The Connections of Health©
(copyright) Tedd Koren, DC 2001

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

To be healthy you must be connected... The goal of chiropractic is to help you reconnect...

You are born to express radiant physical, mental and spiritual health; to radiate vitality, harmony, peace, joy, optimism, strength, love and healing at any age. It is your natural state.

But it rarely seems that way. Disharmony, illness, disease, depression, fatigue, emotional and spiritual disconnection and isolation touch so many lives. Too many of us walk this earth with our bodies, hearts and souls in pain.

Yet no baby is born bored or depressed. Infants are full of wonder and awe. They breathe deeply, relax completely, radiate energy, and sparkle with the light of life in their eyes. They are closer to their natural state, more connected to it, with a clearer conduit to the wisdom, intelligence and energies that percolate up from their source.

Chiropractic and many other natural health disciplines recognize that to be truly healthy and alive you must be a clear conduit to your inner wisdom (also referred to as your "source," the "wisdom of the body", your "inner doctor", your innate (inborn) intelligence and other terms).

The goal of chiropractic is to help you better connect to your source so your inner doctor may work its miracles. A complete disconnection from your source results in death; a partial disconnection results in dis-ease or disharmony. Many people are in this state; with less than 100% connection they are less than fully alive.

Our very word health derives from the old English word hale meaning whole. You are healthy when you are whole, unified, integrated and complete – not fragmented, disintegrated, disconnected or incomplete. Let's explore health from this perspective.

The Connections of Physical Health

When a living system is suffering from ill health, the remedy is to connect it with more of itself.

- Francisco Varella

When you are physically healthy all your body parts are in their proper places, fitting precisely, so they can communicate with one another and are not interfering with the function of other body parts or the flow of energy that bubbles up from your source to direct your body. Your body is in a state of exquisite coordination and balance.

In this state you have abundant vitality, sensitivity, strength and joy. You have a flexible, balanced body, breathe deeply and sleep deeply – refreshed and invigorated. You have high resistance to disease and the energy to adapt to life's stresses and challenges.

A physically disconnected person's parts are not fitting exactly right. The result is lack of balance, interruption of the energies that flow through you under the directives of your innate intelligence and weakened connection to your source. This results in dis-ease - a lack of wholeness, coordination and harmony. When you are dis-eased stress can overwhelm you and disease, illness, exhaustion, accelerated aging and shortened life results.

Interestingly, a person with dis-ease who feels fatigue may have tremendous energy, but it's often trapped in their muscles, joints and other body tissues and is not flowing freely. That's why people often have sensitive spots in their muscles or tendons called, "trigger points," and may jump when these points are even lightly touched.

The Connections of Emotional Health

Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.

- Henry David Thoreau

Emotional health is also dependent on being connected - to yourself and others. The more connected you are to yourself the more you can connect with others and the more fulfilling your connections (relationships). The more relationships in your life the more happiness, joy, hope, optimism and vitality you will have; the healthier and longer you will live and the quicker you will recover from physical and emotional traumas and illness.

An emotionally disconnected person holds pockets of unresolved anger, fear, resentment, pain or other emotions locked up within their body and mind. Whatever the cause (abuse, conflict etc.), trapped emotional energy prevents us from living fully in the present because some of our energies are still living in the past. Past traumas and fears cause chronic physical tension and emotional stress that disconnects us from our deeper selves. This can lead to disease. In this state intuition is clouded; life's purpose is confused, and there are difficulties forming healthy relationships.

The Connections of Spiritual Health

If the body is sick, the mind worries and the spirit grieves; if the mind is sick, the body and spirit will suffer from its confusion; if the spirit is sick, there will be no will to care for the body or mind.

- J.R. Worsley

The more spiritually connected you are, the closer you are to the love, energy, joy, vitality and wisdom of your source. The goal of all spiritual and/or religious practices is to teach you to commune with, be in the presence of, or connected to your soul, God, the universe or whatever term you wish to use. When you are spiritually healthy you are connected to the depths within you and the universe without.

A spiritually connected person is in harmony with their life's purpose and meaning. They are following their heart, trusting their instincts and are sensitive to the laws and powers that create and recreate reality at every moment. There is more sensitivity, inspiration, empathy, compassion and intuition. There is more intuition, synchronicity (meaningful coincidences) and meaning unfolding in your life. Such people speak of having "peak experiences," of feeling connected, or of communing with those around them, humanity, a loving nature, God or a loving presence. They feel joy, happiness and peace in these states.

The spiritually disconnected person is separated from the love, energy, joy and vitality of their source. Out of touch with their deepest needs and desires a sense of isolation, loneliness, confusion and fear permeate and harm both mind and body. One's will to live is weakened and life lacks vision and meaning. One's purpose in life is clouded.

Disconnection

Chiropractic has discovered a powerful "disconnection" in your body called the vertebral subluxation complex (subluxation). This is a physical condition that interferes with the flow of energy and information from your source and can affect physical, emotional and spiritual health. The result is dis-ease, a communications disease, where you are less than whole, slightly dis-integrated, slightly fragmented. Chiropractors are especially trained to locate and correct or remove subluxations.

Reconnection

In addition to the older goal of helping the patients to solve their particular psychological problems and overcome their pain, of "curing" them, we have the added goal of helping them sing their own unique song in life, to beat out their special music in being, relating, creating. This is the goal of "healing."

- Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D.

Reconnecting to your inner healer is chiropractic's goal. Chiropractic care permits your body/mind to gently release old stress so your powerful natural healing ability may flow from your source and begin a process of reconnection.

The process of reconnecting and healing is a fascinating adventure. Sometimes this process appears effortless; sometimes it seems difficult and painful. Often it is both. As we reconnect, locked energies may be released, painful memories revived, stored toxins stirred, hurtful experiences re-experienced. This process of reawakening is called retracing.

As old energies dissipate you become sensitive to the deeper layers of your being. As your spine and nervous system release stress you begin to tune into the deeper laws of life that guide you and you become more sensitive to the unseen hand that is always directing you to greater wholeness, awareness, growth and wisdom.