Blog — Rajan Wellness

Network Spinal is a low force chiropractic technique using breath and body awareness developed by Dr. Donny Epstein. Soft, precise, light touch to your spine helps signal the brain to unwind spinal cord tension and create new wellness promoting strategies. This allows for improved movement of the breath and decreased overall tension in the muscles, spinal vertebrae and nervous system. Everything is energy, and this gentle method of care creates a vibrational wave along the spine to harmonize and synchronize the breath. One of the results is that you feel at ease and in greater flow with your life.

With traditional manual chiropractic care, the tension that builds up in the body is released with adjustments to the spinal joints, providing immediate relief. However, this tension often returns quickly because the repetitive stressors in our lives cause the body’s natural mechanism to guard and protect itself. On the other hand, in Network Spinal care, the existing, bound-up tension is used as fuel to shift body holding patterns and to provide lasting changes in the neural circuitry. This reorganizational healing technique is revolutionary! It actually creates new strategies so that your body is able to adapt and manage the stress that it encounters daily.

The reason I know this methodology works, is because I have experienced first hand the changes in my spine after receiving Network Spinal care. I have been a dancer my whole life and as a young girl, put my spine through many demands. I trained in a classical Indian dance form called Bharathanatyam, which has many yoga based postures. I performed regularly on stage and was required to move into difficult poses in time to the music, wearing restrictive yet beautiful costumes. (ie. not yoga pants!) Over the years, I had developed areas of my back that were constantly so taut and would experience a lot of tightness. Only after I started getting regular chiropractic care during school, did I realize how much muscular tension I was holding. My classmates joked that I had a back of steel! I was receiving regular adjustments and I would feel great, but I noticed the same problem areas return again and again and I couldn't understand why it would never change.

A few years into practice, I was fortunate to be working in a clinic where a colleague was solely practicing Network Spinal technique. This doctor introduced me to such amazing light touch technology that I had only been exposed to once before, as there are a smaller number of practitioners using this type of care. She helped solve the puzzle of why my tension patterns kept recurring even with routine manual chiropractic adjustments. I was lucky enough to experience Network Spinal care consistently and everything in my spine shifted. I noticed that the usual spots weren't tender anymore and I didn't feel the same tension or trigger points (knots) any longer. I realized how much better I could breathe and how my spine became more flexible and moved with ease. The benefits of this revolutionary care were evident. It also completely changed the way I practice, thanks to her sharing and providing my care while mentoring me and helping me expand my skills after completing some training seminars. Now I ensure that every client receives this magical method during their visit so that new strategies for healing and wellbeing can be developed.

Network Spinal care allows you to breathe better, improves your posture, and brings a more positive outlook on life. It also brings resilience to the nervous system, allowing you to bounce back from injuries or sickness faster. This cutting edge and energetic method of care is safe and effective for all ages, from wee little newborn babies to urban professionals, from athletes to pregnant women to senior citizens. This technique helps amplify the effects of any other treatments you are receiving in conjunction. I have had the pleasure of utilizing this wonderful type of care on a wide range of patients, with delightful results that sometimes even supersede expectations.

Over the years in my practice, I have seen some of the most profound healing results coming from the lightest, energetic touch. I encourage everyone to try this next level care. Come and feel for yourself! It would be an honour to serve you, soften your spinal tension and help you breathe in bliss.

—Dr. Anita Rajan

With everything going on in the world, the one thing that can help us calm down is to breathe.

Yes, Breathe. Such a charged word in light of recent events, namely, the Coronavirus pandemic affecting the lungs and respiratory system, and George Floyd’s death secondary to suffocation and police brutality/racial injustice. Both of these world events have caused overwhelm, and have focused and magnified the essence of being able to breathe.

Breathe. The key to life, breathing is such a simple thing, yet it can feel so hard, especially in moments of distress and major challenge. However, massive shifts come when we become present to our breath and body awareness.

Breath is the essence of our being, it is our inspiration. To inspire is to breathe. Our breath is a key indicator of how we are feeling, emotionally and physically. In traditional chinese medicine, the lung meridian is related to the emotions of grief and sadness. If we are not able to express these emotions, or get overwhelmed by them, it will weaken the lungs and compromise their main function which is respiration.

When our breath is fast and shallow, we are usually fighting for survival, and there is some kind of stress or worry occurring. Our sympathetic system kicks into fight or flight mode. When our breath is slow and deep, we are relaxed, calm and feeling at ease. It activates our parasympathetic system and signals to our brain that we are safe to relax, repair, and heal.

The lungs are protected and housed within the rib cage, which can often become torqued and twisted, especially with activities of modern day living. The rib cage seems like a static structure, but it is actually somewhat flexible. The chest expands upon inhalation and contracts during exhalation while the ribs rise and fall with each breath. Being in a forward flexion, defensive posture for most of the day contributes to us not being able to take in full, deep belly breaths. This happens because we are flexed in front of a computer all day, sitting while commuting in the car or public transit, slouching on the couch, and just in overall survival mode the majority of the time while dealing with plenty of stressors in our lives. Our spines become hunched forward, reducing the capacity for our lungs to fully expand. In turn, the ribs themselves shift out of proper position because the muscles holding them in place are weak.

I see this often in my chiropractic practice, it is called a ‘Rib Out’ of place. It is very common, especially in women, and usually appears as trigger points or knots in between the shoulder blades. Rib joints may feel very tender and inflamed. Most people feel relief from pain when these points get massaged and pushed on, however, that won’t solve the problem because it is actually the rib joint that is not in the correct and optimal position. Rib outs can show up with more severe symptoms like extreme pain and difficulty breathing. Every breath can feel excruciating and pain may appear along the front, side, or back of the ribcage. Rib joint dysfunction can even mimic a heart or digestive condition.

In addition to poor posture, ‘rib outs’ may be caused by excessive coughing, extreme sneezing, forceful vomiting, over-exercising with improper form, and shifts in weight due to pregnancy.

Chiropractic care is one of the most effective ways to care for rib joints that are out of place, allowing you to breathe again. Opening up the ribcage by correctly aligning the ribs and spinal joints will allow flexibility, while protecting the important vital organs (heart and lungs) and is imperative for good health. Imagine being able to inhale deeply and exhale completely, fully feeling your breath which signals to the brain an overall sense of wellbeing. This in turn helps open up your heart chakra, and cultivates coming from a loving space, which we need more than ever in times like this.

Exercises that help with stretching and strengthening the chest and ribcage are child’s pose, cat/cow, downward dog, scapular retractions (rowing), and pectoral chest stretches.

As always, I am here to help make sure your body and mind are functioning at their highest potential. Please get in touch if you want to breathe easy and be in full expansion and expression of yourself.

By Dr. Anita Rajan