by Michael Kern
DR. A.T. STILL
One of the principles behind craniosacral practice is that nature is supremely intelligent and doesn’t make mistakes. Nature always seeks balance, whatever the circumstances. This is not an idea born out of some act of faith, but something that can be seen operating throughout creation. The way the world turns, a forest regenerates, or a wound heals are examples of this. Furthermore, it seems that nothing happens by accident—our health and happiness, as well as our disease and suffering, arise because of a certain set of causes and conditions. If we stop to consider, we may recognize how this intelligence gets played out in our own lives.
Science and art
The craniosacral approach is a way of facilitating health that has been developed by observing natural laws at work.3 It is both a science and an art. As a science it involves “the systematic observation of natural phenomena for the purpose of discovering laws governing these phenomena,” according to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary.4 As an art it involves the skillful application of these laws. Some of the key principles upon which this work is based will now be highlighted.
Many of the tenets behind craniosacral work were originally outlined by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, a frontier doctor in nineteenth-century America. Dr. Still developed the practice of osteopathy after experiencing years of dissatisfaction with the inadequate and detrimental effects of the drug-based medicine that he initially practiced.
Dr. Still pointed out that, rather than addressing only materialistic phenomena, this approach works with nature’s laws of “matter, motion and mind.”5 Matter refers to the body, the remarkable instrument into which life is expressed. Life is expressed as motion. Mind refers to the universal intelligence that flows through us.6 Although encompassing subtle and often intangible realms of functioning, these phenomena are governed by natural laws that are as precise as any mechanistic law.7
Foundations of practice
Dr. Still was perhaps the first to recognize the significant relationship between motion and health. As a young boy he used to suffer from headaches. One day while in his garden he let his head lean back onto a suspended rope hammock. As he rested in this position, the swinging rope took the weight of his head, producing a gentle traction in his neck. He discovered that this measure soon relieved his headache and the nausea that accompanied it. As he described in his autobiography,
After that discovery I roped my neck whenever I felt one of those spells coming on. I followed that treatment for twenty years before the wedge of reason reached my brain, and I could see that I had suspended the action of the great occipital nerves, and given harmony to the flow of the arterial blood to and through the veins, and ease was the effect.8
Dr. Still recognized the importance of encouraging a free circulation of fluids within the body. He saw that this was a prerequisite to furnishing cells with their nutrients for health and removing toxins. Dr. Still also realized that the motion of fluid enabled a free flow of life currents through the body. He concluded that, “Sickness is an effect caused by the stoppage of some supply of fluid or quality of life.”9 He outlined three basic principles upon which the new science of osteopathy would be based:
Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
The body functions as a unit in health and disease.
The body is a self-healing mechanism.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
All living matter is subject to the LAW OF CHANGE … The relationship between structure and function is never constant. Both develop co-ordinately, one dependent upon the other, and this same interdependence holds true throughout every manifestation of life.10
CARTER H. DOWNING D.O.
Dr. Still found that there is a close correspondence between the body’s structural organization (i.e., anatomy) and the way in which we function (i.e., physiology). He noticed that restrictions of motion in the structural framework of the body affect its ability to receive the essential life forces and nutrients carried in the fluids.
The body’s structure provides the container that determines what is able to flow through, in the same way that the flow of a river is determined by the course of its banks and whether there are any obstructions.
Reciprocal relationship
Furthermore, Dr. Still realized that the relationship between structure and function is reciprocal—that is, each influences the other. Just as the body’s structure governs its function, so also its function governs its structure. For example, if we regularly engage in a particular activity such as carrying a bag on one side, crossing one leg over the other, or if we have a poor work posture, the tissues of the body start to organize around these activities. Similarly, if we hold ourselves due to the presence of certain feelings and attitudes (such as fear, anger or arrogance) the body becomes organized accordingly. Certain muscles may be used, while others are not. A particular structural pattern will be created, which then influences how we function. In this way structure and function are mutually perpetuating, creating patterns that become habitualized. As osteopath Charles Bowles summarizes, “Function is structure in action; structure is function after action.”11
Primary respiratory function
Dr. Sutherland’s great contribution in this field was to recognize that the deepest connection between structure and function is found in the primary respiratory system. At a core level, the functioning of the Breath of Life determines how our tissues become organized, just as the contours of a river are determined by the forces of the water that flows through it. Again, this is a reciprocal relationship—for the way the Breath of Life is able to manifest is also dependent upon our structural patterns.
Particular shapes and patterns in the body are created by the experiences we have in life. For instance, if faced with a stress or trauma, tissues tend to contract as part of a natural protective response. If these contractions remain unresolved, it results in prolonged states of inertia that restrict the vitalizing properties of the Breath of Life. This impedes the manifestation of our basic ordering principle in the tissues.
Effects of inertia
Inertial tissues influence many aspects of physiological functioning. To illustrate, let’s say that a muscle goes into a contraction and remains in tension. This can cause joint stiffness and also creates tension in the surrounding connective tissues. This restriction may start to impinge on blood vessels, reducing the circulation of arterial blood carrying oxygen and nutrients into the region. It may also interfere with the removal of waste products and toxins through the venous and lymphatic systems, and cause a disturbance in the flow of nerve impulses. This type of situation is considered to be a major precursor to the development of disease.
Because of inertial patterning, the functioning of the body’s essential health-giving systems becomes affected. If this stasis is resolved and natural motion restored, then the expression of intrinsic health can return. For example, a patient of mine who had been hit on the head by a cricket ball experienced months of depression. When the inertia held in his parietal bone was resolved, he described feeling as if a dark cloud had been lifted from him. In another case, a five-year-old boy stopped wetting his bed when his slightly twisted sacrum started to express primary respiratory motion. A twenty-eight-year-old musician’s digestive problems disappeared when the restriction in his diaphragm was treated. These are just a few illustrations of a principle that is seen at work every day in the treatment rooms of craniosacral practitioners.
UNITY OF THE BODY
In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.12
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Everything is connected
An important tenet of both osteopat
hic and craniosacral practice is that the body functions as a totality in both health and disease. The different parts of the body often get separated for the purposes of study or examination, but in reality they are part of an interdependent system. However, when something is put under the microscope, it’s easy to lose sight of the whole picture. In this way, it has become common practice in modern Western medicine to fragment the different aspects of a human being into separate areas. All parts of the body are seen to require the specialized attention of an expert in that particular organ or system (the cardiologist, gastroenterologist, urologist, etc.). Then any psychological difficulties have to be dealt with by yet another specialist. Some patients end up seeing three or four specialists, with each one treating something different.
An organization
Actually, each part is directly connected to the whole and functions in relationship to all other parts. In this way, the body operates like a large organization such as a hotel.13 In a hotel every employee is important to ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. The porters, managers, cleaners, cooks and receptionists are all necessary to keep things running. If any one job is not done, it soon affects the functioning of the whole organization. Likewise, in the body if any part is disturbed, it can affect the functioning of the whole. As the physiologist Dr. Irwin Korr observes, “There is no such thing as a sick organ; there is only a sick man. Treating the part alone is not treating the man, while treating the man is to treat the part too.”14
Sophie’s case
Sophie came for craniosacral treatment with a neck pain that had been getting steadily worse over the previous month, despite receiving physiotherapy treatment. She was an active and fit dancer in her mid-thirties, who was performing nightly in a West End London musical. However, her neck problem was starting to interfere with her ability to make any kind of physical exertion. This was making her feel irritable and frustrated with the limitations she was experiencing. She reported that about six weeks previously she had twisted her ankle while rehearsing. As this was nothing very unusual, she hadn’t paid it too much attention. However, she was still feeling some restriction in her foot, even though the initial swelling of her ankle had gone down.
On examination I came to the conclusion that the ankle injury was probably still affecting the balance of movement in her whole body. Her pelvis was slightly twisted and, in turn, some rotation and stiffness had developed in her lumbar spine. This seemed to be creating a compensatory pattern in her neck.
During her treatment, we started working with the remaining inertia in her foot. From there it was possible to track the problems manifesting higher up in her body and encourage the expression of primary respiration at each site of restriction. Within two treatments there was a great improvement in all her symptoms.
Sophie’s case illustrates a simple point; if we do not look at the whole picture, we will likely miss the conditions that cause and maintain our symptoms. A Green Party slogan sums up this principle, “Think globally, act locally.”
The whole person
Moreover, this law of unity also encompasses the whole person, not just our muscles and bones. The body is a part of a continuum—mind, body and spirit—and intelligently reflects the whole. Clearly we are complex beings with all of our individual traits and unique experiences. Nevertheless, the body registers all of these experiences; thoughts and feelings, as well as more physical ones. Responses are accordingly created in the body’s structure and functioning. For example, heart rate and breathing may change, muscles may contract or relax, or temperature changes may occur according to our emotions. The patterning of the body becomes a distinctive expression of the totality of the individual, holding our characteristics and our experiences (see “The Mind-body Continuum” section, Chapter 8.)
By paying attention to the sensations in our own bodies, each of us can become more aware of this process. How does your body reflect your current circumstances? What is it saying to you?
Finding wholeness
The primary respiratory system reflects the totality of the individual at the most fundamental level of physiological functioning. A clear and balanced expression of primary respiration signifies the manifestation of health and integration involving the whole person. Where there is some fragmentation of our experience, this is reflected as a focal point of inertia. These are places where the Breath of Life is unable to find expression in the tissues. The essential purpose of craniosacral treatment is to help restore primary respiratory motion in areas of the body that have become fragmented in their connection to the whole.
As primary respiration is restored and fragmented parts of ourselves re-enter the flow of life, we become whole again. This is healing in its truest sense, for the word “health” comes from the same Latin root as the word “whole.”
Balanced alignment
Craniosacral treatment seeks the best possible conditions for the expression of primary respiration. This is done by encouraging greater balance in the structure and function of the whole person. When this optimal alignment is found, it allows for fragmented areas to reconnect with their source of health: our embryological blueprint, which is never lost. In this way, discordant parts of ourselves are brought back into focus. When thinking about this, I’m sometimes reminded of old movies in which the dialogue never quite matches up to the movement on the actor’s lips—the soundtrack is somehow out of synchronization with the pictures. If these two ever come back into alignment in the film, there is always a feeling of great satisfaction!15
INNER SOURCE OF HEALING
It is the primary role of the physician, whether the African witch doctor or the modern doctor, to entertain the patient while secretly waiting for nature to heal the disease.
ALBERT SCHWEITZER
Inner physician
A further principle of practice is that the body is a self-healing and self-regulating system. Essentially, all the capabilities and resources that we need for health and balance can be found within the body itself. While external remedies may support the emergence of health, they do not create it. Health cannot be administered from the outside.
The tendency of the body to repair itself and find balance is natural and innate; not something that has to be learned. This great intelligence is demonstrated in all of the body’s activities. For example, if we cut a finger, fluid congregates in the area, causing inflammation. This helps to isolate the region, preventing the spread of any infection. White blood cells, which are contained in the inflammatory fluid, automatically start to remove any toxins that enter. Clotting factors in the blood help to form a scab, and tissue repair follows. Without this extraordinary expertise, the body could not repair even the simplest cut. Dr. Still referred to this intelligence as an “inner physician” that is always there to encourage optimum health for the individual.16
Homeostasis
The cells of the body have a remarkable capacity to remain in balance. The various mechanisms that ensure this balance are another example of the body’s prowess of self-regulation. This ability is called homeostasis. For cells to survive, the composition of the fluid that surrounds them needs to be constantly maintained in a state of equilibrium. Chemical balance, temperature and pressure are all factors that must be carefully regulated, or cells will suffer. This balance is maintained despite marked shifts in external conditions, such as changes in temperature, toxicity or oxygen, or from variations in our internal condition. The nervous and hormonal systems are constantly monitoring the body’s physiology and then making appropriate adjustments. They do this by sending out compensatory chemicals, such as neuro-transmitters, endorphins and hormones. In whatever circumstances we find ourselves, these mechanisms endeavour to maintain a physiological balance.
The pharmacist
As long as we are able to access the body’s innate resources, health will follow. These resources are the tools of our “inner physician.” Dr. Still had the great insight that all the substances required to
maintain health could be made available by freeing up their pathways of circulation. He wrote,
All the remedies necessary to health exist in the human body. They can be administered by adjusting the body in such a manner that the remedies may naturally associate themselves together, hear the cries, and relieve the afflicted. I have never failed to find all the remedies in plain view on the front shelves and in the store house of the Infinite—the human body.17
Dr. Sutherland pointed out that by facilitating primary respiration, the practitioner becomes the pharmacist for the patient’s inner physician.18
Balance in our imbalances
At a fundamental level, all of our self-healing and self-regulating capabilities are driven by the available potency of the Breath of Life. However, the capacity of this biodynamic potency can become overwhelmed by stressful experiences or trauma. This is when sickness results.
Nevertheless, in the event of sickness our body systems still intelligently seek balance. Our intrinsic biodynamic potency is still working, but it has to adapt. As far as possible in these circumstances, the body becomes organized so that any disease causes the minimum damage. So, if cure is not possible, we develop compensatory patterns and find a balance within our imbalances.