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The Posture Depression Connection Part 2 | Louisville / Boulder, CO | Jay Uecker, D.C.


A little while back we did part one of a video on depression. What we talked about in that video was that everyone that I've every worked with who has dealt with depression has had one thing in common, which is their posture. That posture looks like where the heart is being closed off and tension is being stuck behind the heart.

The reason posture is so important is because there's a direct relationship between our posture and the range and depth of emotion that we can feel. So in this case what happens is energy wants to come up our spine and it's being kept from coming into the heart. As soon as it gets to the heart it's being pushed back down. When energy is being pushed down like that, it's like our nose is being stuck in the proverbial dirt. The possibilities for emotion are limited, and include despondency, dejection, feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness. Those emotions have some weight and so we're constantly being pulled down into them. Plus our posture, the structure of our body, is supporting that to continue happening.

Our body is always trying to show us the solution and one solution would be to go into those emotions; have a complete experience of the sensations, thoughts and emotions that go along with the depression. That might not be so practical if we have a family or a job, etc... But it is one solution. What would happen if we had a complete experience of the sensations, thoughts and emotions that go along with that depressive sense of self would be that eventually all of the energy that was bound up in that depressive sense of self would be released. That energy would start to rise up the spine.

Then we would run into another problem because as that energy rises up the spine it would wash into the tension and the energy that's being sequestered behind the heart. When that happens we'd be asked to digest, to feel through that energy that's being sequestered there. That would look like feelings of shame, guilt, rage and grief. So when we're dealing with depression, we're really stuck between a rock and a hard place. We're stuck between despondency, dejection, hopelessness, etc..., and shame and grief and rage, etc...

I can see why medication is pretty popular because what medication does is takes the edge off of all of those intense emotions. It's a good short term strategy because it allows people to get up and engage with their life. I would say that it's not a very good long term strategy for a few reasons. First of all, our nervous system would end up building a tolerance to those medications and eventually we'd need more medication to have the same effect. Also emotions exist on a continuum and they're all connected together. If we dampen or limit the range of what we can feel on the negative end of the spectrum, it also limits the range of what we can feel on the positive spectrum. So it decreases our ability to really feel joy or satisfaction, or love for that matter. Third, emotion is the spice of life. Our Soul uses emotion to direct us. It's important that we can feel what lights us up because that tells us which direction to go in life. If that emotion's not there we can feel lost, without direction. Life can be less than satisfying if that emotion isn't there.

The truth is that if we want to heal depression we're going to have to feel through that stuff. We're going to have to coax life force energy up through the heart so that we can start to digest the grief, the shame, the guilt and the rage. That can be done in a gentle way that involves ease. If we can draw your nervous system out of defense we start to coax life force energy up through the heart in such a way that you can integrate that into your life. As that energy from around the heart is unpacked and you start to give yourself permission to feel the feelings that are in there, the posture changes, as well. The changes that happen as a result are permanent changes. It doesn't have the posture supporting it anymore and it can definitely change your life.

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