Releasing Muscle Tension (Mid & Upper Back - Heart Chakra - 35 min)

Our Mid- and Upper backs hold the weight of the world, our world at least. And this weight can bring chronic or periodic pain. Fortunately we can use our bodies and minds to release this pain, to heal ourselves. We just need to know the code. 

Scientists have identified and synthesized the parts of marijuana that make people feel so good and along the way they have figured out the answer to the mystery of why all human brains would have evolved a specific receptor in the brain for a plant that until recently only grew in South Asia. It turns out that the cannaboid system is key part of our brain’s regulatory structure. So we didn’t evolve to respond to that particular plant. We, and every other organism down to the lowly sponge uses cannaboids to maintain balance in the body. Amazingly, the effect of our self-produced cannaboids in our bodies, while not as strong as the highly concentrated versions that people consume from the cannabis plant, is the same. Our bodies also produce endorphins and anyone that regularly exercises is familiar with the fact that these chemicals activate the same opioid receptors as morphine and heroin, albeit at a much lower intensity. The point is that we have the power to create these chemicals ourselves. In fact, producing these cannaboids might be the most important physiological system we have for creating and maintaining health in our bodies. These extraordinary compounds, while performing different tasks in different tissues, always have the same goal: the achievement and preservation of a balanced internal environment despite changes in the external environment.

So we can synthesize the active agent in marijuana in our own bodies when we choose to and not have the costly side-effects from the over the counter or illicit kinds. But how? We can’t say to our brain “Okay, I’ll have some endorphins now.” We have to go exercise. The same goes for cannaboids. We have to speak the language of our bodies. We do that through movement, touch, music, attention, and love. We’ll bring these insights to releasing tension in our backs in this guided moving meditation. When we speak of chakras and energy and spirit this engages our brain in a conversation with our muscle tissues in a way that we can’t have using everyday language. So even if you don’t believe in a numinal realm and energy channels and chakras and so on, just play along and think of these ideas as simply ways to hack your brain, as ways to take command of the extraordinary chemical factories we have within us. 

Obviously, if are having a serious traumatic episode and are suffering from whiplash or very real back pain, please seek the help of a professional.

If you enjoy these practical guided meditations, you may like to listen to the other Serena Podcasts. There is a Guided Meditation one as well as an Ancient Masters one which provides the theory behind these practices and where we are headed by doing them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.