November  14 – 2006

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Where I bang on about Jet Lag and treating yourself.
+ Chronic Fatigue – looking for the meaning of symptoms.
+ Palpation broken down into Symmetry, Amplitude and Quality.
+ Is bone ‘set’?

Hello ,
I have some very important findings to share
with you about jet lag.  As you know I’ve just
moved back to Ireland.  The night we arrived here,
my wife Mege said she had a backache and asked me
to have a look at it.

Now here’s the interesting bit.  When I tuned
into her system, I found that her cerebro spinal
fluid was all over the place.

No, I don’t mean in an ‘Aliens’ sort of way.  I
mean her system felt like one of those snow domes
that had been shaken.

What’s a snow dome?

You know, one of those little glass domes
filled with water that you shake and it looks like
snow falling on the inside.

Why was her CSF so disturbed?

Well, as I stayed with her system, it revealed
that the source of the disturbance was, and this
is from her CSF’s perspective, the sudden movement
across a huge distance.

Wha?

I know,
but there was a really strong sense that the
connection between her CSF and it’s external
environment had been disturbed greatly by the
change in location. It was in turmoil because it
had nothing to orient itself with.

Orient itself?

Yes, there was definitely a sense of her CSF
sloshing around trying to find reference points to
attune with.

And in that effort to orient itself, it was
very clear to me how linked our CSF is to it’s
environment on a local and global level.

It reminded me of the way bats use sonar for
navigation in the dark.  They emit a high pitched
sound which bounces off the surrounding terrain.
The bat can tell where it is by how long it takes
the sound to bounce back to it.

It doesn’t feel like our CSF emits something,
it feels more like the sort of connection that we
as therapists make when we entrain with a patients
system.

It’s the same with our CSF, it entrains with
the energetic rhythms of it’s environment.

This is probably obvious but I’ll mention it at
this point, the moon stood out as the main point
of triangulation for our systems.

The moon?

Yeah, it felt like the moon was crucial to
orientation.  It worked something like this.

The first point of orientation was the system
itself.  The second point was the systems position
on earth.  These two reference points, while
crucial didn’t seem to provide enough dimension.
It felt like the moon provided a third point of
dimensional reference and so triangulated the
system in space.

The disturbance in Mege’s system felt like it
was caused by the sudden change in two of the
reference points.

So what did I do about it?

Well, like most things, seeing what the problem
is is 90% of the solution.
I acted as a sort of conduit for her system.  I
consciously attuned to the locality.
As soon as I started to do this her system
paused.  It felt like it was listening to a rhythm
my system was drawing its attention to.

Then I consciously attuned to the location of
the moon.  Within minutes her system had settled
into deep harmony with itself, and its current
location.  Mege popped off into a deep sleep.

I was able to partially orient my own system
but not completely.  As to why that is I can only
include it with all my other experiences of trying
to treat myself.  Never with much success.

It could be just me but I suspect it’s the same
for everyone.  A classic example is in the release
process, which as you know, involves the
practitioner holding as the patient’s system
encounters its restrictions.

The patient needs to let go, the therapist
needs to hold.  It doesn’t make sense to me that
you can do both at the same time.  None the less,
never being one to allow good sense to get in the
way of having a go, I tried it anyway, a few
times.  Always the same result.

Just when I was about to release, one of two
things would happen.  The part of me that was
releasing would take over and my whole system
would go into letting go, including the part that
was supposed to be holding.
End result = No release.

Or the part of me that was holding would stay
in charge so my system would never let go.
End result = No release.

So as I said I didn’t have as much success
attuning myself to the new time zone.

Mege, on the other hand, woke up the next
morning feeling FANTASTIC!  Over the next few days
she commented, more than once, on how everyone had
greatly exaggerated the effects of jet lag.  She
couldn’t see what the big deal was.

If you get a chance to treat someone who has
moved time zones recently, can you include what I
have described in your treatment and let me know
if you find something similar.  I suspect you
will.

There is a great opportunity there for someone
who is interested in pursuing the commercial
applications of treating jet lag.  Think of all
the business people who travel through time zones
regularly.  You could set up in an airport, nay
airports around the world and help all these
people deal with their jet lag in a more painless
way.

No, don’t thank me, it’s the least I could do,
what are chums for.  Royalty cheques accepted
graciously.

Also, I finally got the therapist listing up.
Have a look at it here.

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

If you have sent me your details, have a look at
your listing to make sure I spelled your name
correctly etc.  Have a look at some of the other
listings also to see what you could add to yours
to make it more representative of you.

If you haven’t already sent me your details
have a look at the others and see what you are
missing out on.

If I had any doubts about whether it was worth
my while to go to the trouble of creating this
resource, I got an email last week that clinched
it for me.

24/10/06

Hello John,

On Sunday, I spoke to the cranio therapist who is
listed for Ipswich, Queensland. From one
conversation I have regained some hope that my
daughter can be healed. I am a healer, although an
untrained one, but all the symptoms have baffled
me for a long time. I have decided on how to
manage her pains but have had no idea how to
remove them altogether.

When my daughter colours in those body pictures
doctors have that let them know where pain is
located, she colours in every little bit then
darkens the areas that hurt most. It often brings
a smile or chuckle to the doctor but it always
brings such sadness to me. None of them believe
she could possibly be in that much pain.

Since speaking to this practitioner I am daring to
hope that we may be on to something that will
work. My daughter is afraid to hope; there’s just
been one too many times of trying. But we will
start treatments next week. I am reassured after
reading your website. I like how you think and I
like that it matches my philosophies about health
and wellness. Thankyou J

Warmest regards,

Denice.

Get your listing up now and get it as good as
you can.  It WILL make a difference.

Alright, on with the mailbag.

***QUESTION***

Hi John,
I have a question for your newsletter: Chronic
Fatigue. Do you have any pointers for what to
check or work on with patients with this syndrome?

Best regards,

Eva Kuhl Bornefelt
Central Coast

MY COMMENTS:

That’s a great question as always Eva and
thanks for asking it.

Talking about chronic fatigue gives me an
opportunity to go into the sort of process I go
through when I look at any set of symptoms.

I ask myself what is this condition trying to
communicate to the person.  What is it saying?

Why this condition and not another?  Why
chronic fatigue and not fibromyalgia or arthritis
or irritable bowel?

Of all the conditions this person could have,
why do they have this one?

Each set of symptoms add up to a very specific
communication.

So don’t worry about the physical
manifestations?

Not at all.  It’s very important to deal with
them but dealing with them alone won’t necessarily
solve the problem.  Looking at the condition in
this way points you towards the deepest reason for
the condition.

You may not know what the deepest reason is but
at least you will be looking in the right
direction.

Then getting a sense of what the deepest cause
of the condition is will inform you how to deal
with the physical manifestations.

So let’s put it into practice. What is chronic
fatigue communicating?

It’s a syndrome so it contains lots of
different symptoms and few people exhibit all the
symptoms all the time.

The main symptom is in the name – fatigue.  The
person has no energy to do anything.  Sometimes
they will need to sleep a lot, other people are
tried but can’t sleep.

Generally they will have to stop working, stop
their hobbies, significantly reduce their social
life.

So what does this all add up to?
In short the person’s life grinds to a halt.

What is this aspect of the condition
communicating?

Stop.

Stop what?

Stop everything.

Why do we communicate, ‘stop’ to someone?

Generally it’s because there is something about
what the person is doing that we don’t like and we
want them to stop doing it.

No kidding Sherlock.  Is this what chronic
fatigue is communicating?

Generally speaking I’ve found that it’s a main
part of the communication.

For example, if a person has a condition that
is annoying but doesn’t give them too much
discomfort, the communication is generally about
getting their own attention.

‘This is bothering us and we
need our attention about it.’

But it has a, ‘When you can get to it.’ sort of
vibe.

Whereas Chronic fatigue has a, ‘Stop everything
and deal with this NOW!’ sort of vibe.

So look for what is so important to the person,
that when it is in disharmony, they will put their
whole lives on hold until it is resolved.

Another thing to consider when treating someone
with chronic fatigue is their capacity to stay
sick.

Let me explain.  The amount of energy required
to create chronic fatigue is huge.  The people I
have treated for chronic fatigue have usually worn
out about 5 or 6 therapists by the time they get
to me.

If you are very attached to quick results then
maybe you shouldn’t take them on because these
people have huge endurance.  It’s a little
paradoxical. Someone with chronic fatigue having
huge endurance.  But don’t be fooled by the lack
of energy issues.  I have found they have lots of
energy for keeping their lives on hold.

I have found it most helpful to see my role as
facilitating them to discover what the disharmony
that is causing them to press the ‘Pause’ button
on their life is.  And no I don’t necessarily mean
having long, probing, regressive, conversations
with them about it.

The other useful thing when actually working
with their systems is to sit very comfortably in
the timeless aspect of our work.
By that I mean, the depth at which we work.
All going well when you work with someone you will
be in a very meditative state and in that state,
time pauses.  We descend into the moment and in
that, it is eternal.

This is a very handy space to be in with a
condition that has therapists for breakfast.  As
you sit with the person and your system entrains
with theirs.  Your system conveys a quality of
timelessness.  The subtle communication from your
system is,  ‘I could stay here forever.’

You can’t fake this.  It has to be real for
you.  If it’s not you need to meditate more until
it is.

I have found that when someone with chronic
fatigue comes to see me and our systems entrain and
their system gets this, ‘I can wait forever.’
Quality from mine it gives up on the endurance
test and starts to avail of the support to deal
with the underlying disharmony.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
Thanks for your great newsletters.  I really
appreciate the different areas you talk about.

I’m still struggling with the nuts and bolts of
palpation.

Can you give me some pointers on how to filter out
all the different things I feel when I try to tune
into someone.

Thanks
Pete
Brisbane.

MY COMMENTS:

No worries Pete and thanks for the feedback.

Placing your hands on another person’s body for
the purpose of assisting in their healing process
is a privilege.  Approach each person as if they
were a baby.  In many ways our bodies relate to
touch as babies.

The majority of people you treat will have had
at least one traumatic medical experience.  The
memory of that trauma is locked in their body.

The person may be your best friend or lover but
once they lie down their body will become
cautious, running a dialogue something along the
lines of,

“Hang on a minute. The last time I lay down on
a bench like this and there was another person in
the room who was standing up, IT HURT! WARNING!
WARNING! ALERT! ALERT!”

It’s not like the person is going to jump off
the table and run away, but they will be
defensive.  Don’t take it personally.

From the time you opened the door of your
treatment room, the patient’s body has been
checking you out to see if you are safe.  That
scanning process continues throughout treatment.

The patient’s body will test you to see if you
are there to ‘DO’ something or to be available to
assist it in what it is trying to do.

When you contact a patient’s body it is good to
hold the following intention in your communication
to their body.

‘What are you trying to do?
How can I help you?’

As you know, the contact of the hands on the
body in cranio sacral therapy is exceptionally
light, often described as a Butterfly Touch.  Like
the touch of a butterfly alighting upon the body.

A butterfly is not a moth.  A moth has an
agitated almost frantic quality.  In trying to get
the Butterfly touch happening it is easy to
develop the touch of the moth which is as bad as a
heavy touch.

Now lets break up what you are feeling when you
tune in.  Think of it like this.  As you listen to
a piece of music, many different dimensions of the
music are conveyed to you.  Volume, stereo
balance, tempo, mood etc. Describing the music in
words won’t duplicate the music; it will merely be
words following an experience.

Tuning in to a person’s cranio sacral system is
like listening to music, something is conveyed in
the contact with their body.  In refining your
cranio sacral palpation it’s necessary to identify
each aspect of what you’re feeling with your
hands.  This serves the purpose of highlighting
aspects of the communication that you may not have
noticed.

Sounds hard. Why bother? Why not just go with
the feeling?

Well, the more you can interpret the rhythm the
more you will get a sense of the whole Cranio
Sacral System and where the restrictions are.

It also helps you note subtle changes in the
patient’s body.

It also helps you communicate your palpation to
other Cranio Sacral therapists.

One way to help refine cranio sacral palpation
is to divide it into three aspects; Symmetry,
Amplitude and Quality.

SYMMETRY

Symmetry relates to whether the rhythm is
stronger on one side than the other.  Like the
stereo balance of the music.  With your hands on
the person’s feet you may feel the rhythm stronger
in one foot than the other.  That is called an
asymmetry.  Taking note of symmetry can help you
build a total picture of the whole Cranio Sacral
system.

AMPLITUDE

Amplitude refers to the power and frequency of
the Cranial rhythm. It is described with words
like
* Strong or weak
* Powerful or faint
* Steady or erratic
* Fast or slow

Amplitude can indicate the location of a
restriction in localised areas.  If the general
amplitude in the body is strong yet very weak in
one leg, palpation of that leg will reveal a point
at which the amplitude will change from weak to
strong.  This can indicate the site of
restriction.

Amplitude also includes how the power and speed
of the rhythm relate to each other.  A very slow
rhythm in the whole body can indicate a weak
system.  A very fast local rhythm can indicate a
restriction in the system in this area.  A fast
rhythm manifests in areas that are cut off from
the rest of the Cranio Sacral rhythm through
direct injury or restriction.  A very fast and
powerful amplitude will be more ready to release
than a faint slow rhythm.

QUALITY

Quality refers to the mood, atmosphere or
feeling of the rhythm.  Like music, this aspect of
palpation is quite subjective.  One person’s
passionate song of freedom is another’s anarchic
scream from hell.  When you first palpate for
quality it may present itself to you as having a
predominant attribute like :

* tight or loose
* active or passive
* tense or relaxed
* hard or soft
* solid or fluid
* warm or cool
* agitated or calm
* dynamic or lethargic
* powerful or weak

Usually a cranio sacral system will have a
combination of attributes.  For example it may be
like a dense, liquid softness.

How poetic.

Start waxing lyrical because your job is then
to refine these attributes making them as specific
as possible.  A way of doing this is to relate the
attributes to something that is in your
experience.  You do this by asking yourself the
question, ‘Like what?’  In the above example you
would be asking yourself
‘A dense, liquid softness like what?’

The answer to the question ‘Like what?’ can
take many forms.

* Objects – chair, engine, cage, sponge,
* Elements – fire, earth, air, water
* Substances – wood, metal, wool, lava
* Sound – bells, boom, lullaby, scream
* Fragrance – mildewed, putrid, flowery, fresh
* Light – bright, dark, mottled, pulsating
* Taste -  bitter, sweet, sour, tangy

Keep refining the quality until it is as
specific as possible.  Using the same example your
conversation with yourself should go something
like,

‘A dense, liquid softness like what?’
‘Honey.’
‘What kind of honey?’
‘Honey that has been mixed with milk, but not
watery milk.’
‘What kind of milk?’
‘Condensed milk.’
‘How has it mixed with the honey?’
‘With a barmix.’

This may seem pedantic but it’s important to be
this specific so that you will be able to sense
the beginning of a release.  This may be signaled
by something as subtle as a feeling that the
condensed milk is becoming more viscous as it then
transforms into fresh milk.

GENERAL QUALITY AND LOCAL QUALITY

Each Cranio Sacral System will have an overall
or general quality but within that bigger picture
there will be local areas of different quality.

In a strong solid system, one leg may feel weak
and fragile.  This inconsistency highlights a
possible restriction.  The difference between
general and local quality can take the form of a
general quality of, for example wood and a local
quality in the neck of metal.  This communicates a
disharmony to you.

APROPRIATNESS

It is rare that a patient will be aware of
their own quality. Regardless of how dramatically
it presents itself to you, do not describe it to
them in the terms above.  We use this form of
description to help us focus our attention and in
that it has purpose.  But it won’t mean the same
to a patient and is likely to disturb them.

Telling your patient that their brain feels
like a fungus covered soft cheese is not going to
go down well.  Trust me.

Symmetry, amplitude and quality inter-relate to
give you a comprehensive sense of the cranio
sacral system under your hands.

***QUESTION***

Hello John,
I got your book last week and found it incredible!
What a velvet hammer.  Those innocent little
questions at the end of each chapter really got
me.
Very well done.
I am recommending it to all my patients.

Now here is my question. If a pattern of
restriction has ossified in the cranium, is that
it?  Is it set for good or is it worth treating?

Best wishes.
SP
Arizona.

MY COMMENTS:

Most of our experience of bone is of dead bone.
The sort of stuff that looks like bone china -
dry, brittle, fragile.  As cranio sacral
therapists we are involved in communication with
the body.  It’s therefore most effective to
communicate with bone as it is, which is alive.
Live bone has some qualities which are not
immediately apparent.

For example, live bone is WET.  It’s full of
blood.

Also, it behaves like PLASTIC.  Meaning it
responds to the pressure put upon it.  Wolf’s law
and all that.  Consider the mastoid processes of
your temporal bones.  You didn’t have them when
you were born.  They were pulled out by the
sternocleidomastoid muscle as you were learning to
hold your head erect.

Bone is not stone; it is renewing itself all
the time.  You can use this knowledge to help it
renew itself in a new direction.

There’s a good example of this in one of the
case histories here.

Here’s another thing, bone doesn’t become
restricted in isolation.  This is particularly
relevant in the cranium.  If a bone is restricted,
99 times out of 100, it’s because there is
something pulling it into a restricted state,
often membrane.  The bone doesn’t become
restricted in isolation.  Always look for the
pattern of restriction.

That’s all for now Kate,

If you still haven’t got your copy of my book,
‘Why Do We Get Sick?  Why Do We Get  Better? -  A
Wellness Detective Manual.’ then do yourself a big
favour and get it.  It’s taken me years to learn
and refine the material in that book.
It will help you become a better therapist and
it will make your job easier when your patients
read it.
Read about it here.

You can be reading it in just a few minutes and
discovering the sorts of conversations I have with
patients everyday.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

January  18 – 2007

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Talking during treatment.
+ How the face reflects the cranial rhythm.
+ Why is the ventricular system so important?

Hello,

Let me just put my Hula Hoop down for a second
so I can talk to you.  You don’t Hula?
Why, it’s the latest re-fad.  You know, a fad
that makes a comeback.

In America, “hip hooping” classes, videos and
Hoopster clothing lines are springing up across
the country. Beyonce and Charlize Theron are huge
fans.  They are always pestering me to join them
at hip hooping class.

I can see I’m wasting my time talking to you
about this.  You just want to hear about cranio.

Fair enough, let’s get on with the mailbag.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,

Thank you for your newsletters they are wonderful.

Here is my question.
I would like to get some of my patients more
involved in their process when we are working
together but I don’t want to do a full somato-
emotional release type thing with them.
Do you have any suggestions for an intermediary
type approach I could do?

Thanks again.
PR.
California.

MY COMMENTS:

Okey dokey.  Here’s something you can do.

Once the person is on the table and you are
settling in and chit chatting and generally
entraining with them.

No, not entertaining them, I said ENTRAINING
with them. Now take that clown suit off and lets
get back to the session.

Tell the person that you are going to do
something a bit different this week.  Keep your
tone light.

Take up a contact that allows you a good sense
of the whole cranio sacral system.  Ask the person
to close their eyes and begin to see themselves
shrinking on the inside until they are small
enough to walk around, inside the structures of
their body.

Whenever you are talking with a patient choose
your words carefully.  I used the word ‘see’ on
purpose.   ‘I want you to see yourself shrinking
on the inside until you are small enough to be
able to walk around inside the structure of your
body.’

Don’t say visualise or imagine as I have found
these words can short circuit the process before
it even gets started.

Why?

Well, because some people are convinced they
have no imagination and others have tried
visualisation before and are, ‘just no good at
it.’

Start off with a relatively restriction free
area.  Ask the person to describe what it looks
like.  Get them to describe the area in as much
detail as possible.  Encourage them to tell you
what they see, even though they may be inhibited
by their lack of anatomical knowledge.

They can shrink themselves to whatever size
they need to be to pass between structures or see
something in detail.  Ask them if everything looks
okay in the area.  If it is, move on to another
area, one where you sense a restriction, though
you don’t need to tell them you think it is
restricted.

If they tell you that everything is NOT okay in
an area, ask them to describe what it is that
looks unnatural.  Encourage them to be as specific
as possible.  You may need to move your hands
closer to the area they are describing.

Ask them what needs to happen for the area to
return to a more natural state.

Wait for their answer.

If they are having difficulty seeing a way to
correct the situation you can suggest solutions to
them using the symbols they have communicated to
you. Make full use of their size in the area.

They can climb in between bones and push them
apart.  They can pull and push things with their
hands in very specific ways. You can suggest
little tools that may help them, but avoid
frightening tools like hammers and saws etc.

You can suggest light beam machines to warm
cold areas.  Ice guns for cold.  Muscle oil
aerosol cans for tight or stiff muscles and so on.

All the time you will be monitoring and
following the changes they are making on the
inside with your hands.

This is generally an enjoyable technique for
you and the person.  It seldom has a huge
emotional aspect and is particularly good with
patients who are very out of touch with their
feelings.

Most people don’t find it threatening and are
amused by what they find in their bodies. They can
be surprised at the clarity of the images they
see. This is because the following of your hands
enables the person to see more clearly the
restriction in their bodies.

This technique is a very useful way to involve
the person and use their attention as an extension
of yours, to check things out and correct them
from the inside.

As you get more experience with it you will get
a sense of who this technique is appropriate for.
It is a good introduction for other forms of
therapeutic conversation which you may intend to
use in future treatment sessions with the person.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
I am currently studying the face and the way it
moves with the cranial rhythm.  Frankly I find it
confusing and hard to remember.

I’m hopping you have some little analogy or trick
for making it a bit clearer.

Yours Sincerely.

KS.
Canada.

MY COMMENTS:

Before I get into the face I need to quickly
run through flexion and extension in the cranium.

Think of the cranium as a balloon.

During extension the balloon narrows and
elongates and during flexion it expands and
becomes squat.  Long and thin in extension, short
and squat in flexion.

To understand the way the face moves with the
cranial rhythm, take the balloon and add a small
box.  Attach it to the balloon roughly where the
face hangs off the cranium.

Now, lets look at how the box moves with the
balloon.

In extension the balloon will become long and
thin.  The box will arc inferiorly and narrow as
the whole balloon elongates

During flexion the balloon will become short
and squat.  The box will arc superiorly and
broaden as the balloon shortens and broadens.

So what does this feel like in practice?

Sit at the head of the person.  With their
permission, place your hands on their face, thumbs
on their forehead and fingers on their mandible.

During flexion you will feel your thumbs and
fingers move closer together while in extension
they will move further apart.

Once you get this overall movement you can work
out the specifics of each bone relatively easily.

Here are some other things to consider.  The
mandible and the frontal bone moving towards each
other in flexion could put stress on the bones of
the face but this compressive movement is
naturally absorbed by the orbits.

This makes the orbits particularly vulnerable
to any restriction patterns present in the face or
cranium, especially the posterior aspect of the
orbit.

Certain bones of the face are designed to
reduce the amplitude of the movement of some of
the larger bones they articulate with. These bones
are the palatines, the zygomae, the vomer and the
ethmoid.

You can think of them like ‘washers’ between
two larger bones.  William Sutherland called these
bones the ‘speed reducers’ but they do not
actually reduce the frequency of the rhythm, they
reduce the amount of movement or amplitude.  So a
40 micron movement of the frontal can be reduced
to a 10 micron movement in the Zygomae. [Remember
a sheet of writing paper is 100 microns thick.]

***QUESTION***

Hi John,
I am being repeatedly told that the ventricles are
very important but I am not sure why.  I have
asked this question of my tutors repeatedly but
never got a satisfactory answer.

I would be grateful to hear your explanation.
Thanking you in anticipation.
PB
South Africa

MY COMMENTS:

It may be easier for you to think of the whole
system in terms of plumbing, which it is in a way.
It’s a very important and significant plumbing
system.

The ventricular system, is a collection of
cavities and canals deep within the brain and
spinal cord. It consists of 4 ventricles connected
by various channels.  It always looks to me like a
model of a space ship.  Think Star Trek.

The four ventricles are made up of the 2
lateral Ventricles located within the two cerebral
hemispheres, each of which connect via an inter-
ventricular foramen to the 3rd ventricle which is
located between the two thalami of the brain.

The 3rd ventricle connects inferiorly through
the cerebral aqueduct (or aqueduct of Sylvius as
you will see it in some books) to the 4th
ventricle which is located between the cerebellum,
posteriorly and the pons and medulla, anteriorly.

The 4th ventricle continues inferiorly as the
central canal passing down the centre of the
spinal cord.

The whole ventricular System is filled with
Cerebrospinal Fluid.

So that’s the plumbing.  Now let’s look at
inlet and outlet valves.

The INLET valves are located in the roof of
each of the four ventricles and are called Choroid
Plexi.  These are filter like structures through
which cerebrospinal fluid is formed as a filtrate
from arterial blood.  Arterial blood enters the
choroid plexi from the cerebral arteries; then
blood cells, proteins and other large particles
are filtered out.  The pure colourless fluid that
filters through this choroid plexi into the
ventricular system is cerebrospinal fluid.

I will get to the outlet valves in a minute.
First I want to focus on something that is very
easy to get confused about.
We know that the membrane system contains
cerebrospinal fluid, right?

Just nod.

And now we have a good idea of how
cerebrospinal fluid enters the ventricular system.
And we also know the ventricular system is
contained within the membrane system.  The thing
is the ventricular system is, for the most part,
closed.
So how does cerebrospinal fluid get out of the
ventricular system into the membrane system?

Very good question.  It all happens in the 4th
ventricle.  In the posterior and lateral walls of
the 4th ventricle there are three foramina,  – the
foramen of Magendie which is in the middle
posteriorly and the 2 foramina of Luschka,
bilaterally.

It is through these 3 foramina that
cerebrospinal fluid passes out into the sub-
arachnoid space where it circulates around the
brain and spinal Cord.

Now back to the OUTLET valves.
Cerebrospinal fluid is eventually returned to
the blood via the Arachnoid Villi which protrude
from the sub-arachnoid space through to the
superior sagittal sinus of the Brain.  It re-joins
the venous blood which then drains from the venous
sinuses via the internal jugular Vein to be
returned to the heart.

So that’s the plumbing, the general flow and
the inlet and outlet valves.   The significance is
that this system is in continuous use which means
it has to be in working order all the time.  If
any one of the valves or canals of foramina are
not working properly the effects are serious.

Just think of the person having a spinal tap.
Only a tiny amount of cerebrospinal fluid is
removed yet the person will have to lie horizontal
for 24 hours to avoid severe headaches.

Also if there is a problem in this system it’s
not like you can just shut it down while repairs
are made.

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

October 2 -2008

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Shunts?
+ 2 cases from Australia.
+ The wonders of entrainment.

Hello,

I’m delighted to report that the Boikarabelo Children’s
eco village in Johannesburg, South Africa have begun to use
my training materials on Open Source Cranio in the training
3 of their careers. Which is great. All I have to do now is
finish putting all the training material up.. yikes!!!

Which reminds me if you haven’t had a chance to look at
‘The Visible Body’ definitely have a look – it is awesome.

http://www.visiblebody.com/

Because it doesn’t work on Apple computers I couldn’t get
a decent look at it so I snaffled my wife’s laptop one night
and four hours later I was still at it.

I don’t care where you are in your cranial career you can’t
but find this useful. To be able to look at these structures
from whatever angle you like, to peel off layers and see how
one structure relates to another. It just helps so much.

If you haven’t already done so have a look
and let me know what you think.

Speaking of visuals I want to tell you about the beautiful
cranial artwork of Ray Lacy.  As you know I used to work in
animation before I became a cranio sacral therapist so I
got to work with lots of first rate artists and I can tell
you Ray is right up there. He has produced see beautiful
drawings of the structures we work with. Have a look
then if you feel so moved, write a review and send it to Ray.

http://www.craniosacral-art.com/index.php

Anyhu, on with the mailbag.

***QUESTION***

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 personn) when working
on the personn? 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.

***QUESTION***

Dear John

From reading your emails its great to see that the world
of cranio is opening up.. I have to say the enquiry coming
in to the clinic for treatment for complicated cases from
all over Australia is amazing. And hence I am in need of
some guidance with a couple of troubled young lads..

The first is 15…born with a large head that expanded
from the parietals but little frontal growth, at 12 months
his head was so heavy he carried it on the side…at 8 had
a head on collision on a jet ski into a tree an acquired a
compressed skull fracture and brain injury
…although the extent of that is not clear as they suspected
ADD anyway…has learning difficulties, class clown and
recently attempted to throw himself off the tallest building
at school. He has 5 steel plates in his head holding the
parietals and frontal together…his system is very
sensitive and flexion, extension inhibited by the plates..

The second boy is 14, a difficult birth resulting in
emergency c section, swallowed blood and meconium has
chronic asthma, seems ok at school but suffers anxiety
especially separation from mother… she bought him
because 3 separate clairvoyants told her he died in birth and
came back and that there were issues for him to sort out.

Both these boys seem to have a space or separation in their
system from which they are operating that does not seem to
belong to them but is quite a definite separate space…then
there is a pretend who I am and a big hole to the other…
where do I start…seeing that both these boys are seeming
in a serious situation for themselves..

Your pearls of great wisdoms will be greatly appreciated
as usual!!!

LK
Brisbane

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Well these certainly are serious cases and my response
has to be based on what you have written only. Which is
another way of saying I could be completely wrong.

I had to read the part about the sense of space or
separation you were feeling quite a few times to get an
idea of what was going on.  The main thing that it sounds
like to me is the detachment that comes from shock.

If I am right it should resolve like any other trauma.
I suggest you don’t treat it any differently to any other
kind of trauma even though it may feel more intense to you.

With the first chap, the 15 year old, it sounds like
you are dealing with 3 separate issues.

The first sounds like a developmental problem. Why didn’t
his frontal develop in tandem with the rest of the bones in
his skull? Why did his head become so full?

My guess would be some problem with his embryonic
development and if that’s the case then it will probably by
a problem with his blueprint.
I’ve written about this before so won’t bore you with it again.
If you need a refresher go here

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

and search for blueprint.

Love that ‘search’ function.

The next thing be has going on is the head trauma he
received from the jet ski accident. So  now you have a
system with underlying blueprint problems, so its healing
response is compromised to begin with, trying to deal
with a major trauma.

The the third layer is all the surgery and the ensuing
plates in his head.

It’s enough to make someone detach. .hmmmm. . .

It would be nice to deal with each thing separately but
in practice it probably won’t work out like that. It will
probably be a bit of a mash up of all three layers.

Probably the best way to deal with this is to see it as
whatever arises is what needs attention at that moment.

So in any given session the blueprint issue may come up,
then the head trauma, then the plates in his head, then the
head trauma again and so on.

The second chap sounds like a straightforward case of
birth trauma, if you can call any case of birth trauma
straight forward.

It sounds like he is stuck in chronic alarm as a result
of his birth.  I have found that issues relating to Mother
can often end up in the lungs and chest area.
I suggest you focus your treatment on the birth trauma
first, then as the separation anxiety begins to ease you
can focus on what remains of the asthma.

***QUESTION***

Hello John

I have been practicing CST for two years, but have the most
amazing results since switching to the biodynamic style of
work.  I am always enthralled by the intelligence of the body,
as it guides the healing process. Clients are just as
captivated, felling me remaining absolutely still while the
Breath of Life takes over within them.

Recently I have seen two people with head injuries, one
from a surfboard blow, the other from a fall backwards onto
the occiput. The first man was blown away, exclaiming that
his head had completely changed shape over our three sessions,
and that he could sleep at night, something rare in his
experience. During a large part of his session time his body
chose to work on trauma from ear surgery 3 years ago, for
which he was relieved and grateful. The second client, a woman,
felt as though a veil was lifted from her head after the first
session, she almost needed to wear sunglasses, the world looked
so bright and clear. She still had some nausea and dizziness
but was well enough to drive herself to the second session.

Sometimes I feel in my own body what is happening with the
client, and other times I sense directly what they are
experiencing. Can you shed any light on this?

Christine Whitelaw

Moruya NSW
Australia

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Christine,
Thanks for sharing your stories. It sounds like you are
doing great work.

Now to your question. When you are treating someone your
system becomes entrained with theirs.  Entrainment is a
multi-spectrum connection that includes a lot more than
just your cranio sacral rhythms coming into sync.

Once entrainment happens the persons system will show
you everything you need for the session.  Sometimes this
is a strong sense of what the person is feeling.  At other
times you might feel what they are feeling directly in
your own body.

Feeling things in your own body is fine in small doses
but if it is persistent it can be tiring.
If you can’t stop feeling things in your body and it
becomes a problem you might want to look at your boundaries.

So that’s it for this issue.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

May 11 – 2009

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Follow on comments about tinnitus
+ Will the Open Source Cranio training
materials be enough or do I need a school?
+ Is entrainment the same as hypnosis?

Hello,

You’ve wondered ‘What the bleep?’ You’ve discovered
‘The Secret.’   Well now get ready for ‘The Living Matrix.’
From what I have seen of the trailer it looks like a
combination of these two movies but focusing on health,
medicine and wellness.

I haven’t seen the full movie myself so let me know if
you have and what you thought of it.

And speaking of epic cinema check out my first
video podcast on YouTube and let me know what you think.

I have had such interest in my DVD Masterclass
series that I am exploring the possibility of making
it available online. Once you have a broadband
internet connection you will be able to watch them
online. This will make it much cheaper to see them
also.

Now, on with the mailbag.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM JUDAH LYONS ABOUT TINNITUS***

In answer to the question, ‘Have you had any
success with tinnitus?’ he answers. . .

Yes, somewhat successfully, but most clients in this
day and age don’t give me sufficient time to deal with it!

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM SANDRA FEIST ABOUT TINNITUS***

Hi John

Re Tinnitus.

I have treated tinnitus where there have been great
results and other times, some brief relief. I also
always consider diet and suplementation, so here goes:
1. I agree with tight membranes impacting on the
bones and causing tinnitus.
2. Releasing the TMJ can ease tinnitus.
3. A clenched jaw impacts on the TMJ and then as
per point 2.
4. Kidney challenges also seem to affect tinnitus
and this fits with Chinese medicine of the
kidneys and ears being linked. I feel the
liver also plays a role.
5. Omega-3 essential fatty acids in high doses
can help enormously. I had a client whose
tinnitus eased at 3 Omega-3 a day and disappeared
at 6. I wondered what this was all about – could
there have been some arthritis or did the Omega-3
oils halp the membranes, brain etc.
6. Anti-malaria medication can cause tinnitus.

Warm regards
Sandy

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Sandy. All useful perspectives
on tinnitus.  I didn’t know that about anti-malaria meds.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM ESTELLE SAWYER ABOUT TINNITUS***

Hi John
I read life on man a few years ago found it to be
scary and imagined that I could feel all kinds of
creatures crawling on me for a couple of days.

On a serious note I love to meditate at night
before falling off to sleep and I do believe it
to be a great advantage to me while doing Cranio.
I have not treated tinnitus before but have
treated a lady who had gone to her GP because
she felt off balance all the time. She came
to me for Cranio, while I was holding into
her temporals I could actually feel that her
ears were off balance. The one ear was higher
and more posterior than the other and the ears
were truly trying to balance themselves out.

Just held in until there was complete calmness.

Loved hearing from you

Estelle Sawyer
South Africa

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
If I follow your materials and find myself
a mentor whom I see regularly, could I get the same
training as with a school on the Sunshine Coast which
is adverstising five day workshops nine times over two
years?
Kate Pascoe
Australia

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Kate,
Probably the best person to answer this question
is your mentor. They would need to look over the
training materials provided here, which are as yet
very limited, and the school you mention and then
advise you as to what they think is the best option
for you considering the kind of cranio sacral
therapist you want to become.

If you particularly want to get a qualification
from the school you mention, you could approach
them and find out what their recognition of prior
learning criteria and costs are.

***QUESTION***

Dear John

Recently, a client expressed surprise about how quickly
his body fell into a deep state of relaxation after just
a few minutes of CST. He wondered whether I had hypnotised
him. I had never related hypnosis to CST before, but this
connection made sense. As I am not experienced with
hypnosis. I didn’t feel like I could comment on similarities
or differences between hypnosis and what occurs during a
CST session. I wasn’t sure how to answer him. Since then
I have thought about entrainment and how this may relate
to hypnosis. Can you shed any light on this subject?

Happy Easter and best wishes

Cathryn Nitschke
South Australia

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Cathryn,
There is an aspect to the way John Upledger teaches
somato emotional release that is similar to hypnosis.
Specifically the part where the person has no recollection
of the session.

This kind of approach has never been my cup of tea.
Some restrictions release without there ever being a word
said. Other restrictions need to come through the person’s
consciousness.

I have had some people get off the table and tell me
they had no recollection of what happened even though we
spent much of the time talking. It happens rarely and any
releases achieved usually don’t hold.

I came to realise that if a person’s system is
indicating to me that a particular release needs to
come through their consciousness then that is what
needs to happen. Not a partial journey through the
consciousness that is forgotten as soon as
the session is over.

On reflection I came to see that this had to do with
the person needing to integrate whatever was revealed
to their consciousness in the release and they couldn’t
do that if it remained unconscious.

So, for me, there is no link with hypnosis and
entrainment or cranio sacral therapy and hypnosis
for that matter.

Entrainment is the melding of you and your
patient’s systems. Your cranio sacral rhythms become
synchronised. When you still point, they do and visa
versa. The depth you can achieve within yourself helps
them achieve greater depth.

Entrainment is deeply relaxing to a person’s system
because among other things you are listening to their
system in a way that it is unused to and it finds it
very soothing.

The other thing that came to mind from your letter
is that in the course of entraining you may be
inadvertently causing still points. This will make him
feel very relaxed. I say inadvertently because it
isn’t a good idea to actively induce still while
you are entraining.

The reason being that an induced still point causes
changes in the person’s system. When you are entraining
you are trying to get a sense of how the person’s system
is normally. So inducing a still point kind of defeats
the purpose.

And finally the fact that he mentioned the whole
hypnosis thing and put it to you that way would incline
me to think that he had something he wanted to release
but was anxious about what might be uncovered and was
looking for a safe way to do that. Just a thought.

So that’s it for this issue.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.