Article #728

Author: Jay Uecker, D.C.

Not long ago I put out part one of a content piece concerning depression. In the previous piece I talked about how, in my experience, a particular body posture is characteristic of everyone who has suffered from depression. That posture is such that the heart area is being closed off at the front of a person’s body and tension has been sequestered in the area behind the heart.

There is a direct link between the emotions that we can or can’t feel and our posture, making posture important where depression is concerned. In the instance of depression, what happens is energy is naturally designed to come up through our spinal column but it’s being kept, by our posture, from coming into the area occupied by the heart. As soon as the energy arrives at the area of the heart, it gets redirected toward the lower half of the body again. In this situation it is like we are continually being forced in the dirt, so to speak. Despondency, dejection, feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness are part of the restricted range of emotions that go along with this postural situation. These emotions have weight and so we’re constantly being pulled down into them. A feedback loop is created in which the shape of our spine and the depression are supporting each other.

Our body and life is forever attempting to lead us to the solution through symptoms. If we could allow ourselves complete immersion into the thoughts, sensations and emotions of the depression, sooner or later our nervous system would peak out its experience of the depression. However, that might not be so practical if we have a family or a job, and so on, but it is one solution. If we could manage to let our nervous system peak out its experience of the depression, we would be liberated from it. At that point the energetic information would start to move up the spine.

Once the energetic information that was involved with the depressive sense of self begins to move up the spine, however, it would start to wash into the energy which has been stored in the area behind the heart. When that occurs we’d be asked to integrate, to feel through, the energy that’s being sequestered in the area of the heart center. Guilt, shame, grief and rage are usually the types of undigested energy being sequestered in the area of the heart center. It becomes apparent why depression and its symptoms causes us to suffer so much. The choices we have available are feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, despondency and dejection, or shame, guilt, rage and grief.

I can see why prescription medication is really popular, because what anti-depression medication does is it attenuates all of those intense emotions. Prescription medication can be a valuable thing, short-term, since it gives folks a break from the oppressive emotions so they can create some movement in their body and life. It isn’t a good permanent strategy for a few reasons. For starters, our nervous system develops a tolerance to those prescription medications and at some point we’d need more medication to achieve the same effect. Next, emotions are all coupled together. If we limit the intensity of one emotion it automatically limits our capacity to experience others. For example when we restrict the intensity of things like anger, grief and shame, we also restrict the intensity of things like joy, passion and love. Lastly, emotion is an important part of our overall health and well-being. Emotion is a tool that our Soul utilizes to let us know which way to go in our lives. If we lack the ability to access emotions, then we can get lost; lose direction and life fulfillment.

The reality is that if we want to heal depression we will have to feel through the sensations, thoughts and emotions associated with depression. This requires inviting the nervous system out of survival mode and inviting life force energy into the heart in order that we are able to make contact with the emotions there. It is more than possible to achieve this in a way that is not too destructive to a person’s life. If we can draw your nervous system out of survival mode, we can start to coax life force energy up through the heart in such a manner as to integrate the previously sequestered energy into one’s life. As that energetic information from around the heart is digested and you begin to give yourself permission to experience the emotions that are in there, the body posture shifts, as well. The effect of all of this are changes in a person’s body and life that are permanent and sustainable.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/mental-health-articles/the-posture-depression-connection-6943704.html

About the Author

Jay Uecker, D.C. has been practicing Network Spinal Analysis professionally since 2002. He is one of a limited number of practitioners around the world who are certified to practice Network Spinal Analysis, a revolutionary form of wellness care within the growing field of re-organizational healing. His educational journey has taken him from Lincoln, Nebraska where he received a Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science, to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Northwestern College of Chiropractic where he received his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree. He has served in places like India and Peru and is currently the director of the Network Life Center in Louisville, Colorado. Click the link to see more from this Louisville, CO Chiropractor.