Open Source Cranio

Tag: Sphenoid

  • Cranio Sacral Therapist and Student Newsletter 22

    March 23 – 2007
    Questions and comments for this issue:

    + Postnatal depression.
    + Trigeminal neuralgia.
    + Bipolar disorder.

    Hello,
    Just let me put my machete down for a minute so
    I can tell you about a new study on healing and
    men.
    That’s right I said men, manly men.
    Are you listening to me Pilgrim?

    ‘Males typically defined as masculine – strong,
    capable of endurance and tough – were seen to have
    an improved recovery rate,’ says Professor Glen
    Good of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

    ‘It has long been assumed that men are not as
    concerned and don’t take as good of care of their
    health, but what we’re seeing here is that the
    same ideas that led to their injuries may actually
    encourage their recovery.’

    So that’s it for me.  Out with the pink loafers
    and the angora sweaters and in with the DKNY
    combat fatigues and the Gucci backpacks.  It’s
    rugged hard living for me from now on.
    That’s right I’m drinking tap water and hiking
    to the coffee shop.

    So let’s saddle up and have a look see at the mailbag.

    ***QUESTION***

    Dear John,
    I really enjoy your newsletters.  I have been
    getting them for quite a while now but have never
    asked you anything before, so here goes.

    A woman called me the other day to ask if cranio
    could help with postnatal depression.  I said yes
    and set up an appointment to see her next week.

    I have never treated postnatal depression before
    so I read up on it.  Nothing is jumping out as a
    possible cranio sacral link.  I will ‘treat what I
    find’ when I see her but was just wondered if you
    had any experience of it.

    Thanking you in advance.

    JL
    London.

    PS. I downloaded your book and it is excellent.
    Should be a bestseller.

    MY COMMENTS:

    Thank you for the kind words.
    I have found that postnatal depression is a
    condition that responds really well to cranio
    sacral.

    The root cause is often as a result of the
    birth process.  The main causes being one or a
    combination of the following – Labor, forceps,
    ventouse, caesarean section and epidural.

    The birth process can leave the mother’s pelvic
    floor full of restrictions.  This in turn
    pulls the dural tube inferiorly which in turn
    translates into the intracranial membranes and
    affects the sphenoid which in turn leads to
    depression.

    I have seen this pattern in 95% of the women I
    have treated for postnatal depression.

    It usually resolves pretty quickly.  6 or 7
    weeks.  The initial treatments focus on getting
    the pelvic floor to come into harmony and release.
    Then once that happens it’s a matter of following
    that work up the dural tube into the head until
    the sphenoid settles.

    I have treated women who have suffered with
    postnatal depression for up to 10 years.  After
    that length of time they are nearly always on
    medication and their second or third
    psychologist/counsellor.

    It is fantastic and at the same time sad that
    it takes so little to get rid of the symptoms and
    how much heartache that could be avoided if they
    had treatment earlier.

    ***QUESTION***

    Dear John,
    I am a Cranio Sacral Therapist. I studied with The
    Upledger Institute and have been a Therapist for
    nearly 2years. I truly am amazed at what this
    therapy can achieve.  The reason I am writing to
    you is because I have recently been introduced to
    Trigeminal Neuralgia which I had never heard of
    until now. I just wanted to inquire when you treat
    this problem what areas do you treat for success.
    I would appreciate any feed back on this you may
    give me.
    Thank you so very much.
    H.I.
    Australia.

    MY COMMENTS:

    To get an understanding of trigeminal neuralgia
    you need to study the structure of the trigeminal
    nerve.
    I’ll run through it briefly here.

    The Trigeminal nerve is the largest in diameter
    of the cranial nerves.  It is predominantly a
    sensory nerve receiving sensory input from the
    face and scalp.  It also provides some motor
    supply to the mylohyoid and the anterior belly of
    the digastric.

    The two trigeminal nerves leave the pons and
    travel anteriorly for about two centimetres under
    the tentorium.  The trigeminal then forms a
    ganglion out of which it branches into the 3
    divisions.

    OPHTHALMIC DIVISION
    The ophthalmic division receives sensation from
    the eye balls, the lacrimal glands and the skin of
    the forehead, eyelid and nose.  It enters the
    orbit through the superior orbital fissure.

    Just before it enters the superior orbital
    fissure, it sends some sensory fibres to the
    tentorium.  That’s why pain behind the eyes can be
    an indication of tentorial tension.

    MAXILLARY DIVISION
    This division is entirely sensory and receives
    sensation from the skin of the middle portion of
    the face, lower eye lid, side of the nose, upper
    lip, roof of the mouth, gums and teeth.
    The Maxillary branch exits the cranium through
    the foramen rotundum which is formed in the
    sphenoid.

    MANDIBULAR DIVISION
    This is the largest of the three branches of
    the trigeminal.
    It receives sensation from the lower lip, lower
    face, inner cheek, tongue, lower teeth and gums
    and the temporomandibular joint.
    It also has a motor aspect supplying the
    temporalis, the masseter, pterygoid, mylohyoid and
    the anterior digastric.
    It exits the cranium through the foramen ovale
    which is also located in the sphenoid.

    So that is the rough geography.
    If you are treating someone with trigeminal
    neuralgia trace the pathway of the trigeminal
    nerve with your intention.

    Pay particular attention to the areas of
    vulnerability which are for the ophthalmic
    division,

    • the superior orbital fissure.

    For the maxillary division,

    • the foramen rotundum,
    • the maxilla,
    • palatine,
    • sphenoid
    • and zygomae.

    And for the mandibular branch,
    the foramen ovale,

    • the TMJ area.

    ***QUESTION***

    Hi John

    It is a long time since I have written to you, but
    thanks for all the newsletters – I look forward to
    receiving them.

    I want to ask your help today. I have some friends
    in Cape Town who have a son approx 40 years old
    who has suffered from Bi Polar since he was about
    15 yrs old.

    They have tried every possible treatment, but have
    had no success. I would like to advise them about
    the condition and ‘Cranio’ and then to advise them
    to seek help CranioSacrally

    Please advise ASAP

    Kind regards

    John Rosen

    Johannesburg SA

    MY COMMENTS:

    I treated a woman before I left Brisbane who
    had Bipolar for thirty five years.  She had been
    institutionalised a couple of times and had been
    given shock treatment at the start of the 90’s and
    again in 2000.

    When she came to see me she was in the process
    of weening herself off her medication.  The
    pattern of her symptoms was two months of feeling
    very high followed by two moths of feeling very
    low and so on.  When she came to see me she was in
    a low.

    Taking her case history was very intense
    because she was obviously in a lot of emotional
    pain and couldn’t stop crying.  We got through it
    and she lay on the table and I assessed her.

    It turned out that the root cause of her
    symptoms was – physical. Her sphenoid was
    restricted.

    In the course of taking her case history it had
    come out that she was a forceps delivery.  As you
    know, the sphenoid isn’t ossified when you are a
    new born.  This woman’s right greater wing was
    torsioned in relation to the body of the sphenoid.
    The right greater wing was also side bending in
    relation to the body, meaning the right wing was
    much more anterior than the left wing when the
    sphenoid was in neutral.

    It always feels to me that the patterns of
    restriction in the sphenoid act as indicators of
    the deeper restrictions in the membranes.  Bone
    doesn’t move on it’s own.  Trauma is nearly always
    held most strongly in the membranes.

    The other thing I’ve found with depression and
    the sphenoid is that it’s not the sphenoid that
    brings on depression but rather the effect the
    pattern of restriction has on the pituitary gland
    which is sitting atop the sphenoid in the sellae
    turcica.  Particularly as the infundibulum of the
    pituitary perforates the diaphragma sellae.

    The restriction pattern in this woman’s
    sphenoid was like this.  Deep patterns of
    restriction held in the tent and surrounding
    membranes since birth.  Her pituitary was also
    under pressure at its infundibulum.

    She saw me for six treatments at the end of
    which she was neutral.  Not high, not low.  She
    couldn’t remember ever feeling like that for more
    than a day or so when she was in transition from
    high to low or visa versa.

    I was in email contact with her about two
    months later and she was still symptom free.

    35 years of symptoms sorted out in six weeks.
    Who’s glad they’re a cranio sacral therapist!
    Hands in the air! Come on, you at the back, hands
    in the air!

    Not all people with bipolar will respond as
    well as this woman.  Not all bipolar is caused by
    restrictions in the cranio sacral system.  I would
    encourage your friends to get their son assessed
    by a good cranio sacral therapist. It will all
    help.

    So that’s it for this issue.

    Cheerio for now John.

    Till the next time.

    Your Mate,

    John D.

  • Cranio Sacral Therapist and Student Newsletter 39

    April 4 – 2009

    Questions and comments for this issue:

    + Special report from Mary Hegarty in Cape Town on autism.
    + Any results with tinnitus?
    + Treating children on Ritalin.
    + Working with the sphenoid.

    Hello,
    Apparently there are as many creatures on your
    body as there are people on Earth. Feel free to
    use that one at your next dinner party. Here is
    the video to back it up.     I wanted to call it,
    ‘Your Micro-organisms and You.’ but the makers
    weren’t that keen.

    If you are interested in developing ‘Virtuoso Touch’
    have a read of Jesse Arana’s article on palpation.
    He is a big fan of John Upledger. If that doesn’t
    put you off too much he has some interesting
    perspectives and observations.

    In fact it was Jesse who let me know about Casa BESU
    in Portabelo, Panama. This is an initiative by 4 cranio
    sacral therapists to bring cranio sacral treatment and
    training to the local community in Portabelo. It is a
    great project and fits right in with my vision for
    Open Source Cranio.

    And while we’re on the subject of inspiring people,
    get your tissues ready and have a look at this video of
    Nick Vujicic     who faces obstacles I can’t even imagine
    every day of his life. His message is great,
    ‘It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.’

    Stanford University has launched a video series from
    7 of its faculty members in the fields of neuroscience,
    bioengineering, brain imaging and psychology.
    I haven’t had a chance to look at them all yet but
    the ones I have seen are interesting.

    My Masterclass DVD series is coming along nicely.
    I have put a 10 minute video compilation of extracts
    from it on this page.
    You can also sign up for a Review Edition or an advance
    copy there too.

    Before we get into the mailbag here is a special report
    from Mary Hegarty on work she was doing with a boy
    diagnosed with autism in Cape Town.

    ***SPECIAL REPORT FROM MARY HEGARTY IN CAPE TOWN***

    Alpha School Case Report: The Boy with the Pencil
    August 2007

    The week ends with a bang on Friday as we enter the
    Alpha School for Learners with Autism! Noise abounds,
    footsteps echo off high ceilings and stairwells; pots
    and pans clang and clatter in the kitchen; raised voices
    reverberate greetings and admonitions, songs and laughter,
    tears and tantrums.

    Among the 65 days students, who are predominantly boys
    between the ages of 5 and 18, most (85%) come from
    disadvantaged homes. What all have in common is autism.
    The spectrum is pretty wide. Some can language, read,
    and count; others do not speak. Some have a
    ‘high functioning’ label, while others need help
    with basics, even the toilet.

    Our CST outreach program focuses on children under 12.
    Teachers and their aides are a tremendous resource,
    generously sharing information about what happens in
    the classroom and on the playground when we are not there.

    This is R’s story, ‘a lethargic boy with a dislike of
    gross motor activity,’ as described in a 2005 psych
    report. Back then he was often anxious and tearful
    on the school bus, becoming sullen upon arriving at
    school. He might scream for up to 20 minutes at a
    stretch twice a day. He would hit himself during
    tantrums on the floor.

    At home, bedtime was problematic. R would often lay
    awake for three hours before falling asleep at 11pm.
    He could dress and undress and use the toilet. He
    was not fond of sharing. He was able to use scissors
    and a pencil. He would examine objects obsessively.
    I met R in November 2005, when he was 9 years old,
    and began working with him in the classroom. While
    his teacher read a story, I supported R’s right kidney.

    He would not allow contact with two hands. After the
    story R wanted to go home, though when I asked
    permission he said I could come back to see him.
    Soon after the 2006 school year began, R’s teacher
    said that his tantrums had stopped and he was
    showing a marked improvement.

    I met with his parents in February and explained CST
    to them. They were keen for R to continue in the
    program. By this time, R was allowing more contact
    for longer periods during CST sessions. I could hold
    his liver and kidney areas with no fuss, though he
    continued to be less enthusiastic about cranial
    contact when I tried to hold his frontal bone,
    sphenoid and parietals.

    Early in March 2006, R came to school very charged.
    That day he refused treatment, saying ‘GO AWAY!
    Not today!’ Not to be deterred, I sat beside him
    briefly, offering verbal support without physical
    contact. I promised to return in a week’s time.

    The next few days would bring a devastating loss to
    R and his family. On the evening of R’s 10th birthday
    his dad was struck by a taxi and killed instantly
    while riding his bike home from work.

    The following Friday, R did not want me or CST, but
    his teacher insisted. A classmate supportively held
    R’s hand and accompanied us to the OT room. There R
    leaned against me and stared blankly at the colourful
    posters hanging on the wall. Moving onto a big red
    physio ball, I gathered him into my lap, rocking
    gently. My hands made a sandwich of his mid-thoracic
    spine and his heart/solar plexus.

    After 20 minutes, we joined his classmates on the
    playground. He sank onto the picnic bench, leaned
    against me and cried. Another 20 minutes passed
    and R gazed skyward, lifted his arms and became very
    agitated. We walked back to the classroom, where he
    began to settle.

    We enjoyed a couple of good sessions before the
    winter holidays, but by the time Term 3 began,
    R’s tantrums had begun again. Concerned, his
    classroom teacher, the school psychologist and
    I paid a home visit to the humble cinderblock
    cottage bordering the airport, where we listened
    for two hours to his mom’s non-stop story. It was
    clear that the entire family was in crisis.
    I was just a volunteer practitioner working with
    one family member. That would have to be enough.
    Since that home visit, I created a routine when
    working with R. I announce my arrival at school
    to R and ask his permission to return in a while.

    For the next year and a half, on good days I would
    sit beside R and watch him draw (he’s becoming
    quite the artist!). If I’m lucky he allows contact
    somewhere on his back for a brief period, and in
    rare circumstances on the cranial vault. I ask
    about his family. On a not-so-good day, R tells me
    to go away! On those days I sit beside him without
    touching… but I DO NOT GO AWAY!!!

    When R’s class was invited to join in an art
    program at a nearby school, R refused to participate,
    even though he loves to draw. In his collapsed world,
    venturing into unknown waters is too threatening.

    On a rainy Friday in August 2007, I arrived on time
    to see R’s classmates filing into the media room to
    watch a video. R had stayed behind in the classroom
    to draw on his own. His teacher said R did not sleep
    the night before. I pulled up a chair and remarked
    that he must be exhausted. It was just the two of us,
    the room was quiet. R wore a track suit made with
    slippery fabric, and I decided to try massaging his
    back, neck, shoulders and arms. No protest. For the
    next 35 minutes, bent over his desk, R surrendered to
    cranio sacral therapy… cranium, spine, sacrum.
    At one point he relaxed the grip on his best friend,
    the pencil, melting into the moment. The silence
    was exquisite. When I left I whispered a promise to
    return next week. I’ll be there!

    The following is a poem I wrote this year inspired by R…

    *Kwansaba: Curious Boy with the Pencil
    Curious Boy grips the pencil too tight
    his silent friend during dark feral nights
    these days nights last all day long
    taxi smashed bicycle… dada’s dead and gone
    guns shoot outside, mummy’s on her knees
    pencil draws blue sky, happy birds &bees
    bad lines rubbed out before anybody sees

    Mary Hegarty
    24 January 2009

    *KwanSaba is a cross-cultural poetic form dedicated
    to Kwanzaa. Each poem addresses one of the seven
    principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja (unity); Kujichagulia
    (self-determination); Ujima (collective responsibility);
    Ujamaa (cooperative economics); Nia (purpose);
    Kuumba (creativity); and Imani (faith), and consists
    of seven lines of seven words each. Every word used
    contains no more than seven letters.

    MY COMMENTS:

    Great report Mary. As always I am so impressed
    with the work you and your fellow therapists are
    doing in South Africa. Well done.

    ***FORUM QUESTION***

    Has anyone had any long term success treating
    Tinnitus? I treated a long term sufferer and it
    was gone within 20 minutes but came back that
    afternoon, two further sessions have shown no relief.
    Karen
    Australia

    MY COMMENTS:

    Hello Karen,
    I have had good success treating tinnitus and its
    big brother menieres disease. Here is a case history
    of a woman I treated with menieres in Brisbane in 1997.

    Not all cases of tinnitus will respond to cranio
    sacral work but I have found that it is easy enough
    to identify these cases in the initial assessment.

    A common thing I have found in people with tinnitus
    is their membrane systems are very tight. They often
    feel to me like their membrane system is a half size
    too small for their body.

    This can be throughout the whole membrane system or
    just in specific parts of it.

    Why this causes the tinnitus has to do with the
    sensitivity of the ear drums to vibration. Let me
    explain. If you were standing in the corner of a
    room whispering and I was standing in the opposite
    corner trying to listen, the 3 little bones in my
    ear – ossicles – that connect to my eardrum would be
    moving a couple of microns.

    Remember a sheet of writing paper is 100 microns
    thick so a movement of a couple of microns is tiny.

    When a membrane system is very tight it can feel
    like an over-tightened guitar string that is
    reverberating.
    This minute vibration is what causes the occicles
    to vibrate minutely and this tiny movement is what
    causes the noise – tinnitus.

    I have found that as the membrane system begins
    to ease the tinnitus diminishes.

    Because you got a positive result the first time
    you treated the person it means the tinnitus is
    being caused by restrictions in the person’s
    system. I suggest you go through your case
    history notes to see what you worked on in that
    first session.

    Something you did will have caused the symptoms
    to diminish. It is possibly something small you
    didn’t register as being part of the primary
    lesion. It may not fit your idea of what is wrong.

    For example, you may have done an ear pull
    in the first session and felt a good release. In the
    subsequent 2 treatments you may have done ear pulls
    also.
    What you may have forgotten is that you did
    some work on the sacrum in that initial session
    but because there was an improvement in symptoms
    and you got such a significant release with the
    ear pull, you may have neglected the sacrum work.

    Of course I’m not saying that is what happened.
    I am offering it as a possibility.

    ***QUESTION***

    Hi John,
    I recently treated a teenager with ADHD who has been
    on Ritalin since about age 6. While I’ve treated kids
    with variations on the condition before, this is the
    first time I’ve come across a system influenced by
    Ritalin. It felt to me like a massive dose of caffeine,
    but it seemed to reverberate outside as well as inside
    the system, which is a new experience for me. It felt
    like treating two systems at once. Any comments or
    experiences with Ritalin to report?
    Keep up the great work.
    Joseph McGuire
    Ireland

    MY COMMENTS:

    Hello Joseph,
    I’ve had quite a bit of experience with kids on
    Ritalin and the many other drugs that are prescribed
    for ‘difficult’ kids. Here is a case history of
    one such child I treated in Brisbane in 2004.

    Ritalin has a particularly strong effect on the
    system because it is, well, a really strong drug.
    If it was administered intravenously it would have
    the same ‘hit’ as cocaine.

    That’s not just folksy hearsay, Ritalin actually
    has the same pharmacological profile as cocaine.

    So when you make contact with a system that has been
    distorted with Ritalin for a long time you can feel
    all sorts of strange resonances, counter currents,
    compensations, rhythm echos and the sort of feeling
    you were describing.

    The way to work with it is the same as working
    with any drug. You treat as much as you can see
    through the haze the drug causes in the person’s
    system.
    When the symptoms improve and under the guidance
    of the prescribing Doctor, the medication is reduced.

    With less medication, more of the restriciton
    pattern will reveal itself. You continue treatment-
    symptoms improve – medication is further reduced
    and so on.
    Eventually there is no medication and no symptoms.

    Happy days.

    If you want to read more about the effects of
    Ritalin there is a good little article reproduced
    from ‘The Observer’ on the South African Institute
    of Cranial Studies website here.

    ***QUESTION***

    Dear John!
    I hope you don’t mind me asking you a question,
    concerning cranio-sacral. I just had a young female
    patient here, for cranio, she had a spine-operation
    6 months ago. And as I tried the lateral strain, the
    whole structures became somewhat swirly and blurry…
    and I had no idea what to do – haven’t felt this before
    (ok, some swirls are ok, but this was totally blurry…
    it felt as if the whole head swam in my hands)… so I
    just tried to hold on, until it got a bit calmer.
    Have you ever experienced something like this?
    What is your opinion, what to do in a case like this?

    Lots of greetings,
    Iva
    Croatia

    MY COMMENTS:

    Hello Iva,
    I am happy to answer your questions and I’m glad to
    see cranio sacral is flourishing in Croatia.

    Based on what you have written about trying the
    lateral strain, I am going to assume you were working
    with the woman’s sphenoid when this ‘blurry-ness’
    happened.

    This could be for a number of reasons. Firstly
    you were working with the sphenoid. William Sutherland,
    the grand daddy of our work, was fascinated with
    the sphenoid and considered it to be the ‘master cog’
    in one of his his mechanical models of cranial bone
    motion.

    I can understand why he was so into it as I have
    found the sphenoid to have a very strong energetic
    signature and can have a significant effect on the
    whole cranium and the rest of the body.

    The first time I experienced this I was working
    someone in a standard kind of treatment situation.
    Quiet room, eyes closed. We were about half way
    through the session. I had been at the person’s
    head for about 10 minutes and focusing on the
    sphenoid for about 5.

    Suddenly it felt like the sphenoid just lit up.
    The superior surface reminded me of a console on a
    space ship or something like that, with colored
    flashing lights turning on and off in sequence.

    I had to open my eyes to check the person’s head
    wasn’t glowing. It wasn’t. They were lying with
    their eyes closed, deeply relaxed – they may have
    even been asleep.

    Inside their head everything was gang busters.
    It felt like there was a brass band going off
    in there.
    As I observed the ‘lights’ on the sphenoid I
    began to get the feeling that there was an order
    and a pattern to the way they were flashing
    and moving.
    Them it began to dawn on me that there was a
    progression to what was happening almost like some
    kind of program running.

    It went on like this for about 5 minutes and
    then as abruptly as it started, it just stopped.
    All the lights went out and the sphenoid settled
    back into a very smooth and solid rhythm.

    When the person returned the following week they
    reported a significant improvement in their
    symptoms.

    I have had similar kinds of experiences with
    lots of different peoples sphenoids since.

    Being a science fiction fan it’s no surprise
    that my brain translated what I was feeling in that
    person’s sphenoid in terms of space ship consoles
    and flashing lights.
    In your case, it sounds like, your brain
    translated what you were feeling as ‘blurry-ness’
    and that swimming feeling in your hands.

    The significant thing is that something important
    was happening in the woman’s system. Over time
    you may find that you experience the same kind of
    thing with more people.

    In my experience bodies are capable of the most
    amazing and from our perspective, shocking, things.
    I have been treating people for 15 years and I am
    still coming across new responses.

    The responses may be new but the feeling of being
    taken by surprise is the same. Over time I have
    learned to become familiar with that feeling of
    being shocked and surprised by a new response.
    From what you have written it sounds like you
    are on the way to doing that too.

    You said you held on until it ‘got a bit calmer’
    I suggest you held on until YOU got a bit calmer.
    Because that is what I have found works best in
    dealing with new responses, not getting pulled
    into them.
    If you can get a bit of distance from what is
    happening you can see that the persons body is
    taking advantage of your support and is getting
    on with it. It just happens to be in a way that
    you haven’t seen before.

    Lastly I would wonder how the spinal surgery fits
    into all this? Was it involved in the sphenoid
    resettling you described? Was trauma from the
    surgery working itself out and you were feeling this
    from the sphenoid or was the sphenoid involved more
    directly?
    I have come accross a few cases of trauma arising
    from the positions people were put in or rough
    handling during surgery that had nothing to do
    with the actual surgery itself.

    So that’s it for this issue.

    Till the next time.

    Your Mate,

    John D.

  • How does opposed motion relate to flexion/extension?

    + How does opposed motion relate to flexion/extension? – October 05

    Hey JD,
    Enjoying your Q and A’s.
    Here’s my Q.
    How does opposed motion relate to
    flexion/extension?

    Thanks
    B.F. London.

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Glad you’re enjoying the NL, B.F.
    I’m guessing you do a lot of text messaging on
    your ph.
    Here’s my C’s.

    When you first learned cranio sacral, you were
    probably told how the cranio sacral system moves
    in flexion and extension.   ‘In flexion, the
    parietals flex and extend around a medial axis
    running along the sagittal suture.’ and so on . .

    That’s called the similar motion model.  The
    main characteristic of which is that everything
    moves symmetrically around the midline of the
    body.

    What you will have found in practice is that
    some people just don’t flex and extend in
    symmetrical way.

    The fact is that no person fits into the
    theoretical models of flexion and extension all
    the time.  Some never.  No person’s head moves in
    the same way from one day to the next.

    It is important to learn flexion and extension
    in the beginning so that you can refine your
    palpatory skills to really be able to perceive
    flexion and extension in all its nuances.

    With the opposite motion model flexion and
    extension are felt asymmetrically.  When one
    parietal is moving into flexion the other one will
    be going into extension.  This creates an
    asymmetrical peddling motion within the whole
    cranium.

    The frontal bone will move anterior and
    inferior on one side (flexion) while the other
    side moves superior and posterior (extension).

    The squamous portion of the occiput will flare
    and move inferior and slightly posterior as it
    tucks under (flexion) on one side while the other
    side is narrowing and moving superiorly
    (extension).

    The sphenoid torsions around its body.  One
    greater wing will nose dive  (flexion) while the
    other side will be arching superiorly.

    It’s probably easier to get a mental visual of
    it all if you think of the membranous balloon
    lining the cranium, filling on one side while it
    empties on the other.  This will help you make
    sense of what the bones are doing.

    Trying to figure out every bone movement in the
    opposed motion model will do your head in.

    Not recommended.

    Get the idea of the way the membranes move and
    the bones will follow.

    You’ve probably felt this motion already and
    may have put it down to your inability to feel
    flexion extension correctly.

    Well you were right, there is a motion like
    that and it’s called opposed motion.

    Some days our system will move in similar
    motion flexion and extension and on other days it
    will have this opposed motion feeling.

    Hope that was of H.

  • ‘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.

  • Maxillae

    + CST and orthodontic work? – April 08

    Hi John,

    Thanks for your reply to my letter regarding
    cancer in the New Years Newsletter.
    As to what to call you how about the “enlightened
    one”?
    Your reply to my question made me laugh but if I
    had received it a few weeks earlier I would have
    cried, can I remind you of your words

    “the chances of you giving yourself a major
    fright and setting you palpatory skills back years
    is very high.

    For example, let’s say you go against your
    teachers/mentors recommendation and start treating
    someone who is in the middle of dealing with
    cancer.
    And let’s say they have a major episode the day
    after you treat them and end up in hospital.

    “Take a minute and think about how you would
    feel.  Can you imagine how difficult it would be
    to stay objective about your contribution to their
    being in hospital.  Can you imagine how hard it
    would be to avoid putting yourself through the
    wringer wondering if your intention was too heavy
    or too light, how you could have missed what was
    coming and so on.”

    Well I can tell you how I felt !!, my Aunt had
    been given the all clear following Non hodgkinson
    and all the horror that the treatments entailed,
    bald and full of life she stayed with us for a
    week over xmas on the day she was leaving I asked
    if she would like to try some cranio (are you
    wincing?) her system did not react and as I had
    not practiced for some weeks thought it was me so
    pushed the intention a bit harder but all she got
    was a nice still point and a vision of a being in
    a crater looking at the blue sky (that made me
    wince!). She phoned me 3 days later to say she had
    not been out of bed since she got home she could
    not stay awake (but she felt good) I told her to
    go to the Drs asap! she had no white cells and was
    very close to dying.

    So how did I feel! all of the above! my teacher
    was on holidays but when I finally contacted her
    she believed the cranio probably brought it to the
    surface alot faster. My Aunt is doing alot better
    they think she is one of the rare ones that get a
    reaction to some injection they give post Chemo,
    but they also discovered her heart and lungs are
    stuffed from the Chemo! I offered her Cranio and
    we both laughed (but I don’t think either of us
    will go there!)

    I have been going through all your archives a
    couple at a time as it makes my head hurt! so many
    questions!

    So I will start with; I read about your case
    study, the girl you helped with facial disorders,
    my 18yr old son has a protruding lower Jaw they
    have done one lot of orthodontic work and are now
    waiting until he stops growing to operate on the
    lower jaw to pull it back ( a nasty sounding
    operation) and then a couple more years of braces
    to correct the bite. Do you believe that cranio
    could stop the jaw coming forward anymore and even
    better bring it back slightly? and my daughter 15
    has had two years of braces but because she had to
    a have a baby tooth removed that had no adult
    tooth to replace it they expect she will have
    braces for two more years! Do you believe cranio
    can really help in these situations, I have read
    in some of the Cranio books to seek out a
    orthodontist that works with Cranio but I don’t
    think there is such a person in Australia? I asked
    my orthodontist and he was very “polite” “what
    the?!!!”

    Many thanks
    God opps John
    Karen
    Australian

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Hello Karen,
    Thanks for sharing your experience about your
    Aunt.  It must have been awful for you.  Our
    palpatory skill is a wonderful but fragile thing.

    I’ve had a few emails from different people
    asking about orthodontic work and cranio sacral
    therapy and since both your questions are about
    that too, I’ll kill the few birds, humanely of
    course, with one stone and answer them all
    together.

    Can cranio sacral therapy really help in these
    situations?

    Hell, yes.

    Let’s start with the basics. Teeth are
    basically bone and contrary to common perception,
    bones ain’t bone china.  Bone is plastic and wet
    and it grows and most importantly responds to the
    pressure it is placed under and adapts.

    Wolf’s law and all that, don’t you know.

    What’s Wolf’s law?

    Wolf’s law states that the son of two wolves is
    equal to the son of the bears on the other two
    hides. . . or . . something . . like . .that.

    It basically means that bone will adapt to the
    loads it is placed under.

    That is how they can dig up someone from a
    thousand years ago and from a careful study of the
    shape of the bones of their forearm, work out that
    the person used to be a charioteer.

    The fact they were buried in a chariot helped
    but it was the bones, Jim, the bones.

    So just because our teeth are sitting in bone
    and our bite is essentially made of bone that
    doesn’t mean that it is fixed for all eternity.

    When you think about, that’s what Orthodontists
    are kind of banking on.

    From our perspective, you could think of braces
    as being like a form of direct technique, carried
    out over a numbers months or years.

    When I think of our ‘bite’, and this is
    probably because I used to be a carpenter, I
    always think of the mandible as being like a door
    and the temporo mandibular joints as being like
    the hinges of the door, with the temporals and the
    maxillae making up the doorframe.

    Thinking of it like this helps keep all the
    different parts in their rightful place.

    The mandible is roughly solid.  Yes, I know it
    used to be in two parts and in some ways still
    behaves as if it is but compared to everything
    else involved that still ARE in separate parts, it
    helps to think of it as solid. . . like a door.

    So if a person’s bite is off it is probably not
    the mandible itself but the temporals or the
    maxillae.

    Because if the doorframe is not straight the
    door will keep banging on the frame and never
    close properly.

    Now let’s look at the two examples you gave.

    You write that your son’s lower jaw is
    protruding.  The first thing I would ask myself is
    why is it doing that? Is the mandible sticking out
    or is the face pushed in? or is a bit of both.

    I would palpate his whole face and try and get
    a sense of what the overall pattern was.

    Once you do that you can begin to look at the
    hinges and the doorframe.   For example: There
    could be a pattern where his temporals are
    torsioned anteriorly and inferiorly in a kind of
    temporal nose dive and this in turn could have the
    knock-on effect of pushing his mandible
    anteriorly.

    Or both his maxillae could be driven
    posteriorly.

    If it is in the temporals I would treat it with
    indirect technique.

    If it is his maxillae I would treat it with a
    combination of indirect and then direct technique.
    Indirect to follow into the pattern and help it
    release then direct because the influence of the
    cranial rhythm is weaker in the maxillae and they
    can need a little help getting where they want to
    go.

    If the maxillae are driven posteriorly you will
    need to assess the palatines and help them release
    too if the pattern goes back that far.  You will
    also need to look at how the sphenoid is affected
    by this pattern, particularly the pterygoid
    plates.

    With your daughter, it sounds like they are
    trying to even out the gap left by the extraction.

    Again, I would palpate her whole face and try
    and get a sense of an underlying pattern that
    might have caused the situation.

    If nothing major presents itself, it may be a
    case that her body doesn’t register the situation
    in her mouth as being a problem.  This would make
    you work a lot more difficult and require a lot
    more direct technique.

    Assuming that your daughter’s braces are not
    fixed, you can work on the teeth individually.
    You can take each tooth and ‘unwind’ it.  That in
    itself may begin to even out the gaps.

    And finally, as a general note about working
    with the mouth, the bite and teeth, it’s important
    to rely on the fact that our body is NOT
    predisposed to have a banging, jarring,
    disharmonious bite. It wants to bite right.

    All you have to do is help it. Having said that
    I have found as a general rule that while bone is
    responsive it can take a while for it to grow in
    new directions and by a while I mean 2 to 4
    months.

  • Cranio Sacral Therapist and Student Newsletter 19

    + What do I mean by Intention? – December 06

    Hello,
    It turns out imaginary friends are good for
    kids.  Well not bad at any rate.  Apparently kids
    can use them as a practice ground for
    relationships.

    “There is an amount of control over a
    relationship with an imaginary friend that you
    don’t have with a real friend.” says Stephanie
    Carlson, a psychologist at the University of
    Washington.

    Something I didn’t realise was that a lot of
    imaginary friends are actually enemies.  But
    that’s good too.

    “Children who have imaginary enemies are better
    able to take on the idea that other people have
    opinions and desires than you.”

    In addition, naughty friends test parents
    reactions, and come in handy as an ever-trusty
    scapegoat, when kids misbehave themselves.

    So next time parents tell you that their child
    has imaginary friends it’s not necessarily a bad
    thing.

    If you were one of the many people who wrote to
    me to let me know that the link to the back issues
    of this newsletter didn’t work, I just want to
    tell you that it wasn’t my fault.

    The link I typed in worked but Timmy changed
    it.

    No I didn’t.

    Yes he did.  He tells lies too.  Big fibber.
    Not me, him.

    Whatev-er.

    Anyhu, on with the mailbag.

    ***QUESTION***

    Dear Mr Dalton,
    I receive your newsletters gratefully and with interest. I have also
    read your book and found it excellent, both for myself and my patients.
    In a number of your responses to questions you have referred to
    ‘Intention’.
    I have heard and read about intention from different sources
    but I am curious to know what it means to you.
    Can you explain exactly what you mean by intention and how it is used.
    Kind regards.
    EM
    Melbourne.

    >>>MY COMMENTS:


    I’ve had a few letters like yours over the months so I’m going to
    address it in detail.

    To explain how intention works we need to take a little trip through
    quantum physics.  Let’s take your common or garden subatomic particle.

    The thing about subatomic particles is they need heat to move.
    The more heat, the more they move. So if you remove all the heat
    there should be no movement.

    Or so you would think.

    What physicists have found is that even at absolute zero,
    that’s really cold to you and me, there is still some movement.
    The subatomic particles keep passing little parcels of energy back
    and forth between themselves.

    So your empty space is not so completely empty after all. It turns
    out it is full of energy. Physicists call it the ‘Zero point field.’
    The idea is that if the universe were cooled down to absolute zero
    and all particle movement was frozen out, this energy would still remain.

    This is not your normal quantum physics stuff, with train ‘A’
    traveling at a certain speed and someone throwing a ball out
    the window and depending on where you are standing and
    so on and so forth and what’s on telly tonight anyway, yawn.

    No, this is not just theoretical. There are scientists, like Dr Hal Puthoff,
    working to find ways of harnessing this energy right now.
    To give you an idea of how much energy we are talking about.
    If you and I were standing one metre apart there would be enough
    energy in the ’empty space’ between us to boil all the oceans on the planet.

    Not that you’d want to. Enough to make a cup of tea would be
    fine for me but you get the idea.

    This energy is common to ALL particles which means they are ALL at it.
    Passing energy parcels back and forth to each other and because of it
    they are ALL connected. That’s why the physicists call it a field.
    It means ALL subatomic particles are connected in a HUGE field
    that connects EVERYTHING together.

    Together now ‘We are the world.’ Everybody! ‘We are the children. . .’

    Suit yourself.

    This, everything being connected idea, is no news to most of the
    older philosophies. I’m told a lot of Buddhists go to quantum
    physics symposiums just so they can sit in the front row with
    a smug, ‘I told you so.’ look on their faces.

    What is exciting about now is that our science is finally getting
    around to the view that all is one and one is all.

    The other thing to know about subatomic particles is that they
    don’t exist as a thing, as such. They exist as a potential of a thing.
    Kind of like a neurotic friend I used to have, who, when introducing
    himself to women he was interested in, would say ‘Hi my name is
    Mark and if you don’t like me. . . .I’ll change.’

    Subatomic particles have the potential to be many different things
    but are none and all of these things simultaneously. They only
    become one specific thing when something particular happens.

    And that particular thing is usually wearing a white coat. Yes,
    you’ve guessed it, it’s our old friend the observer. As soon as the
    observer shows up and takes a measurement or makes an
    observation the subatomic particle becomes a specific.

    That the presence of the observer affects the outcome has been
    known since the beginning of quantum physics. Niels Bohr,
    one of the granddaddies of quantum physics, would frequently
    throw a tantrum if Albert Einstein ever came in to observe his experiments.

    That was a quantum physics joke.

    Observing the experiment . . . . never mind.

    What has been happening lately is the physicists have been asking
    the next questions, questions like. . .
    If subatomic particles only exist as potential till we show up,
    are we in fact creating what they become?
    If we are creating what they are, does that mean we create our
    own reality?
    If we are creating our reality can we influence that creation?
    How does consciousness affect matter?
    Bloody good questions, if you ask me and I’ll buy the next round of drinks.

    And here’s Fritz Albert Popp from Germany, he has figured out
    that DNA in its structure, is essentially a crystal and, like a quartz
    crystal, for example, produces a highly coherent signal or field.
    This DNA emission is known as a biophoton. Put another way,
    it is light produced within the cell.

    There is a direct link between the light the cell produces and the
    activity of the matter in the cell. Not only that but the light or
    field of each cell is in communication with every other cell in
    the organism. This means the whole organism KNOWS what every
    cell is doing and every cell KNOWS what every other cell KNOWS
    at the same time.
    Freaky, No?

    Now how does all this quantum mumbo jumbo amount to a hill
    of beans when it comes to intention?

    Well, quite a bit actually. First of all it adds a whole new level
    to the reciprocal nature of the system. Not only are all structures,
    big and small, connected through the fascia, everything is also
    connected at a subatomic level through the zero point field,
    and all the energy in it, and also through the interconnected
    biophoton fields of each cell in the body.

    All that stuff could be going on all the time and you would never
    be the wiser. It becomes incredibly powerful when you know you
    can influence it with your consciousness.

    Put simply, it means that what you think about has a direct
    influence on what you are thinking about.

    It means that when you have your hands on a person’s ankles
    and you are thinking about their sphenoid, for example, you
    are actually CONNECTED to that person’s sphenoid.
    It’s not just in your imagination, it is REAL.

    If you feel like their sphenoid is restricted it’s because you’re
    feeling it through the fascia AND through the interconnected
    biophoton fields of the cells AND through the zero point field.

    It means that if you feel the person’s sphenoid needs support
    as it goes into a restriction pattern and you think of holding it
    into the lesion pattern your thought ACTUALLY holds it into the
    lesion pattern as sure as if you had your hands inside the persons
    head and were holding the sphenoid in your hands.

    It means that your intention is capable of doing whatever you
    THINK of. Not only is it as adaptable as your thinking it also has
    access to unlimited power to accomplish whatever you are
    working to achieve.

    The only limitation on what you can do with your intention
    is the limitation you think is on your intention.

    Think about that,
    . . . but don’t sprain anything.

    Cheerio for now.

    Till the next time.

    Your Mate,

    John D.