Wisdom in the Body

by Michael Kern

  Most efficient

  Following the inherent treatment plan has practical and effective clinical consequences. One ramification is that the place where treatment is most effectively given is not necessarily where the patient is experiencing pain or symptoms.28 This can be like unravelling a ball of string; once you pick up the thread, you may never quite know the next turn needed to unravel the next knot. To give an example, let’s say that a patient comes in for treatment for lower back pain. The practitioner may make contact at the lower back to tune in to what is happening there, but as he widens his perceptual field he may become aware of patterns in other areas of the body.

  For example, there may be a gathering of inertial forces in the diaphragm and a contraction of tissues in that area. After a state of balance is facilitated in this pattern, potency may start to move to the neck. Placing attention there, some tissue activity and fast tremors may start to occur, indicating that there is held-in shock dissipating from the tissues, perhaps from an old injury. When that has ceased, the whole upper spine may then be able to re-organize and readjust. Finally, and perhaps only then, something may be ready to resolve at the lower back. The point is that the practitioner could not have known in advance the order in which these things needed to resolve. The treatment plan was only revealed by following the priorities and intelligence of the patient’s own primary respiratory system.29

  This is a dynamic and living process that naturally unfolds in the practitioner’s hands. The key to this process is to experience the Breath of Life, not as a theory, but as a living presence whose intelligent priorities we can trust with the utmost confidence.

  Trusting the wisdom

  When following the inherent treatment plan, both patient and practitioner have to let go of any concepts and projections about what they think should happen. Therefore, the inherent treatment plan can never be followed by trying to figure it out or by making decisions about where and when to treat. The Breath of Life itself provides the design for health. The superb intelligence of this design can only be followed through a deep listening and by simply being open to the way in which these forces want to move. Only then can this deeper intelligence be appreciated. However, learning to trust this wisdom can sometimes be challenging.

  I was treating a woman in her mid-forties during her first craniosacral therapy appointment. She had come with a pain in her mid-back and right shoulder blade, produced one month before while making a sudden turn when dancing. At the start of the session, I told her that I was going to tune in to the subtle motion of her body, initially with my hands in gentle contact with her head. I sensed a tension as I moved into position. The back of her cranium felt tight and compressed, and after a couple of minutes she started to get agitated. I asked her how she was doing, but no answer came back.

  After another minute I asked again, but still there was no reply. I then patiently waited with my hands on her head, giving her system a lot of space and tracking the sense of tension that I could feel. I started to notice the longitudinal fluctuation of her cerebrospinal fluid, which had a strong quality of fluid drive. This told me that her basic resources of health were good. Furthermore, I sensed that the major fulcrum that was organizing her tension pattern was at the floor of her cranium. It seemed that there was a gathering of inertial forces in this area and the tissues in the upper part of her body were getting pulled towards this place. Her physiology was showing me that this was a major source of her problem. After another minute or two, I asked again, “How are you doing?”

  No sooner had the words left my mouth than she forcefully snapped, “You don’t really want to know, do you?” I replied, “Yes I do. That’s why I’m asking!” Again there was silence. After another minute I rechecked how she was feeling. She then responded, “Are you sure you want to know?” Again I tried to give her reassurance. She angrily exclaimed, “Well, I’m wondering what the hell are you doing with your hands on my head, when I’ve come to you with a pain in my back?!” Acknowledging the strength of her feeling, I said something like, “Thank you for telling me. I can really sense your frustration around that.” “Yes!” she retorted, “I’m really frustrated and angry!”

  I thought to myself, either I trust what her body is showing me, or I just quit while I can and end the session there and then. Anyway, I decided to trust and continued the dialogue. I told her that I felt there was some tension at the base of her head, which was probably influencing what she was feeling in her back and asked her if she wanted to continue. She gave a little nod. I then suggested that she place her attention into the sensations of her body and see if there was a location where her feeling of frustration was getting held. After a short while she curtly declared, “My back hurts and my head is tight.”

  “How do you feel about staying in touch with those sensations right now?” I asked. Again, she gave a little nod. Within a few minutes some strong pulsations and twitches started to manifest in her head. I encouraged her to let these movements happen, while still supporting her head in my hands. At this point, she began to experience some painful feelings of neglect and started to cry. These were familiar emotions that she had encountered from time to time ever since she was a young girl. After some minutes she gradually settled and the bones at the base of her skull reached a state of balance. I could then feel her head literally coming back to life, as primary respiration started to permeate the tissues. Soon after, she entered a state of deep relaxation and the whole region felt more open.

  I again asked her how she was doing. “Pretty good,” she replied. “But I still feel some tension in my back.” I moved my hands to the area of complaint and started working with the inertial fulcrum locally affecting her spine and shoulder blade. With gentle facilitation, these tissues moved a little further into their contraction, gave a little twitch and then softened. She left the session ninety percent symptom-free and recovered fully within another couple of treatments.

  Summary of treatment skills

  During treatment, the practitioner essentially follows and facilitates the intrinsic wisdom of the body as it seeks to resolve patterns of inertia. Accessing states of balance is at the heart of this healing process. To help this along, the following core skills can be developed:

  The ability to perceive the expressions of primary respiration that maintain physiological function and health

  The ability to sense inertial patterns that affect primary respiration

  The ability to sense the location of inertial fulcra that organize these patterns

  The ability to help access states of balance

  The ability to perceive the mobilization of suspended forces contained within the inertial fulcrum

  The ability to follow changes taking place.

  When following the priorities of the inherent treatment plan, four key stages of settling may be perceived as the session unfolds. These settlings (which I refer to as “aah! moments”) indicate significant progressions within the therapeutic process:

  Settling into the relational field; providing the support, the space and the container for whatever needs to take place

  Settling into the holistic shift; a physiological shift from a sense of fragmentation and conditioned motion patterns, to a sense of wholeness and connection to resources

  Settling into states of balance; a systemic equilibrium found in relationship to a particular inertial fulcrum

  Settling into deeper states of balance, the long tide and dynamic stillness; moving through the mysterious gateway into a direct connection with the very source of health.

  THERAPEUTIC SKILLS

  If you understand the mechanism, your technique is simple.30

  DR. W.G. SUTHERLAND D.O.

  Although the primary respiratory system functions as an integrated whole, particular skills may be required to relate to its different aspects. Varying degrees of facilitation as well as diverse skills of perception are needed depending on which of the three tides is worked with.

  F
or example, when working at the level of the mid-tide or the long tide, less active skills of treatment are sufficient. When relating to these deeper unfoldments of the Breath of Life, it is easier for the practitioner to simply be a follower of the inherent treatment plan. This is because at these levels of physiological functioning, the ordering forces of the Breath of Life are more apparent. However, when working with the faster cranial rhythmic impulse, more active skills of engagement may be needed to help the tissues find their point of balanced tension.

  Working with the cranial rhythmic impulse

  In Chapter 6 we looked at the different perceptual skills required to palpate each of the three tides. The practitioner may have different insights into the patient’s condition, according to the perceptual field being worked with. A relatively narrow perceptual field is more likely to reveal the functioning of the cranial rhythmic impulse (C.R.I.). Here, the practitioner may notice how individual structures of the body express their craniosacral motion, and how inertial forces create sites of restriction to this motion. For example, the particular way that the occiput expresses its flexion and extension or the temporal bones express their external and internal rotation can be assessed. At the C.R.I. level of functioning, inertia of the occiput or temporal bones is perceived as a specific resistance such as a compression or a pull to the natural pattern of their craniosacral motion.

  When working with the C.R.I., a particular bone or membrane may need gentle yet relatively active suggestions transmitted to it through the practitioner’s hands in order to access a point of balanced tension. Furthermore, active skills that facilitate fluid motion may be needed to relate to disturbances affecting the fluid systems of the body. When healing occurs, it is perceived as a freeing of tissue resistances and restoration of craniosacral motion around its natural fulcra. This is marked by a return of flexion/extension, and external/internal rotation with more balance and symmetry.

  Mid-tide skills

  The inertial potency that controls a pattern of disturbance is more easily appreciated when working with a relatively wide perceptual field in relationship to the mid-tide. At this level of perception, it is possible to go underneath the pattern of the forms to appreciate the forces that determine their function.31 When working with the mid-tide, less active skills of treatment are required to help the primary respiratory system access states of balance.

  When orienting to the mid-tide, inertial patterns are not necessarily perceived as specific compressions and resistances between different structures as with the cranial rhythmic impulse, but as distortions within this tensile field of tissues, fluids and potency organized around a fulcrum. These distortions can affect the mid-tide’s natural orientation to the midline of the body.

  Although there is a unified motion of tissues, fluids and potency at the level of the mid-tide, an inertial fulcrum may be perceived in a number of ways. If the practitioner is tuning in to tissue motion, the fulcrum will be perceived as a place where there is a loss of tissue motility. If the practitioner is tuning into the fluids, the fulcrum may be perceived as a place of fluid compression or fluid disturbance such as lateral fluctuation. If the practitioner is tuning in to the potency level of function, the fulcrum may be perceived as a place of condensation of forces, or a darker place around which motion has become organized.

  Here, the emphasis of treatment usually involves simply following the natural unfoldment of the inherent treatment plan, as the ordering forces of the body get to work. However, the practitioner can also offer subtle suggestions of settling and space with his hands to facilitate states of balance. These suggestions are directed towards the slower motion patterns of the mid-tide expressed within tissues, fluids and potencies to help them find their neutral. In this way, the biodynamic forces carried within the mid-tide, and those biokinetic forces influencing it, can reach a state of balance. When this occurs the deeper forces that essentially hold a pattern in place can resolve and primary respiration has an opportunity to realign towards the midline. As a result of the resolution of inertial forces, the expression of the Breath of Life is restored, tissue contractions release, nerve function becomes normalized, circulation improves—and pathologies resolve. Shift happens!

  Long tide skills

  In the long tide, inertial patterns are perceived as more subtle distortions within the matrix of this deepest expression of the Breath of Life. When the practitioner works with a wide perceptual field and a quality of profound stillness, an opportunity may be created for the long tide to show itself. When treating at this level of functioning, the practitioner can simply be with the patient’s system and watch the changes unfold. There are actually no techniques to practice. Once the long tide emerges there is nothing for the practitioner to do other than humbly witness these subtlest forces of primary respiration. Resonance is the key therapeutic principle here. Healing can be perceived as a transformation of inertia from within, as the tissues and fluids become infused with the deeper resources of the Breath of Life. Dr. Becker described this process in the following way:

  It took a full minute-and-a-half for this larger tide to come in and be part of the body physiology of the patient, and then it drained away just as slowly as it came in. Where it came from and where it went, I do not know, but its influence was certainly modifying the trophism (nourishment) of every cell of the body to do something. For that patient, that trophism was certainly a help because the clinical response was that of an improvement in the areas of dysfunction.32

  Dynamic stillness

  Dynamic stillness is at the foundation of the whole system of rhythmic motion produced by the Breath of Life. This is the realm from which all motion and expressions of life emerge. Stillness is therefore the innermost fulcrum for primary respiration. At this level of being there is no duality. There is no separation between tissues, fluids and potency, or between the practitioner and patient. There is no coming or going. Therefore, there is no treatment. This is the zero point field referred to in quantum physics—a vibratory field of stillness that holds all potential energy.

  Figure 7.1: Craniosacral therapists in love (cartoon by Bif) (illustration credit 7.1)

  Healing can occur instantaneously as our form becomes touched by this deepest level of being. This is an enigmatic and powerful event. It may be felt as a sense of grace and merging with the infinite. It is marked by the kind of silence that can be cut with a knife.33 In this state, an interchange can take place between our stillness and our form, referred to by Dr. Becker as “rhythmic balanced interchange.”34 Inertial forces dissipate into stillness and more energy rhythmically manifests from stillness. This is like having a foot in both worlds—the world of form and the world of the infinite. Or we may even have an experience of total immersion in the stillness.

  A glimpse of stillness

  In Vajrayana Buddhism, there is a tradition for students to learn how to directly experience their own intrinsic stillness under the guidance of a spiritual teacher. An old teaching story illustrates how it may be possible to come to know this indescribable realm.35

  There was a student who was very bright, but a little over-zealous. At every opportunity he would ask his teacher to explain the nature of dynamic stillness. Sometimes his teacher gave him a brief explanation, but often he just smiled and told the student to go and practice some more meditation. However, at their next meeting the student again asked, “What is the nature of dynamic stillness?” Once more the teacher told him to just practice more meditation.

  One day, as his teacher was busy preparing for a large ceremony, the student again asked, “What is the nature of dynamic stillness?” By now the teacher was starting to get impatient with this persistent questioning. He inquired, “Do you recognize the thought that you just had?” The student hesitated for a moment and replied, “Yes, I do.” The teacher continued, “Can you imagine that there is another thought that you are just about to have?” The student nodded. The teacher then asked, “Can you imagine that there is a
space between these two thoughts?” “Yes, I can!” replied the student.

  “Well, lengthen it!” said the teacher.

  PARTICULAR “CONVERSATIONS”

  The data of techniques are fascinating, but not for the sake of themselves. They are important only insofar as they enable us to dive into the well of being, only insofar as they create access to being alive, only insofar as they support and forward our being home, our journey to ourselves.36

  DIANNE M. CONNELLY

  Sometimes during treatment, points of balanced tension or states of balance cannot be accessed. Or, they can just go flat and not deepen so that the inertial potencies held at the fulcrum do not resolve. This may be because of low potency resources in the system, or because some gentle encouragement is needed to help things progress. In these cases, tissues and fluids holding inertia can be coaxed into expressing their potentials of motion by gentle invitations offered through the practitioner’s hands. For example, suggestions of settling and stillness, or reminders of forgotten movement options can be introduced. These suggestions are like “conversations” between the practitioner’s hands and the patient’s body. They are a way of engaging tissues, fluids and potencies in a dialogue about their needs and priorities.

  When such suggestions are made, the body’s responses are always listened to and respected. Treatment given in this way involves a fluid and dynamic communication between the patient’s physiology and the practitioner’s hands, and the application of therapeutic skills rather than techniques. Dr. Becker explains, “Doing something to a problem is technique; working with an inherent mechanism within the problem is an application of a principle, not a technique.”37 Conversation skills are used to augment the expression of intrinsic health found at the heart of every inertial fulcrum.