Note from Jacqueline Segura, DC:
Sue Brown, DC was the founder and developer of BGI. All of the work in BGI is either in the format that she created or significantly based on her wisdom and direction. To see videos of her teaching, check out our About BGI page HERE.
This article, written by Sue herself, has been reprinted many times in her office newsletter, the old BGI Seminars website, as well as by countless DCs in the field. It still serves today as a profound way to explain our work. HERE is a link to a PDF formatted by Elizabeth Welch, DC..
What is Bio-Geometric Integration?
By: Sue Brown, D.C. Developer of Bio-Geometric Integration
To understand BGI, it is necessary to first have an understanding of chiropractic. Not the mainstream view of chiropractors as “back doctors,” but the original intention of chiropractic, that being, “to release interference to the expression of the innate intelligence of the body.” There is an organizing intelligence in the body that coordinates our heartbeat, breathing, digestion and chemical balance without conscious thought. It allows us to walk, talk, think and listen without knowing the complex interactions that must take place for those things to occur. All actions and reactions and all healing occur as a result of the expression of this intelligence. The only reason we experience dis-ease in our lives, whether it expresses as a physical symptom, a chemical dependency or an emotional/mental pattern is that there is an interference in the expression of this intelligence. This interference is what the chiropractic profession calls a subluxation. And the chiropractic adjustment is intended to release the subluxation, thus releasing the interference to the expression of the innate intelligence of the body.
Traditionally in chiropractic, the subluxation is viewed strictly in terms of a compression or stretching on the nerve system or more specifically, the spinal cord and nerve roots attached to the cord (thus the association with the spine). BGI not only recognizes this aspect but also expands the idea further to encompass contemporary knowledge of our bodies and the world we live in.
And now on to BGI. With the discovery of quantum physics, came a new vision of the world we live in. There was a shift away from “solid reality” to one in which energy and matter were interchangeable. There was a realization that the things that we consider to be solid matter are actually made up of energy, and this energy is experienced as a vibration of a certain frequency or tone. This discovery paved the way for many of the technological advancements that have been made and also changed the way many researchers viewed the body. Scientists began to see the body not only as a physical structure but also as an energetic system, something ancient healing arts have recognized for centuries. In BGI, this view of the energetic quality of the body is integrated into the idea of subluxation. The subluxation is not only viewed in terms of the neurological component but also the energetic component.
In life, each moment we are bombarded with input. This input comes in many forms ranging from all we see, hear, smell, taste and touch to accidents, arguments, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. As varied as all these experiences or stressors are, the one consistent aspect is that they are all energetic in nature. Our senses perceive the energy of the experience and then our system interprets it and changes it from frequencies and tones to words we understand, objects we recognize and impacts we feel.
My understanding is that if the experiences we have are integrated, that is, the intelligence of the body recognizes and processes the information contained in the experience, then we can utilize them to grow, learn, heal and evolve. If we do not integrate the experience, then the body “hangs onto” the stress which causes dis-ease and discomfort.
If we translate this into energetic terms, it goes something like this. Our senses perceive a particular energy, with a particular frequency or tone. The tone of the energy determines the information carried by the experience. The information processing systems of the body then interprets the tones and initiate the appropriate response and the energy of the experience is utilized in the body. This energy utilization and tone interpretation suggests that there is an integration of this energy and tone (information) into the system. To integrate is to make whole or unify by bringing together parts. So when an experience is integrated, essentially what happens is the tone of the energy becomes part of us.
Quantum physics has shown that we are but a multitude of synchronized/organized frequencies. In other words, we are a musical symphony physically manifested and walking around on earth. When we integrate an experience of life we’ve simply added another note to the music that we are, increasing the complexity of our music ever so slightly. Our structure is determined by our music. If the music changes, the structure changes. Thus if we increase the complexity of the music by integrating a new tone (experience) we increase the complexity of our structure. This, to me, is what evolution is, simply the integration by living systems of frequency upon frequency over billions of years. Viewing the experiences of life in this way opens the door to see every experience, no matter what it is, as an opportunity to learn, grow and evolve.
So what if the experience (tone) doesn’t integrate? If the system can’t integrate the experience then, instead of the new tone becoming part of the integrated whole, it is stored in the body. The system perceives it as a foreign, dissonant tone. It’s like the experience of someone yelling and screaming at you and you don’t know why. You can’t integrate the experience because it is too big and beyond comprehension. Therefore long after it is over you keep playing it repeatedly. The more you think about it, the more uncomfortable you get. And years later you see this person who verbally assaulted you and you get agitated, nervous and defensive.
These unintegrated tones create dis-ease in the body and the dissonance of the tone distorts the body’s natural geometric structure and alignment. This is the subluxation, an unintegrated energetic experience which distorts the music (and geometry) and interferes with our innate expression. This is what causes tight muscles, misaligned vertebrae and the tension on the nerve system. There is the bad news! The good news is that it’s all just stored energy which gives us a second chance. The subluxation contains the information of the experience. If the body didn’t store the experience in the form of a subluxation, then the possible learning contained in each experience would be lost. All those overwhelming experiences would wreak havoc and then be lost forever with no possibility to learn, grow and evolve. In storing the unintegrated experiences, the body keeps the potential of every experience.
In BGI, the chiropractic adjustment releases that potential energy giving the system a second chance to integrate the energy and information of the original experience, thus providing the opportunity to grow, learn, evolve and heal.
The BGI approach first and foremost, utilizes this understanding of the subluxation. Other aspects also make it unique. One is the idea of integration. We discussed integration previously in terms of the creation of the subluxation and the evolution of living things. The aspect which is important in adjusting, is the concept of integration to assess whether the system is ready to receive the adjustment and also whether the system fully integrates the adjustment given. If the body is not ready to receive the information and potential that will be released by the adjustment or if the system is ready but does not fully integrate the potential released then it will simply lock back in, be stored again and the subluxation will return. BGI addresses this concern and uses assessment tools which allow the practitioner to determine if the system is ready to be adjusted and if the adjustment and thus potential energy will be fully integrated.
BGI also recognizes that the potential energy in the body is best accessed where it is being primarily stored. Essentially there are three categories of “stored places”—the muscles, the soft connective tissue (ligaments, tendons, and the tissue around the organs called mesentery) and the hard connective tissue (bones). This is important because a different adjustive force is required for each. The force of the adjustment for releasing potential in the muscles and soft tissue is rather light while the force of the adjustment to release potential in the bony system is more dynamic and is the type typically associated with chiropractic. Both are powerful adjustments but are best utilized with the appropriate category.
Finally BGI recognizes that there is an innate geometry in the body. This geometry is a reflection of the innate music that we are. By identifying, understanding and utilizing the geometry, the chiropractor can better assess and release the subluxation. The geometry allows us to glimpse the entire effect of the subluxation thus making it possible to release it as an integrated whole. It also allows us to prioritize the incredible number of subluxation patterns so that the timing of each release is optimum.
Through BGI we can understand both the physical and energetic aspects of the cause of dis-ease, realize the potential of each experience and assess the most effective, efficient and integrative way to release the potential stored within each one of us.