January  18 – 2007

Questions and comments for this issue:

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

Hello,

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

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

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

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

***QUESTION***

Dear John,

Thank you for your newsletters they are wonderful.

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

Thanks again.
PR.
California.

MY COMMENTS:

Okey dokey.  Here’s something you can do.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why?

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

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

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

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

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

Wait for their answer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***QUESTION***

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

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

Yours Sincerely.

KS.
Canada.

MY COMMENTS:

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

Think of the cranium as a balloon.

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

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

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

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

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

So what does this feel like in practice?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***QUESTION***

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

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

MY COMMENTS:

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

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

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

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

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

The whole ventricular System is filled with
Cerebrospinal Fluid.

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

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

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

Just nod.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

June 08 – 2007

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Do I use Somato emotional release?

Hello,

If you sent me an email towards the end of May
and I didn’t reply, I’m not ignoring you and I am
interested, no really.

Sorry, . . what were you saying?

My email server dropped the ball for about 5
days and I didn’t get any mail so if you sent,
please resend.

I have some treats for you now and no, I’m not
trying to butter you up.  Here are some videos of
John Upledger talking about two cases he worked
on. The volume is low so be ready to crank your
speakers up.

The first one is about a boy who had
developmental delay, a spinal tap, cephaly,
seizures and neutrapenia.  The video is in two
parts.

The second one is about a girl with hearing
loss, seizures, and stiffman syndrome.  This video
is in two parts also.

The last one is of Dr John doing his thing. You
may need to lower your volume for this one.

As you know I gave my ‘Core Success’
postgraduate seminar in Brisbane in April. Jenny
Palmer organised the event and she has written an
article about it, which you can read here.

And speaking of postgraduate seminars, I have
also got around to putting up an article about a
full body release seminar I gave last year.  There
are some good pictures of the full body team in
action here.

And lastly I am putting together a page of
links for my web sites.  I have been collecting
and book-marking web sites for a couple of years
now an am just getting ready to share them.  So if
you have a favourite website, a cause, an
organization or a just plain funny site that you
want to let me know about please send me the
address.

Anyhu, let’s get on with the
mailbag.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
Thank you for your newsletters.  I find them
fascinating and very useful.  I particularly like
what you say about craniosacral at the bottom of
each newsletter. It is a vision which I fully
support.

So this is me participating by asking a question.
I notice that you haven’t talked about somato
emotional release in any of your newsletters.  I
am wondering if you use it and what you think
about it.
Keep up the good work.

KP
Toronto.

MY COMMENTS:

I have received a number of emails asking me
about somato emotional release.  I even had one asking
about its lesser known culinary equivalent,
Tomato emotional release.

Boom. BOOM.
I know. . .
Tomato. . .
No applause please.

So I will combine your answer with the others.
I don’t use somato emotional release per se.  What
I use is a technique I developed called
therapeutic inquiry.  My own cranio sacral
training was somewhat osteopathic in approach and
didn’t really encourage talking with the patient
during treatment.  I felt this ignored a whole
spectrum of possible information.

I studied a couple of different talking
approaches, including somato emotional release but
found that none of them covered everything that
needed to be covered.  I used elements from all
and filled in the blanks.

When it came time to teach this technique I
called it therapeutic inquiry because the essence
of what I was doing involved asking the patient
the right questions, at the right time and in the
right way.

Not everyone needs to verbalise what they are
experiencing when they are releasing a deep trauma
but if they do then you need to know very clearly
what is happening and be able to assist them
verbally and that’s where therapeutic inquiry
comes in.

Knowing the difference between who needs to
talk and who doesn’t is all part of the skill.

At other times you will have a sense that
someone is on the verge of releasing something and
it is one of those releases that needs to come
through the person’s consciousness.  The patient
needs to verbalise it but it just won’t come,
again this is where therapeutic inquiry comes in.

Therapeutic inquiry is used to help a
particular kind of restriction to release.  As you
know, in the course of treatment we use different
techniques for different kinds of restrictions,
some require direct technique, some require
indirect, some require remote work using intention
away from the site of restriction while others
require close work.
Well some restrictions require therapeutic
inquiry.  The sorts of restrictions that usually
require therapeutic inquiry often have a big
emotional component.

To explain why you would need to use
therapeutic inquiry, I need to talk a little bit
about how these kinds of restrictions are formed.
It usually happens during childhood and it goes
something like this: (You can hum along if you
know the tune.)

A child finds itself in a situation it can’t
cope with.  From the child’s perspective the
situation is threatening to its survival.  The
child needs to process the situation very fast and
arrive at a solution that will insure its
survival.  The child quickly reviews its part in
the circumstances that have led to the current
situation.
It identifies the behaviour that is responsible
and labels it as life threatening.  It then locks
that behaviour away in its unconscious, setting up
the emotional equivalent of a reflex arc.
Too important to leave to mere memory, the
child makes it part of its instinct.

Instinct?

If we hear a sudden loud noise our bodies will
have an instinctive protective reaction.  Without
thinking, our body interprets the noise as
potentially dangerous and reacts to protect
itself.  In these circumstances we are operating
from our instinct.
It is into this instinct that the child puts
this emotional reflex arc.   Whenever the child is
in a situation that is similar to the original
situation, it will have an instinctive protective
reaction.

Back to our child.  Time passes and the child
grows into an adult.  The difficult situation has
passed but the embellished instinct does not
change, it stays in place doing its job. Because
it doesn’t adapt with the growth of the
child/adult, what was once a lifesaver, becomes a
source of disharmony in the persons body, or put
another way, a restriction.

Not clear enough? Okay here’s an example.

A young boy pulls a chair over to the stove to
investigate the strange wispy cloudy stuff coming
from a pot.
His mother enters the kitchen. Horrified, she
sees her little darling about to scald himself.
She rushes to the stove, pulls him away roughly,
slaps him and tells him he is a very naughty boy.

The boy can see she is very upset.  In an
instant the boy decides the following, which I
will explain in adult language.

• ‘A. My mother is very angry with me.
  She has hit me and caused me pain.
  She normally doesn’t hit me.
  My mother is the source of love and
  nourishment in my life and if she
  continues to be angry, she will withhold
  her love and nourishment and she may
  continue hitting me.
• B. If she withholds her love and nourishment
  and continues hitting me, I will die.
  C. What did I do that has caused this
  disturbance in my mother?

Reviewing: : : : : – - – -

Answer: I was being curious and
adventurous.

• D. I must incorporate into my instinct

the following directive.

WHENEVER I FEEL CURIOUS AND ADVENTUROUS
I AM IN MORTAL DANGER AND MUST NEVER ACT
ON THESE DANGEROUS FEELINGS.’

The above conclusion is reached within minutes
of being slapped.  The boy includes the new
information in his instinct and gets on with his
life.
As an adult the boy/man finds change incredibly
difficult.  He experiences abnormal stress at the
prospect of changing house or jobs.  When his
marriage breaks down he becomes so tense he has
difficulty sleeping and experiences chest pains.

Fortunately he goes to a cranio sacral
therapist for help.

Cranio Sacral Therapy to the rescue.
High five!
Low five!
No?
Suit yourself.

Therapeutic inquiry allows the patient to get
in contact with the embellished part of their
instinct and begin to communicate with it.  All
going well this dialogue will lead to changing the
directive.

I have found that a restriction will only
change its function by a direct command from the
person.  Even then it can be reluctant to accept
that authority.  The command from the person has
to be with the same emotional intensity with which
the restriction was first imprinted, because the
restriction was charged with the job of protecting
the person against mortal danger.

Restrictions are reluctant to return the
authority if the person is half hearted.  They are
understandably cautious because of the life &
death imperative with which they were programmed.
The difficult part of therapeutic inquiry is in
easing this instinctive defensiveness.

Therapeutic inquiry is a difficult technique to
become competent in because it requires you to do
all the difficult work you are already doing with
your hands and presence AND include this very
precise line of questioning.

Just to give you a little window into the
technical difficulty involved, there is a huge
difference between asking,  ‘Are you afraid?’
or asking, ‘How do you feel?’
The first question suggests the
idea of fear and in a nanosecond the patient will
be thinking.
‘Why are they asking me this?  Is there
something I should be afraid of?’

Asking the patient how they feel allows them to
tell you the way they are experiencing the
situation; not the way you think they are
experiencing the situation.

It is very important to get it right because
you are engaging with a very powerful part of the
person and you don’t want to be messing around in
there.  Therapeutic inquiry is the one technique
that, far and above all the others, I found
students have most difficulty becoming competent
in.

As with every ‘technique’ it is something that
needs to be mastered and integrated.  In practice
I rarely use isolated techniques and this includes
therapeutic inquiry.  Everything blends together
and is significant.

From the first phone call with a new patient to
everything I say to them and everything they say
to me.  It is all significant and part of the
blend of treatment

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.