Our Buoyant Spine

January 26, 2025

“The interior life remains true to its watery mother.” "All forms derive from waves that are shaped by liquid destinies”
Emilie Conrad
from "Life on Land", p. 293

From our intrauterine development to oceanic origins of life, our spine owes its structure and function to a shared legacy of life forms seeking the initiation of agency. The spine is a repeating fractal of evolution bestowing the freedom of self directed locomotion. Aquatic creatures, reptiles slithering onto land, amphibians and winged ones, share this structure.

The bony vertebrae protect a central nervous cord, culminating in the brain stem. This autonomic system with a sympathetic and a parasympathetic branch regulate breathing, heart beat, digestion and instinctual responses. In other words, the spine is an intelligent system with a mind of its own.

From pouncing to rolling to standing upright, its inherent reflexive responsiveness see the intention of all Olympian feats brought to fruition; extending, flexing, twisting, spiraling, undulating. Branches of the nervous system coordinate our four limbs in a myriad of separate tasks. The spongy discs between each vertebrae serve as cushions to absorb shocks from our exuberant antics. These gel like pads plus the S-curves of our spine, allow the spine to act as a resilient spring.

Our body is designed to remain buoyant in the field of gravity. Current research is corroborating what Ida Rolf said decades ago, “Connective tissue, our fascia, is an organ of support and posture.” The water filled envelops that make up a webwork of the sliding gliding tissues of connective tissue carry our inner ocean which constitutes 70% of the adult body.

Because our two-legged stance is more challenged in the field of gravity, it is easy to think of the spine more as a flag pole or central supportive strut, rather than a buoyant spring of suspension. Postural education often inadvertently encourages holding patterns. Certainly the static postures involved in sitting for long periods of time cause a segmenting of spinal functions. Often chronic tensions in the pelvis and legs hold the lumbar spine hostage. Shoulder girdle and rib cage holding patterns also can limit flexibility of the thoracic spine. And our focus, particularly when looking down at phones and screens, often changes the cervical curve of the neck over time. This segmenting of function diminishes our coordination and flow of movement. It ‘dumbs down’ the intelligence of this vertebral system, leaving us more prone to wear and tear of all joints as the loss of resiliency causes compression in a gravitational field.

What can we do to regain our birthright of animal grace and ease? Continuum explorations are designed to refresh and renew our resonance and connection to a fluid intelligence beyond our mechanical endeavors.

Here is a Continuum exploration for you:

1.  Take two baseline observations which will give you a beginning experience of your spine:

A.  As you walk at a normal pace, notice how your spine participates in this every day activity. Are there areas of holding? How coherent does your spine feel?

B.  Lying on your back now, feel into your ability to  experience a breathing spine and areas of holding.

2. Preparation:
Perhaps with your knees bent, begin a slow easy sense of rolling and pouring. You can imagine that a tide or a wave is gently turning you onto one side. This is to help you slow down and become attentive to the minute shifts within your tissues as weight bearing moves away from your spine. Allow initiation to arise from wherever it comes easily and let follow-through movements surprise and intrigue you.
After awhile, when you return to lying on your back, pause for what we call Open Attention. Notice how the two sides of your body feel now….how your spine is experiencing breathing and anything else that arise in your awareness.

Repeat rolling and pouring toward the other side. You may find that other impulses of movement spontaneously arise. Where do they lead you? With a sense of organic completion, return to Open Attention.

3. Reminding our spine of its undulating, spring-like resiliency:
Lying on your back in a comfortable, neutral position for your spine. Initiate a gentle rocking from your tailbone. Stay with this movement as you explore the transmission from this movement rippling down your legs and up your spine. Experiment with different velocities, subtleties and variations in linear rocking. By initiating the rocking with the sound, "Bauoom", the action of pressing into the earth and feeling a rebounding wave can be enhanced. Taking pauses and making an OOO sound may give you a progress report as you feel your own sounding transmit more clearly through your tissues.

In your own timing make your way up your spine by initiating this rocking undulate from different parts of your spine (navel, solar plexus, heart area, nap of the neck, head).

As closure to this dive, compare the baseline experience of a breathing spine and your buoyant spine while walking.