Open Source Cranio

Tag: Palpation

  • Shortsightedness – Cranio Sacral Wall No.2 and How To Pass Through It.

    ShortsightedWhen a person comes to you for treatment and you are working with them to get a sense of what the cause of their symptoms is, being shortsighted, or not seeing deep enough, is a major wall in cranio sacral work and will result in mediocre, impermanent results.

    Fixating on physical causes and what the right technique to use for the physical manifestation might be, often overlooks the deeper causes for symptoms.  And I’m not talking about trauma or emotional issues.

    No single technique is ‘the’ technique for ANYTHING.  Techniques are ways we get a handle on the bigger picture. And the biggest picture is what you need to be available for.

    I am putting it like that because describing it as ‘looking’ for the biggest picture is way too active, eager, inefficient and INTURSIVE. You need to ask yourself, what is really going on here? Why has this person got these particular symptoms? Why are the symptoms in this configuration? What’s the root cause of this situation?

    Symptoms generally manifest physically, meaning they show up in the person’s body.  These problems are characterised by very physical causes and descriptions, “The tentorium cerebelli is pulled inferiorly here, causing pressure there . . .etc.” But that doesn’t mean the CAUSE of those symptoms is exclusively physical.

    Often EMOTIONAL issues will express themselves as physical symptoms.  Restrictions in the emotional aspect of the person can be caused by old emotional trauma.

    It doesn’t just stop there, often the root cause of what is going on has a physical component, caused by an emotional component but the root cause is not emotional it is something DEEPER.

    That may sound spooky or kooky to you depending on your slant but I have seen it time and again, where the root cause was deeper than physical and emotional issues.

    Core problems
    These relate to how the person sees themselves in their lives, their relationship with themselves, with God, with their idea of God.  A feeling that they are off track.

    And no, you don’t need to know what their track is.  Core problems can feel like fundamental disharmonies within the person. They are the hardest to perceive because they are so deep in the person. A disharmony in a person’s core will affect them emotionally and in turn affect them physically. 

    For example, someone might think they are fundamentally bad. This could manifest emotionally as anxiety and paranoia, which could manifest physically as headaches and chronic fatigue. The skill comes in being able to assess where the root cause of the problem is. 

    jumpingMost core issues circulate the person’s core question and to explain what that is you will need to imagine you are a kid. Not just any kid but a who likes to run and jump.  All day long you run and jump around in a big field at the back of your house. Running and jumping, jumping and running. Man, you just love to run and jump.

    Then let’s say one evening you’re looking at the telly and you see the 400m hurdles race at the Olympics. You are mesmerised as you watch the race. This is running-and-jumping heaven.

    As you look at it you hear a voice in the back of your head saying, “I wonder? I wonder if I could do that? I wonder if I could do that in the same way they’re doing it?  I wonder if I could be as good as that?”

    So you find your local athletics club and join it and you begin to practice. In time you become good enough to qualify for the state team and eventually you become good enough to make it to the Olympics.

    hurdlesLooked at from another perspective we could say that you have voluntarily taken on a series of constraints to help you answer a question about yourself.  When you were running around in the field you had no constraints.  In the Olympics you have many, you have to run within the lines of the track, you have to jump over hurdles of a specific height, and you can only start running when the starting gun fires.  You accept all these constraints because they help you answer your burning question, “I wonder how good I could be at this?”

    The voluntary adoption of constraints for the purpose of finding something out about yourself.  Hold on to that idea while I ask you some personal questions. As you think of the answers, I’d like you to discount any answers that come to you that someone else told you or from anything you’ve read.
    Ready? Here are the questions.

    Why were you born a man or a woman?
    Why were you born the race you were born?
    Why were you born in the country you were born in?
    Why were you born to the parents you were born to?

    Remember, leave out any answers you’ve been told or read.

    I think if you’re honest, you have to admit that you don’t ‘know’ the answers to these questions.  The funny thing is, we all have a sense that there ARE answers to these questions and the answers are NOT random.

    I discovered, through working with people with life threatening conditions, that in the same way that the kid who loved to run and jump eventually went to the Olympics to find out something about themselves, our lives are about finding something out about ourselves. What we are trying to find out is an extremely personal question for each of us.

    The four constraints I asked you about in my questions, your sex, your race, your nationality and your parents are part of the constraints we voluntarily adopt to help us explore the question we have about ourselves. These four are just the tip of the iceberg of constraints we have voluntarily adopted to help us.

    How often have you wondered at the apparent synchronicity of events in your life.
    Why that thing happened as against the other thing happening?
    Why this person and not that one?
    Why was that done and not something else?
    The different things that happen to us are tailor made to help us with our question.

    The different constraints we adopt are individual to each of us.
    All except one.
    The one constraint we all share is we don’t know what it is we’re trying to find out.  We don’t know what our question is.

    As to why that is I can only guess that it’s similar to reason we get upset if someone tells us the end of a movie. Particularly if it’s a movie we really wanted to see. Even if they tell us that the movie has a happy ending. It still feels like it’s ruined.

    Let me take a moment here to highlight that point. Even if the ending of the movie is a happy one we still feel like we’ve been gypped in some way. It sort of follows then that we are more interested in the watching of the movie than we are in the happy ending.

    I’m stressing this point because it is an analogy for life. I think one of the possible reasons we don’t know what our question is is because we are more interested in the living of our life and the exploration of that question than we are in knowing what the question is.

    In my experience, there is a deeper part of ourselves that does know what our question is. It has known from the beginning. It looks out into our lives with what could be described as dispassion, though I don’t think that’s what’s really going on.  It has a VERY broad view of our lives. It knows that in 200 years we will be dead and no one will know us. We might be remembered as a two dimensional historic figure but no on will know us in the way we are known by the people in our lives who know and love us now.
    I don’t mean to bum you out but it’s true.
    We know this too of course but we often live as if we don’t. We live as if we have all the time in the world.

    That deeper part of us is a bit like a compassionate Clint Eastwood. Eerily quiet. It never actually speaks directly to us yet it never lets us forget about our question. It doesn’t care about the silly sorts of things we care about, like life and death and food and security. It will break up our marriage. It will have all our money taken from us. It will make us sick if it needs to get our attention.

    That’s why I say it can appear ruthless but the reality is it knows that our lives are very transitory and the whole point is to explore this question we have about ourselves. So it forces us to keep facing it, even when we don’t want to.

    Whether you are working with an adult or a child makes no difference. This question is something we all work with from the beginning to the end of our lives.

    In most cases you won’t have a strong sense of what the person’s question is and that’s okay.  Remember this is a very private part of a person and information is given on a need-to-know basis.  If you get any insights about it, it will be because you were given or allowed them by that deeper part of the person.

    So you remain open to information about what the person’s question might be while being VERY humble and respectful of anything you receive about it.

    Before you go charging off into the great mystery, let me add this. It can be as easy to go the other way and start looking for deep emotional and core issues as the root cause of a purely physical problem.  “I just twisted my knee Mate!”

    I know that contradicts everything I said previously but you should have figured out by now that cranio sacral work is full of paradox.  The way to know the difference is to trust the process.  Trite, I know, but also true. Some part of the person picked you out and identified you as the one who could help them. Some part of the person brought them to see you, brought them in the door. And it’s the same part that will show you what it needs help with, physical, emotional or deeper

    I know. Try not to damage too much of the furniture. It will sound more helpful in a couple of minutes.

     

  • Cranio Sacral Therapist and Student Newsletter 18

    November  14 – 2006

    Questions and comments for this issue:

    + Where I bang on about Jet Lag and treating yourself.
    + Chronic Fatigue – looking for the meaning of symptoms.
    + Palpation broken down into Symmetry, Amplitude and Quality.
    + Is bone ‘set’?

    Hello ,
    I have some very important findings to share
    with you about jet lag.  As you know I’ve just
    moved back to Ireland.  The night we arrived here,
    my wife Mege said she had a backache and asked me
    to have a look at it.

    Now here’s the interesting bit.  When I tuned
    into her system, I found that her cerebro spinal
    fluid was all over the place.

    No, I don’t mean in an ‘Aliens’ sort of way.  I
    mean her system felt like one of those snow domes
    that had been shaken.

    What’s a snow dome?

    You know, one of those little glass domes
    filled with water that you shake and it looks like
    snow falling on the inside.

    Why was her CSF so disturbed?

    Well, as I stayed with her system, it revealed
    that the source of the disturbance was, and this
    is from her CSF’s perspective, the sudden movement
    across a huge distance.

    Wha?

    I know,
    but there was a really strong sense that the
    connection between her CSF and it’s external
    environment had been disturbed greatly by the
    change in location. It was in turmoil because it
    had nothing to orient itself with.

    Orient itself?

    Yes, there was definitely a sense of her CSF
    sloshing around trying to find reference points to
    attune with.

    And in that effort to orient itself, it was
    very clear to me how linked our CSF is to it’s
    environment on a local and global level.

    It reminded me of the way bats use sonar for
    navigation in the dark.  They emit a high pitched
    sound which bounces off the surrounding terrain.
    The bat can tell where it is by how long it takes
    the sound to bounce back to it.

    It doesn’t feel like our CSF emits something,
    it feels more like the sort of connection that we
    as therapists make when we entrain with a patients
    system.

    It’s the same with our CSF, it entrains with
    the energetic rhythms of it’s environment.

    This is probably obvious but I’ll mention it at
    this point, the moon stood out as the main point
    of triangulation for our systems.

    The moon?

    Yeah, it felt like the moon was crucial to
    orientation.  It worked something like this.

    The first point of orientation was the system
    itself.  The second point was the systems position
    on earth.  These two reference points, while
    crucial didn’t seem to provide enough dimension.
    It felt like the moon provided a third point of
    dimensional reference and so triangulated the
    system in space.

    The disturbance in Mege’s system felt like it
    was caused by the sudden change in two of the
    reference points.

    So what did I do about it?

    Well, like most things, seeing what the problem
    is is 90% of the solution.
    I acted as a sort of conduit for her system.  I
    consciously attuned to the locality.
    As soon as I started to do this her system
    paused.  It felt like it was listening to a rhythm
    my system was drawing its attention to.

    Then I consciously attuned to the location of
    the moon.  Within minutes her system had settled
    into deep harmony with itself, and its current
    location.  Mege popped off into a deep sleep.

    I was able to partially orient my own system
    but not completely.  As to why that is I can only
    include it with all my other experiences of trying
    to treat myself.  Never with much success.

    It could be just me but I suspect it’s the same
    for everyone.  A classic example is in the release
    process, which as you know, involves the
    practitioner holding as the patient’s system
    encounters its restrictions.

    The patient needs to let go, the therapist
    needs to hold.  It doesn’t make sense to me that
    you can do both at the same time.  None the less,
    never being one to allow good sense to get in the
    way of having a go, I tried it anyway, a few
    times.  Always the same result.

    Just when I was about to release, one of two
    things would happen.  The part of me that was
    releasing would take over and my whole system
    would go into letting go, including the part that
    was supposed to be holding.
    End result = No release.

    Or the part of me that was holding would stay
    in charge so my system would never let go.
    End result = No release.

    So as I said I didn’t have as much success
    attuning myself to the new time zone.

    Mege, on the other hand, woke up the next
    morning feeling FANTASTIC!  Over the next few days
    she commented, more than once, on how everyone had
    greatly exaggerated the effects of jet lag.  She
    couldn’t see what the big deal was.

    If you get a chance to treat someone who has
    moved time zones recently, can you include what I
    have described in your treatment and let me know
    if you find something similar.  I suspect you
    will.

    There is a great opportunity there for someone
    who is interested in pursuing the commercial
    applications of treating jet lag.  Think of all
    the business people who travel through time zones
    regularly.  You could set up in an airport, nay
    airports around the world and help all these
    people deal with their jet lag in a more painless
    way.

    No, don’t thank me, it’s the least I could do,
    what are chums for.  Royalty cheques accepted
    graciously.

    Also, I finally got the therapist listing up.
    Have a look at it here.
    http://www.open-source-cranio.com/therapists/listing.html

    If you have sent me your details, have a look at
    your listing to make sure I spelled your name
    correctly etc.  Have a look at some of the other
    listings also to see what you could add to yours
    to make it more representative of you.

    If you haven’t already sent me your details
    have a look at the others and see what you are
    missing out on.

    If I had any doubts about whether it was worth
    my while to go to the trouble of creating this
    resource, I got an email last week that clinched
    it for me.

    24/10/06

    Hello John,

    On Sunday, I spoke to the cranio therapist who is
    listed for Ipswich, Queensland. From one
    conversation I have regained some hope that my
    daughter can be healed. I am a healer, although an
    untrained one, but all the symptoms have baffled
    me for a long time. I have decided on how to
    manage her pains but have had no idea how to
    remove them altogether.

    When my daughter colours in those body pictures
    doctors have that let them know where pain is
    located, she colours in every little bit then
    darkens the areas that hurt most. It often brings
    a smile or chuckle to the doctor but it always
    brings such sadness to me. None of them believe
    she could possibly be in that much pain.

    Since speaking to this practitioner I am daring to
    hope that we may be on to something that will
    work. My daughter is afraid to hope; there’s just
    been one too many times of trying. But we will
    start treatments next week. I am reassured after
    reading your website. I like how you think and I
    like that it matches my philosophies about health
    and wellness. Thankyou J

    Warmest regards,

    Denice.

    Get your listing up now and get it as good as
    you can.  It WILL make a difference.

    Alright, on with the mailbag.

    ***QUESTION***

    Hi John,
    I have a question for your newsletter: Chronic
    Fatigue. Do you have any pointers for what to
    check or work on with patients with this syndrome?

    Best regards,

    Eva Kuhl Bornefelt
    Central Coast

    MY COMMENTS:

    That’s a great question as always Eva and
    thanks for asking it.

    Talking about chronic fatigue gives me an
    opportunity to go into the sort of process I go
    through when I look at any set of symptoms.

    I ask myself what is this condition trying to
    communicate to the person.  What is it saying?

    Why this condition and not another?  Why
    chronic fatigue and not fibromyalgia or arthritis
    or irritable bowel?

    Of all the conditions this person could have,
    why do they have this one?

    Each set of symptoms add up to a very specific
    communication.

    So don’t worry about the physical
    manifestations?

    Not at all.  It’s very important to deal with
    them but dealing with them alone won’t necessarily
    solve the problem.  Looking at the condition in
    this way points you towards the deepest reason for
    the condition.

    You may not know what the deepest reason is but
    at least you will be looking in the right
    direction.

    Then getting a sense of what the deepest cause
    of the condition is will inform you how to deal
    with the physical manifestations.

    So let’s put it into practice. What is chronic
    fatigue communicating?

    It’s a syndrome so it contains lots of
    different symptoms and few people exhibit all the
    symptoms all the time.

    The main symptom is in the name – fatigue.  The
    person has no energy to do anything.  Sometimes
    they will need to sleep a lot, other people are
    tried but can’t sleep.

    Generally they will have to stop working, stop
    their hobbies, significantly reduce their social
    life.

    So what does this all add up to?
    In short the person’s life grinds to a halt.

    What is this aspect of the condition
    communicating?

    Stop.

    Stop what?

    Stop everything.

    Why do we communicate, ‘stop’ to someone?

    Generally it’s because there is something about
    what the person is doing that we don’t like and we
    want them to stop doing it.

    No kidding Sherlock.  Is this what chronic
    fatigue is communicating?

    Generally speaking I’ve found that it’s a main
    part of the communication.

    For example, if a person has a condition that
    is annoying but doesn’t give them too much
    discomfort, the communication is generally about
    getting their own attention.

    ‘This is bothering us and we
    need our attention about it.’

    But it has a, ‘When you can get to it.’ sort of
    vibe.

    Whereas Chronic fatigue has a, ‘Stop everything
    and deal with this NOW!’ sort of vibe.

    So look for what is so important to the person,
    that when it is in disharmony, they will put their
    whole lives on hold until it is resolved.

    Another thing to consider when treating someone
    with chronic fatigue is their capacity to stay
    sick.

    Let me explain.  The amount of energy required
    to create chronic fatigue is huge.  The people I
    have treated for chronic fatigue have usually worn
    out about 5 or 6 therapists by the time they get
    to me.

    If you are very attached to quick results then
    maybe you shouldn’t take them on because these
    people have huge endurance.  It’s a little
    paradoxical. Someone with chronic fatigue having
    huge endurance.  But don’t be fooled by the lack
    of energy issues.  I have found they have lots of
    energy for keeping their lives on hold.

    I have found it most helpful to see my role as
    facilitating them to discover what the disharmony
    that is causing them to press the ‘Pause’ button
    on their life is.  And no I don’t necessarily mean
    having long, probing, regressive, conversations
    with them about it.

    The other useful thing when actually working
    with their systems is to sit very comfortably in
    the timeless aspect of our work.
    By that I mean, the depth at which we work.
    All going well when you work with someone you will
    be in a very meditative state and in that state,
    time pauses.  We descend into the moment and in
    that, it is eternal.

    This is a very handy space to be in with a
    condition that has therapists for breakfast.  As
    you sit with the person and your system entrains
    with theirs.  Your system conveys a quality of
    timelessness.  The subtle communication from your
    system is,  ‘I could stay here forever.’

    You can’t fake this.  It has to be real for
    you.  If it’s not you need to meditate more until
    it is.

    I have found that when someone with chronic
    fatigue comes to see me and our systems entrain and
    their system gets this, ‘I can wait forever.’
    Quality from mine it gives up on the endurance
    test and starts to avail of the support to deal
    with the underlying disharmony.

    ***QUESTION***

    Dear John,
    Thanks for your great newsletters.  I really
    appreciate the different areas you talk about.

    I’m still struggling with the nuts and bolts of
    palpation.

    Can you give me some pointers on how to filter out
    all the different things I feel when I try to tune
    into someone.

    Thanks
    Pete
    Brisbane.

    MY COMMENTS:

    No worries Pete and thanks for the feedback.

    Placing your hands on another person’s body for
    the purpose of assisting in their healing process
    is a privilege.  Approach each person as if they
    were a baby.  In many ways our bodies relate to
    touch as babies.

    The majority of people you treat will have had
    at least one traumatic medical experience.  The
    memory of that trauma is locked in their body.

    The person may be your best friend or lover but
    once they lie down their body will become
    cautious, running a dialogue something along the
    lines of,

    “Hang on a minute. The last time I lay down on
    a bench like this and there was another person in
    the room who was standing up, IT HURT! WARNING!
    WARNING! ALERT! ALERT!”

    It’s not like the person is going to jump off
    the table and run away, but they will be
    defensive.  Don’t take it personally.

    From the time you opened the door of your
    treatment room, the patient’s body has been
    checking you out to see if you are safe.  That
    scanning process continues throughout treatment.

    The patient’s body will test you to see if you
    are there to ‘DO’ something or to be available to
    assist it in what it is trying to do.

    When you contact a patient’s body it is good to
    hold the following intention in your communication
    to their body.

    ‘What are you trying to do?
    How can I help you?’

    As you know, the contact of the hands on the
    body in cranio sacral therapy is exceptionally
    light, often described as a Butterfly Touch.  Like
    the touch of a butterfly alighting upon the body.

    A butterfly is not a moth.  A moth has an
    agitated almost frantic quality.  In trying to get
    the Butterfly touch happening it is easy to
    develop the touch of the moth which is as bad as a
    heavy touch.

    Now lets break up what you are feeling when you
    tune in.  Think of it like this.  As you listen to
    a piece of music, many different dimensions of the
    music are conveyed to you.  Volume, stereo
    balance, tempo, mood etc. Describing the music in
    words won’t duplicate the music; it will merely be
    words following an experience.

    Tuning in to a person’s cranio sacral system is
    like listening to music, something is conveyed in
    the contact with their body.  In refining your
    cranio sacral palpation it’s necessary to identify
    each aspect of what you’re feeling with your
    hands.  This serves the purpose of highlighting
    aspects of the communication that you may not have
    noticed.

    Sounds hard. Why bother? Why not just go with
    the feeling?

    Well, the more you can interpret the rhythm the
    more you will get a sense of the whole Cranio
    Sacral System and where the restrictions are.

    It also helps you note subtle changes in the
    patient’s body.

    It also helps you communicate your palpation to
    other Cranio Sacral therapists.

    One way to help refine cranio sacral palpation
    is to divide it into three aspects; Symmetry,
    Amplitude and Quality.

    SYMMETRY

    Symmetry relates to whether the rhythm is
    stronger on one side than the other.  Like the
    stereo balance of the music.  With your hands on
    the person’s feet you may feel the rhythm stronger
    in one foot than the other.  That is called an
    asymmetry.  Taking note of symmetry can help you
    build a total picture of the whole Cranio Sacral
    system.

    AMPLITUDE

    Amplitude refers to the power and frequency of
    the Cranial rhythm. It is described with words
    like
    * Strong or weak
    * Powerful or faint
    * Steady or erratic
    * Fast or slow

    Amplitude can indicate the location of a
    restriction in localised areas.  If the general
    amplitude in the body is strong yet very weak in
    one leg, palpation of that leg will reveal a point
    at which the amplitude will change from weak to
    strong.  This can indicate the site of
    restriction.

    Amplitude also includes how the power and speed
    of the rhythm relate to each other.  A very slow
    rhythm in the whole body can indicate a weak
    system.  A very fast local rhythm can indicate a
    restriction in the system in this area.  A fast
    rhythm manifests in areas that are cut off from
    the rest of the Cranio Sacral rhythm through
    direct injury or restriction.  A very fast and
    powerful amplitude will be more ready to release
    than a faint slow rhythm.

    QUALITY

    Quality refers to the mood, atmosphere or
    feeling of the rhythm.  Like music, this aspect of
    palpation is quite subjective.  One person’s
    passionate song of freedom is another’s anarchic
    scream from hell.  When you first palpate for
    quality it may present itself to you as having a
    predominant attribute like :

    * tight or loose
    * active or passive
    * tense or relaxed
    * hard or soft
    * solid or fluid
    * warm or cool
    * agitated or calm
    * dynamic or lethargic
    * powerful or weak

    Usually a cranio sacral system will have a
    combination of attributes.  For example it may be
    like a dense, liquid softness.

    How poetic.

    Start waxing lyrical because your job is then
    to refine these attributes making them as specific
    as possible.  A way of doing this is to relate the
    attributes to something that is in your
    experience.  You do this by asking yourself the
    question, ‘Like what?’  In the above example you
    would be asking yourself
    ‘A dense, liquid softness like what?’

    The answer to the question ‘Like what?’ can
    take many forms.

    * Objects – chair, engine, cage, sponge,
    * Elements – fire, earth, air, water
    * Substances – wood, metal, wool, lava
    * Sound – bells, boom, lullaby, scream
    * Fragrance – mildewed, putrid, flowery, fresh
    * Light – bright, dark, mottled, pulsating
    * Taste –  bitter, sweet, sour, tangy

    Keep refining the quality until it is as
    specific as possible.  Using the same example your
    conversation with yourself should go something
    like,

    ‘A dense, liquid softness like what?’
    ‘Honey.’
    ‘What kind of honey?’
    ‘Honey that has been mixed with milk, but not
    watery milk.’
    ‘What kind of milk?’
    ‘Condensed milk.’
    ‘How has it mixed with the honey?’
    ‘With a barmix.’

    This may seem pedantic but it’s important to be
    this specific so that you will be able to sense
    the beginning of a release.  This may be signaled
    by something as subtle as a feeling that the
    condensed milk is becoming more viscous as it then
    transforms into fresh milk.

    GENERAL QUALITY AND LOCAL QUALITY

    Each Cranio Sacral System will have an overall
    or general quality but within that bigger picture
    there will be local areas of different quality.

    In a strong solid system, one leg may feel weak
    and fragile.  This inconsistency highlights a
    possible restriction.  The difference between
    general and local quality can take the form of a
    general quality of, for example wood and a local
    quality in the neck of metal.  This communicates a
    disharmony to you.

    APROPRIATNESS

    It is rare that a patient will be aware of
    their own quality. Regardless of how dramatically
    it presents itself to you, do not describe it to
    them in the terms above.  We use this form of
    description to help us focus our attention and in
    that it has purpose.  But it won’t mean the same
    to a patient and is likely to disturb them.

    Telling your patient that their brain feels
    like a fungus covered soft cheese is not going to
    go down well.  Trust me.

    Symmetry, amplitude and quality inter-relate to
    give you a comprehensive sense of the cranio
    sacral system under your hands.

    ***QUESTION***

    Hello John,
    I got your book last week and found it incredible!
    What a velvet hammer.  Those innocent little
    questions at the end of each chapter really got
    me.
    Very well done.
    I am recommending it to all my patients.

    Now here is my question. If a pattern of
    restriction has ossified in the cranium, is that
    it?  Is it set for good or is it worth treating?

    Best wishes.
    SP
    Arizona.

    MY COMMENTS:

    Most of our experience of bone is of dead bone.
    The sort of stuff that looks like bone china –
    dry, brittle, fragile.  As cranio sacral
    therapists we are involved in communication with
    the body.  It’s therefore most effective to
    communicate with bone as it is, which is alive.
    Live bone has some qualities which are not
    immediately apparent.

    For example, live bone is WET.  It’s full of
    blood.

    Also, it behaves like PLASTIC.  Meaning it
    responds to the pressure put upon it.  Wolf’s law
    and all that.  Consider the mastoid processes of
    your temporal bones.  You didn’t have them when
    you were born.  They were pulled out by the
    sternocleidomastoid muscle as you were learning to
    hold your head erect.

    Bone is not stone; it is renewing itself all
    the time.  You can use this knowledge to help it
    renew itself in a new direction.

    There’s a good example of this in one of the
    case histories here.

    Here’s another thing, bone doesn’t become
    restricted in isolation.  This is particularly
    relevant in the cranium.  If a bone is restricted,
    99 times out of 100, it’s because there is
    something pulling it into a restricted state,
    often membrane.  The bone doesn’t become
    restricted in isolation.  Always look for the
    pattern of restriction.

    That’s all for now Kate,

    If you still haven’t got your copy of my book,
    ‘Why Do We Get Sick?  Why Do We Get  Better? –  A
    Wellness Detective Manual.’ then do yourself a big
    favour and get it.  It’s taken me years to learn
    and refine the material in that book.
    It will help you become a better therapist and
    it will make your job easier when your patients
    read it.
    Read about it here.

    You can be reading it in just a few minutes and
    discovering the sorts of conversations I have with
    patients everyday.

    Till the next time.

    Your Mate,

    John D.

  • B1.3.0 – Cranio Sacral Treatment.

    << Back to Basics 1 syllabus

    Fundamentally Cranio Sacral Therapy helps remove trauma from the body. This can be physical trauma, like a car accident, a fall on the back steps or a difficult birth.

    Trauma can also be emotional like a deep shock, prolonged unhappiness or witnessing violence. Trauma leaves an imprint in the body, which over time can inhibit normal function and cause pain.

    In the example of a car accident, the broken bones and lacerations caused by the accident will heal within a matter of months, but the physical after-effects can go on for years. This is because the crash leaves a deep but subtle imprint in the body. Over time these imprinted patterns of restriction can inhibit the body’s natural function causing an array of symptoms, which progressively worsen.

    The body tries to release these patterns of restriction from the moment they are imprinted. Under the right circumstances it can spontaneously free itself of these restrictive patterns, but if the imprint is too intense it overwhelms the body’s ability to effect a release.
    Cranio Sacral therapy works with this naturally occurring release mechanism, inducing the ‘right’ circumstances under which a natural release occurs.

    With emotional trauma, the process of imprinting a restriction pattern happens in the same way. An intense emotional trauma can be imprinted in the body leaving restrictions, which can cause significant physical problems.

    Treatment

    There are two aspects to the process of Cranio Sacral treatment. The first is to locate the primary restriction causing the problem. The second is to encourage this restriction to release.

    We use highly refined palpatory skills to perceive areas of restriction. Palpation is defined as ‘examining by touch’ or ‘listening with the hands’. It relates to how things feel with your hands.

    Rather than pushing or manipulating the body into a set or ‘correct’ position, we use techniques to assist the body to release its own restrictions.
    When restrictions are released in this way they are gone for good. Once a treatment program is complete there are no follow up or maintenance programs.

    << Back to Basics 1 syllabus

  • Working with the blueprint.

     

    + Working with the blueprint. – September 07

    Hi John
    Thanks so much for your continuing newsletter and the great tipsand humour.
    I have a double question.
    It’s often a lonely place at the coalface and I seem to have peoplecome to me with “last resort” problems that require much from me – I am doing a lot of anatomy and physiology research these days.

    First question. Do you think it’s possible for a young man whose body doesn’t make testosterone to get that working again? He is 23 and came to me essentially for massive headaches and his lack of testosterone problem. It was diagnosed at age 15 when he had major back pain. Bone testing revealed his bone age was that of an 8 year old. He has to inject himself 3 x weekly for the testosterone cycle to happen. This injecting ritual is also affecting his mental health – facing this for the rest of his life is depressing.

    So, he has major lesion patterns in his head, esp membranes, akin to birth trauma (although his mother reports a “perfect” birth), and his pelvic girdle/sacrum. Unwinding those complex restriction patterns is top of the list, with my intention also on all sites for the production cycle to work normally (including cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and pituitary and testes). I can’t see any reason it won’t, but there seems to be an issue with the ‘kick starting’ of the process. If he is injecting and producing LSH, then his body may not have the opportunity to take over. He has had all the tests and specialists do not have any idea why this is happening in his body.
    They can only offer injections for his lifetime.

    Can you give me any clues here?

    Second question. I have a lot of people with conditions related to experiencing terror in-utero. So, the main problem seems to lie in the central nervous system, and glitches in its development.

    These all have the quality of having to return to the blueprint as the major goal. This requires a lot, from both practitioner and client. (This is also the situation for the young man already mentioned)

    Can you give some insight into the process of returning to the blueprint?

    Luckily, I have had success already in this area, but the symptoms and conditions I’m treating lately, (as well as the overall goal of returning to the blueprint), are extreme and debilitating for the clients.
    Patience seems to be the major virtue. Have you any other insights?
    Thanks so much for your continued support.
    Cheers,
    J
    Perth, Australia

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Thanks for the feedback I’m glad you are finding the newsletters useful.

    ‘Do you think it’s possible for a young man whose body doesn’t make testosterone to get that working again?’

    Yes. When it comes to people and their bodies I think anything is possible.

    Both of your questions revolve around the blueprint and how to work with it so I will answer them together.

    It sounds like your palpatory skills are at the point where you are beginning to feel the blueprint, which is great. The downside is that it sounds like you are finding it a bit daunting.

    But daunt not because it doesn’t need to be.

    The ironic thing is that you have been working with the blueprint from the very beginning of your cranio sacral training. The difference is that now you have reached a level of refinement where you can differentiate the blueprint from the rest of what you are a feeling.

    As you know the blueprint is the energetic framework that underpins our bodies. The cells of our bodies being a bit like iron filings on a piece of paper. When a magnet is brought to the underside of the paper the filings are drawn to form the shape of the magnet.

    The magnet is like the blueprint. The difference is that the blueprint is not a static rigid thing but moves and grows. The growing part being particularly relevant for your testosterone light patient.

    Like many aspects of cranio sacral work, we feel something and learn to work with it but have very little scientific evidence or terminology to describe it. 10 years ago science was enraptured with the mysteries of genetics, with few voices who were saying anything different, one of which was Rupert Sheldrake and he was labeled a kook.

    Then the genome was finally mapped and when the party was over there was a dawning that it didn’t have all the answers. That everything wasn’t determined by our genes. This is reflected in the work of the likes of Bruce Lipton in what is being called the New Biology.

    The idea of an energetic field or blueprint underpinning our body has been around for yonks and shows up in different cultures in different ways, meridians, charkas, assemblage point and so on.

    As I said, the blueprint unfolds during embryonic development. The timing of this unfoldment directs the pace and progress of our embryonic development and once started moves forward with its own pace and rhythm.

    It’s like a piece of music that begins at the moment of conception and continues for the rest of our lives. Within the overall piece of music there are movements, passages that have the general themes of the overall music but have their individual beginnings, middles and ends.

    If something happens to interrupt the music or a particular beat is missed, it is very hard for the body to fill in the blanks. No magnet – so the iron filings don’t know where to go.

    For example the maxillae meet each other and form the hard palate at about the seventh week of embryonic development. If this doesn’t happen then person will end up with a cleft palate.

    It sounds like all went well with your patient during the embryonic phase of his development. He decided he was going to be male and the initial flood of testosterone ensured this. The beat that was missed was in his puberty. The second wave of testosterone never happened. So he never matured into a man. It is this point that I would look at in his blueprint.

    So how to work with it?
    I have found that knowing about the blueprint is the beginning of being able to work with it. It’s the same as when knowing what flexion and extension were before tried to feel for them was a help in being able to feel them.

    A useful initial access to feeling the blueprint is to use the cranio sacral rhythm. Think of it in terms of William Sutherland’s description of it as being the ‘breath of life’. Think of flexion as the in-breath and extension as the out-breath of this breath of life. He also described the movement of this breath of life as adding potency
    to the cells of the body.

    I find this kind of imagery helpful in getting in touch with the blueprint. It always reminds me of a beach, in particular that part of the beach where the sand meets the water. Where, if you write your name in the sand the water will come in and wipe it away and smooth the sand out.

    With my hands in contact with the person’s system and my eyes closed, tuning into the cranio sacral rhythm and feeling it in terms of an in-breath that vitalises and recreates an energetic blueprint, each in-breath washes across the cells of the body and they become luminous. Any anomalies in the blueprint itself begin to reveal themselves.

    The daunting thing about working with the blueprint is that is energetic. You don’t feel it in the same way as you feel flexion and extension, for example, which is a physical movement. It is felt in the same way you can feel something between your palms when you hold them close together. It’s the same sort of something.

    The good news is that once it is felt the blueprint behaves and responds in the same way the body does. So if you get a sense that there was a disturbance in the unfoldment of the puberty movement of his blueprint ‘music’ then it is the same as it would feel if there was a trauma that had occurred to him during his puberty.

    But instead of looking to get a sense of a trauma you are looking to get a sense of what interrupted the unfoldment of his blueprint, which, ironically could have been a trauma.

    Once you get a sense of where the gap is then you can use your intention to fill it. But not in a directed forceful, ‘I know what needs to be done here.’ sort of way. More with a sense of providing a bridge with your intention across the gap.

    It is a little like direct technique in as much as you are encouraging his system to fill in the gap but you don’t make it happen.

    As kooky as the blueprint may sound it is still a mechanical kind of thing to work with. Just because it is energy doesn’t automatically imbue it with mystical dimensions.

    If he doesn’t improve through working with the blue print you would have to look deeper. What is deeper than the underpinning energetic blue print that holds the cells of our bodies in place?

    Well as I said the blueprint is in essence a mechanical structure. It is used by the part of us that knows the bigger picture of ourselves. What our life is about. Why we are a man or a woman, why we chose the parents we did, the country we were born in and so on.

    That is a different part of the questions you would be asking yourself about the bigger picture of what his symptoms might mean in the context of the deeper issues he may be working out in his life.

    Is he resisting letting go of being a boy and becoming a man? Or is he resisting growing up? The movie, ‘The Tin Drum‘ comes to mind. Were the headaches just a way to get him to come and see you or are they part of the mechanical aspect of how this disharmony is expressing itself.

  • How do you get someone to look at their issues if they don’t want to?

    + How do you get someone to look at their issues if they don’t want to? – November – 05

    Dear John,

    I am enjoying your profoundly irreverent letters very much.
    I think you are a naughty man.

    I have a patient for lower back pain.  She also has many
    emotional conflicts and issues within her.  She shows no
    interest in addressing these issues.  The opposite in fact.

    Here is my question.
    Is it possible to invoke someone to address their issues if they
    don’t want to?

    Kind regards.

    N. V.
    Singapore.

    P.S. Be nice.

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Cute . .

    When someone first comes to me for treatment, after the
    initial, ‘Hello’, and ‘Take a seat.’ etc.  The first question I ask is,
    ‘What can I do for you?’
    and then I shut up,
    and wait.
    Whatever their answer is, is what they are asking me to help
    them with.

    ‘No kidding Sherlock.’

    That may sound obvious but it’s surprising how many
    therapist don’t get it.  From the sounds of it, you might be one
    of  them.  [That’s me being nice, in case you missed that too.]

    Whatever they answer to question, ‘What can I do for you?’

    ‘I want to sleep better.’
    ‘I want the headaches to stop.’
    ‘I want to stop attracting the wrong man/woman.’
    ‘I want to stop feeling so anxious.’
    ‘I want to get rid of my fibromyalgia’

    It goes to form what I think of as a contract between us.  It
    forms the boundaries within which I work and a declaration on
    their part of what they want assistance with.

    Let’s say someone asks me to help them with a very physical
    problem and while treating them, I palpate lots of emotional
    disharmonies.  If the emotional disharmonies are NOT causing
    the particular physical symptoms I have been asked to help
    with, then it would be very bad juju for me to try and start
    working on the emotional issues.

    First and foremost it’s disrespectful.
    It’s like passing someone on the street struggling to carry
    a new TV into their house.  They ask me to help them carry
    the TV into the house with them.  I do this but once inside the
    house I get a dose of ‘Queer eye for the straight guy,’ and take it
    upon myself to redecorate the hall, stairs and landing
    because, ‘Let’s face it, this person has shocking taste!’

    Secondly, it’s more efficient to stick to the contract because it
    can always be renegotiated in the future.

    How come you are able to palpate the emotional issues in the
    first place?

    You can only ever see what you are shown.

    If you stay within the bounds of the contract, it leaves space
    for the person to say to you down the track, ‘I think I would
    like you to help me deal with my emotional issues.’

    It may sound unlikely but it happens.  It’s another form of
    trusting that the person will allow you deeper when they feel
    safe.  You’re job is not to invoke them to address their issues
    but to provide the safest space you can, allowing them to feel
    empowered enough to address their issues, if they’re ready to.

  • ‘Am I making it up?’

    + What I feel with my hands, am I making it up? – September 05

    Mr Dalton.
    I feel I am at a crossroads in my craniosacral
    training. I have been studying CST for six months.

    I have listened carefully to my trainers.
    I have read books on CST. I understand the fluid
    mechanics of what is happening, in theory.

    When I tune into the system I begin to feel things.

    Then I begin to wonder am I feeling the rhythm
    because I expect to feel it. I wonder if I am
    not imagining the whole thing. What I feel with
    my hands is so tenuous that I could very well
    be making it up.

    My trainers say that the feeling will become
    clearer with time and practice.

    It has been six months now. While I can feel more
    than I could at the beginning it is nowhere
    as clear as I expected.

    I understand that with your experience and in
    your position you have a strong vested interest
    in ‘believing’ in what you do.

    I would appreciate it if you could answer me as
    honestly as possible.

    Do we make it up?

    Regards.

    M.S.

    Somerset.

    >>>MY COMMENTS

    Let me tell you right now, it’s not going
    to get any easier.. . .

    What you are looking for is a kind of certainty.

    Where you put your hands on someone’s body and
    it lights up like a Christmas tree and you can
    see EVERYTHING, every restriction pattern,
    every cause.

    And the road to health for that person looking
    like a well lit highway.

    And all this without that awful squirmy feeling
    like you are groping around in the dark not really
    sure of anything.

    I feel for you, but it’s never going to
    happen. There is something about this work that
    always keeps you at the limit of yourself.

    I’ll explain.

    When you started to learn six months ago and you
    heard about flexion and extension, it probably
    all made sense.

    Then you put your hands on someone and you tried
    to feel it and all you could feel was NOTHING!

    And it felt awful.

    You trusted your trainers and you persevered.

    As time passed you learned new things like feeling
    lesion patterns in the sphenoid or some such
    and when you tried to feel them, all you could
    feel was NOTHING!

    And it felt awful.

    You looked forward to the day when you wouldn’t
    feel that awful feeling.

    You didn’t notice two important things.

    1) Your palpatory skill was improving and
    changing. You were actually feeling more. When
    you were struggling to feel whether the sphenoid
    had a flexion or extension lesion, you failed to
    notice that you were feeling flexion and extension
    with relative ease.

    2) The awful feeling wasn’t changing. It was the
    same awful feeling six month ago that you are
    feeling now.

    As good as your palpatory skills get,
    as good as your diagnostic skills get,
    as good as you perceptive skills get,
    you will still have that voice in the back of
    your head wondering, ‘Am I making this up?’

    Outstanding cranio sacral therapists haven’t
    eradicated uncertainty, they have mastered it.

    It’s not like you get it sorted and never have
    to deal with it again. It’s something that goes
    on every time you treat someone. It’s one of the
    most difficult aspects of cranio sacral work.

    I know all this because I went/go through it myself
    and I have seen ALL the people I have trained go
    through it in one way or another.

    Here’s what I suggest: put the question on hold for
    another six months. Make a deal with yourself that
    for the next six months you are not going to ask
    yourself that question. For the next six months
    you are just going to take it that what you are
    feeling is true. It’s not forever, its just for six
    months.

    I’m not talking about kidding yourself.
    You need to understand what you are trying to do.
    You haven’t been conditioned to think in the way
    that you’re trying to think when you do cranial work.

    Your neuronal pathways are formed in a different way.

    Continually asking yourself if you are making it
    up won’t allow new neuronal pathways to form.

    We are not MRI machines. This is science, but not as we
    know it, Jim.

    Asking if we are making it up is a question from
    another approach.

    Because we are not machines we have the capacity
    to go far beyond our own expectations and pull miracles
    out of the bag. It also means we have the capacity to
    have an off day and get it wrong.

    To answer your very specific question.

    Do we make it up?

    Sometimes.

    Mostly in the beginning of training.

    With experience, 1-2 years minimum, you can begin to
    discern when you are making it up? You can spot it
    and in time it too becomes another thing to note,
    along with the multitude of other things you are
    registering as you work.

    ‘The rhythm is changing, I wonder what that means?

    The patient is feeling sadness, I wonder what that
    means? Now they are angry, I wonder what that means?
    I just made that bit up, I wonder what that means?
    Now they are about to release this bit, I wonder what
    that means? The sadness is still there. .’ and so on.

    Have a good look at what I’ve written. Talk it out with
    people who know you and care about you. Cranio sacral
    therapy may not be the thing for you. It doesn’t suit
    everyone. There are lots of modalities that offer
    much more of the certainty you are looking for.

    Having said that, I encourage you to persevere.
    The rewards far outweigh the difficulties.

    And the weird thing is as you become familiar with
    and master uncertainty, it permeates your whole life
    and it becomes more . . well . . fluid.