The spine is the most important part of the skeleton.
The purpose of the spine is be activated to re-live the flow of Qi energy through its curves and lead Li power to the other areas of the body.

Spine Action Areas

We consider four areas of the spine with different purposes:

1. Stability Area (Tailbone to 10th thoracic vertebra (T10))
   It provides stability through collecting the weight of the upper part together with the pelvis, feet and legs.
   It has only little potential for rotation because of the shapes of the vertebrae.

2. Shaping Area (T9 to T8)
   Bending the middle of the spine into the four diagonal directions

3. Rotation Area (T7 to C5)
   Used mainly for rotation, but also fulfilling the action of the shaping area.

4. Opposition Area (C4 to Atlas and Head)
   This is the most free part of the spine which can be used to balance the actions of the spine below through opposition and to rotate and shape the head.

The Spine in Action

3D View

For simplicity, we represent each action area by a plate and show the order of activity by corresponding numbers:

1. The action starts at the white plate of the T5 Action Area — at either rib 3 or rib 8

2. The green plate reacts to it

3. The top red plate acts in opposition to the white plate

4. The lower red plate is the stability plate for all the actions and reactions over it

The 4 Golden Fives

There are four vertebrae in the spine that are referred to as “number 5” in their section of the spine. We consider these to be the golden bones of the functions of the spine. And these vertebrae are as follows:

• The fifth sacral vertebrae (S5) is the key bone that the tail bone hangs from. It has to be released to be able to take and supervise the tail to counter-balance.

• The fifth lumbar vertebrae (L5) is the first vertebra above the pelvis. It functions as a keystone to
  1) take the weight from the upper body
  2) create free hip bones to enable the legs and feet to be used to their total capacity.

• The fifth thoracic vertebrae (T5) is placed between the shoulder blades and represents a “golden proportion point” in the body.
  We therefore call it the “golden proportion bone”.
  The T5 is the key vertebrae for the T5 action area. Activating this area creates the sensation of total awareness of use of the body in movement.

• The fifth cervical vertebrae (C5) is found in the neck. It balances and coordinates the relationship down to L5 and up to the atlas.
  C5 has the purpose of stability and stillness between the body action under it and the counter-balancing action above it.

On the very top of the spine, there is the Atlas (C1, red). From this bone, you can feel the activities and reactions of the 4 Golden Fives. The atlas then becomes the “global supervisor” of the spine as well as the total body and its movement: