Adjusting Your Life Podcast Ep. 122 | Your Spine Tells A Story
Your Spine Tells a Story
What might your posture reveal about the way you move through life?
In this episode of the Adjusting Your Life Podcast, Dr. Stephen M. Ward, DC and co-host Kennedi Hall explore the relationship between posture, spinal curvature, behavioral patterns, and physical well-being.
Dr. Steve explains how posture can provide an initial picture of structural imbalance and how he combines observation, palpation, full-spine imaging, and patient history in his approach to chiropractic care. The conversation also examines self-care, emotional awareness, personal expectations, and the patterns people may carry into their health and relationships.
Drawing from nearly 40 years of clinical experience, Dr. Steve shares insights into spinal curvature, behavioral patterns, and the methodologies that inform his approach to chiropractic care. Together, Dr. Steve and Kennedi break down complex concepts into practical, real-world understanding listeners can apply to everyday life.
Whether you’re new to chiropractic concepts or already familiar with generational and behavioral influences on health, this episode offers perspective, clarity, and thoughtful discussion designed to support long-term well-being.
In This Episode
- What posture may reveal about spinal balance
- How Dr. Steve approaches reading the spine
- The value of looking at the body as a complete system
- How stress and behavior may influence self-care
- Why awareness is part of creating healthier patterns
- The relationship between structural balance and physical function
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🎙️ About the Podcast
Adjusting Your Life is a weekly podcast exploring the intersection of spinal health, behavior, and generational patterns. Hosted by Dr. Stephen M. Ward, DC, and co-host Kennedi Hall, the show examines how habits—both inherited and learned—shape physical health, adaptability, and quality of life.
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⚠️ Disclaimer
Dr. Stephen M. Ward, DC is a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic in the state of California. The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding your individual health needs.
Transcript
This program is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only.
Speaker A:The information provided in this podcast reflects the opinions and experiences of the hosts and is not medical or mental health advice.
Speaker A:Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any questions about your health or well being.
Speaker A:If you are experiencing a medical or mental health emergency, contact your local emergency services.
Speaker B:Welcome back to the Adjusting youg Life Podcast.
Speaker B:I'm Kennedy and I'm here with Dr. Steve.
Speaker B:This is episode 122.
Speaker B:Your spine tells a Story.
Speaker C:This episode of the Adjusting youg Life podcast is brought to you By Ward Chiropractic Dr. Steve finds what most doctors miss and his wall adjustment technique.
Speaker C:It can bring fast relief.
Speaker C:Check out chiroman.com for hours location and to contact the clinic.
Speaker C:That's Chiroman C-H-I-R-O-M-A-N.com let's talk about why.
Speaker B:Posture reflects your so Dr. Steve, what would you say when someone comes in the clinic and you notice initially, you know, the way they're standing or maybe sitting?
Speaker B:What are the things you can draw from just an initial, like visual on a person?
Speaker D:What posture helps us to understand is what the most likely spinal curvature pattern is.
Speaker D:And so it's really helpful.
Speaker D:It's a great tool to give me insight about a person beyond the physical issue they may be having.
Speaker D:But what could possibly be the stress issue underlying that physical issue?
Speaker D:So I lean heavily on posture, which I think it's a great difference when going to chiropractors, because in my practice, most cases, not all cases, but most cases, I am identifying those behavioral programs and I'm going to go into them right away in the first seconds that I'm interacting with the patient, right?
Speaker B:So when you have someone come in for an adjustment and they are describing maybe a pain that they have once you get them on the table and you're feeling things and feeling the body and stuff, is the source of the pain different than what they're articulating?
Speaker D:Sometimes when looking at the physical posture, it can lead me into really seeing certain things about the behavior.
Speaker D:But when you actually can then also touch the body, palpate the spine, feel where stress is held in the body, those are going to give me tools as well to really strengthen what I say to the patient.
Speaker D:So posture is great.
Speaker D:But for instance, I could see say a woman who's in left curvature and backward curvature and that's telling me a part of the story.
Speaker D:Maybe absent father, maybe needing father approval, a female operating in masculine.
Speaker D:But then I feel the body and when feeling the body, it comes clear that everything's out on the right side of the body, even though the woman's in a left curve and backward curve, that would tell me, okay, the father was absent and the mother was more dominant, and the mother set super high expectations on her child and then constantly negated her child.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So it just, it's really super helpful to first be able to identify posture because it gives me so much insight.
Speaker D:But then to be able to fill the body, it's powerful.
Speaker D:And then through adjusting, to be able to unlock the physical body as to where that wound or hurt was stored in the body.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So because a lot of people, as you know, because you're one of them who just came in for really images, and you had coaching from the images but rarely had treatment.
Speaker D:And then you go through and get a new set of images and you see how your spine has transformed without treatment.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:But to me, it's a better way to go when we can implement the wall adjusting to balance the shoulder drop or the gauge treatment to balance the short leg deficiency.
Speaker D:But it's all encompassing because, you know, when I do come at a problem, I am looking at that problem from posture, but also through touching the body, palpating the body.
Speaker D:And then what is the symptom that they're coming in complaining with?
Speaker D:Because my job is about going into a problem someone has and within five minutes reframe that body surrounding that problem.
Speaker D:And so I just love it.
Speaker D:I love doing it.
Speaker D:I feel like I'm just beginning.
Speaker D:And I know I've been doing it for 35 years, but I have the same love for it that I had 35 years ago.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So the guy that I was dating at the time, I remember him asking you, like, how long it was going to take to like, correct my.
Speaker B:My spine curvature as he saw that it was maybe, you know, incorrect or whatnot.
Speaker B:And I remember you said to him something about, well, as soon as she changes her behavior or something, but totally went over his head.
Speaker B:He didn't really.
Speaker B:He really get that.
Speaker D:Well, most people would much prefer that I just do an adjustment and make the corrections in their posture.
Speaker D:And in all truth, in less than five minutes, I can do that.
Speaker D:But the job isn't done there.
Speaker D:It's just a rebalancing that's occurring.
Speaker D:So we're taking a body that's in imbalance and we're bringing it back into balance.
Speaker D:And so what I know works best is when people get the awareness to why they go into imbalance.
Speaker D:Like, oh, you're going into imbalance because your expectations are unreasonable that you're placing on yourself and you're coming from a history of negation.
Speaker D:And so you don't really know when your best is enough ever, which then creates problems because that person will tend to overdo and over give and over push.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker D:So the more that we come into awareness about what the core issue is that's resulting in the postural imbalance, the more likely it's going to be that that person's going to hold their balance when they come back for future treatments.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So let's talk about when you say everything's out on a certain side because people are basically walking around with like ribs out.
Speaker B:Like my brother was here a couple weeks ago or month or so, and, and he had his ribs out, but he's just walking around not realizing that.
Speaker B:So why don't we elaborate on what that really means?
Speaker D:And well, a lot of people have a lot of problems, right.
Speaker D:And they have a lot of structural problems, but they've operated in such a high level of denial in their life that they don't really feel their body and where their body's struggling until it becomes such a big issue that it's impacting what they love to do.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So, but a lot of people, because denial is such a deeply rooted multi generational program, a lot of people tend to deny themselves.
Speaker B:Right, Right, right.
Speaker D:It's like self care for a lot of people is no care.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So I go, well, it would help you if you were to evolve in your self care.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:You're icing three times a day because your body's so inflamed and that you're operating efficiently each day and you're not seeking outside approval from the wounded people on the planet.
Speaker D:And, and you've healed your wounds by realizing that you're a person that doesn't even know how to not give your best.
Speaker D:So you're always giving your best by default.
Speaker D:And as we help people with a little bit of clarity, what you see is you so often don't see the patient.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Because you see patients when they have issues and they're denying them and now their body's coming out with a physical pain directly related to what's being denied.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:And then you have people that like, I feel the body, oh wow, everything's out on the right, but their pains all left.
Speaker B:So yeah.
Speaker B:So what does that mean?
Speaker B:What does that tell you?
Speaker D:Oh, well, it tells you because you'll see it on ladies a lot.
Speaker D:They'll have like every rib out on the right which would indicate they're super vulnerable.
Speaker D:But then they only have one rib out on the left, the second rib on the left, upper left rib.
Speaker D:And that tells you, oh well, there's a disconnect occurring between feminine and vulnerability and masculine.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So the second rib, upper rib is really, oh, I feel comfortable in my masculine.
Speaker D:Well, what does that mean?
Speaker D:They're overdoing, they're over pushing.
Speaker D:They're letting their mental mind dictate their physical body.
Speaker D:They're their body struggling because what it needs to be is honored and appreciated and loved.
Speaker D:But they're letting their mental dictate that physical body.
Speaker D:And so I'm like, well this is confusing because everything's out in your right and only one ribs out on the left.
Speaker D:What does it indicate?
Speaker D:Absent father, that they need love by.
Speaker D:And then they're out on everything out on the right because they tried to be enough for say a dominant female that never was validated and that dominant female had to come back and negate.
Speaker D:And so they don't even feel that because they've adapted to all those stressors.
Speaker D:What they feel is this masculine load because their body's saying, hey, you're doing too much, you're taking on too big of a load.
Speaker D:If you continue down this road, the only thing the body can do is give massive inflammation and pain to force a person to take a look at what's going on within them.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So you know, the body tells us so much and people tell us a lot too because they come in with a symptom and in every, any pain pattern there's an issue.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So you know, if it's a right elbow pain, well, what's occurring in your life that that's really hurting you emotionally?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So no one's talking about this.
Speaker D:No people.
Speaker D:It's rare for people to even understand this because the world as a rule, not all doctors, because there are some chiropractors who look at standing front and side view, full spine X rays, but the majority of the world has looked at segmental X rays, little X rays.
Speaker D:They've looked at it in non injury position.
Speaker D:So let's lie you down and image you, let's stand you up and image you.
Speaker D:But if you're in a car accident, you should be image sitting.
Speaker D:And so they've only looked at a segment.
Speaker D:They have not looked at people in position of injury or position of greatest pain.
Speaker D:And so, so many people out there in the healing world are not even identifying.
Speaker D:They're treating people as if they come in segments.
Speaker D:Oh, hey, doc.
Speaker D:My.
Speaker D:My neck's in my right hand and my lower back's in my left hand.
Speaker D:So we would take images of each segment, see where it broke, and see how to patch it up, but it's not real.
Speaker D:If your neck's in your right hand, your lower back's in the left hand, you're dead.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So treating the body segmentally doesn't help people to understand that patterns exist in all of us.
Speaker D:That if there is a disease process, there is a pattern.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:If there's a mental process, there's a pattern.
Speaker D:If there's an emotional process, there's a pattern.
Speaker D:If there's a pain pattern, there's a pattern.
Speaker D:There's all sorts of patterns that by looking at people holistically, as my dad started 50 years ago, looking at the cranium to pelvis in the same image, we see, oh, wow, there's a pattern.
Speaker D:And, you know, interesting, because a lot of things started with my dad, and he started.
Speaker D:What I recall is he had someone who had a heart attack.
Speaker D:And so he went to the X ray, he's like, what.
Speaker D:What's the pattern in this heart attack?
Speaker D:And then he had another person who had a heart attack.
Speaker D:And then he said, oh, let's look at that pattern against this pattern.
Speaker D:Let's look for the commonality.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And in doing so, he realized, oh, wow, there's a lot of times father abandonment or with or my father, they didn't know how to love.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:But it was only because he looked at things holistically or systemically that he could ever even come up with that consistency from one case to another.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:To me, the world needs to go holistic, and the world is in a perfect place to do that, because segmental, they're already taking digital segments.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:So now you just stitch one segment together in perfect accuracy, and then you see a pattern.
Speaker D:So you still look at it segmentally, but it doesn't.
Speaker D:It doesn't take away from the importance of looking at something holistically.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So it's.
Speaker D:It's what keeps me going because I'm always learning.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, and.
Speaker B:And not that people don't know.
Speaker B:They, like, they just don't know.
Speaker B:Maybe they haven't been presented with the information or it's just not something that's come across their, like, radar, because I think when someone hears it, it's like, oh, okay.
Speaker B:And then they start thinking about just their own self.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And, oh, that's.
Speaker B:I mean, that, that seems pretty consistent with my behavior and I can relate to it and those types of things.
Speaker B:Um, and why wouldn't you want to be, you know, you know, have the knowledge so that you can make real changes?
Speaker B:Because I think, I think right now too, there's more people, especially with social media, that are absorbing all this information that's coming at them.
Speaker B:And it's information is readily available.
Speaker B:You know, I mean, you can run your dreams through chat, GBT or whatever, like, you know, and ask what it means or, you know, there's, there's a desire, I think, for people to be healthy and to not be in pain and all of that.
Speaker B:But it's like this podcast is like such a great way to get out the information because, you know, you're here in Long beach and you know, how do we tell everyone?
Speaker B:And that's like we talked about on the episode of why we were inspired to do this.
Speaker B:That's definitely one of the reasons, because I just can't even possibly reach enough people telling them no.
Speaker D:And I can't work with every person on the planet.
Speaker D:But our podcasts, our social media, and being able to, you know, look at one minute clips that are designed to increase your emotional quotient or your emotional awareness.
Speaker D:And it's honestly helped me a lot too because my journey has always been I need to give people awareness in like less than five minutes.
Speaker D:That helps them to reframe their health and life moving forward.
Speaker D:And now I can simply say, well, here's a couple golden nuggets for you that I think will really benefit you.
Speaker D:But we have a wealth of information and a year from now the library of information will be exponential.
Speaker D:And what I hear from people all the time is they'll be like, wow, that clip, that clip that I heard.
Speaker D:And I'm like, what are you talking about?
Speaker D:I don't even know what they're talking about.
Speaker D:But it transforms form seven.
Speaker D:It gives them awareness.
Speaker D:Because as you know, our emotional quotient is so strongly related to our level of self awareness and the more self aware we are, like I walk into a room, I'm aware of who is wounded in that room.
Speaker D:I'm aware of who is likely going to come at me from fear and who is not.
Speaker D:I am ready for that because I can see those patterns in the people, right?
Speaker D:So, but to me, just the blessing has been what we're all doing.
Speaker D:And really the bigger goal is to give people tools, real tools that go to a real level of transformation.
Speaker D:And I can just simply say when I started this work so many years ago.
Speaker D:I was a teenager and my dad, you know, took my X rays to where I am today.
Speaker D:I am so totally different than that person I once was.
Speaker D:And I'm so thankful because it's allowed me to really find joy in my life in the now.
Speaker D:Not relative to money, not relative to what I have or the car I drive or the house I have or any of that stuff.
Speaker D:But the joy is in me separate from that because it's nice to have a nice car.
Speaker D:It's nice to arrive at my problems in style.
Speaker D:But in life, you know, the awareness is the greatest gift we can give someone.
Speaker B:Well, we all know that if, you know, money doesn't bring happiness or joy, you know, it can solve many problems, you know, and those types of things and, and all honest, you know.
Speaker B:But if like you said, and I say too, it's like if you're not happy with it, you're not without it, you're not going to be happy with it.
Speaker B:Just like if you're not happy without a relationship doesn't mean the relationship is going to bring happiness.
Speaker B:You know, there's something to be said about.
Speaker D:Yeah, are you happy within you?
Speaker B:Yes, that's.
Speaker D:And are you willing to boundary off unhealthy behavior?
Speaker D:Because we do live in the world of generational wounds.
Speaker D:So it's just a fantasy to believe that someone that comes from wound will know how to be healthy.
Speaker D:And it's in our ability to be non emotional in communication and share with a person certain things, how we can shift those things.
Speaker D:And that's where the power boundary, it's so important.
Speaker D:It's so important for someone when they're projecting from their generational wound to be hit with a boundary.
Speaker B:Absolutely right.
Speaker D:And it's so easy for people to blame so oh so and so's fault.
Speaker D:It's not so and so's fault.
Speaker D:You have wound, you attracted a wound, you came together a wound.
Speaker B:And then it blew up right after the fantasy.
Speaker B:Fantasy.
Speaker D:Well even maybe during fantasy, you know, I mean, people blow up all the time.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:So yes, coming back to it, understanding that posture is a great way to get the basic information that gives me insight.
Speaker D:Then being able to palpate the body, it's another level of insight.
Speaker D:And then to interpret the pain pattern that someone is experiencing gives you another level of insight.
Speaker D:You put that all three together, you are dealing with the body mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually.
Speaker D:And as we, we go from a cellular level of loving ourselves to really loving our soul and loving all components of ourselves, loving ourselves when we fall short, loving ourselves when we attain the goal.
Speaker D:Our love for ourselves should never change.
Speaker D:It should always be present.
Speaker D:And that's what I'm promoting.
Speaker B:Sounds great.
Speaker B:We'll be right back.
Speaker B:Welcome back.
Speaker B:We're going to talk about reading the spine.
Speaker B:So, Dr. Steve, what does reading the spine in everyday life mean?
Speaker D:Well, it's a deep, deep thing.
Speaker D:Our measuring system really looks at close to 50 spinal measurements, key angles and landmarks throughout the spine.
Speaker D:Clayton's.
Speaker D:We can measure on a beef before and after basis.
Speaker D:So we can really gauge whether or not someone has changed.
Speaker D:Have they not changed or have they dramatically changed?
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So that's what measurement helps us with.
Speaker D:Because someone might say, oh, well, I'm so much better.
Speaker D:But when you look at it scientifically, you can say, oh, that's true.
Speaker D:Or you can say, actually you are in more of a curve because you're unwinding in your trauma to where a trauma took place at some point in your life.
Speaker D:And so if we were to release a person in that component, we would be releasing them in a more severe state, even though physically they feel better.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So, but, you know, I'm looking at it.
Speaker D:How far backward is the curvature when they stand?
Speaker D:The more backward the curvature, the more denial.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Because when we look at backward curvature, spine going back, we realize that, that it's a person who's withdrawing from self.
Speaker D:Okay?
Speaker D:So when you see people in, like, Alzheimer's or various things, you will see in their early life experience a lot of denial that they have trauma.
Speaker D:They denied it.
Speaker D:So I look at, you know, are you forward?
Speaker D:It's your.
Speaker D:When you stand, are you dropping your head or is your chin level?
Speaker D:Is your head forward or is your head backward to the.
Speaker B:For the forward, like I'm.
Speaker B:I see more.
Speaker B:Some older, older people, like where they're curving forward and dropping.
Speaker B:What is that?
Speaker D:Well, it's an indication when we're in forward.
Speaker D:That's female influence.
Speaker D:And, and so often it deals with dominant female influence.
Speaker D:And, you know, when we are looking for approval, when we've been programmed to look for approval from someone and we're made to believe we can get it, but we just have to attain the right level.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:And then.
Speaker D:But what happens in life is we're actually wanting approval from people that can't give it.
Speaker D:So if I give my best in my desire to get approval, and then all of a sudden I'm told when I gave my best is not enough, then what do I become further forward in curve, I say, oh, If I do more or do better, I'll get what I need.
Speaker D:But the truth of the matter is that people have such wound and they have been passed on a program that makes you believe that if you do something well enough, you'll get what you need.
Speaker D:But the truth of the matter is they haven't mastered it to be able to give it.
Speaker D:Okay, so, but when you, you brought up forward curve, what does it mean?
Speaker D:It's just commonly that that person has.
Speaker D:Seeks approval from a dominant female source.
Speaker B:For a long time.
Speaker D:For a long time.
Speaker D:But it could be, say the person needed approval from the father, but the root of the father's negation of the child is with his dominant mother that negated him.
Speaker D:Then you could see the forward curve in the spine relative to the dominant mother.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:So to me it's just very interesting and it gives us insight.
Speaker D:So if that neck is forward, very driven inherited behavior.
Speaker D:If the neck is backward, that's more of a denial a with withholding, a withdrawal from self.
Speaker D:When you study like addiction patterns, a lot of times you'll see inherited addiction.
Speaker D:You're going to see and especially say it's inherited father addiction.
Speaker D:You're going to see backward curves.
Speaker D:But what if that, that spine standing is flat, but it's showing up at level seven, which would be addiction, seventh vertebra.
Speaker D:Then that would be the mother having an addiction.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So you look at the middle back curve to define whose identity are they seeing their life through?
Speaker D:Who are they?
Speaker D:Are they looking to be enough for this father that with.
Speaker D:With withdrawals from them, or they looking to be enough for the mother that has addiction?
Speaker D:Maybe they're feeling the need to save their mother.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:That certainly was my issue on some level.
Speaker D:It's that I came in this world feeling as if I need to save people.
Speaker D:And then after doing a bunch of work, I came to the realization how my dominance had got manipulated in my childhood.
Speaker D:How from that point forward I would hit outside dysfunction with empathy.
Speaker D:How the person who I would have empathy for had no empathy for me.
Speaker D:And so it just, you know, has led me to such a greater level of awareness within myself.
Speaker B:So you're not manipulated?
Speaker D:Well, you know, that's a.
Speaker D:You know, I. I'm not here for someone else's approval, validation and love.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:I'm here to master self approval, self validation and self love.
Speaker D:In doing that, there is a dichotomy there because the loving sense self is loving self.
Speaker D:If my belly's a little bit or if my belly small, right.
Speaker D:If I have Hair on my head or if I don't have hair.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So learning to get into neutrality with self is such a very important thing.
Speaker D:But looking at patterns, we discussed the forward head tilt driven behavior.
Speaker D:You see men that are really forward and all.
Speaker D:Right, that's all female.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker B:What does that translate in as far as like maybe parenting, who parented them?
Speaker D:Most likely that the influence just was the dominant female.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker D:And they bought into, they could be enough if they attained enough.
Speaker D:But it's like the medical doctor that came in and he had ruptured his right Achilles and he had disc problems and he had right leg sciatica and he had severe right shoulder pain and he had all these right sided problems.
Speaker D:So my question was, at what point will you be enough for your mother?
Speaker D:And he's like, oh, I'll never be enough for my mother.
Speaker B:That's crazy that someone would say that.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker D:But he was so accomplished.
Speaker D:He had a degree in chemistry, he had his degree in medicine, he had other things that he accomplished so many things because his desire was to be enough for her.
Speaker D:So but his body's breaking down because no matter what he gives and does and he excels at every level, he's realizing that at no point will he ever be enough.
Speaker D:And that's when the body is going to break down.
Speaker D:It's like the child who's passive and you can't get the child do anything.
Speaker D:Well, maybe it's because the expectations are really high and maybe it's because the child's been negated a lot and children will give their best for a while, but if they find that their best is never good enough, all of a sudden they're not going to give at all.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker B:So for that patient, like what, what is the journey?
Speaker B:Or what, what is, what would his kids be experiencing if he's spent his whole life trying to be enough for his mom?
Speaker D:Well, it's what will be projected is the generational inadequacy that he's experienced.
Speaker D:So even because the, the father in this case would be the, like the king of the castle.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So if, if the father gains awareness and then can communicate to his children like, oh, you know, kids, I was taught this and I believe that I would be enough for my mother when I got my medical degree, when I got my degree in chemistry.
Speaker D:And but to be truthful, I've never felt enough for my mom.
Speaker D:And so I'm hopeful that you don't feel that same issue with me, that this is a work in process.
Speaker D:I now realize My mother was severely wounded and there was no way in her case that he could make her male.
Speaker D:See, if you got a male dominant who setting high standards and say it's a male, well that male dominant female feels inadequate.
Speaker D:She's not a male.
Speaker D:So what's the likelihood that she's going to validate the male child?
Speaker B:She will probably struggle with that.
Speaker D:Probably struggle.
Speaker D:But say you're a female child.
Speaker D:Well, the root need for that mother is male approval and you're a female child.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:You're then, oh my gosh, then you can count on never being validated your entire life from that parent.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:So you, you're better off wisen up, gaining awareness, changing your own emotional quotient through awareness.
Speaker D:Oh wow.
Speaker D:I can see my mom did the best she could with the tools and.
Speaker B:Wounds she came from and like let it go.
Speaker D:And, and that's her story.
Speaker D:But my story is going to be different.
Speaker D:I'm going to be a person that learns to celebrate.
Speaker D:I'm going to be a person that, that masters self validation.
Speaker D:I'm going to master self encouragement.
Speaker D:I'm going to, I'm going to be really solid when I give my best intention to always circle back and celebrate what I put out energetically.
Speaker D:Because again, if we spend our whole life in a fantasy that says a wounded person that never received something, never self mastered will give it, it's a great misdirection in life.
Speaker D:Our journey is to give people awareness and say, well, do you really need it?
Speaker D:Why can't you validate you?
Speaker D:Why can't you celebrate your greatness?
Speaker D:Why can't you build on your greatness?
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:What, what, yeah.
Speaker B:What's preventing, I mean I, I've learned to celebrate myself or give myself a pat on the back or treat myself or you know, even on Mother's Day purchase my own flowers.
Speaker B:You know, I don't put that responsibility on my daughter.
Speaker B:You know, sure it'd be great if she went and did something, but I have no expectation of that coming from her.
Speaker B:And I don't also need it to be, you know, my Mother's Day is coming up.
Speaker B:It's like I, I can tell, like I can look back and be like, like I'm doing a really good job.
Speaker D:That's right.
Speaker D:Well, I can tell you the job you've done because I remember coming into your world when you were having a lot of challenges with your daughter.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker D:And, and you know, and I came at you and I'm like, hey, you know, we got to deal with this.
Speaker D:Within you.
Speaker D:It's not about your daughters.
Speaker D:Within you.
Speaker D:And I know that was an upsetting day on some level, but it also was a freeing day in my life because you were able to let go of the micromanagement of your daughter, which.
Speaker D:How many teenagers can say that?
Speaker D:That their parents not micromanaging them?
Speaker B:Oh, I know.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:It's so much better.
Speaker D:And then you look at your daughter and her accomplishments.
Speaker D:She's accomplishing things not for you.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Is that right?
Speaker D:But for herself.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And even it's.
Speaker B:And her.
Speaker B:She has super high expectations of herself.
Speaker B:And I want her to, like, you know, back off a little bit, you know, have fun.
Speaker B:Like, you know, only take the act one time.
Speaker B:And she's taking it three times.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, just for her, you know,.
Speaker D:And she took it one time and scored so high.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:And then.
Speaker D:But she takes it a second time, third time, and a lot of times that is about generational negation.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:So we're not greater just because we get a higher score.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Which I.
Speaker B:We've had conversations.
Speaker B:It was funny because we did talk about it, and.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:What I want to convey to her was, you know, I wanted her to maybe see that it was a great first.
Speaker B:You know, her first time was a great score.
Speaker B:And, you know, top 98, 99 tile.
Speaker B:And, you know, she could maybe focus on her energy towards, you know, other things.
Speaker B:And so she, of course, is like, what are you discouraging me from taking it again?
Speaker B:What's going on?
Speaker B:You know?
Speaker B:Or like, you don't.
Speaker B:Do you not believe in me and trying to turn it around?
Speaker B:I'm like, no, no, hold on.
Speaker B:I just want you to know that I want to support whatever you decide.
Speaker B:And at this point, we were deciding between, you know, having, you know, investing in tutoring, an ACT tutoring course, so to speak, lots of tutoring classes.
Speaker B:And I really left it up to her.
Speaker B:I just didn't want her.
Speaker B:I wanted to convey in my best way that I didn't have an expectation placed on her.
Speaker B:I knew that she had one on herself.
Speaker B:And for her being, you know, 16, she does have to walk through these things herself in her own life, because I had my turn of.
Speaker B:And her dad has had his of making decisions and.
Speaker B:And all of that.
Speaker B:And although there's a part of me that wants to save her from, like, the out or like, you know, here's what may happen down the road, I really do have.
Speaker B:Because I have hindsight.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:She doesn't have as much hindsight As I do.
Speaker B:But she really just has to discover it herself.
Speaker B:And so in those cases when she's pushing herself, I do have to just let her.
Speaker B:But the pushing is not coming from.
Speaker D:Yeah, but it's also okay to put out a perspective since you have been a person at times that has been extremely over pushing.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So it's not like that behavior.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:And then you look at her father, he's right.
Speaker B:Super high standard.
Speaker D:Super high standard.
Speaker D:Super self driven, great, great guy, you know, but high, super high standard.
Speaker D:And, and so that's coming into her without your help.
Speaker B:Right, right, right, right.
Speaker D:Have to say anything but understanding that we are enough before we take the test.
Speaker D:And you know, it's nice that she's getting evidence to support that she has knowledge.
Speaker D:It was like me, you know, when I took that emotional quotient assessment, I had no idea that you could take an assessment that would measure your emotional intelligence.
Speaker D:I had no idea.
Speaker D:I just studied the spine.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:And it was really great for me to be able to take that test and have a set of metrics that gave me awareness that I had a high emotional quotient.
Speaker D:And so sometimes that evidence really helps us.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:But if we fall short, we need to also work on being thankful for what we've attained.
Speaker D:To encourage ourselves to stay the course, to realize that we have given our best intention.
Speaker D:In her case, she's taking consistent action for this outcome that one day it's not going to matter much at all.
Speaker D:But today it does matter.
Speaker D:And what it is giving her on a consistent basis is evidence so she can see where she's at.
Speaker D:And so I think it's really good.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean I, I've seen that.
Speaker B:And I think for her, because she's taken a couple of tests that have.
Speaker B:I think it.
Speaker B:Sometimes she doesn't realize how smart she is or intelligent or even like, I mean, I think all of us don't always know like what our strengths are.
Speaker B:And so maybe there's not, it depends on whatever metric, you know, maybe there's not metrics for, for everything in terms of like, you know, like how creative you are or those types of things.
Speaker B:And I think that for her and her situation, it gave her a sense of like, like something that she doesn't, for whatever reason is questioning, you know, like her, you know, intelligence or whatnot.
Speaker B:But I do encourage her at least when we're talking and, you know, just letting her know, you know, that, you know, she's valuable without all of these other things that she's doing.
Speaker D:And it's helpful for her to hear.
Speaker B:And then for me just also.
Speaker B:But then like being that way myself, you know, like not being critical of my body or not being, you know, critical of what I weigh or those types of things I think is something too that just because those kids pick up on and stuff.
Speaker B:And I'm trying my best to practice those myself each day.
Speaker B:So, you know.
Speaker D:Yeah, and, and that's the importance of also being conscious of when we navigate in a world of freedom fear, that we are prepared for the negative that will come our way.
Speaker D:And as we can learn to boundary that negative by putting on our armor and blocking.
Speaker D:Oh, that's a fear.
Speaker D:You're coming from a criticism.
Speaker D:And that means someone was critical of you.
Speaker D:If no one's ever critical of you, you wouldn't know how to be critical of me.
Speaker D:So instead of me personalizing this transfer, I'm going to actively hit it with denial.
Speaker D:I'm going to actually den deny that projection because I know that wound is multigenerational, not personal.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That was great.
Speaker B:We'll be right back.
Speaker C:This episode of the Adjusting youg Life podcast is brought to you by Ward chiropractic.
Speaker C:For over 30 years, Dr. Steve Ward has been helping people get to the root cause of their pain.
Speaker C:He's a second generation chiropractor who looks at the whole spine, not just the sore spirit spot.
Speaker C:With standing and seated full spine X rays, Dr. Steve finds what most doctors miss.
Speaker C:And his wall adjustment technique, it can bring fast relief back pain, sports injuries.
Speaker C:Check out chiroman.com for hours location and to contact the clinic or stop by Ward Chiropractic Family center today.
Speaker C:Mention this ad and you'll get a free recheck two hours after your first adjustment.
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Speaker C:C H I R O M A N for more info.
Speaker B:Welcome back.
Speaker B:We're going to talk about how behavior leaves physical choices.
Speaker B:So, Dr. Steve, what would be the reason that someone would end up having, you know, a knee replacement or hip replacement or maybe both hips, what would be the behavior pattern that would eventually lead to something like that?
Speaker D:Well, our bodies are going to have issues if we do not deal with our behavioral genetics.
Speaker D:So if we never deal with our behavior, like for instance, people who have lower back surgery, what's the behavior they need to deal with?
Speaker D:They need to learn to be a clear communicator.
Speaker D:They need to learn to be able to express without emotion.
Speaker D:They need to be able to work on being a clear communicator.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Because when we're looking at disc problems, lower back, what we find is those people were programmed to internalize and so they get hurt and then they take that hurt internally over many years in a lot of cases, and then all of a sudden the disc deteriorates and then they're in all this severe pain.
Speaker D:But could that pain pattern be avoided?
Speaker D:Well, sure, but they got to learn that they're emotional and that they feel hurt and that when they feel hurt, the importance of expressing the hurt they feel.
Speaker D:And as I coach people who are longtime internalizers, I coach them to preface their hurt.
Speaker D:Because a lot of people when expressing hurt to someone, what they get is a reactive anger that comes back.
Speaker D:So I express my truth.
Speaker D:And now, oh, you're a big baby, or, you know, I was joking or whatever.
Speaker D:And so, you know, what we, what we need to understand is when we do have problems that require operations, there is a behavior underlying that problem.
Speaker D:Now, there could be a trauma that caused it, but a lot of times I've had images on people that we had images on, and then they get in a trauma, we take new images on them, and their spine looks even better.
Speaker B:Oh, interesting, right.
Speaker D:So there are times that a trauma will come in and evolve a spinal pattern that was hard to change, but because of the physical force of the trauma, it forces the change in that structure.
Speaker B:So what without, what is there an example of that?
Speaker D:Well, I've just seen it a lot because I have taken full spine X rays on people for years and then they get a new set if they have like a car accident.
Speaker D:And we can compare the first set to the second set and we can see if they have improved, if they've worsened.
Speaker D:Because a lot of times, you know, I've seen traumatic improvement that a trauma actually created an improvement in structure.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:But when we're looking at like knee replacement.
Speaker D:Well, right needs what it's emotional.
Speaker D:Left needs non emotional.
Speaker D:So left knee pain is going to be more denial.
Speaker D:Right knee pain is going to be more expectation that's unreasonable.
Speaker D:So you set such a reasonable expectation for yourself, no matter what you attain, you can never celebrate or validate.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:And then they become pushing them so hard to attain for what?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker D:What's the power of attaining if you don't learn self validate and all you're gonna do is look for validation from someone who's gonna withhold it.
Speaker D:So what's the real purpose of it?
Speaker D:Right, so, but I see in knee pain all the time, you know, you can see the emotional knee might be harder when it's replaced.
Speaker D:Sometimes the denial knee will be harder.
Speaker D:It depends on where are you.
Speaker D:Are you more vulnerable and emotional or are you more non emotional?
Speaker D:You tend to take your hurt internally, process it, rationalize it, withdraw from it, deny it.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So because you can see what people have, bilateral knee or bilateral shoulder, they'll have one that's done.
Speaker D:That's easy.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's.
Speaker D:And then they'll have another one that they do.
Speaker D:That's.
Speaker D:They have nothing but challenge.
Speaker D:And again, what's the missing ingredient?
Speaker D:It's behavior.
Speaker D:It's the missing ingredient.
Speaker D:And then when you implement structure, when you go in and you have someone who has chronic knee pain, say, they come into me, my knee's so bad, I do a simple wall adjustment, middle of the back.
Speaker D:And all of a sudden their knees better.
Speaker D:In like seconds, they're like, how'd that happen?
Speaker D:Because we went to the root of where the knee is supplied, right?
Speaker D:Because when we look at an elbow or knee, we see a hinge joint.
Speaker D:And the hinge of the spine is the apex of the spine.
Speaker D:So when looking at a side view of the full spine image, we look to see where is the most backward point on the side view image that would become the apex of the spine.
Speaker D:We would adjust in that apex to help reduce the pain in the, in the knee or the elbow.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:And so just super powerful, the adjustment end of it, the wall adjustment end of it on extremity pain.
Speaker D:And I've been saying this for years when dealing with sports and athletes, they have, they sprain their ankle, they break their ankle, they, you know, break their wrist, whatever, whatever it is.
Speaker D:But at the moment of trauma, there is a fixation that occurs to the spine.
Speaker D:So the, the, the wrist gets sprained.
Speaker D:There's a fixation that takes place at the first thoracic vertebra, in that case, or if the ankle is sprayed.
Speaker D:So if you then go to the first thoracic and you release that structurally the ankle, wrists are going to improve way faster than if all you do is treat the ankle or wrist.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We've talked about this, and this is really important, I think.
Speaker D:Oh, it's important for these teams that have huge payrolls and they have players that get injured and they're struggling to get that injured player back to where they were prior to injury.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:And it's a missing ingredient.
Speaker D:Wall adjustments should be done on any kind of trauma, any kind of extremity trauma.
Speaker D:Wall adjustments should be done.
Speaker D:And then incorporating short leg, balancing the short leg.
Speaker D:And, and as we see today, we See both men and women that are more calmly in left short leg than in right.
Speaker D:And so we have more of a self driven pattern of behavior that's playing out now than ever.
Speaker D:Because when I was young doing this, I'd see men in right short leg all the time.
Speaker D:But those men are attracting very dominant women and those dominant women they're trying to be enough for.
Speaker D:But those women have trauma, say with absent father.
Speaker D:And no matter what that man does, it's not releasing the trauma that precedes it.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So really so powerful.
Speaker D:It's so powerful.
Speaker D:If I'm a basketball team or football team or baseball team and you are wanting to give your players the very best possibility to be the greatest player that they're capable of being.
Speaker D:Balancing their structure is a key element which team trainers, team doctors, they don't even understand that the athlete's in imbalance.
Speaker D:And I mean we're all in imbalance until we balance it.
Speaker D:And then if we want a whole balance, we shift the behavior, which is.
Speaker B:Just wild that that's not even on the radar.
Speaker B:But we're putting it on the radar by doing this podcast because, hey, people.
Speaker D:Need to know that there is opportunity out there to shift their bodies mechanism and help them immediately to transform some of their health issues they may be having.
Speaker D:And I do it every day.
Speaker D:You know, if I had a dollar for every time someone told me that they had a problem, they couldn't be fixed, man.
Speaker D:I mean, sitting about a lot of dollars, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:And because so many people, they come in with what they say is so dire and it takes a day or two to re help to resolve it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:It doesn't take a year.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You don't have to go to 10 pt.
Speaker D:No, you, I can balance the average patient in less than five, five minutes.
Speaker D:I can bounce their shoulder drop, balance their legs.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker D:And then I'm going to give them a tool, a nugget, and then I'm going to pass them on my social media channel and encourage them to take time, you know, even if it's 10 minutes a day.
Speaker D:10 Minutes a day.
Speaker D:Go through our 1 minute reels and see how you begin to see everything that's occurring in your life differently.
Speaker D:And that's really what we're about here.
Speaker B:Thank you for joining us on today's episode.
Speaker B:For more information to view our show notes, please visit adjustingyourlifepodcast.com and please join us on Patreon to support the show and for bonus segments and just all things exciting that's happening.
Speaker B:With the podcast.
Speaker B:We'll see you next time.
Speaker A:This is a broadcast of the Adjusting youg Life Podcast produced by Adjusted Life Media.
Speaker A:All information contained in this episode and all other content provided on this channel is for informational and entertainment purposes only.
Speaker A:This content is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Speaker A:If you or someone you know is experiencing a medical emergency, please contact your local emergency services.
Speaker A:Dr. Stephen M. Ward, D.C. is a board certified doctor of chiropractic medicine licensed in the State of California, county of Los Angeles.
Speaker A:The Adjusting youg Life Podcast is written and produced by Executive Producer Jamie Knapp and co produced by Kennedy hall and Dr. Steven Ward as Dr. Steve.
Speaker A:For more information or to connect with us, visit adjustingyourlife podcast.com.
