You might be surprised to learn that the connective tissue called dura matter that protects your tailbone is the same thick, cushiony tissue that protects your brain.
Its job is to protect the most important parts of our body with a durable, strong covering. Our body’s intelligence is not only in our brain but throughout our entire body… Especially your spinal cord!
And the spine can tell you a lot about the stress you’re holding onto.
The Base Gateway is located at the base of your spine, the coccyx aka the tailbone.
Picture the tail of a dog… When a dog is feeling happy, the tail is lifted and open. But when it’s afraid, a dog will tuck their tail. Our Base Gateway is no different.
If there’s a threat, the body perceives stress and goes into fight or flight. The sympathetic nervous system becomes active. It knows it’s going to need to fight, or run really fast.
It stops digesting. It stops reproducing.
And it tucks your coccyx under, stretching the dura mater and suppressing the vital flow of energy between our brain and nervous system.
This creates the stress response that alters your circulation, reproduction, digestion, immune response, and your entire physical and emotional health.
… And once the threat is gone, the body untucks your tailbone and goes back into the parasympathetic response to rest, digest, and heal.
When we experience chronic stress or a traumatic event, the body’s way of surviving is to hold on tightly, creating patterns of tension and dis-ease throughout the whole body.
This cellular imprint of stress and trauma directly impacts our sense of safety, the way we relate to people, and the way we respond to life. Each time this imprint is triggered, our body reacts as if there were a tiger right next to us, and everything becomes a threat.
We become more prone to taking things personally, experiencing anxiety, feeling suspicious, and finding it difficult to rest… even breathing deeply becomes a challenge.
So many people who have come to me for healing have been quite literally tucking their tails for months, weeks, or even years!