What is Spinal Energetics?

Digital illustration of a human back with a focus on the spine and shoulder blades, set against a colorful, abstract background.

Spinal Energetics is a unique modality blending Eastern and Western philosophies. This practice interacts with the spine, nervous system, and energetic field to activate the body's innate wisdom and natural healing capacity.

Using gentle yet powerful touch—and often no touch at all—I guide the nervous system to release stored tension within the spine and body.

Through this process, your body naturally begins to shift, unwind, and release — improving mood, energy levels, and physical pain.

The Benefits of Spinal Energetics

After just a couple of sessions, many people report feeling better equipped to manage daily stress, and feel more energized. With regular sessions, you will find yourself in a more balanced and functional state by maintaining a healthy nervous system baseline. Spinal Energetics will set you on a path toward greater vitality, less pain and more ease in daily life.

  • Our nervous system begins at the base of the brain and moves through cerebrospinal fluid down the spine to the coccyx, and extends to the peripheral extremities - our organs, bones, and everything in between. This movement of fluid is guided by energy.. chi or prana, otherwise known as our life force.

    Throughout life, our bodies experience different forms of stress, including physical injuries, chemical toxicity, and emotional trauma. These stresses can disrupt the natural flow of our nervous system, leading to stored tension and imbalance, wreaking havoc on our mood and pain signals.

  • Spinal Energetics offers a gentle yet powerful way to reset the nervous system back to zero, releasing stored tension and trauma from the spine and peripheral nerve network.

    This process helps restore mental and physical balance, allowing the body to function with greater ease and resilience.

  • During a Spinal Energetics session, you’ll lie face down on a massage table while I assess where tension is stored in your spine using simple palpations.

    Through gentle touch and sound activation, I’ll access your energetic body through the spine, encouraging energy release.

    Predominantly, my hands will remain off your body, allowing your system to integrate the healing process naturally.

    The body has an incredible ability to self-heal when given the right environment.

  • Sensations vary from person to person. You may experience emotional release, twitching, movements in your hands, legs, neck, or other areas as your nervous system activates its innate healing capacity.

    Some people experience large emotions, spontaneous stretches or oscillations, while others do not.

    There is no right or wrong—everybody responds differently.

The Nervous System as a Thermometer.

Imagine the nervous system as a thermometer. As a baby, your first experiences of stress from a wet nappy or hunger triggers a stress response in the body, activating the fight-or-flight response and raising the stress "temperature."

When you then receive comfort by cuddles and feeding, you release the stress and regain a sense of safety. Yet, the thermometer’s baseline doesn’t reset to zero. A small amount of stress remains stored in the body.

Over our lives our ‘stress temperature’ rises and falls over and over again. We learn to manage stress and release tension with myriad coping mechanisms. But the hectic lives we lead cause our “stress baseline “ to get higher and higher over time - until we find we are living in fight-or-flight every day, feeling dysregulated, in pain, and struggling to cope.

Spinal Energetics is a profound (yet completely gentle) way to help you to release stored tension from the nervous system. Your body knows what to do, and I can gently help it to do it.

Diagram of the nervous system showing the brain, spinal cord, and various organs, with lines indicating nervous connections to the pupil, heart, airways, sweat gland, liver, digestive system, adrenal glands, urinary system, and sympathetic ganglion.

Spinal Nerves & Spinal Energetics – Finding Balance

Your spinal nerves act as messengers between your brain and body, controlling movement, sensation, and automatic functions. When tension builds up (due to stress, injury, or posture), it can disrupt this flow, leading to discomfort and imbalance.

Spinal Energetics gently helps release that tension, using light touch, or none at all to reset your nervous system. This process:

  • Eases tension in the spine and body

  • Restores energy flow for better balance

  • Supports healing from stress and trauma

  • Enhances overall wellbeing

By working with both the physical and energetic body, Spinal Energetics helps you feel more aligned and in tune with yourself.

Diagram showing the vertebral levels of the spine and their associated possible symptoms, including cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal regions with specific nerve roots and symptoms such as headaches, sinus problems, arm pain, heart conditions, stomach problems, and leg numbness.

"After only two sessions of Spinal Energetics with Rachel, I felt more positive about life. I have seen her weekly for a couple of months now, and I’m less depressed, and feel more able to do things I haven't done in years. This work has helped me to become a happier version of myself.

She has also helped me with chronic pain, including arthritic pain in my hands and knees. It was hard for me to believe it, but what Rachel does really works."

Sue Bradbury

Book with Rachel

022 102 7440 or hello@rachelkirkland.com