November 22 – 2007

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Cranio sacral therapy on FaceBook.
+ Working with energy.
+ Reframing.
+ Cerebral palsy and the blueprint
+ More on the arachnoid mater from Al Pelowski in South Africa.

Hello John,
If you were one of the many therapists that
sent me your profiles to have them listed, then
have a look here to see I got everything right.
Right picture, right spelling, right on man! (or
Woman!)

http://www.open-source-cranio.com/therapists/listing.html

Speaking of right on women, Rene from New
Zealand let me know about a cranio sacral therapy
group on Face book.  I’ve had a look and think it
is a spiffing idea.  It’s great to be able to put
faces to names and connect with fellow therapists
across the world.

Yes, it is a bit of a pain signing up and
creating a profile but worth it, no?

http://www.facebook.com/

Now. . .
. . . this newsletter is slightly different to
others in that half the content is on my website.
The reason for this is the inclusion of video and
images.

The first article is about how I use energy
when I am working and includes a detailed diagram
of energy flow.  There is also an amazing video
illustrating how you can work with high levels of
energy and not have it affect you.  Be a good egg
and let me know what you think.
You can read it here.

The second article is about how to use
reframing to help you when you hit a wall in
practice or study.  In fact you can use reframing
in all aspects of your life.  The article starts
off with a great little video which illustrates
the power of a reframe.
You can read it here.

I’ll wait while you go and have a look at them.

Finished?

Okay then, let’s get on with the mailbag.

***QUESTION***

Hi John

I would like to know a bit more about working with
Cerebral Palsy. What is the best approach?  Is
there any chance for the person to recover some of
their functions or is it too much to ask to the
body? I suppose it requires to go back to the blue
print. Your comments about the blue print in the
last newsletter were very interesting. My only
problem is that I am a kinaesthetic kind of person
and images don’t talk to me very much. Could you
tell me how the blue print feels so I know that
what I feel under my hands is the blueprint or
something else. This would be very useful for me.
Thank you.
Odile, Brisbane.

Odile Grisel

http://www.odilegrisel.com.au

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Odile,
Thank you for your email.

I have had some good success with cerebral
palsy and I’ve had some no-change-at-all’s.  When
I think about what was common among the successes
the main thing was that the people were young.
Under 3yrs old.

When treating cerebral palsy I generally find
myself working with the nervous system.  From the
hemisphere of the brain involved out to the
periphery.  Following the nerves, working to
enhance the integrity where it is diminished.

I have heard some therapists say they find lots
of limb unwinding very useful to unlock the
central restrictions.  I haven’t found that myself
but pass it on in case you find it useful.

I never think of treatment in terms of, ‘Is
this too much to ask of the body?’  At this stage
I have seen so many apparent ‘miracles’ that I
know the body is capable of anything.  So it is
never a case of CAN this happen but more a case of
IS it going to happen?

It can often be a blueprint problem, which
leads me to your second question about describing
what the blueprint feels like without using
images.

I had to put my thinking cap on for that one.
Here’s what I got.  To me, the blueprint feels
very whispy and mist-like, but not moist. It feels
like touching a smoke ring that pulses with
flexion and extension and releases like solid
tissue.

Phew!  Okay I’m going to take my thinking cap
off now because my head is hurting.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***

Hallo John and thanks for the latest issue!
Gets me going on my deck in early morning Joburg
visualising teacups…

I especially wanted to comment, to give a
different slant on what you said about the spider
web mother.

So here goes.  Let me know what you think of this
version.

Starting with the nervous system’s generative
membrane, the ependyma, all else follows.

Leaving out the details..just remember that most
membranes grow in a doubling process.  They grow
with a potential space between.  The space is
where canals and tissues form.

The primitive ependyma lining the neural tube is
doubled.  The inner layer keeps its name but the
other layer becomes the pia between the two layers.
Ependymal cells differentiate to form the brain &
spinal cord.  The pia also doubles to form a
potential space for blood–pia intima and  pia
externa, it provides a capillary network for the
brain.

Some bits of pia are left in the ventricles bound
up with the ependyma  and together form the
choroid plexi the outer layer of pia, the ‘pia
externa’ is doubled as well its outer layer
becomes the arachnoid between are pulled out fine
reticulin fibres–the spider web the arachnoid
sprouts little cauliflower-like buds as it grows-
granulations.

The ependyma, pia and arachnoid grow out of each
other and are referred  to as the ‘leptomeninges’
in many texts.  They are epethelia–derived from
the zygote wall they are closely related to the
inner linings of organs and to the epidermis all
epithelia share a wide variety of peptides and
receptors.

“As the inside, so the outside.”  Gut / brain /
skin growing more slowly along with the rest of
the body, the dura is not  epithelial, but
connective tissue related to bone and blood.  it
comes to form the fascial sac around the arachnoid
mater.

A whole different animal.   It doesn’t need to bath
itself in CSF.  But it too is a doubled membrane
and its potential space becomes canalised for
venous blood.  The arachnoid graulations become
surrounded by and incorporated into the inner
layer of dura as it grows.

The granulations (like the choroid) contain highly
specialised cells which are involved in transport.
some cells can move waste out of the CSF into the
venous return.  Others will to abstracting
material from the blood into the CSF.

All this gets more interesting when you see how
the 4th ventricle foramina form as the ependymal-
pial separation occurs.  the whole thing is
designed to link qualities of blood and CSF
without haphazard mixing.

The leptomeninges can only survive and function in
the amniotic-CSF environment, inside and out.  The
dura doesn’t mind blood at all and never comes
into touch with CSF.

Keep it up

Al

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Al, you describe things real sweet.

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

Today I lost a dear friend and college.
Al Pelowski died this morning in Johannesburg.

If you know who Al was you will know the great hole his passing has left in the cranio sacral world, particularly in South Africa.

Al was the main tutor in my cranio sacral training.
That’s how I met him.  He was a fantastic teacher.

His energetic passion and enthusiasm made anatomy and physiology, which I had difficulty with, come to life.  That is a rare gift that few teachers have.  As my training progressed I got to know Al the man.

At times irreverent and provocative he was always warm and immensely personable.  But above all Al was one of life’s live-ers.

He exuded a vitality that took it as read that I was a better man than I realised.  That is who he talked to, the better man he could see, and because of it I became that better man.   I suspect most people had that experience with him.

He also had titanium confidence and would take on the most difficult of cases without batting an eyelid.  I traded on that confidence a lot in my fledgling days as a therapist.  Whenever I felt scared I knew that Al wouldn’t be and that somehow gave me courage.

Over the years we stayed in touch.  I went to live in Australia and founded The Australian Institute of Cranio Sacral Therapy and he went to South Africa and founded the schools there.

In time he came and delivered post graduate seminars to my students in Brisbane and I went to South Africa and I did the same for his students.

Regardless of which country we were in the times I remember most were the evenings after the teaching was done.

We would sit on a deck or a veranda and drink too much wine, smoke too many cigars and have the best of times.

Al’s legacy is huge.  The therapists he trained, the teachers he cultivated, the outreach programs he championed.  No will ever know the full extent of the number of lives that were positively affected by his  having lived.

I spoke to Kitya in Cape Town today.  She told me that the news of Al’s death traveled through the local cranio community fast and in a very short space of time he was surrounded and ‘held’ by the therapists he had trained.

They held him for a long time.

I was struck by the beauty of the image of him being held in this way, cocooned in love, womb-like almost.

Then something came back to me  from a post grad Al delivered in Brisbane years ago.  He was trying to get across the continual unfoldment that goes on in a life both physically and in every other way.

He said, “It’s not a case of you are born, you live and you die.  It is more a case of you are born and you are born and you are born and you are born until your life is over.”

Goodbye Al, you have gone right back into the mystery now.
You are missed by many.
You were my teacher, my mentor and my college.
I will miss these aspects of you but mostly I miss my friend.

Fairbairn’s Structural Theory.- Size 271KB

Article on Fairbairn’s structural theory. It is a hefty read but very helpful in understanding
how we relate to people as objects and how this affects us and our relationships.

Baby Talk: Can you hear my silent scream? – Size 108KB

Article by Al Pelowski, principal of South African Institute
of Cranial Studies. A call in the middle of the night from an overwrought
parent sets Al off to the hospital to help a new born baby who is having
seizures every couple of minutes.

Intelligence of Hands – Size 40KB

Excerpt from and interview with John Upledger about experiments that
give an insight into how cranio sacral therapists can ‘know without knowing,’
how to place their hands on the right part of the body and then help the
body release.

Healing and the Natural World – Size 228 KB

Wide ranging interview with osteopath Jim Jealous about everything
from the nature of healing to the origins of osteopathy. It is particularly
interesting considering cranio sacral therapy has its origins in osteopathy
which, as he says has been alternative since 1874.

Children and Divorce: How to guide your family through separation/divorce. – Size
240 KB

Article by Trish Banks, M.A. who specialises in psychosynthesis and
reflective practice in childcare. This article is a practical blueprint
for navigating the mine field of divorce and separation. The most common
response I have heard about this article is, ‘This would have been great
to know about when my marriage was falling apart.’ (The above link will
bring you to the download page of Trish’s site. The text says you have
been added to her mailing list but you haven’t and won’t be unless you
want to.)

The Search for Healing – Size 104 KB

Article by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. who specialises in chronic and
life-threatening illness. She is also medical director of the Commonwealth
Cancer Help Program. She discuses the interaction between practitioner
and patient.

Life Imitating Heart – Size 176KB

The story of Claire Sylvia, a heart and lung transplant patient. Her noticed
that her personality changed after the operation. She started drinking
beer, eating fast food and ogling girls – just like the dead boy who helped
her live.

Her story is an excellent example of tissue memory. The idea that memory
is not stored in the brain alone but also in the cells of our bodies.

The Effects of Early Relational Trauma on Right Brain Development, Affect Regulation, and Infant Mental Health – Size 1.6MB

Big, (check the size before you download) Long and academically written
paper by Allan N. Schore about the way babies bond with their parents
and how that bonding process can be affected by trauma.

Trauma-the Vortex of Violence – Size 192 KB

Peter Lavine has written excellent books on the effects of trauma. This
article is an excellent introduction to his work.

The Science of Being Well – Size 284 KB

The Science of Being Great – Size 420 KB

The Science of Geting Rich. – Size 496KB

Three powerful books written by Wallace D Wattles. The remarkable thing
about these books is they were written in 1910.

January 4 -2009

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Bring someone international to your practice
- from Nica in Berlin.
+ Follow on comment on Shunts from Malcolm Hiort,
Director, Australian Craniofascial Therapy School
+ Follow on comment on Shunts from Al Pelowski in Durban.
+ Question about self doubt.
+ Question about unwinding from Nellian Bekker.
+ Question on Death and ReBirth from Ingrid Hoffman in Ireland.

Hello,

It may only be 5 days old but so far 2009 is shaping
up to be a great year. I start back into my practice
tomorrow after 10 glorious days of rest and excess.
My batteries are charged and I’m ready to go.

Here are the latest additions to Open Source Cranio. . . .

I finally finished updating the list of cranio
sacral therapy schools around the world.  I know
it’s not exhaustive so if I haven’t listed your favorite
school let me know and I will include it.
Cranio sacral therapy schools

Speaking of listings I am in the process of updating
the therapists listings. I want to set them up so that
you can access and update your own listing and I want
to link the listings to some sort of google map so that
it will be easier for people to find therapists near them.

So if any of you are computer whizzes and would like
to help please get in touch.

You will notice that I have changed the design of
the site.  Hopefully it is now easier to read and
works better as a learning resource.
Let me know what you think.

Forum.
Here are some of the topics being discussed on
the Open Source Cranio Forum. . . .

There is a nice post from Xavia in South Africa
about a 4 year old girl who has Angleman’s syndrome.

Another good post from Thespeni Calogero-Allen
in South Affrica about a 2 year old releasing a burn trauma.

There was a question about insurance from Sara.

And a discussion about depression.

Masterclass DVD Series.
I have been busy preparing my DVD masterclass series.
This will be about 8 hours of video taken from a post
graduate seminar I did in Cape Town.  It’s looking
like it will be an 8 or 9 DVD set. I will let you
know more about it when it is closer to completion.

Another cranio newsletter. . .
James Nemec, a cranio sacral therapist from America
has started a cranio sacral therapy newsletter.
I think it is worth checking out as it’s always
good to get different perspectives.

http://www.craniocean.com/

I came across this article about a girl with
vacterl syndrome, it’s alright I didn’t know what
it was either,  it’s a series of birth defects that
affected a number of internal organs including her
heart, esophagus and stomach, as well as caused
irregularities with her spine and anus.

She also had a severe scoliosis.  She is getting
great results with cranio sacral therapy but her
insurance company won’t cover it.  Local town did
fund raising to help her continue with her treatment.
Personally I find the cost of her treatment high
but that could be just me.
What do you think?

And finally the other thing I have been up to is
making goofy videos about learning to use my all
-terrain roller skates, ominously called Doomwheels,
in conjunction with my Kitewing, which is a cross
between a hang-glider and a windsurfing sale.

You can see my shenanigans, if that’s the sort
of thing that interests you, here . .

Anyhu, let’s get on with the mailbag.

***INVITATION FROM NICA IN BERLIN***

Dear john,
How are you doing?

I am wondering if there would be any possibility,
that I could spend a few weeks, working in another
practice as an idea of exchanging experiences?

Maybe there are people who would love to have -
for a limited period, – another craniosacral-therapist
from abroad in his/her place to be able to grow
together,etc.?

What are your thoughts?

Lovely greetings out of berlin! Aswell to your wife!
Nica

Nica Berndt – Caccivio
Berlin

>>>MY COMMENTS:

I met up with Nica and her husband in Berlin,
when I was there last year.

She would bring a lot to any practice
or exchange program.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM MALCOLM HIORT***

Hi John,
Re Odile’s email/your reply:
My experience of clients with shunts is that their
cranial rhythms are compromised.
Specifically, I notice that maximal expansion/flexion
is never reached.
The end-point of movement has a ‘rebound’ quality
to it, without the ‘tapering’ effect normally palpated.
I have felt this characteristic diminished amplitude
throughout the body.

Another consequence of a shunt is that inducing a
still point cannot be achieved, at least in my
experience.
It seems that when CSF back-pressure begins to
build within the ventricles, it is vented by the
shunt.
Again, this is a bodywide occurrence, no matter
where the technique is applied.

I would be interested to get any feedback on my
remarks at info@craniofascial.com
www.craniosacralart.com was interesting.

cheers John, keep up the good work.

Malcolm Hiort, Director,
Australian Craniofascial Therapy School

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Malcolm.
Shunts certainly compromise the fluid dynamics of the system.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***

There’s a good description and pics of shunts in
the Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations,
V.1, the Nervous System, Part II -Neurologic and
Neuromuscular Disorders.

In there you’ll see that shunts can be set to
drain into the peritoneal space rather than the jugular v.

Peritoneal drainage is often preferred in babes
and kids because the longer tube allows for growth.

But, either way, shunting tubes have to penetrate
several layers of membrane, muscle and fascia.
This can, and often does lead to chronic infections
and irritation.

Another problem is the silting up of the valve and
the thin cannula–CSF is loaded with salts (electolytes)
that can crystallise out of solution in the margins
of turbulent flows and eddies in the apparatus.

Shunting therefore can require frequent reinsertions
+ drugs (e.g. antibiotics and steroids)

Some of the risk factors are covered in
Toru Fukuhara et al, “Risk factors for Failure of
Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy for Obstructive
Hydrocephalus,” in the journal Neurosurgery, V.46,
No. 5, May 2000, where you will also find
some 40 references.

It might also be useful to see*
*CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS SYNDROMES by **J. Cary Moorhead,
MD, in Grand Round Archives June 24, 1993.

I’ve worked cranially with maybe a dozen babies
and kids with shunts.
It’s vital to know the history of it and to be
aware that tubal irritation and immune suppression
will distort and disempower the child’s responses.
There are loads of cautions in this work, but no
firm contraindications I can think of.
Other practitioners seeing cases of craniosynostosis?
Please get in touch.

I believe it’s a mushrooming problem worldwide.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Al.

For those of you that don’t know, Craniosynostosis,
is a condition where some or all of the sutures in the
skull of an infant or child become fused.

I have treated a few children with it in Australia.
The cranium felt like it was made of marble.
Hardly any movement.  In all cases it felt like
a blueprint problem to me.  It felt like the
developmental process of the system was accelerated.
It felt like the sutures had met each other with such
force that they fused in a solid way that no adult would.

In all the children I saw, the condition had got to
the point where they needed surgery to separate the
sutures. My sense was that if I had seen them earlier
we could have avoided the surgery.

What have your experiences with Craniosynostosis
been like?

***QUESTION***

Thank you for creating such a helpful website!

I am writing to you in relation to Trigeminal Neuralgia.

I read your response to a fellow CS therapist
and applied these principles to my treatment
of a patient with this diagnosis.

I have seen her for 6 sessions and she tells me
that she experiences 1 or 2days relief from symptoms.
Her response was to make a longer gap between sessions
(3 weeks).

I wish I had contacted you earlier for feedback
as I am seeing her again tomorrow, but well……
my query is about if no big results after 6 sessions
are you being ineffective?

I doubt my ability as a CS therapist…..frequently…
…but have had some patients with great results
from treatment.

I will say to her tomorrow that it is best to
make the sessions weekly for a few weeks and
work from there, if she is willing to try this.

It is difficult when working with self-doubt
and a general lack of patients (slow pace of clients).

I have been in practice for 2 years and studied
at Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust in
London with Ged Sumner and Michael Kern.

Any feedback on my dilemma would be gratefully received.

Thanks

R.A.
Gloucester, U.K.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

To answer your query, ‘if there are no big
results after 6 sessions are you being ineffective?’
I would need to know how far apart the sessions were.
If your patient was getting 1-2 days relief with
sessions 3 weeks apart, then she would probably
get better results if you saw her every week.

The thing is, it would have saved you both some
grief if you persuaded her to do that from the
beginning.  Now you have both lost confidence
in the process.

I always encourage people to come every week
at the beginning of the treatment program.
I explain it in this way: -
(Feel free to borrow it.)

‘Your system is in the habit of being restricted.
When you come for treatment your system begins to
release those restrictions and it starts to ‘remember’
the way it was before it became restricted.
Over the course of the week the habitual pattern
of restriction starts to reassert itself.
Because of this it is very important to come
for treatment every week, particularly at the
beginning of the your treatment program, to help
your system get some momentum.’

With regard to your self-doubt let me refer
you to these previous letters.

Do patients need to believe?

Am I making it up?

***QUESTION***

Hi John,

I am not sure wether this would be a case for your
fantastic Newsletter…….

I have been working on this young man (17) since
October 2006- originally came for sinusitis,
which healed.

He has never been in an accident, but had a fall
at school which his parents were not told about??
He scored the highest in 7 out of his 8 subjects
in Grade 12 this year (German), and the matric
exams is a joke for him. He wants to become a doctor.
He was always sickly as a child.
His mother was  in labour for 12 hours before he
was born by emergency caesarian because his heart
had stopped beating.

He had bad scoliosis which is a lot better.
The lesion in his lower thoracic Level T8, his scapula
positions, kifosis and lordosis are some of the
things that I am working on, as well as his
‘pinched’ face.  It does not matter where I touch him,
he starts unwinding, pulling into all sorts of positions,
and the body sometimes pulls straight up from the bed
with only his head and feet touching, then he would flip,
feet over his head, and then be relaxed and exhausted,
leaving me half dead as well.

His dad is also a client of mine.  I got the impression
that they do not have a great relationship.
He has a younger sister.

Any insights from your side that can help both of us PLEASE?

I know that you are the best!

Enjoy your day!

Nellian Bekker
Cape Town

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Nellian,
I think you need to reassert your authority
in the situation.  From what you are describing
it sounds like his system is like a bucking bronco
and you are trying to hang on.   It is an easy
enough mistake to make in unwinding as we can
become so focused on following the persons
system we can cross the line into being pulled
along by it.

The trick is to stop it before it becomes a
problem.  You do this at the beginning of the
unwinding.  Right at the point where you have
done the articulation and you have taken up a
contact in readiness to begin the unwinding.
When you are at that point, do the following…

WAIT.

Don’t don anything.  Don’t allow the persons
system to move you. Simply hold it and . . .

Wait.

If you don’t wait you will just get pulled
along and it’s very hard to effect any substantial
releases that way.

Waiting conveys your authority in the situation
because the communication from your system to
theirs, while you are holding and waiting is,
‘I choose to follow.’

In that choice lies your authority and once
you establish it the persons system will feel
much more secure with you and reveal very
delicate restrictions because it knows you
can support it through them.

Specifically regarding your patient,
if he continually goes into vigorous unwinding
and you get the feeling that it isn’t productive
then I suggest you direct the energy of his
unwinding back into his system.  Basically
this requires you to hold his system and not
let it move around too much while at the
same time using your intention to direct
what releases that are occurring back into
his system.  This has an implosive rather
than an explosive quality.

Because his system is used to moving
around a lot it may be difficult in the
beginning but if you persevere you will
find that you will get to deeper levels
of release.

***QUESTION***

Death and Rebirth:

Dear John

Winter will soon bring our energies inwards
and with the Winter Solstice approaching,
here in the North, I find that many of my
clients are suffering with melancholy and
soul loss.

How can CST help?

Ingrid Hoffman.
Rathfeigh Tara Ireland

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Ingrid,

Don’t get me started on the winters in
Ireland.  They are SOOO depressing.
Getting up in the morning in darkness,
going to work in darkness, coming home
in darkness and in between, grayness
- if you’re lucky!
If you’re not lucky it will be raining
gray sheets of liquid concrete.

No wonder the pagans used to throw a
big party at the winter solstice.
Can you blame them?
Even though they knew they were in for
another couple of months of depressing
weather, just the knowledge that the
days were getting a little longer,
even if it was only by a couple of
minutes each day, was cause enough
for celebration.

Having said all that I have found
that while the weather can get a person
down, it won’t cause depression.

Now before you start quoting me all
the statistics on SAD’s,  [Seasonally
Affected Depression] I’m not saying
it doesn’t exist or that it isn’t
linked to the weather.  What I am
saying is that I haven’t found the
weather to be the root cause.

When I used to live in Australia
I treated just as many people for
depression and they were up to their
armpits in sunshine.

The sense of being a ‘lost soul’
is something that goes deeper and
will surface regardless of the
environment.

It is where a person feels like
their life has lost its meaning.
Where the joy has gone and they
are ‘off track’. Day to day feels
like just going through the motions
and nothing has any real meaning.

They feel their life doesn’t represent
them at all. It is often described to
me as waking up one morning and realizing
that they are not living the life they
thought they would or know they should.
If you’re feeling like that and the
weather is awful it will amplify the
feeling for sure but as I said it’s
not the cause.

Cranio sacral work is particularly good
at helping with this kind of lost soul
feeling because it works with the deeper
disharmonies that lead to this kind of
condition.

So that’s it for this issue.

Let me wish you all the very best for 2009.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

+ Teaching family members basic techniques? – October 06

Hey John, thanks yet again for the e-newsletter. As always, and I
don’t know how you do it, you’ve included material that prompts
me to write. Usually I’m too preoccupied with matters here in SA
to respond. But here is one SA real world question / comment.

Quite often in my practice I see a baby and parent(s) or grandparent
or carer just once or twice. This is because of my hectic schedule
and because we often don’t have practitioners nearby to follow-up,
or because people can’t afford it.

Most of these families come into teaching clinics in courses where
there is no cost. They may come from distant places, but only the once.
However, I usually find that mum or dad or somebody in the family
can easily learn to hold their baby in constructive ways, especially
during tantrums.

They get a demo and a paper by Aletha Solter to explain this. It is
also possible to show how to massage the scalp (e.g. with shampooing),
how to stroke the spine and conception channels. Parents will usually
respond to recommendations for dietary (chelation) and feeding /
weaning problems. I have many parents / carers working very
creatively with their babies, some even coming forward for training
in CST, with others coming regularly (with their babies) to learn
more in our local evening empowerment workshops.

This situation isn’t ideal, but in the far flung communities in SA it’s
often all we’ve got. Sometimes I worry about this. One would always
prefer to be in a position to follow-up with the baby and family as a
whole, however long it takes.

However, I find that the whole family conflict situation often resolves
with up-skilling and empowerment of the parents. It helps to break
the chain of disassociative and inconsistent behaviour that the baby
is adapting to within the family.

Any feedback welcome!

Al Pelowski in Joburg

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Being able to do follow up is ideal, Al. I’ll talk more about the
IDEAL a little later.

It looks like you’re faced with the dilemma John Upledger was
faced with when he realised he couldn’t treat everyone. It prompted
him to develop his ShareCare program, which is the second worst
idea he has had in a long line of good ones.

What was his first?

Well, calling what we do cranio sacral therapy, of course. He could
have picked a hundred different names. Quirky, fun, easily pronounced,
easily remembered names. Like Voltron or Gobon or Praxas or Flow…..

What I wouldn’t give to be able to say I am a Flow therapist, when
asked what I do for a living at a dinner party.

But oh no, I have to say I’m a cranio sacral therapist and they have
to ask me if I was at the Tour De France and then I have to correct
them and say, ‘That’s cranio SACRAL, not cranio CYCLE.’

So we’re stuck with it and for the sake of public recognition we
shouldn’t change it or add to it or fiddle with it at all.

No matter how much we feel that what we are doing is different
or visionary or resonant or balanced or biodynamic or whatever . .

All this re-labelling is confusing adolescent assertions of individuality
and just leaves Joe and Mary Blogs scratching their heads wondering,
‘What the?’

Okay, back to shades of ShareCare.

While imparting new information and different perspectives is
definitely part of our job, it’s important to acknowledge the limits
of just how much skill you can impart to parents or family members.

The sorts of things you have described sound good and practical.
Massaging the scalp, stroking the spine and conception channels.
All good.

The temptation is to think you can build on this by teaching family
members to do simple techniques which I’m strongly against,
if you hadn’t noticed, and here’s why.

What has become second nature to you in terms of holding, following,
supporting and so on has taken you years to achieve.

And while the process of gaining mastery in CST is one of realising
how little needs to be done, it’s important to remember that it’s a
very informed and focused ‘little’ that we do.
Its simplicity is deceptively complex.

When you think about how long it has taken you to gain the level
of skill with a particular technique and all the subtle nuances that
only reveal themselves through time and practice, it doesn’t make
sense that you can show someone a technique and think that they
will be able to do any long lasting good with it.

Sure, everyone will feel good about it.

The family member will feel good when you’re showing them the
technique because it will feel like they’re being empowered.

You will feel good when you’re showing them the techniques because
it will assuage the aching knowledge that you can’t treat the person
yourself long term.

The person will feel good every time the family member does the
technique. They will feel good for about ten minutes or maybe
twenty but the chances of it helping long term are slim.

It takes a long time to learn how to do this well for a reason.

It’s not easy to master.

The whole SharCare idea is like giving a one-day workshop for the
friends and families of virtuoso violinists. At the workshop they learn
how to play a couple of notes on the fiddle.

They can use these ‘new skills’ on the nights that the virtuoso is a
bit tired and needs someone to fill in the for them at certain times
throughout the performance. The family member can play the notes
the virtuoso is too shagged to play.

Ridiculous, right? But it gets worse.

Giving friends and family of patients the idea that they can learn a
few techniques that will help their loved ones, generates the idea
that what we do, can be learned in 10 minutes.

It’s shooting yourself in the foot with both barrels and then
bludgeoning yourself with the gun..

I don’t think you are about to launch your own South African
ShareCare program Al, but I do understand the pressure that
the kinds of situations you have described can generate.

Considering what you have to deal with and the constraints you
have to work within, the fact that you give these families ANYTHING
to help their situation is nothing short of a bloody miracle!

And you’re not alone in that, your students and graduates are doing
remarkable things too. The outreach work you all do. The education
programs you have set up. It’s brilliant. You are all doing excellent
work in VERY difficult situations.

What I’ve talked about above is the IDEAL, what you have to work
with in South Africa is far from ideal and in that, anything you can
do is great.

I commend all the people involved in cranial work in South Africa
and you in particular Al.

+ How do you work with people with shunts? – September 08

Hi John,

Your newsletter’s archive is fantastic.  Very easy to use
(much better than mine). Thanks.
My question today is about treating people with a shunt
in the head. Do you(or anyone else) has experience with that?
Is there a risk of having the shunt come out of place
(and causing big problems to the person) when working
on the person? I was wondering because of the movements of
the bones and membranes in the head (things coming back
in place).
Any comments will be much appreciated.
Odile. Brisbane.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Odile,
I’m glad you find the newsletter archive useful.
I’m hoping the ‘search’ function makes it easier for
people to find what they are looking for across the
whole site.

I have treated quite a few people with shunts.
I’ll just explain what they are for any of the other
readers who don’t know.

A shunt is tube that is fitted surgically to relieve
cerebrospinal fluid pressure. There is a one way valve
in the shunt that stops the cerebrospinal fluid coming
back up the tube.  They are usually fitted in people
who have prolonged or extreme hydrocephalus.

The types of shunts I have treated have fallen into
two categories.  Cranio shunts and spinal shunts.
Spinal shunts go from the drural tube and drain into
the stomach. Cranial shunts drain from the cranium into
the heart.

From my experience they are pretty robust arrangements
and I have never got the feeling that they would dislodge
with treatment. The main thing I have felt when treating
people with shunts is how the fluid dynamics of their
cerebrospinal fluid is screwed up. Their cranio sacral
rhythm is usually confused.

Most of my work has been firstly dealing with the
underlying cause of the hydrocephalus and then helping
the person’s system come to terms with the foreignness
of the shunt.

This is similar to any kind of work where there is a
foreign object in a person’s body be it a pin or a screw
or a pacemaker.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM MALCOLM HIORT***

Hi John,
Re Odile’s email/your reply:
My experience of clients with shunts is that their
cranial rhythms are compromised.
Specifically, I notice that maximal expansion/flexion
is never reached.
The end-point of movement has a ‘rebound’ quality
to it, without the ‘tapering’ effect normally palpated.
I have felt this characteristic diminished amplitude
throughout the body.

Another consequence of a shunt is that inducing a
still point cannot be achieved, at least in my
experience.
It seems that when CSF back-pressure begins to
build within the ventricles, it is vented by the
shunt.
Again, this is a bodywide occurrence, no matter
where the technique is applied.

I would be interested to get any feedback on my
remarks at info@craniofascial.com
www.craniosacralart.com was interesting.

cheers John, keep up the good work.

Malcolm Hiort, Director,
Australian Craniofascial Therapy School

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Malcolm.
Shunts certainly compromise the fluid dynamics of the system.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***

There’s a good description and pics of shunts in
the Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations,
V.1, the Nervous System, Part II -Neurologic and
Neuromuscular Disorders.

In there you’ll see that shunts can be set to
drain into the peritoneal space rather than the jugular v.

Peritoneal drainage is often preferred in babes
and kids because the longer tube allows for growth.

But, either way, shunting tubes have to penetrate
several layers of membrane, muscle and fascia.
This can, and often does lead to chronic infections
and irritation.

Another problem is the silting up of the valve and
the thin cannula–CSF is loaded with salts (electolytes)
that can crystallise out of solution in the margins
of turbulent flows and eddies in the apparatus.

Shunting therefore can require frequent reinsertions
+ drugs (e.g. antibiotics and steroids)

Some of the risk factors are covered in
Toru Fukuhara et al, “Risk factors for Failure of
Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy for Obstructive
Hydrocephalus,” in the journal Neurosurgery, V.46,
No. 5, May 2000, where you will also find
some 40 references.

It might also be useful to see*
*CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS SYNDROMES by **J. Cary Moorhead,
MD, in Grand Round Archives June 24, 1993.

I’ve worked cranially with maybe a dozen babies
and kids with shunts.
It’s vital to know the history of it and to be
aware that tubal irritation and immune suppression
will distort and disempower the child’s responses.
There are loads of cautions in this work, but no
firm contraindications I can think of.
Other practitioners seeing cases of craniosynostosis?
Please get in touch.

I believe it’s a mushrooming problem worldwide.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Al.

For those of you that don’t know, Craniosynostosis,
is a condition where some or all of the sutures in the
skull of an infant or child become fused.

I have treated a few children with it in Australia.
The cranium felt like it was made of marble.
Hardly any movement.  In all cases it felt like
a blueprint problem to me.  It felt like the
developmental process of the system was accelerated.
It felt like the sutures had met each other with such
force that they fused in a solid way that no adult would.

In all the children I saw, the condition had got to
the point where they needed surgery to separate the
sutures. My sense was that if I had seen them earlier
we could have avoided the surgery.

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.

.

+ 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.