Wisdom in the Body

by Michael Kern

  Cellular contraction

  Whenever faced with a stress or trauma, the primal physiological response of tissues is to contract. For example, if you are walking down the street and somebody knocks into you, you will naturally contract in response. This instinct helps you protect and defend yourself. Even single cells can be observed under a microscope to contract when over-stimulated. However, once the stressful event has passed, cells and tissues naturally seek to release their contraction. Nevertheless, tissue contractions can remain if the body’s intrinsic resources for repair and rebalancing are in some way overwhelmed. In the biodynamic approach of craniosacral therapy there is an emphasis placed on working with the underlying forces that control this process. We will now look in more detail at how these forces operate within us.

  Biodynamic and biokinetic forces

  The inherent ordering force in the body is the potency of the Breath of Life, our biodynamic potency. This organizes the cellular and tissue world, maintaining the health and balance of the body.9 In its pure state, the expression of biodynamic potency is not conditioned by any of our experiences or stresses.

  However, stress and trauma exert an influence on the functioning of the Breath of Life. Dr. Becker referred to these stressors as biokinetic potencies.10 They are the forces of our conditioning that may arise from factors such as physical injury, toxicity, infection, psychological, environmental or hereditary issues. These biokinetic potencies have to be compensated for by the biodynamic expressions of the Breath of Life. In this process, the natural balance of biodynamic potency becomes disturbed. Thus the terms “biodynamic” and “biokinetic” are used to describe an interplay of forces which occurs as our intrinsic health has to meet with any stressful or conditioning influences.

  Inertial fulcra

  Any added force which affects the body, such as a blow, a fall or even a difficult emotion, carries with it a particular amount of energy—its biokinetic potency. When such stressful influences are encountered, there is natural effort on behalf of the body to seek optimal balance. In an ideal state, the body’s intrinsic biodynamic forces are able to dissipate the impact of any biokinetic experiences. However, if the stress is very strong or repetitive, the capacity of the body’s biodynamic potency can be overwhelmed. The biokinetic force then remains within the body, carried around as extra baggage.

  When we are unable to dissipate biokinetic forces, the next best thing occurs—the biodynamic forces of the body center them to a particular place in order to minimize any disruption. Such a place becomes a site of inertia, and is referred to as an inertial fulcrum. Inertial fulcra, rather than natural fulcra, then become the points around which primary respiration is organized.

  Trapped potency

  Substantial amounts of biodynamic potency may be required in order to center biokinetic forces to particular locations. This biodynamic potency, which otherwise would move freely, becomes inertial along with the biokinetic forces it encloses. As a result, sites of trapped potency and fixity are created. Within the core of, and maintaining every inertial fulcrum, are these inertial potencies. This concentration of inertial potency may be palpated by the practitioner as a site of densification and stasis, which affects the natural balance of primary respiration.

  Disturbances of motion

  Remember that tissues and fluids become organized in relationship to the forces that control their function. Where inertial potencies are present, the physiological functioning of the body follows their direction. This is how patterns of resistance, contraction and disease are created. In this way, stressful experiences that we are unable to resolve become woven into the fabric of our tissues. These resistances create what are sometimes referred to as osteopathic lesions or sites of somatic dysfunction.

  Inertial fulcra alter the way in which primary respiration is expressed around its midline axis and natural fulcra. Instead, aberated patterns of motion are created. When this happens in our own system we will probably feel “off center.” As Franklyn Sills writes, “The cellular and tissue world, rather than orienting to the blueprint of health alone, now has to orient to the stress being centered.”11 Dr. Michael Shea describes,

  The new fulcrum will have a new quality of movement that is distinctly different from flexion-extension of the midline bones and membranes or internal-external rotation of the lateral bones of the head. This aberated movement pattern will none the less have its own regularity and suspended fulcrum.12

  Eye of the storm

  An inertial fulcrum is like the eye of a hurricane, which contains the power of the whole storm.13 A great deal of turbulence can result in the form of tissue and fluid fluctuations, contractions, pulls, twists and torsions. Thus, an inertial fulcrum is a place that itself is static, and yet it contains the forces that organize patterns of disturbance. Significantly, the inertial potency found within each inertial fulcrum is the essential factor at work at the heart of every condition of ill-health. As Dr. Becker observes, “At the very core of every traumatic or disease condition within the human body is a potency manifesting its interrelationship with the body in trauma or disease.”14

  Imprints of stress

  The development of sites of inertial potency can start at the very beginning of life. Cells of the body can even retain the imprints of stressful experiences from the moment of conception.15 As each new stress or trauma occurs, inertial fulcra accumulate. If these fulcra are not resolved, the tissues of the body take shape accordingly. In this way, the body retains the story of experiences that have significantly shaped our lives. As a result of unresolved inertial forces, events become recorded in the tissues as on a videotape. Furthermore, these tapes may keep replaying whenever stimulated.

  Compensatory fulcra

  The intrinsic wisdom of the body always seeks optimal balance, given the prevailing conditions. Whenever inertial fulcra are formed, other areas of the body may need to adapt to their presence. This produces secondary or compensatory responses. For example, if the lower back is fixed in a position of rotation to the right, the neck may need to rotate to the left for a balance to be maintained throughout the body. This capacity of the body to adapt is an important feature in maintaining health. Thus, a primary fulcrum may produce compensatory secondary fulcra. Through the unity of the body, various inertial fulcra may be held in relationship to each other.

  Previous experience

  Exactly how the body responds to new events or experiences is largely determined by what has gone before. As substantial amounts of energy are required to maintain patterns of inertia, over time the availability of biodynamic potency in the body can become lowered. Each new overwhelming experience may diminish the amount of vitality that is available to deal with the next. As a result, someone who is already traumatized, retaining deeply-held or numerous inertial fulcra, may reach a point of being overwhelmed after only a minor new stress or stimulus. Therefore, the presence of unresolved stresses provides a fertile ground for new ones to accumulate. It is much easier to be kicked when you’re already down.

  Relative and the absolute

  The interplay between our intrinsic biodynamic and added biokinetic forces determines the patterning and shapes adopted by the body. Essentially, this is an interplay between the relative and the absolute in our lives. The Breath of Life is not a function of our personal experiences or individual characteristics but a universal principle that flows through us. The great poet Rumi described this truth when he wrote:

  Soul with a hundred thousand bodies

  Everything’s myself; I talk only of me.

  Like a wave I rise in my own body—

  Sea and wave the same wild water.16

  In a state of ideal health, the functioning of our cells and tissues is in harmony with the universal principle of the Breath of Life. However, stressful experiences that become fixed by inertia will to a greater or lesser degree influence our ability to operate in accord with this universal principle. As Franklyn Sills explains,

&
nbsp; Organization is always twofold. There is the universal within us, the Breath of Life and its potency. The cellular and tissue world naturally organizes to this universal as does the mind when it is still. Then there are the forces of our experience. The cellular and tissue world must also organize relative to its experience and potencies will respond. On the level of the mind, mental forms and self constructs are generated, on the emotional level, emotional affects are held and on the tissue level, inertia is created.17

  INERTIAL PATTERNS

  Think of the body as a begging bowl for the spirit. When spirit is removed from the body, it is no longer inspired. And since spirit is the catalyst that keeps all things moving, the body without it falls into a deep state of inertia. Emotions no longer move fluidly; neither do thoughts and muscles. Everything is constipated.18

  GABRIELLE ROTH

  The way in which our bodies become structurally patterned is a unique expression of our health, history and experience. Patterns of inertia reflect the ways in which we hold ourselves in the world, revealing how we have become conditioned by our life experiences. A stiff neck, abdominal tension or back pain may be the outer evidence of this conditioning process. These patterns of experience are held in the tissues, fluids and potencies of the body, and organized around inertial fulcra. As these patterns develop, our options for movement and choice become lost, reflecting the fixed positions we may have adopted for self-regulation, protection and balance.

  Figure 5.2: Patterns of experience (illustration credit 5.2)

  Form, movement and quality

  A pattern of experience has three main aspects: form, movement and quality.19 Its form describes the particular shape of the pattern. This is its structure or architecture. For example, due to inertial forces a membrane or bone may be held in a twisted or rotated shape. It is likely that this will put a strain on associated tissues that also become part of the form of the pattern. Similarly, fluids and potency (not only tissues) can be held in a particular form.

  A pattern’s movement is the particular way in which the involved tissues, fluids and potencies are able to express motion. Even though inertia may be present, a pattern of experience held in the body is rarely completely fixed or immobile. It can still express some kind of motion, albeit compromised. The movement of a pattern (i.e., its function) is in a reciprocal relationship with its form (i.e., its structure).

  The quality of an inertial pattern refers to its individual characteristics, tones and nuances. For example, tissues and fluids may exhibit qualities such as hardness or softness, lightness or darkness, strength or weakness. Other qualities include vitality or dullness, flow, chaos, hesitancy, stillness, cold, heat, damp or dryness. The pattern may even suggest colors or images such as a cold, gray February morning or sticky chewing gum. (I’ve felt both of these!) A pattern may also evoke particular emotions and sensations with which it became associated. These are the individual traits that make the pattern unique according to the specific experiences held within it. Each aspect of a pattern (form, movement and quality) can be identified by the practitioner’s sensory perception operating through his “thinking, knowing, seeing fingers.”20

  Direction of preference

  Every pattern of experience is organized around a specific inertial fulcrum that holds it in place and determines its possible options of motion. As mentioned, rather than being completely immobile, a pattern can still express some kind of motion around its organizing fulcrum. The particular way that it can still move is called its direction of preference. For example, the motion of a cranial bone may be restricted in exhalation but be free to express inhalation—its direction of preference. Where there are inertial fulcra, motion occurs along specific, preset and often rigid pathways, narrowing the range of what is possible for that region. This can significantly effect the ability of tissues to express their intrinsic health.

  Critical places

  Inertial fulcra are the critical places that maintain the shapes and patterns held in the body. It is here at the inertial fulcrum that changes must take place if healing is going to occur. This brings us to another key principle in this work—all true healing occurs at the organizing inertial fulcrum and not in the tissue patterns that develop around the fulcrum. This fact can be easily overlooked. If only symptom patterns are followed, then we may miss the key factors that organize them.

  If the trapped potency held at an inertial fulcrum is liberated, the Breath of Life can again permeate the tissues. This re-establishes a connection with the original matrix in the area of disorder, and health is the result. As inertia is resolved, the expression of primary respiration around its natural fulcra becomes restored.

  Original intention

  The ever-present original matrix is our original intention of health and an embryological imperative for order and balance. Put another way, it is our (pre-) birthright for health that has been there since the very beginning of life. If there were no inertial fulcra, there would be only an expression of this original intention, marked by a harmonious and balanced expression of the Breath of Life through all its unfoldments. As Dr. James Jealous reflects, “What would happen if you claimed your original form? Wouldn’t it be interesting to know who you were? Wouldn’t it be interesting to know the intention of the Breath of Life when it made you?”21

  EFFECTS OF INERTIA

  Many sensations come, many thoughts or images arise, but they are just waves of your own mind. Nothing comes from outside your mind … Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind … even though waves arise, the essence of your mind is pure; it is just like clear water with a few waves. Actually water always has waves. Waves are the practice of water. To speak of waves apart from water or water apart from waves is a delusion. Water and waves are one … a mind with waves in it is not a disturbed mind, but actually an amplified one … our experiences are nothing but a continuous or repeated unfolding … 22

  S. SUZUKI

  Inertial fulcra can become centered anywhere in the body—bone, membrane, nerve tissue or fluid. Organs, muscles and other connective tissues can also retain inertia as a result of stressful experiences. To give a few examples, some common problems that result from inertial patterns affecting the motion of cerebrospinal fluid and the central nervous system are summarized below. This summary is intended to illustrate some applications of craniosacral work, but should not be interpreted as a prescriptive guide to the treatment of certain conditions.

  River of life

  Cerebrospinal fluid (C.S.F.), the “great river of life,”23 is considered to be the primary point of contact between the biodynamic potency of the Breath of Life and its expression in the body. It was perhaps for this reason that Dr. Still perceived it to be “the highest known element in the body.”24 Any disturbance in the longitudinal fluctuation of C.S.F. can affect its ability to convey the inherent healing potency of the Breath of Life. Such disturbances may arise due to inertial fulcra in any of the mechanisms that produce, distribute or reabsorb C.S.F. (see also Chapter 3).

  Inertia held in the interconnecting system of ventricles in the brain can upset the production and potentization of C.S.F. Therefore, by facilitating the unobstructed motion of C.S.F. through the ventricles, the practitioner can help this vital fluid to potentize with the Breath of Life. This supports the functioning of all the important nerve centers and glands with which C.S.F. comes into contact.

  After C.S.F. has circulated around the central nervous system, it is reabsorbed into venous sinuses and then drained back into the general circulation of blood. Many of the venous sinuses are formed within the folds of dural membrane that make up the reciprocal tension membrane system. Therefore, any pressure exerted on the dural membranes can create “kinks in the hosepipe,” affecting the drainage of fluid from the cranium.

  A blockage within the venous sinus system can cause back-pressure of cranial fluid, leading to congestion. This may be palpated as a sense of stagnation in th
e fluids and heavy-headedness. Symptoms such as congestive headaches and a lack of energy may result, as the distribution of potency around the body becomes hindered.

  Nervous system

  Inertial fulcra in the central nervous system (C.N.S.) affect the natural balance of its motility and can influence its function. Due to the great complexities of the C.N.S., many kinds of disorders can result. Depending on the location of inertia, physiological functions such as lung respiration, appetite, digestion, circulation, coordination, movement and balance can be affected. Psychological and emotional affects can also result.

  Inertia involving the C.N.S. is often the result of compressive forces being exerted from its surrounding tissues such as the cranial bones and reciprocal tension membranes. The cranial bones and membranes form the container for the brain, governing the space in which it moves, grows, develops and functions. Therefore, restrictions of motion involving these tissues may also impinge on the functioning of the brain and ventricles.25