Spinal Hack - Head Thirst

Most of us are working, getting paid to do stuff, we'd rather not be doing. The more happy we are about our situation and those around us, the more of that money we tend to invest on wise things that we benefit from now and later in life.

So calmness is financially very rewarding. The opposite of that, anxiety, agitation even boredom all arise from a mind that is trapped in...the mind. The most powerful hack for that is to stick back where it belongs..

In the body.

Actions that demand balance, demands focus.
Balance is not a compromise, it's not a mental strategy and it's not about appeasing egos, or avoiding emotional triggers.

Balance simply put, occurs when force is acting equally upon us.
When our head is directly over our base of support.

A fraction of an inch out of whack can equal critical pounds of extra weight which must be moved - thats compromise, and it compromises the hell out of our need for energy.

Having a higher base need for energy, makes calmness that much harder.

Why all the frantic low quality action?

At some point we started to think that running, cycling and swimming were the hallmarks of health and wellness, that being "Fit" meant pumping out kilometres of useless distance several times a week. That skinny was good and that anything to do with fat was obviously correlated with laziness and an early death.

In nature, fat is a sign of abundance and preparation, it is the most difficult of the macro nutrients to produce, especially animal fats which can take years of favourable conditions to accumulate. (this is not to be confused with deliberately infused diabetes as we see with geese and cattle being fed grass seeds rather than bugs, weeds and grass)

Around 10,000 years ago, we switched to grass seeds, (grains) and seed oils as our main source of nutrition. Fruit which literally grows on trees was assumed to be full of goodness also.

Well whatever, for those using carbohydrates for fuel, periodic fasting will be necessary to strip the liver of built up triglycerides and reverse insulin resistance. The more vegetable and seed oils consumed the harder that will be. As a species we switched to using fructose, glucose and high Omega Six polyunsaturated fat oils as our predominant foods. Throw in some processed meats crumbed in carbs and fried in seed oils and we are in really bad shape.

AHA - A dysfunctional movement
In a body that is being stuffed every 2 hours or more with energy dense, nutrient poor "food", exercise can help to burn some of that extra energy, so that it does not get stored. That high calorie type movement tends to be repetitive and boring.

The marathon and the triathlon are the height of this kind of weird behaviour.

So what is functional movement ?

Instead of letting my mind wonder while trying to burn calories. I use a minimal nutrient dense diet and use movements that demand that I pay close attention to my posture. ( I currently eat almost zero carbohydrates and use them only for entertainment, never as a food)

By playing in un balanced situations, such as on Stand Up Paddle Boards, gymnastic rings and body weight games, I learn to keep my head aligned over the base of my support.

This requires that my total focus be anchored in the signals streaming into the nervous system. My body follows my head, which follows my eyes, which follows my thoughts. In other words, "if I think I fall".

Trillions of human and bacterial cells work together to form my tissues and organ systems. I am pretty sure that did not happen just so they could listen and respond to replays of my last argument.

More likely, they want the vital environmental data so that they can allocate energy and resources gracefully.

Getting my head I the right place.

Simply by leaning your head forward you can feel the weight shift to the balls of your feet, notice also how this affects tension in the back of the neck and pulling into the sides of knee joints.

SUP training is fantastic, as the energy moving through the water continually shifts the ideal place for our hips to be. In order for our heads to remain situated over our feet, we sway, we embody the wave-form that is moving through the water. We un-wind, just as the ocean is “un winding”.

Conforming to the effects of the sun and the moon on water is a great healthy way to reset our base tension levels. The more tense we are the less we can feel, and the more likely we are to operate from reactive programs.

Do not try the experiment in the photo, without the advice and supervision of a chiropractor. I use the rings and my feet to gradually increase the load on my occipital ridge, de-compressing the vertebra and allowing my body to soften and “swing” back underneath my head. - that is the "spinal hack"

In total Geek-Speak "Wellness remains a possibility and a choice to the degree that we understand, through direct experience, the relationships that run through all biology in real time".

That is psychobiology - its an action