Before starting the practice, please read the text below. This practice was first shared on LinkedIn, where you can find more of my work and guided practices.
Our Gateway: The Body. This Is Where It Starts
Most of my life, I have worked with people through change, crisis, and crossroads, in social work, coaching, teaching, creative guidance, and communication. And yes, also for many years as a passionate hobby DJ, playing several times a month.
Different rooms. Different people. Different challenges.
But looking back, one single thing showed up again and again across all of it: awareness was always the gateway to what was actually happening. Not the willpower to force a specific result or mood. Not a strategy to control or fix the room. Not thinking harder, but simply acknowledging what was actually there.
We usually try to figure out what is happening by thinking harder, but the truth doesn’t live in our thoughts. Many times a feeling can become so intense that it just blinds everything else. One can drown in it, blame the world around for it, but none of that helps. We cannot think our way through a storm; we have to land in the only place capable of holding it. And that is our body. Because it is in our bodies where awareness lives.
The moment we actually allow ourselves to feel what is happening inside us, something shifts. That is where real processes begin.
But to get there, we have to look past our thoughts about what we are experiencing. We have to tune into the body’s actual language—the physical felt sense of it:
- The tightness in the chest that makes breathing difficult.
- The weight on the shoulders that makes the body hunch forward.
- The knot in the stomach that tightens the moment something feels hard.
That is why I have gone all in to build something I strongly believe in: that movement and health on all layers of the body is a powerful tool for inviting in awareness in a more gentle way, allowing us to move with it and through it.
This is how I moved through my own personal trauma, and it is exactly what I have seen work through all my training and certifications. It does the magic because it is experiential living. It isn’t about what someone else tells you to do. You do the practice, and you see the results for yourself. Experiential living is how we take our power back from everything happening around us in the external world. So, I have started sharing small practices that can be used in everyday life. Call them simple tools for daily use, a way of coming back into the body so we can actually hear what is there.
A good place to start is the very center of our structure. Our spine!!!
Our spine holds more than our posture. It holds our stress. Our exhaustion. The weight of everything we carry.
That is why I am sharing a short practice today with a focus on the spine—specifically a version of Spinal Flex. This one focuses on the upper body: the chest, the heart center, the shoulders, and the upper back. These are the places where so many of us quietly store everything we are holding.
I hope you enjoy this short practice.
What is Spinal Flex?
Spinal Flex is a rhythmic, breath-driven movement done sitting down. You inhale as the spine flexes forward, chest open, upper back arching. You exhale as it rounds back. Continuous. Wave-like. Driven entirely by breath.
It comes from the Kundalini yoga tradition and is one of the most foundational practices for spinal health and nervous system support. Simple to learn, deeply effective.
What This Version Works On
This upper body version focuses on the thoracic vertebrae, the chest and sternum, the shoulders, the upper back between and around the shoulder blades, and the lungs.
The rhythmic movement acts as a natural pump, deepening the breath and oxygenating the blood. Like all rhythmic breathwork, it gradually soothes the nervous system—the part of you that might permanently stay on high alert.
A Note on Pace
Keep the breath slow and steady. If you have uncontrolled blood pressure, a sensitive or dysregulated nervous system, anxiety, or any cardiovascular condition, a fast, forceful pace is not for you. Slow and rhythmic is where the real benefit lives.
Who Should Check With Their Doctor First
Spinal Flex is gentle and safe for most people. However, please check with your healthcare provider before practicing if you have:
- Herniated discs or recent back surgery
- Uncontrolled blood pressure
- Vertigo or severe glaucoma
- Pregnancy
- Significant trauma or psychiatric instability
Where to Sit
The position must be comfortable and stable. If your body braces, the practice stops working.
- Easy Pose with elevated hips: Sit on a folded blanket to help restore your natural lumbar curve.
- Chair: Keep your feet flat on the floor, hands resting on your knees. This is fully effective—there is nothing lesser about this option.
- Rock Pose (Vajrasana): Sitting back on the heels with hands flat on thighs. This is a traditional variation taught alongside Easy Pose.
I Want to Hear From You
I am evolving my work and I want to hear from the women I am building it for. (Men are, of course, also welcome to fill in the survey if what I share speaks to you!)
If you are in your mid-30s or beyond, exhausted from carrying everything, and ready to find joy without having to “fix” everything first, this is for you.
This survey takes just a few minutes. As a thank you for your time, you can win one free session with me.
By answering this survey, you will also be added to my mailing list to receive a couple of monthly newsletters with updates on my services and offers. You can, of course, unsubscribe at any time.
Take the Survey Here: 👉 Survey
I am Parisa Radpey, the writer of these pages and founder of Dhyana Donya Movement & Health. I am currently building something that scares me a little and excites me a lot. A space and community for people who want to create real change. Not only by thinking differently, but by moving through what they carry. Through holistic movement. At Dhyana Donya Movement & Health you will find all my services and offerings.
If this makes you curious, I have put together a short guide on what holistic movement actually means and how it works. Get the free guide here. You can find me on Instagram most days, sharing small reflections and real moments. And when words are not enough, music moves what nothing else can. Find my playlist on Spotify under Movement Coach Parisa. Let it inspire you to move wildly and freely.
I am also part of the Wise and Shine blogger community, where honest voices gather to reflect on life as it really is.
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