Look at your face in the mirror. Cover the right side of your face with your hand and then do the same to your left. Is your face asymmetrical? If so, your skull is misaligned. If your head is even slightly imbalanced, or your ears not symmetrical, your inner ear system will be thrown out of balance and you may feel easily dizzy or experience vertigo, common triggers of panic attacks.

In treating people with poor balance, dizziness and vertigo, Dean Howell, naturopath and developer of neurocranial restructuring (NCR) has found that they generally have ears that are not uniform or symmetrical. “When this happens,” explains Howell in Neurocranial Restructuring: Unleash Your Structural Power, “the brain is using two groups of sensors placed at different angles and heights to determine the position of the ground.” Consequently, you will be dependent on vision to maintain balance. “I have examined people whose ear positions differ more than three centimeters (1.2 inches). No wonder that they are clumsy!” says Howell. Even if the ears differed in position by only a centimeter (0.4 inches) in vertical position, the signal from the inner ears would have a five-degree/ one-centimeter difference in figuring out where the ground is. Ordinarily, this may not make much difference. But if you are walking on uneven terrain, like grass, or moving in the dark, or standing on one leg, this small discrepancy would throw you.

What might your experience be if your ears are not positioned symmetrically? Howell compares it to a feeling of walking blindfolded with two persons at each ear, whispering walking conditions to you. If you get different information, your brain doesn’t know which to believe. What confusion! Yet many people, especially those with sensory processing problems live this reality and it seems normal because they don’t know their situation can be changed.

The problem of lack of ear symmetry implies rotation of the temporal bones relative to one another. NCR or biocranial restructing corrects this asymmetry and balance and coordination improve.

Information taken from Anxiety: Hidden Causes.