Hi John,

I am a qualified Reflexologist and in September 2005 I did a 4 day course in Cranio-Sacral Reflexology in Mullingar Co. Westmeath with Martine Faure-Alderson. I was so impressedby the Cranio-Sacral element of the course the I wanted to learn more and more about it all as it seemed so fascinating. I researched courses in Cranio-Sacral therapy on completing this course in Cranio-Sacral Reflexology. I was directed to the College of Cranio-Sacral Therapy in London. I began the one year course there in September 2006 and completed the course in July 2007. Since then I have been busy with my two young children. I want to start up my own practice in the very near future and keep up learning Cranio-Sacral therapy.

Have you any tips for starting up as a therapist?

Regards,
Catriona
Ireland

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Catriona,
The main thing that will help you grow a strong practice may sound obvious – be very good. Get remarkable results consistently.

If people have a positive experience with you they will tell 5 other people.  If they have a negative experience with you they will tell 20 other people. So nurture your word of mouth carefully.

One of the most unacknowledged ingredients in building a successful practice is time.  There are many things you can do to kick start the process and I will go into them below but it is my experience that it takes about 2 years to build a strong practice from scratch.

Now on to the marketing stuff.

FINDING YOUR IDEAL PATIENT
Before you launch yourself into any marketing activities the first thing you need to  do is think about what sort of people you want to treat.
What kind of a practice you want to have.
Getting that clear in your head will make a big difference to your marketing efforts.

Write down what your ideal patient would be like.
Include in as much detail as possible.  Once you get really clear about the sort of person you want to treat then you can start to ask yourself the following questions about them.

- Where do they shop?
- How do they get their information about things?
- How do they learn about new services?
- What do they do in their recreation time?
- What sort of clubs they are attached to (Tennis, hiking, bike riding?)
- What sort of clubs do they go to?
- Where do they live?

As an aside, the answer to that last question should determine where your practice is located. There is no point locating your practice on the other side of town from the people you want to be treating no matter how convenient it is for you or what a great deal you are getting on the treatment room.

You have to be pretty ruthless with yourself about this point.  I have seen many a therapist move into a room they really liked that had ‘great energy’ and was a real bargain only to find that no one would make the journey to it.  That is also why treating people from your home will only work if your home is in the area where your ideal patients live.

GET WRITING.
So once you get clear about who you want to treat and where you want to be located then the next thing is to start writing.   Don’t write for any particular thing like a website or brochure or talk just write for clarity.

If the thoughts of writing are too much you can hire someone to do it for you.  You can do it through elance.com.  I will explain more about elance below. The important thing is that what is written expresses your perspective on your work.

A common mistake I see in cranio sacral websites and literature is trying explain what cranio sacral therapy is and how it works.  If you ever watch someone reading these kinds of explanations you will see their eyes start to glaze over before they get to the end of the second paragraph and the fourth reference to the craniosacral rhythm.

Keep your ideal patient in mind and write for them. Don’t worry about everyone else.  Try and get into the head of your ideal patient and what THEIR head would be like when they are looking for a solution to THEIR problem.  Try and speak to them there.

The first thing you should write is a description of where THEY are at.  Outline their problem in detail.

Here is an example from my website of the sort of thing I am talking about.

“Is your faith in the medical system shattered?
Has your wallet been emptied by over confident
therapists? Have you been on the emotional roller
coaster, rising with hope that each new approach
is going to work, then crushed when it doesn’t?
Have you tried everything and still not got the
results you wanted?”

You get the idea – use your own words.

Next write about yourself and how you are qualified to talk about helping them.

Next write about how what you do can help solve their problem.  Keep it simple with not too much jargon.

Next write what the benefits of coming to you for treatment are from THEIR perspective are.

Here is an example from my website of the sort of thing I am talking about.

Visit the last resort first . . .and save money.
It became a joke among my students and
graduates that we were actually in the resort
business because for most of the people who
came to see us, we were the last resort.
It doesn’t need to be like that. Most people are
floored when they add up how much they’ve spent
so far trying to get better.
Don’t waste any more of your money.

Benefit from no returns.
When you understand that cranio sacral therapy
helps trauma release from your body, then it makes
sense that once restrictions are released in this way,
they are gone for good.
So when you’re done, you’re done.
It’s as simple as getting a big piece of cellophane
and scrunching it into a ball and then assisting it
to unravel itself.
Once it has unraveled itself, there’s no need to
‘maintain’ its state of unraveled-ness.
So you don’t need any ‘maintenance’ treatments
to keep your health. What you spend having
treatment is finite and has a very definite end.

Gentle on you.
Cranio sacral therapy is a very gentle approach.
There is no pushing, adjusting or manipulating your
body into a set or ‘correct’ position. There is no
intrusive probing into your past. The contact is very
gentle and people often fall asleep during treatment.
Because of this gentleness it is good for children
and people in a lot of pain.
You will feel the benefits within 4 weeks.
Most people feel the benefits immediately. If it
takes longer you will generally see enough
improvement after 4 weeks to know that it’s going
to work.

Gets to the root of the problem.
There are many approaches that will give you
complete reduction of your symptoms. The trouble
is the reduction only lasts for a short period of time
and then you have to return from more treatment.
Eventually this kind of approach makes your body
dependent on the treatment.
Cranio sacral therapy works with the root cause
of the problems. This has the effect of causing
lasting relief of symptoms.
In 15 years I have never had anyone return for
treatment for the original problem they came to
me with.
Not one.

These are all great benefits from the patients perspective.

Next write about what you charge and why it is good value.  You may find this hard but if you can’t explain why it is good value you may be charging too much. This is a time for taking the bull by the horns. If you feel what you charge is good value and you can explain why then your ideal patient will be grateful.  It’s your job to explain it to them not their job to try and intuit the reasons why it is good
value.

Once you are happy with what you have written try it out on some family or friends who are the type of people you would like to treat.

Ask them to read it and give you feedback about it.  You don’t have to take the feedback but you will find it illuminating.

What you have written forms the backbone for your marketing.  You can adapt and edit it for the different types of marketing activities you might engage in. What type of activities you engage in will be determined by the sorts of people you want to reach.  Reread everything you have written every six months or so.  You will be surprised at what you want to change and edit.

TESTIMONIALS
It is important to get testimonials from people you have treated.  Most people will come to see you because of a word of mouth referral. If they can’t get a referral then all they have to go on is what you have written.  People who don’t know you will generally be suspicious of what you say about yourself.  It’s not personal, we are all jaundiced by sales claims.

Having testimonials go a long way towards easing that suspicion.

The good news is that getting testimonials is relatively easy.  When a patient is finished their treatment program you can explain to them that there are other people who have the same condition who would be helped if the patient wrote something about their experience of
treatment.

Give your patient the option of remaining anonymous in the testimonial. Obviously the full name and location with a photograph is ideal.

Here are some of the ways you can use your written material, including your testimonials.

WEBSITE
I can’t over emphasize the importance of getting yourself on the internet. If you don’t know anything about computers and the thoughts of organising a website for yourself seem overwhelming, fear not. There are plenty of ways around it.

With websites there are a few simple things you need to know and the complicated stuff you can get someone else to do for you.  I will explain where you can find those people in a minute.

One of the most important, and often overlooked, things with websites is the domain name. The domain name is what comes after the www For example with my Irish website the domain name is www.cranio.ie

I will come back to the name part in a minute because I want to talk about the other really important part which is the suffix. That’s what comes at the end of the domain name, the .com end.

It is important to get a domain name for the country you are working in.  So for Ireland that would be .ie for the United Kingdom that would be .co.uk for South Africa it would be .co.za for Poland it would be .pl and so on.

Each country has their own suffix.  Having the right suffix for the country you live in will make it easier for google to find you when people in your country look for you. (Technically speaking the suffix for America is .us but it is rarely used so if I lived in America I would get a .com suffix.)

If you are not sure what the suffix is for your country you can look here

Double check it by looking at local businesses and see what suffix most business are using.

One last thing on suffix’s, .net  .org and so on don’t generally work as people will forget the subtle difference and look for .com or the suffix of your country.

For example if I couldn’t get
www.johndalton.ie
but I saw that
www.johndalton.net
was available it would be tempting to get it.

Let’s check this against what I like to call the Party Rule.  The party pule states that your domain name has to have a more than 50% chance of being remembered by a mildly inebriated person you tell it to at a party.

So if I told this person my domain name was
www.johndalton.net
there is a good chance that the next morning they would look for
www.johndalton.com
then
www.johndalton.ie
and when that didn’t work they would give up.
So no .org .nets etc. please.

Now back to the name bit. The bit between the www. and the .com

You could try for craniosacraltherapy but it will probably be already taken.  There are some countries where it hasn’t been taken but it will be gone in most.

What I suggest you use is your name. So in my case the domain name would be
www.johndalton.ie
Short, simple, memorable and relevant
- and it passes the Party Rule.

If your name is unavailable I suggest you use your name plus cranio so in my case it would be
www.johndaltoncranio.ie
I don’t suggest you use craniosacral or craniosacral therapy as most people won’t remember it.  I have found that cranio is the only part of cranio sacral therapy that people remember on first hearing the name.

It is important to buy your domain name yourself and it is relatively easy to do.  Just type ‘domain registration’ into google and you will find  lots of companies offering to sell you domain names.

Lastly, bear in mind that domain names are a commodity like anything else and different companies will have different prices. Shop around for the best price.

Next find yourself a hosting company. A hosting company is the company where your website lives.
If your website was a horse, the hosting company would be the stables where you keep it. Don’t be tempted by free hosting. There is usually a catch. The most common one being the inclusion of the hosting companies name in your domain name.

So for example if I opted for free hosting with a company called Bluebird Hosting there is a good chance my domain name would end up being
www.bluebird.johndalton.ie

Shop around.  I have found this company very good. powweb.com

Next thing to do is find yourself someone to set your website up for you. I suggest you go to elance.com and register.

Then place the following ad.
_______________________________________________________

Job Title – WordPress Instalation and Setup.

Category – Web & Programming

Job Description – Set up wordpress site.
Install and activate the following plugins -
- All in One SEO Pack
- Akismetincluding
- cforms ( Including configuration of basic contact form)
- Google XML Sitemaps

Suggest WordPress theme for natural therapies website
- minimum of 3 suggestions – plus minor modification
of theme to suit site.

Inclusion of staff training in wordpress usage.

Hosting company and domain name already in place.

Desired Skills – WordPress

Job Type – Fixed price
- Approximate Budget – Between $50 and $500
_______________________________________________________

Then sit back and wait.
Before long you will have bids from all around the world from experienced professionals offering to set up your website. They can all see each others bids so they will try to get your work for the lowest price.

Have a read through elance’s guidelines before you start so can set miles stones and generally make sure that you pay on results. You can explore elance here.

Once the site is set up you should be able to update the site yourself, adding all text you have written. You will know how to do this because the professional will have given your staff, you, training.

Give your web site about 6 weeks to begin to show up for in google searches.  Adding to your website on a regular basis helps keep it up in the rankings.

PRINTED MEDIA
Over the years I have tried it all, flyers of all shapes and sizes, brochures, adds in magazines and newspapers. Nowadays I mainly just use business cards and postcards. Both of which are geared toward sending people to my web site where they can get all the information they need to make an informed decision about whether they want to come and see me. I use Vistaprint for these.

I suggest you get good quality card for your business cards.  This is not a place to skimp.

BROCHURES
Whether or not you do a brochure will depend on who your ideal patient is.  They may like to have something to hold and review. For me, the disadvantages of brochures far out way their usefulness plus I don’t need them for my ideal patients.

The main disadvantage of brochures is that to produce one that looks professional costs a lot of money.
It is also very hard to get everything that you want to say into a brochure no matter how small you make the print.

Letter box drops, tiny advertisements in the local paper, flyers up at the your local health food shop and notices stuck on community boards are probably NOT going to get your practice where you want it to be.
Here is a little scenario to explain why I say that.

Mum and Dad are walking past the local health
food shop with their 4 year old Autistic child.
They see a photocopied flyer for Cranio Sacral
Therapy on the notice board, behind the Dream
catcher making workshop and beside the ‘Learn
to Channel’ weekend.  It is highly unlikely that
Dad will turn to Mum and say ‘Hey, Betty this
cranio thing just might be worth trying for
Timmy.’

A word of caution: When you first start marketing yourself you can invest a lot of energy doing things that are comfortable for you to do.  They even allow you to feel like you are really doing something to build your practice, letter box drops are particularly good for this, but they may not be very effective and can leave you feeling somewhat of a failure when no one responds.

Always come back to your ideal patient and ask yourself if they would respond to what you are doing.

WORKING WITH LOCAL BUSINESS
One way to create word of mouth referrals in your local area is to work with suitable local businesses so that they will refer to you.

Firstly you need to discern which businesses are suitable by their product / service to helping you. Look at the local businesses and see which ones spend time talking to their customers.  What do their customers talk to them about?  Is it feasible that in the course of conducting their own business that these people may have reason to mention you?

For example, hairdressers, podiatrists, beauty therapists and barbers spend a lot of time talking to their customers.  Their customers talk to them about a whole range of things from work to holidays to their children and partners, including their health.

It is feasible that a hairdresser, if they knew about cranio sacral therapy, would mention it during a conversation about their client’s skiing accident or chronic back pain etc.  This business represents a good opportunity for you to receive word of mouth referrals.

Be mindful of the appropriateness of the business you approach.  Is their product or service in alignment with the work you do.  Bartenders spend a lot of time talking to their customers but probably wouldn’t be a suitable business for you to work with. Again it comes back to who your ideal patient is.

When you have identified 3-4 suitable businesses in your locality you will need to introduce the owners and/or staff to what you do.  In order for them to be able to reasonably refer someone to you they need to know a bit about what you do.  What is it good for? Is it gentle?  Who does it help? etc.  This can be done on an individual basis or as a group.

When talking about cranio sacral tell stories about patients you have treated to highlight how cranio works rather than dry and boring explanations.

If you are working with 3 or 4 businesses you may find it easier to talk to them all as a group.  A good start is to write an introductory letter to each of them. Outline what you have in mind and invite them to your clinic to hear a bit more about cranio sacral
therapy.

I suggest you make this meeting a generous affair.

Most business people are always looking for new ways to boost their profile.  Provide tea and biscuits or wine and nibbles etc.  Try to create an arena for discussion and interest.  They will be coming to hear about cranio sacral therapy but also to take advantage of having other business peoples experience and ideas.

Provide each business with a gift package of say, 10 Cranio Sacral assessments as a limited special.

There are some important things to consider when offering this:

• Make sure the business is conducive to offering such a gift
• Be sure that you make up your own vouchers to be offered
• Do not present it as a “FREE” treatment but as a
  Cranio Sacral assessment “VALUED AT $XX.00″

This last point is very important, if you don’t put the value of the free gift then the people who come for the free assessment will find it hard to reconcile the value of your treatment when they come to you as a patient.

Encourage the businesses to give these free gifts to customers that they feel might benefit from your treatment.

As you can see there is quite a bit to marketing and there are new ways to market coming up all the time.

May 25 – 2008

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ The interweb thingy.
+ Twitter.
+ Book recommendation from Renee in Australia.
+ Comment from Etienne in Belgium.
+ Comment from Joyaa in Australia.
+ Comment from Eva in Australia.
+ Question about contact pressure and effectiveness.
+ Question about intracranial hypertension.

Hello,

Very Important Breaking news: Russia won the
Eurovision song contest.  Personally I think
Israel should have won but you decide for
yourself and let me know.
Russia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XR5xrU02yo&

Israel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw_6gdieBRY

If teaching new mothers how to make nutritious
meals for their new babies sounds like a good
idea to you then have a look here

http://www.indiegogo.com/mouthofbabes

and if you like what you see then make a
contribution and help Rene, who is also a cranio
sacral therapist as you will see below, get the
project off the ground.

I obviously think it is worthwhile having
already put my money where my mouth is.
A-har!! and I didn’t even mean that pun.

I want to ask a question. Now I don’t want you
to get anxious but it’s about the internet.

Are you on it?

While you are thinking about that let me tell
you some things about my practice.

1. EVERYONE who comes to see me comes from the
internet.
2. I don’t do ANY other advertising.
3. Currently my waiting list is 6 weeks long.
4. I charge more than most natural
therapists in Ireland. [It was the same in
Australia]
5. If you search for cranio sacral therapy in
Ireland or Australia on Google my website
will be in the top ten.
6. When I moved to Ireland I was able to set up
my practice from scratch with no drop in
patients or income all because of the way I
use the internet.

I’m not telling you the above to blow my own
trumpet, you don’t want to hear that racket once I
get started, no I’m telling you to highlight how
powerful the internet is.

Now back to my question.  Are you on the
internet?  If not, is that because your practice is
as big as you would like it to be thank you very
much or because the internet is a complex and scary
place?

If you are on the internet, are you getting the
sorts of results you want?

It has been my experience that, with a few
exceptions, most cranio sacral therapists are not
very computer friendly.

Well let me correct that they are friendly to
their computers, if they own one, they just don’t
feel like their computers are very friendly towards
them.

How to create a successful website that actually
gets the sort of people you want to treat to call
you and then get that site to the top of the google
ranking is a big subject and not something I am
going to go into here.

I am thinking of putting together a special
training on the subject so if you’re interested let
me know.  Whether I do it or not will very much be
determined by the level of interest.

Something you can do right now for free is get
yourself on TWITTER.

Twhatter??

Twitter.
Without getting too technical, Twitter is what
is called a ‘micro-blogging’ platform.

And no that’s not a kiddies toilet step.

On Twitter, users post short updates about what
they’re up to.  (Max. 140 characters. So it’s short
and to the point.)

When I first heard about Twitter I didn’t really
get it.

It just seemed like a load of back and forth
‘chat’ between people.  My initial thought was, ‘I
don’t have time for this.’

But not being one to allow good sense to stand
in the way of having a go, I dived in.

Within a week it really started to dawn on me
how deceptively powerful Twitter was.

And you don’t have to be sitting in front of
your computer to use it, you can post from your
cellphone.  That’s one of the things I really like
about it.

Because Twitter posts happen so fast (i.e.
someone could witness an event and instantly post
about it from their phone) it’s becoming a valuable
source for REAL-TIME information.

The typhoon in Burma and the earthquake in China
come to mind immediately.

Here’s a story that illustrates how powerful it
can me.  James Buck, a graduate student in
journalism from the University of California-
Berkeley was arrested last month in Mahalla, Egypt
while covering an anti-government protest.

Thinking quickly, James was able to send a one-
word Twitter update: ‘Arrested.’

The people who were following him on Twitter in
Egypt and the US reacted by contacting the
university and the consulate on his behalf.  Before
long, James was updating Twitter with another one-
word message, ‘Free.’

Twitter is also becoming a powerful ‘crowd
sourcing’ tool.

Someone can post to Twitter and ask ‘What’s the
best digital camera for under $400?’ and in a
matter  of minutes have tons of replies from other
people giving great feedback and advice.

This is one of the ways it can be useful to you
and your practice as the number of people who talk
about their health and emotional life is huge.

You can use twitter to grow your practice by
specifically searching for and connecting with
people in your country, area or city.

You do this by ‘following’ which simply means
letting Twitter know you would like to be informed
whenever the particular person posts a comment.
Most people will reciprocate and in turn ‘follow’
you.

Some of the more popular people on Twitter have
10,000′s of people following them.

Think about that for a minute in relation to
your practice.  You could let 1000′s of people know
if you were moving offices or had a particularly
successful case or were giving a talk.

You can also use Twitter to connect with other
cranio sacral therapists around the world.  This
means that should you need to refer someone to a
therapist in another country or city you will have
someone you know.  I have already been asked for
referrals like this a few times.  As you connect
with more cranio sacral therapists, they too will
refer to you.

Okay so here’s what to do.

Go here http://www.twitter.com and get yourself
an account.  It’s free and quick and takes about 3
minutes.   Make sure you include ‘cranio sacral
therapist’ or  ‘cranio sacral student’ in your bio,
which is also limited to 140 characters.

If you want to get an idea of what sort of
things I twitter about you can look at my Twitter
page here.

http://twitter.com/john_dalton

If you want to ‘follow’ me, and I encourage you to
and any other cranio sacral therapist you can find
on twitter, make sure you click ‘Follow’ under my
photo.

Once you do that you will be notified whenever I
make a Twitter post.  I will ‘Follow’ you back.

If the whole thing makes no sense to you just
try it for a week.  I found it took about that long
for me to get into it and to know what was worth
posting about.

-o-

Now, lots of response to the last newsletter,
so let’s get on with the mailbag.

***COMMENT FROM RENEE IN AUSTRALIA***

Hi John,
I love reading your newsletters whenever you send
them.  I have been reading this book which is
absolutely phenomenal.  And I would just like to
share it with the cranio community:

The Secret Teachings of Plants In The Direct
Perception of Nature by Stephen Harrod Buhner.

It is a really revolutionary book that has been
around for a while so maybe many people already
know about it.  Stephen looks into the energies
coming from our hearts and how our hearts
communicate with every other thing on earth.
Plants is where he starts and speaks about how
aboriginal peoples have been able to learn from
plants themselves what and how they can be used to
heal people through this vibrationary language.  As
the book progresses he speaks of how we can use
this heart awareness to communicate with each other
and to learn the nature of disease and discomfort
within each other.

He calls this depth diagnosis, and reading his
discriptions of his work it sounds just like
cranio.  I just love the language he uses, the
extensive quotes from Goethe and other Earth poets.
I haven’t finished reading the book yet and I wish
I could describe it better, but I highly recommend
it to everyone…

On a different note maybe I have missed some of
your newsletters as well, but I was really excited
reading about the village in SA and your comments
on Open Source Cranio.  I would really love to hear
more about that in your newsletters.  My mother
works in Burma as a teacher trainer for
kindergarden and upwards kids.  I believe
craniosacral therapy could be so helpful in that
environment when the population is under such
stress, repression and poverty.

Thanks again for the great work you are doing.

Renee
Australia.

MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for passing it on Renee.  I haven’t read
the book myself so can’t comment.  From what I do
know of it you may also like Connie Grauds work.

http://www.spiritedmedicine.com/

***COMMENT FROM ETIENNE IN BELGIUM ABOUT JILL BOLTE TATLOR’S VIDEO***

Hi John,
I guess more Dr’s and scientists need a stroke.
Etienne

MY COMMENTS:

That is so naughty – hilarious but very naughty.

***COMMENT FROM JOYAA IN AUSTRALIA***

Hi John & Greetings from Queensland!
Re. Karen & Orthodontics, I thought that I might
add a couple of points?
1. “Underdeveloped maxillae” (that’s the key
phrase) are not uncommon, and are seen a lot in
persistent mouth breathers.
2. More progressive orthodontists tend to use
expanders (sometimes maxillary alone, sometime with
mandibular expanders too).  Breaking the mandible
to try to reduce its size may be going the wrong
way aobut things (as you suggested).
3. There are progressive dentists and good
orthodontists in Oz.  Whereabouts is Karen based?

Love, Joyaa

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Joyaa and thanks for your comments.
I never found much credence in the
underdeveloped maxillae – mouth breather
theory/approach myself.

I haven’t come across an underdeveloped maxillae
yet.  When there is a problem it is because they
are compressed posteriorly or superiorly or
medially or all three.  The compression coming from
trauma of some kind or another.

I’m not a big fan of expanders either because
they are usually too tight and elicit a defensive
response from the maxillae locking them down.

***COMMENT FROM EVA IN AUSTRALIA***

Hello John,

I have a case story that really shows how easy it
can be to work with the teeth and bones they attach
to.

I treated my niece when she was 10 years old. She
had sucked her thumb until the age of 8, so her
front teeth (both upper and lower) were standing
out at a pretty sharp angle.

The orthodontist had of course said she would need
braces.  She had some acute neck, back and pelvic
problems and I only had the possibility to give her
2 sessions with about 2 weeks in between, so the
focus was not on fixing the teeth.  But I worked on
the teeth and face for a bit any way in these two
sessions.

I worked individually with all the teeth as well as
the associated structures in the face (maxillae,
incisors, mandible, temporals, TMJ, vomer,
palatines etc).  The front teeth really needed some
serious unwinding.

I saw her next one year later and her teeth had
nearly completely straightened out. They only
needed a tiny bit more adjustment.

I have since worked with a few other children,
mostly early teens, as well as my own daughter who
is 7 and busy shedding teeth and the new big ones
coming out with not enough space for them, causing
them to come out crooked.

They straighten out very easily, especially while
they are still growing.  I must say I find teeth
very cooperative to work with.

Best regards,

Eva
Central Coast
Australia

***QUESTION***

Hi there. Was searching for someone to ask some
questions to about CST and found you. Thanks. I
have my two levels in CST. I totally love doing it
on clients but feel guilty in a way because of the
fact that they get up after looking at me like I
haven’t done anything for the past hour to them. I
always try to explain that they probably won’t feel
anything but that things are occuring within their
bodies. There is another therapist at my place of
work who has been doing CST for a few years now and
she does her treatments SOOO different. She uses so
much force it is like a massage and I actually was
sore the next day. So when one of her clients came
to me on Monday she left feeling confused because
she told me how different my session was from the
other person’s so although I explained that how I
do it is what I was taught I began to doubt myself
that I wasn’t doing things correctly.

I sometimes have a difficult time feeling the
diaphragm releases happening in clients. Will this
just come with more practice?

Also I don’t know what this is about but when I am
working on the cranium alot of times their heads
will start to move around in circles or back and
forth. Is this releasing or what is happening? I
just try to go with what I feel and don’t second
guess myself.

But I really can’t say I have had anyone feel any
change after a session. Can you give me any advice.
Thanks for your time.
Regards, Lorraine

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Lorraine,
It’s hard for me to answer your question because
I don’t know where you are training or what stage
you are at in your training.   So bear that in mind
as I answer your questions.

With regard to how much pressure to apply, it
shouldn’t feel as strong as a massage.  Sometimes
in the releasing process the therapist may have to
hold against a lot of pressure but that doesn’t
happen too often.

Far be it from me to pass judgement on the other
‘cranio sacral therapist’ in your practice but from
what you have written it sounds like they either
had poor or insufficient training or more likely
they weren’t properly assessed, if at all.

It would probably be wise to avoid sharing
patients and if you do, you would need to make it
very clear to the patients that you both have very
different styles.

Now to the diaphragms.
The transverse diaphragms are not easy to feel
because they are, . . . well. . . big.   Compared
to some of the finer work we can be involved in,
the size of the diaphragms can be daunting and too
big to hold in your intention.

You may find it easier to think of them
individually rather than as a group.

They each have a different quality and the more
familiar you are with the quality of each, the
easier it will be for you to feel releases as they
occur.

If you can’t hold the whole diaphragm in your
intention do it in two halves.  Do one side first
and then the other.  Aim to hold as much of the
diaphragm in your intention as you can as you work
on one side or the other.

Over time you will be able to hold more and more
of the diaphragm in your intention until eventually
you can hold the whole diaphragm.

Heads moving around in circles?
Yes it can happen but if it’s happening for you
with everyone then there’s a good chance that it’s
your stuff.

In fact you can pretty much apply that to
everything you find in ‘everyone’, if you know what
I mean.

No?

What I mean is if you find the same thing going
on in everyone you would need to take a good look
at what is going on for yourself. Chances are it
will be your stuff.

As to people not feeling different after a
session. If they are getting better I wouldn’t be
concerned about it.

I have found that people will only give you a
hard time about the things you expect them to give
you a hard time about.

So if you are concerned that people are going to
feel like you are not doing anything, because they
can’t feel it, then they will probably have that
problem.

On the other hand if you are saying that the
people you are treating are not improving at all,
well that’s a different kettle of much more serious
fish.
It’s serious because people getting better is
kind of the whole point.

You will need specific help with this. You will
need to go to your trainer or mentor and get them
to assess you.

Get them to tune in as you are working. They
should be able to give you specific feedback about
how you are working, what your intention is like
and so on.

Don’t take it personally if they suggest having
some treatment yourself.  It can often sort out
obstacles in training.

***QUESTION***

Hi John,

Liane from Australia. I am a physiotherapist
working in a new position with chronic pain
clients.  Could you please give any experience you
have had with this condition: intracranial
hypertension. This lady has had 2 labours, (2
caesarians with 2 epidurals). Symptomology came on
following childbirth.  She is very overweight,
looks to have a thyroid disorder.

I look forwards to your insights and advice,

Yours sincerely,

Liane

MY COMMENTS:

Hello Liane,
Let direct you to this case history about an
overweight woman with intracranial hypertension I
treated in Brisbane a number of years back.

http://www.open-source-cranio.com/cases/intracranialtension.html

As well as the intracranial membranes you may
also want to look closely at the dural tube around
the lumbro-sacral junction and her pelvis
generally.

The 2 caesareans and epidurals could have left
patterns of trauma that are causing or exacerbating
the intracranial hypertension.

Cheerio for now.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

+ Do patients need to believe? – December 05

This used to happen to me a lot at the sort of
functions we all attend at this time of year.  The
get-together, the dinner party, the bar-be-que,
the partner’s office party.

I’d meet new people, we’d get chatting and the
conversation would inevitably swing around to
occupations.  When it was my turn I’d stumble
through my latest explanation of CST and leave
everyone suitably confused.

Just when I’d think I was off the hook and the
conversation was going to move on, that person
would pipe up.

You know that person, the one who’s in every
fifth or sixth group of new people you meet.  The
one who feels obliged to ask the questions they
think other people are to stupid to think of, let
alone ask.  The one who takes every opportunity to
flex their intellectual muscles at anyone within
earshot.
They’re not really interested!
They’ve no intention of coming to see you!
They’ve no intention of telling anyone else
about what you do!

They’d preface their question by doing
something with their head, either a conceited
wiggle or a questioning head tilt. I don’t know
why they all do this but they do.

‘So, does the person coming for treatment have
to believe in what you do?’

They’d follow this with more head stuff,
usually the slow knowing head nod.

I’d trot out my standard answer. ‘No the person
doesn’t have to believe in it, at all.  It helps
but it’s not required.’  I liked to deliver this
answer almost like a challenge.  I could never
match the head wiggling/nodding/tilting thing
though.

This question used to annoy me, oh you noticed,
and I would get a bit defensive, oh you noticed
that too.

In hindsight I understand why I ended up with
so many difficult patients back then, what with
the challenge and all.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago.

Stay with me here.

I’m talking with one of the therapists I’ve
trained.  They’re telling me about a prospective
patient.

‘This person asked me if I can help them with
their chronic fatigue.’

‘Good.’ They don’t look like it’s good. ‘No?’

‘No.’

‘What’s the problem?’

‘Well I’ve never treated someone with chronic
fatigue before.’

‘So?’

‘So they want to know if I can help them, they
say they’re a bit sceptical and they want me to
reassure them and . . well . .  I don’t know.’

‘Don’t worry about it.  I’ve treated loads of
people for chronic fatigue.  You’ll be fine.’

‘It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s them. It’s
alright for you, I’m sure you’d get results, I
just don’t know if I can.’

‘Oh I see.’

I pondered momentarily and then I had a sort of
epiphany.  All the years of answering the, ‘Does
the patient have to believe?’ question coalesced
into a profound insight.

‘Believe, they may not, believe YOU must.’

‘Pardon?’

‘I said it’s more important that you believe
you can help them than if they believe you can.’

They looked at me dumbstruck as the import of
what I had just said sunk in.

‘Did you just put on a Yoda voice?’

‘No, I just had something in my throat.’

‘You don’t get out much do you?’

‘Look it doesn’t matter how I said it.  It’s
what I said that counts.  If you don’t believe
they can get better with you then they won’t.’

‘That’s what I was afraid of.’

‘Look salesmen have known about his stuff for
years.’

‘Do they use the Yoda voice too?’

‘I’m talking about dominant realities here.’

‘Dominant realities?’

‘Yeah, it’s a well known fact among salesmen
and psychologists that if you get a group of
people together, whomever believes in their
reality the most will dominate the others.’

‘Whomever?’

‘That’s how sales are made.  The salesman
believes his vacuum cleaner is a fantastic product
and these people’s lives will be vastly improved
if they buy it.  He believes it so strongly that
the people start to believe it too and buy the
vacuum cleaner.’

‘Oh I see, you’re talking about kidding
yourself.  If I kid myself into thinking that I
can help this person I stand a much better chance
of kidding them.‘

‘No, I’m not saying you kid yourself.  I’m
saying you need to believe it.’

‘If you tell me to, ‘Feel the force.’ I’m
leaving.’

‘Actually, I don’t really think of it as
believing, I just sort of expect it.  When someone
comes to see me I just expect that they will get
better.  I’m not kidding myself, I just think,
‘They’ve got a body. They’re breathing.  Their
body is designed to fix itself.  All I have to do
is feel what its trying to do and then help it
where its getting stuck.  There’s no good reason
why they shouldn’t get better.’’

‘Fine, but how do I believe, if I don’t really
believe?’

‘Good question.  What you need to do is, you
need to let the spirit of Elvis enter you heart. .
. . No come back . . I’m kidding . . Look, I hear
what you’re saying. . ‘

‘Really?’

‘See, it’s easy for me.’

‘Well finally you admit it.’

‘No, that’s not what I mean.  I have lots of
frames of reference for people getting better.
That’s one of the benefits of experience.  All
those frames of reference support my expectation
that the person will get better.

You, on the other hand don’t have enough frames
of reference yet.  Which leaves you with just one
thing determining the outcome.’

‘What’s that?’

‘The way you think about it.’

‘The way I think about it.’

‘The way you think about it.’

‘Stop saying that and tell me what you mean.’

‘You don’t KNOW what the result is going to be
when you treat this person.  It’s in the future.
The only thing you can do with the future is think
about it, which leaves you two options.
You can think the person is NOT going to get
better or you can think they ARE going to get
better.’

‘and that’s going to make a difference?’

‘Yes and no.’

‘Always the yes and no answers with you.’

‘What would you say if I told you that we are
making up our reality as we go and the main thing
that influences it is the way we think.  Things
are the way they are because we expect them to be
that way.’

‘I’d say you’d lost the plot and were a couple
of steps away from the funny farm.’

‘In that case I won’t tell you that and by the
way calling a psychiatric institution the funny
farm is not very politically correct, you know.. ‘

‘Me not politically correct? You’re one of the
least politically correct people I know.  You take
pleasure in being politically incorrect.  I’ve
seen you at parties, remember?’

‘Fair point.
Look, what have you got to loose by being open
to the possibility that the person is going to get
better?’

‘I’ve just never been into that whole positive
thinking thing.’

‘It’s not really positive thinking, it’s more
like . . selfish thinking.  You’re thinking about
the future in the way you’d like it to be.’

‘Does it really make a difference?’

‘It makes a huge difference if you do it in the
right way.’

‘Which is?’

‘The first thing to do is get a very clear
picture of the future you want.  In your case it
would be you supporting this person to move
through chronic fatigue successfully. The clearer
the image the better.
As you think about this outcome you’ll notice
you get an uncomfortable feeling in your gut.
That uncomfortable feeling is what has kept your
current expectations in place.’

I could see I was making progress.

‘You’ve lost me.’

‘Okay, ever thought about winning the lottery?’

‘No . . Yes.’

‘Okay, did you think about all the things you
could do with the money?’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s usually where most people stop.  A sort
of fantasy, up there with being able to fly or
having X-ray vision.  If they thought they were
REALLY going to win the lottery it would be
disturbing for them in ways that they never
suspected.
It would literally rock their world.

The statistics on lottery winners show that a
high percentage of them end up back where they
were financially within a couple of years of
winning.  Which I see as a desperate struggle to
get back to their old version of reality as fast
as possible.’

‘So it’s more than just positive thinking?’

‘If all we had to do was think positively, we’d
have things appearing in their lives all over the
place at a ferocious rate.
It would be like living in a nightmare where
everything you thought about would appear in front
of you as soon as you thought about it.  Things
you wanted and things you didn’t want but couldn’t
stop thinking about.’

‘or the one where you go to a party and
everyone keeps running away from you screaming and
then you catch your reflection in the mirror and
you’ve got the head of a shark. . ‘

‘Focus.’

‘Right.’

‘There are reason’s why we expect things to be
the way they are.  With the lottery winner they
could have a deep belief that money is bad and if
they have lots of it, they’ll be bad too.  Without
them knowing about that belief they will try and
find unconscious ways to get rid of the prize
money as fast as possible.’

‘So that’s what you meant about struggling to
get back to their old version of reality as fast
as possible.’

‘Precisely.’

We were making great progress.

‘Yeah well that’s the thing about unconscious
stuff, it’s unconscious. How do you know about
stuff . . you don’t know about, huh?’

Okay, we were making progress.

‘It’s true, you’ll do your head in thinking
about it like that.  There IS a way of starting to
become aware of it though.  It begins with getting
a clear picture of what you want and then asking
yourself how you would feel about it if it REALLY
happened.
If you can get into how you would feel in that
situation and as you’re doing that you also scan
your body, you’ll find it will be making you
disturbed some where.
When you look into that disturbance you will
get more of an idea of what has been stopping you
having the result you want.’

‘How so?’

‘Like the lottery winner believing that money
was bad.  As soon as they had lots of money that
belief was challenged.  The money made them very
uncomfortable.

If, prior to winning, they had got a clear
picture of how their lives would be with the extra
money and how they would feel in that life, they
would have discovered that it made them
uncomfortable.

If they had looked into what that uncomfortable
feeling was about they would have discovered the
belief about money being bad.  They could then
have started to work through the belief and when
they finally did win, it would have made the
process of coming into money much more enjoyable.’

‘So you reckon I have some unconscious belief
about treating this person with the chronic
fatigue?’

‘I dunno.  I think you’ll find out if you get
clear about the outcome you want and then listen
carefully to how it makes you feel.’

‘Okay I’ll give it a try.’

‘Try you must not, do you must.’

‘Cute.’

Having this chat made me verbalise what had
been brewing in me for a couple of years.  The
question of whether the patient believes in what
we are doing is secondary to what we, as
therapists, believe is possible.

If there is a difference between the results we
would like to be getting and the results we are
getting then the onus is on us to sift through
ourselves and discover why we are getting the
results we are.

It reminds me of a cartoon I saw recently.
Santa Claus is lying on the psychoanalyst’s couch
looking perturbed.  The analyst is saying to him.

‘It doesn’t matter what other people think – the
important thing is that you believe in yourself.’

.

+ Emotional issues – Why are people so dumb? – September 05

Ok Maestro. Read your blurb on your website.

You don’t seem like your standard “Be still
and know that I KNOW,’ sort of cranio person.
Is there a factory somewhere I don’t know about
that churns these folk out?

Anyways, I’ve got a question for ye.
I’ve been seeing people for 4 years now, using
a combination of acupuncture and cranio.

As time goes on I’m seeing the cause of many
physical problems are emotional.

They tell you their life stories when they come
in and you can see how they keep repeating
the same self destructive patterns over and OVER again!
You point it out to them and they just keep doing it?

What gives?
Why don’t they get it?
Believe me I’ve tried everything!

So let’s hear your answer on that one Kemosabe.

K. Orlando. Fl.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Why DON’T people get it?
Is it because they are dumb?

Well let’s explore that. If the reason people don’t
get stuff is because they are dumb then that would
include you and me.

Wouldn’t it?

Or do you think we are special?

That you and I get stuff quicker than other people?
Maybe it’s just you and the rest of us are dumb?
Okay, so maybe there is something else going on.

It’s called subjectivity.

Let me explain.

This situation happens to about once every couple of
weeks in my practie. I will be talking with a patient
about their condition. I will be in the middle of
saying something that I hadn’t verbalised before and
what I am saying is COOL!

Part of me will be listening and thinking ‘This is
really good, profound, insightful stuff I’m saying.’

Within a few minutes the patient will be looking
at me in an awed sort of way. I can see them
rummaging around internally for the makings of
a nice pedestal to put me on. That’s when my
ALARM BELLS GO OFF.

For me and for them.

While I acknowledge that every now and again
I do say something original, I know it’s not
good for me to get too self admiring about it.

I also, know that the patient is about to disempower
themselves if I don’t do something fast.

At this stage they will usually be in the middle
of telling me how they feel like a screw up of
one kind or another.

The inference being that there are people in the
world who are normal, they are in the majority
and the patient is an anomaly.

I stop them and explain the objective/subjective dynamic.
I make a point of explaining that I can have insight
about their lives because I AM NOT IN THEIR BODY.
I’M NOT LIVING IN THEIR LIFE.

I further the point by telling them that if we
swapped seats and I started telling them about
my life, they could have some very useful insights
about my life. Particularly the things I am not seeing.

Bottom line Tonto, is you have been sitting in the
therapist’s chair too long. You have forgotten what
it is like to be a patient. You have started to
believe your own press and feel like you should
be up there on that pedestal your patients have
been eager to put you on.

WARNING! WARNING! YOU ARE IN DANGER OF
FALLING INTO THE THERAPIST TRAP.

I know because I fell in it a few times myself
in different ways. It is one of those things
you need to be very proactive in not allowing to happen.

You have to nip it in the bud with yourself first
and then with your patients.

No pedestal building allowed.
No special powers implied.
No act together imagined.

So be of good cheer, K of Orlando, it’s not hopeless
but you will need to do something NOW.

I suggest going to a therapist, a cranio sacral
therapist even. Put yourself in the other chair
for a bit.

Take a class. Learn something new.

Do whatever you can to break up the cocoon of
smug superiority you have woven around yourself.

Try and energetically stand beside the patient
as you look at their problem, rather on opposite
sides of it.

Be with them, two people doing the best they can,
sometimes with ignorance and fear
sometimes with grace and beauty.

Dude, somebody hug me.

+ 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.