Wisdom in the Body

by Michael Kern

  In 1935 Northrup and Burr developed the theory that there is an electromagnetic basis to all living creatures. They concluded that all species are controlled and maintained by an underlying electromagnetic field, which they called the L- or life-field. They likened the L-field to a mold that holds together the cells of the body and vitalizes it. This theory shows great similarities to the role taken by the biodynamic potency of the Breath of Life, recognized by craniosacral practitioners. When a person dies, the L-field or life-force withdraws and the body cells start to disintegrate. Burr stated that the source of disease and imbalance lay first and foremost in disturbances in our energy fields, and that these must be recognized for accurate diagnosis and treatment.33

  Primary energy

  Let’s consider some of the different layers of energy present in the human system. In the craniosacral concept, the Breath of Life is seen as the essential ordering force of mind and body. The Breath of Life has been called primary energy because it is our most undifferentiated form of energy, similar to the reference beam of a hologram.34 The notion of a primary energy system is also acknowledged in some other forms of medicine. For example, Dr. Randolph Stone, the founder of Polarity Therapy, referred to this basic force as a neuter essence. Just as Dr. Sutherland, he considered it to be a fundamental ordering principle.35 A similar idea is found in traditional systems of medicine in Asia. As Franklyn Sills points out,

  In Chinese Medicine the emphasis is on the balance of chi and the potency of jing in the body. Interestingly, jing or essence is similarly sensed to be an inherent ordering principle in the human body intimately related to its fluid systems. In Ayurvedic medicine there is a similar concept in which ojas is sensed to be an essential ordering energy which again manifests in the fluid systems of the body at a cellular level. Finally, in the Tibetan system of medicine it is traditionally experienced to be located along the central axis of the body and within the cerebrospinal fluid and central nervous system.36

  Elemental energy

  Primary energy then differentiates into various layers of elemental energy. The elemental expressions of energy are transmutations or step-downs of primary energy. They are like the patterns or ripples generated by the primary respiratory system. Elemental energy is expressed as five particular qualities: earth, water, fire, air and ether or space. These five qualities interweave to form energy patterns that underlie our mental, emotional and physical states.37 All the organs of the body can be categorized according to the predominant element that governs their function.

  Elemental energy is distributed around the body along certain channels known as meridians and nadis. According to classical yoga theory, the body’s neurological network is a correlate, or reflection, of the underlying network of nadis. Dr. Elmer Green of the Menninger Foundation describes that this network consists of “filaments of superphysical, but real, substance not yet detected by instruments.”38 The meridian channels used in acupuncture are believed to be significant parts of this network.

  Chakras

  At the places where many of these channels meet, larger gateways of energy are created. These are the chakras, a Sanskrit word that literally translates as “wheel.” There are six (some sources describe seven) major chakras located along the midline of the body, acting as major fulcra through which subtle energy passes (see Figure 8.4).39 Each major chakra is externalized in the physical body in the form of nerve ganglia and plexi, and also as one of the endocrine glands. The functioning of these organs is directly related to the balance of energy that passes through their corresponding chakra. When all the chakras are open and balanced, it indicates that the person is fully integrated in both body and mind.

  Osteopath Dr. Viola Frymann suggests that it is possible to tune in to the motion patterns within each chakra and thereby recognize any imbalance in its function.40 Furthermore, she states that the function of these vortices can be influenced towards a state of health through the use of the physician’s hands. As Dr. Frymann explains, the presence of this subtle energy network implies that,

  Figure 8.4: Major chakras and their related organs (illustration credit 8.4)

  Man is not the physical body, the emotions or the mind: these are merely the instruments that enable him to function in the physical, emotional and mental realms, and it behooves us to study and understand the anatomy and physiology of these instruments if we are to treat man as a totality.41

  She concludes that,

  None of these individual aspects—body, energy, emotion, or mind—is really you, any more than you are the clothes you wear. Rather, you are an eternal spirit and these aspects are like the garments you put on to function in a particular area.42

  Staying with primary energy

  The network of elemental energy distributes differentiated qualities of the Breath of Life, creating and supporting individual characteristics of mind and body. However, at their basis is the essential energy of the Breath of Life itself, organized around the midline axis of the body and expressed as rhythmic, tidal unfoldments. It is within this essential expression of energy, that our ordering principle, the original matrix of health, is distributed. Therefore, working with primary respiration has a profound influence on the entire system, and may obviate the need to work with the differentiated qualities of elemental energy distributed through the chakras or meridians.

  It must be emphasized that in craniosacral work the focus of treatment is on employing the intrinsic forces of the patient’s own primary respiratory system, and not in trying to channel energy from the therapist or elsewhere, as in some other forms of healing. As Dr. Becker points out, “The sole purpose is to arouse the total resources of the patient’s own physiological structures.”43

  Prevention as well as cure

  The primary respiratory system brings the subtlest life breath into the body, carrying the intrinsic forces that fundamentally organize the functioning of our cells and tissues. This interface between essential life energy and physical form has great significance for our health. Disturbances of function first manifest in the tidal expressions of primary respiration; these disorders then act as precursors to physical illness. In other words, the primary respiratory system reflects imbalances of function before they become established as physical illness. Therefore, by working with inertial patterns within the primary respiratory system it is possible to treat problems before they manifest as structural and functional changes in the body.

  In this way craniosacral treatment is profoundly preventative, addressing many sub-clinical states before they develop into something more severe or chronic. If a problem is dealt with at these origins of function, many other complications can be avoided. Furthermore, in situations where we just don’t feel right but where conventional medical tests have found nothing wrong, the causes can frequently be traced to problems of imbalance within the primary respiratory system.

  Establishing and maintaining a healthy and balanced expression of primary respiration is at the foundation of good health. The Breath of Life is the key that can address the very core of illness.

  Scientific method

  Albert Einstein once remarked, “I didn’t achieve anything through my rational mind.”44 However, in the modern medical approach everything has to be analyzed and measured with scientific apparatus, and then tested with double-blind trials in order to find acceptance. For such experiential and holistic work as craniosacral therapy, this is rather like measuring a rose with a slide-rule. Interestingly, Einstein also commented, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is at the source of all true art and science.”45 Although many of the subtle phenomena produced by the Breath of Life have yet to be proved by conventional scientific methods, this doesn’t mean that they do not exist. In other words, any absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence.46

  Cutting edge

  This is not a dodging of rational investigation but an acknowledgment that there are certain realms beyond the scope of what can c
urrently be measured. Many of the functions of the Breath of Life are perhaps so close, so intrinsic that their presence bypasses us. Nevertheless, these subtle phenomena have been experienced and tested by many practitioners working in the field, checking their results in the laboratory of life and producing a great deal of anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of craniosacral treatment. Even after more than sixty years since its development, the craniosacral concept is still at the cutting edge of a holistic understanding of how we function.

  9

  STRESS AND TRAUMA

  The body’s life is the life of sensations and emotions.

  The body feels real hunger, real thirst, real joy in

  the sun or snow, real pleasure in the smell of roses

  or the look of a lilac bush; real anger, real sorrow,

  real tenderness, real warmth, real passion, real hate,

  real grief. All the emotions belong to the body and

  are only recognized by the mind.

  D.H. LAWRENCE

  THE NATURE OF STRESS AND TRAUMA

  The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong in the broken places.1

  ERNEST HEMINGWAY

  Stress is a familiar experience to all of us because it is an inescapable part of life. We all know what stress feels like, whether we call it nerves, tension, frustration, worry, strain or pressure. We may recognize it when we have to meet a deadline, can’t pay a bill, when we are caught in a traffic jam, or if an ill-tempered boss calls our name. The word stress is used in many different ways. The Penguin Medical Encyclopedia refers to stress as “any influence that disturbs the natural equilibrium of the body.”2 Another definition of stress is “a constraining or impelling force.”3 We find ourselves under stress when demands are made upon us that our physiology has to respond and adapt to.

  Positive stress

  All change is potentially stressful, but then so is boredom and stasis. However, it’s not just the stressful events themselves, but how we respond to them that determines the outcome. Stress can provide us with great benefits. Some degree of stress is necessary to motivate our enthusiasm for life. Many people eagerly seek the delights and achievements of facing and mastering challenging events. In the Chinese language, the character for the word “crisis” combines the symbols for the words “danger” and “opportunity.”

  Through the challenges of stressful events we can grow in strength and confidence. Stress can be the spark that pushes us to progress in our chosen profession, that demands for better living conditions, that provides the impetus to sort out relationships and make creative changes in the world around us. Stress can be seen as the irritation in the oyster that makes the pearl. The difference between the stress of failure and frustration and other beneficial kinds of stress is in how we are able to process their forces.

  Trauma

  Trauma is altogether a more severe form of stress and it is always unpleasant. Although trauma is also perhaps an unavoidable part of life, it too can lead to great benefit if its effects can be resolved. Trauma may occur as a single powerful and overwhelming event or as a series of repetitive stressful experiences. A car accident, a fall, an emotionally cold parent, a tooth extraction or a difficult birth are common examples.

  How we respond to trauma is also an individual matter. It is only when our resources become overwhelmed that we then suffer from longer-lasting consequences. The following pages contain a summary of the development of traumatic patterning and the principles of its treatment using craniosacral approaches. More in-depth descriptions of working with trauma can be found in the pioneering books, Waking The Tiger by Dr. Peter Levine and The Body Remembers by Babette Rothschild.4

  Body memories

  The memories of trauma are not only psychological, but are held in the body as physiological experience. In states of traumatization, the autonomic nervous system tends to be in a persistent state of hyperarousal.5 This is why traumatized people often have tense muscles and their heart rate can soar at the slightest provocation, or they can go into a cold sweat and “freeze” in an immobilized state when they perceive danger.

  One of the body’s primal impulses when faced with a stressful or traumatic event is to contract. Contraction of the tissues is an integral part of our protective response. This contraction remains if the forces that cause it are unresolved. In the body’s attempt to minimize disruption, unresolved traumatic forces become focused at particular locations. Thus the imprints of trauma become centered in the form of inertial fulcra, which affect primary respiratory motion and organize patterns of disturbance. In this way we become patterned by traumatic experiences and by how our intrinsic health is able to respond to them. By addressing these physiological roots of trauma, the craniosacral practitioner is able to facilitate profound shifts in habitual patterns of distress.

  Retraumatization

  In the 1960s and 1970s it became popular in various therapeutic circles to actively encourage the expression of repressed experiences in order to get rid of them. Cathartic approaches to treatment were developed in which patients were asked to dramatize their pain or anger, hurt or terror. Catharsis can also involve the body, which may be encouraged to retrace and relive its patterns of trauma and distress. However, many therapists have found that instead of resolving trauma, catharsis often results in the patient becoming retraumatized.6 Furthermore, the re-enactment of patterns of distress would frequently further reinforce the trauma. Therefore, ways of working with trauma have since been developed that follow the instinctual intelligence of the body, in ways that safely and effectively facilitate trauma resolution (rather than digging up the dirt or using confrontation). To understand how these approaches work, an appreciation is needed about how traumatization occurs in the first place. This involves an understanding of the biological basis of trauma.

  PHYSIOLOGY OF STRESS AND TRAUMA

  Trauma is part of a natural physiological process that simply has not been allowed to be completed.7

  DR. PETER LEVINE

  The key to resolving trauma lies mainly in our physiology. This is because our reactions and responses to trauma are primarily bodily ones. Imagine that you are walking through a jungle. As you are making your way along a jungle path, you think you hear a rustling in the bushes just ahead. You stop in your tracks. Your senses become heightened as you scan the bushes, listening for more sounds. This is a state of active alert. If you see or hear nothing, you may then return to a state of relaxation and cheerfully continue on your way.

  The fight or flight response

  However, let’s say that you hear more rustling and then see something moving through the bushes. Your physiological response will stay in a state of active alert. If a lion appears from out of the bushes and confronts you on the path ahead, what kind of body responses do you think you might feel? It’s probable that your heart beat would increase in order to pump more blood around your body, blood pressure would rise, your muscles would tense, breathing would quicken to provide more oxygen and your eyes may dilate. Furthermore, you might start sweating as your skin gets ready to cool down in anticipation of any over-heating produced by conflict. There would also be a tendency to turn pale as a result of blood being diverted to your muscles. Your mouth might go dry as the salivary glands stop producing saliva, and other functions less important for immediate survival, such as digestion, slow down or stop altogether. Your body would move from active alert to a state of fight or flight.8

  The fight or flight response prioritizes the vital metabolic functions of the body. This assists us in either fighting or running away when faced with danger, by diverting the body’s resources towards the most important task in hand—survival.

  A successful outcome

  If the lion saw you and then ran back into the bushes, within a short period of time your fight or flight response would diminish and you would return to a state of active alert. This stage would remain until you felt the danger was completely over and you could relax again.
However, if the lion didn’t run away but crouched down on the path ahead, as if ready to pounce, your fight or flight response would continue. All your energies would become mobilized. Since it’s probably not a good idea to try to fight a lion, you would most likely turn and run away as fast as you could. Let’s say you were just outside a village and managed to make it safely back to a house. Once securely inside, within a short time the fight or flight response would again diminish, and you could return to a state of active alert and then relaxation. The energy that became mobilized in your body would have been used to great effect. You escaped the danger. There would likely be no traumatization, and you might even feel a sense of achievement and empowerment.

  Shock

  Let’s say instead that the lion caught up with you as you tried to run away. If you became trapped, you would no longer be able to express all the powerful physiological energies that had mobilized in your body as part of the fight or flight response. As a result, all of these energies would have nowhere to go and become trapped in the body, causing a state of shock. Shock occurs when our natural physiological responses to danger are overwhelmed.