Delphi_Traxx

To all intents and purposes, the spinal chord is part of the brain. This means spinal health is mental health. The brain and spinal cord develop from the same embryological structure (the neural tube). There’s no sharp biological boundary between them; just a gradual transition at the brainstem. They are made of the same tissue types: neurons, glial cells, white matter, grey matter. There are hundreds of millions of neurons in the spinal chord. Part of what differentiates them is their areas of the specialization. Where the brain specializes in abstraction, modelling and integration, the spinal chord specializes in embodied intelligence. The intelligence of movement and action. As so many modern mental health problems stem from a lack of embodiment, spinal health can be key to healing them. Many of our mental patterns of dissociation and disembodiment are encoded and ossified in our spine. Any emotionally sensitive person who finds a way to bring greater alignment and spaciousness to their spine will notice greater alignment and spaciousness in their mind and emotions. It’s no coincidence that many spiritual systems point to the spine as the main vessel that spiritual energy travels through. Straightening that vessel out can also unlock untold reserves of energy and spiritual transformation in us. One of the only physical instructions the Buddha gives in the Pali canon (over and over again) is to sit with an upright body when meditating. Zen masters also stress the importance of an erect spike. In Tibetan tantric systems, the spine is where the central channel that is core to their key technique of tummo meditation is located. Most spiritual systems are aligned on the importance of taking care of our spine. Of course this doesn’t mean that if we have irreparable spinal damage, we can’t progress in spiritual practice (the heart always finds a way). But for those of us lucky enough to have our spines in tact, we should be including a spinal health protocol as part of whatever spiritual or mental health practice we might have.

What does it mean to say “everything is love”? There is an idea in tantra that everything is the deity. Everything is an expression of the sacred. Everything is also mantra. That is, everything is sacred song. We might also say: the universe is a poem. Some lines in a beautiful poem are horrifying. Some phrases is a beautiful symphony are full of melancholy. Their beauty is only revealed in the context of the whole. It’s hard to sense how some parts of the universe could be sacred. Especially the awful wars, diseases, and abuse in the world. But we can’t look at them in isolation like this. It would be like sampling a dissonant chord from a Beethoven piece. Then playing it over and over again in a loop to try and penetrate its role in the concerto. Instead we can see existence not just as a sequence of brute events. We can see it as a poem trying to convey meaning to us. We don’t penetrate the meaning of a poem by picking it apart like a 9th-grade school teacher. We penetrate the meaning of a poem by falling in love with it. When we fall in love with the world, our heartbreak may intensify. But the meaning of life’s poem intensifies too. And it becomes easier to see what is meant by “everything is love.”