Under the weight of her finger, my body began to let go Of 1,873 tons of baggage. I hadn't even realized I was carrying it around with me. I was in a chiropractor's office of all places. A location I'd avoided my whole entire life because with the degree of tension I had in my spine, I was convinced that my first manipulation might be my last. So why had I volunteered to be here?

When your health journey reads like a saga

My health journey is really more of a saga at this point. Despite overcoming a whole litany of health symptoms by piecing together the connection between low thyroid tanked cortisol, and insulin resistance. I was still struggling. And this was a really hard thing for research scientist like myself to admit. I’d spent years piecing together the research.

What the body needs to meet its energy demands. How to support a body and nourish it in making hormones. And, even with some really powerful wins that worked for myself and others too, I still felt I was no closer to the blissful shores of wellness instead floundering in a sea of dis-ease and shaken to my core for the first time in my life afraid I might drown before I reached those promised shores of wellness. It was in this darkness that my friend Jen sent me a photo.

Jen had been raving about this light touch chiropractic technique for months! Like any good researcher, I'd looked into it found a few practitioners practicing in the north county San Diego area, and then tabled it because quite frankly, there was too much activation energy to bother with making that appointment. But when she sent me this photo, I couldn't dial the numbers fast enough. And now here I was in that chiropractor's office.

Light touch chiropractic? Who knew?

Chiropractors are an interesting lot. They hold this belief that nerve flow is as vital to health as blood flow. That the cells and tissues and organs of our body need nerve flow for nourishment and vitality. Nerve impulses being electrical signals are impeded by resistance. Along the spinal column that may look like compression or torsion between vertebrae it may look like knotted connective tissue along the spine. All this resistance diminishes nerve flow effectively starving the cells tissues and organs in that part of the body of energy.

How would a light touch chiropractic modality work to resolve this resistance? The short answer is threefold.

1. By increasing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid up and down the spine. This is well documented in the literature. Cerebrospinal fluid effectively bathes the spinal column and the brain with nutrient rich fluid. while simultaneously washing away metabolic waste, including beta amyloids flushing that waste back into the lymphatic system where the body is able to process it and eliminate it.

2. Through dissipating tension along the spinal column. At face value, this sounds fairly trivial. Here's why it's so important. The body requires a certain amount of energy to hold itself upright. Anytime that you are holding tension along your spine, you compensate.
   
   Whether that's a raised shoulder, a lowered ear, raised hip, and with each misalignment, the body has to use more energy to hold itself upright. As that tension begins to dissipate, the body is able to hold itself upright with much less energy. That now free available energy is available to do other things like healing. We'll spend time in future posts talking about the body's daily energy budget.

3. Bringing the mind's awareness to the parasympathetic( the rest digest, heal) pathway of the nervous system. Fun fact. Did you know that nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system only exit the spine in two locations? The cranium and the sacrum. The rest of the spinal column is reserved for nerves of the sympathetic (fight/flight/freeze) pathway.
   
   When the body is in a parasympathetic state, flow of cerebrospinal fluid automatically increases. Which loops us right back up to number one.

Finding relief in nervous system regulation

As I returned for more sessions, over the next few weeks and months, I felt my body transform and unwind. This was different from any modality I had ever received before and I had already tried everything else!

When I turned my head from side to side, people didn't look around anymore for who was spotting the roll of bubble wrap.

The particular kinds of headaches that I was experiencing where it felt like there was so much energy trapped in my head, and if only it could get out, I wouldn't have this headache? Gone!

To be clear, this is no panacea. I still have high autoimmune antibodies associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (anti-TPO antibodies in case you're wondering if you've had yours checked). I still have to take thyroid replacement hormone to feel well. But this has completely shifted the severity and frequency of autoimmune flares for me. I also feel happier safer and freer in my own body.

Spinal Flow: one of the light touch chiropractic modalities for nervous system regulation

Spinal Flow was so transformational in my own healing, I couldn't shut up about it.

Someone complaining about back pain? Try Spinal Flow.
Insomnia? Spinal Flow.
Can't concentrate, feel like you've got fractured focus? Spinal Flow.
MS, Parkinson’s, autoimmune anything? You guessed it...

“You gotta try Spinal Flow.”

But every time I said it, I’d get the same response: “That sounds amazing… but where do I find someone who does that?”

Truth? You couldn’t. Not around here, anyway. My practitioner wasn't taking new clients.

So, I stopped waiting for someone else to fill the gap.

I got certified.

I made it official.

And now I offer Spinal Flow right here in North County San Diego because you shouldn't have to book a flight to feel like yourself again. Ready for Spinal Flow? Book your first session here.