Sep
26
Posted by John Dalton on
September 26, 2008
+ CST and bowed legs? - December 05
Hi John,
As always, superb and enjoyable! I feel like an empty sponge,
ready to absorb and learn - the only problem seems that one
tends to forget most of what one has absorbed, at this stage
of ones life!
Have you had any success with bowed legs? Am going to have
to work on a baby about 16 months old. He has nearly all his
teeth (molars too) already which is a bit abnormal? If I hold his
upper legs together, that part looks totally normal, but the lower
legs then cross over with the feet facing nearly sideways.
The problem seems to be in the ankles, so that the legs have to
adapt? I will only be able to see him once a month.
Enjoy your day.
Your Buddy
JB
Cape town
>>>MY COMMENTS:
It’s worth checking to see if he was lying in an awkward position
in the womb but I don’t think that is the case here because when
I add the bowed legs to what you’ve said about him having all his
teeth, I think it’s more likely to be a case of a disturbance when
he was developing in the womb.
Think of embryonic development like an orchestra playing a piece
of music. Once the performance starts it plays through to the end.
If one of the musicians makes a mistake or drops their instrument,
the orchestra won’t stop and restart, they just keep going.
Remember that the first 8 weeks of our embryonic life is the time
when all organs, systems and tissues are outlined. If that process
is disturbed or interrupted, we can get all sorts of problems. Cleft
palate is a good example. If the two Maxillae haven’t met by around
the 7th week, then they never meet.
Disturbances to the process after the 8th week will cause problems
in refinement or development of the systems and structures outlined
in the first 8 weeks.
It sounds like your boy has had a bit of both.
That’s great John, what do I do about it?
Getting that developmental piece of music to play again is a bit
like trying to remember on old childhood song. You can remember
bits of it but remembering ALL the words is tricky. It’s the same
with helping a persons system reactivate developmental energetics.
It’s possible but not easy.
The most remarkable demonstration of it I ever had in clinic was an
87 year old man who was in constant pain and loosing power in his
legs from stenosis of his vertebral canal.
During treatment, he managed to access the notocord part of his
embryonic development music and the cells around his vertebral
canal started to migrate away from the area where his physical
notocord used to be, just like they did when he was an embryo.
His vertebral canal consequently got larger and his symptoms
went away. It was bloody remarkable!
That’s great John but how did you facilitate that?
Think of a spy movie. Remember the scene where the rookie spy
was about to walk into the unguarded vault but was stopped by
the older more experienced spy who then sprays an aerosol of
some stuff in the air and reveals a web of infrared sensor beams
and we nod our heads and think, ‘Man, this movie is full of clichés.’
The point of the analogy is you firstly need to know there is
something there, the energetic blueprint in which the developmental
music is contained and secondly you need some of that magic aerosol,
which in our case is our intention.
Jul
02
Posted by John Dalton on
July 2, 2008
+ How to handle the, “What did you do to me?” question. - September 05
+ Comment from Mij Ferrett, craniosacral therapist
and editor of ‘The Fulcrum’, journal of The
Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK. - September 05
Dear John,
I have been practicing for two years and am
enjoying the work immensely. By an large my
practice is going well.
Every now and then a particular kind of patient
will come back for their second visit and accuse
me of doing something to them.
Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes not so subtle.
They will say things like, ‘My neck was fine
before I came to see you for back pain.
Now it is really painful.’
I find it very hard to know what to say to them.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
NC
Eire(Ireland) but you knew that anyway.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
Yeah, I may live in Oz but I still know where
Ireland is.
Your question highlights one of the most
difficult aspects of natural medicine.
That people have been conditioned to be
irresponsible about their health.
‘Fix me Doc.’
When someone asks you ‘What have you done to me?’
they are relating to you like a doctor.
I don’t know whether you have thought about
this or not but, like it or not, you are a pioneer.
You are at the cutting edge of a fringe.
So one of your tasks must be education.
If you are able to tell you are dealing with
‘that kind of patient’, then you would be wise
to take some pre-emptive measures to avoid them
asking you the question in ADVANCE.
The best way to solve a problem being to
never have it in the first place.
Don’t know where I heard that but I love using it.
When you identify the person as being irresponsible
at the first session, you need to start explaining
to them right away how it all works. Focusing
particularly on how you are supporting their
body to fix itself.
That you are not trying to direct how that
process will go, because you know from experience
that peoples bodies know best how to fix themselves.
How sometimes things can get worse before they get
better.
Help them to discover how remarkable their body is.
Worst comes to worst and they come back the following
week and ask you what you did to them?
You can reframe it for them by reminding them
what you actually did. You laid you hands gently on
different parts of their body for varying amounts
of time.
You didn’t click them or manipulate them or adjust
them. In light of all that isn’t it an indication
of how powerful this way of working is, that it can
reach such depths in the persons body with such a
light touch. And how their body can respond in such
powerful ways to this kind of support.
Lastly, if you are getting that kind of feedback
a lot, you might need to look at yourself. Your
intention may be too strong. You may be trying
too hard. You may be too attached to what you
think is the right outcome.
Generally speaking any repeating pattern in your
Patient’s is worth looking at in this way.
‘Is this me?’
‘Is this my issues/patterns playing out?’
***COMMENT FROM MIJ FERRETT***
Hi John,
I love your answers and have enjoyed reading them and,
for the most part, agree with them. There is one minor
point though … when you say ‘Lastly, if you are
getting that kind of feedback ['My neck was fine
before I came to see you for back pain. Now it is
really painful.'] a lot, you might need to look at
yourself. Your intention may be too strong. You may be
trying too hard. You may be too attached to what you
think is the right outcome.’
I think what you said is relevant and true but there is
more to say. If you get this kind of comment often then
it is almost certain that there is something that needs
looking at but whether or not you get this kind of
feedback it is inevitable that from time to time all of
us will get drawn into being over-focused and doing too
much and that as a result we will tend to initiate some
kind of protective reaction from the client in response
to our inappropriate interaction. There is a natural
tendency for therapists to deny this so the process of
denial needs attention paying to it as well. In
situations like this it’s useful to spend a little time
reflecting on what has happened and notice any pull
towards being defensive. One of the most beneficial
ways of progressing therapeutically with someone is
admitting when we make a mistake and apologising for
it.
Interestingly this principle has paid dividends in, of
all places, american hospitals*. Any authentic
acknowledgement and apology will tend to help the
therapeutic relationship.
Of course there is the classic healing crisis response
as well and the classic response of the client not
taking responsibility for their own process but that
this can be used as a cover up for therapeutic error.
More power to your keyboard.
Mij
*Due to the litigious nature of the culture and the
large sums of money awarded by damages suits many
hospitals and doctors have tended to cover up and deny
mistakes. However a pilot scheme in Lexington VA
Kentucky introduced after some multimillion dollar
lawsuits, encourages doctors to acknowledge their
mistakes and apologise for them. When patients have
doctors apologise to them and offer fair compensation
feelings are much improved and court awards are much
lower; there has also been a reduction in unjustified
malpractice suits. Subsequently many other US hospitals
have introduced the policy with similar results and
medical students are now being encouraged by Harvard
Medical School to do the same when qualified.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
I agree with everything up to the part about
apologising to the patient when we make a mistake.
For some reason this set my alarm bells off.
‘Apologise to a patient? Really?’
It troubled me.
I wrestled with it.
I pondered, even.
And then it hit me . . . a few times.
Not all apologies are therapeutically beneficial for
both parties.
When I get on an aeroplane I’m not really thinking
about the pilot. I’m thinking of where I want to go.
My destination.
If I did think about the pilot I would have to
acknowledge that he will probably make AT LEAST one
mistake on the flight. I know it but I don’t really
want to think about it.
If we are flying along at 60,000 feet and the plane
lurches suddenly but then rights itself, I want to
think that we probably hit an unexpected pocket of
turbulence. The ‘fasten you seatbelts’ sign didn’t
come on so everything is probably ok.
The last thing I want to hear is the pilot coming
over the intercom saying,
‘Hi Everyone, this is the captain speaking.
Look, the head cabin attendant Nancy, was just
giving me my dinner and when I reached for the tray
I accidentally hit the throttle with my knee.
That’s why the plane lurched a minute ago. So I
just wanted to let you know and I wanted to
apologise to you all.’
The captain would probably turn off the intercom,
look at his co-pilot and say, ‘Man, that felt good.
Therapeutic almost.’
Back in my seat, I would probably have a glazed sort
of look in my eye. My knuckles would definitely be
whiter and while rationally I might appreciate the
pilot’s honesty, most of me would be wanting to get off
at the next stop. Which stop? Who cares?
JUST GET ME OFF THIS PLANE!!!
I would still want to reach my destination, just not
with that pilot. He is probably perfectly competent to
get me there but he just made the process of getting
there too scary for me.
Also . .
The sort of ‘mistakes’ we make are a lot more
complicated and difficult to explain than Doctor’s
mistakes.
‘I’m sorry I left my wristwatch inside you, when I
sewed you up Mr Smith.’ would be understood by most
patients. They wouldn’t be too pleased about it, maybe
they wouldn’t sue the doctor for so much but they would
understand the error.
Whereas if we say something like. . .
‘I’m sorry you had that reaction last week. It was
my fault because I wanted you to get better too much.’
Most patients could understandably reply, ‘That’s
what I’m paying you for. You’re supposed to want me to
get better, ya big freak!’
Equally . .
There is the possibility that we could end up
apologising for responses that are not actually
mistakes but are part of the therapeutic process.
Saying. . ‘I want to apologise for your neck hurting
this week. It was because my intention was too much
last week.’
Is apologising for what is actually part of the
process of finding the best level to work at for that
person’s system. There is no way of knowing it in
advance. You can only find the right level to work at
by going as lightly as possible, while remaining
physically in the room, the first time you treat the
person and then going deeper with each subsequent
treatment.
Assuredly . .
I’m all for apologising to patients if you’re
running late or you haven’t got the right change or you
fall asleep on their stomach!
No kidding, it hasn’t happened to me personally but did
happen REPEATEDLY to one of my students.
Eeeeewwwwww!
Finally . .
Be ruthlessly honest with yourself and appropriately
honest with your patients.
Jun
19
Posted by John Dalton on
June 19, 2008
We use intention to help restrictions release. Intention has the
potential to sound almost mystical. Particularly when the therapist
works on the head from the feet, which can happen from time to
time. Intention is similar to attention but includes intent.
You are in a forest. A young boy is hiding behind a tree about 1m
away from you. 10m in front of him you can see a young girl whom
you suspect is his sister. She is hiding behind another tree. In the
distance you can see their father looking for them. You are enjoying
the reactions of the children in their game of hide and seek.
What you are using in the forest is your attention. You look at the
boy close to you, then the girl in the middle distance and then the
father in the distance. When you are looking at the girl you are aware
of the boy and his father, because they are all in your line of sight,
but your attention is on the girl. The same when you look at the boy
or his father.
Attention has no intent in it. It is simply the focus of your observation.
With intention we are talking about the focus of our palpation. What
level or depth you are working in the person’s body. Like the princess
and the pea, we feel through all the mattresses (layers of fascia) to
the pea (restriction) at the bottom.
You are six years old. Your grandmother has sent you a Christmas
gift in the mail. You parents place it under the Christmas tree and
say you can’t open it until Christmas morning. As soon as you are
alone you pick up the package and start to feel it. It feels like it
might be a doll. But Granny has wrapped the doll in something
before she put the wrapping paper on. It feels like bubble wrap.
It is kind of squeaky and plasticy.
You are palpating through two layers now, the wrapping paper
and the bubble wrap.
Opps! You have popped the dolls leg out accidentally. You can
feel it through the dolls clothing. (That’s three layers you are
palpating through.)
After some wriggling and squiggling you manage to get the dolls
leg back in its socket. You have done this without ever contacting
the dolls leg directly. You have used a form of intention to put the
dolls leg back in place.
In Cranio Sacral Therapy we use our intention in a similar way to
help structures to release, that are impossible to contact directly.
Jun
18
Posted by John Dalton on
June 18, 2008
+ What do I mean by Intention? - December 06
Dear Mr Dalton,
I receive your newsletters gratefully and with interest. I have also
read your book and found it excellent, both for myself and my patients.
In a number of your responses to questions you have referred to
‘Intention’.
I have heard and read about intention from different sources
but I am curious to know what it means to you.
Can you explain exactly what you mean by intention and how it is used.
Kind regards.
EM
Melbourne.
>>>MY COMMENTS:
I’ve had a few letters like yours over the months so I’m going to
address it in detail.
To explain how intention works we need to take a little trip through
quantum physics. Let’s take your common or garden subatomic particle.
The thing about subatomic particles is they need heat to move.
The more heat, the more they move. So if you remove all the heat
there should be no movement.
Or so you would think.
What physicists have found is that even at absolute zero,
that’s really cold to you and me, there is still some movement.
The subatomic particles keep passing little parcels of energy back
and forth between themselves.
So your empty space is not so completely empty after all. It turns
out it is full of energy. Physicists call it the ‘Zero point field.’
The idea is that if the universe were cooled down to absolute zero
and all particle movement was frozen out, this energy would still remain.
This is not your normal quantum physics stuff, with train ‘A’
traveling at a certain speed and someone throwing a ball out
the window and depending on where you are standing and
so on and so forth and what’s on telly tonight anyway, yawn.
No, this is not just theoretical. There are scientists, like Dr Hal Puthoff,
working to find ways of harnessing this energy right now.
To give you an idea of how much energy we are talking about.
If you and I were standing one metre apart there would be enough
energy in the ‘empty space’ between us to boil all the oceans on the planet.
Not that you’d want to. Enough to make a cup of tea would be
fine for me but you get the idea.
This energy is common to ALL particles which means they are ALL at it.
Passing energy parcels back and forth to each other and because of it
they are ALL connected. That’s why the physicists call it a field.
It means ALL subatomic particles are connected in a HUGE field
that connects EVERYTHING together.
Together now ‘We are the world.’ Everybody! ‘We are the children. . .’
Suit yourself.
This, everything being connected idea, is no news to most of the
older philosophies. I’m told a lot of Buddhists go to quantum
physics symposiums just so they can sit in the front row with
a smug, ‘I told you so.’ look on their faces.
What is exciting about now is that our science is finally getting
around to the view that all is one and one is all.
The other thing to know about subatomic particles is that they
don’t exist as a thing, as such. They exist as a potential of a thing.
Kind of like a neurotic friend I used to have, who, when introducing
himself to women he was interested in, would say ‘Hi my name is
Mark and if you don’t like me. . . .I’ll change.’
Subatomic particles have the potential to be many different things
but are none and all of these things simultaneously. They only
become one specific thing when something particular happens.
And that particular thing is usually wearing a white coat. Yes,
you’ve guessed it, it’s our old friend the observer. As soon as the
observer shows up and takes a measurement or makes an
observation the subatomic particle becomes a specific.
That the presence of the observer affects the outcome has been
known since the beginning of quantum physics. Niels Bohr,
one of the granddaddies of quantum physics, would frequently
throw a tantrum if Albert Einstein ever came in to observe his experiments.
That was a quantum physics joke.
Observing the experiment . . . . never mind.
What has been happening lately is the physicists have been asking
the next questions, questions like. . .
If subatomic particles only exist as potential till we show up,
are we in fact creating what they become?
If we are creating what they are, does that mean we create our
own reality?
If we are creating our reality can we influence that creation?
How does consciousness affect matter?
Bloody good questions, if you ask me and I’ll buy the next round of drinks.
And here’s Fritz Albert Popp from Germany, he has figured out
that DNA in its structure, is essentially a crystal and, like a quartz
crystal, for example, produces a highly coherent signal or field.
This DNA emission is known as a biophoton. Put another way,
it is light produced within the cell.
There is a direct link between the light the cell produces and the
activity of the matter in the cell. Not only that but the light or
field of each cell is in communication with every other cell in
the organism. This means the whole organism KNOWS what every
cell is doing and every cell KNOWS what every other cell KNOWS
at the same time.
Freaky, No?
Now how does all this quantum mumbo jumbo amount to a hill
of beans when it comes to intention?
Well, quite a bit actually. First of all it adds a whole new level
to the reciprocal nature of the system. Not only are all structures,
big and small, connected through the fascia, everything is also
connected at a subatomic level through the zero point field,
and all the energy in it, and also through the interconnected
biophoton fields of each cell in the body.
All that stuff could be going on all the time and you would never
be the wiser. It becomes incredibly powerful when you know you
can influence it with your consciousness.
Put simply, it means that what you think about has a direct
influence on what you are thinking about.
It means that when you have your hands on a person’s ankles
and you are thinking about their sphenoid, for example, you
are actually CONNECTED to that person’s sphenoid.
It’s not just in your imagination, it is REAL.
If you feel like their sphenoid is restricted it’s because you’re
feeling it through the fascia AND through the interconnected
biophoton fields of the cells AND through the zero point field.
It means that if you feel the person’s sphenoid needs support
as it goes into a restriction pattern and you think of holding it
into the lesion pattern your thought ACTUALLY holds it into the
lesion pattern as sure as if you had your hands inside the persons
head and were holding the sphenoid in your hands.
It means that your intention is capable of doing whatever you
THINK of. Not only is it as adaptable as your thinking it also has
access to unlimited power to accomplish whatever you are
working to achieve.
The only limitation on what you can do with your intention
is the limitation you think is on your intention.
Think about that,
. . . but don’t sprain anything.
