I don’t believe in unicorns. I’d like to though. I mean, wouldn’t you? A world of magic, in which reality isn’t just dead matter heading towards thermodynamic equilibrium, is something I yearn for deeply, and have ever since I was that 5 year old, sitting on his blankie, willing it to fly, or that 10 year old trying to use the Force to move something with his mind.
I didn’t really believe in chiropractors either. But I’d like to tell you about a chiropractor I started seeing about 10 months ago. I had no intentions of going to some bone-cracking fraud, which is what I had closedmindedly assumed chiropractors were. But then a former student of mine who I respected deeply, sent me some information, and I was feeling pretty crappy about stuff, and so, I thought, sure, why not? I’m lucky enough to have it covered by insurance, and besides, I’ve had back problems since I was injured in an accident as a kid, so, what do I have to lose?
It ended up being the most growth-inducing thing I have done in my entire life. My chiro is not a bone cracker. (Maybe other chiros aren’t either; I don’t know….) Anyway, he’s part of a relatively new breed of “network chiropractors” or “integrative chiropractors”. He barely even touches me, except for, in a half-hour session, giving me a few very small “pokes” with his finger, with about as much force as you use when you squeeze a peach to find out if it’s ripe.
After my first session, I thought, HA! This is useless. Magic-hands-chiropractors are just another unicorn that doesn’t exist. But, well, that smart-student-dude really raved about it, so I might as well stick with it for a while. Besides, the good doctor has shining eyes, like the spirit-lady from long ago. so….well, maybe?
A few sessions later, I realized that there was indeed something happening. Because the day after every session, I got a raging migraine. I thought it was chance at first, because I do get migraines now and then. But after the 5th straight post-session migraine, I thought, hmmmmm……so I told the chiro and he was intrigued and suggested we back off and go a little more gently. Me, being all “I’m tough, I can handle it” was like, no man, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
After the 8th straight post-session migraine, he suggested we do an “SRI” session, because he suspected that what was happening was that my system had “blockages” (which I didn’t believe in…..more non-scientific-sounding mumbo jumbo….), and these were causing tension that was triggering migraines. Uh, sure dude, whatever. Go for it.
So I lay down on his table, we found a spot in my chest that made me feel uncomfortable, we intensified that feeling through physical pressure and quick breathing, and then…..something broke. Emotions came out of me more intensely than…..ever before. My body shook, uncontrollably, like I was having a seizure. And I wept. Full out. Like I never have in my entire life, since maybe I was a very young child. And that doesn’t count….I mean, kids weep about everything….But adults? We don’t weep. We just say “I’m fine” and have a beer.
The rest of the details are kind of personal, so let’s not get all “TMI” here, ok? But the point is, the “blockage” seemed to release. I walked out maybe two hours later, shaken, my vision strangely bright, my mind strangely non-cluttered with thoughts. It took several hours before I started feeling normal again. And I thought, wow……that was quite something…..
And I haven’t had a post-session migraine since.
So, I believe in magic-hands chiropractors. Still not sure about unicorns, but hey, who knows? There’s more to reality than meets the coldly rational eye….