If you have been around me long enough, you have probably heard me mention my magical witch doctor, the AMAZING Dr. Aidan. She helps me connect to my intuitive and subtle energetic nature, creates space and ease in my body, and is my personal cheerleader and dropper of deep wisdom. She practices a unique stye of chiropractic that's focused on helping you notice and sustainably change physical patterns in your body and your relationship with these patterns in your life. This style of chiropractic work is called Network Spinal Analysis and Reorganizational Healing and it's pure magic and really, REALLY hard to describe. I have such subtle and yet profound experiences with Dr. Aidan and then have a really hard time telling people about them and just end up saying, "She's magic. You just have to go and see for yourself." I recently sat down with Dr. Aidan and asked her how she would start to describe Network Care and this is what she said:
The Magical Dr. Aidan: Network care is an intersection between nervous system health and physiology, consciousness, physics, and personal growth. People usually come in because there is some problem they want to get rid of, some pain... and we describe pain as any uncomfortable experience that interrupts your life... so that isn't always physical. Sometimes it's emotional or some area of your life that is challenging.
So people usually come in to try to get rid of their pain and as they become more connected and resourceful they start to learn how to manage their pain and realize that it's about their life, it's always about their life. And so they go from trying to get rid of their pain to being able to manage their pain more effectively to learning how to participate more FULLY in their life.
Pain is always a messenger! The whole purpose of pain is to tell you to STOP. Take inventory. Do something different. And so it's never my intention to get rid of someone's pain. It's my intention for them to have more energy and resources to make the changes their systems are asking them to make.
Meredith: When you talk about it like that, it reminds me of these books I've been reading by Michael Stone who talks a lot about vitality and connecting to an energy and resources to be more AWAKE in the world.
Dr. Aidan: Totally. I mean it's all a function of the available energy we have. And whether we are talking about healing or business or relationships, it doesn't matter. Everything is operating the best it can with the amount of energy it has available. And all disease and all symptoms and all breakdowns in our lives, in our body, in our work, or in relationships means that there is not enough energy. And so the only solution is energy efficiency.
There's not much in life we can control, but we can control where we focus our attention and we can control what we make something mean, which first requires an ability to recognize what you are automatically making it mean in some subconscious way and then choosing something different there... and we can choose what and how much energy we bring to whatever it is in that moment- these things are clearly under our control and yet we spend so much energy trying to change the circumstances instead of shifting our state, our energetic state.
And things like yoga and meditation and network care that are focused on having someone be more present, more consciously aware and mindful, help people operate more efficiently in their bodies and in their lives, which ripples beyond the physical, shifting emotional and cognitive states. This efficiency allows for more creativity. It allows us to be more grateful. It allows us to access higher states of consciousness that are available to us as human beings. And if we go into a stress response, that's not available.
Meredith: And so the work you do with the gateways.. like what exactly is a gateway? Is it the channel that allows energy to enter and move through?
Dr. Aidan: Gateways are the places where we make our contacts on the spine. And what's really different about where and how we make contact on the spine is that most chiropractors and most health care practitioners look to interact and engage in the part of the body where the problem is. And the place we make contact is actually where the nervous system and body is most aware and connected and resourceful. Kinda like the eye of a storm. And so if someone comes in with neck pain, there is usually this gateway that is this little oasis in the center of tension.
Meredith: And you can feel it?
Dr. Aidan: Yes and when you get to a gateway, the whole body relaxes. People will immediately start breathing and moving. We release tension through movement, breath, sound, and heat, which is part of why yoga is so powerful for de-stressing. And this is all innate but by the time we are adults we are so condition to hold still, to not move, to not express emotion, and to certainly not make any sound about it for fear of looking weird.
But Seriously... do you ever catch your self holding back? Staying quiet? Being still? Moving or speaking in a way that is socially or culturally accepted or expected?
And how good does it feel to just dance, run, sing, yell, or speak your mind?
I think this is why my work and practice with the feminine and intuitive movement has been SO powerful, nourishing, and inspiring for me- the movement is free and easy, the movement releases tension and cultivates clarity, the movement energizes. Intuitive movement, yoga, meditation, eating whole foods and plants, and network care are all ways I stay connected to my vitality, my spirit, my VERVE.
How do you stay well and energized?
If any of Dr. Aidan's words piqued your interest, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend seeing her! You can learn more at her website or call her amazing assistant Marisol at 415-695-4440.