Why do I poke behind your ear so often, usually in Spinal Flow treatments?

There are a number of reasons why this area is a real keystone point for treatments as far as feeling into change and an overall assessment of holistic progress. Holistic progress does not look like material world progress- we are not engineering, we are feeling into an organic process in relationship with the body’s wisdom which has its own timing and order.

Organic processes usually require working slowly with the body, with a deep pattern that potentially began during birth or even prior to being born we are changing the habits of a lifetime stored in the C1 and C2 area of the spine (top of the neck, where the cranium and spine meet).

These tiny bones, float in liquids (which is what I am working with) and they can be misaligned in the smallest of ways- which over your life have had massive repercussions. Migraines, chronic fatigue all sorts of symptoms that don’t seem connected are related and all come back to these tiny vertebrae and the inability for flow through the body when there is correct alignment. These vertebrae are surrounded by incredible muscles the subocciptals; which support the variety of movements the neck can make and they protect our nerves that run through this narrow space to the rest of the body. These nerves control so many things and are a big deal to the functioning of our body’s systems: the vagus nerve and glossopharyngeal nerve can become compressed where they exit your brainstem. The nerves are a network, not a tube, they look a lot like a tree and run either side of the body. You will feel this on the table as the sides of your body start to recommunicate with one another. Your healing is a massive journey of reconnection.

When compressed your vagus nerve’s messages can’t flow to the body.

This may be felt by you as a mixture of confusing symptoms:

• Heart- racing, random palpitations, racing pulse, skipped beats, anxiety type experiences.
• Digestion- shutting down (stalled digestion), reflux, bloating, nausea, general digestive dysfunction which may make you suspect food intolerance.
• Breathing- can’t take full breath, throat feeling tight, rapid breathing as a response to restrictions around chest, sleep apnoea type experiences.
• Balance- dizziness, floating feelings, fainting, unsteady movement, not feeling right especially when moving faster, sitting up fast, spinning around.
• Stress/Mental Responses- finding it difficult or impossible to relax, worrying, cyclical thoughts, concentration and memory issues, strong fight or flight responses that seem extreme to the situation/context of your life circumstances.
• Migraines
• Inflammatory and immune system responses and imbalance including arthritis and autoimmune flares.
• Energy Response- collapse response- chronically tired or complete loss of motivation, your body is protecting you and shutting you down. Fluctuation in energy throughout the body, not being able to find a balance or manage your energy levels with any consistency.

The work we do with the nervous system in your healing journey works through the whole of your system. We do not need to know every detail of how things got the way they have- your body knows. We signal to the body that there is complete safety for it to return to a relaxed state. The body is wise, it made changes in the past for protection from stresses on our system and these have become stuck. As the body comes to know that these protections are not needed you can return to function as you were divinely created to and the body will do deep healing work rather than the bare minimum to survive another day.

Your nervous system runs to every system in the body, it is the communication system of every single part, from nerves to fascia. The area that will tighten under stress first and the last area to let go is around the back of the neck. It is an important area for you to tune into. This is your body’s early warning system to let you know it feels stress. So it is where I can measure what your body is carrying each session and between sessions.

This work is so gentle and powerful; it works at the speed of our nervous system which is slow, the touch is at a level that a newborn baby would expect to feel from other loving humans- this is what is triggering the body to feel into the areas that it cut off to protect you.

It is also important to work on the body’s timeline; it knows your life and what you have time to integrate after each session. Some of the protections we have created are still being used, to fully heal, we might need to make some changes to our life and that is a process that requires full respect for ourselves. We want to heal but we also need to be gentle with that process and be able to assess and change our lives in ways that we ultimately want to keep.

This work is permanent and it is a journey that becomes fully self direct! You may choose to come back as an occasional self-care practice once these bones have realigned but you will be different at the end of this journey. Your system will be different; you will reach for recharging and rest- not to push yourself to extremes to cope with stress you were not designed to hold.

To become fully you; you have to leave a lot of things that were not you behind. Overall that is positive but it is also emotional, challenging and has all sorts of sensations and changes within the body which require support, adaptation and time to integrate. You need time to adjust your life to support living in this way and it needs to be your process for you to feel holistically safe and excited to be living your own life.

All ancient people’s relate health and our body systems to those of nature and the same patterns are seen inside our bodies because we are beings of the natural world.

Credit image: Te Ara collection.