October 2 -2008
Questions and comments for this issue:
+ Shunts?
+ 2 cases from Australia.
+ The wonders of entrainment.
Hello,
I’m delighted to report that the Boikarabelo Children’s
eco village in Johannesburg, South Africa have begun to use
my training materials on Open Source Cranio in the training
3 of their careers. Which is great. All I have to do now is
finish putting all the training material up.. yikes!!!
Which reminds me if you haven’t had a chance to look at
‘The Visible Body’ definitely have a look – it is awesome.
http://www.visiblebody.com/
Because it doesn’t work on Apple computers I couldn’t get
a decent look at it so I snaffled my wife’s laptop one night
and four hours later I was still at it.
I don’t care where you are in your cranial career you can’t
but find this useful. To be able to look at these structures
from whatever angle you like, to peel off layers and see how
one structure relates to another. It just helps so much.
If you haven’t already done so have a look
and let me know what you think.
Speaking of visuals I want to tell you about the beautiful
cranial artwork of Ray Lacy. As you know I used to work in
animation before I became a cranio sacral therapist so I
got to work with lots of first rate artists and I can tell
you Ray is right up there. He has produced see beautiful
drawings of the structures we work with. Have a look
then if you feel so moved, write a review and send it to Ray.
http://www.craniosacral-art.com/index.php
Anyhu, on with the mailbag.
***QUESTION***
Hi John
Your newsletter’s archive is fantastic. Very easy to use
(much better than mine). Thanks.
My question today is about treating people with a shunt
in the head. Do you(or anyone else) has experience with that?
Is there a risk of having the shunt come out of place
(and causing big problems to the personn) when working
on the personn? I was wondering because of the movements of
the bones and membranes in the head (things coming back
in place).
Any comments will be much appreciated.
Odile. Brisbane.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Hello Odile,
I’m glad you find the newsletter archive useful.
I’m hoping the ‘search’ function makes it easier for
people to find what they are looking for across the
whole site.
I have treated quite a few people with shunts.
I’ll just explain what they are for any of the other
readers who don’t know.
A shunt is tube that is fitted surgically to relieve
cerebrospinal fluid pressure. There is a one way valve
in the shunt that stops the cerebrospinal fluid coming
back up the tube. They are usually fitted in people
who have prolonged or extreme hydrocephalus.
The types of shunts I have treated have fallen into
two categories. Cranio shunts and spinal shunts.
Spinal shunts go from the drural tube and drain into
the stomach. Cranial shunts drain from the cranium into
the heart.
From my experience they are pretty robust arrangements
and I have never got the feeling that they would dislodge
with treatment. The main thing I have felt when treating
people with shunts is how the fluid dynamics of their
cerebrospinal fluid is screwed up. Their cranio sacral
rhythm is usually confused.
Most of my work has been firstly dealing with the
underlying cause of the hydrocephalus and then helping
the person’s system come to terms with the foreignness
of the shunt.
This is similar to any kind of work where there is a
foreign object in a person’s body be it a pin or a screw
or a pacemaker.
***QUESTION***
Dear John
From reading your emails its great to see that the world
of cranio is opening up.. I have to say the enquiry coming
in to the clinic for treatment for complicated cases from
all over Australia is amazing. And hence I am in need of
some guidance with a couple of troubled young lads..
The first is 15…born with a large head that expanded
from the parietals but little frontal growth, at 12 months
his head was so heavy he carried it on the side…at 8 had
a head on collision on a jet ski into a tree an acquired a
compressed skull fracture and brain injury
…although the extent of that is not clear as they suspected
ADD anyway…has learning difficulties, class clown and
recently attempted to throw himself off the tallest building
at school. He has 5 steel plates in his head holding the
parietals and frontal together…his system is very
sensitive and flexion, extension inhibited by the plates..
The second boy is 14, a difficult birth resulting in
emergency c section, swallowed blood and meconium has
chronic asthma, seems ok at school but suffers anxiety
especially separation from mother… she bought him
because 3 separate clairvoyants told her he died in birth and
came back and that there were issues for him to sort out.
Both these boys seem to have a space or separation in their
system from which they are operating that does not seem to
belong to them but is quite a definite separate space…then
there is a pretend who I am and a big hole to the other…
where do I start…seeing that both these boys are seeming
in a serious situation for themselves..
Your pearls of great wisdoms will be greatly appreciated
as usual!!!
LK
Brisbane
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Well these certainly are serious cases and my response
has to be based on what you have written only. Which is
another way of saying I could be completely wrong.
I had to read the part about the sense of space or
separation you were feeling quite a few times to get an
idea of what was going on. The main thing that it sounds
like to me is the detachment that comes from shock.
If I am right it should resolve like any other trauma.
I suggest you don’t treat it any differently to any other
kind of trauma even though it may feel more intense to you.
With the first chap, the 15 year old, it sounds like
you are dealing with 3 separate issues.
The first sounds like a developmental problem. Why didn’t
his frontal develop in tandem with the rest of the bones in
his skull? Why did his head become so full?
My guess would be some problem with his embryonic
development and if that’s the case then it will probably by
a problem with his blueprint.
I’ve written about this before so won’t bore you with it again.
If you need a refresher go here
http://www.open-source-cranio.com/sacral-training/
and search for blueprint.
Love that ‘search’ function.
The next thing be has going on is the head trauma he
received from the jet ski accident. So now you have a
system with underlying blueprint problems, so its healing
response is compromised to begin with, trying to deal
with a major trauma.
The the third layer is all the surgery and the ensuing
plates in his head.
It’s enough to make someone detach. .hmmmm. . .
It would be nice to deal with each thing separately but
in practice it probably won’t work out like that. It will
probably be a bit of a mash up of all three layers.
Probably the best way to deal with this is to see it as
whatever arises is what needs attention at that moment.
So in any given session the blueprint issue may come up,
then the head trauma, then the plates in his head, then the
head trauma again and so on.
The second chap sounds like a straightforward case of
birth trauma, if you can call any case of birth trauma
straight forward.
It sounds like he is stuck in chronic alarm as a result
of his birth. I have found that issues relating to Mother
can often end up in the lungs and chest area.
I suggest you focus your treatment on the birth trauma
first, then as the separation anxiety begins to ease you
can focus on what remains of the asthma.
***QUESTION***
Hello John
I have been practicing CST for two years, but have the most
amazing results since switching to the biodynamic style of
work. I am always enthralled by the intelligence of the body,
as it guides the healing process. Clients are just as
captivated, felling me remaining absolutely still while the
Breath of Life takes over within them.
Recently I have seen two people with head injuries, one
from a surfboard blow, the other from a fall backwards onto
the occiput. The first man was blown away, exclaiming that
his head had completely changed shape over our three sessions,
and that he could sleep at night, something rare in his
experience. During a large part of his session time his body
chose to work on trauma from ear surgery 3 years ago, for
which he was relieved and grateful. The second client, a woman,
felt as though a veil was lifted from her head after the first
session, she almost needed to wear sunglasses, the world looked
so bright and clear. She still had some nausea and dizziness
but was well enough to drive herself to the second session.
Sometimes I feel in my own body what is happening with the
client, and other times I sense directly what they are
experiencing. Can you shed any light on this?
Christine Whitelaw
Moruya NSW
Australia
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Hello Christine,
Thanks for sharing your stories. It sounds like you are
doing great work.
Now to your question. When you are treating someone your
system becomes entrained with theirs. Entrainment is a
multi-spectrum connection that includes a lot more than
just your cranio sacral rhythms coming into sync.
Once entrainment happens the persons system will show
you everything you need for the session. Sometimes this
is a strong sense of what the person is feeling. At other
times you might feel what they are feeling directly in
your own body.
Feeling things in your own body is fine in small doses
but if it is persistent it can be tiring.
If you can’t stop feeling things in your body and it
becomes a problem you might want to look at your boundaries.
So that’s it for this issue.
Till the next time.
Your Mate,
John D.