November 22 – 2007
Questions and comments for this issue:
+ Cranio sacral therapy on FaceBook.
+ Working with energy.
+ Reframing.
+ Cerebral palsy and the blueprint
+ More on the arachnoid mater from Al Pelowski in South Africa.
Hello John,
If you were one of the many therapists that
sent me your profiles to have them listed, then
have a look here to see I got everything right.
Right picture, right spelling, right on man! (or
Woman!)
http://www.open-source-cranio.com/therapists/listing.html
Speaking of right on women, Rene from New
Zealand let me know about a cranio sacral therapy
group on Face book. I’ve had a look and think it
is a spiffing idea. It’s great to be able to put
faces to names and connect with fellow therapists
across the world.
Yes, it is a bit of a pain signing up and
creating a profile but worth it, no?
http://www.facebook.com/
Now. . .
. . . this newsletter is slightly different to
others in that half the content is on my website.
The reason for this is the inclusion of video and
images.
The first article is about how I use energy
when I am working and includes a detailed diagram
of energy flow. There is also an amazing video
illustrating how you can work with high levels of
energy and not have it affect you. Be a good egg
and let me know what you think.
You can read it here.
The second article is about how to use
reframing to help you when you hit a wall in
practice or study. In fact you can use reframing
in all aspects of your life. The article starts
off with a great little video which illustrates
the power of a reframe.
You can read it here.
I’ll wait while you go and have a look at them.
Finished?
Okay then, let’s get on with the mailbag.
***QUESTION***
Hi John
I would like to know a bit more about working with
Cerebral Palsy. What is the best approach? Is
there any chance for the person to recover some of
their functions or is it too much to ask to the
body? I suppose it requires to go back to the blue
print. Your comments about the blue print in the
last newsletter were very interesting. My only
problem is that I am a kinaesthetic kind of person
and images don’t talk to me very much. Could you
tell me how the blue print feels so I know that
what I feel under my hands is the blueprint or
something else. This would be very useful for me.
Thank you.
Odile, Brisbane.
Odile Grisel
MY COMMENTS:
Hello Odile,
Thank you for your email.
I have had some good success with cerebral
palsy and I’ve had some no-change-at-all’s. When
I think about what was common among the successes
the main thing was that the people were young.
Under 3yrs old.
When treating cerebral palsy I generally find
myself working with the nervous system. From the
hemisphere of the brain involved out to the
periphery. Following the nerves, working to
enhance the integrity where it is diminished.
I have heard some therapists say they find lots
of limb unwinding very useful to unlock the
central restrictions. I haven’t found that myself
but pass it on in case you find it useful.
I never think of treatment in terms of, ‘Is
this too much to ask of the body?’ At this stage
I have seen so many apparent ‘miracles’ that I
know the body is capable of anything. So it is
never a case of CAN this happen but more a case of
IS it going to happen?
It can often be a blueprint problem, which
leads me to your second question about describing
what the blueprint feels like without using
images.
I had to put my thinking cap on for that one.
Here’s what I got. To me, the blueprint feels
very whispy and mist-like, but not moist. It feels
like touching a smoke ring that pulses with
flexion and extension and releases like solid
tissue.
Phew! Okay I’m going to take my thinking cap
off now because my head is hurting.
***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***
Hallo John and thanks for the latest issue!
Gets me going on my deck in early morning Joburg
visualising teacups…
I especially wanted to comment, to give a
different slant on what you said about the spider
web mother.
So here goes. Let me know what you think of this
version.
Starting with the nervous system’s generative
membrane, the ependyma, all else follows.
Leaving out the details..just remember that most
membranes grow in a doubling process. They grow
with a potential space between. The space is
where canals and tissues form.
The primitive ependyma lining the neural tube is
doubled. The inner layer keeps its name but the
other layer becomes the pia between the two layers.
Ependymal cells differentiate to form the brain &
spinal cord. The pia also doubles to form a
potential space for blood–pia intima and pia
externa, it provides a capillary network for the
brain.
Some bits of pia are left in the ventricles bound
up with the ependyma and together form the
choroid plexi the outer layer of pia, the ‘pia
externa’ is doubled as well its outer layer
becomes the arachnoid between are pulled out fine
reticulin fibres–the spider web the arachnoid
sprouts little cauliflower-like buds as it grows-
granulations.
The ependyma, pia and arachnoid grow out of each
other and are referred to as the ‘leptomeninges’
in many texts. They are epethelia–derived from
the zygote wall they are closely related to the
inner linings of organs and to the epidermis all
epithelia share a wide variety of peptides and
receptors.
“As the inside, so the outside.” Gut / brain /
skin growing more slowly along with the rest of
the body, the dura is not epithelial, but
connective tissue related to bone and blood. it
comes to form the fascial sac around the arachnoid
mater.
A whole different animal. It doesn’t need to bath
itself in CSF. But it too is a doubled membrane
and its potential space becomes canalised for
venous blood. The arachnoid graulations become
surrounded by and incorporated into the inner
layer of dura as it grows.
The granulations (like the choroid) contain highly
specialised cells which are involved in transport.
some cells can move waste out of the CSF into the
venous return. Others will to abstracting
material from the blood into the CSF.
All this gets more interesting when you see how
the 4th ventricle foramina form as the ependymal-
pial separation occurs. the whole thing is
designed to link qualities of blood and CSF
without haphazard mixing.
The leptomeninges can only survive and function in
the amniotic-CSF environment, inside and out. The
dura doesn’t mind blood at all and never comes
into touch with CSF.
Keep it up
Al
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Thanks for that Al, you describe things real sweet.
So that’s it for this issue.
Cheerio for now.
Till the next time.
Your Mate,
John D.