The other day, I had someone tell me that I was “a great stress reducer”. At the time I just smiled and said “I just turn on the power and your body does the rest,” told them to lie face down and began adjusting. But as I went through the day I thought about that person’s statement and I wondered how many others thought the same thing. I know that many people express that they feel a sense of relaxation and ease after being adjusted and that often people note that they don’t feel as stressed at work or at home after the adjustment. Some people even fall asleep while on the table. So it would be easy to assume that stress reduction is part of what getting adjusted is about and I suppose that’s somewhat, but not entirely true. You see, I don’t really reduce the stress, I simply help your system to better flow with, adapt to, integrate and learn from the stresses that you encounter. I don’t “take away” the stress that resides within your body, I merely release it so your system can integrate it and utilize it for growth, healing and evolution. If I were to “remove” the stress, either in your life or in your body, you would be robbed of what I consider a great gift. Every experience you have, no matter the source, is an opportunity to learn, to heal, to evolve. That’s why I consider them a great gift and that is why we have them. The growth and evolution can involve our conscious emotional/mental self. We feel compassion and patience for the distracted driver ahead of us instead of frustration, because we are clear enough to remember that we too were just as distracted not five minutes before. We have the experience of being emotionally manipulated by someone and instead of feeling guilt, anger or resentment, we are clear enough to see it merely as a mirror and resolve not to be manipulative with others. Growth and evolution can also involve the subconscious, emotional/mental/physiological self. Every experience you have introduces energetic input into your system. The sound waves of words spoken, the forces of physical impacts, the nutritional energy of the food eaten, all add stress/energy to our bodies. This stress/energy can then be integrated and utilized for life. Now you may be thinking that you can see how we consciously learn and how we utilize the energy from food, but how can the body use the energy of a stressful encounter or a fall down the stairs? Here’s my answer. I feel that it utilizes these energies via the electromagnetic system (EMS). The EMS is essentially the resonance or musical tones of the body. It is this system which underlies and determines the functioning of every other system in the body. If the EMfield (EMF) of an organ is altered, it will affect the way in which that organ processes and produces chemicals. If the EMF of the brain is altered it will affect its many functions. Changes in the EMS can alter our perception, our thoughts, our actions. In any experience, the energy produced has a frequency or tone, this is the realm of the EMS. If the energy/frequency is integrated, the EMS functioning system is enhanced and with that clarity can utilize the energetic input, much like boosting a radio signal enhances its reception and sound quality. If, however, the frequency of the experience is not integrated, the EMS will be distorted. These unintegrated experiences are stored in the body and create a feeling of tension and stress. As more and more of these are built up, the feeling of ‘overwhelm’ and ‘overload’ ensues. Now, if we just wanted to dissipate and release some of these stresses, we could exercise, scream, laugh, cry, escape to a movie, go on a vacation, or millions of other distractions. That, however, would only decrease the intensity but it would not fully release or integrate the stored frequencies. The unintegrated experience would be in your conscious awareness less, but it would still be there and the gift of the lesson to be received still trapped. The adjustment frees the stored frequency or experience. Once freed it can be integrated, the tension and stress in the body releases and the EMS can then utilize the energy. Sometimes the energy is used to enhance the nurturing systems of the body and the feeling of relaxation and well-being results. Sometimes it is used to heal and make physical changes in the body and instead of relaxed, you feel as if you’ve worked incredibly hard. Sometimes it’s used to release emotions, release toxins, or open your mind to new ideas, insights and thoughts. Whatever the gift of the experience, it can be released and allowed to manifest through the adjustment. So, am I a great stress reducer? Perhaps. But the gift is not in the personal and subjective feeling of stress reduction, but in the objectivity and clarity the body/mind/spirit has after the adjustment to utilize each and every experience in life. Gift giving, the exchanging and betstowing upon each other some offering of good will, is one of the oldest traditions. Mother Nature gives us the gift of experience each and every day. I give you the gift of integration of those experiences.