August 4 – 2009

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Follow on comment about Hypnosis, should you
stop working with people? and session management.
+ Follow on comments about ‘How you came to Cranio sacral?’
+ How do you settle a person’s system at the end of a session?
+ Question about Polyarteritis Nodosa and working with the immune system.
+ Is a Mothers loving touch as good as a cranial treatment?

Hello,
The tributes for Al Pelowski were many and beautiful.
They continue to come in and you can read them here.

There was an international Memorial held for Al on
Friday the 25th. All around the world people who knew
Al gathered to remember him and his life.  At the
appointed time I sat in meditation remembering Al
and I felt . . . well, not much really.
Certainly no sense of closure.

It wasn’t until hours later when I was  in my back
garden cutting the grass that out of no where Al
came into my head. In particular how he felt like he
had found his place in the cosmos.

I looked at the sky and smiled.  The heavy sense
of loss that had been with me since I heard of Al’s
death was gone and in its place I felt peace.

Typical Al – when I was cutting the grass.

Life goes on.

I have been updating the newsletter archive.  I am
about halfway through the newsletters from 2007
so if you weren’t getting these newsletters back
then you can review them here.

If you have been in contact about my Masterclass
series and are chomping at the bit to get stuck into
them, there is good news and not so good news, which
in Ireland we like to call, ‘de bad news’.

De bad news is that it is taking me forever to
finish editing them all and get them ready in the
format they need to be for DVD.

The good news is that I am going to make them
available online as they are ready.  The rough idea
is that you will be able to watch each video online
for less than the price of a cinema ticket.
(Popcorn optional but not included.)

The first one is almost ready. I just have to
connect up a few more elastic bands at the back of
the computer, collect a few more lollipop sticks
and some pipe cleaners and I should be good to go.

So while I’m doing that let’s get
on with the mailbag.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM HELENA IN SLOVENIA ABOUT HYPNOSIS AND HOW DO YOU FOCUS?***

Hello John!

While reading your reflection about comparing the
hypnothic state and state after CST, I remember one
therapy when I got one patient in regression. Before
that the whole treatmant was like cleaning her bad
energy loaded in her psychical system. I had my hand
on the table without touching her body and there came
so strong unwinding and macro-motions, like Franklyn
Sills would name it, that I could hardly stand it. Her body
was moving in a really intensive wave motion. I know that
my patient exactly knew what was happening and that was
her way how to release her psychical system. I didn’t
continue to work with her, because my opinion was
that this way she didn’t solve her life problems,
she just sustain her system in status quo.

Anyway here comes my problem. With clients I realy
quickly come to their stress responses, unresolved
traumas, traumatic experiences and psychic
disturbances. And that realy takes time. So, if
I want to work on the knee injury I can’t, becasue
I could be one hour and a half in vault hold position,
doing on traumas. Maybe is this my profesional
handicap while before doing CST I was counseler
in the Center for social work. This started this
year, after one year of studying and doing CST.
I think that there must be just one switch that
starts to release client’s system and I don’t
know how to disconnect it.

Have a nice day.

Helena

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Helena,
In the first part of your letter you mention
that you didn’t continue working with the particular
woman in question.  For myself, I never discontinue
working with someone.  If they shows up and want help
I will treat them regardless of what I think about
their process.

So even if I think someone is messing about and not
really engaging in their process or ‘just sustaining
their system in status quo’ I will continue treating
them.

The reason I do that is that I know their system
will come into harmony, eventually.  It’s unavoidable.
It’s just a question of time and in an odd way knowing
this speeds up the process.

Here’s the thing, when I am treating someone, the
place I go to in myself is, in a way, timeless and
sitting in that place I can wait forever.

This timeless quality is communicated from my system
to the other person’s and it helps them release sooner
rather than later.  Resistance dissolves in the face
of the timeless.  Eventually they begin to change.

From experience I know that if a person keeps coming
for treatment eventually they will get what they want.

In answer to your question in the second part of your
letter about finding the ‘off switch’.  It is probably
better to think of it in terms of managing the overall
treatment program and then managing each session within
that program.

It comes down to not being afraid to negotiate with
the person’s system.

When someone first comes to see me for treatment I
ask them what they would like me to help them with.
Whatever they answer forms the contract between us
and the focus for our work together.
I talked at length about contracts here.

So using your example if the person said they
wanted me to help them with their knee injury, then
that would be the contract between us and the focus
for our work.

In my initial assessment I would look to see what
the root cause of the knee injury was.  If the root
cause was emotional then I would convey that to the
person and include it in our work together.

But. . .
If the root cause was simply physical then I would
just focus on that.  If any emotional issues came up
for releasing during the session I would do some non
verbal negotiation with the person’s system to desist
from releasing the emotional issues as they were not
part of the contract between us.

This approach may seem at odds with the whole
‘going with the body’ and ‘treating what you find’
approach but it’s not.  Going with the body and
treating what you find are cornerstones of our work
but they operate within the confines of the contract.

It is important to stick to what you are asked
to help with – the contract – because it leaves the
door open for the person to renegotiate the contract
down the track.  Going beyond the contract is in
essence disrespectful to the person’s process and
generally ends up messy.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM JUDAH IN AMERICA ABOUT HOW HE CAME TO CRANIO SACRAL THERAPY***

Thanks John for your newsletter. I began my career
at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colorado in the
late 80′s. Many of my teachers practiced cranial
along side the Rolfing approach. A couple of them
also practiced visceral manipulation.  I asked why
it wasn’t taught at the Institute, and they told me
to just Rolf for 5 years. Develop a Rolfer’s mindset
and hands. I made it 4.5 and took my first cranial
class in the mechanical model, with one of my former
anatomy teachers at the Rolf Institute who was also
one of Upledger’s instructors. I took more classes
of that style, then after practicing CST for about
8-9 years I went to the UK every two months to do
the biodynamic approach with Franklyn Sills in Devon.
Franklyn is a wonderful teacher and that training
lasted two years.  So in my practice, I do both the
Rolfing and the Craniosacral therapy.  I have been
teaching both methodologies, although my own path
after 20 years of practice, has shifted to an
apprenticeship with a shaman.
There you have it mate!

Go well,

Judah Lyons

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Judah. A very interesting journey
and I’m sure you could contribute a lot to the
Open Source Cranio project.   I didn’t realise
Rolf Harris was that big in America. Or that he
taught a healing modality.  Come to think of it
I always did find the music of the wobble board
soothingly therapeutic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lofgud4wLLo&feature=related

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM NICA IN THE BERLIN ABOUT HOW SHE CAME TO CRANIO SACRAL THERAPY***

dear friend john,

greetings out of vienna where i teach right now contemporary
dance (and silence….:-)) at the university!

silence:
a very important state of being…..in cranio and daily life.

to find this/ a secure place to be and observe out of this spot .

it feels like a fulcrum…like sitting in the center of
a hurricane: very protected,strong,silent.

how I came to cranio?:
through a long process….dancing, dancing, dancing, and
one day feeling the wish of stopping moving but feeling the
“moves” inside of me.
so I took a cranio session.

it felt like coming home.

somehow I had to “move” so many years to find this inner quality.
to be able to accept the beauty inside of me .
i just wannted to share.
thats how i became,since 2004 cranio scral therapiste……………

a short storry.right?……………………..

all my friendship! aswell to your lovely wife,
nica from berlin

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Nica,
Thanks for that.  Being an astonishingly good dancer myself. . .

What?

. . . I totally ‘get’ the link between cranio sacral work
and dance. It often feels like I am part of an elaborate
dance when I am working with someone.

***QUESTION – HOW DO YOU ‘SETTLE’ PEOPLE?***

Hey John,
really enjoying your website – besides all the practical
information I enjoy that it gives me a sense of being
connected with other craniosacral therapists, especially
through your newsletters.
I was wondering if you could say something about
the integragtion process? How to integrate a session
for the client particularly if they have done some
emotional work – I get a bit lost here – I do the work,
and its beautiful, maybe we have about 10 mins left,
and I don’t want to start another process but rather
spend some time with the body allowing the information
to settle.
In terms of cranio are there ‘settling techniques’
which help the body absorb the session? Stillpoints
of course – but what else can you recommend that won’t
start another process?
Had a dream last night about the integrating I did
with a client last night, and was told I did fine -
but the doubter in me always feels there’s some more
I could have done.
Look forward to hearing from you,
Deirdre

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Deirdre,
I’m glad you are finding the website useful.
Here is one way to think of settling.  Think of a
glass of water that you have been stirring with a
spoon.  When you stop stirring the water settles.

It is kind of the same with settling a person’s
system. Contacting a person’s system with the
intention of assisting it to find harmony can have
a very tomultous effect, particularly if the system
is very restricted and is very ready to release.

So even though your intention is not ‘doing’
anything the person’s system can take advantage of
the support to do LOTS.

Settling is a bit like the opposite of entrainment.
At the start of a session as you entrain with the
person’s system you form a connection.  Among other
things your respective cranio sacral rhythms synchronize.
The person’s system opens up
to you.

Releases come in waves so towards the end of the
treatment session when you feel the latest wave of
release is finished you change your intention to
settling.

You take your spoon out of the glass of water.

If you just took your hands away without settling
the person’s system it would remain open leaving the
person with a kind of gaping hole that would snap
shut at the first sign of threat.

You begin to settle the persons system with your
intention.  You change your intention from following
and holding and following through to presence without
involvement. You are still with the person’s system
but you are not involved with it.

As you make this change you will notice that the
person’s system begins to settle.  In a way, it puts
itself back together in readiness to face the world
again. As it does this you begin to withdraw you
intention from their system and then from you hands.

It is only when you have fully withdrawn your
intention from your hands that you begin to physically
withdraw your hands from their body.

***QUESTION – POLYARTERITIS NODOSA?***

Hello John

Have you had any experience in treating someone with
Polyarteritis Nodosa ?
I’m told that a suppressed immune system is needed to
keep it under control.
Since CST supports and boosts the immune system,
would it be safe to treat this client?
Presently the patient is on corTisone and chemo tablets.
He is very weak (age 53)
My feeling is to go in there with the intention NOT to
boost the immune system but to give him some form of
overall relief.
Your comments would greatly be appreciated

Thespeni in Cape Town

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Thespeni,
I haven’t treated anyone with Polyarteritis
Nodosa so I can’t give you any first hand experience.
Problems with the immune system whether it is simple
allergies or more serious conditions like this nearly
always come back to boundary issues.

Your immune system has to do with defense.
In order to defend you it needs to be able to
effectively tell the difference between what is
‘you’ and what is ‘not you’.  That difference
forms boundary which your immune system patrols.

When there are problems with your immune system
and that boundary is set too far outside your system
invading bacteria and viruses are not detected and
attacked.

When the boundary is too close to your system
parts of ‘you’ are identified as ‘not you’ and your
immune system starts attacking you. Which is kind
of the case with the man you are going to treat.

When you work with the immune system with this
in mind the focus of your work is about helping
it find the right boundary again.

***QUESTION – IS A MOTHERS LOVING TOUCH AS GOOD AS CRANIAL TREATMENT?***

Hello from Mauritius
Dear John, I must say your website is a bank of
resources that i have yet to tap from! Am training
in CST with Al’s group in Mauritius and just completed
module 4 with Jacob a couple of weeks ago. I am looking
forward to more ‘feeling’ and tuning in the tide.

Just wanted to comment on what you and Al noted re
having non-cst practitioners/mums ‘do’ CST on their
offsprings(Sharecare), especially after an incident 2 days
ago.

My friend’s semi-tamed dog rushed on and around my son
and scared the hell out of him. She was only trying to play
but may be ‘biting’ in a playful manner. Luca of course
was catatonic. My reflex as a mum and cst trainee was hold
the chest and help him ‘resolve the trauma’ right there and
then. If other mums could do same and with the knowledge
where to hold, that would go in line with A’s concerns.

On the other hand as a CST proponent, i am inclined to say
mums can only have a very loving touch. Yet again that touch
can determine if that trauma stays a trauma and makes the
body develop conditions /compensations etc..
I am a bit lost here.
I hope you are getting me. So sorry if my english is not so
great and that my comment has been so long.
Salam (bye bye in Kreol)

Jenny
Mauritius

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Jenny,
I think the best way to answer your question
is to bring it back to basics.  People were
recovering from trauma long before cranio sacral
therapy was a gleam in John Upledger’s eye
and before William Sutherland had gleams anywhere
and before Andrew Still had eyes . . .

The point is that we wouldn’t have survived
as a species if we weren’t able to repair ourselves.

Our skill as cranio sacral therapists is in
helping that process.  In a way that skill is
separate to our motivation.

Let me explain – I had many very motivated
people began training with me as cranio sacral
therapists but many of them eventually dropped
out because they couldn’t come to grips with the
skill required.  As you know, it’s not easy.

I think it is important not to confuse a
Mother’s love with that skill.

It is also important not to underestimate
the power of love.

When a Mother places her hands on her
traumatised child the child’s system may
take advantage of the loving energy emanating
from the mother to fix itself.

So that’s it for this issue.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

January 27 – 2008

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Follow on from Jean in Ireland.
+ Blueprint follow on from Gayle in Cape Town.
+ Shingles follow on from Donovan in Durban.
+ Can you treat people with active Cancer?
+ CST and people recovering from Stroke?
+ Shingles follow on from Eva in Australia.
+ Treatment for Focal Dystonia.

Hello,

Another brand spanking New Year fresh from its
wrapping is off and running.  You know in olden
days Kings were very careful about what they did
on the first 12 days of each New Year.  They
believed each day represented its equivalent month
in the year.

So if they wanted January to be peaceful they
would spend the first day of the New Year in
contemplation.  If they wanted August to be joyous
they would have a party on the eight day of the
New Year and so on.   They were careful to not
have anything happen in those first 12 days that
would affect them negatively in the coming year.

Considering it is now the 27th I suppose I am a
little late in telling you all this.  Depending on
how wild and crazy your New Years Eve celebrations
were, January may be finding you with a continually
sore head and a feeling of remorse.

I’ll type softly.

For myself, the coming year will bring the
expansion of my Open Source Cranio project.   This
is about making cranio sacral training information
available to people in developing countries
through my websites.  For me this is a no brainer
as cranio sacral therapy doesn’t require any
technology to practice. Just a pair of hands.  But
then you knew that already.

The idea is that if someone in a remote village
has internet access, which is not as unlikely as
it sounds, they can begin to learn the basics and
start practicing.

Would you like to help? Register
yourself as a mentor or contribute an article or
suggestions or perspective that you think might
help that person.  If you can’t think of anything
else just let me know you want to help.

Anyhu John, on with this, bursting at
the seams, mailbag.

***FOLLOW ON FROM JEAN MCDONALD***

Hi John,
good on you for your description of
cerebral palsy – can’t really add to that!

Thanks for the listing. The practice is general
and of course working with the children is
particularly interesting.

In the Novara Centre some multidisciplinary work
is happening and this is working well. A boy of
four at present is being cared for from an acute
episode when starting big school- my colleague is
a Kinesiology’s suggested we work together.
Progress is apparent – from a craniofacial
viewpoint second trimester showed as problematic
and the child had suffered some bullying at
playschool.

Stillpoints are amazing for this child, he becomes
so insightful of his own place in the
difficulties. He has returned to his birth and re-
entered many times over, a much calmer child!

Little Jodie (the case study I sent you a while
ago) is doing well. The treatment involves
palpating the parietals and now that she is older
some more on her cranial base which has
dysfunction with the left side.  Drawing the
sacrum to lengthen the dural tube is always
necessary and the respiratory diaphragm with a
tonic liver for the last number of months has been
less so on the last visit.

Jodie is receiving remedies for her vaccines and
at present the polio one is being addressed. She
is much more affectionate to Mum and to her little
sister and initiates hugs and kisses with both,
this is separate form the craniosacral treatments
which would frequently end with a move to Mum’s
knee.
She has overcome her great difficulty with Music
class – she tolerates it now if it is not in the
big hall and can articulate that they don’t give
her the guitar or whistle.
Best wishes,
Jean

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Jean.  From the feedback I get
from other therapists and students who subscribe
to this newsletter, getting a glimpse into someone
else’s practice is very helpful.

***BLUEPRINT FOLLOW ON FROM GAYLE IN CAPE TOWN***

Hi John

I don’t know if they were in your part of the
world, but a few years back there were these 3D
pictures around. They basically look like a whole
lot of messy dots, and then when you relax your
eyes, you suddenly see the picture.

And you can always see that picture every time you
look at it. The more of these 3D images you look
at, the better you get at seeing the image.

Ok so I know that was using an image- like
description, but it might make sense to some
people. The blueprint – to me at least- is as
solid and as apparent as the image that you would
see.

If I had to compare “seeing the blueprint” with
any other of the more common 5 senses, I would say
that it is like your sense of smell. Perhaps the
‘whispy and mist-like’ can be described as an
aroma. It is tangible, it is stronger from the
direction of the source. It has an associated
memory or emotion. It also has a “rabbit-hole”
effect. The more you try to analyse the smell, the
more you can describe the components that make up
that scent.

Hope I made some sort of sense?

Gayle (Cape Town, SA)

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Gayle.  It is always good to
get another perspective on how different people
relate to different structures.  I’m not a
‘smeller’ myself but I really like it when someone
can involve their sense of smell in their
palpation, it must add a whole other dimension.

Try as I might, I could never do those ‘magic
eye’ things.  In the end I decided that there was
no image there really and it was all an elaborate
conspiracy to make me look stupid.

What?

It might be . .

***SHINGLES FOLLOW ON FROM DONOVAN IN DURBAN VIA
HIS WIFE – HE HAS HIS HANDS FULL AT THE BARBEQUE -
GIVE HIM A BREAK***

Dear John

Thanks so much for your lovely newsletters (this
is Dee, Donovan’s wife and mother of his adored
2.5 year old daughter Naomi!!!!).

I have to confess that I read your newsletters
with great enjoyment, especially as I am handling
the advertising and promotion of cranio here in SA
and I eagerly absorb all information about the
various conditions and problems it can treat, and
as you are a guru in this therapy, I hope you
don’t mind me sneaking a peak at the info you send
to Donovan.

Yes, Donovan has treated a woman who had shingles.
She was brought to him by a student practitioner
who was feeling overwhelmed and asked for his
support.  The whole top half of her body was
covered in the sores and she also had HIV AIDS.
She believed she was cursed by the local
witchdoctor and she was going to die if the
shingles spread and joined at the midline of her
body (she was told this by an “Inyanga”/aka
Traditional Healer).

Yes, we live in a very interesting culturally
diverse country with many of our inhabitants being
governed by very strong cultural beliefs.  He has
asked me to tell you this on his behalf (he is
braaining [barbequing] our meal and his hands are
filthy) that during the 4 sessions he had with
her, he worked on boosting her immune system and
holding into, and working with these deep seated
fears.  When this began shifting, her healing
accelerated dramatically.  Unfortunately, she was
very unreliable in keeping her appointments and
only came for the 4 sessions – even though she was
being sponsored to come.

I trust that you were suitably rewarded by Santa
for being a good boy this year, and I look forward
to more of your newsletters in 2008.

Warmest regards from Sunny South Africa and
wishing you a fabulous 2008.

Dee, Donovan, Naomi, Hamish and Angus (our 2
scottish terriers)

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Dee and Donovan.  It conjured
up a very cute mental image of Donovan up to his
armpits in barbeque sauce, roaring cranio sacral
descriptions to Dee.

‘I said holding into her deep seated fears,
not folding into her cheap pleated smears.  What
does that mean anyway??’

It sounds like you helped the woman in question
a lot Donovan.  It was also another glimpse into
the different sorts of issues that practitioners
in different parts of the world are dealing with.

***QUESTION***

Hi John,

I look forward to putting my details on your site
when I finish my course and get some more
practical hours up!

I am interested in your theories on treating
cancer patients?  My Cranio teacher says it is a
contraindication if any cancer active is in the
body?

I have tried looking it up in Cranio books but
have not found any information, if you do treat
cancer patients what are you treating them for,
the cancer, the pain, the side effects?  I read
somewhere (it may even have been on your site) of
people having chemo being treated but it did not
say why or how?

Luv your work!

Karen
Australia

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Karen,
The main thing to get about contraindications
is they are for YOUR protection as much as the
patient.

The chances of you doing any harm to the
patient are slim to nonexistent.  On the other
hand, 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.

I am not saying don’t treat people with cancer
or who are having chemotherapy.  I am saying that
you need to nurture and protect your growing
palpatory skill.  It is hard enough to develop
without unnecessarily putting it in the way of
potential body blows.

To answer your question, I have treated people
with most stages of cancer, benign, malignant,
aggressive, in remission and I have treated people
who are having chemotherapy and radiation
treatment too.

Here are some things to consider . .

When someone has a life threatening condition
you need to take a very long perspective on their
situation.  We need to stand back from our
conditioned response that the happy ending is
where the patient ‘beats the big C’ and lives
happily ever after.

When working with people with life threatening
illnesses, more than anything else you need
humility and respect for their process.

Bearing in mind that you don’t know what their
process is about.

I have found it helpful to adopt the
perspective that the circumstances of a patient’s
life are not random but are very significant to
them.  This includes the way they will die.  I
take it that the way they choose to die is as
significant as the way they choose to be born.

This makes it is easier for me to stand back
and not try to ‘fix’ them.

I have talked about this in other newsletters
so won’t go on about it too much now.

http://www.open-source-cranio.com/sacral-training/cancer/

Treating someone who is having chemotherapy or
radiation treatment can be very helpful for them.
I have found it is similar to treating someone who
has had a pin or plate put in their body to help
with a compound fracture.

Their body will be freaking out and trying to
dispel the foreign object.  Treatment usually
involves helping their body to integrate or make
peace with the foreign object.

With chemo or radiation treatment the person’s
body will be freaking out in a similar way because
it is in essence being poisoned or attacked.  Your
job will be to help their body deal with the shock
of attack.  To find some kind of equilibrium in
the situation.

Treating people with life threatening illness
is not for the faint hearted.  It forces you to
look at very fundamental questions about what you
are really doing.  Once you embrace the inherent
challenges it can be very rewarding.

***QUESTION***

Hi, John

Your Q&A’s thus far have tremendously contributed
to my knowledge as a cranio sacral practitioner.
It is now my turn to ask a question.

My mother is 76yrs old and has had a stroke due to
her tissue (mechanical) valve being in for too
long without replacing it. She had a clot in her
frontal area, which was dissolved with medication.
She is back to normal and does not have any after
effects. How can I help her in a cranio way?

All the best for the New Year.

Regards,
Shahnaaz
Cape Town, South Africa

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Shahnaaz,
I am glad you find my newsletters helpful.

As you know, most strokes are caused by a blood
clot forming in some part of the body and then
travelling to the brain and causing a blockage to
the blood supply and then permanent neurological
damage to the effected area.

Recovery from stroke is the transferring of
function from the damaged area to another part of
the brain.

If someone comes to me for treatment and they
are recovering from a stroke, the first thing I
would do is check if they still had a tendency for
clotting.  If I got a sense that they did, I would
withdraw gently and not continue treatment.

Not because I could cause another stroke but
because of the effect it would have on me if they
had a stroke while I was treating them or even the
day after treatment.

Also the family of the person involved may not
understand that I couldn’t have caused a stroke
and that could cause a lot of complications and
ultimately interfere with me treating the other
people I treat now and in the future.

For me it’s not worth the risk.

So if you feel that the clotting is over. .

‘How will I know?’

If you are asking this question then you
haven’t had enough experience yet and you need to
get a second opinion from a more experienced
practitioner.

Assuming you are not asking that question I
would focus on assisting the transfer of function
process that will be going on in the brain from
the area that was damaged to the new areas.

Based on what you have written it sounds like
your Mother has recovered well.   Has she asked
you to treat her?

If not, you have a very weak contract with her.
By contract I mean the framework within which you
work with a person.   It is set by what they ask
you to help them with.

So if someone asks you to help them with their
painful knee then that is the contract.

Regardless of whatever other issues you may
feel in the persons system, if these issues don’t
affect the knee problem directly then you will be
going outside the bounds of the contract if you
start trying to treat these issues.

Just because you can feel it doesn’t mean you
have been asked to ‘fix’ it.

I have found the loosest contracts are nearly
always with family members.  This happens because
of the history between you and the fact that they
knew you before you were a cranio sacral
therapist.

There is no tricky way around this. It’s not
like you can go to your Mother and ask her, ‘Would
you like me to help you recover from your stroke?’

The strongest contracts come from a request
that has originated from the person unassisted,
un-enticed.

What to do?

If your Mother hasn’t asked you to help her
then I suggest you wait until the next time she is
talking about her health.  When she states a
concern that you feel you may be able to help with
then say it.

‘What?’

“I could help with that Mum.”

Then, and this is important, keep quiet.  If
she doesn’t respond, leave it.  You don’t have a
contract.   If you respect the fact that she
hasn’t asked you it will make it easier for her to
ask when she is ready.

***SHINGLES FOLLOW ON FROM EVA IN AUSTRALIA***

Merry Christmas John!

I have two responses to your newsletter below:

I would be happy to be a mentor. I’m at Lisarow on
the Central Coast, just north of Sydney,
Australia. Contact phone no 0410234490.

I have had shingles myself, or at least that is
what it was diagnosed as when I was 25. Situated
in a particular place between two ribs on the left
side.  Had pain off and on during childhood, then
a lot of pain and much longer periods during the 4
years I worked in Nigeria, which was a very high
stress time, emotionally.

What sent it on high alert was that I got mould
allergy and sneezed a couple hundred times a day
for a few months, and that’s when it was
diagnosed. It calmed down with nose spray to stop
the sneezing, but was still very much there in the
rib cage, just not rampant. I never have had any
blisters from it, though. Since I started having
and doing CranioSacral Therapy I haven’t had any
relapses.

I have also treated someone with an acute shingles
outbreak on her arm. The lady had already been for
treatment a few times for a lot of other problems
a few months earlier. This time she came for
treatment the shingles had come out in blisters on
her arm just 2 days before the session. I treated
her as usual but also did Photonic Therapy
(acupuncture with a red light instead of needles)
on the specific points for shingles as well as
around the blisters.
2 days later when she saw the doctor the sores
were nearly gone. The doctor had never heard of
such a rapid retreat of shingles without
medication.

Best regards,

Eva Kuhl Bornefelt
Central Coast, Australia.

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Eva,
I will add you to the Mentor list.

Thank you for sharing your personal experience
of shingles.

It sounds like you did a great job with the
woman you were treating too.

***QUESTION***

Hi John, Hope all goes well in the wider world
beyond our shores. . .

A quicky that may be a useful topic for the next
newsletter. . .

I’m currently treating a fellow who has presented
with Focal Dystonia. Being a writer, and avid
keyboardist, he is experiencing a gradual increase
in tonic spasm mostly within carpal/wrist flexors.

He is a man who lives life on his own terms, his
own agenda, despite the fact he has a couple of
very young children and a loving wife.  Driven,
ambitious, capable.

Any resource/ideas/anecdotes . . . politically
incorrect focal dysplasia jokes???

PS Happy X-mas to you and yours.

Greg Robson
Brisbane.

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Greg,

I don’t make jokes about conditions.

I am far too wonderful and holy for that.

From what you have written it sounds like your
patient has focal dystonia only and not focal
dysplasia, which is more on the epilepsy side of
things.   Let me know if I got that wrong.

The thing that stands out to me about focal
dystonia is that it mainly occurs when the person
is focused on a particular task.  Classic cases
being the concert pianist or surgeon who only get
the spasms when they are about to perform or
operate.

It always feels to me like the bodily version
of stuttering.

And in terms of root cause, this is where I
would be looking.   What is going on for the
person in relation to their expression or their
work?

Are they happy/frustrated in their work?
Do they feel the work is a good vehicle of
expression for them?
Do they feel like they are bursting with
expression and their work holds them back?
Are they frustrated?

Are the spasms symmetrical? If they are
predominantly in his left hand/wrist it could be
to do with receiving.  If on the other hand . . .

‘Hang on, that’s a joke!’

No it’s not. I actually meant his other hand.
His other hand is his right hand . .

‘Oh. . . ‘

If his spasms are predominantly in his right
hand it could be to do with expression or power or
expressing his power.

The medical model for what is going on
mechanically describes the brain as being a bit
like a cartoon character that has been given too
many instructions to carry out at once.
Eventually they shake their head vigorously, with
an accompanying sound effect, which I can’t spell
and shake the confusion away.

I know you have probably looked this up Greg
but bear with me while I explain it for the other
readers who may not have.

You know the way the left side of your brain
controls the right side of your body and visa
versa.

Just nod.

Well it gets more specific.  There is a sort of
map called your somatosensory cortex that deals
with each part individually.  So each finger, for
example, has a specific region.

This is different from you tomato-sensory
cortex which is the part of your brain that helps
you find tomatoes in the dark.

‘Really?’

No, not really.  That was a joke.

‘But you said . . .’

It wasn’t about a condition.

‘Oh . . ‘

Can we get on?
If you have ever watched a musician in full
flight you will notice that their fingers move so
fast they are almost a blur.

The medical explanation for focal dystonia is
that with repeated practice of the same movements,
the brain gets confused and the regions of the
somatosensory cortex for the fingers involved get
kind of mashed up.  But unlike the cartoon
character the brain is unable to shake the
confusion away.

While it is a good explanation I don’t think it is
the full story.  To fill out the picture a little
more let me include a little quote from an
interview with John Upledger that adds another
perspective to the smearing of the somatosensory
cortex theory.

Here’s Johnny . . .

‘I just wanna share a little study that I came
across.
In February 1988, ‘Brain Mind Bulletin’
published in the abstract some work that was done
at UC San Diego. They were trying to understand
how somebody like a professional pianist or a
professional violin player could move so fast,
with the messages going up to the brain, decision
made, and back down again. So they used
electrodes, and they used an EEG.

What they found was that the electrical
impulses that control finger movement were not
going up the arm! The decisions were being made
right there in the hand! You could use electrical
measurement of neuron impulse conduction as a
reasonable indicator. So what that says is, you
have decision making ability in your hands!’

You can read the full article here

http://www.open-source-cranio.com/resources/articles/Intelligence.pdf

Now that’s jolly interesting isn’t it.

So another way of looking at it might be that
the people who don’t get focal dystonia could be
more surrendered to the intelligence of the hands
that John Upledger is talking about.  While people
who do get focal dystonia could keep engaging
their brain and so confuse it.

This would lead me to ask the questions I
always ask about anyone with any condition.

Why did they get it?  Lots of people don’t.
Why them and not someone else?
What does it mean?

While you are thinking about that here are some
of the mechanical places you can look because
regardless of the deeper issues everything prints
out mechanically.

As you know, nerve impulses are conducted by a
mixture of chemical and electrical means.  The
chemicals are conveyed in fluid and the electrical
impulses are . . . well . . energy  . . . and
guess what we work with fluids and energy!!

Alright!!

I would check the nerve supply from the brain
to the area involved, in this case his hand.  I
would also be taking a close look at the brain and
in particular the cortex around the posterior
aspect of the parietal lobes, around where they
meet the occipital lobes.

This is generally where the somatosensory
cortex is considered to be located.  I would be
checking the cerebro spinal fluid in this area and
the meninges.  The lambdoid sutures might give you
an indication for what is going on beneath.

That’s it for this issue.  I know,
hard to believe but don’t fret there will be more
next month.

Cheerio for now.

Your Mate,

John D.

+ How do you get someone to look at their issues if they don’t want to? – November – 05

Dear John,

I am enjoying your profoundly irreverent letters very much.
I think you are a naughty man.

I have a patient for lower back pain.  She also has many
emotional conflicts and issues within her.  She shows no
interest in addressing these issues.  The opposite in fact.

Here is my question.
Is it possible to invoke someone to address their issues if they
don’t want to?

Kind regards.

N. V.
Singapore.

P.S. Be nice.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Cute . .

When someone first comes to me for treatment, after the
initial, ‘Hello’, and ‘Take a seat.’ etc.  The first question I ask is,
‘What can I do for you?’
and then I shut up,
and wait.
Whatever their answer is, is what they are asking me to help
them with.

‘No kidding Sherlock.’

That may sound obvious but it’s surprising how many
therapist don’t get it.  From the sounds of it, you might be one
of  them.  [That's me being nice, in case you missed that too.]

Whatever they answer to question, ‘What can I do for you?’

‘I want to sleep better.’
‘I want the headaches to stop.’
‘I want to stop attracting the wrong man/woman.’
‘I want to stop feeling so anxious.’
‘I want to get rid of my fibromyalgia’

It goes to form what I think of as a contract between us.  It
forms the boundaries within which I work and a declaration on
their part of what they want assistance with.

Let’s say someone asks me to help them with a very physical
problem and while treating them, I palpate lots of emotional
disharmonies.  If the emotional disharmonies are NOT causing
the particular physical symptoms I have been asked to help
with, then it would be very bad juju for me to try and start
working on the emotional issues.

First and foremost it’s disrespectful.
It’s like passing someone on the street struggling to carry
a new TV into their house.  They ask me to help them carry
the TV into the house with them.  I do this but once inside the
house I get a dose of ‘Queer eye for the straight guy,’ and take it
upon myself to redecorate the hall, stairs and landing
because, ‘Let’s face it, this person has shocking taste!’

Secondly, it’s more efficient to stick to the contract because it
can always be renegotiated in the future.

How come you are able to palpate the emotional issues in the
first place?

You can only ever see what you are shown.

If you stay within the bounds of the contract, it leaves space
for the person to say to you down the track, ‘I think I would
like you to help me deal with my emotional issues.’

It may sound unlikely but it happens.  It’s another form of
trusting that the person will allow you deeper when they feel
safe.  You’re job is not to invoke them to address their issues
but to provide the safest space you can, allowing them to feel
empowered enough to address their issues, if they’re ready to.