. These molecules play a role in both our experience of emotional states as well as immune system function. What she found was that these molecules were most concentrated in the nerves at the place where they meet the spine.

Emotion is sometimes referred to as “energy in motion.” The function of our emotions is to move our awareness and perhaps our behavior in a different direction. Because of the relationship between our spine and the chemistry that signals emotion, the tone and tension of the spine is an integral component to emotional health.

If we consider emotions as a color palette, the more emotional access we have means the more colors we can paint with in the experience of life. In Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown maps 87 different emotions, while also reporting that on average, most people can only label three emotions (happy, sad, angry) as they are experiencing them.

The spine is the channel where the information we receive through our body makes its way to our brain. Along the way, this information interfaces with the chemistry that mediates emotion. Before our brain can perceive and process what we are feeling, the degree of freedom, connection, and coordination of the spine influences the resolution of our experience.

Chiropractic facilitates our ability to open, move, and adapt to the physical, emotional, and environmental worlds we inhabit, all of which are more beautiful in color.

IV.

“There is but one cause in disease: the body’s inability to comprehend itself and/or it’s environment.”
— Fred Barge, D.C.

Our ability to create a representation of the world within us and the world around us depends on the clear function of the nervous system. The quantity and quality of the information our brains receive about our internal state and the external environment determines how accurate and clear a map the brain will form.

In her book The Reality Check, neuroscientist and chiropractic researcher Heidi Haavik, D.C., Ph.D. observes, “spinal function seems to be one factor the brain uses as part of its processing and integration of all information…to create your inner virtual reality.”

Interference in spinal function means interference with nervous system function. When our ability to receive information is compromised, our ability to perceive is compromised. The central nervous system is the structure in which we perceive and through which we adapt to life. This means that what we see, how we see it, and what we can do with it are all directly impacted by spinal integrity.

The role of the chiropractor is to find where interference exists in the nervous system and to deliver adjustments to both restore normal material function and support energetic reorganization. This is how the brain uses the spine in processing and integrating information. Ultimately, it’s hard to know where you are or where you’re going without a good map. And with a great map, it’s a different journey altogether.

V.

In chiropractic philosophy, the meaning of life is defined as the expression of intelligence (adaptive, coordinated energy) through matter.

Through an evolutionary lens, we see that the structures of the human brain and the development of the nervous system are ordered. Each of the “gifts” we have considered reflect the development of the brain and our ability to experience conscious life. I view these structures and their correlative gifts as a widening circle more than a hierarchy - the emotional includes the physical, the mental includes the emotional (and physical), and subtle and causal energies include the information and influence of the denser expressions of matter.

Subtle energy is sometimes referred to as qi or prana, and refers to a vital force that animates matter, moves through the body, and when balanced corresponds to bodily health and when imbalanced is reflected in dis-ease and/or disease processes. Causal energy is Source. It is referred to as the Tao, Brahman, God, Universal Intelligence, and many other names. This intelligence enfolds us and as we experience life. Our experience is mediated through our senses, both opened and limited by our physical, emotional, and mental vehicle.

In all instances, we see that things are happening in and through the central channel of the spine. By now, I hope you have gathered that by “spine” I mean much more than a set of bones. It is through this channel that we connect from above-down and inside-out.

The Season of Transform

Have you felt it?

This year, the influx of energy that accompanies the onset of Spring seems to be super-charged. There is a quality of density and richness, which can at times feel like trying to drink from an open fire hydrant. The art of being able to navigate, integrate, and harness the abundance of this energy is having a strategy and a practice. 

Within the paradigm of Reorganizational Healing, the “Four Seasons of Wellbeing” reflect an individual’s level of readiness for change at a particular moment in time. Stepping into the Season of Transform means changing the relationship to the body, to how energy is utilized, how attention is focused, and how movement flows in both thought and action. It describes a state in which energy is readily available and strategies are in place that allow for the constructive channeling of this energy.  

The strategy is the plan of action. What are some things that you have identified or that are asking/demanding you to re-evaluate how you are living? For me, this looks like changing my exercise routine, adding to and improving my diet, incorporating more self-care, claiming which areas of study and which opportunities to concentrate on and which to politely decline. There was never a more accurate tea tag than the one I recently read: “Energy flows where attention goes.” The strategy is the container that you create to channel where this Transform energy goes. It allows you to consciously have a say in directing the engine of change. The practice is simply employing the strategy. It won’t be perfectly executed. That’s why it’s called practice.   

And so, in the spirit of the season, I’ve crafted a Spring “To-Do” List. May it be as useful to you as the tea tag was for me.

• Harness the abundant energy of the season to consciously drive change. 
• Plant intention. 
• Water it with congruent action.  
• Tend it with refinement as it grows into form.
• Remember: the Field is fertile.

How to Shape the Mind

“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” – Marcus Aurelius
 

The habits, behaviors, and strategies that people develop only start to take root with repetition. If you eat salad once a month in order to “get your greens,” it will be better than not eating it all, but realistically it doesn’t reflect a healthy diet. The body will respond to what you ask it to do most often. The fitness of gymnasts and athletes reflects this as does the conditioning of people who spend much of their time at a desk or on a couch. There is an observable and predictable relationship between habit and health.  

As Marcus Aurelius reminds us, this relationship is also at work with our attention. There is little that we can do to control external circumstances and the onslaught of the stresses of life. Yet the extent to which those external stresses color our spirit is determined by how much we allow them to do so.

The recent passing of the solar eclipse presents an opportunity for massive reorganization on all levels. It is a time to choose and to begin to consciously shape what we are calling into life. This happens when we accept the responsibility of being accountable to what we frequently hold in thought and what kind of energy we bring to the field.

I’ve found it helpful to ask: What are you frequently holding in thought? Is it serving to uplift you? Does it support those around you? Is it congruent with what you want your life to look like?