In Greek mythology the Titan God, Atlas was doomed to eternity to hold up the Heavens. The symbolism is of the God, supporting the entire weight of the globe on his shoulders.
In Western anatomical cosmology the upper neck bone, cervical vertebrae 1 (C1), has been named the “Atlas” for precisely its location, just below the base of the skull, totemistically propping up the cranial base.
Certain Chiropractic schools recognise C1 as the cornerstone to wellbeing and indeed an optimal tensegrity of the upper neck region promotes healthy action of the surrounding structures of the temporomandibular joint (Jaw) , the Sphenoid bone of the skull, the associated endocrine (hormone glands) of the hypothalamus, pituitary and the central nervous system (CNS), in particular the 4th ventricle, reticular activating system, brainstem (stress centre) and cranial nerves.
Yet the mechanical functioning of this region is not what is important. What is of greater importance is a common energetic holding pattern that affects this area in particular. What I am hearing from many of my fellow humans is the constant struggle within themselves of the injustices in daily life and throughout the world. An internal struggle of sorts, leaving many powerless and in an energetic sense, like Atlas, carrying the 'weight of the world on their shoulders'.
In 2009, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat hanh visited Vancouver to attend a summit of leaders to address environmental, economic and geopolitical crises. During the course of the conference he along with the other panel members, David Suzuki and Gregor Robertson were posed with the question 'what is our course of action in dealing with climate change and its impending uncertainties?'
David Suzuki, a scientist and environmentalist addressed the question, from his informed perspective, discussing actions to support a carbon neutral society. Robertson, the Mayor of Vancouver at the time and economist, discussed the issue from his perspective addressing economical changes required if we were to escape catastrophe. When it came to Thich Nhat Hanh's turn to answer he sat there in silence for a time and in his elegant way responded “we have to accept that this civilisation can be destroyed”
“we have to accept that this civilisation can be destroyed” - Thich Nhat Hanh
At the time his words hit me like a bowling ball dropping on my chest, shattering something and getting right to the heart of something else. I did not know what, yet the weight of the crash was softened by his deliverance. A part of my knowingness understood something deeper.
The Taoist tradition Lao Tzu gives us the words; 'Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done. The world is sacred. It can't be improved. If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it'.
Before Nhat Hanh's words, such a perspective would have provoked reaction and judgement, but what I came to realise from this Buddhist monks teaching was I was being invited into facing the chaos of my own impermanence in order to adequately play my part in a constructive solution.
Nhat Hanh's words penetrated right to the Heart of a question that I realised my body had the map to unravel itself to fully live the answer. A body oriented approach towards a solution, and as Thich Nhat Hanh points us, our solemn option.
“Do you want to improve the world?I don't think it can be done.The world is sacred.It can't be improved.If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it"
-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
A body orientated approach asks us to become the 'watcher in the field' of our sensations. Dropping inward I can senses this 'weight on my shoulders'. Allowing myself to sit with the impermanence of our civilisation that Nhat Hanh poses, I slowly start to accept my sensations and impulses of “doing" and "fixing” and the emotions underneath, of sadness, anger and terror.
My ruminating thoughts heighten with this new confrontation of awareness yet over time and practice they begin to soften as I unlearn these patterns of resistance. This then signals my brainstem to begin to let go. My jaw gently loosens its grip allowing more connected communication between pituitary and hypothalamus. Like a sort of domino effect cerebral spinal fluid opens out of the ventricular system including the 4th ventricle located at the base of the skull. Consciousness changes, as I enter into a heightened awareness of that space beyond the trauma of the world ending and that of the immediacy to fix something. An empty void where nothing is required to be filled, yet in this space something else comes through and comes online.
Cervical vertebrae 1 lets go for there is nothing left to carry 'on her shoulders' and in doing so she realises that cervical vertebrae 2 (C2) is right behind her, it has 'got her back' so to speak. (Coincidentally, C2 is the most neurologically informed segment of the neck acting as a neuromuscular junction between it and the base of skull and thus more supportive than C1 itself!)
As the soft tissue of my neck lets go of her weight concurrent connections with the mediastinum of the Heart are remembered. The Heart , considered the “King” of the Chess game in Traditional Chinese Medicine signals the others in the King's court, namely the body organs into a more healthy vital motility, softness arrives at the abdomen.
....and then the Deep Remembering occurs.
A Remembering of myself, my true nature and of my Sacred promise and purpose, the same wish that connects me to my ancestors. Those ones who have walked this path before and have information required to navigate these waters in these times. This Remembering informs of the complete letting go of the “Atlas” holding pattern and the integration of the sacrum as the last stop of the dural tissue of the spinal cord connection at our base. A full body Remembering.
“There is a river that is flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above the water. And I say see who is there with you to celebrate. At this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do our Spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary, all that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we've been waiting for.”
-Hopi story
We are the ones we've been waiting for....
David is a registered Physiotherapist in British Columbia (CPTBC) and Ireland (MISCP). He holds a Diploma in Visionary Craniosacral Work ® and is a teacher for Milne Institute studies in VCSW ®. He is a visiting Healer at Hacienda Del Sol center, Guanacaste, Costa Rica and has a keen interest in longstanding and complex pain and metaphysical aspects of pathology.
Currently David works with people in person and online around the world.
To book please follow this link for his services.
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