by Michael Kern
However, I saw a spinal operation recently that casts doubt that either of these mechanisms can properly explain how longitudinal fluctuation occurs. In this operation the surgeon was demonstrating a revolutionary technique of grafting nerve tissue into a patient’s spinal cord, which had been severed during an accident. When the membranes surrounding the spinal cord were opened, there was still a marked surge of C.S.F. about every six to eight seconds, clearly visible as it rose up into the opening. If the pressurestat model or the ball-valve mechanism was correct, then it would not have been possible for C.S.F. to continue its fluctuating motion once the spinal membranes were open, as this would have altered the pressure dynamics upon which these models are based. Therefore, it seems there is still no better explanation for this phenomenon than that originally proposed by Dr. Sutherland. The motion of C.S.F. is an inherent fluctuation arising from a potency found within itself. No doubt this is a topic for further research.
Fluid drive
The potency behind C.S.F. motion produces what is sometimes described as the system’s fluid drive. A strong fluid drive indicates a plentiful expression of potency of the Breath of Life being taken up in C.S.F. This generates a more powerful surge and settling of its longitudinal fluctuation, and is indicative of a good availability of healing resources for the whole body. However, fluid drive may become diminished in states of chronic illness or exhaustion. Therefore, the quality of fluid drive is a useful baseline for the practitioner to establish in the assessment of a patient’s condition. It can provide a wealth of clinical information about the body’s state of constitutional health.
Highest known element
The pioneering cranial practitioners had a deep appreciation of the subtle yet powerful properties of C.S.F. Dr. Sutherland realized the significant function of this fluid early in his investigations of primary respiration. In addition to its physical properties, he perceived that C.S.F. provides an important connection between the potency of the Breath of Life and its expression in the body. C.S.F. is considered to be the initial recipient of the Breath of Life, playing an essential role in taking up and distributing its potency. This concurs with Dr. Still’s view that C.S.F. is the “highest known element in the body.”18 The basic ordering principle of the Breath of Life is primarily carried around the body within this fluid medium.
Carrier of potency
Dr. Sutherland saw the biodynamic potency of the Breath of Life as a kind of fluid that is carried within the C.S.F.19 He described the potency in the fluid as “liquid light.”20 Dr. Magoun referred to this phenomenon as “an electrical potential.”21 Consequently, C.S.F. has been compared to a kind of battery fluid in the body. This battery fluid can be recharged with potency that provides it with remarkable healing properties.22 Dr. Sutherland had no doubt that the fluctuation of C.S.F. is the key element in the craniosacral concept.23 The free and unrestricted movement of C.S.F. is a major factor in promoting health.
Other practitioners have also recognized the exceptional functions carried out by C.S.F. Dr. Randolph Stone, an osteopath who developed the practice of Polarity Therapy, described C.S.F. as, “A storage field and conveyor of ultrasonic and light energies. It bathes the spinal cord and is a reservoir for these finer essences … Through this neuter essence, mind functions in and through matter as the light of intelligence.”24 C.S.F. is regarded as the primary meeting point between the Breath of Life and the body. It is a junction between the physical and the spiritual; an essence that conducts the life-principle through the body, like the life-giving sap in a tree.25 According to nuclear physicist, Dr. R.T. Lustig,
Through nuclear physics we are just catching a glimpse of what cerebrospinal fluid really is … a vital mechanism which affords powerful influences upon human physiology … A cold analysis of research in kindred fields … points unmistakably to the buried potential in the cerebrospinal fluid … With the opening of the atomic age we are getting a better perspective of energy, its sources and conversions … Sutherland’s work … puts him on record as having recognized at an early date the interchangeability of energy and matter as it relates to biology.26
This view of C.S.F. is not only compatible with much modern research, but is also alluded to in many historical sources. A respected eighteenth-century anatomist, named Burton, referred to the C.S.F.-filled brain ventricles as “the receptacles of the spirits.”27 C.S.F. has been called the “brain dew” and referred to as “the nectar of life,” “the divine fluid,” and “tears of the sky of God.” Can C.S.F. also be the allegorical ambrosia of ancient Greece, the all-sustaining beverage of the gods who resided on the symbolic brain of Mount Olympus? Or perhaps it is the divine nectar called soma referred to in the ancient Vedas of India?28 Dr. Magoun asserts, “As long as life exists, this highest known element is the abiding place of that mysterious spark that cannot be explained but is none the less present.”29
Peter’s case
Peter was a film producer who was experiencing sharp headaches that often started after any kind of exertion. He was also exhausted, probably because of work stress and having recently moved into a new house. He was starting to become very concerned because his symptoms were not improving and extensive medical tests had not been able to reveal any cause for his condition. When he lay down on the treatment table, I tuned in to how primary respiration was being expressed in his body.
I put my hands on Peter’s head and my first impression was that the strength of potency in his system was very low. This was revealed by the weak and flat quality of his fluid drive. Furthermore, there was an area of tension at the base of his skull, where it appeared that the longitudinal fluctuation of C.S.F. was getting congested.
The first aim of treatment was to try to build Peter’s constitutional resources. This was done by encouraging what are called “stillpoints” in his body. These are periods of settling and stillness of the cranial rhythmic impulse that allow for deep physiological rest. This enables the C.S.F. battery fluid of the body to recharge with potency (see also Chapter 7, “Stillpoints”). I then started to work with the area of tension at the base of Peter’s head, by subtly inviting a decompression through my hands. This region can have an important effect on the drainage of fluid from the head and, if restricted, may cause the congestion of C.S.F. During Peter’s third treatment this tension completely resolved, leading to an immediate improvement in the longitudinal fluctuation of his C.S.F. and the strength of its fluid drive. Peter remarked it was, “like someone switched a light on inside my head!” After this his energy increased and headaches disappeared.
2) The Inherent Motility of the Central Nervous System
The soft and gelatinous tissues of the brain, together with the spinal cord, express primary respiration principally in the form of a motility. A number of researchers have confirmed the presence of a rhythmic movement of nerve tissue occurring at the rate of about eight to twelve cycles each minute.30 In 1987 medical researchers, Feinberg and Mark, also demonstrated the motion of the human brain using magnetic resonance imaging, although they linked this motion to the pulse of the circulatory system.31 As another researcher commented, the brain is “vibrantly alive … incessantly active … dynamic … highly mobile … able to move forwards, backwards, sideways, to circumduct and to rotate.”32
Embryological development
Generally speaking, the growth patterns that tissues follow when they are being formed during their embryological development determine the pattern of their primary respiration throughout life. This is because an organizing blueprint is laid down by the Breath of Life at the time of our early development and remains present as an ordering force continually expressed within the rhythms of primary respiration. Consequently, the motility of the central nervous system is expressed along the axis of its embryological development.
At about the third week after conception, a bundle of rapidly developing cells called the embryonic disc starts to fold in on itself at the midline, forming the neural groove (see
Figure 3.333). As the sides of the embryonic disc heap up and join in the middle, a hollow structure called the neural tube is formed. This is an early manifestation of the central nervous system, one of the first body systems to form. The brain and spinal cord develop as outgrowths from this primordial tube (see Figure 3.4). The neural tube elongates, bulges outwards, and by the fifth week starts to fold in on itself at the top. By the end of the fifth week the formation of the specific structures of the brain has begun (see Figure 3.4[ii]). The brain is formed as the tissues around these folds mushroom out in a curling pattern. (see Figures 4.4[iii and iv] and 3.5).
Figure 3.3: Formation of the neural tube (illustration credit 3.3)
The expanding and curling pattern of growth at the top of the neural tube is organized around the lamina terminalis. The lamina terminalis forms the front wall of the third ventricle (see Figure 3.2). This place acts as the natural fulcrum for the growth and development of the central nervous system. It remains as the place around which primary respiration of the central nervous system is expressed throughout life, as long as there are no stressful influences that modify this motion.
Figure 3.4: Embryological development of the central nervous system (illustration credit 3.4)
Inhalation and exhalation
The motility of the central nervous system is expressed as part of an integrated pattern of motion, associated with its surrounding membranes, bones and fluid. In health, all these tissues move in synchrony with each other.
As the central nervous system expresses the inhalation phase of primary respiration, the brain rotates forwards towards the lamina terminalis, in a motion like the curling of a ram’s horn (see Figure 3.5).34 In inhalation, the front part of the cortex of the brain rotates anteriorly (towards the front) and inferiorly (footwards), and its back part rotates superiorly (towards the top of the head). At the same time, the brain widens from side to side as it “breathes in,” while shortening from front to back and from top to bottom. Simultaneously the spinal cord rises while it widens from side to side and shortens from top to bottom. Dr. Sutherland likened this motion of the central nervous system to a tadpole pulling up its tail.35
Figure 3.5: “Ram’s horn” motion of the brain (illustration credit 3.5)
The opposite motion occurs during the exhalation phase, when there is an uncurling of the brain towards the back, a narrowing from side to side and a lengthening from front to back as it “breathes out.” The spinal cord lowers in exhalation, narrows, uncurls and elongates. In the inhalation phase, the ventricles of the brain widen from side to side and narrow from front to back (see Figure 3.6). This motion occurs in synchrony with the welling-up and rising of C.S.F. in the inhalation phase of its longitudinal fluctuation.
Figure 3.6: Inhalation and exhalation phases of the ventricles (illustration credit 3.6)
God’s drug store
The brain is one of the largest organs in the body. While it is widely recognized as the organ through which our thinking processes operate, this is now considered to be just a small part of its function. According to the psychologist Robert Ornstein and physician David Sobel, the main purpose of the brain is for the maintenance of health.36 It has an extraordinary capacity to receive information, process it and act accordingly. It is the largest organ of secretion in the body, producing hundreds of chemicals according to our needs, including neuro-transmitters used by individual nerve cells to communicate with each other. In this way, the brain maintains a balance between our internal physiology and our social worlds, environment, thoughts and feelings.
The brain makes countless adjustments, secretions and commands that it sends to the rest of the body. Long before the chemicals of the brain had been scientifically analyzed, Dr. Still observed with great perception that, “The brain is God’s drug store having within all drugs, lubricating oils, opiates, acids, and every quality of drug that the wisdom of God thought necessary for human happiness and health.”37 The motility expressed by the brain, is thought to have an important influence on the way these chemicals are produced and distributed.
Maintenance of balance
The brain can be thought of as a collection of brains (see Figure 3.7). It is comprised of different parts, each with different functions, but all working together to maintain the balance of the body. Each part of the brain specializes in receiving or sending particular messages and commands. However, if the different parts of the brain lose their ability to function in an integrated way we may end up experiencing mixed messages. The expression of primary respiration is essential for maintaining the fluidity, integration and co-ordination of these functions.
Mind and body
Our psychological states have a critical influence on the physiology of the central nervous system. Some centers in the brain interpret thoughts and feelings, and translate these psychological states into physiological actions. These centers are collectively known as the limbic system, and are located around the middle of the brain. An emotion like fear, for example, can trigger the limbic system to initiate the release of certain neuro-transmitters and hormones. These chemicals then produce a physiological response in the body.
Figure 3.7: Mature brain: the basic parts (illustration credit 3.7)
If our psychological states become habitualized, the tissues of the central nervous system may become structurally patterned accordingly. As a result, certain architectural changes may take place. It is thought that particular psychological states can produce particular effects. For example, Stanley Keleman suggests that fear inhibits the brain, rage makes it over-active, sadness shrinks the brain, and defiance hardens it.38 In this way, mental-emotional patterns directly translate into body patterning. As this principle holds true throughout the whole body, we will look at this subject in more depth in Chapter 8.
The ventricles
The ventricles are an inter-connecting system of brain cavities filled with cerebrospinal fluid (C.S.F.). They are not really distinct structures but a series of spaces within the tissue. The ventricles are the remains of the hollow neural tube around which the central nervous system developed in the embryo. C.S.F. is produced in the ventricles. The majority of C.S.F. is secreted by choroid plexi located in the two large lateral ventricles contained in each hemisphere of the brain. However, some C.S.F. is also produced in the third and fourth ventricles, which are located below the lateral ventricles (see Figure 3.2). The ventricles act as reservoirs of C.S.F. and its inherent healing potency.
Third ventricle
The third ventricle is shaped like an inner tire or a hollow flattened doughnut with a solid center, formed by part of the thalamus of the brain (see Figure 3.8). It is located at the center of the brain, surrounded by the tissues of the hypothalamus, thalamus and basal ganglia. These are vitally important structures for processing information and regulating the body.
Pituitary and pineal glands
The walls of the third ventricle contain both the pituitary and pineal glands. The pituitary gland is called the “master gland” of the hormonal system because it controls many other hormonal glands. It responds to messages received from the hypothalamus, located just above it, by releasing hormones that govern growth, sexual development, reproduction, blood sugar and stress responses. The rhythmic cycles of primary respiration are thought to play an essential role in regulating the secretion of these pituitary hormones.
The obscurely functioning pineal gland is located at the back wall of the third ventricle. Much mystery still surrounds this gland, but it is known that it regulates the reproductive system and our biological clock. According to many spiritual traditions, the pineal gland is considered to be the seat of the soul. Interestingly, in adulthood crystals, sometimes referred to as “brain sand,” form in the pineal gland. Although no clear purpose for these crystals has been proven, they have been found to contain biogenic magnetite, the same substance that gives migrating birds their sense of direction. They may also function as amplifiers of energy as with many other
types of crystal. In this way, these crystals may assist in the uptake of potency of the Breath of Life as it enters the C.S.F.
Primary energy center
The importance and significance of this region has been recognized in many spiritual and traditional health care systems. In the Indian and Tibetan systems of medicine, the third ventricle is considered to be the site of the primary energy center of the body. This is known as the ajana chakra in Sanskrit. A chakra is a gateway through which energy passes. In these systems of healing, the ajana chakra is seen to distribute our most essential quality of energy. As Franklyn Sills points out, “The Chinese call this center the ‘true field of elixir’ or the ‘true Niwan,’ or enlightened center.”39 In his book about chakras Harish Johari, refers to the region around the third ventricle as the “cave of Brahmin,”40 a place that yogis go to during meditation.