Call It What It Is

I do not use the word treatment when talking about chiropractic. 

There are two reasons for this. The first is that it is the practice of medicine to diagnose and treat medical conditions. I am not a medical doctor. The second is that I understand a treatment to be a procedure one does in order to fix an ailment or condition. It might be therapeutic and it might even address the surface issue. There is nothing wrong or bad about treatments. They have a place and provide value to those who seek them.

By contrast, the chiropractic adjustment is a creative act. The adjustment allows the Innate Intelligence that communicates with and coordinates all spheres of the human experience to be unlocked, enticed, and reorganized. An adjustment is something that works co-creatively with the Resident intelligence of the body for the betterment of the individual and, by extension, all who will be affected by their greater connection to Source.

The clinical impact of the adjustment is profound. Since the chiropractic adjustment works directly with the mechanical and energetic integrity of the nervous system, it has the ability to affect any manifestation of dis-ease in the body or mind. This is what differentiates an adjustment from a treatment. The scope is far beyond the removal of an uncomfortable or undesired condition. To be clear - it can help with that, too.  An adjustment takes as its starting point the premise that the the body is a connected, continuous, self-healing, self-regulating, living organism. The adjustment, therefore, is delivered to integrate and enhance the expression of intelligence, health, wellness, and sanity in the physical form of the human being.

This is why I use the word adjustment.

The Wheel Turns

From Faust to Frankenstein, the alchemical urge lives deep in us all. The power to transform is magic. We see it in Nature and imagine ways we can harness this power for ourselves.

Both life and the wheel of the year are cyclical. They revolve and evolve, phasing into and out of different rhythms and energies at different times. Samhain, usually halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, is traditionally a time to remember ancestors and those whose lives have transitioned beyond our plane.

Cycles by definition are not linear. Life has found a way to exist on the edge of instability because it dances in and within feedback loops that self-sustain. The balance requires participation. Every healthy cell in your body operates to maximize its advantage while also existing symbiotically with other cells. By contrast, humans have been operating as though a linear materials economy that extracts ever more resources from the finite supply of the earth for the sake of growth is sustainable. A closed-loop materials economy in which the “waste” can be meaningfully converted to new stuff reflects a regenerative model more in line with the cycles of the living world. There is no more obvious nor alchemical an example of this in Nature than healthy soil, for to dust we shall all return.

Death is a part of the cycle of life. Your carbon will be recycled, but the choice to create more light in the world is yours. This principle applies to everything from earlier versions of ourselves to nurse logs and whale falls. This month a full moon illuminates a thin veil. Honor the past, cherish the soil, cultivate the fire of transfiguration to temper the future, fear not the dark, and memento mori.

A Broader Horizon

In The Art of Racing in the Rain, the main (human) character Denny shares a secret he learned when racing cars in Italy: "La macchina va dove vanno gli occhi." Loosely translated, the car goes where the eyes go.

So too with the vehicle of our bodies and the instrument of our minds. Consider the essential behavior of hand-eye coordination. From bowling to baseball, yarning to yoga, our ability to track and translate the movement of our body to effect change on the external world requires we see the action as we perform it. It also highlights the importance of having direct experiences in the physical world. Nature pushes back in a real and meaningful way. The hyper-novelty of the modern era continues to draw us away from direct, physical experiences and toward screen-mediated virtual ones. I contend that the conversation that occurs between the body, the mind, and the environment is diminished when we over-inhabit digital space.

Our brains prioritize keeping our sightline horizontal. Our sense of balance is predominantly influenced by sight. The multi-sensory array of organs that allow us to perceive the real world is concentrated in the head, so our brains want to know where we are in space.

Literally and figuratively, we see where we are going because it is often where we are looking. To the extent that we allow our field of vision to include a broader horizon, we can approach a more expansive experience.

I believe that the art of chiropractic offers a philosophical, evolutionary, and expansive perspective. Beyond bones and muscles, chiropractic interfaces with the neurological, immunological, and psycho-emotional aspects of inhabiting a human body.

When things aren’t working we tend to look down and watch our feet. I invite you to consider what else you might see by looking up and opening the aperture of your perspective.