The Season of Discover: Level 1 of NSA Care

Last month we discussed the Levels of NSA Care: Discover, Transform/Integrate, and Awaken.  What do these levels look like when you are on the table receiving a NSA adjustment or working on Somato-Respiratory Integration exercises?  This month, let’s visit DISCOVER.  

ON THE TABLE:
Discovery Care or Level 1 of NSA Care is incredibly important to the healing process!  In Discovery Care, NSA contacts are very brief and specific.  Most contacts are applied to the top and the bottom of the spine, in the areas where the spinal cord attaches to the bony part of the spine (the cervical vertebra as well as the sacrum).* The brief contacts cue the brain to release tension on the spinal cord and surrounding the spinal nerves.  This relaxes the muscles, allowing the spine to naturally align itself and create balance.  Practice members may report increased popping and cracking as their spine reaches new levels of flexibility and movement.  Contacts are applied in a directional force (typically in a flexion-extension directional force or lateral bending).  Contacts are applied based on the measurements the doctors take that tell them the current patterning of your spine (see our video on “How Stress Affects the Spine at: https://bodyinbalancechiropractic.com/resources. 

These very specifically applied forces are light and gentle for the purpose of creating awareness and safety within the nervous system.  Often with traditional chiropractic, when intense forces are applied to the spine, the body moves into a state of fight-or-flight physiology, creating a guarding response.  Instead, NSA contacts (based on the locations they are applied as well as the type of force), decrease sympathetic/fight-or-flight physiology, allowing parasympathetic physiology to take over.  This allows for the body to enter a state of healing.

*Even when pain feels like it is located in the mid to lower spine, typically, the true patterning or source of the tension is from the neck or pelvic region where the spinal cord actually connects to the bone.

BREATH:
Discover Care develops what is called a Somato-Respiratory wave.  Breath moves from a shallow-state (typical of a fight or flight state in the body) to moving fully throughout the spine.  This moves spinal fluid throughout the spine, nourishing the discs, nerves, and spinal cord.  The Somato-Respiratory wave is also indicative of areas in which the brain has found an increased awareness (maybe breath was not able to move through the neck or upper thoracic spine, and now when someone breathes, there spine visibly moves from top to bottom).  This leads to feeling sensations that one has often blocked or not been able to feel or experience in sometimes years.  It also can create an incredible state of peace within the spine.

SHIFT, EASE, and EMOTIONS:
It is common during Discovery Care for practice members to experience posture shifts, more ease within the spine, increased awareness, as well as deep healing.  Because the body is releasing old stressors and traumas, it is common for practice members to report an increased sense of wellbeing, more positive emotions, and better self-esteem.  Level 1 adjustments can come with emotional releases—laughing, crying, even dreams as the nervous system processes information.

A NEW-FOUND SKILL/NEW PATHWAYS FOR THE BRAIN:
Discover Care neurological strategies become an ingrained part of the nervous system.  The body/brain has developed an increased ability to recognize adverse patterning or tension within the nervous system as well as using breath or movement to release this tension.  The body has developed an increased ability to EXPAND with breath.  Increased body awareness leads to a better ability to listen to your body’s needs as well as honor those needs.  What is amazing is that these nervous system skills will be with you forever - your body does not “forget” the new patterning.  It will most likely need reminders to be in the most optimal state, but it will not forget the new skill.    

SOMATO-RESPIRATORY INTEGRATION (SRI):
SRI is an amazing tool in the facilitation of growth and healing, especially when used in combination with NSA care!  The season of Discover consists of the first 3 stages of the 12 Stages of Healing.  Stage 1 is about creating connection in the nervous system, especially when things have felt disconnected. In through the nose, out through the mouth breathing is used to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing for a more grounded state of being. Stage 1 exercises create time and space for listening to the body's needs and creating enhanced mind-body connection.

Stage 2 exercises help to identify the area in the body that needs the most support and the area in the body which is the strongest. Using in the nose, out the mouth breathing, alternating between the areas of strongest connection and weakest connection allows the brain to create a rhythm in the body.  This rhythm allows for energy to build and tension to release. The mind starts to become hyperaware of the area/s where you feel stuck, leading us into Stage 3.

Stage 3 is the stage of healing in which we can tap into deeper healing. We gain access to the more chronic areas of pain or “stuckness” in the body. This chronic pain is usually built up over time through continued stressors or tension in the body. These stressors come from the mind's interpretation of experiences. As we release that tension or stress, the experiences or traumas can surface. This deepens the mind-body connection, brings insight to your daily stressors and gives you more control over the amount of tension you carry in your body.

Realize that these Stages are a normal part of all of us - we all have common experiences.  SRI can be used to help your brain connect to the stage, create a sense of safety within the body, and then move into a different energy state.  This is a wonderful tool for moving forward when you feel stuck.  

In NSA, we move between levels of care based on what is happening within our lives and how we are connecting to that.  With SRI, we may visit Stages 1 and 2 every day and when we acknowledge those thought processes/energetic processes, we can move into higher states of energy much more easily.  Discover Care sets an incredible stage for healing, growth, and transformation.

Join us!  On Monday, June 20th, at 6:15 pm we will hold an in-depth class on the Season of Discover!  This is an AWESOME class for creating a foundation for your healing process!  Register with the front desk team at Body In Balance Team or call 303-215-0390!  We hope to see you there!