The technique that is now known as Spinal Touch is 75 years old this year.
Happy septuagesiquintennial birthday Spinal Touch (It's a posh way of saying
75th, although I'm sure you knew that already.) It got me thinking about
birthdays, the meaning of life and human potential.
The custom of giving and receiving gifts on birthdays is virtually universal.
Gifts are opened with anticipation and savoured with pleasure as symbols
of love, good wishes and recognition of another milestone of progress.
Regardless of culture or custom, our original day of birth was the day on
which the Universe bestowed upon us its own gifts. The special gifts distinguish
us one from the other as individuals, and foretell the potential of our
individual futures.
The greatest gift of all, of course, is the gift of life itself. When this
most precious of gifts is fully explored, it is found to contain within it
many other gifts, each with its own individual wrapping. Each separately
wrapped package represents a different area of human expression. It is our
use of these subdivisions of the gift of life that determines our full potential
and the dimensions to our life.
How upset we would be if we gave a birthday present that was not only
unappreciated, but not even opened. Such lack of appreciation would be construed
as an insult to the giver. What an insult to life, then, if some of the most
precious gifts remain unused and unappreciated, perhaps even unopened and
unknown.
We are born with all the potentials for a full, rich, and rewarding life.
These potentials, and a certain number of years to fulfil them, are ours
for the taking… for the mere unwrapping. What a tragedy to deny ourselves
the fullness of life by refusing to accept the fullness of life's potentials.
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment can help you to open all of your gifts,
and express all of your potentials. Let us help you to become all that you
can be.
Human Potential
The magnitude of human potential will never be fully understood. It defies
imagination, for imagination itself is but one small expression of the very
potential it would seek to envision. Certainly, human potential is multifaceted.
To even begin to appreciate it one would have to consider such manifestations
as:-
The ability to adapt to an ever changing environment; agreed by most biologists
to be the essence of life itself.
The ability to convert food into walking, talking flesh and blood.
The ability to manufacture and balance, in perfect quantity and quality,
insulin, cortisone, adrenalin, and every other hormone, enzyme and chemical
needed for normal life.
The ability to reproduce.
The ability to resist and prevent disease.
The ability to repair and recover from disease and injury.
The ability to engage in creative thought and analysis.
The ability to compose music, prose and poetry.
The ability to draw, paint and sculpt.
The ability to adapt to emotional stress and to develop appropriate emotional
responses.
The ability to remember some things while relegating others to the "inactive"
file.
The ability to maintain balance and to simultaneously coordinate a multitude
of different muscular skills for work and play.
The ability to study and learn.
The ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
The ability to solve problems and to organise.
The ability to make decisions.
The ability to love and trust.
The ability to accept and respond to the spoken and unspoken needs of others
and to share the responsibility for the shaping of our world.
The ability to shut off conscious thought, to relax and meditate or sleep.
These are but a few of the tangible and intangible expressions of human
potential. What a tragedy it is for any part of this potential to be unfulfilled.
In a society committed to specialisation we tend to lose sight of the fact
that all of these potentials must interact together in harmony if any are
to reach their full expression. The human being is not a series of unrelated
parts but an integrated whole with each facet dependent on every other.
The communication and control system, or neuro-endocrine system (brain, spinal
cord, nerves and chemical messengers) coordinate and run the entire human
being. Damage to this control system must inevitably result in failure of
the parts to interact properly. This, in turn, causes a lessening of the
ability to express full potential in both tangible and intangible manifestations.
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment is committed to unleashing life's full
potential by maintaining the integrity of the neuro-endocrine system.
Human potential is just too valuable to be wasted!
The vision of Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment envisions a world in which people dwell
in harmony, and seeks to bring this about by helping people to express their
full potential.
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment is based upon a profound respect for
the totality of life and the fact that the nervous system maintains that
totality by directing all of its functions.
The human body consists of some 50 trillion cells, all working together for
the purpose of expressing full life potential. It is obvious that coordination
of the thousands and thousands of biological processes necessary to maintain
life is dependent on a control system. The brain, spinal cord and 46 miles
of nerve fibres form the control system in human beings.
This magnificent communications network is protected by a framework of solid
bone. The brain, enclosed in a housing known as the skull, has extensions
reaching out to virtually every organ and tissue of the body. The most vulnerable
part of the system is an extension of the brain known as the spinal cord.
This vital and vulnerable life-line is housed within 33 bones that comprise
the spinal column. These spinal bones, or vertebrae, protect the delicate
nerve trunks.
Should a vertebra become jarred from its proper position, however, the bones
could compress the very nerve trunks they are meant to protect. Such compression
interferes with the flow of nerve impulses, and the trillions of cells of
the body can no longer work together as one functional unit. The individual
is then no longer able to express their full life potential.
The purpose of Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment is the correction of such
interference. Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment applies a very gentle
intervention allowing the body to correct any misalignments which interfere
with the flow of life energy. This restores the ability of the body to express
its full and harmonious life potential.
Only when the human body is in harmony with itself can it achieve harmony
with others for a better world.
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment in context
Throughout history practitioners of the healing arts have been aware of the
importance of the spine and the vital nervous tissue protected by it.
It is reported that Hippocrates admonished his students to look well to the
spine when treating disease. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs are also said to
depict spinal manipulation. Such widely diverse early cultures as those of
the Incas, Chinese, Ancient Greeks and Native Americans are all said to have
used manipulation or massage for healing and spiritual purposes. Spine walking
is still practiced today in certain parts of the world, and is even reported
to have been carried out by trained bears in Eastern Europe up until the
nineteenth century!
Bone setters from Europe emigrated to America and took with them their methods
of spinal manipulative healing. Orthopaedic, osteopathic and chiropractic
physicians have used a variety of techniques for treating disease by spinal
adjustments or realignment.
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment, however, is different. In its purest
form it is not a healing art at all. Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment
does not try to treat, cure or prevent disease. Its objective is to restore
human beings to harmonious unity of mind, body and spirit, for the fulfilment
of their life's potential. With this in mind, Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment
is offered as a continuing, life-long program for freeing and keeping free
those potentials which are uniquely yours.
Let us help you become all that you can be.
Press play for a five minute demonstration of an alignment
Questions and Answers
What exactly is Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment?
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment is a philosophy and practice which seeks
to help keep the bones of the skull, spine and pelvis in their proper
relationship with each other, in order to allow the body to express its maximum
potential.
What do you mean by maximum potential?
Each individual human being has their own unique blend of potentials
pre-programmed by genetic heritage long before birth. These include such
factors as the capacity to see and hear, the capacity for eye to hand
coordination, the capacity to think clearly, to remember, to reason, to organise
thoughts, to solve problems, the capacity to resist disease and recover from
injuries, the capacity for balanced emotional response, for humour, for love.
These are but a few examples of the many potentials and capacities inherent
within the individual. While nobody can know the outer-most limits of these
potentials, it is easy to see how failure to express them fully would make
us less than we could be.
What have the bones of the skull, spine and pelvis got to do with expressing
potential?
These bones protect the central nervous system, which is the body's control
pathway to organs, glands and other body parts. It has been shown that tiny
misalignments of these bones can interfere with normal nervous impulses to
and from the brain, and thereby disrupt the harmonious interaction of body
parts. Because some of the disturbed glands and organs manufacture body chemicals
the totality of the biochemistry is thus disturbed. This disturbance in the
balance of the body's chemistry affects every physical, mental and emotional
aspect of life and interferes with the expression of full potential.
Are you saying that internal changes in body chemistry, caused by
misalignments, can affect such mental factors as mood or memory or creative
ability?
Of course. We have only to think of the physical, emotional and mental changes
that can result from alcohol, drugs and medicines to realise how important
body chemistry is to all functions. When body chemistry is disturbed either
by adding chemicals from the outside, or by changing what the body manufactures
from the inside, the result always affects every aspect of life.
How does Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment correct these
misalignments?
To be absolutely accurate, we must point out that Ishta Spinal Touch - Core
Alignment does not really correct the misalignments. The body has its own
spinal muscles to do that. Unfortunately, the spinal muscles are often too
busy doing something else. It is this "something else" that Ishta Spinal
Touch - Core Alignment addresses, allowing the muscles to do the job they
are supposed to do.
Does it hurt?
No it is very gentle and relaxing. Often people fall asleep while it is being
done.
Is Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment safe?
Yes. There are no contra-indications to receiving the treatment. There are,
however, some times when caution is required. Practitioners are well trained
to know when intervention from another health professional is required.
How do I know if I have misalignments?
Unfortunately, most of the time you don't. It is true that some misalignments
may produce pain or muscle spasm, but most do not. The only way to be sure
is to have an assessment by a trained and certified Ishta Spinal Touch -
Core Alignment practitioner.
How does an Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment practitioner know what
to do?
They are trained in assessing you for postural distortion by standing you
in front of a plumb line, and by other means. Even untrained people (a spouse
or parent, for example) can often see the distortion when compared against
a vertical and horizontal reference point. The exact form that this distortion
takes determines how the alignment technique is applied.
What particular physical, mental or emotion conditions respond to Ishta
Spinal Touch - Core Alignment?
None! Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment is not a treatment for any condition
or an attempt to cure any disease. It is true, of course, that one of the
potentials which could be reduced by a misalignment is the body's potential
for health.
What we can say is that Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment is particularly
safe and gentle and has helped people with:-
Ankylosing Spondylitis, Anxiety, Arthritis, Asthma, Back Pain, Balance Problems,
Depression, Digestive Problems, Fatigue, Frozen Shoulders, Headaches, Insomnia,
Jaw Problems, Joint Pain, Kyphosis, Lordosis, Low Energy, Menstrual Problems,
Migraines, Multiple Sclerosis, Neck Pain, Pins and Needles, Problems during
and after Pregnancy, Recurrent Infections, Repetitive Strain Injuries, Scoliosis,
Sciatica, Sinus Problems, Sports Injuries, Stress Management, Tennis Elbow,
Tension, Visual Disturbances, Whiplash Injuries and more.
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment is primarily concerned with creating
a healthy, balanced state on all levels. It can therefore help people with
almost any condition.
A body which has misalignments could never be as healthy as it could be under
the same circumstances, but without having the misalignments. Whatever potential
one has for resisting disease or recovering from disease or injury will obviously
be better expressed without misalignments.
But it is important to realise that all people are better off without
misalignments, under all circumstances, without regard to whether they are
sick or well. If you want to know the best treatments for any disease ask
your GP. If you want to stay free of misalignments just because that's the
best way to be all that you could be, have Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment
regularly.
What causes misalignments?
Almost any fall or accident could cause misalignments. So could poor posture,
physical or emotional stress, malnutrition, dehydration, surgery, physical
exertion, or any one of a dozen other things. In fact, almost everyone gets
misalignments at some time or other, often in childhood. Unless these
misalignments are corrected, we spend our entire life being less than we
could be.
Have some Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment today.
Career Opportunities
To help eradicate the problems caused by misalignments thousands of certified
Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment practitioners are required for private
practice in the UK and overseas. This creates an exciting and challenging
professional career opportunity for those seeking a new direction in life.
The foundation course is open to everyone regardless of prior education or
experience.
It's not what you are that counts: it's what you can become.
For more information about training in Ishta Spinal Touch - Core Alignment
click here.
