Energy Medicine and Spinal Care

New Life Journal, June-July, 2004 by Fernan Poulin

Many spinal care patients are curious about how the subtle approach to spinal care, in conjunction with their mindset and spiritual practices, will influence their physical well being. Why, they ask, when they are barely and gently touched on the skull and spine, did the tension and discomfort begin to decrease if not release completely? They say, when my chiropracter held my neck, my lower back got hot, then all of a sudden, the pain went away. Why, simply by my feet being held, did I become so emotional? When my practitioner mentioned my job, my body started to hurt more. Why?

These questions are reflective of today's health paradigm based on people's unrested inner quest for personal and meaningful healing. Ancient healing modalities are resurging and malting their way into the forefront of medicine. One in particular, named by today's scientific community "Energy Medicine" is being researched, implemented and recognized both worldwide and also by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine as having positive impact and effect on regenerating health in the body/mind and spirit of people.

The term "energy" is described by many traditions from all over the world as a matrix of subtle electromagnetic fields that flow within, outside, and around the human body. This energy is called in China chi, prana in India and Tibet, yesod in the Jewish cabalistic tradition, Ki in Japan, barakas by the Sufis, waken by the Lakotas, orenca by the Iroquois and the Holy Spirit in Christianity In the past century, the Chiropractic field has called this energy healing approach "vitalistic healing." Just recently, science has begun to consider prayer to be a complement to allopathic medicine; prayer itself belongs to the realm of Energy Medicine. In the field of mental health, Energy Psychology is sought after for its influences on active memory recall and repatterning. Maybe the East is finally meeting the West, medically!

There seems to be a common ground between western and eastern medical philosophies that is shaping today's search for connections between body, mind and spirit: finding a healing system that will integrate these layers of our existence. Our western health paradigm focuses mostly on the molecular design of our existence (physical dimension) and its effect on healthy living. The eastern paradigm disciplines itself in the understanding of consciousness (the subtle dimension) and how the mind influences our well being. Together they bridge the seen and the unseen worlds of life, the physical with the spiritual. They are both ancient and contemporary in their discoveries, bringing to today's medicine the necessary ingredients for a more comprehensive and wholesome health care paradigm. Thus, integration of all sciences is needed. The integration of the fields of Chiropractic and Cranial Sacral Therapy, which I call Spinal Care, combined with Energy Medicine, lends to a powerful marriage of natural healing methodologies that are designed to listen into the seen (the body) and the unseen (mental, emotional and spiritual) world's of people. The blending and focus of these healing modalities, allows for our vital energy, (spirit) to re-orient and organize itself throughout the human body and energy. systems. It is by way of the nervous system that our life energy, can distribute itself to all tissue within the body.

How does the nervous system participate in the flow of vital energy?

The nervous system is composed of the brain and spinal cord, titled the central nervous system. From the spinal cord, nerves branch out, reaching all tissue throughout the body. This system is called the peripheral nervous system. Biologists have revealed that there is a fluid called the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that flows within and around the brain and spinal cord and nourishes, protects, and controls electrolytes. The electrolytes are said to determine the conduction of electricity over the nerves. When the electrical conduction on nerve pathways is impeded by bony structures, soft tissue inflammation, dehydration, chemical imbalances, toxicity and/or emotional traumas, the flow of CSF is altered. This distorted flow changes the electrical amplitude and volume of nerve impulses (vitality) along specific sites of the spinal cord and peripheral nerves where trauma set in. It is easy to grasp the mechanics of biological and chemical impediments on nerves, but how can emotions and thoughts create similar disruptions within the nervous system and all other systems in our body?

First we need to investigate the nature of energy and its influence on the human body. The word "energy" is a term that is widely used in the natural healing community with a nebulous understanding. Constantly in movement, energy is vibrational frequencies that travel on filaments of ether and are directed by focus and intent. Prana (a light particle attached to an oxygen molecule) fuels the energy fields by the way we breathe, allowing for prana to make its way into each cell of the body.