Overview:
Whole Body Alignment for Circulation
Brain example
7 Benefits:
- Think and read better
- Relax super deep
- Eliminate pain & headaches
- Deliver nutrients trough circulation
- Detox by improved waste removal through circulation
- Posture to move powerfully and smoothly
- Rest day routines to “get high” to stay out of the gym and prevent over-training.
Health starts in the brain with how we make decisions about health.
I see people being too brain fogged, tired, and cognitively impaired to evaluate new information especially as the analysis gets more complex and there are deeper ideas.
Brain energy depends on circulation to the brain, which is more complex since it is not like a muscle you can move and flex to increase circulation directly.
The brain also hides behind bone so it can’t be massaged directly.
Brain circulation actually depends on movement of the whole body to
- Pressurize fluid flows that work together: blood, lymph and cerebrospinal fluid.
- Moving bones of the cranium slightly to open it to circulation, which is dependent on movement and alignment of the whole body.
- Tongue
- Jaw
- Breath
- Walking and other movement.
The added benefit is to help address part of nervous system dysregulation and the ability to rest to heal.
EXPLANATION
CIRCULATION
Circulation to the brain delivers nutrients like oxygen and food.
Circulation also removes metabolic waste and toxins to make way for nutrients to be delivered.
Circulation consists of blood, lymph and cerebrospinal fluid, and the unique brain lymph called glymph, which all flow one into the other as a whole system.
The problem with brain circulation is that the area is protected by bone and cannot be stimulated as directly through two ways of stimulating circulation used by other parts of the body:
- Muscle movement that pumps the lymph to remove waste from extracellular fluid so capillaries can deliver nutrients from the blood.
- Direct lymph node massage to stimulate the whole lymph system.
Brain circulation depends on the flow of cerebrospinal fluid—cfs--inside the spine and cranium.
This depends on two things:
- Moving the cranial bones
- Increasing cfs flow as a whole from the hips up the spine
CRANIAL BONE MOVEMENT
The skull consists of separate cranial bones separated by small cracks or sutures.
There is slight movement to these and they can be jammed, so to speak.
Tongue Shapes the Cranium
The tongue pressing up on the palate or maxilla bones separates and expands the bone structure, which affects cranial bones above it in a similar and positive manner.
The tongue presses up when sucking, swallowing and also when resting on the roof of the mouth as healthy tongue posture.
Healthy tongue movement and posture is learned through breast feeding that requires hard sucking.
Breast feeding pushes development of a wide face with enough room for the teeth without crowding.
This also leaves room for a large airway so the neck can go straight up, whereas the compensation for a narrow airway to keep it fully open is forward head posture that starts the S curve posture from the top down.
Larger bones seem also to have space in the sutures and better cranial circulation.
This illustrates that muscle moves bone.
Tongue movement is the prime developmental driver and rate limiting factor later in life.
Breath
The breath affects the cranium through a subtle movement or flexing that goes up the neck to the base of the skull.
The most important thing with breath is to release the constraints from total posture, not practice a specific breath technique, although that can help consciously over ride the constraints momentarily.
Releasing constraints has a more permanent effect and then the breath flows naturally.
Breath techniques are useful to override emotional stress but so much for constant misalignment.
The posture that constrains breath comes top down from the cranium, and bottom up from the hips.
Hips Align the Spine
Spinal alignment is when the vertebrae stack naturally straight up with slight natural curves without hard compensating pulls by muscles to keep one upright.
These pulls of muscles can constrain the breath.
Misalignment can mean subluxation or bones out of place that may pinch nerves exiting the spine between vertebrae to create back and hip pain.
Feet Align Hips
Foot position aligns hips.
Feet pointed almost straight forward pushes hips back into proper tilt to stack the spine.
Zero drop shoes: no elevated heel is more stable and relaxing.
Wide toe box to distribute weight to splayed toes with full foot motion.
Barefoot
It can be difficult for the hips to go back when they are chronically tight so therapeutic techniques are needed, too.
This is a complex system with forces interacting top down and bottom up that people are unaware of.
Root Causes of Misalignment
Next is an explanation of the three main root causes of misalignment that produce the typical misalignment pattern of S curve posture slouching: head forward, chest sunken, hips forward that is related to restrictions in the cranium and circulation to the brain .
Bottle Feeding
The milk comes out too fast leading to forward tongue thrusting to not choke on the milk.
Indicated by tip of tongue on back of bottom teeth when resting.
Resulting in narrow face and airway, crowded teeth, and forward head.
Chairs
Sitting in chairs shortens and tightens the iliopsoas muscles of the hip that pull hips forward.
Chairs also let the sacrum drop down out of place.
Improper hip angle rounding the back to aggravate both of above.
There is no such thing as “lower back support” pushing in from the side.
Hip angle stacks the spine. Supports to rest leaning back supports must work in a different way I can’t explain fully here.
Shoes: Elevated heels, narrow toe boxes, rigidity restricting foot roll.
These causes impose restrictions that require certain kinds of solutions:
SOLUTIONS
- Normal everyday movement in which muscle aligns bones
- Compensating therapeutic movements to help free the body to move naturally.
Proper walking is essential for muscles to align bones.
This is different than the medical paradigm approach even if it seems natural.
Something like cranial sacral therapy, CST, is done on a table, it’s not learning to do it yourself at root cause level.
I mention CST because it has a helpful theory to help explain my theory.
CST is based on the idea that there is a cranial sacral rhythm in which the head and hips work together as a whole. I’m not going to try to present their theory fully.
I think in terms of a flow of cerebrospinal fluid as an aspect of circulation pumped by movements.
Hip movement that pumps cfs to the head can be more dramatic than techniques directly on the head bones. I have learned that from experience; it is rather unexpected.
This is a list of do it yourself intervention points to improvement alignment, circulation, and relax the whole system.
No instructions can be given in writing.
Normal, Original, Primal Movements:
Walking aligned: muscle moves bone.
Bending at the hip
Tongue posture: resting and swallowing to expand cranial sutures
This forces mouth breathing, too.
DIY Therapeutic Movements
Slight jaw movement to flex the cranium, this is not natural but therapeutic and compensating.
Palate manipulation with fingers
Stretch neck with traction in extension and flexion, also shoulders and chest at the same time.
Spine twisting
Releasing illiopsoas hip tension
Adjusting the sacrum yourself.
Lymph massage all over the body.
Supports
Shoes as suggested above
Chairs normal chairs with cushion adjustments, car cushion modification.
Orthodontics to expand the palate to grow bones to make way for teeth, not forced straightening of teeth and pulling teeth. .
These are a collection of methods I find to work.
RELAXATION
Progress is measured with relaxation--that is how you know immediately you are doing it right or wrong.
Techniques can easily be overdone and people with poor body awareness can hurt themselves even when given this way of measuring what is safe and productive.
Relaxation is tracked with
- The opening of the breath
- Relaxing tingling sensation especially down to the toes or top of the head.
My theory is that relaxation is the brain’s reward for increasing circulation.
Restricted circulation is kind of like low level suffocation or being strangled: it induces stress as a fear response and stress hormones of fight and flight or “get up and do something” like move to increase circulation. Especially when it is circulation to the brain it makes a bigger difference.
The breath has numerous dimensions:
Being freed from restrictions of misalignment and resulting muscle tension.
Responding to increased circulation in any area of the body by a deeper, slower breath in a wider range of motion that expands or “stretches” the chest. This is because the breath is also thought to help pump the lymph system to remove waste so more blood can flow into to extracellular fluid so it may respond to demand for circulation in local tissues.
The largest lymph node is near the diaphragm the largest lymph vessels pass by the diaphragm that seem to respond to breath.
Relaxation and breath opening occurs easily through cranial and hip releases.
Lying down both ends of the spine can be done at once for a dramatic relaxing effect.
It helps to go to sleep.
There are connections top to bottom that are hard to understand like when doing cranial techniques through the mouth my ankles flex more when walking.
Conclusion
Many people need better brain circulation because they are having trouble reading and understanding things.
Their health problems require a level of complex thinking that is above normal while their brains are working below normal.
Circulation is distribution of nutrients in and toxicity out.
Just nutrition without movement and releasing restrictions is limited.
This system works as a whole and is not just about the brain, it’s generally the same solution for back pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, etc.
A few extra movements or stretches can be added for particular areas of the body.
The way I use these methods is also its own reward and good way to handle stress.
The overall idea is move to align, circulate, and relax.
See Program: Move to Circulate, Align, & Relax
Eat to energize, detoxify & immunize.
Move to circulate, align, & relax.
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