Uncovering the Wisdom of the Body: A Journey Through Holistic Healing and Network Spinal Care with Dr. Aiden Kinsella

What is that pain telling you?

Whether it's an ouchy muscle, a literal pain in the neck, frustration, or fear, there's often something that's causing us a bit dis-ease in our body when we stop to check-in. Often we view it as something to be overcome, fixed, or eliminated, but what if there's wisdom in this pain?

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Aidan Kinsella about the interconnectedness of our physical and emotional challenges and the growth and self-empowerment that can come through understanding our discomforts. We see it's not just about alleviating pain; it's an invitation to harmonize with life's rhythm, embracing change as an ally, and discovering the balance between certainty and adaptability.

Aidan is a Doctor of Chiropractic who has been practicing for 16 years. She founded the Verve Wellness Studio in 2008 in San Francisco. She practices a unique form of chiropractic called Network Spinal that uses gentle contacts along the spine to repattern the nervous system for a more efficient and energized expression of embodied authenticity. She works with clients at the intersection of nervous system health, embodiment, personal growth, and consciousness.

I’ve been working with Aidan for the past 8 months and the shift in my body and life have been amazing. Make sure to listen to the full episode because at the end we're guided through a simple yet powerful Somatic Respiratory Integration (SRI) breathing exercise that will leave you feeling more calm and connected with what's happening in your body, enhancing sleep and overall well-being.

To learn more about Dr. Aidan's practice or to book a free consultation visit VerveWellnessStudio.com
https://www.instagram.com/vervewellnessstudio/

Below are two links for anyone searching for a Network Spinal practitioner nearby:

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Watch the full video episode at Justin Wenck, Ph.D. YouTube Channel!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So today I'm going to be answering the question what are those pains telling you? Those pains in your body, maybe those emotional pains? Does it just mean that you just got to either suck it up, deal with it, or there's something totally broken and you need to find somebody who can fix you, like immediately and go have some surgery or some really I don't know very aggressive thing, some really I don't know very aggressive thing. Or are there other options that are maybe a little gentler and longer lasting and treat you holistically? And I'm joined today by Dr Aiden Kinsella, who is a doctor of chiropractic. She's been practicing for 16 years. She founded the Verve Wellness Studio in 2008 in San Francisco.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Now Aiden practices a very unique form of chiropractic called network spinal that uses gentle contacts along the spine to repattern the nervous system for a more efficient and energized expression of embodied authenticity. She works with clients at the intersection of nervous system, health, embodiment, personal growth and consciousness. Aiden helps people navigate physical and emotional pain to discover the opportunity for growth and self-empowerment that the lies and every discomfort. So I've personally been working with Aiden for the past eight months and the shift in my body and life has been just amazing. So I'd like to welcome to the show Aiden, good to have you on. How are you doing?

Speaker 2: 1:19

I'm great, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 1:29

Yeah. So I know when I, when I first came to you, it wasn't like anything was happening horribly with me. I was able to walk in, I was somewhat active and things were okay. But I wasn't kind of okay with okay anymore and I had been going to another chiropractic practitioner for I've actually probably been doing chiropractic care continuously since I got my first job in 2010. And it wasn't that that was when I first had pain. It was when I first had the means to start to do something about it, and it was.

Speaker 1: 1:54

And I kind of had the realization that, like, I don't think I'm getting any better anymore. It seems like it's two steps forward, two steps back and I'm just kind of in the same place and I and I was on a chat group and somebody had asked like oh, does anybody know a really great? You know, uh, someone to care for the back and spinal system and it was actually a friend of mine was like, oh, yeah, you gotta go see Dr, dr Aiden. Like, oh, it just changed my life. And I was just like all right, I'm sold and I think I scheduled an appointment for you like the next week and so much great stuff. Maybe we'll get into that later. But yeah, what? What do people typically come to you Like? What typically gets people to you know, look you up and go like, hey, I don't exactly know what this is, but fuck it, I'm ready for something different.

Speaker 2: 2:45

Well, it's true that most people because what I do is sort of unique most people do hear about network spinal care through a friend. You know somebody that says, hey, you got to try this. But I think the thing that's universal for all of us what brings you into something new is usually discomfort or usually pain, something that you need help with. So it's a very important stage in our healing when we say what's happening, I got to figure this out, I need help, I need something else and I'm not even sure what that is.

Speaker 2: 3:18

So usually people come in with some kind of pain and we define pain a little differently than it's a broader definition. So it could be a physical sensation, but also it could be any discomfort that interrupts your life. So sometimes that's a physical pain. I can't play tennis anymore because my shoulder hurts every time I try to do it. Or I can't sit at a desk and my job requires me to sit at a desk because my low back's hurt. Or it could be like I'm experiencing depression or anxiety or irritation or anger that's disrupting my relationships and I need help with this. So it can and it can be a circumstance too that all of a sudden life has thrown me a lot of things that I'm trying to adapt to and I'm overwhelmed. So any pain that interrupts the life you're living. So pain is usually what brings people in and that's a little bit taking care of. Then magically everything would be a-okay.

Speaker 1: 4:07

um, I guess it's kind of pointing to like there's more than just the symptom, which I think is traditionally sort of what traditional met western medicine and almost like a lot of I do, a lot of traditional chiropractic is still a lot more holistic look as well, but it's stuff like there's a little bit of that like we're gonna, we're gonna get in there, we're gonna, we're gonna like we're going to get in there, we're going to muscle this, we're going to fix this.

Speaker 2: 4:46

And how we are as human beings.

Speaker 2: 4:48

When we find a problem, we want to solve it, and so often it's also the stage of growth or healing that we're often in where we're seeking help and care is I have this problem, can you help me?

Speaker 2: 4:59

And so the challenge is that we tend to focus on the problem instead of on the person, and so with network care, that's one of the really big distinctions is that, though you come in with a problem, we're definitely going to be looking at that and working with that and helping your body with that. We're also looking at that in the context of who you are and what's happening in your life, and seeing what is the relationship between this pain or this problem and where you're at right now and what life is asking of you and how might there be some information that's really essential to you that's showing up in your body as pain and helping you connect with that I love that and I I do want to like mention to, uh, the listeners and the viewers that we are going to do a really awesome exercise at the end of this episode.

Speaker 1: 5:47

So it's not like oh great, I get to hear about this, you know something that might be helping me out, and I got to. I got to wait until I can find somebody and get into a. But what's great is you. You know, you offer sort of like. It's like I don't like the word homework because nobody I don't think anybody ever liked homework, but you offer some things that people can actually do on their own to supplement sessions with you, or that just kind of do some great things. And it's um, I believe it's. Was it somatic respiratory integration? Yes, sri.

Speaker 2: 6:18

Yeah, body breath integration.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Yeah, I don't know. I think of the old Simpsons where, where the the monorail was being sold to the town of springfield, where the troy mcclure character voiced by the late phil hartman is, like you know, mono meaning one rail, meaning rail, monorail, one rail.

Speaker 2: 6:33

it's like body, breath integration, it's like but yeah, and so you know, beyond the words themselves, it's just a way that you can use your own hands, your own breath and attention on your body that can create an experience of connection and ease and clarity, no matter where you're at.

Speaker 1: 6:52

So, in a moment of pain, or just as a practice to help you be more centered in your body and in yourself, yeah, and what I've found just amazing of you know doing these, and what I've found just amazing of you know doing these practices, is how easy they sound in theory and then how challenging they are and kind of like anything in life where I've kind of gone like I get that this should be easy but it's not. Oh, maybe that's why I have other challenges in life, like there's something that's not quite operating, that it should Like, whether it was in yoga or Pilates, and then now it's like, oh, it's just, you know, it's just simple ways of breathing, like, ah, how hard can that be? And then it's like, oh, my gosh, okay, I see this as actually working some stuff out. Um, and so I guess related like this broad definition of pain, you know, some disruption and, uh, a person's life flow is what brings them in.

Speaker 1: 7:46

What is it? That kind of network spinal is, you know, looking to help with change? I almost used the word disrupt, which I actually I don't like that. I've learned I don't like that, even though it's huge in the tech sphere. That was actually my last episode of how awful that term is.

Speaker 2: 8:07

We need to, we need to disrupt the use of the word disruption yeah, and it speaks to a really human truth that we it's we struggle with being uncomfortable. And one of the things I talk a lot about is that one of you know really our most basic human need is a need for certainty and stability, and your body is constantly seeking that sort of stability and homeostasis. So in an environment that's ever changing outside of us and inside of us, in our environment, in our body, it's flux and change all the time and the innate or inborn intelligence in your body is seeking to adapt to that and to stabilize all the time. And the innate or inborn intelligence in your body is seeking to adapt to that and to stabilize all the time. And we feel most comfortable when things are stable and they're predictable. And we are most uncomfortable when change happens, especially suddenly and especially when it feels like it's not in our control. And yet nothing in life, very little in life, is in our control, right. So we are often bombarded with disruption and change that we're trying to seek comfort and stability. And then, of course, we also can veer off the other end of that, where we get too stable and we get too static and the system is struggling there too.

Speaker 2: 9:24

So even Justin, how you spoke to where you were at coming in to this practice was not so much. Oh no, I have this new pain and I don't know what to do with it, but more seems like I've kind of flattened out or plateaued, or there's a lack of progress, and I think that that's a place that we, like people, get excited then about talking about disruption, but for most of us, um, disruption means discomfort, and discomfort is scary yeah and it's.

Speaker 1: 9:50

It's like the having the right amount of discomfort. I don't know. I like that. I kind of like the phrase like comfortably uncomfortable, because if it's like too much, then sometimes it's like, oh, I'm never gonna do that again, like let me go back into my cave and where it's safe and never venture out ever again. And then just staying in the cave is also not so it's like that sweet spot of venturing out little by little that can have like really really big, profound impacts. And so maybe, I don't know, would you be able to like kind of give like a little compare, contrast of how, because I, you know, I'm a little bit aware that there's, you know, multiple schools of chiropractic, but I think most people are familiar with it Like, oh, you know, you get your neck cracked. I think that's probably.

Speaker 2: 10:34

Well, most of us think about chiropractic.

Speaker 2: 10:36

We think you know back pain, posture, snap, crack, pop right.

Speaker 2: 10:42

What a lot of people don't know about chiropractic is the original chiropractors were metaphysicists.

Speaker 2: 10:46

They were really interested in the relationship between the spine and consciousness and the idea that interference in the nervous system so your nervous system being your brain, your spinal cord, your network of nerves, your nervous system being the filter through which you experience your life and also being the command center of our body so we're able to perceive our environment, transmit that information to the brain, assess and generate patterns of response and communicate that back out through the body.

Speaker 2: 11:16

So the nervous system, when it's free of interference, is communicating and adapting and flowing with energy very efficiently. So these are. The original idea of chiropractic is that there's a universal intelligence in all living things and there's an innate or inborn intelligence in all living things and that that innate intelligence flows from above down and inside out. And so this idea that when we're really connected and we're connected through our nervous system, that we're able to express and adapt and grow and live, and then when that system is interfered, there's interference in it. So you think about kind of a traditional chiropractic idea that there's a misalignment in the spine and attention.

Speaker 2: 11:57

Oh, all of a sudden, that communication isn't flowing anymore through the spine, Maybe that even more metaphysical kind of universal spirit and intelligence isn't expressing through an individual person as much anymore, and certainly within the body there's a disruption of communication between parts and the idea. If we clear this interference out of the nervous system and we restore that flow of energy and the expression of life, then we thrive. So how then the field developed is that many people started to experiment and explore and do research and see well, how does this interference manifest and how can we address it. So you can go to 10 different chiropractors and they might do 10 different things and probably eight or nine of them will have a really profound beneficial impact on your life. But the reason why you can do so many different things and all have a result is that you're working with intelligence and so the nervous system and our innate intelligence is. It's like having a conversation with the body. So what over the many years that chiropractic has been since 1895, we, you know this more traditional mainstream idea of chiropractic is a structural adjustment. So finding an area where there's tension, where there's misalignment, where the body, in our language, has gone into defense, and then applying a force to help free up that tension, to dislodge that interference and allow, allow the normal physiology to restore itself and allow that flow of energy.

Speaker 2: 13:24

What's really different about this technique is that the doctor who was developing it was asking a very specific thesis question.

Speaker 2: 13:30

His name is Donald Epstein and in the 80s, when he was developing network, he was asking where can I put the least amount of force into the nervous system that results in the greatest amount of nonlinear change? And so, instead of asking what's wrong and how do we fix it, when is the interference and how do we remove it? Instead he was asking how can I interact, how can I apply a force, how can I interact with the nervous system in a way that enhances the nervous system's capacity to be self-aware, to self-regulate and to repattern and to change and to grow? And so it had him look at even what was pretty well established at that time in the field of chiropractic a little differently, and he went on to develop this incredibly comprehensive model for how it is that we move through change at a nervous system level, and probably the key thing mechanically that we look at that's different is spinal cord tension. So you have an envelope that goes around your brain and around your spinal cord and that tissue the meninges attaches to the bone in the neck and it attaches to the bone down in the pelvis. So when you bend and stretch and move, your nerves stretch like a rubber band and they can do that within a certain range.

Speaker 2: 14:36

But if you take a nerve and you stretch it over time, actually it will die. So there's this direct relationship between a stretch or an elongation in the nerve and a stress response in the body.

Speaker 2: 14:48

Also we're stressed for any reason physical stress, chemical stress, emotional stress what he discovered is there's a corresponding spinal cord lengthening and tightening. That happens in response to that. Extreme version of that would be the fetal position. When mean you go into the fetal position, you're the most armored and the spinal cord is the most stretched and elongated. So so here's, here's the really the bifurcation point of what makes network really different than other types of chiropractic.

Speaker 2: 15:18

So far, this is very chiropractic, okay, I found I found a way that the flow of the communication is disrupted. There's this tension in the spinal cord and a more traditional chiropractic approach would be well then, how do we free up that tension? How do we force to reduce that tension, restore the flexibility and the flow and life can express again? And instead what Dr Epstein did. He said how can I make a contact in a place that helps the brain become more aware of the tension that's there? So instead of making a corrective force, we make a contact, a very light contact along the spine that cues the frontal cortex of the brain to become aware of that spot.

Speaker 2: 15:57

And the way I describe it to some of those of you who are listening and watching, who maybe never felt this before is if you imagine your hand is in a fist and you didn't know, and someone pointed out to you why is your head in a fist? And you went oh, I didn't realize I was doing that. As soon as you had that, oh, you could just release your fist. And this is true about the ways in which our body is holding in these protective, defensive, elongated, tight spinal cord tension patterns. And so what network does is makes these really gentle contacts along the spine that cue the brain to become more aware of where it's bracing, where it's in defense, and the body spontaneously, organically, starts to unwind that.

Speaker 1: 16:36

Yeah, it's. It's pretty amazing how our body does have, you know, that that innate intelligence. And kind of an example I was thinking of is is, if we have a cut, like the cut just heals itself. There's no, there's no, okay, I gotta do something special. But if anything, it's like, yeah, if there's, if you got cut and a bunch of junk is in it, like yeah, you got to rinse it out. But it doesn't necessarily mean you need to do a whole bunch of, I don't know, yeah, vigorous scrubbing. It's just, you just need the attention there and clear the area, kind of, and then the body does its thing and it's like it almost seems. That's kind of like what's being done here is it's like an awareness of you know, hey, you know this is happening, and I just go, oh, okay, well then, let's, let's do. I can't. And now it's been many no-transcript challenging people in my life, or or, I don't allow it, like I used to. It's been very interesting.

Speaker 2: 18:00

Yeah, and I think you're speaking to something that's really important is that you know we have a threshold for overwhelm or a threshold for pain, or we have a threshold for irritation, and when your nervous system is carrying a lot of that stress tension so we're stressed because of whatever's happening in our life, or maybe we're running patterns and habits in the nervous system from a previous time in our life that was stressful, so we're like operating in a really high tension in the nervous system. It doesn't take much to tip us over that threshold, and so it's really common after several weeks of network care for people to say, oh, that that movement doesn't hurt anymore, that person doesn't bother me anymore, I don't, I'm not as stressed as I was, and what they're really speaking to is that when there's more, there's more ease and connection in the body and we're not living in that threshold of tension, we have this buffer zone restored where we're able to-.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Some healthy resiliency.

Speaker 2: 18:57

Yeah, can ebb and flow, stress can come up, emotions can build up and dissipate and build up without hitting that point of overwhelm so much. And I think too, there's a question a lot of people have sometimes is, you know, talking about that, you have a cut and it heals, and sometimes you have pains and they go away Right and you're stiff, and then by the end of the day it's OK. Or you know, you strain yourself doing something and then it gets better, and then sometimes it doesn't, and so that can be really healing. For people Like, what if my cut doesn't, isn't healing and the Western medicine model is going to try to figure out what's wrong with that and fix it, and a chiropractic model is going to see well, where is the interference that's not allowing that innate intelligence to heal that interference that's not allowing that innate intelligence to heal that? And with network, what we do is we, we take a even wider lens and we ask a really different question, which is why now, yeah, why is?

Speaker 1: 19:56

why is this coming to consciousness, coming to awareness at this point in time and in this place?

Speaker 2: 20:01

and yeah, yeah and you know, if I, I, I people will tell me a lot when it's like I think I slept funny and that's a that's a favorite of mine. You sleep funny every night right, yeah why? Why now? Why today? Why and when we can allow ourselves and you know, especially when we can allow ourselves and especially when we're uncomfortable, we're trying to get to, seeking ease and comfort. So we want an answer.

Speaker 2: 20:30

We want a solution and we want something that's actionable, that we can do, that is going to give us relief, and you can see how so much of not just Western medicine but also more holistic models are built around that urgency are built around that urgency and really what's so empowering is when we can allow ourselves to be interrupted and pause and reflect in that with that question like why now?

Speaker 2: 20:53

And take a really much wider inventory of what's, what's happening, that my if, if we assume that everything the body is doing is for a reason, that if even this interruption, even this symptom, even this disease process that's emerging, even this really challenging situation is an opportunity for me to discover something, and if I can discover that, then I'm going to be able to navigate this moment and I'm also going to come out the other side of it with a sense of progress and growth.

Speaker 2: 21:23

There's always something that pain is calling our attention to and we've been sort of taught by this more Western medicine model to really narrow our focus of I have pain in my knee. Then what's happening with my knee and what have I done with my knee in the last three days? And we really also only think very physically what have I done physically with my knee? And this more change and reorganizational healing perspective where we say, well, let's pause and say, well, why now? Why today? If I take inventory, what's going on with me and with my life and the different stress levels I have and the energy I have available, what's needing my attention now?

Speaker 1: 22:03

Yeah, I love it and because it really is like a wisdom in the body, whenever it's telling us information through what can be through pleasure, but also through pain, it's usually there's a good, there's a good reason, and it seems like only in our Western culture is it what there's. If there's pain, you know, and kids, it's like they put their hand on a hot stove. You tell them well, take your hand away. It's not like, well, okay, figure out how to put your hand on there longer. You know like, well, let's, you know, give you the right pill, let's give you the right mindset so that you can have it.

Speaker 1: 22:33

You go take your hand off, but it's like then, but adults, it's like I don't know, there's something with my workplace and it take some medication and go exercise. It's like, or maybe like talk to the person at work that you're having an issue with, or change the workplace. Or. I do find it very interesting because I do feel like the body is sort of like the our cosmic receptionist, that it's like every anything and everything that's ever happened. It's like taking note and it's like, okay, oh, you're busy. You're busy Like, okay, oh, you're busy. You're busy Like, okay, let me put that in your hip Okay, you're busy with that Like, oh, that can go to your neck, that can go to your shoulder and it's there. All of our life is waiting for us to deal with when we're finally ready.

Speaker 2: 23:16

We like to say what goes to the back of your mind, goes to your spine, and really you know, when you say your body there, you're also speaking about your nervous system, our nervous system is collecting data all the time, and that starts your nervous system, is the first thing to develop in utero and it's starting to take inventory, even in the womb, of how do I adapt to life, how do I grow in the face of these different forces, and we develop strategies to adapt. We do the best we can with the energy and the information we have available in the moment, and then we go on and we go on, and a lot of times for folks, pain sometimes will come up in a moment in our life when the strategy that we've been using that was effective in the moment we developed it and maybe had a long range of being effective, suddenly needs to be upgraded and reworked and something new needs to emerge in order to continue to express fully. So it's one of the things I find. Really it's a reorientation and a reeducation process for people to change the relationship to pain and discomfort.

Speaker 2: 25:27

We think something's wrong, to pain and discomfort. We think something's wrong, I've got to figure it out and fix it, and it's very often something's changing or something needs to change. And so when we can pause and take that, why now larger picture inventory of our life? Then we're able to discover where the changes may be happening, or the change is coming, or the change has already happened and we're so in our tunnel vision of like, just push through, I've got to keep going, keep going. And there's a really important pivot that's actually going to help open up our life again and open up our feeling and experiencing and learning and growing again.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Yeah, cause it's really when life is at its most enjoyable. It's usually there's change and growth, like it's. There's not really many people like, oh, it was just so great those 10 years where I just did the same thing day in, day out and nothing ever changed. It's usually like, oh yeah, there was this, there's this challenge, or you know, and I didn't know how this would work out, and then these people were interesting, and then this thing, and yeah, and then we created this really cool. Oh, those, those were, those were the days.

Speaker 2: 26:35

Those were the days.

Speaker 2: 26:37

And and human beings are the most creative species on the planet. It's really so much of what we're here for and what our brains are built for. And so when the nervous system is in that habit of a stress physiology, we're just not utilizing this incredible creative capacity and that in its, in its, there's a pain to that and there's a frustration to that, and sometimes we're not directly aware of it, but it will show up somatically and symptomatically and emotionally in our, in our mental health too, that we feel, and in our mental health too, that we feel bored or we feel apathetic, we feel depressed or we feel like everything is effortful, we feel fatigued, we feel overstimulated to the point of not feeling anything anymore.

Speaker 1: 27:27

Yeah, sometimes, yeah, something feels too much, and then sometimes that too much just leads to not feeling anything.

Speaker 1: 27:32

Yeah, yeah, it's sometimes yeah, it's something feels too much, and then sometimes it's that too much just leads to like not feeling anything. Um, yeah, cause I definitely know, like you know, the, the places of sort of greatest tension in my body. It's like I go and get a massage and it's like I don't even feel anything, like you probably. You know somebody could put heels on and put all their body weight and it's like that's the part of my body. It's just, it's just done, it's just I don't want to feel anything.

Speaker 2: 27:53

And we would describe that in network as an area that's in defense.

Speaker 1: 27:56

Hmm.

Speaker 2: 27:57

I can't.

Speaker 2: 27:59

I don't want to, and there's a relationship between force and presence. So the less present we are in our body or with somebody, the more force we need to create a change, and the more that we are, the less force we need. And so part of why one of the questions people ask all the time with network is how can such a gentle touch create such a significant change? And it's because the that gentle touch is in a point, in a place that your brain can be very present with and is also being present with this sort of larger idea, present with the human being and not just the condition and this person in this moment in their life. The larger the context, the more energy available for change.

Speaker 1: 28:49

Yeah, it is amazing, the power of presence. I'm thinking of people that I've met who said they've met a president of the United States and I think it matters. It doesn't even matter if they like the president or not, but they always remember it and usually there's nothing big that happens. It's usually like a handshake and eye contact and maybe two words. But everyone who's met a president feels impacted because I guess, you know, one of the things that gets them to where they are is just that ability to have that powerful presence of just like being there. And we all have that capability, right or unlocked it or been encouraged to be that present with ourselves and then with others, which I'm sure is, which I know is also a superpower to be present with others.

Speaker 2: 29:36

It is, and I think there's a. You know, we're most fulfilled by those kinds of moments when we feel a depth of connection with another person with sort of as a place in nature, another person with sort of as a place in nature, with a project we're working on with um, an idea when we can have that moment where there's something kind of expands and opens and that that the present moment gets deeper, wider, fuller and more fulfilling and really that, at its kind of most basic, is what we're starting with with, with network care, and when we do this little exercise at the end of the podcast today, what we're cultivating, we have that at our fingertips all the time to kind of create that moment of connection that the more we do that is, it becomes something that's familiar and we know how to practice, grows and blooms and cultivates more and more of those moments in our life.

Speaker 1: 30:30

I love that. Maybe now is a good time to. You know we've been talking about the gent, what gentle touch, and you know what kind of are the benefits and how it's different. I think it's time for the video. So the last entrainment I got last week, we got got that video videoed. I almost said videotaped, even though there's no oh yeah, no, no tape.

Speaker 1: 30:53

Yeah, um, I was doing something this this weekend and they were, um, it was like a virtual retreat and they'd they'd play some music during breaks and the thing playing the music had like a spinning disc and I, I thought I was, I'm like I bet I to me that's a CD. But I wanted to ask because there was like a younger woman there and I wanted to find out what she would have thought, because I wonder if she might think it's like it's a spinning vinyl record, because I think vinyl record is actually more well-known to younger people than.

Speaker 1: 31:23

CDs are.

Speaker 2: 31:25

Absolutely. I saw a meme that said I showed my child, my 10-year-old, a floppy disk and he said oh you, 3d printed the save icon and our computers is an old floppy disk.

Speaker 1: 31:41

That's right. The save thing is the old floppy disk which most people that actually saw the floppy disk, they weren't even floppy. They were the hard three and a half inch, yeah, whereas the previous ones were actually, yeah, the five and a quarter and I think it was even like eight. They were eight inch and even 10 inch. Those were actually floppy. Those were actually floppy, yeah. Yeah. It's interesting how things change, and so let me get the this video up so Aiden can kind of say explain what's going on.

Speaker 2: 32:18

And some things to pay attention to are how it's a light touch, right, we've been talking about and that, like we said, with that analogy, once the brain becomes aware of what's happening, we naturally start to adapt and make changes. So, after making just a really light touch on the spine, there's more breath moving through the spine, there's more awareness of the tension and the body starts using movement and breath and sound and emotion to dissipate the tension that may have built up. Motion to dissipate the tension that may have built up. So you can see, I make really light touch on the spine and there's more breath moving through justin's spine as the result. Were you going to say something, justin?

Speaker 1: 32:58

well, yeah, just like, even though it seems like subtle and small, it's like there's a lot of work. Uh, that's going on because these are, you know, movements that have maybe never had, or it's been, you know, since I, since I was, I don't know, under 10 years old, that I've allowed my body to move this way, and it really is quite amazing to experience.

Speaker 2: 33:23

Yeah, and you can see the work that Justin is talking about, as he's lifting his head and moving his neck and the breath is like like the way an ocean wave will come up to the shore and then the next one will go a little further. The breath is going a little and further and further through where there's some tension in his upper back until it can go there. It goes all the way through the spine.

Speaker 2: 33:44

Yeah, it's pretty wild yeah the reason that's important, this idea of breath all the way through the spine is that breath through the spine equals connection, and so the brain is fully aware of what's happening in the body. And so, coming back to the idea of, with connection and awareness, the body will remove the interference that's there. So I don't need to apply a strong force or dig my elbow into a muscle to get it to release. But there is still work.

Speaker 2: 34:15

Like you said, there's not, even though I'm not applying a hard force from the outside. Instead, your body, your nervous system, is gathering the energy that it takes to build up for change. And that's like you said, it's a little bit of work on the table. But then, after there's also relief and release, more energy and more space and more awareness. And then, when you go out into your life and life challenges you, something's gonna require a little bit of work or a little buildup or a little gathering of your emotional energy for an action or to speak up or to try something new. So every entrainment like that, we're cultivating this ability to become aware, become aware of where there's tension that maybe is not helpful in this moment, relax and release in one place and then maybe build up tension and emotional energy in another place. That results in the whole system coming online and there being more ease and efficiency in the whole system.

Speaker 1: 35:18

Yeah, it's really quite amazing. And I think also, what's amazing is, you know there's there's some of the stuff where it's like, oh, this sounds like very woo woo and all. Yet all of you know all the chiropractic schools, uh, and network. There's a lot of scientific research, which is why a lot of insurance you know we'll, we'll cover, like your HSA health savings account, those things are, because it's also backed by scientific evidence that these things result in beneficial outcomes, cause, trust me, the insurance companies do want, want to, do not want to cover anything unless they absolutely have to, at least from my experience their profit system yeah, what?

Speaker 1: 35:59

no, I thought they were. They were for my benefit. You know, it's the government that was going to have these death panels to kill me. This is my, my you know friendly neighborhood insurance company in a big corporate.

Speaker 2: 36:11

What yes, yes.

Speaker 1: 36:14

Yeah, but yeah, and so the fact that there is this, you know there's. You know you can look up all the scientific papers you want or you can just experience it, which more and more is kind of what I like to go with is somebody else says, hey, this worked for me and it's like, all right, I'm a person too. Let me try it out. And you know, definitely go to Verve, let's see what's the website Vervewellnessstudiocom. You know we'll have a link in the notes for that. We're still going to talk and do the thing, but I just want to let people know that. So if you are in the San Francisco area, definitely check out Aiden's practice. It's a beautiful part. It's near like a great hill where you can spend 10 minutes, get to the top of this hill and you can basically be eye to eye with Salesforce Tower. It's really cool.

Speaker 2: 37:01

Absolutely. You get a little hike in and it's a beautiful view and anybody who is curious after this conversation and has more questions and even is like, oh, there's research, I'd like to know what that is. Anyone can feel free to reach out to me and ask questions, and always happy to talk more.

Speaker 1: 37:17

Yeah, definitely, and I don't know more. And it's not to say that Western medicine doesn't have its place. It absolutely, totally does. It has a place. It's not the totality of human health, and I think that's the important thing is that sometimes it is important to focus on a part, yet it's also very important to focus on the entire whole. And I don't know, it's kind of like a piece of ancient wisdom that it's as above so below, as within, so without. So it's sort of like whatever's happening in probably one area of our body, our life, it's probably having an impact in other areas, you know. So it's like, as well as we are working with our body is probably how well we're working with our relationships, our career and other stuff.

Speaker 2: 38:02

Um, I know Absolutely and I think another, another key piece of an individual that network is a really great answer for is somebody who's tried Western medicine. You know you've got something going on with your body or your health or your growth that feels like you kind of hit a limit of what the system had to offer you and you have a sense that there's something more. You've either plateaued in what I was doing or I tried some PT. That helped a little. I tried meditation. That helped a little. I tried changing my diet. That helped a little. I tried setting up my desk differently. That helped a little, but it hasn't quite resolved and it feels like there's something more and that's a great moment to come into network care.

Speaker 1: 38:48

Yeah, and I would say you know cause? It's like I've had such amazing benefit over the last eight months. Um, and it's not like this is the only thing I'm doing. It's like, yeah, a lot of those things you just mentioned. I had been doing them too, like doing Qigong, like you know, doing movement practices, walking, you know eating better, um, all you know therapy, working with coaches. Yet I found that when I did start network care, it's like all those things started working better. And then it's like, oh, some major shifts.

Speaker 1: 39:22

You know, the most recent, like big one, is for most of my life to go to sleep. I started doing it, I think, probably when I was like 14, like listening to a talk show to go to sleep, and then that, you know, turned into listening to podcasts and about 28 days ago I was like I think I'm done with this. I did a digital detox. I'm like, well, I can't listen because that comes from a digital thing. And then since then, the first week kind of sucked, I got to admit. But now it's like, oh, I'm like looking forward going to sleep and like enjoying dreams. And you know whereas before it was always like a lot of anxiety to go to bed. Honestly, it was like oh fuck, I gotta just listen to something, distract my brain from itself.

Speaker 2: 40:05

Wait and anxiety was like. Would I be able to fall asleep? Is that or?

Speaker 1: 40:08

is it like that?

Speaker 2: 40:09

And anxiety was like would I be able to fall?

Speaker 1: 40:12

asleep, is that, or is it like that? No-transcript, I would drink NyQuil to go to sleep and things like that and sleeping pills, and you know, it's like in the past two years got over that, but I still have to have my thing to listen to.

Speaker 2: 40:49

and then like, yeah, the past month it's like, oh, I don't need that anymore, which is really cool it's really cool and what it is it impacting, like how you wake up or how you what the quality of your sleep. Like you mentioned dreams, but so there's a big shift in a pattern and a behavior you've used and I'm curious. It's still new, but I'm curious if you're noticing what, how that changes impacting other things in your life.

Speaker 1: 41:15

Yeah, so definitely the um, the dreams, you know which. In the past it was like I don't think I ever really remembered my dreams much or thought much of it. Um, you know, whereas now I mean this is also in conjunction with, like, if I do have a dream, I've been making it a point to write that down when I I do journaling in the morning, and so it's like I'm going to write it down. So I've heard that that helps with the, with the dreaming and the retention. Yeah, I think still stuff is still sort of like unfolding to see if, um, but it's like I'm actually getting more. I know I'm definitely getting more sleep during the hours I'm in bed because of this. So, um, you know, kind of look back and it's like, oh yeah, I'd be in bed for nine hours but maybe I'd only get, you know, seven hours of sleep, because it's like I'm listening to the thing and then that probably agitated me and then or disrupted my sleep.

Speaker 2: 42:06

Um, yeah, so it's like these little things now able to kind of be present with that transition in a time, versus that transition was a kind of a place of uncertainty and a place of anxiety and I think one of the things to the way our our, our minds are focused and busy all day and it's nice.

Speaker 2: 42:23

When we start to transition into sleep, then that kind of focus thinking part of our brain starts to soften. Then sometimes stuff that we've been pushing aside all day starts to come up, so emotional things, worries, concerns, fears will start to pop up and then that can be really disruptive to trying to fall asleep. So this exercise that we're going to do for anybody who does struggle a little bit with falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the and getting back to sleep, this is a great exercise to do to help your body and your nervous system come out of a stress response and into more connection yeah, I think this is this is the time and yeah, I've definitely used it sometimes, you know, because, yeah, it's like, oh, I'm having feelings and thoughts that I'm uncomfortable, but but I, I just want to, yeah, and so this is this is definitely helpful.

Speaker 1: 43:13

So, yeah, let's do it. So let's do the SRI.

Speaker 2: 43:16

Awesome. So what you're going to do is you can do this. You can do this any, any position you're in. So if you're standing listening to this or seated, or laying down any position you're in, what you're going to do is place one hand on top of the other and place that little sandwich of hands you made on your upper chest and just letting your hands rest there, letting your elbows kind of relax down, and it's best if you close your eyes. You're going to breathe in your nose and out your mouth.

Speaker 2: 43:44

So inhaling right to the spot your hands are touching and exhaling out, feeling the rise and the fall as the breath comes in and the breath exits, just allowing yourself to tune into this spot. What's it feel like to breathe here? Is it easy or does it work? Then you're going to move your hands down to the second spot, which is right where your ribs open, so your thumbs will be touching the bony part and your pinky side of your hand is touching the softer belly part, and now breathing into this middle section. Feel the breath come in, exhaling out your mouth, feel the breath go out. It moves differently here. Our ribs move different, our diaphragm moves differently. So just noticing the movement that happens with the breath, just tuning into this spot Is it easy to breathe here or does it work? Is it easier than the first spot or is it more work than the first spot spot or is it more work than the first spot? And then bringing your hands down so that you're right over your belly button. Now, as you inhale, you'll feel the belly expand and soften and feeling how the movement here is different, noticing what the range of breath is like here, and just tuning in and being present with this part. Does this feel easy to breathe into or does it work?

Speaker 2: 45:16

And then you're going to bring your hands to whichever of the three spots was the easiest. We're so practiced at scanning for what doesn't work or what's less than, but here you're going to bring your hands to whichever position felt like the least amount of work. It's the easiest Just taking two or three breaths in your nose and out your mouth. Movement, the breath, energy in this spot, in this spot, just scanning for where there's ease and bringing more attention and touch to the place in your body that feels more easeful changes your nervous system. Just this practice is powerful. But we're going to add on. Now you're going to bring your hands to whichever spot was the most. Work was the hardest. Maybe it didn't move well, maybe it was hard to breathe into, maybe you just didn't feel anything. And while you touch that spot, you're going to say out loud sometimes I get disconnected.

Speaker 1: 46:19

Sometimes I get disconnected.

Speaker 2: 46:22

Take a breath in your nose, out your mouth and then bring your hands back to whichever spot was the most peaceful, the most connected, the easiest and allowing yourself to settle back into the breath here, breathing in your nose and out your mouth, taking two or three or four breaths, just reconnecting to that source of ease in this moment, and then come back to that one that was harder, and this time in your own words. Sometimes I feel, or sometimes it seems like something to describe what that spot's like. So for me, sometimes it feels like I don't have any room.

Speaker 1: 47:08

Sometimes it seems like things just aren't moving the way I want it to.

Speaker 2: 47:12

And then back to the easy spot On your next exhale in this easy spot you're going to make a sound for ease.

Speaker 2: 47:31

Making sound is really powerful and it's one of the things and you can keep doing that. So as I, as I speak about this for a moment, just breathing in your nose and as you exhale, make a sound of ease, good to practice. Making sounds are really emotional and they're part of communication and they're very intimate. So when we give voice to what something feels like in our body, whether that's with a statement, sometimes I feel disconnected here, sometimes it feels like nothing works, sometimes I feel helpless or we make a tone or a sound that resonates with a part of our body. It's like saying I hear you, I see you.

Speaker 2: 48:08

You're a part of yourself One more time. Breath and sound of ease. Then you're going to go back to the spot that was more work or harder, and you're going to make a sound for dis-ease or disconnection or just any sound that's like, and then back to the place of connection Again the sound of ease again the sound of ease and then letting your hands rest off. Those spots could be on your lap or by your sides and just taking a moment to breathe through all three belly ribs, chest.

Speaker 2: 48:50

Notice what's different notice what you're aware of now that you weren't aware of before.

Speaker 1: 49:03

Yeah, I kind of feel like a flow of connection between like all three now Just really cool.

Speaker 2: 49:13

Awesome.

Speaker 1: 49:14

Like the breath is a lot fuller too. It's like going through all of those areas.

Speaker 2: 49:21

Yeah. So again, a great thing to do, to just practice being more present, to connect to a source of ease and energy in any moment and to help your body transition. So we talked about using this when you get in bed, before you fall asleep. But when I'm teaching people this strategy, I often recommend try to make this a daily practice and stick it in the transitions. You know, I'm going from being with people to being by myself. I'm going from driving to getting out of the car and going into a meeting. I'm going from, you know, maybe working on a project, to doing something really different. Teaching your nervous system the habit of dropping in, getting connected, noticing the breath, finding ease, acknowledging discomfort or disconnection or integrating a place that maybe doesn't feel as resourceful, and then ending in that ease place is incredibly powerful.

Speaker 1: 50:20

Yeah, and I think what's interesting is that that you know that sense of ease it doesn't really take. It's it's sort of like when we do touch in with the different parts and the transition or the stock, like the they're usually in just being this more sense of easefulness about it, without any more effort than just that. Um, yeah, and it's like the trans. I love that, the honoring the transition, because it's like in in yoga they try to make that, but it's not just about doing the perfect downward dog and then you can be, you know, and then just be a complete mess as you go into warrior one. It's like no, like how you transition from one poses to the other, like that deserves mindfulness and attention and um, you care as, like you know, moving in the poses and I like that, bring that to moving throughout life that you're often directed to use in.

Speaker 2: 51:13

That is the breath. Yeah, for me, when I was first learning and practicing yoga, it was quite a discovery to recognize that I held my breath in the transitions and we often breath when we're efforting.

Speaker 2: 51:27

We hold our breath when we're focusing. We hold our breath when we are uncomfortable, because when you breathe more, you perceive and feel more, which ultimately gives you more data, which is helpful. But in a moment of overwhelm, it's a quick way, it's a survival and protective strategy, to mute our awareness and mute our feeling. So many of us have a strategy of not breathing that's left over from moments that were stressful. So as we reconnect with the breath and we unarmor, we're much more connected and we can operate a lot more efficiently, both in your transition from downward dog as well as in communication with another person.

Speaker 1: 52:08

Yeah, and I also loved, you know, the, the making the sounds, like the using the voice and I don't know.

Speaker 1: 52:15

Know, I'm still amazed at how little I use my voice, even though I have nobody to bother, like I, my neighbors are a distance away, I could probably yell anything whatever, and yet so often I make no, no noises, unless I am talking to another person on zoom or whatever, or go and talk to somebody and it's like, and I've been getting more into the habit of speaking out loud and making noises.

Speaker 1: 52:37

I had this interesting shower thought the other day that the quietest, most politest societies, which I include American society, british society and then German society have actually ended up doing the most horrible atrocities on on a scale because people think like, oh, the horrible, the horrible germans, right, the nazis of world war ii. And it's like, actually the, the german populace is highly polite and compliant, which sort of allows for a like, well, if somebody tells you just be quiet and don't ask about that, and then you know, then people can do whatever. Um, and I think our bodies are a little bit like that, where it's like, yeah, we'll just be quiet, not say anything, and then that allows whatever, that diseased part of us to just go sort of unfettered and bundle into like something bigger than it needs to be. But when we just kind of give a voice to it and to the other parts, um, some magic happens I think we could do a whole podcast on that oh yeah, yeah, and it's also not even magic.

Speaker 1: 53:41

Like there's a lot of scientific background, like because, like this, focusing on parts like internal family systems, I think, is like they come, you know, and then just attaching that to different parts of the bot, like these are all these aren't. Just what's funny is like they are made up, but they aren't. They're also, yeah, there's, there's experiments, studies that have been done, so like the stuff is actually having beneficial measurable and we can.

Speaker 2: 54:05

We can bring those concepts into embodiment and into practice and we often are able to harness the most wisdom from them.

Speaker 1: 54:15

Yeah, and I do also like to challenge, challenge people that you know not everything has to be. You know there's there's a difference between what we want. You know, when we're talking like policy as far as like the general population, then there's like, when it comes to just an individual's life, it's like for my life, all I care is that it works for me. Like that that doesn't fit, works for 99% of the population but doesn't work for me. Then it doesn't work for me but it works for me and it doesn't work for anybody else. Who cares? It doesn't mean that it works for me. I need to make sure that that's what everybody does Like. That's a different. That's a different thing.

Speaker 2: 54:50

But a lot of the stuff like discern that for yourself Right and one of the major benefits to network care the people that I've seen you know as they progress is that that, that kind of discernment of what's helpful for me and when, which tool at what time is most useful and most efficient and effective for me and when you can? Really your body's giving you feedback about that all the time. But when we've kind of muted muted that data, we're trying to figure it out and therefore we're trying to do it right. And whatever we've learned about what right is is really been informed by our families of origin and the culture we grew up in, the values we were exposed to and the painful experiences and the positive experiences we had.

Speaker 2: 55:39

And yet all of that information might be useless for what I need right now, in this moment, with this person or in this situation, but the body is always trying to talk to you and tell you exactly what it needs. So, when we can start with, can I just get connected and can I become aware and acknowledge what I'm becoming aware of, which is the making sound or the giving voice to part, and the intimate part, the part that we're a little like. Oh, that's uncomfortable, even if you're alone in your house, like you said, to make a sound. It's incredibly vulnerable and therefore it's very empowering and powerful.

Speaker 1: 56:13

Yeah, and like this is all this stuff that they kind of talk about with you know, building healthy relationships with other people, and we're people too, even if it's just us with just our body. So I love that and that's what you know. Been great to have you on to sort of like talk about network care, network spinal, network spinal analysis, network spinal yeah, it really is cool, cool and yeah, maybe now is not the time, but maybe someday it will be, and you'll be like, oh yeah, I heard about that thing and, um, it'll be available. So it's always good to have this awareness of all these amazing tools that we humans have developed for each other, um, and continue to evolve and develop. And yeah, any last words, aiden.

Speaker 2: 57:00

You know. I would just say that I will also share with you, justin, that we can maybe put in the comments of the video ways for people who maybe aren't in San Francisco and are interested in discovering if there's somebody who practices network care in the town that they're in or close to where they live, that there's a couple different directories that we can direct people to oh yeah, that'd be great.

Speaker 1: 57:19

Yeah, we'll definitely make sure that's in the uh, the show notes and um available in like the comments. So wherever you're, wherever you're viewing this from, it should be, you know, pretty easy for you to find. Um you know someone in someone in your area. But if you are in the San Francisco and Bay area, highly recommend um checking out Aiden Um so you can go to verb wellness studiocom, to um you know to to make an appointment. Uh, she likes to do a consult before you come in Uh, so you can kind of get to get to know each other. Um, yeah, so yeah, thank you so much for being on.

Speaker 2: 57:52

So fun. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 57:54

Yeah, appreciate it. Thanks so much, everybody, and a good