Lower Back Pain...more than physical?

There are many temporal reasons for lower back pain, 3 in 5 people will experience it in their life time, yet why do some people appear to be plagued by constant lower back pain issues while others are not? Is there a deeper understanding that we can have about the energetic contributing factors to this ailment?

Just as there is a physical anatomy and physiology of the body, there is also an energetic anatomy and physiology.

The lower back area has great significance in Energetic Anatomy and Physiology. It is not only where you will find the kidney organs themselves, but it also encompasses the Kidney Cells. Our kidney cells act like a battery for our bodies, providing us with the energy to get us through each day. When these cells are charged, they are full of energy for us to use and once this energy is used the kidney cells become empty until they are re-charged again.

So how are our kidney cells recharged?

Our kidney cells replenish within a 24-hour cycle. Harmonious kidney cells, fuelled from our inner essence, will provide us with the vital energy to get us through a 12-hour day, after which, if unhindered, they replenish themselves during rejuvenating sleep for the next day. However, most of us struggle to get through a 12-hour day without needing to turn to substances such as sugar or caffeine to sustain us or stimulate us to get through the day. Why is this the case?

Certain lifestyle and emotional choices significantly impact on the ability of the kidneys to provide the energy required for daily living. That is, the way we live and the choices we make can actually drain our kidney energy and deplete our kidney cells.

When our kidney cells are fuelled with vital energy, we feel enthusiastic and motivated to partake in daily life. Our inner heart is engaged in all that we do, providing us with a sense of joy and purpose. When our kidney cells are depleted, we can feel fatigued and lethargic and in this state it is difficult to motivate ourselves to undertake the necessities of daily life with any enthusiasm. Life can become a bit of a drag as the inner heart is no longer engaged in what we are doing. This can lead to us experiencing emotional conditions, mood swings, sadness and lack of clarity. Many people who experience chronic fatigue and depression report that their conditions followed on from a long period of this kind of emotional turmoil and or disengagement with their sense of joy in life.

So how do we deplete our kidney energy?

Obviously, when we don’t get enough quality sleep on a regular basis, or we ‘burn the candle at both ends’, as the saying goes, we can deplete our kidney energy.

Another way that we can quickly deplete our kidney energy is by going about our day or a particular activity in a heightened emotional state, for example, when we are stressed, anxious, angry, frustrated or highly excited. This is like running our lights on high beam constantly or running a marathon, hence draining our battery more quickly. This is an unsustainable state which negatively impacts on the body. The body becomes loaded with a disharmonious energy and we then have to draw on energy from elsewhere to keep going, hence the reason we often reach for stimulating substances such as sugar and caffeine. When kidney energy is drained or depleted, the nervous system kicks in to provide us with the energy to get through the day, leading to further disharmony in the body.

There are other ways in which we deplete our kidney energy through the way that we live and the choices that we make, that we may not have an awareness of.

When one fully embraces whom one is in life, in other words when we are connected to our inner essence, our kidney energy is able to flow effectively. When we hold back our true expression or who we truly are we drain our kidney energy.

From a young age if a child perceives that they are ‘not enough’ from messages that they receive from family, friends, media, school etc. they begin to develop a way of being in life or a persona that they feel will be more accepted. In other words, they hold back who they truly are and become something that they are not. This false expression and disconnection from our inner essence is disharmonious to the kidney cells and depletes it of energy.

Connection to our inner essence or who we truly are is the true source of power that fuels our kidney cells.

Seeing someone or others as being an authority over us or more important than ourselves is a disconnection from our inner essence and when we pour all of energy into gaining their approval and acceptance, we are in effect ‘giving our power away’.

A simple or subtle example to illustrate this point is when we constantly say yes to others when we really want to say no. We are ‘giving our power away’ when we constantly run around after our children when we are exhausted, just to keep them happy, or when we take on another task at work when we are already too busy, just to please or impress our manager. Similarly, we ‘give our power away’ when we say yes to a night out with friends when we feel too tired to go, but we don’t want to disappoint them. In each of these scenarios the needs of others have become more important than our own and we seek confirmation and a sense of self-worth through the love, acceptance and approval of others, because we have lost connection to our true self.

A more extreme example of this can occur in our intimate relationships, particularly when our partner is dominant or controlling. Our lack of self-worth and connection to our essence leads us to become who we think our partner wants us to be in order to gain their love and acceptance or perhaps to just keep the peace.

Another way in which we can quickly drain our kidney cells is by becoming too attached to what we are doing in order to gain personal satisfaction or achieve success, attention or recognition. For example, when we pour all of our energy into competitive sport or a particular project at work, working long exhaustive hours, not eating properly, staying up late at night and not getting enough sleep. Once again this type of behaviour also drains our kidney cells as the project or venture becomes more important than ourselves and our self-care.

Your lower back pain could be an indicator of low kidney energy. The way that we live our lives and the choices that we make have an enormous impact on our kidney energy and thus our overall state of health and wellbeing. Understanding this can support you to begin to address you lower back condition in a more holistic manner and look more deeply at the way you are living and the choices that you are making, which may be contributing to this condition.