"The tendency to synchronize may be the most
mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature"
-Dr. Steven Strogatz, Author of "Sync"
"The tendency to synchronize may be the most
mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature"
"The tendency to synchronize may be the most
mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature"
Harness the Power of Rhythm
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King of Compaction
I hated playing middle linebacker, but by Junior year of HS Football I was starting for a team defending it’s sixth consecutive state championship as the defensive leader. Disdain for the physical punishment was overshadowed by pride in providing my teammates and coaches and the love I got around school, but stingers and head bangs became daily occurrences that sidelined me. It was just part of the drill I thought, and at this point manageable because it was only temporary damage, right?
It wasn’t until I was 30 years old that I started to realize my neck was seriously jammed, and the more attention I paid to it the easier it was to track that pain directly to the sharp stingers I’ve had hundreds of. It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t run full speed, head first into an equal force how intense is, yet this substantial and incessant pounding was seasonally part of my life for ten years.
Realizing I had uniquely severe compaction, I did some research and found something called a Cervical Traction Device. After much excitement, I found it did almost nothing. Putting the chin strap on my face attached to a 20lb bag of water made me feel foolish for thinking I could undo the extreme compaction with a toy.
Weeks later I had the idea to chain the headpiece to a beam so I could control the the amount of weight I was counteracting with. There is nothing about this online except for the dangers, which I guess is no surprise given its resemblance to a noose. Shockingly I felt that evasive, large aligning shift after a little trial and error getting comfortable hanging. It fucking worked, but it wasn’t comfortable, and the velcro chin strap kept coming undone, affecting both my ability to relax and how much weight I could hang with.
Once I felt the potential I threw together another prototype that eliminated the pain points, and have been experimenting with different versions of this device and come to the conclusion that something similar to this will hit the mainstream market… soon. I’d like to be a part of that.
11/9/2018 I built this version below and was brought to tears by the relief, below are the journal entries that followed.
Journaling The Experience
- 11/9 -
*Bought sweatpants for padding “Thick Cloth for Cervical Traction Device”
*Got Home and upgraded Prototype but attempted to place pads on either side of my jaw (Right Figure) which created too much pressure and never allowed me to relax my muscles enough to stretch. Explained the following day in this drawing that I need to adjust to configuration of Left Figure.
- 11/10 -
I thought I had failed, put pressure on either side of head, which puts all weight on the jaw and is very uncomfortable. Realized Iit needs to go back and font, splitting the weight with tilted head for spine dangle, Eureka Bitch”
*Magnitude of relief, intensity of alignment exceeded every expectation. You have to physically feel that relief to know how important it is. A series of the most magical shifts of my life lead to this page the next day thinking about my other guerilla alignment techniques. I was brought to my knees on this day with gratitude.
- 11/11 -
The image below are my morning notes after waking up and realizing the level of success of this device worked and would change my life.
AM: “The Aligner hurt this morning, no cracks, but my general cracks and noises in that area seem deeper, more permanent and productive.”*Fears kicked in as I started to learn the risks of hanging from your head, because of the pain I was feeling. I actually watched a supposed video of a man dying on the spot by “internal decapitation” by using a makeshift traction device, and he was using half the weight I was getting into. I proceeded cautiously but felt as long as I listened to my body I'd be safe. “Cervical Dislocation, Atlantu-occipital Dislocation”
PM: “Morning didn’t feel right, later in the day deeper cracking continued on Device. Feels natural, important, safe… but those videos are lingering”
- 11/13 -
“Biggest pop in neck yet came today ater discomfort (A jammed feeling that felt to be calling for CHD) and it was also my longest time in device. Relaxed breathing, gave it maybe 40 second, it honestly feels like you’re negotiating with your muscles to trust and loosen tension to allow gravity to unjam and force realignment.”
- 11/14 -
“Fear with neck is I’ll get to the point where I can’t get through, but its a more painful stopping point then where I was. Is it possible this settles in a more uncomfortable spot and I’ve worsened it?
- 11/15 -
“Slight pinched nerve sensation after hanging for 1 min. Be fucking careful Dane! Feels as if i’ve cleared up all that built up shit and gotten to the final challenge. No more productive cracking but stinger sensation when I hang and tension has moved down to bumps where thoracic meats cervical. I feel as if I deep breath and hang for a longer lighter periods I may be able to get this bitch to pop… same fears still exist” PM: “Right Ear/ Sinus pressure feels a little bit off, not in a bad way just in a new way. ”
- 11/16 -
“Back in Action” lowest and most satisfying adjustment yet today - feels like cervicothoracic junction is where a lot of this compression has built up. Neck remains sore but occasionally it just alerts me when it’s time to hang” (As clearly as pressure build up in stomach alerts you it’s time to use the restroom)
*Listened to Kelly Starrett on Align Podcast Today.
*Downloaded Amazing Anatomy App
*Between visualizing the complex network below my skin and BELIEVING “we’re always building our structure” from Kelly and Aaron my mind and body is wide open to this.
- 11/18 -
“Loudest Pop yet tonight, low. Had to work for the right angle harder today. Not sure if it’s more nuanced or it just took me a min to get it right. Neck feels sore but good i the back like after a workout and stretch. It’s a lot. To the outside touch vertebrae feel less crammed and i’ve been rolling my neck celebrating the range of motion. All kinds of shit in shoulders, traps, lower-back are like WTF is going on.”
- 11/19 -
Sorest my neck has been last night, it kept me up but honestly it feels really good. Somehow it’s easy to decipher good vs bad pain. 6:00pm cracking today, importance of angle and weight still crucial. Found myself doing full neck rotations this morning and it felt amazing and productive. I half expected relief to be immediate, it’s been drastic daily, but progressive over the week. This is a really beautiful thing.”
- 11/20 -
“It’s becoming such a casual and celebratory part of my day. I get into correct position faster. Cracked one today that landed my neck in a place where i felt no blockage. I can’t believe I would have lived with this because hang devices only go up to 20lbs, but life changes at like 60lbs.
- 11/21 -
“Bonkers today, have already stepped in twice, massive resets. Feels comfortable hanging now. I rarely put 100% weight btw, neck is subconsciously keeping me at incremental weight, like how you can’t drown yourself my neck tenses eliminating risk of…. Whatever the risk actually is. Asphyxiation and Internal Decapitation… I understand how it appears, but I’ve moved past fear with this and my body is transforming. Have to figure out a way to share this.
PM: “Crack right when back from gym, crack 2 hours later. It’s worth noting I can no longer crack my neck in the traditional twist the chin which I’ve even doing multiple times a daily as long as I can remember. The same crack, the same build up that started this… now I feel stretched beyond that and every crack is new…
- 11/22 -
At the gym, when I hang from my hands with straight arms, my spine usually doesn’t adjust until I’m at the end of my exhale. On the contrary, in order to get the most out of toe touches, I take a deep inhale and almost curl my spine over my inflated torso. I use breath expansion and vacancy to manipulate my shape and get different results out of stretching. I have not been doing this with The Aligner, for whatever reason I’ve only been lowering my weight on exhales. The mind and body are still having these negotiations of what it'll allow. Today I did it on a breath hold after a deep inhale. Amazingly it was engaging new parts of my back and neck, with substantial realignment. Having studied the anatomy app and better visualizing the layers of beautifully woven tendons, ligaments, muscles around the vertebrae.
- 11/24 -
Stepping into The Aligner almost has reset qualities like going to the gym. For instance if I’m working on a problem and need fresh eyes, I can go to the gym, but that takes two hours. Aggressively Aligning always winds up exciting me and leading to a stretch, with breathwork being a byproduct. 6 minutes later I feel ready to take on the world. I can’t emphasize enough how much of an impact this is having. Continuing to move around thoracic, I had the thought today I was going to sprout wings like a caterpillar, feels like something magic is up. I think it’s also important to notice that this coincides with one week of OMAD and BY FAR the most productive days of my life.
Chinese Pensioners Get It
The journaling continued for the next couple months, but at this point I was certain that this device worked wonders and would be a major part of my life. I occasionally told friends about it, but it always returned with laughter and worry... understandably. It's a strange thing to have a solution to a problem that seems crazy to people. On May, 11th I came across the article below about retired Chinese people creating harnesses to hang from in order to relieve neck pain. I found my people! I searched the web and found several similar articles about the same group of Chinese pensioners. Despite negative comments, this was all the anecdotal evidence I needed to confirm that this Extreme Alignment technique will go mainstream!
Coming To America
The journaling continued sporadically for the next couple months, but at this point I had figured out that this device worked wonders and would be a I used for the rest of my life. I occasionally told friends about the device, but it always resulted in laughter and worry understandably. It's now Sept
