Archive for July, 2008
Jul
14
Posted by John Dalton on
July 14, 2008
I was invited to teach a Post Graduate Seminar to Cranio Sacral Therapists in Cape Town. The seminar was titled, ‘Expanding the Base.’ and I’m finally getting around to writing something about my trip.
In short, it was a great success.
The teaching side of it went particularly well, the participants got a chance to go beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. We explored the boundaries, we questioned our perception of reality, we reframed many of what are considered difficult aspects cranio sacral work, we looked into why people get sick, why they get better and how we can support the process better.
We definitely expanded the base.
I had a great time and judging from the smiling faces and hugs at the end of the seminar, I think the people attending had a good time too.
And sure look at them, don’t they look delighted.
With a little help I managed to video the whole thing so it will be available on DVD in the future.
The seminar was held in a conference centre that was once a convent. Still run by the nuns it reminded me of places I have taught at in Australia and Ireland. I think it was the scones that tipped me off. They were the same in all three countries and I’m guessing in all convents around the world. Munching on one at tea break I realised that McDonalds didn’t invent franchising after all.
Cape Town was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. It’s a city of converging oceans, colourful people and bloody big mountains. It felt like around every corner was a different pocket of the world; some parts reminded me of the Gold Coast, here in Queensland, others the Mediterranean. There were city high rises and small terraces, a bit like Paddington in Sydney. Shantytowns next to security guarded housing compounds. And all of it adding up to what I am beginning to register as the very distinctive flavour of Africa.
The last post grad I taught in South Africa was in Johannesburg in 2002. I found Cape Town very different in a positive way. The Jo-burgers bristled a little whenever I commented on this but I found the atmosphere so much easier in Cape Town. Kitya, the coordinator of the Cape Town CST school, told me that the crime rate is generally about the same in the two cities but I found Cape Town a lot freer of the intense paranoia that made Johannesburg feel like one long held breath, for me at least.
I so enjoyed catching up with my friend Al Pelowski again. He is the principal of both cranio sacral schools in Cape Town and Johannesburg. I hadn’t seen him in two and a half years but by the second glass of wine we had pretty much picked up where we’d left off. He is doing great teaching work there and beginning to set up lots of very good out reach programs in the community, including educational seminars on the facts, all the facts, of vaccination.
That’s us doing the self portrait thing at the early morning airport after the late night supping before.
I’m always made to feel made so welcome in South Africa and the people are so great. I look forward to returning soon.
.
Jul
14
Posted by John Dalton on
July 14, 2008
As adults we are no longer physically held in the way we were as
children. Full body release is a technique that holds us like a baby.
A team of cranio sacral therapists tune into a patient and literally
pick them up as they provide complete support for their system.
When provided with intentioned gravity-free support, our bodies
begin to release deep, full body patterns.
Wonderful and beautiful as it is, this is a technique that is used infrequently in practice as the logistics involved are prohibitive. A minimum of six cranio sacral therapists is required to make up a team. When each therapist has a busy practice this is not easily organised.
I use full body release as a post graduate workshop because it is an excellent tool for helping cranio sacral therapists gain a deeper sense of whole body patterns. They can take this knowledge back to their practice where it informs their one to one patient work.
Each participant at the workshop takes a turn leading a team and being a patient. At the beginning of the process the ‘patient’ is surrounded by the therapeutic team.
The team leader begins to tune into the patient’s cranio sacral system and calls in the other therapists as they are needed.
As the patient’s system begins to release and unwind it stretchs out. The team follow this and give support as the patient becomes airborne.
My role in the process is to monitor the patient and team and offer assistance where needed.
The patient’s body goes through and intricate ballet of movement that the therapeutic team must keep up and follow accurately, holding as the patient’s system releases. Like a big piece of cellophane that has been scrunched up for years, once given the right support, it begins to unravel.
There is continual communication between the lead therapist and the patient.
The process feels timeless but eventually draws to a natural close and the patient returns to the ground. Their system is settled by the lead therapist and the team takes a well earned rest. We then go through a debriefing process where we assess the effectiveness of the team.
What sketching is to artists, full body release is to cranio sacral therapists. It gives them a chance to deepen their palpatory skill and get a broader sense of full body patterns. When they return to their practices and are once again working alone with their patients, the benefits of the full body release seminar are evident.
The main feedback I get about this seminar from the therapists is how much more they can feel in their patient’s body.
Jul
14
Posted by John Dalton on
July 14, 2008
Jenny Palmer invited me to give a postgraduate seminar in Brisbane in April 07. I delivered my ‘Core Success’ seminar, which is a seminar for therapists generally not just cranio sacral therapists. As well as the Brisbane folk, some therapists flew up from Sydney. Here is what Jenny has to say about it.
Lost and Found - gifts from John Dalton’s Core Success workshop in Australia.
by Jenny Palmer.
If you’ve ever been fishing, you’ll know that casting the line out may be the trickiest part. It’s important to get the bait right out to where the fish are biting.
Sometimes, you find huge balls of tangled fishing line amongst the rocks, where someone did that thing where the line spools out into a giant knot behind you, instead of flying cleanly through the air in front of you. In desperation, they cut the line and get rid of the giant knot instead of spending hours trying to undo it.
So what’s that got to do with a craniosacral workshop?
Well, before John came back to Australia to do the seminar, I had loads of questions - about my practice, about some people I’m treating and about cranio in general. It felt a bit like a giant ball of knotted fishing line. There had been years of ’stuff’ happening in my personal life as well that seemed to have sucked the essence of ‘hope’ from my being.
So, the day of the Core Success workshop finally dawned and in I went, expecting to get loads of answers. John welcomed everyone and began the day with the statement that he had ‘no answers for anyone’.
Great! I thought…….
What John was going to attempt to do was to help everyone realise that they inherently had the answers all along. (I thought, ‘Like a good cranio session perhaps?’)
Using simple exercises (the ‘interactive’ part), there began a gradual awakening to John’s opening statement. It’s often shocking when things are revealed to you in seemingly simple ways. It reminds me of my own inner ‘complicatedness’. My brain gets in the way at times and wants to know everything - right now - please!
After a couple of these interactive exercises, I couldn’t really remember my list of questions. They’d disappeared, or the couple I could remember seemed to not really be questions at all. (That may be categorised as having a ’seniors’ moment, but I don’t think so.) It was like holding that big ball of knotted fishing line and all you really have to do is find that one little strand that seems to hold it all together - the more you dig your fingers in and search, the more frustrated you get. The tighter the knots seem to get. But if you just sit with it, soften your eyeballs and really look at it, see how the threads are running, the one bit that holds it together will become apparent. Just loosen it, a little, and see how the ball of knots falls apart, slowly, slowly, easily…
As the day progressed, I got some wonderful insights into myself and my practice and the people I’m treating and how I’m approaching everything. I had been having some serious doubts about myself, and my ability to help some people. My hope had taken a battering. That had also affected my faith, in myself.
Some of what I really got was:
• We’re NOT in the business of imparting wisdom (that’s a relief in itself).
• We don’t teach people to ride a bike by riding it for them.
• Assumption - if people come to me they want to get better.
• Assumption - when it looks like you’re sharing a reality, you’re not.
• We really don’t want to know the end of the movie before we see it
- even if it is a happy ending.
• Our biggest trap is success (you think you know for certain what’s going on).
• The other main trap is failure (you’re certain you’re no good).
And the most beautiful, yet unsettling thing?
You’re part of the liberation that you might not even see……
And that’s the beauty of the mysterious, still places that we go to every day as therapists. Or, as that infamous ex US Defence Secretary once said. “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
Makes perfect sense to a craniosacral therapist.
We (craniosacral therapists) are pioneers. And that’s tough in itself. It’s enriching to get together with other practitioners and students and just chat. I wish we could do that more often. In the meantime, I sit back in that great ‘armchair’ and find the stillness that’s demanded of us the most (and remember, you can’t see round corners).
The day was lovely - I want to thank John. For his wisdom and insight and understanding.
He created a still place for us all (calming and unsettling) - inspiring, gentle, nourishing, illuminating, warm (just like a good cranio session?). What I got from that day is still unravelling in myself, and in my practice. I’ve really moved forward with what I want to be doing, and it’s falling very nicely into place.
I can’t wait for next year’s workshop - I’m starting on my list of questions now. (Kidding!)
Jenny Palmer
www.ynt.com.au
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ Emotional issues - Why are people so dumb? - September 05
Ok Maestro. Read your blurb on your website.
You don’t seem like your standard “Be still
and know that I KNOW,’ sort of cranio person.
Is there a factory somewhere I don’t know about
that churns these folk out?
Anyways, I’ve got a question for ye.
I’ve been seeing people for 4 years now, using
a combination of acupuncture and cranio.
As time goes on I’m seeing the cause of many
physical problems are emotional.
They tell you their life stories when they come
in and you can see how they keep repeating
the same self destructive patterns over and OVER again!
You point it out to them and they just keep doing it?
What gives?
Why don’t they get it?
Believe me I’ve tried everything!
So let’s hear your answer on that one Kemosabe.
K. Orlando. Fl.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Why DON’T people get it?
Is it because they are dumb?
Well let’s explore that. If the reason people don’t
get stuff is because they are dumb then that would
include you and me.
Wouldn’t it?
Or do you think we are special?
That you and I get stuff quicker than other people?
Maybe it’s just you and the rest of us are dumb?
Okay, so maybe there is something else going on.
It’s called subjectivity.
Let me explain.
This situation happens to about once every couple of
weeks in my practie. I will be talking with a patient
about their condition. I will be in the middle of
saying something that I hadn’t verbalised before and
what I am saying is COOL!
Part of me will be listening and thinking ‘This is
really good, profound, insightful stuff I’m saying.’
Within a few minutes the patient will be looking
at me in an awed sort of way. I can see them
rummaging around internally for the makings of
a nice pedestal to put me on. That’s when my
ALARM BELLS GO OFF.
For me and for them.
While I acknowledge that every now and again
I do say something original, I know it’s not
good for me to get too self admiring about it.
I also, know that the patient is about to disempower
themselves if I don’t do something fast.
At this stage they will usually be in the middle
of telling me how they feel like a screw up of
one kind or another.
The inference being that there are people in the
world who are normal, they are in the majority
and the patient is an anomaly.
I stop them and explain the objective/subjective dynamic.
I make a point of explaining that I can have insight
about their lives because I AM NOT IN THEIR BODY.
I’M NOT LIVING IN THEIR LIFE.
I further the point by telling them that if we
swapped seats and I started telling them about
my life, they could have some very useful insights
about my life. Particularly the things I am not seeing.
Bottom line Tonto, is you have been sitting in the
therapist’s chair too long. You have forgotten what
it is like to be a patient. You have started to
believe your own press and feel like you should
be up there on that pedestal your patients have
been eager to put you on.
WARNING! WARNING! YOU ARE IN DANGER OF
FALLING INTO THE THERAPIST TRAP.
I know because I fell in it a few times myself
in different ways. It is one of those things
you need to be very proactive in not allowing to happen.
You have to nip it in the bud with yourself first
and then with your patients.
No pedestal building allowed.
No special powers implied.
No act together imagined.
So be of good cheer, K of Orlando, it’s not hopeless
but you will need to do something NOW.
I suggest going to a therapist, a cranio sacral
therapist even. Put yourself in the other chair
for a bit.
Take a class. Learn something new.
Do whatever you can to break up the cocoon of
smug superiority you have woven around yourself.
Try and energetically stand beside the patient
as you look at their problem, rather on opposite
sides of it.
Be with them, two people doing the best they can,
sometimes with ignorance and fear
sometimes with grace and beauty.
Dude, somebody hug me.
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ What I feel with my hands, am I making it up? - September 05
Mr Dalton.
I feel I am at a crossroads in my craniosacral
training. I have been studying CST for six months.
I have listened carefully to my trainers.
I have read books on CST. I understand the fluid
mechanics of what is happening, in theory.
When I tune into the system I begin to feel things.
Then I begin to wonder am I feeling the rhythm
because I expect to feel it. I wonder if I am
not imagining the whole thing. What I feel with
my hands is so tenuous that I could very well
be making it up.
My trainers say that the feeling will become
clearer with time and practice.
It has been six months now. While I can feel more
than I could at the beginning it is nowhere
as clear as I expected.
I understand that with your experience and in
your position you have a strong vested interest
in ‘believing’ in what you do.
I would appreciate it if you could answer me as
honestly as possible.
Do we make it up?
Regards.
M.S.
Somerset.
>>>MY COMMENTS
Let me tell you right now, it’s not going
to get any easier.. . .
What you are looking for is a kind of certainty.
Where you put your hands on someone’s body and
it lights up like a Christmas tree and you can
see EVERYTHING, every restriction pattern,
every cause.
And the road to health for that person looking
like a well lit highway.
And all this without that awful squirmy feeling
like you are groping around in the dark not really
sure of anything.
I feel for you, but it’s never going to
happen. There is something about this work that
always keeps you at the limit of yourself.
I’ll explain.
When you started to learn six months ago and you
heard about flexion and extension, it probably
all made sense.
Then you put your hands on someone and you tried
to feel it and all you could feel was NOTHING!
And it felt awful.
You trusted your trainers and you persevered.
As time passed you learned new things like feeling
lesion patterns in the sphenoid or some such
and when you tried to feel them, all you could
feel was NOTHING!
And it felt awful.
You looked forward to the day when you wouldn’t
feel that awful feeling.
You didn’t notice two important things.
1) Your palpatory skill was improving and
changing. You were actually feeling more. When
you were struggling to feel whether the sphenoid
had a flexion or extension lesion, you failed to
notice that you were feeling flexion and extension
with relative ease.
2) The awful feeling wasn’t changing. It was the
same awful feeling six month ago that you are
feeling now.
As good as your palpatory skills get,
as good as your diagnostic skills get,
as good as you perceptive skills get,
you will still have that voice in the back of
your head wondering, ‘Am I making this up?’
Outstanding cranio sacral therapists haven’t
eradicated uncertainty, they have mastered it.
It’s not like you get it sorted and never have
to deal with it again. It’s something that goes
on every time you treat someone. It’s one of the
most difficult aspects of cranio sacral work.
I know all this because I went/go through it myself
and I have seen ALL the people I have trained go
through it in one way or another.
Here’s what I suggest: put the question on hold for
another six months. Make a deal with yourself that
for the next six months you are not going to ask
yourself that question. For the next six months
you are just going to take it that what you are
feeling is true. It’s not forever, its just for six
months.
I’m not talking about kidding yourself.
You need to understand what you are trying to do.
You haven’t been conditioned to think in the way
that you’re trying to think when you do cranial work.
Your neuronal pathways are formed in a different way.
Continually asking yourself if you are making it
up won’t allow new neuronal pathways to form.
We are not MRI machines. This is science, but not as we
know it, Jim.
Asking if we are making it up is a question from
another approach.
Because we are not machines we have the capacity
to go far beyond our own expectations and pull miracles
out of the bag. It also means we have the capacity to
have an off day and get it wrong.
To answer your very specific question.
Do we make it up?
Sometimes.
Mostly in the beginning of training.
With experience, 1-2 years minimum, you can begin to
discern when you are making it up? You can spot it
and in time it too becomes another thing to note,
along with the multitude of other things you are
registering as you work.
‘The rhythm is changing, I wonder what that means?
The patient is feeling sadness, I wonder what that
means? Now they are angry, I wonder what that means?
I just made that bit up, I wonder what that means?
Now they are about to release this bit, I wonder what
that means? The sadness is still there. .’ and so on.
Have a good look at what I’ve written. Talk it out with
people who know you and care about you. Cranio sacral
therapy may not be the thing for you. It doesn’t suit
everyone. There are lots of modalities that offer
much more of the certainty you are looking for.
Having said that, I encourage you to persevere.
The rewards far outweigh the difficulties.
And the weird thing is as you become familiar with
and master uncertainty, it permeates your whole life
and it becomes more . . well . . fluid.
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ How to handle the, “What did you do to me?” question. - September 05
+ Comment from Mij Ferrett, craniosacral therapist
and editor of ‘The Fulcrum’, journal of The
Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK. - September 05
Dear John,
I have been practicing for two years and am
enjoying the work immensely. By an large my
practice is going well.
Every now and then a particular kind of patient
will come back for their second visit and accuse
me of doing something to them.
Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes not so subtle.
They will say things like, ‘My neck was fine
before I came to see you for back pain.
Now it is really painful.’
I find it very hard to know what to say to them.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
NC
Eire(Ireland) but you knew that anyway.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Yeah, I may live in Oz but I still know where
Ireland is.
Your question highlights one of the most
difficult aspects of natural medicine.
That people have been conditioned to be
irresponsible about their health.
‘Fix me Doc.’
When someone asks you ‘What have you done to me?’
they are relating to you like a doctor.
I don’t know whether you have thought about
this or not but, like it or not, you are a pioneer.
You are at the cutting edge of a fringe.
So one of your tasks must be education.
If you are able to tell you are dealing with
‘that kind of patient’, then you would be wise
to take some pre-emptive measures to avoid them
asking you the question in ADVANCE.
The best way to solve a problem being to
never have it in the first place.
Don’t know where I heard that but I love using it.
When you identify the person as being irresponsible
at the first session, you need to start explaining
to them right away how it all works. Focusing
particularly on how you are supporting their
body to fix itself.
That you are not trying to direct how that
process will go, because you know from experience
that peoples bodies know best how to fix themselves.
How sometimes things can get worse before they get
better.
Help them to discover how remarkable their body is.
Worst comes to worst and they come back the following
week and ask you what you did to them?
You can reframe it for them by reminding them
what you actually did. You laid you hands gently on
different parts of their body for varying amounts
of time.
You didn’t click them or manipulate them or adjust
them. In light of all that isn’t it an indication
of how powerful this way of working is, that it can
reach such depths in the persons body with such a
light touch. And how their body can respond in such
powerful ways to this kind of support.
Lastly, if you are getting that kind of feedback
a lot, you might need to look at yourself. Your
intention may be too strong. You may be trying
too hard. You may be too attached to what you
think is the right outcome.
Generally speaking any repeating pattern in your
Patient’s is worth looking at in this way.
‘Is this me?’
‘Is this my issues/patterns playing out?’
***COMMENT FROM MIJ FERRETT***
Hi John,
I love your answers and have enjoyed reading them and,
for the most part, agree with them. There is one minor
point though … when you say ‘Lastly, if you are
getting that kind of feedback ['My neck was fine
before I came to see you for back pain. Now it is
really painful.'] a lot, you might need to look at
yourself. Your intention may be too strong. You may be
trying too hard. You may be too attached to what you
think is the right outcome.’
I think what you said is relevant and true but there is
more to say. If you get this kind of comment often then
it is almost certain that there is something that needs
looking at but whether or not you get this kind of
feedback it is inevitable that from time to time all of
us will get drawn into being over-focused and doing too
much and that as a result we will tend to initiate some
kind of protective reaction from the client in response
to our inappropriate interaction. There is a natural
tendency for therapists to deny this so the process of
denial needs attention paying to it as well. In
situations like this it’s useful to spend a little time
reflecting on what has happened and notice any pull
towards being defensive. One of the most beneficial
ways of progressing therapeutically with someone is
admitting when we make a mistake and apologising for
it.
Interestingly this principle has paid dividends in, of
all places, american hospitals*. Any authentic
acknowledgement and apology will tend to help the
therapeutic relationship.
Of course there is the classic healing crisis response
as well and the classic response of the client not
taking responsibility for their own process but that
this can be used as a cover up for therapeutic error.
More power to your keyboard.
Mij
*Due to the litigious nature of the culture and the
large sums of money awarded by damages suits many
hospitals and doctors have tended to cover up and deny
mistakes. However a pilot scheme in Lexington VA
Kentucky introduced after some multimillion dollar
lawsuits, encourages doctors to acknowledge their
mistakes and apologise for them. When patients have
doctors apologise to them and offer fair compensation
feelings are much improved and court awards are much
lower; there has also been a reduction in unjustified
malpractice suits. Subsequently many other US hospitals
have introduced the policy with similar results and
medical students are now being encouraged by Harvard
Medical School to do the same when qualified.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
I agree with everything up to the part about
apologising to the patient when we make a mistake.
For some reason this set my alarm bells off.
‘Apologise to a patient? Really?’
It troubled me.
I wrestled with it.
I pondered, even.
And then it hit me . . . a few times.
Not all apologies are therapeutically beneficial for
both parties.
When I get on an aeroplane I’m not really thinking
about the pilot. I’m thinking of where I want to go.
My destination.
If I did think about the pilot I would have to
acknowledge that he will probably make AT LEAST one
mistake on the flight. I know it but I don’t really
want to think about it.
If we are flying along at 60,000 feet and the plane
lurches suddenly but then rights itself, I want to
think that we probably hit an unexpected pocket of
turbulence. The ‘fasten you seatbelts’ sign didn’t
come on so everything is probably ok.
The last thing I want to hear is the pilot coming
over the intercom saying,
‘Hi Everyone, this is the captain speaking.
Look, the head cabin attendant Nancy, was just
giving me my dinner and when I reached for the tray
I accidentally hit the throttle with my knee.
That’s why the plane lurched a minute ago. So I
just wanted to let you know and I wanted to
apologise to you all.’
The captain would probably turn off the intercom,
look at his co-pilot and say, ‘Man, that felt good.
Therapeutic almost.’
Back in my seat, I would probably have a glazed sort
of look in my eye. My knuckles would definitely be
whiter and while rationally I might appreciate the
pilot’s honesty, most of me would be wanting to get off
at the next stop. Which stop? Who cares?
JUST GET ME OFF THIS PLANE!!!
I would still want to reach my destination, just not
with that pilot. He is probably perfectly competent to
get me there but he just made the process of getting
there too scary for me.
Also . .
The sort of ‘mistakes’ we make are a lot more
complicated and difficult to explain than Doctor’s
mistakes.
‘I’m sorry I left my wristwatch inside you, when I
sewed you up Mr Smith.’ would be understood by most
patients. They wouldn’t be too pleased about it, maybe
they wouldn’t sue the doctor for so much but they would
understand the error.
Whereas if we say something like. . .
‘I’m sorry you had that reaction last week. It was
my fault because I wanted you to get better too much.’
Most patients could understandably reply, ‘That’s
what I’m paying you for. You’re supposed to want me to
get better, ya big freak!’
Equally . .
There is the possibility that we could end up
apologising for responses that are not actually
mistakes but are part of the therapeutic process.
Saying. . ‘I want to apologise for your neck hurting
this week. It was because my intention was too much
last week.’
Is apologising for what is actually part of the
process of finding the best level to work at for that
person’s system. There is no way of knowing it in
advance. You can only find the right level to work at
by going as lightly as possible, while remaining
physically in the room, the first time you treat the
person and then going deeper with each subsequent
treatment.
Assuredly . .
I’m all for apologising to patients if you’re
running late or you haven’t got the right change or you
fall asleep on their stomach!
No kidding, it hasn’t happened to me personally but did
happen REPEATEDLY to one of my students.
Eeeeewwwwww!
Finally . .
Be ruthlessly honest with yourself and appropriately
honest with your patients.
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ Which technique should I use? - September 05
+ Comment from Al Pelowski, principal tutor with The South
African Institute of Cranial Studies. on sciatica- October 05
Hi John,
Found your web site very useful and your URL easy to remember.
I use it as my virtual business card. I have been treating a man in
his late fifties with sciatica. I have had some success but feel I
could achieve more.
Can you recommend any techniques that you have found
particularly useful for sciatica?
Thanks
J.P.
Brisbane.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Glad you like the site.
I’m going to answer your question in two parts. Let me start by
saying no one technique is ‘the’ technique for ANYTHING.
Techniques are ways we get a handle on the bigger picture.
And the biggest picture is what you need to be available for.
I am putting it like that because describing it as ‘looking’ for
the biggest picture is way too active, eager, inefficient and INTURSIVE.
You need to ask yourself, what is really going on here?
Why has this person got these particular symptoms?
Why are the symptoms in this configuration?
What’s the root cause of this situation?
Symptoms generally manifest physically, meaning they show up
in the person’s body. But that doesn’t mean the CAUSE of those
symptoms is exclusively physical.
Often EMOTIONAL issues will express themselves as physical symptoms.
It doesn’t just stop there, often the root cause of what is going
on has a physical component, caused by an emotional component
but the root cause is not emotional it is something DEEPER.
That may sound spooky or kooky to you depending on your slant
but I have seen it time and again, where the root cause was deeper
than physical and emotional issues.
How can that be?
Let’s go through it one layer at a time.
Physical problems.
These problems are characterised by very physical causes and
descriptions, ‘The tentorium cerebelli is pulled inferiorly here,
causing pressure there . . .etc’.
Regardless of the source of a pattern of a restriction, it will show
up physically. Becoming accurate in identifying the extent and
complexity of physical restrictions takes a lot of practice and is
a prerequisite for working with the deeper causes.
Emotional issues/causes.
Restrictions in the emotional aspect of the person can have causes
like, a person may need to leave a partner or job or it may be an old
emotional abuse.
Emotional restrictions are more difficult to identify accurately
because it’s very easy to start theorising about the person’s problems
instead of simply receiving the information from the person’s body in
the same way you do with physical patterns.
Core problems
These relate to how the person sees themselves in their lives, their
relationship with themselves, with God, with their idea of God.
A feeling that they’re off track.
And no, you don’t need to know what their track is.
Core problems can feel like fundamental disharmonies within the
person. They are the hardest to perceive because they are so deep
in the person.
Your ability to see and work with these core issues comes with lots
of practice and humility.
Their revelation occurs in the dynamic between you and the person
and what you have to offer each other.
Are you with me?
It generally works its way through the layers something like this.
A disharmony in a person’s core will affect them emotionally and
in turn affect them physically.
For example someone might think they are fundamentally bad.
This could manifest emotionally as anxiety and paranoia, which
could manifest physically as headaches and chronic fatigue.
The skill comes in being able to assess where the root cause of
the problem is.
Before you go charging off into the great mystery, let me add this.
It can be as easy to go the other way and start looking for deep
emotional and core issues as the root cause of a purely physical
problem.
‘I just twisted my knee Mate!’
Now the second part of my answer is purely physical.
There are lots of different ways of creating sciatica.
It’s a pain, which means there have to be nerves involved.
The pain generally is in the lower back and travels down one
leg or the other, sometimes both.
Have a look at, [in books and with your hands] the lumbar plexus,
the sacral plexus. How are the nerves on both sides of the spinal
column as they leave the vertebral foramina?
Scan the nerves up as far as the thoraco-lumbar junction.
Remember tight membranes can pull vertebrae together and pinch nerves.
Consider how long the person has been getting the pain?
Getting a sense of when and how the pattern of restriction was formed.
So, look particularly at the dural tube.
How are the membranes running?
Most particularly how is the cerebro spinal fluid moving?
Find ways to help it come into a harmonious flow.
It’s all about flow.
Top
***COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***
- On additional physical causes of sciatica.
John,
Some of the rootlets of the sciatic nerve pass through the psoas
muscle - a noted emotional contractor- - slightly bent over posture,
unable to fully extend hips without pain, affected leg externally rotated.
Another sciatica tip: usually on right side, I-C Valve, Caecum.
Yet other possibilities: Leg length differences, real bony differences,
or more likely due to rotations in the leg from protecting an old sprained
ankle or twisted knee — most commonly external rotation in the foot
where there has been damage to the ankle lateral colateral ligaments
– resulting in compression of the S-I joint and thus irritation of the epineuria.
“from the ankle joint to the knee joint…etc” Remember the tune?
Yo. Ta for newsletter. Much food for reflection
A
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Thanks Al. All very useful places to look for the mechanics of
the physical manifestation of sciatica.
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ Cranio sacral therapy and Cancer -October 05
Hi John,
I have a friend who has had a mastectomy and partial
lymphadenectomy and is currently receiving chemotherapy
for active cancer in her neck. I was thinking that some
CST would be helpful to assist her immune system (not
to mention emotional state) but am concerned whether it
would simultaneously stimulate the cancer which is
quite an aggressive type.
Let me know if you have any thoughts on the matter, I
can provide more info if you need in order to advise me
cheers Kylie
—————–
Kylie Tobler.
B.App Sc. (Occupational Therapy), Dip. CST
Sydney.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Your question goes right to the heart of what we do.
My answer, in typical cranio fashion, is not clear cut.
Maybe . .
Maybe her system will use your treatment to grow the
cancer more aggressively.
Maybe her system will use your treatment to get rid
of the cancer completely.
By ’system’ I mean everything. Mind, Body, Spirit,
the lot and anything else we don’t know about.
You see, all the warm and fluffy talk about us
cranio sacral therapists not ‘doing’ anything but
simply supporting the patient’s system isn’t
hypothetical.
It’s actually true.
And if you know that and you are treating people
well, which means not imposing your idea of what needs
to happen on their systems, then you really have to
face the fact that you’re not in control of what’s
happening. .
. . or going to happen.
That concept is easy enough to accept when you are
dealing with something simple that isn’t resolving.
Everything feels ripe in the person’s system for an
old pattern of restriction to release but it just
won’t.
It makes you sort of scratch your head and think,
‘Well that’s odd. I can’t see any reason why it’s not
releasing.’
Then you remember, ‘Ah that’s right, I’m not running
the show here. There must be a reason that makes sense
to this persons system and it just hasn’t informed me
of it yet.’
But . .
When the person is manifesting life threatening
symptoms the stakes are much higher. It’s very easy to
slip back into the mechanistic view of health and WANT
a particular outcome. In this case more life for the
patient.
But wait, it gets more complicated . .
Being able to tell the difference between a patient
who is thinking of finishing their life and one who is
not, is difficult.
Often what comes out of the person’s mouth is very
different from what their system says.
In one case the person says, ‘I am going to beat
this.’ While their system says, ‘I can no longer live
with this discord in me. I am finishing my life.’
In another case the person says, ‘I can’t bear this
pain any longer. I just want to die.’ While their
system says, ‘I am fully engaged in my life and I want
this discord in me to come into harmony.’
Also. .
In practice I’ve seen that there’s a different
therapeutic dynamic between a patient and I, depending
on whether their situation is life threatening or not.
When a person comes to me for help and I put my
hands on them, the unspoken communication from me to
their system is always the same.
What are you trying to do?
How can I be of assistance?
(Anyone NOT asking yourself those questions, go to
the top of the class and bitch-slap the teacher. Then
get yourself a better teacher.)
If the patient’s unspoken response is, ‘I am fully
engaged in my life and I want this discord in me to
come into harmony.’
Then . . it’s on . .
The dynamic between us is a bit like an Aikido
expert trying to rodeo ride a Tasmanian Devil.
(think Bugs Bunny)
I’m the Aikido expert.
No, not really - just for this analogy.
The restriction is protected by many defences that
come to the fore as the drive for harmony lets me in.
I do my best to stay focused in spite of the
barrage.
I funnel all the energy they project in defence,
back into their system, to assist the release.
There is a back and forth struggle as I stay with
them through the process of release and healing.
All going well there is a sense of liberation at the
end. For both of us.
If, on the other hand, the unspoken response to my
question is, ‘I can no longer live with this discord in
me. I am finishing my life.’ then I am dealing with a
totally different situation and the dynamic is very
different.
No back and forth, no struggle.
Why?
I’ll have to get a bit cosmic here to explain, so if
you have any deeply held religious beliefs, you should
maybe stop reading now as you might find what I’m going
to say offends you . .
Life threatening conditions are created at the core
of the person. To effectively work with them requires
deep respect for the origin of the choice.
We are multi layered, multi faceted beings. The
part of us that makes this choice is not in our
awareness.
The choice to conclude our life is made in the same
place as the choice to begin our life.
The reasons for both choices are extremely personal
and by their nature, not in our awareness.
Put aside for a minute, any information you might
have come upon from clairvoyants and channelers etc.
Now consider these questions.
Why were you born?
Why did you choose the gender you did?
Why did you choose the family you did?
Why did you choose the country you did?
And so on . .
Don’t know?
Me neither.
If you don’t know the answer to these questions for
your own life, how are you going to know them for
someone else’s?
. . and knowing that, helps you be HUMBLE and
RESPECTFUL when working with someone dealing with these
core issues.
I can’t over emphasis this point.
Deep, for real, humility and respect are an
important key you are going to need if you really want
to be of assistance.
. . because, here’s the thing, the decision to
finish a life is NOT IRREVOCABLE.
It can change.
Cancer is very dynamic. Once it gets going it can
grow very fast.
. . . and it can un-grow very fast too.
When you approach the person with humility, respect
and NO AGENDA, a remarkable thing happens. You are
allowed deeper access to the core of the person.
No kidding.
Here’s why.
There’s a phenomenon in quantum physics called the
‘Copenhagen Interpretation’. It says that the presence
of the observer influences the experiment.
But only in Copenhagen!
No, not really.
The significant aspect of this phenomenon is
presence. Your presence makes a huge difference.
Think about it.
Your presence has been allowed into the part of the
person that is making the life/death choice.
A problem shared is a problem halved.
Just being with the person at this level is of
tremendous assistance to them. A friendly companion on
a difficult stretch of the road makes the journey
easier.
As you walk along together, them talking, you
listening, they start to tell you about why they are
finishing their life. As they do this, more and more
harmony comes into their system because of the effect
of your respectful presence.
Sometimes, as they tell you about why they are
finishing their life, it becomes apparent to them that
they’ve missed something, a piece of information or a
perspective they hadn’t looked at.
Suddenly they stop.
You are at a fork in the road that wasn’t there a
moment ago. They smile at you and say, ‘I’m feeling
somewhat Tasmanian, let’s go down this way.’
and . . . it’s on.
Other times they keep on the same road and their
passage is made easier by your presence.
Life for its own sake is not necessarily GOOD.
Death in and of itself is not necessarily BAD. The
QUALITY of both, our life and our death are what
counts.
Often the road you travel with a person dealing with
this issue has many forks and they change their mind a
lot.
The main assistance we can give is easing the
process, brokering as much harmony in their system as
possible.
Make no mistake it’s very demanding.
If you do decide to treat your friend, here are some
things to look out for from a palpatory perspective.
Bear in mind that palpation is a very personal affair
and how I pick it up may not be the way you pick it up.
What does it feel like?
In the initial, PRE pre cancerous cell stage, it
feels like an intensely bright point of light,
incandescent.
As the cancer becomes more materialised it becomes
brighter and starts to grow legs like a spider.
In time as it becomes ‘aggressive’ these legs
connect up with other points of light and the whole
thing becomes more solid.
Eventually the center of this mass of white hot
light becomes fleshy as the tumour proper forms.
If the person changes their mind about finishing
their life and the cancer starts to return to normal
tissue it will go from the white hot quality to a sort
of turgid yellow.
This eventually turns into normal tissue.
An exception to this pattern is prostate cancer,
which feels like a white cocoon being spun around the
prostate. It is made up of threads and not spidery.
Benign tumours don’t have this intense light quality
and just sort of sit there like cellular couch
potatoes, slowly getting bigger. If they are a
problem, it’s usually because they are pressing on
delicate surrounding structures.
Knowing what cancer feels like at its different
stages of growth and decline is very useful in being
able to pick up secondary or satellite growths.
Here’s why . .
If someone is intent on finishing their life and
they have received surgery, chemotherapy and radiation,
at the main site of the cancer, it often works. The
tumour is removed or shrinks and any new cancerous
cells are killed too.
But if the person is intent on finishing their life,
their system will grow satellite cancer cells somewhere
else and being able to feel this is very useful.
As if all that weren’t enough . . .
Knowing what cancer ‘feels’ like can be terrible
knowledge because it puts you in the very difficult
position of choosing what to say to the person.
CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION!
As a general rule.
Keep your mouth SHUT!
. . .and wait.
Remember what I said, physically it can change very
fast. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Literally.
The life threatening symptoms are being created by a
core part of the person. That part uses speech and
words VERY INFREQUENTLY and then only as a last resort.
FOLLOW ITS EXAMPLE.
Obviously if you’re asked a direct question, answer
it but watch out for a tendency to answer questions
that haven’t been asked.
If you wait, the person will probably tell you what
you are feeling anyway and this is much more powerful
for them.
Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy?
These treatments are effective at killing cells,
particularly cancer cells but they are very hard on the
body.
Chemotherapy feels like a very sophisticated
cocktail of poison. Which in a way, it is.
Radiation therapy is like a very bad case of
sunburn, repeated daily for 5 to 10 weeks.
Both generate a, ‘What the?’ reaction in the body.
You can be most helpful in negotiating with the
person’s system to not see these treatments as so much
of a threat but as an aid to recovery. That’s if you
are getting the feeling that they want to recover.
If not, you can only do the best you can in a
difficult situation. Try not to turn away internally
from their pain. Try and continue to be with them on
this painful stretch of the road. Remain respectful of
their process.
So, Kylie,
Cancer - Did I mention it was demanding?
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ CST and orthodontic work? - April 08
Hi John,
Thanks for your reply to my letter regarding
cancer in the New Years Newsletter.
As to what to call you how about the “enlightened
one”?
Your reply to my question made me laugh but if I
had received it a few weeks earlier I would have
cried, can I remind you of your words
“the chances of you giving yourself a major
fright and setting you palpatory skills back years
is very high.
For example, let’s say you go against your
teachers/mentors recommendation and start treating
someone who is in the middle of dealing with
cancer.
And let’s say they have a major episode the day
after you treat them and end up in hospital.
“Take a minute and think about how you would
feel. Can you imagine how difficult it would be
to stay objective about your contribution to their
being in hospital. Can you imagine how hard it
would be to avoid putting yourself through the
wringer wondering if your intention was too heavy
or too light, how you could have missed what was
coming and so on.”
Well I can tell you how I felt !!, my Aunt had
been given the all clear following Non hodgkinson
and all the horror that the treatments entailed,
bald and full of life she stayed with us for a
week over xmas on the day she was leaving I asked
if she would like to try some cranio (are you
wincing?) her system did not react and as I had
not practiced for some weeks thought it was me so
pushed the intention a bit harder but all she got
was a nice still point and a vision of a being in
a crater looking at the blue sky (that made me
wince!). She phoned me 3 days later to say she had
not been out of bed since she got home she could
not stay awake (but she felt good) I told her to
go to the Drs asap! she had no white cells and was
very close to dying.
So how did I feel! all of the above! my teacher
was on holidays but when I finally contacted her
she believed the cranio probably brought it to the
surface alot faster. My Aunt is doing alot better
they think she is one of the rare ones that get a
reaction to some injection they give post Chemo,
but they also discovered her heart and lungs are
stuffed from the Chemo! I offered her Cranio and
we both laughed (but I don’t think either of us
will go there!)
I have been going through all your archives a
couple at a time as it makes my head hurt! so many
questions!
So I will start with; I read about your case
study, the girl you helped with facial disorders,
my 18yr old son has a protruding lower Jaw they
have done one lot of orthodontic work and are now
waiting until he stops growing to operate on the
lower jaw to pull it back ( a nasty sounding
operation) and then a couple more years of braces
to correct the bite. Do you believe that cranio
could stop the jaw coming forward anymore and even
better bring it back slightly? and my daughter 15
has had two years of braces but because she had to
a have a baby tooth removed that had no adult
tooth to replace it they expect she will have
braces for two more years! Do you believe cranio
can really help in these situations, I have read
in some of the Cranio books to seek out a
orthodontist that works with Cranio but I don’t
think there is such a person in Australia? I asked
my orthodontist and he was very “polite” “what
the?!!!”
Many thanks
God opps John
Karen
Australian
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Hello Karen,
Thanks for sharing your experience about your
Aunt. It must have been awful for you. Our
palpatory skill is a wonderful but fragile thing.
I’ve had a few emails from different people
asking about orthodontic work and cranio sacral
therapy and since both your questions are about
that too, I’ll kill the few birds, humanely of
course, with one stone and answer them all
together.
Can cranio sacral therapy really help in these
situations?
Hell, yes.
Let’s start with the basics. Teeth are
basically bone and contrary to common perception,
bones ain’t bone china. Bone is plastic and wet
and it grows and most importantly responds to the
pressure it is placed under and adapts.
Wolf’s law and all that, don’t you know.
What’s Wolf’s law?
Wolf’s law states that the son of two wolves is
equal to the son of the bears on the other two
hides. . . or . . something . . like . .that.
It basically means that bone will adapt to the
loads it is placed under.
That is how they can dig up someone from a
thousand years ago and from a careful study of the
shape of the bones of their forearm, work out that
the person used to be a charioteer.
The fact they were buried in a chariot helped
but it was the bones, Jim, the bones.
So just because our teeth are sitting in bone
and our bite is essentially made of bone that
doesn’t mean that it is fixed for all eternity.
When you think about, that’s what Orthodontists
are kind of banking on.
From our perspective, you could think of braces
as being like a form of direct technique, carried
out over a numbers months or years.
When I think of our ‘bite’, and this is
probably because I used to be a carpenter, I
always think of the mandible as being like a door
and the temporo mandibular joints as being like
the hinges of the door, with the temporals and the
maxillae making up the doorframe.
Thinking of it like this helps keep all the
different parts in their rightful place.
The mandible is roughly solid. Yes, I know it
used to be in two parts and in some ways still
behaves as if it is but compared to everything
else involved that still ARE in separate parts, it
helps to think of it as solid. . . like a door.
So if a person’s bite is off it is probably not
the mandible itself but the temporals or the
maxillae.
Because if the doorframe is not straight the
door will keep banging on the frame and never
close properly.
Now let’s look at the two examples you gave.
You write that your son’s lower jaw is
protruding. The first thing I would ask myself is
why is it doing that? Is the mandible sticking out
or is the face pushed in? or is a bit of both.
I would palpate his whole face and try and get
a sense of what the overall pattern was.
Once you do that you can begin to look at the
hinges and the doorframe. For example: There
could be a pattern where his temporals are
torsioned anteriorly and inferiorly in a kind of
temporal nose dive and this in turn could have the
knock-on effect of pushing his mandible
anteriorly.
Or both his maxillae could be driven
posteriorly.
If it is in the temporals I would treat it with
indirect technique.
If it is his maxillae I would treat it with a
combination of indirect and then direct technique.
Indirect to follow into the pattern and help it
release then direct because the influence of the
cranial rhythm is weaker in the maxillae and they
can need a little help getting where they want to
go.
If the maxillae are driven posteriorly you will
need to assess the palatines and help them release
too if the pattern goes back that far. You will
also need to look at how the sphenoid is affected
by this pattern, particularly the pterygoid
plates.
With your daughter, it sounds like they are
trying to even out the gap left by the extraction.
Again, I would palpate her whole face and try
and get a sense of an underlying pattern that
might have caused the situation.
If nothing major presents itself, it may be a
case that her body doesn’t register the situation
in her mouth as being a problem. This would make
you work a lot more difficult and require a lot
more direct technique.
Assuming that your daughter’s braces are not
fixed, you can work on the teeth individually.
You can take each tooth and ‘unwind’ it. That in
itself may begin to even out the gaps.
And finally, as a general note about working
with the mouth, the bite and teeth, it’s important
to rely on the fact that our body is NOT
predisposed to have a banging, jarring,
disharmonious bite. It wants to bite right.
All you have to do is help it. Having said that
I have found as a general rule that while bone is
responsive it can take a while for it to grow in
new directions and by a while I mean 2 to 4
months.
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ Question about therapist burnout. - July 08
Hi John
Thank you for the very valuable information shared
by you and other CS therapists. I’ve been a
little out of circuit lately - life’s little
challenges - so even though you may have not had a
response from me, I’m still keen to remain
connected.
My preference would be more frequent shorter news
rather than the other.
Kindly advise what the donations will be used for.
Any suggestions for therapist burn out ? A long
awaited holiday is needed, I know ,and am busy
working toward one. My forearms are taking strain
and was told that Kinesiology NOT treatment can
help. I’m pretty good at caring for myself but
what with juggling teaching yoga, CST, VM and my
latest baby, doing readings it has all suddenly
caught up with me. I keep the yoga, therapy and
readings for separate days giving me enough time
to replenish. Please throw some light (energy) on
this subject.
Kindly yours
Peni in Cape Town
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Hello Peni,
There are lots of different energetic
considerations when considering burnout but the
one that stands out to me, from what you have
written, is that you are doing A LOT!
It may be nothing to do with any of the
therapies that you are doing individually. It may
be that you are doing so many plus your new baby.
I’m getting tired just thinking about it.
It sounds like you know what I am going to say
next but I’ll say anyway. It’s important to find
a way, that works for you, of removing any
residual energy after you treat someone.
For some people this means a full shower for
others it is simply letting water run over their
hands.
Avoid seeing too many people in a week. I have
found that somewhere between 12 and 18 adults is
about as much as most people can treat with cranio
sacral therapy without burning out very quickly.
Even if you find a way of removing excess
energy after each person and you don’t see too
many people you will still need to take a break
every 3 months for at least 7 days.
On top of all that you need to take a long
break, around 6 months, every 10 years.
It took me 12 years to figure that one out.
What will the donations be used for?
Well mainly to keep me in cigars and wine, oh
yes and also to help me run open source cranio.
It takes a lot of time and I do have to pay for
things like web hosting etc. I also plan to put
teaching videos on the site and these all cost
money to make.
Primarily the ‘donate’ button is an opportunity
for people to give back. This is good for me, not
just because of the cigars and wine, but also
because it’s important to be able to receive, me
included. I have found that if you can’t receive
comfortably then you can’t really give.
