What follows is a description of my experience of working with energy in Cranio Sacral Therapy. It is intended as an adjunct to any energy work you may already have experience in. My intention is to explore different ways of working with energy that are very effective with Cranio Sacral Treatment.

There are many different ways to look at what is happening during energy work and it is best to find a way that makes sense to you.

If you find the idea of working with energy a little ‘out there’ think of it like this; if you went back in time and tried to describe how television worked to someone back in the middle ages, they would probably say it sounded like magic.

“These images are floating around in the air all the time, yet they can’t be seen. But, with the right receiver you can see pictures of something happening on the other side of the planet.”

Nowadays it is all very normal and explainable. I suggest you approach energy work in the same way. Be as practical about it as possible all the while having gratitude for the gift of whatever energy comes through you.

A key aspect of energy is that Energy Follows Thought.

You can encourage something to release in a very specific way by putting your Intention on it. Your intention is energised by the energy that comes to the assistance of your intent to help.

The cells of our bodies adhere to a continually renewing energetic blueprint we first establish in the womb. What gives this blueprint its potency is the movement of cerebro spinal fluid, in what we call flexion and extension. This energetic blueprint sets the outlines for the structures we are familiar with, heart, lungs, etc. The blueprint also includes the unseen connections between these structures, what in Chinese medicine are called Meridians. Another aspect to the blueprint are the structures that conduct energy flow through our system in the same way water flows through a hose.

ENERGY MODEL FOR HEALING
One of the things we are doing when we treat people is we are working to help this blueprint to repair itself. I have found there is a specific circuit we work with. It starts with perceiving energy leaving our right hand and entering our left hand. Our right hand is the one we use to put energy in with and the left is for taking excess energy out.

PRACTICE
You can feel this if you hold your hands about three inches apart and tune into them. You will first feel energy between your hands.

Follow the flow of energy coming out of your right hand. Up to your elbow and generally coming from the right side of your torso. Feel where the source of the energy is coming from.

Now hold that thought while you feel the next bit.

You can sense energy coming down from the sky or universe and also up from the Earth. The energy from the universe has a light, airy and vast quality. While the energy from the earth is grounded, solid and deep.

You can feel it entering your body on the left hand side and leaving it on the right. The energy from the universe and the earth meet as they enter your body. Energy
enters through the left side of your head from the universe and up through your left foot from the earth.

It converges in your torso, crosses your body to the right side and travels down your right forearm and out of your right hand.

The energy that is picked up by your left hand travels up your left forearm is pulled into the left side of your torso. It crosses your body and diffuses up and down to leave
through the right side of your head out through your right leg & foot.

Confused? Here is a diagram that will help.

The flow between our hands is the focal point for the sort of work we do. Having a sense of this circuit will allow you to tap into as much energy as is required. Knowing that you are availing of energy flowing through you will help you conserve your own energy and not feel so drained from the work.

To get a visual reference for how you can have a lot of energy flow through you without being drained by it, have a look at this video. It is of a man who works on high voltage cables. They are not turned off. He is flown in by helicopter and wears a faraday suit which the high voltage flows through. Apart from it being a fascinating video clip, it’s a great example of how you can work with a lot of energy and it not affect you.

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.

<< Back to Basics 1 syllabus

Every interaction that occurs between a cranio sacral therapist and the person you are treating follows the same general outline.

❍ Tuning in to yourself and then the patient
Tuning in means being open to receive whatever the person’s system wants to reveal to you. Tuning in is making yourself available for communication.

It is important to approach the person with as little going on inside yourself as possible. Our thinking is often unconscious to us. We need to tune into ourselves (make it conscious) to see what is going on in there before we approach another.

As we tune into ourselves we can drop as much tension in our bodies and unnecessary thinking as possible. Once we have
made a ‘blank slate’ of ourselves we can then approach the person and tune in to them.

❍ Following the body
This is giving the body the space in which to move and the sensitivity to follow it.

❍ Holding Against Restrictions
Following is important but it will be pointless if the therapist doesn’t identify the restriction and hold against them at the right time.

❍ Waiting for Release
It is vital to allow the body time to release in. You may find yourself in an awkward position or just get bored, but you must wait on the body, trusting that it will release.

❍ Following through
Following through is continuing to follow the dance once the release has occurred. It means avoiding just plonking the limb or whatever part of the body you are working on, back on the table when you are finished.

❍ Reassessing
This means standing back and looking at the bigger picture in the light of the new release you have helped to achieve. What difference has it made? What does that difference prompt you to do next?

The above goes on in the larger scale of the whole treatment program, in each session, in each technique and in each release within each technique.

So the fundamental cranio sacral treatment approach is

❍ Tuning in to yourself and then the person
❍ Following the body
❍ Holding against Restrictions
❍ Waiting for Release
❍ Following through
❍ Reassessing

<< Back to Basics 1 syllabus