09/03/2026
Warming the Spinal Column Completely
(pp. 107 TMHC practice manual - shared with patients as per our healing and health improvement programs).
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"Alignments (and their mishaps)
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e.g. In yoga and tai chi, the phrase “connect the crown (top-of-the-head) to the tailbone” is oft repeated
as a way to straighten the neck, which tends to stick out and up.
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If you’ve ever tried to “lift the crown of the head while sinking the tailbone” -
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feeling the connection between the two may seem an impossibility!
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And, until you get the right instruction, it may well be!
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Although I had amazing teachers of Taiji and medical Qigong, (Qigong and Taiji are is the more accurate ways to write “Tai Chi” and “Chi Gong”. Qigong is still p**n. “Chee - Gong”, Taiji p**n. “Tie - gee”.) -
it took me 4 years before a teacher explained how to make this happen, and over 8 before I got good at explaining the principle to others!
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Activating the Spinal Column
Connecting Heaven and Earth . . .
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“Tuck the chin, as if holding a cotton ball between chin and neck.”
“This activates the neck as a unit,
which then can be moved back over the spine,
making it easier to feel the connection all the way from the tailbone
to the crown of the head.”
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You may need to relax the shoulders back and down, (which moving neck back is encouraging)!
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If neck and shoulders are stiff - It may also help to walk, move, squat -
warming up legs and lower abdomen first,
which will help the upper body relax and warm, making “feeling the spine” easier.
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Ideally, the sinking of the heels into the earth
connects the legs to the pelvic bowl,
which through the neck alignment (above) connects the pelvic bowl to the top of the head.
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If we then open up the hands by stretching through the finger tips,
we’ve now activated the entire body at once!
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Pretty easy, right?!
