Is a 20 minute adjustment twice as good as a 10 minute adjustment?
Top of the morning to you, New Day community!
When I was new to Network Spinal and first receiving care, back when I was in my mid-20s before I became I chiropractor, I, like most Americans, assumed that more was better.
First of all, why should I pay money for someone to “adjust” me, when it felt like they were only touching my lightly? I thought 😂
After all, my problems were severe, I believed. Someone doing work with my spine and body should be working harder, not less hard (as with this seemingly wimpy approach)
Then, after I received my first few adjustments and found myself a “believer” (in spite of myself), I STILL found myself feeling ripped off at times (crazy though this may now seem).
“She’s barely touching me!” I’d think. “Plus, what about all the time I spend laying here when she’s walked away and she’s not adjusting me?”
I frequently felt tension and anxiety flaring during the interludes when my doctor would walk away and adjust someone else.
“Tick-tock,” I’d think bitterly, looking at my watch and thinking about all the productive work I could be doing while I was instead laying face-down on the table 😟😟😟
I’m telling you about my experience to help you understand that I will never be offended if you feel or think the same thing. Not at all! Been there ✨🙏✨
Fast forward 4 years.
I was now in chiropractic school after my life-changing experience with said “wimpy” (lol!) chiropractic approach.
In one of my classes, taught by the sort of “old-school” chiropractor I became fondly accustomed to down in Marietta, Georgia, I heard something that has helped me ever since.
When describing the amount of time it takes to adjust a patient, the doctor remarked, “It doesn’t take but a second to turn on the light!” (you can probably imagine the accent as he said it hah!) 💥
Instantly, I knew this was true.
Despite my regular experience that more was better, my idea that it would take a lot of work to fix me, and my constant fear that I always needed to make sure to “get what I was paying for,” (scarcity, scarcity, scarcity!) I also had had plenty of other experiences in life when everything seemed to change in a second.
And if chiropractic was indeed the specific, neurologically based methodology we were making it out to be, it would actually make sense that if you knew what you were doing, it wouldn’t take a lot of time to do it, I realized.
In fact, the better you were at getting results, the less time it might actually take to do it💡💡💡
And so it became clear that it probably didn’t really matter if the adjustment I received was 20 minutes long. Or 10. Or even 1. Just as long as whatever time frame contained the necessary seconds for the neurological change to take place; for the electricity to go on ⚡🌀⚡
There are two other related gems that also help me with getting adjusted, giving adjustments, or just getting things done in general (and how much time it should take for all these things!) 💎
Yes even I, after all these years, still sometimes need help with overcoming my conditioning (because we’ve all always been SO conditioned to “more is always better!”)
You may remember, from past blogs of mine, about Donny Epstein’s theory about the 3 energetic states (aka “energy rich,” “energy neutral,” and “energy poor”).
Basically, what we call “energy neutral” in the world of Network Spinal care is the energetic, neurological, and life-state of getting satisfactory results in what you’re going for, but only with a GREAT DEAL of energy and effort.
Whereas when we are “energy rich,” we get better outcomes in a fraction of the time and effort. Why?
Well, more energy goes into the focus you bring in the first place. It’s the difference between what the productivity literature calls “task” or “activity orientation” versus “results orientation.”
When we are energy-neutral, or task oriented, we are lost in the step-by-step. The doing. Every little part of what we are doing seems to become an outcome unto itself. We forget the big picture, the WHY of what we are doing, and what we want to have happen in the first place.
And, as you might imagine, being task or activity oriented takes A LOT more time than being results oriented ⌛
Perhaps you know someone like this. Someone who makes all these jobs and to-dos for themselves (and is very convinced that each is necessary and important!), and is driving themselves crazy with being busy, but doesn’t always seem satisfied with getting a lot done 😂
And maybe, sometimes, that person is you! I know I’ve been there 😂 😂 😂
What does all this have to do with Network Spinal and the time you spend on the table getting adjusted?
Hopefully you can begin to see that spending more time on something, whether it’s getting your spine and nervous system adjusted or packing for a trip, does not necessarily correlate with getting the best results 💥
In fact, spending a lot of time on something can be an indication that you either 1) don’t know what you’re doing or 2) Aren’t bringing a rich amount of energy/focus/results orientation to what you’re doing.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that if you find yourself laying on the table in the adjusting room for what feels like a long time that you’re necessarily getting a bad adjustment!
“Can’t hurry healing,” as I sometimes say 😂💓✨
Sometimes it might take a little more time for you to relax and get situated, and for me to get clear on what your spine and nervous system are showing me, and what I need to do to help your system adjust.
Sometimes there might be a lot going on in the adjusting room, which might have me leaving you on the table for a longer period of time.
Which I don’t view as a bad thing. Hey, you spending a little extra time in a place and time dedicated to your health and healing can’t be a bad thing! I am fully aware of the world I am sending you back into after your adjustments 😂
But, suffice it to say that if you know where the light switches are, and you don’t get side-tracked on your way to them, it doesn’t take but a second to turn them on 💥💡💓
Have you ever had an experience of an adjustment at New Day taking shorter, or longer, than you expected? Share your experience with me here!
