'I tried Spinal Energetics and it was like having years of therapy in less than hour'

Confronting, but wild

You're pretty sure that you've moved on from that fight, that job, or that old relationship. But have you really? Chiropractor Dr Sarah Jane developed Spinal Energetics as a way to help people get rid of their old emotional baggage - and we put it to the test.

We walk around daily thinking we're fine while our bodies and physiology scream, "Cute! But you're not." Instead, we unknowingly store emotional stress in our tissues and fascia.

When given the chance to properly release and tap into it, it can feel like you've had years of therapy in literally less than five minutes. That's what happened to me during a spinal energetics session with Dr Sarah Jane at her Melbourne clinic. 

Did I lose you when the word energy entered the chat? Bear with me. Although our bodies appear to be finite, Albert Einstein recognised that we are all made of energy. Western medicine has largely ignored the energetic system, which is changing rapidly. Dr Sarah's approach is unique in that her terminology specifically addresses this scepticism, using mostly scientific terms while blending Western and Eastern modalities in her work.

How does our body hold energy?

Dr Sarah explained how our bodies are like fingerprints, adorning the markings of every experience we've ever had in our lives. Not only physically but also psychologically. 

Every event in our lives has influenced us in some way, teaching us lessons, causing us to grow and evolve, and leaving an emotional imprint. "When we touch a hot stove, we quickly learn not to touch it again," she explains, "and we then translate that memory into a piece of wisdom."

However, while some of these experiences lead to wisdom, others remain raw and unprocessed, influencing how our nervous system functions. Because we haven't dealt with our past traumatic experiences adequately, this residue can make us more reactive to new experiences. 

This is where Dr Sarah enters the picture. She works with our energetic systems to release our unconscious emotional baggage by reading the body's energy as a map and understanding what is going on for us on a deeper, more emotional level. 

Dr Sarah works with the energetic system to release emotional baggage. Image: Supplied

The process of spinal energetics

When Dr Sarah touched my chest where my Vegas nerve was, it was very tight and hurt to touch, which I was told is not normal. Great start. Then, she felt around my right rib and announced that she had detected the exact emotion I was feeling toward a certain family member. And she was completely, horrifyingly correct.

Dr Sarah continued to feel around, making similarly spot-on remarks. As I lay there silently, my shoulder, arm, and chest somehow revealed to her every problem I'd ever had. To clarify, these weren't just random observations, like when you read a horoscope and project your own problems onto it. These were profound and insightful revelations, naming my specific fears, past events, and the people in my life who were associated with them. 

I was perplexed and asked if she wanted feedback, but she explained that she was simply reading what my body was storing and wanted to tell her. Well, my body was very chatty! She then moved to my left arm to perform an energetic release, with the left arm representing the emotional aspects of our nervous system. It felt like a pulling sensation with an audible 'woosh' sound – and tingling in my fingers and up through my bicep. 

Dr Sarah repeated the process on my right arm, corresponding to physical issues in the body. I had only a minor sensation, indicating I am far more emotionally messed up than physically – great

Dr Sarah then checked in on my chest area, and we noticed that it was no longer tight or sore to the touch. Whatever that woosh in my left arm was, it had made a huge and immediate difference. 

Dr Sarah then instructed me to lie on my stomach and breathe into different parts of my body as she performed her work, which included both touching me directly and not touching me at all. At times, I was extremely sensitive to her touch, physically recoiling; at others, my body, or at least that part of my body, was much more open to the treatment. Later, Dr Sarah explained that my rejection or embrace of her touch had a significant meaning. Which, once again, was scarily accurate. 

What really goes on in a spinal energetics session

Dr Sarah later explained that what happens during this process is similar to peeling back the layers of an onion. Most people need one or two of these peeling-back processes to get to where the trauma was stored. However, I required about six processes, describing me as "quite complex." Love that for me. 

Apart from one major heartbreak, from which I am certain I have grown, evolved, and become a better version of myself, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have lived a relatively trauma-free life. On the other hand, my body was telling a completely different story, in addition to directing Sarah towards some dietary and nutritional deficiencies that I was unaware of.

We moved over to the couch area at the end of the treatment and unpacked her insight. Our session shifted to a more talk therapy model due to her psychology and counselling background. 

The verdict 

Since then, I've felt lighter both emotionally and physically. Talk therapy is wonderful, but in my case, even though I had verbally accepted and made peace with certain experiences and events, my body had yet to catch up. 

The session, debrief and my own post-reflection have been extremely beneficial. I immediately journaled about what came up in our session while enjoying the Lune croissant (I sneaked in at the start) because the clinic is directly opposite Lune, Armadale, which is a huge win in and of itself.

If you want to get the most out of this work, I'm sure having a strong understanding and belief that the mind and body are not separate helped. Or, if I didn't already, I do now.

Dr Sarah Jane is a chiropractor, yoga and meditation teacher, holistic counsellor and creator of Spinal Energetics, fusing Eastern healing and Western medicine to help relieve stress, trauma and tension from the body. Dr Sarah's third clinic will be opening in Richmond in July. You can learn more about her here. 

Originally published as 'I tried Spinal Energetics and it was like having years of therapy in less than hour'