Reframing is a technique that has developed out of Neuro Linguistic
Programming or NLP for short. It is based on the principle that a different
perspective can unleash a lot of power.  Have a look at this video to get
an idea of how a different perspective can make a huge difference.
You’ll get the different perspective at the end of the clip.

It is easy for us to get stuck in a particular perspective or frame through which
we see things. This frame becomes the only way we see a particular thing, the
world, ourselves etc. If the particular frame is limiting this can be a problem
because there may be no solution to the problem in the frame I hold.

A locked and limiting frame has the effect of drying up our fluidity and
causing us to get stuck. To break out of this we need to ‘try out’ different
frames. This has the effect of looking at the problem for lots of different
angles but more importantly it releases our creative energies and allows
us to be more fluid and responsive.

Here are some common examples in cranial work of frames of perspective
that are locked.

Cause = Effect Statements: “This X leads to this Y”
“If a patient’s symptoms get worse after treatment, they will blame me..”

Complex Equivalence Statements: “This X means this Y”
“The fact that the patient’s symptoms got worse means I did something wrong.”

Identification; “This X means this Y about ME”‘
“The fact that the patient’s symptoms got worse means I am a bad therapist.”

External Behavior = Internal State
“If a patient’s symptoms get worse, it means I am a bad therapist, which makes me feel bad.”
Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, saw the musical.

Before you begin reframing it’s important to find both the External Behavior
and the Internal State.

For example, a statement like, “Patients think I am a bad therapist”, is an
expression of an internal state.

To find the coresponding external you could ask yourself, “What causes to
patients to think I am a bad therapist?”

The answer might be “Because their symptoms get worse after I treat them.”

Now you have an external behavior (Their symptoms get worse after I treat them.)
and an Internal State (Patients think I’m a bad therapist).

“Patients think I am a bad therapist because their symptoms get worse after I treat them.”

Now you can begin reframing: Here are some ways to see the situation differently.

Reframing the external behaviour:
“A change in a patient’s symptoms after my treatment is a great indication of my
treatment having an impact on their system.”

Reframe The Internal State:
“It’s not that patients thinks I am incompetent, it is that they don’t understand the
process of healing.”

Counter Example:
“Can I think of a time when a patients symptoms have got worse and they didn’t
think it was my fault? Or can I think of a time that a patient understood the
significance of their symptoms getting worse and were encouraged by it?”

Outcome Framing:
“What’s going to happen to my success level if I keep thinking this way?
What will my life be like in ten years, or twenty?”

Allness Framing:
“Do I think that every single patient whose symptoms get worse after seeing
me will think I am incompetent as a therapist?”

Reflexively Apply to Self or Listener:
“In other words, I should probably conclude I am an incompetent therapist
because a patient of mine symptom’s get worse after I treated them.”
“Are you trying to tell me that if one of my patient’s symptoms get worse
after I treat them that I am an incompetent therapist?”

Specific focus:
“How does this happen specifically?”
“What happens first?”
“What happens right after that?”
“How does the exact sequence go for a patient to go from trusting me to not
thinking I am competent because their symptoms get worse without me
having any say in the matter or influence whatsoever?”

You can use reframing with any difficulty you might be having with your
cranio sacral practice.

<< Back to Basics 1 syllabus

The purpose of including meditation in your cranio sacral training is to help you become familiar with your inner state or landscape.

In that way you can begin to differentiate between what you are receiving from the person you are treating and what is just you.

Think of it like this.
You are sitting in front of a big wide screen TV.
The channel keeps changing but that doesn’t matter because you find everything interesting. Behind you there is a small colour TV but you can’t turn around to look at it. You can hear what’s on the small TV but you can’t make it out because the noise from the TV in front of you is obscuring it.

Are you with that image so far? You are facing the big TV with the little TV behind you.

Every now and then, when the screen on the big TV goes dark, you can make out something of the little TV as it reflected in the darkened screen of the big TV.

Let me explain: The big TV is your body – mind etc, your system. The little TV is the patient’s system.

You want to be able to see their system – the show on the little TV – as accurately as you can.

So the obvious thing to do is turn off the big TV, then in the empty screen and without the sound, it is much easier to see what is happening on the little TV as it is reflected on the darkened screen of the big TV.

Learning to meditate is like learning how to turn off your TV. You need to be able to reduce your internal static. What you are left with is a sort of inner silence into which it is easier to hear any ‘noise’ from the person you are working with.

There will be more about meditation later in the course.
For now it is important to develop the habit.

Here is what to do:

• Set aside 10 minutes morning and evening for meditation practice.
• Find a secluded spot in a quiet room.
• Get yourself a timer of some sort and set it to 10 minutes. ( Having a timer gives you one less thing to think about when you are meditating.)
• Sit in a not too comfortable chair. (if it is too comfortable you may fall asleep. Don’t meditate lying down for the same reason.)
• Make sure your back is straight and you are not slouching.
• Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.
• Starting at your toes check through your body for any tension you may be holding. If you find any let it go.
• Remember to breath.
• Turn off any internal conversations, monitoring or narration you might be engaged in.
• Allow your mental screen to go blank.
• Remember to breath.
• Whenever you find yourself thinking turn off any internal conversations, monitoring or narration you might be engaged in.
• Allow your mental screen to go blank.
• Remember to breath.
• Continue like this until you timer goes off.

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