What they are and what they mean!
1. Understanding our spinal tension patterns and how they affect our life experience can offer insights and empower us to be more mindful to ourselves in times of stress.
2. These phases, or protective mechanisms, occur when we are unable to resolve physical injuries or emotional and mental stress.
3. The phases are states of constrictions of the spinal cord, in its attachment sites to the vertebral column.
4. The main attachment sites of the spinal cord are in the upper and lower parts of the vertebral column, the cranium (skull bone), the sacrum (pelvic region), and tail bone.
5. The phases, and its respective postural stress, create global tension on the entire spinal column, either through stretching it (tugging from end-to-end), or through rotational stress (like ringing out a towel).
6. This stress affects our posture, our breathing, our energy, and our mood.
7. By releasing these patterns or phases through light touch, we alter our states of consciousness and how we perceive our world.
There are 5 Phases that commonly show up that offer clues into our current subjective “life experience”.
Phase 1 – Involves the sacrum and occiput. Associated with being concerned, preoccupied with or even feeling doomed by the past.
Phase 2 – Involves the 1st cervical vertebrae. Associated with fear, apprehension or worry regarding the future, focus on eminent overwhelming tasks that need completion or feeling like “It’s all too much!”
Phase 2 – Involves the 5th cervical vertebrae. Associated with anger, rage, apprehension of, or preparation for future confrontation or arguing.
Phase 3 – Involves the pelvis and sacrum. Associated with the “shoulds” in life, including your duties, perceived or imposed roles and responsibilities, and your “identity” in the culture.
Phase 4 – Involves the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae. Associated with a decrease in connection with your emotions and the over-use of your cognitive and educated mind as a distraction from “feeling”.
Phase 5 – Involves the 5th cervical vertebrae with the coccyx. Associated with the experience of “I can’t”, not being enough or having enough, not feeling worthy, feeling left out, or feeling powerless or victimized by circumstances that can’t be controlled.
Phase 5 – Involves the 2nd cervical vertebrae with the sacrum. Associated with staying in a situation that isn’t working and compromising what you really want, who you really are, or giving up responsibility for your life to someone else such as a spouse, parent, child, boss, doctor, guru, etc.
The sign of true health is having a constant ability to adapt to an ever-changing world.
Phases are a normal part of that adaptive process; they come and go. The problem occurs when they persist, and we become stuck in a reactive or defensive mode.
Sometimes a dominant phase held since a past trauma will persist in our body-mind experience for decades. The phase becomes an “anchor” to the life experience we are not able to cast off.
Our goal at OMsource Wellness is to assist you to release the tension from any unresolved phases and free up your spine and nervous system, so that you can rapidly shrug off the past, be less worried about the future, and find ease and grace in the present moment of your life.
