July  17 – 2007

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Parkinson’s Disease
+ What kind of conditions don’t respond to cranio sacral therapy?
+ How often do you see people?
+ What does a shudder in the cranio sacral rhythm mean?

Hello,

Quite a bit of news to pass on today so do pay
attention as I will be asking questions later.

Harvard medical school’s department of
continuing education will be running three classes
on complementary medicine in psychiatry over the
next year, which is up from one a year since the
class was introduced in 2003. Cranio sacral
therapy is one of the modalities that will be
included in these classes.

The increase is due to the publics growing
disenchantment with antidepressants.  David
Mischoulon, an assistant professor of psychiatry
at Harvard, says doctors who have attended the
class report that more patients are asking for
alternative treatments — due to the side effects
of antidepressants, as well as a lack of response
to the medication. “It is time to broaden the
horizons,” he says.

Always one for broader horizons myself, I say
hats off to Harvard medical school’s department of
continuing education.   Let’s give them 3 hearty
cheers.  Hip hip!

???

Suit yourself.

A while ago I told you about Michael Moore’s
new movie ‘Sicko’.  Well it’s out now and causing
the expected stir in America.  Standing ovation at
the Cannes film festival and all that.  You can
read a review of it by Patch Adams here

http://www.patchadams.org/sicko.html

Yes, Patch Adams is the guy from the movie
‘Patch Adams’.
Well actually the guy from the movie was Robin
Williams but the review is by the guy the movie
was about.
Patch Adams. . . which is what I said in the
first place.
Never mind.

Let’s move on. I received this letter from a
woman of very discerning taste in New Zealand.

‘Hi John,
A friend of mine recently sent me the link to your
site.  We did a training together in New Zealand
in cranio.  I wrote an article about the training
and my experience with the training.
I have posted the article at:

http://www.helladelicious.com/

I really like your site. I have searched the web
all over for sites on cranio and most of the ones
I have found just seem to repeat the same
information over and over in them and don’t really
tell you much about cranio, therefore I am very
glad to see your informative and humorous site.

Thanks so much,
Sincerely,
Renee’

The article she refers to is very good and if
you are into cooking, Renee has some readily
accessible videos of her cooking on her site.

And since she brought up how fantastic my web
sites are . . . work with me . . . I have just
listed what I think are the top ten causes of
trauma.  Have a look and tell me what you think.
Did I miss anything?

http://www.cranio.ie/

http://www.cranio.com.au/

An finally, let me draw your attention to that
pleasant feeling you are experiencing in your body
right now.  I know it is there because it comes
about as a result of reading something that didn’t
make one mention of, or reference to,
Harry Bloody Potter.

On-with-the-mailbag-ious.
(That’s a mailbag spell.)

***QUESTION***

Hi John

Am loving the newsletter and really appreciate all
the good work and the manner in which it is done.

I am a Chiropractor & Cranio student in South
Africa and have recently started working with a 70
year old man with Parkinsons disease. He seems to
respond positively to the gentle work I am doing
but the shifts are short lived. I would love to
hear if you have worked with people with PD and
hear any insights you wish to share?
Thanks again
JN

MY COMMENTS:

My experience of treating people specifically
for Parkinson’s, is limited so I can’t be of much
help.
If someone else, who gets this newsletter, has
some experience or insights I am sure they will
pass them on to me and I will include them in a
future issue.

I have found that generally as people get older
the treatment program takes longer.  Meaning they
take longer to get better.

So the short-lived effects could be simply
because of that.  You may just need to see this
person for longer or you may need to see them more
frequently in the beginning to help their system
get some momentum.

***QUESTION***

Hi John,
Just been checking out your website. I am a RCST
having trained with Paul Vick. I live in Perth WA.
I have had a practise for 3 years now.

I was interested in

1.  The information that people would give to you,
to make you decide that you wouldn’t be able to
help them with cst – this has always been a tricky
one for me?

2.  You talk about clients coming to see you for
so many weeks- how often would someone see you in
that period? weekly, fortnightly  ?

3.  I was also wondering if it would be possible
to get my details added to your website ?

Thanks for the time you took in reading this

Regards
S.M.
Perth
Australia.

MY COMMENTS:

1. Who I would, or wouldn’t, treat?
As a general rule – If someone thought I could
help them and wanted to have treatment with me, I
would see them.
Having said that, I would explain to them how
much I thought they were asking of their body.
So if someone was blind from birth and wanted to
see again, well that obviously is a big ask.

I have found that if someone is in the middle
of fighting off an infection it is better to wait
until they have recovered so they can have more
resources to deal with the underlying cause of
their illness.
Yes, Cranio sacral is good for breaking fevers
and helping to get over infections generally, what
I am talking about are the more virulent
infections like meningitis.
There is also the logistics of treating someone
in the middle of an infection which would depend
on whether you do house calls or not.

I have found certain kinds of nerve damage
unresponsive to treatment.  For example damage to
the auditory nerve itself or a 20 year old spinal
cord break.

I have found genetic conditions don’t respond
very well either.

2. How often do I see people?
I find seeing people weekly works best.  I would
only see them more often if their system was very
stuck in a pattern and they had a very
short relief from their symptoms after treatment,
like a couple of hours but this,  more intensive
treatment would only last for a couple of weeks at
most.

3. How do you get listed on my site?
It couldn’t be simpler.  I send you an email.
You fill in the blanks and send it back to me.

***QUESTION***

Hi John,
Thanks again to you for your always welcome
newsletter with pertinent and humorous comment.

I’ve just started treating a two and a half year
old girl (caesarian birth) for chronic ear
infections. While assessing her cranially I picked
up a ‘shudder’ when her CS rhythm was in extreme
extension; that is, a shudder in the rhythm as
opposed to the body shuddering. I assumed it was
connected to CNS trauma (possibly from drugs
administered, or shock …??). I would be grateful
for any light on the subject.

Regards,
Harold Epstein.
Cape Town.

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Harold,
It sounds like your palpatory skills are
deepening, which is great.

To quote Sammy Davis Junior, ‘The cranio sacral
rhythm is like the great rhythm of life.’  That’s
not an exact quote obviously, I’ve shortened it a
bit because Sammy had a habit of waffling on about
flexion and extension and the reciprocal nature of
the system at the drop of a hat.
And people used to wear a lot more hats back
then so it happened much more frequently.
Hat dropping that is.
Hat-Tricks were popular too but I haven’t got
time to go into that now.

The cranio sacral rhythm is present in all the
people we treat and the more you go into it the
more you begin to pick up the subtle differences
in expression of this rhythm between one person
and the next.

This shudder that you describe is one of those
differences.  It is an expression of how this
girls system interacted with her birth and her
life to date.  The great thing is that you can
feel it.  Remember when feeling extension was
hard?  Let me illustrate.

Let’s say that you and I are sitting in the
ballroom of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in 1966
and we are waiting for the Sammy Davis Junior show
to begin.  You haven’t done too well at the gaming
tables and I am feeling sorry for you.  The fact
that all the showgirls are hitting on me is not
helping your mood either, but I digress.

I try to change the mood by talking about
Sammy’s music.  I say how much I like, ‘The rhythm
of life.’ and particularly how the use of the hi-
hat causes anticipation in the verses and build up
the chorus.

You don’t know what a hi-hat is so I explain
that it is part of the drum kit and consists of 2
cymbals. The lower cymbal remains stationary while
the upper cymbal can be lifted up and down via a
foot pedal.

You’re not really getting it and I’m getting a
bit tired of you ruining the party . . . and this
always happens with you . . . and what did I
invite you for anyway . . . Luckily Sammy takes
the stage and conveniently launches into a
stirring rendition of ‘The Rhythm of life.’

I point out the hi-hat to you.  You see it and
you can hear what it sounds like.  Great.  After
the first chorus the booming sound reduces to the
simplicity of just the hi-hat and Sammy’s voice.
You look at me and smile knowingly. You wouldn’t
have noticed it if you weren’t listening for it
but now you can hear it very clearly.  The effect
the hi-hat has in the song.

The cranio sacral rhythm is like the hi-hat and
the shudder is like the effect it has in the song.

Now don’t get the idea that there is only one
abnormality to the rhythm, ‘the shudder’.  There
are millions of variations.

Right about now I expect you are saying, ‘Well
that’s all great John and thanks for the trip to
Vages but what does the shudder MEAN?’

I could give you a mechanical semi enclosed
hydraulic system kind of answer including cross
currents etc but I don’t think it will help you
much.

Here is the useful thing to know. . .  The very
thing that allowed you to feel this shudder will
also allow you to know what it means.   It won’t
stop with the shudder.

Next time you are treating this little girl and
you feel the shudder, allow yourself to feel what
it means in the context of her whole system
system.

I would pay close attention to how the shudder
is expressed in her neck and here’s why. . .
With chronic ear infections it is important to
check the integrity of the Eustachian tube, as it
is the main drain for the middle ear.

The Eustachian tube is an unusual shape.  In
cross section it’s not circular like a pipe but is
more of an elongated circle shape like a lozenge
or capsule.

As the tube travels up the neck it twists.  The
twist acts as a valve to keep foreign bodies from
travelling up the tube into the middle ear.  If
there are restrictions in the neck it will have
the effect of inhibiting the tube and so drainage
will be compromised.

Drainage may be very important if the child has
had repeated antibiotics as they kill all the
bacteria in the middle ear and leave a kind of
sludge.   It is difficult enough for the body to
drain this sludge, a restriction inhibiting the
Eustachian tube will make it even harder.

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

August 13 – 2007

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Comments about Parkinson’s disease from
Vicky in Melbourne, Etienne in Belgium,
Nica in Berlin and Joyaa on the Gold Coast
in Australia.

Hello,

I’m feeling a bit like Tarzan in this issue.
Standing manfully atop a tall tree and sending out
the call.  The difference is I’m not summoning an
army of elephants to rescue Jayne.  Jayne rescued
herself years ago and has in fact rescued me quite
a few times, something my chimp pals love to
remind me of.

No, I am putting out the call for cranio sacral
therapists.  Particularly in France, particularly
in the South and South West of France and Denmark,
particularly near Copenhagen.  I have had quite a
few requests from people looking for cranio sacral
therapists in these areas and so far have only
been able to find a few.  Do you know or have any
cranio chums in these areas?
Let me know.

As you can see there has been an excellent
response to the question about Parkinson’s disease
that was asked the last issue.  It prompts me to
once again encourage you to ask a question or send
in a comment.  You can be sure 10 other people are
thinking of the same question or will benefit from
your comment.

On the website front, you can see pictures of
me treating children here

http://www.open-source-cranio.com/baby.html

And my links page is up and growing.  There are
5 main categories – Research and Information,
People, Climate, Services and Products, Funny and
News.

http://www.open-source-cranio.com/resources/links.html

Have a look let me know of any sites you think
I should include.

Let me just climb down from this tree and
change out of this loin cloth and we can get on
with the mailbag.

***COMMENT FROM VICKI IN MELBOURNE***

Hi John and JN
I have worked with a Parkinsons Patient for a
short period of time.(6 sessions. I was standing
in while his usual therapist was away.) This
gentleman has a CST treatment weekly and has been
doing so for quite a few years now. He is also
under the care of a Homeopath in Melbourne who
specializes in Parkinsons Disease.
(www.returntostillness.com.au )

It was quite amazing working with this client
because as soon as I put my hands on him his body
“grabbed” me.  After not too long the shake would
cease and there would be a tremendous quiet within
his system.  This peace would last from a couple
of hours to a couple of days. There didn’t seem to
be any rhyme or reason to it.

In answer to the question, I feel CST is a very
effective management strategy for Parkinsons. In
conjunction with the Homeopathic treatment this
client had used CST to lessen the severity of
symptoms and too slow the onset of the disease. (I
would like to say “Halt” but I am not sure about
this.)  He had been given a pretty short time line
by specialists in which to expect to live a what
he would consider a full life but at the time I
was treating him he was successfully running his
own business.

The other thing I did was organize for his wife to
come in and experience CST for herself and then to
learn some simple techniques like Still Point
induction.  Now the client gets treatment once a
week from a CST practitioner and nearly daily from
his wife. I have not seen him for over a year now
but I will enquire how he is going at my next
Cranio study group meeting. I hope this helps.

Warm regards from Frosty Melbourne

Vicki Saray

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Vicky.  Lots of very useful
tips, particularly the shaking and the inclusion
of Homeopathy.

As you know I’m not a big fan of teaching
simple techniques to family because I don’t think
there is anything simple about cranio sacral work.
In my experience it is complex, layers within
layers and all that. . .
I know that after 14 years I am still trying to
figure it out or maybe it is figuring ME out.  One
way or the other, the idea of teaching simple
techniques feels like going to have your portrait
painted and the artist encouraging you to paint
the background of the painting while they get on
with painting the more technically difficult parts
like the hands and face.  Images of the Mona Lisa
against a Simpsons background come to mind.

Having said all that it sounds like in this
case it is working so what do I know?

***COMMENT FROM ETIENNE IN BELGIUM***

Hi John,
I had some excellent results with Parkinson’s;
however it is a long term commitment for therapist
and client (nothing wrong with that – if you have
the patience).
Parkinson’s is not a disease; it is a simple
question of waste management.
Too much toxic material has accumulated in the
center of the brain (due to stress patterns around
it), that simple Cranio (releasing the chronic
tensions all around) will already have a
beneficial effect.
The fluids need to move!!!

Toxic waste accumulates in and around the
substantia nigra (who produces dopamine) that its
production becomes limited and its dopamine (who
is the messenger that stimulates to the Basal
Ganglia, Globus Pallidus and Caudate Nucleus)
cannot reach its destination. It is the restricted
function of the Basal Ganglia that creates the
typical Parkinson’s lack of movement control.
So, any CS will be beneficial.

Also I instruct my clients (during the sessions -
so they can directly connect with them) about the
functions of the different brain structures
involved and how they work and get blocked due to
the accumulation of waste.
I introduce them to the glia cells who can help in
the removal of waste products and I set up a home-
work program, where the client works twice a day
talking to his glia cells while on a still-point
inducer or on a tennis-sock (if there system can
take the pressure – rarely they cannot).
I also convince them (by asking their brain
structures) that they need to drink more water
(besides the coffee their used to) and I start
them on a daily intake of flax-seed oil, what will
soften the membranes of their brain cells
(instruction also during the sessions).

In the beginning I work on them bi-weekly (or
weekly – depending on your confidence) and after a
few months, they come once a month, depending on
their home-work.
It can become a months long program, sometimes for
the rest of their lives and often (hopefully) they
will get hooked on what you have to offer. Since
they are usually quite old CS will benefit them
tremendously with rounding of this life time.
The elderly are like baby’s, they are so happy to
ride the wave.
Have fun,
Etienne
Belgium.
www.craniobabies.com

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Etienne.  I really like the
whole waste management perspective.  Very useful.
I also like the way you talk about getting the
person involved their own recovery by telling them
about the different structures you are both
working with.  Top Stuff.

I’m not wild about the use of still point
inducers for the reasons I mentioned in my
response to the previous letter except in this
case it is images of the Mona Lisa against a
computer pixelated background coming to mind.

Personally I haven’t found the elderly are like
babies . . . at all.  Hang on, maybe I am being
too quick to say that. They are like babies, just
babies that are locked behind 500 layers of
compensation.

***COMMENT***

yes indeed I have some (small) experiences with my
female cliente (82 years old). as you say john:
take time for the treatment itself and be there
every week, working on the same structures.

maybe the client “really” feels any release just
for a short time – but YOU will feel changes in
each session. sometimes my cliente preferes to sit
instead of lie on the treatment table.(sorry for
my bad english-writing — french is my mother
language!!) just be there…..

love and peace – nica Berlin.

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Nica.  More confirmation that
treating Parkinson’s is more of a long term
proposition.
And Nica, compared to my French your English is
outstanding.

***COMMENT***

Hi John,

I am only part-way thru’ reading your latest
missive (massive missive?) and am sending in this
response in case I otherwise never get around to
it(!)

Parkinsons:
My experience is about the same as the South
African cranio-chiro chappy.
The best results I have achieved with PD is by
using gentle stretching / articulation techniques
using the patient’s (client’s) arms and legs as
“long levers” – that loosens up their muscles to
give them some ready relief.  I believe that
abdominal stretching (a technique that has been
coined the “tummy tug”) is also useful with some
of the abdo sx (e.g. bloating and constipation).
PD is a condition which, in relation to cranial
work, I still find myself thinking “Can I do
better?”

All the best, Joyaa
Gold Coast
Australia.

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Joyaa.  The main thing that
stands out for me in your email is the last
sentence.  ‘Can I do better?’

That is a courageous and honest question to
ask?  It’s not an easy question to ask because of
what you may have to live with if the answer is
‘Yes.’  But it is a question that we need to ask
ourselves at the end of each session and the end
of each treatment program.
Not in a beating yourself up sort of way but in
an honest appraisal of how it all went.
Did the person get what they came for?
If not, why not?
Even if you arrive ate the conclusion that they
didn’t get what they wanted because their issues
got in the way, it is still worth asking ‘Could I
have dealt with their issues better?’

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.