Listening to Your Inner Voice: The Foundation of Chiropractic Practice

Are you listening to your voice? Are you following your heart in practice and in life? I believe we all have a voice inside of us, guiding us. BJ Palmer, the developer of chiropractic, used to call it the “fellow within,” or “that something.” My mom called it her guidance because that’s what it can do. If you listen to it, it can guide you. I believe our job as chiropractors is not only to listen to that voice but also to help our practice members connect more deeply with their voice.

I have eight nieces and nephews. The two youngest are Evelyn and Robyn. They were born two weeks apart back in the spring. They are the 11th and 12th grandbabies for my parents, you could say I come from a big family. I’m the oldest of six siblings. My oldest daughter, one of four kids, is applying to colleges, meanwhile my younger siblings are just getting started. This family is going to keep growing.

Evelyn’s birth is a great example of just how important a strong sense of connection is in accomplishing the act of birth. I believe the amount of trust and connection you bring into a pregnancy directly influences the birth process, and this story brings it home.

Evelyn’s mom, Michelle, is newer to our family, and she brings with her a more traditional medical background. There was a bit of hesitation about having a home birth and doing it “naturally.” But sure enough, she and my brother, Tim, decided on having a home birth and asked if they could move down to our house, live in our in-law suite, and have that home birth experience with family surrounding and supporting them. Of course, we said yes. Homebirth was normalized for my siblings and I; we were all born at home ourselves.

Fast forward to the birth. Michelle has been in labor for a little while, but things just weren’t progressing. I go up to the apartment to check on Tim and Michelle. The midwives had left at this point to provide them some space. I knock on the door and come in to find Michelle anxious and upset. In fact, she was frantic, crying, and packing a bag for the hospital.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“It’s not going to work,” she said.

“There’s meconium in the amniotic fluid. I’m going to have to transfer. The midwives don’t think I can stay home.”

“Oh, Michelle, hold on a second,” I said. I walked up, gave her a hug, and said, “This is just how it went with our first birth. Let’s see if we can do an adjustment. Let’s check you out. Let’s see what’s going on.”

So I checked her, using the Webster Technique. Sure enough, her sacrum and pelvis were restricted and out of balance. She needed a chiropractic adjustment. Pregnancy care is my focus in practice, and I have seen firsthand how important pelvic balance is in allowing birth to progress optimally. “Oh my goodness, no wonder things aren’t progressing.” I said. I was trying to give her every emotional excuse to move past this resistance. We did the adjustment, and I left them alone.

I believe the family chiropractor offers an alternative to the fear and anxiety so prevalent in our healthcare system. Offering trust and connection as a substitute can allow for amazing outcomes.

A few minutes later the midwives returned. My wife, Melissa, and I intercepted them before they headed up to the apartment and started talking. These are the same midwives we used with our four kids—long-time practitioners. Karen, one of the midwives, said to me, “You know, I have to level with you, Justin. I just don’t think Michelle wants to have a home birth. I think she got sucked into the whole vortex of natural birth and found herself here. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just don’t think she wants this.”

At that moment, I remember feeling an intuition that Michelle wasn’t connected with the birth process. “Is there anything immediate that requires a transfer?” I piped up.

“No, no, no, absolutely not. Everything’s okay. Everything’s fine. We’ll just keep an eye.” replied the midwife.

“Can we encourage her that she can do this? Can we try to change the tone of the birth?” I asked.

Just then, my brother walked down and asked my wife, “Melissa, can you come up and talk with Michelle? Maybe connect with her a little bit.” The midwives agreed, saying, “Yeah, let’s go up. Let’s see how she’s doing.”

Out of nowhere, this little voice inside me spoke up and said, “stall them.” So I did. I said, “Why don’t we let Melissa go up and connect with Michelle on her own? Let me make you some coffee.” Midwives love coffee.

So I stalled the midwives while Melissa went upstairs to connect with Michelle. This was the turning point for Michelle. Melissa told her, “Michelle, wherever you go, whether you do it here or transfer to the hospital, YOU are going to have to do this thing called birth. You’re going to have to deliver your baby. It’s on you to do.” Melissa can be notoriously blunt, but it’s exactly what Michelle needed to hear.

This conversation with another woman who had successfully delivered four of her own babies at home allowed Michelle to find strength, go inward, and connect with her body. It allowed Michelle to get out of a headspace that was filled with anxiety and worry and surrender to the process of birth in an empowered way.

Later that day, a close friend of the family, another midwife, came to support Michelle and brought with her an energy of encouragement and support. Sometimes the smallest shift in a birth team can change the trajectory of birth.

I often describe the chiropractic family lifestyle as the transition a family undergoes once they’ve started and continued with chiropractic care. It’s not just about the physical changes that result from adjustments; it’s about the emotional changes as well.

When I think of Evelyn’s birth, I wonder what turned it around for Michelle. Was it the chiropractic adjustment? Was it the connection with another woman who had done it before that Melissa offered? Was it the support and encouragement of a close friend? Or did all of these things allow Michelle to tune into her own inner voice and find the power and confidence to accomplish the task?

Needless to say, Evelyn was born the next morning after a very successful, uncomplicated home birth. I adjusted her shortly after she was born; she had a bit of a head tilt to the left due to being stuck in the birth canal for so long. And because Evelyn was born at home, she was able to receive that adjustment immediately.

This leads me to the core idea I want to discuss: salutogenic chiropractic care, trust, and connection. The importance of trust and connection in our lives cannot be overstated.

I’ve been in practice for almost 18 years as a family chiropractor, and these two concepts—trust and connection— are, in my opinion, the most important aspects of my care.

It’s especially poignant now in modern society because we are seeing a crisis of trust in our world today. It is safe to say that the lack of trust and connection we’re experiencing affects our health and well-being, and the health and well-being of our kids.

I believe the family chiropractor offers an alternative to the fear and anxiety so prevalent in our healthcare system. Offering trust and connection as a substitute can allow for amazing outcomes.

The Three Levels of Connection

The first level of connection that I identified in practice is what I call the chiropractic family lifestyle. This concept is closely tied to the concept of salutogenic practice, with the focus on improving health rather than treating dysfunction. I often describe the chiropractic family lifestyle as the transition a family undergoes once they’ve started and continued with chiropractic care. It’s not just about the physical changes that result from adjustments; it’s about the emotional changes as well.

It’s about how empowered people feel they can take control of their health. It’s about informed, conscious healthcare decision-making that they have taken charge of. It’s a whole shift, and you see it over and over again in practice. This ties in with the idea that life expresses intelligence. The understanding that our bodies are intelligent and that we can trust that intelligence. These are the concepts of salutogenesis. This idea emphasizes focusing on an intelligent body and an intelligent nervous system.

Salutogenesis isn’t a destination, or a state of health you arrive at; it’s a perspective or rather the direction you’re facing. You can be anywhere on the health continuum, and you can focus on pathogenesis—treating a symptom or fixing a problem, which obviously has you focused on the problem. Or you can be in the same spot and turn your focus toward enhancing health, improving nervous system function and adaptability. So instead of focusing on the problem, you’re focusing on what adds health to your life.

Aaron Antonovsky, who came up with the concept of salutogenesis in 1979, said the following, and I love this quote: “We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment.” That sounds a lot like the chiropractic family lifestyle.

I love that term,“sense of coherence.” Sense of coherence is literally translated into “consistent in self.” Are we consistent within ourselves? Do we have a general orientation or worldview that sees life as meaningful and manageable?

I started out this article by asking, “Are you following your heart? Are you listening to your voice?” Because if you are, you see life as meaningful. And if you’re not, well, you need to make that your priority, because all else follows that.

What we see in the research is that a high “sense of coherence” score allows individuals to cope with the inevitable stressors of life better than a low score. Increased sense of coherence quite literally equals increased adaptability.

Is chiropractic all about adaptability? This is how I talk about chiropractic in practice: the adaptability of the nervous system is enhanced when we’re getting chiropractic care. Sure enough, the research that the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association is doing shows that “sense of coherence” is increased in families that receive regular chiropractic care.

And guess what? It doesn’t happen immediately. It takes about 15 visits. This isn’t something that resolves while you’re addressing that initial symptom. This is something that develops over time as perspectives evolve and a trust in the body’s ability to heal develops.

The Second Level of Connection

The second level of connection I have identified in practice is a concept called “the social nervous system.” This topic ties in with Polyvagal Theory, as outlined by Stephen Porges. We used to think that the nervous system had two sides: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system was seen as bad, associated with the fight-or-flight response, while the parasympathetic was seen as good, associated with rest-and-digest. The belief was that if we could just bring ourselves out of a sympathetic state and into the parasympathetic state, we would be better off.

Well, it turns out it’s not that simple. Porges identified a concept called the “vagal paradox” when he studied the anatomy of the vagus nerve and saw that it actually has two origins in the brainstem, one ventral and one dorsal. Both are parasympathetic, but they accomplish two very, very different things. He was studying neonates (newborns and premature infants) at the time and wondered why increased vagal tone was both protective and potentially life-threatening depending on the situation.

Think of the nervous system and the neurological states we find ourselves in as three zones: green, yellow, and red. The green zone represents when we’re feeling safe. This is our “social nervous system,” the ventral vagus or rest-and-digest state where healing and connection can occur. The yellow zone, which represents our sympathetic nervous system, is activated during the fight-or-flight response. The red zone is also parasympathetic but represents the dorsal vagus, the shutdown state. Put into the circumstances of a hunter gatherer human, if you are running from a tiger, you’re in sympathetic mode. If you get away, you should be able to swing back into the green zone, the ventral vagus. However, if you get caught, your nervous system should bring you into the shutdown, dorsal vagus state, as a protective mechanism.

Many of us, in today’s fast-paced stressful world find ourselves living in the yellow zone all the time. Our nervous system can’t differentiate between the stressors of our modern world and being chased by a tiger. We end up living much of our lives in a sympathetic dominant state and this is not supportive of health and healing or building trust and connection. Remember Michelle in labor? She was likely stuck in this yellow zone and labor wasn’t progressing as a result. Trust, connection, and a simple chiropractic adjustment helped to bring her out of the yellow zone and into the green zone, where normal function allowed her body to continue with more ease.

In Polyvagal Theory, we have a concept called “co-regulation.” The neurological state we are in is regulated by the neurological state of the people around us. If we are all stuck in yellow, we can amplify each other’s stress and anxiety. However, if you are stuck in the yellow zone and you are met with trust and connection from someone in the green zone, you are able to better “co-regulate” your nervous system back into a more healthy green zone.

We have all had this experience. When our spouse or kids are spun up in a sympathetic dominant state, it can easily pull us in that direction. Similarly, when you are stressed or anxious and you are able to connect with a friend or partner who brings a calmness to that encounter, that calmness will help to bring us back from the precipice.

Eye contact and smiling are two simple ways to help co-regulate the people around you in a healthy direction. These simple gestures are incredibly powerful and healing, and help to foster trust and connection, which can lead our loved ones back to the green zone. This is so important for our kids who, if you haven’t noticed, often struggle with eye contact. We live in a world that has trained many of us to look at a screen instead of at each other. We must find a balance for ourselves and our children.

When I first joined my parents’ practice, my mom assigned me to care for all the pregnant moms, families, and older kids. She held onto the babies, saying, “I don’t want to give up the babies quite yet.” At the time, I was fine with that. I was more comfortable with pregnant moms anyway. But as the years have gone by, I’ve discovered the sheer joy that comes from having a smiling baby in front of you. When you smile back at them, you and the baby are both activating your ventral vagus/ social nervous system, bringing yourselves further into that green zone of connection and calm.

It really is one of the most rewarding aspects of family practice. The interaction with a smiling baby not only fosters a deep connection but also enhances your own sense of wellbeing.

We know that trust allows for connection. You can’t connect with another person unless you trust them and feel safe with them. When we have increased connection, we allow for intimacy to occur, which literally increases the level of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin, also called the bonding hormone, has been shown to enhance our adaptability, and not just emotionally. There are studies that show oxytocin’s impact on the amount of time it takes to heal from an injury. Oxytocin is hugely important, and it depends on building trust and connection.

In a sense, we could say that trust equals adaptability. Building trust by activating the social nervous system is vital for allowing appropriate nervous system adaptability. Then as a result of being more adaptable and securely in the green zone, we help in co-regulating the people around us, bringing them back to a place of connection, health, and ease.

The Third Level of Connection

The final level of connection is called “generational health.” I first heard the term from a friend and colleague, Dr. Glenda Velazquez, who described her desire to change her family’s pattern and pass on what she called generational health. We’ve all heard the term generational wealth, right? Who here wouldn’t want a little bit of generational wealth to pass on to their family? Take Steve Jobs, for instance. When he passed away in 2011, he was worth about ten billion dollars. Now, let me ask you this: Do you think he would have exchanged his generational wealth for generational health? Isn’t our health the most important thing we have?

I believe we have a significant opportunity here as individuals and as parents. Just as we can pass down generational trauma from one generation to another, we can also pass down generational health from one generation to another.

There are numerous studies on mice and generational trauma that are fascinating to read. While there’s not space to go deeper here, suffice it to say, there is strong evidence that we pass down trauma from one generation to the next through our epigenetics. As parents and as humans in general, this means we have a responsibility to treat others with decency and care.

In practice, when I am working to empower an individual, I recognize that the benefit of that work doesn’t end with him or her. The empowerment and encouragement is carried through to their future children. When you support and connect with someone, you’re changing things for their future child. You’re probably changing things for that child’s child as well.

These are multi-generational effects we’re talking about here. If we all start focusing on a much longer-term outlook in terms of our impact on others, emphasizing generational health, I think we are going to do great things for this world.

Earlier I discussed Evelyn’s birth. Two weeks after Evelyn was born, my sister, Tia, had her first baby, Robyn. Tia is my youngest sibling and out of the six of us, the only girl. You could imagine my mom’s delight when after five boys, she finally got her girl.

Unfortunately, mom passed away five years ago, and wouldn’t be able to support Tia during the pregnancy and birth. That’s hard. And, I have to be honest, I was worried. I was concerned for Tia, having to carry the weight of her first pregnancy without our mother there to offer her guidance. I wondered, was Tia carrying a fear of birth, unable to ask mom for advice and encouragement? Was she carrying the expectation of trying to give birth in a certain way to live up to how our mom did it? Was she missing out on that connection?

But something shifted for Tia in her third trimester when she had what’s called a blessing way. A blessing way is a celebration of a woman’s rite of passage into motherhood. It’s about empowering that mother, building her up, and giving her the strength and encouragement to go into the birth process.

As the most important women in Tia’s life gathered around her, the concern about our mom not being there surfaced. Something special happened next. Each and every one of these close friends reinforced the knowing that even though mom wasn’t here, all of her strength, experience, and wisdom lived inside Tia as well. “Mom is right here with you Tia, you’ve got this,” they told her. There were tears all around from what I heard. I’m tearing up now as I write this, but they are tears of joy, as true connection was created for Tia that day.

This was an amazing turning point for Tia. I noticed an ease to my sister after this day. She carried a confidence and empowerment that was truly reminiscent of our mother during her pregnancies. It was the same kind of connection and empowerment that Michelle experienced during her birth. Creating connection is so important.

Tia went on to have the most beautiful, gentle homebirth. Shortly after Robyn was born, the whole family flooded the room. The midwives were a little shocked, exclaiming, “Oh my God, how many of you are there?” I told you I come from a big family. We were all there, surrounding this baby and the mother who had just accomplished this beautiful thing. Robyn is the 12th grandbaby and Evelyn is the 11th. It dawned on me how amazing this is—all 12 of these babies were born at home with a midwife or unassisted, and they were each checked and adjusted almost immediately.

This is a perfect example of how we can help create generational health in this world. Trust and connection can lift us all up and being raised with the simple message “life expresses intelligence” is enough to impact generations to come. Thanks Mom and Dad.