Wisdom in the Body

by Michael Kern

  Social support

  There can be no doubt that positive social support is an important resource for the prevention and cure of many diseases. A study carried out at Stanford University by psychiatrist Dr. David Spiegel in the mid-1970s points to this fact.20 Dr. Spiegel led support groups for women with advanced cancer. His intent was to provide a support system for women in which they were able to talk about their day-to-day problems. He aimed to show how this would improve the quality of their lives. When he went back to check on these women a decade later, long after the support groups had disbanded, he found that they survived twice as long as other cancer patients. The members of Dr. Spiegel’s groups lived an average of eighteen months longer than women who did not have the same support. This is much longer than any cancer medications could provide.

  Bali cow

  Despite the numerous benefits provided by technological advancement in modern society, there are many people who experience isolation, alienation and a lack of social support. The great difference in the way that some traditional cultures deal with problems was graphically illustrated to me when I was staying on the Indonesian island of Bali.

  I was lying on a beach (resourcing!) when a procession of local villagers started to make their way along the sand. They were singing and banging drums while leading a cow down to the water’s edge. They steered the cow right into the water, splashing the frightened animal as they whistled and shouted at the top of their voices. I asked someone what was happening. He explained that a young man from their village had been deluded into thinking that the cow was a beautiful woman and had consequently been discovered making love to it. The villagers’ ritual was to help break the spell of this terrible delusion so that the youth could be freed from his ignorance and suffering. The whole community had come out to lend their assistance and support.

  I was deeply struck by the fact that this problem, which would no doubt be hidden by shame and guilt in the West, involved the boy’s whole family and the rest of the village. There seemed to be no blame, and each member of the community felt a responsibility to act in a positive way to help heal the situation.

  Identification

  The process of healing is never just about identifying problems, but involves accessing the resources that can help resolve these problems. No matter how much traumatization has occurred, the reality is that we are never just our pattern of trauma. In other words, we are more than just our experiences; there is always the being who is having the experiences. However, we can often get stuck in an experience, particularly if it is overwhelming. When this happens, the trauma pattern becomes a major fulcrum with which we identify and which shapes our lives. It may result in our joining a support group with other victims of a similar experience with whom we can identify. While this can be a valuable resource, our identification with the trauma may remain strong.

  Consider for a moment, with what do you identify in your life? Do you identify with all the things that are wrong in the world? Are you able to identify with your health and O.K.-ness?

  A resourcing exercise (1)

  Take a minute or two to consider the resources you have in your life. Close your eyes and take a little time to settle. Start to bring an image of some positive or nourishing experience into your mind. Can you think of an experience that has supported you? You may think of a place or a particular situation in which you have been. It’s probably not a good idea to use the image of a person for this purpose, because this can create ambiguous feelings. Try to find a resource that is entirely supportive. Imagine yourself in this place or situation that resources you, or with a favorite object that makes you feel good.

  As you picture this resource, what sensations do you start to feel in your body?

  Parasympathetic response

  The involuntary part of our nervous system directs functions of the body not normally under conscious control such as digestion, respiration, temperature and circulation. The involuntary nervous system has two branches that operate in a reciprocal and harmonic relationship. These are the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.

  Resources tend to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This branch is concerned with our relaxation response and mainly operates when we are in states of rest. Under its influence the physiological systems of the body, such as heartbeat and breathing, slow and find a state of ease. However, the sympathetic nervous system is concerned with mobilizing the activities of the body required to deal with stress. Therefore, threat or danger activates the sympathetic branch. Our fight or flight response is mediated through the sympathetic nervous system.

  The parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems alternate in their function. The degree to which the sympathetic branch is activated is the degree to which the parasympathetic system cannot function. Ideally we should be able to move smoothly between both parasympathetic and sympathetic responses. However, according to Dr. James Jealous, eighty percent or more of disease is directly related to an imbalance in this interchange.21 As resources tend to encourage a parasympathetic response, they can be used as a tool for balancing any excessive sympathetic activation. The encouragement of stillpoints in craniosacral treatment has proven very valuable in this regard.

  A healing fulcrum

  Whatever our resources are, they can help us form a healthier connection to patterns of trauma. They establish a place of health from which we can move forward with a sense of refuge and balance. They provide a kind of healing fulcrum. If resourced, a trauma can be revisited without getting retraumatized, enabling the pattern to be processed and discharged.

  Our most fundamental resources are those that can be found within. In the craniosacral concept, the Breath of Life is considered to be an unwavering ordering principle that regulates the physiological functions of the body, and brings integration to body and mind. When the expression of the Breath of Life is restored in places of inertia, the re-emergence of our original matrix of health takes place. As the Beatles sang, you “get back to where you once belonged.” If these fundamental resources can be contacted or facilitated, the dissipation of trauma can far more easily follow. As a starting point during treatment, this facilitation can occur by orienting to the deeper tides of the Breath of Life and the organizing forces they carry.

  SHOCK AND TRAUMA SKILLS

  Patients and their problems do not retrace steps to return to health. Health is NOW.22

  DR. ROLLIN BECKER D.O.

  Role of the nervous system

  Traumatization remains as long as we are unable to access the resources to complete the process of its dissipation and discharge. Essentially, traumatization is not a memory of the past, but an experience that is being carried in the present, and which may have its roots in the past. Traumatic experiences that have not reached a satisfactory point of completion and resolution become perpetuated as a physiological pattern, and keep cycling around. It seems that much of the unresolved energy of a traumatized person ends up being trapped in the nervous system.

  It has been found that the mid-brain (particularly the limbic system) and the brain stem control many of the physiological responses to stress and trauma. These regions contain nerve nuclei and other nerve centers that can become facilitated (irritated) in perpetuated states of overwhelm. The nervous system of a traumatized person may then feel wired, as it becomes held in a state of constant arousal, yet at the same time this energy may not have anywhere to go. These effects of traumatization can be palpable as a loss of primary respiratory motion in these vital centers. Instead of being able to express a natural motility in cycles of inhalation and exhalation, areas of the central nervous system become inertial.

  Physiological switches

  Through understanding the importance of primary respiration to the functioning of the brain, craniosacral work can access the very origins of traumatization. Where particular trauma switches in the brain centers are still turned on, they can be encouraged to dissipate their energy and return to an expre
ssion of normal primary respiration. During this process of resolution, tremors and vibratory motions are often experienced in the central nervous system and the fluids of the body. When palpated, this is an indication that the forces of trauma trapped in the nervous system are starting to discharge.

  In the present

  It has been a common misconception that past traumas need to be re-experienced in order to break the fetters of their control. This notion suggests that it is only through regression that the roots of trauma can be cut.23 However, the reliving of a trauma pattern does not necessarily help with its resolution. It seems, more often than not, that if memories of past traumas are dredged up they simply become reactivated or even endorsed.24,25,26 I have worked with many people who have become more deeply stuck in their trauma patterns in their attempts to work them out in this way. As the Dalai Lama commented during a recent talk, “The more you indulge in thoughts or emotions, the stronger they can become.”27 A trauma is only resolved when the forces that organize it are able to shift. This necessitates the presence of resources.

  Traumas can also only be effectively healed in the present, because it is in the present that they are held. Furthermore, our resources of health are found only in the present. The ability to stay in touch with the present is one of the keys to trauma resolution.

  Acting it out

  There is certainly a usefulness in recognizing and identifying patterns of distress in order to be able to work with them. This can involve re-experiencing the sensations, feelings and memories associated with a trauma. However, it is not the outward expression of these patterns that creates the cure. Acting out a trauma to get rid of it may help to let off steam from the pressure cooker but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the heat has been turned off. Turning off the heat involves actually resolving the physiological forces of trauma.

  Completion

  Nevertheless, patterns of trauma often naturally come to the surface as they begin their process of completion. When this occurs, body sensations associated with the trauma will emerge, and there may be an exacerbation of existing symptoms or re-experiencing of old ones, sometimes described as a “healing crisis” (see Chapter 7). Feelings of pain, fear, anger or despair may also surface while the trapped traumatic forces are in the process of resolving. In order to allow this resolution to complete, these experiences are best neither encouraged or discouraged, but simply acknowledged and accepted as part of the healing process. Trauma patterns can more easily and safely be dissipated when we find a way to be with them without provocation or denial. Finding a safe, spacious and contained way to stay with this process is the key to trauma treatment.

  Ground rules for trauma treatment

  There are certain ground rules that can enable the safe and successful resolution of the often powerful forces involved in trauma patterns. These principles can be broadly categorized as:

  Waiting at shutdowns

  Building resources

  Contacting resources

  Staying with body sensations

  Being present

  Slowing things down

  Having a sense of space

  Facilitating the discharge of shock.

  Here is a brief summary of these principles as applied in craniosacral practice.

  Waiting at shutdowns

  Although we don’t have to relive our traumas in order to find healing, we probably do need to find a way to relate to them. This relationship is not possible to establish when we are in a disconnected state of overwhelm and dissociation. Furthermore, the resources required for processing any traumatization are simply not available in states of overwhelm. If a state of overwhelm is present, it is indicated by the cardinal sign of a shutdown of the cranial rhythmic impulse and sometimes the mid-tide. This is something that the practitioner needs to listen for if trauma patterns are coming to the surface—and this wisdom of the body is important to accept. When a shutdown occurs the priority of the practitioner is to help build resources in the patient (as detailed in the next section) and wait with patience until rhythmic motion resumes so that the process of trauma resolution can continue.

  Building resources

  The building of sufficient resources is fundamental to the process of trauma resolution. After all, traumatization can only occur when resources are overwhelmed. If they are not available when a trauma is revisited, retraumatization rather than benefit will result. Resources are strengths that a person can draw on when faced with threatening circumstances.28

  If resources are low, they can be developed and reinforced. This may involve holistic health-building approaches, including the establishment of a balanced lifestyle, suitable diet and adequate rest. The space and safety that can be provided within the therapeutic relationship can be another significant resource.

  The principal way to build physiological resources through craniosacral work is by the facilitation of stillpoint processes. In stillness, a deeper connection to the potency of the Breath of Life can be experienced.29 Stillpoints can help strengthen vital reserves by recharging the “battery fluid” of the body (cerebrospinal fluid) with potency. Then more resources can become available to help with the dissipation of trauma.

  Stillpoints can be facilitated in either the inhalation phase (EV4) or the exhalation phase (CV4) of primary respiration (see Chapter 7, “Stillpoints” section). While both CV4s and EV4s provide deep physiological rest and an opportunity for resourcing, as a general rule, the facilitation of CV4s is particularly useful for working with hyperarousal states (i.e., sympathetic nervous system activation). Within the stillness of a CV4 the patient’s nervous system has an opportunity to settle while potency can build at the core of the body. The facilitation of an EV4 has proven valuable when working with people in dissociative states, as it can help potency held in the midline and the lower part of the body to get expressed. EV4s encourage the expression of potency from the core of the body right out towards the periphery and so help to support reassociation and a better sense of embodiment. When working with traumatized patients, it often takes a number of treatment sessions before a stillpoint can actually be reached.

  Contacting resources

  In many instances we already have sufficient resources but are just unable to access them. There are a number of ways that can be used to help contact existing resources. The biodynamic potency carried in the fluids of the body can be thought of as our primary resource for health. However, much of this potency can get bound up in inertial fulcra, making it unavailable for other uses. By resolving inertial patterns, this potency is freed and our available resources are strengthened. Furthermore, if we are able to tune in and connect with the long tide or mid-tide operating beneath a pattern of trauma, it can help our physiology to resonate and align with these deeper expressions of health.

  Whether we find resources in an internal capacity, an object, an experience or a sensation, we can draw on them in times of need. No matter how bad things get, there is nearly always something somewhere that feels O.K. for us. This feeling of O.K.-ness may be experienced when recalling a pleasant memory or a place in the body where we can contact good sensations. Therefore, if reaching a state of overwhelm, a question that can be useful to explore is, “In the midst of all that’s going on, is there anything that tells you you’re O.K. right now?”

  A resourcing exercise (2)

  One way to connect with resources is to bring your attention into your body and discover if you can find anywhere that you feel some good sensations. Even if this place is just the tip of your little finger or toe, you will probably be able to find somewhere that feels O.K. Having established this connection, it may then be possible to safely explore the places in your body where you feel some difficulty or pain.

  Sit quietly in a chair and take a couple of minutes to bring your attention to the sensations of your body. You may want to start at your feet and then work your way up, scanning your body as you go along. Begin to notice the places where you feel discomfor
t and places where you feel O.K. Just be open to whatever you sense. Try to accept whatever is there without making any interpretations or judgements.

  Select a place in your body where you feel some good or O.K. sensations. Take a couple of minutes to let your attention settle there. What do you notice? Take a few deep breaths into this place and just enjoy the sensations that you feel. When you have established a good connection here, gently bring your attention to a place or an area of your body where you feel a pain or some other difficulty. What sensations do you notice there? How is this for you? See if you can stay with these sensations for a short time, but take care not to get overwhelmed. If you feel that things are getting too difficult, then bring your attention back to the place in your body where you feel O.K.

  After a minute or two of staying with the difficulty, again bring your attention back to the place where you feel good sensations. Take a little more time to resource in this place. Then, again bring your attention back to the place of difficulty. What do you notice? Move back and forth a few times between your sensations of difficulty and a place of resource. Do you notice any changes taking place?

  The purpose of this exercise is to help establish a place in the body where we can go to resource. This place can be different at different times. It can then be possible to relate to a trauma pattern without getting overwhelmed. However, if you do feel that you’re going “over the edge” at any stage of the process, stop doing it or take more time to resource. If this is your experience, you may want to seek the help of a qualified practitioner to help you.