Physical Expressions

You and Your Back

Using the Universal Approach to understand the body’s messages regarding your back, the question you need to ask yourself is “How Supported Do I Feel?”

Our spine enables us to stand tall and strong and it enables us to move freely, independently and with dignity. It can be seen as a direct link between the physical body and divinity because of the chakras (our vibrational energy centres that are located at intervals up the spine) which bring through our spiritual life force from the Universe and connect us to our physical body and to Mother earth. The spine is the pillar of our being, and it is representative of the past and masculine energy. Each vertebra holds specific, innate knowledge that we bring with us into this lifetime and these vertebrae also hold and protect the spinal chord, spinal fluid and the central nervous system. From here, the nerves radiate out into our body carrying and transmitting every thought, action, reaction and emotion that we are feeling and experiencing at any moment.

Think about all the different ‘back sayings’ there are in the English language.

Backed up against the wall
No backbone
Back to back
Bend over backwards (to help someone)
Put your back into something
Spineless
Turn your back on
Hold back
Going on behind your back
Stabbed in the back
To have back up

These are all indicative of how essential and interconnected our spine is to our emotional state. When you don’t feel supported, how can you stand upright? Taking this one step further, the spine also reflects different aspects of feeling supported.

Lower back reflects our feelings about financial and material security.
Lower/Middle back reflects how we feel about the support and back up within relationships and highlights what we have turned our back on.
Middle back reflects how supported we feel in our day to day life in what we are doing and how flexible we are in our actions and reactions.
Higher/Middle back is where unfulfilled ambitions and resentments are buried.
Upper back reflects how supported we feel emotionally and where lost desires and unhappy memories are tucked away.
Neck reflects how flexible and willing we are to see different points of view and how free we feel to express ourselves.

Something else to think about is, “what have you put behind you?” Life is full of experiences with some of them being incredibly difficult and challenging and although we don’t realise it, we carry the legacy of those tough times with us in our body. The back can become burdened with all those emotions however trivial or however deep they run, but if we have tucked them away behind us and tried to forget about them, they will still be in our body. Hurt, anger, resentment, shame, fear and guilt can all weigh us down unless we acknowledge and consciously choose to release them and only then are we truly free to stand tall and move forward, free of the burdens and emotions we have harboured over time.

With chronic back pain, quite often it is not the actual spinal vertebrae that are the physical problem, it is the surrounding muscles and nerves. Over time they have become so tight and overloaded with the central nervous system continually sending it signals of stress, fear, emotional trauma etc that they are unable to relax and function normally. This is why it is so important to face and release our memories from the past, because this is a huge step towards a stronger, straighter and more flexible spine and back.

Of course the most important factor of all is to feel your own inner strength and that has to come from your own belief in yourself and your own self worth.

More Physical Expressions from Sally Teixeira

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