March 23 – 2007
Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Postnatal depression.
+ Trigeminal neuralgia.
+ Bipolar disorder.

Hello,
Just let me put my machete down for a minute so
I can tell you about a new study on healing and
men.
That’s right I said men, manly men.
Are you listening to me Pilgrim?

‘Males typically defined as masculine – strong,
capable of endurance and tough – were seen to have
an improved recovery rate,’ says Professor Glen
Good of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

‘It has long been assumed that men are not as
concerned and don’t take as good of care of their
health, but what we’re seeing here is that the
same ideas that led to their injuries may actually
encourage their recovery.’

So that’s it for me.  Out with the pink loafers
and the angora sweaters and in with the DKNY
combat fatigues and the Gucci backpacks.  It’s
rugged hard living for me from now on.
That’s right I’m drinking tap water and hiking
to the coffee shop.

So let’s saddle up and have a look see at the mailbag.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
I really enjoy your newsletters.  I have been
getting them for quite a while now but have never
asked you anything before, so here goes.

A woman called me the other day to ask if cranio
could help with postnatal depression.  I said yes
and set up an appointment to see her next week.

I have never treated postnatal depression before
so I read up on it.  Nothing is jumping out as a
possible cranio sacral link.  I will ‘treat what I
find’ when I see her but was just wondered if you
had any experience of it.

Thanking you in advance.

JL
London.

PS. I downloaded your book and it is excellent.
Should be a bestseller.

MY COMMENTS:

Thank you for the kind words.
I have found that postnatal depression is a
condition that responds really well to cranio
sacral.

The root cause is often as a result of the
birth process.  The main causes being one or a
combination of the following – Labor, forceps,
ventouse, caesarean section and epidural.

The birth process can leave the mother’s pelvic
floor full of restrictions.  This in turn
pulls the dural tube inferiorly which in turn
translates into the intracranial membranes and
affects the sphenoid which in turn leads to
depression.

I have seen this pattern in 95% of the women I
have treated for postnatal depression.

It usually resolves pretty quickly.  6 or 7
weeks.  The initial treatments focus on getting
the pelvic floor to come into harmony and release.
Then once that happens it’s a matter of following
that work up the dural tube into the head until
the sphenoid settles.

I have treated women who have suffered with
postnatal depression for up to 10 years.  After
that length of time they are nearly always on
medication and their second or third
psychologist/counsellor.

It is fantastic and at the same time sad that
it takes so little to get rid of the symptoms and
how much heartache that could be avoided if they
had treatment earlier.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
I am a Cranio Sacral Therapist. I studied with The
Upledger Institute and have been a Therapist for
nearly 2years. I truly am amazed at what this
therapy can achieve.  The reason I am writing to
you is because I have recently been introduced to
Trigeminal Neuralgia which I had never heard of
until now. I just wanted to inquire when you treat
this problem what areas do you treat for success.
I would appreciate any feed back on this you may
give me.
Thank you so very much.
H.I.
Australia.

MY COMMENTS:

To get an understanding of trigeminal neuralgia
you need to study the structure of the trigeminal
nerve.
I’ll run through it briefly here.

The Trigeminal nerve is the largest in diameter
of the cranial nerves.  It is predominantly a
sensory nerve receiving sensory input from the
face and scalp.  It also provides some motor
supply to the mylohyoid and the anterior belly of
the digastric.

The two trigeminal nerves leave the pons and
travel anteriorly for about two centimetres under
the tentorium.  The trigeminal then forms a
ganglion out of which it branches into the 3
divisions.

OPHTHALMIC DIVISION
The ophthalmic division receives sensation from
the eye balls, the lacrimal glands and the skin of
the forehead, eyelid and nose.  It enters the
orbit through the superior orbital fissure.

Just before it enters the superior orbital
fissure, it sends some sensory fibres to the
tentorium.  That’s why pain behind the eyes can be
an indication of tentorial tension.

MAXILLARY DIVISION
This division is entirely sensory and receives
sensation from the skin of the middle portion of
the face, lower eye lid, side of the nose, upper
lip, roof of the mouth, gums and teeth.
The Maxillary branch exits the cranium through
the foramen rotundum which is formed in the
sphenoid.

MANDIBULAR DIVISION
This is the largest of the three branches of
the trigeminal.
It receives sensation from the lower lip, lower
face, inner cheek, tongue, lower teeth and gums
and the temporomandibular joint.
It also has a motor aspect supplying the
temporalis, the masseter, pterygoid, mylohyoid and
the anterior digastric.
It exits the cranium through the foramen ovale
which is also located in the sphenoid.

So that is the rough geography.
If you are treating someone with trigeminal
neuralgia trace the pathway of the trigeminal
nerve with your intention.

Pay particular attention to the areas of
vulnerability which are for the ophthalmic
division,

• the superior orbital fissure.

For the maxillary division,

• the foramen rotundum,
• the maxilla,
• palatine,
• sphenoid
• and zygomae.

And for the mandibular branch,
the foramen ovale,

• the TMJ area.

***QUESTION***

Hi John

It is a long time since I have written to you, but
thanks for all the newsletters – I look forward to
receiving them.

I want to ask your help today. I have some friends
in Cape Town who have a son approx 40 years old
who has suffered from Bi Polar since he was about
15 yrs old.

They have tried every possible treatment, but have
had no success. I would like to advise them about
the condition and ‘Cranio’ and then to advise them
to seek help CranioSacrally

Please advise ASAP

Kind regards

John Rosen

Johannesburg SA

MY COMMENTS:

I treated a woman before I left Brisbane who
had Bipolar for thirty five years.  She had been
institutionalised a couple of times and had been
given shock treatment at the start of the 90′s and
again in 2000.

When she came to see me she was in the process
of weening herself off her medication.  The
pattern of her symptoms was two months of feeling
very high followed by two moths of feeling very
low and so on.  When she came to see me she was in
a low.

Taking her case history was very intense
because she was obviously in a lot of emotional
pain and couldn’t stop crying.  We got through it
and she lay on the table and I assessed her.

It turned out that the root cause of her
symptoms was – physical. Her sphenoid was
restricted.

In the course of taking her case history it had
come out that she was a forceps delivery.  As you
know, the sphenoid isn’t ossified when you are a
new born.  This woman’s right greater wing was
torsioned in relation to the body of the sphenoid.
The right greater wing was also side bending in
relation to the body, meaning the right wing was
much more anterior than the left wing when the
sphenoid was in neutral.

It always feels to me that the patterns of
restriction in the sphenoid act as indicators of
the deeper restrictions in the membranes.  Bone
doesn’t move on it’s own.  Trauma is nearly always
held most strongly in the membranes.

The other thing I’ve found with depression and
the sphenoid is that it’s not the sphenoid that
brings on depression but rather the effect the
pattern of restriction has on the pituitary gland
which is sitting atop the sphenoid in the sellae
turcica.  Particularly as the infundibulum of the
pituitary perforates the diaphragma sellae.

The restriction pattern in this woman’s
sphenoid was like this.  Deep patterns of
restriction held in the tent and surrounding
membranes since birth.  Her pituitary was also
under pressure at its infundibulum.

She saw me for six treatments at the end of
which she was neutral.  Not high, not low.  She
couldn’t remember ever feeling like that for more
than a day or so when she was in transition from
high to low or visa versa.

I was in email contact with her about two
months later and she was still symptom free.

35 years of symptoms sorted out in six weeks.
Who’s glad they’re a cranio sacral therapist!
Hands in the air! Come on, you at the back, hands
in the air!

Not all people with bipolar will respond as
well as this woman.  Not all bipolar is caused by
restrictions in the cranio sacral system.  I would
encourage your friends to get their son assessed
by a good cranio sacral therapist. It will all
help.

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now John.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

January 4 -2009

Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Bring someone international to your practice
- from Nica in Berlin.
+ Follow on comment on Shunts from Malcolm Hiort,
Director, Australian Craniofascial Therapy School
+ Follow on comment on Shunts from Al Pelowski in Durban.
+ Question about self doubt.
+ Question about unwinding from Nellian Bekker.
+ Question on Death and ReBirth from Ingrid Hoffman in Ireland.

Hello,

It may only be 5 days old but so far 2009 is shaping
up to be a great year. I start back into my practice
tomorrow after 10 glorious days of rest and excess.
My batteries are charged and I’m ready to go.

Here are the latest additions to Open Source Cranio. . . .

I finally finished updating the list of cranio
sacral therapy schools around the world.  I know
it’s not exhaustive so if I haven’t listed your favorite
school let me know and I will include it.
Cranio sacral therapy schools

Speaking of listings I am in the process of updating
the therapists listings. I want to set them up so that
you can access and update your own listing and I want
to link the listings to some sort of google map so that
it will be easier for people to find therapists near them.

So if any of you are computer whizzes and would like
to help please get in touch.

You will notice that I have changed the design of
the site.  Hopefully it is now easier to read and
works better as a learning resource.
Let me know what you think.

Forum.
Here are some of the topics being discussed on
the Open Source Cranio Forum. . . .

There is a nice post from Xavia in South Africa
about a 4 year old girl who has Angleman’s syndrome.

Another good post from Thespeni Calogero-Allen
in South Affrica about a 2 year old releasing a burn trauma.

There was a question about insurance from Sara.

And a discussion about depression.

Masterclass DVD Series.
I have been busy preparing my DVD masterclass series.
This will be about 8 hours of video taken from a post
graduate seminar I did in Cape Town.  It’s looking
like it will be an 8 or 9 DVD set. I will let you
know more about it when it is closer to completion.

Another cranio newsletter. . .
James Nemec, a cranio sacral therapist from America
has started a cranio sacral therapy newsletter.
I think it is worth checking out as it’s always
good to get different perspectives.

http://www.craniocean.com/

I came across this article about a girl with
vacterl syndrome, it’s alright I didn’t know what
it was either,  it’s a series of birth defects that
affected a number of internal organs including her
heart, esophagus and stomach, as well as caused
irregularities with her spine and anus.

She also had a severe scoliosis.  She is getting
great results with cranio sacral therapy but her
insurance company won’t cover it.  Local town did
fund raising to help her continue with her treatment.
Personally I find the cost of her treatment high
but that could be just me.
What do you think?

And finally the other thing I have been up to is
making goofy videos about learning to use my all
-terrain roller skates, ominously called Doomwheels,
in conjunction with my Kitewing, which is a cross
between a hang-glider and a windsurfing sale.

You can see my shenanigans, if that’s the sort
of thing that interests you, here . .

Anyhu, let’s get on with the mailbag.

***INVITATION FROM NICA IN BERLIN***

Dear john,
How are you doing?

I am wondering if there would be any possibility,
that I could spend a few weeks, working in another
practice as an idea of exchanging experiences?

Maybe there are people who would love to have -
for a limited period, – another craniosacral-therapist
from abroad in his/her place to be able to grow
together,etc.?

What are your thoughts?

Lovely greetings out of berlin! Aswell to your wife!
Nica

Nica Berndt – Caccivio
Berlin

>>>MY COMMENTS:

I met up with Nica and her husband in Berlin,
when I was there last year.

She would bring a lot to any practice
or exchange program.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM MALCOLM HIORT***

Hi John,
Re Odile’s email/your reply:
My experience of clients with shunts is that their
cranial rhythms are compromised.
Specifically, I notice that maximal expansion/flexion
is never reached.
The end-point of movement has a ‘rebound’ quality
to it, without the ‘tapering’ effect normally palpated.
I have felt this characteristic diminished amplitude
throughout the body.

Another consequence of a shunt is that inducing a
still point cannot be achieved, at least in my
experience.
It seems that when CSF back-pressure begins to
build within the ventricles, it is vented by the
shunt.
Again, this is a bodywide occurrence, no matter
where the technique is applied.

I would be interested to get any feedback on my
remarks at info@craniofascial.com
www.craniosacralart.com was interesting.

cheers John, keep up the good work.

Malcolm Hiort, Director,
Australian Craniofascial Therapy School

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Malcolm.
Shunts certainly compromise the fluid dynamics of the system.

***FOLLOW ON COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***

There’s a good description and pics of shunts in
the Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations,
V.1, the Nervous System, Part II -Neurologic and
Neuromuscular Disorders.

In there you’ll see that shunts can be set to
drain into the peritoneal space rather than the jugular v.

Peritoneal drainage is often preferred in babes
and kids because the longer tube allows for growth.

But, either way, shunting tubes have to penetrate
several layers of membrane, muscle and fascia.
This can, and often does lead to chronic infections
and irritation.

Another problem is the silting up of the valve and
the thin cannula–CSF is loaded with salts (electolytes)
that can crystallise out of solution in the margins
of turbulent flows and eddies in the apparatus.

Shunting therefore can require frequent reinsertions
+ drugs (e.g. antibiotics and steroids)

Some of the risk factors are covered in
Toru Fukuhara et al, “Risk factors for Failure of
Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy for Obstructive
Hydrocephalus,” in the journal Neurosurgery, V.46,
No. 5, May 2000, where you will also find
some 40 references.

It might also be useful to see*
*CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS SYNDROMES by **J. Cary Moorhead,
MD, in Grand Round Archives June 24, 1993.

I’ve worked cranially with maybe a dozen babies
and kids with shunts.
It’s vital to know the history of it and to be
aware that tubal irritation and immune suppression
will distort and disempower the child’s responses.
There are loads of cautions in this work, but no
firm contraindications I can think of.
Other practitioners seeing cases of craniosynostosis?
Please get in touch.

I believe it’s a mushrooming problem worldwide.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks for that Al.

For those of you that don’t know, Craniosynostosis,
is a condition where some or all of the sutures in the
skull of an infant or child become fused.

I have treated a few children with it in Australia.
The cranium felt like it was made of marble.
Hardly any movement.  In all cases it felt like
a blueprint problem to me.  It felt like the
developmental process of the system was accelerated.
It felt like the sutures had met each other with such
force that they fused in a solid way that no adult would.

In all the children I saw, the condition had got to
the point where they needed surgery to separate the
sutures. My sense was that if I had seen them earlier
we could have avoided the surgery.

What have your experiences with Craniosynostosis
been like?

***QUESTION***

Thank you for creating such a helpful website!

I am writing to you in relation to Trigeminal Neuralgia.

I read your response to a fellow CS therapist
and applied these principles to my treatment
of a patient with this diagnosis.

I have seen her for 6 sessions and she tells me
that she experiences 1 or 2days relief from symptoms.
Her response was to make a longer gap between sessions
(3 weeks).

I wish I had contacted you earlier for feedback
as I am seeing her again tomorrow, but well……
my query is about if no big results after 6 sessions
are you being ineffective?

I doubt my ability as a CS therapist…..frequently…
…but have had some patients with great results
from treatment.

I will say to her tomorrow that it is best to
make the sessions weekly for a few weeks and
work from there, if she is willing to try this.

It is difficult when working with self-doubt
and a general lack of patients (slow pace of clients).

I have been in practice for 2 years and studied
at Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust in
London with Ged Sumner and Michael Kern.

Any feedback on my dilemma would be gratefully received.

Thanks

R.A.
Gloucester, U.K.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

To answer your query, ‘if there are no big
results after 6 sessions are you being ineffective?’
I would need to know how far apart the sessions were.
If your patient was getting 1-2 days relief with
sessions 3 weeks apart, then she would probably
get better results if you saw her every week.

The thing is, it would have saved you both some
grief if you persuaded her to do that from the
beginning.  Now you have both lost confidence
in the process.

I always encourage people to come every week
at the beginning of the treatment program.
I explain it in this way: -
(Feel free to borrow it.)

‘Your system is in the habit of being restricted.
When you come for treatment your system begins to
release those restrictions and it starts to ‘remember’
the way it was before it became restricted.
Over the course of the week the habitual pattern
of restriction starts to reassert itself.
Because of this it is very important to come
for treatment every week, particularly at the
beginning of the your treatment program, to help
your system get some momentum.’

With regard to your self-doubt let me refer
you to these previous letters.

Do patients need to believe?

Am I making it up?

***QUESTION***

Hi John,

I am not sure wether this would be a case for your
fantastic Newsletter…….

I have been working on this young man (17) since
October 2006- originally came for sinusitis,
which healed.

He has never been in an accident, but had a fall
at school which his parents were not told about??
He scored the highest in 7 out of his 8 subjects
in Grade 12 this year (German), and the matric
exams is a joke for him. He wants to become a doctor.
He was always sickly as a child.
His mother was  in labour for 12 hours before he
was born by emergency caesarian because his heart
had stopped beating.

He had bad scoliosis which is a lot better.
The lesion in his lower thoracic Level T8, his scapula
positions, kifosis and lordosis are some of the
things that I am working on, as well as his
‘pinched’ face.  It does not matter where I touch him,
he starts unwinding, pulling into all sorts of positions,
and the body sometimes pulls straight up from the bed
with only his head and feet touching, then he would flip,
feet over his head, and then be relaxed and exhausted,
leaving me half dead as well.

His dad is also a client of mine.  I got the impression
that they do not have a great relationship.
He has a younger sister.

Any insights from your side that can help both of us PLEASE?

I know that you are the best!

Enjoy your day!

Nellian Bekker
Cape Town

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Nellian,
I think you need to reassert your authority
in the situation.  From what you are describing
it sounds like his system is like a bucking bronco
and you are trying to hang on.   It is an easy
enough mistake to make in unwinding as we can
become so focused on following the persons
system we can cross the line into being pulled
along by it.

The trick is to stop it before it becomes a
problem.  You do this at the beginning of the
unwinding.  Right at the point where you have
done the articulation and you have taken up a
contact in readiness to begin the unwinding.
When you are at that point, do the following…

WAIT.

Don’t don anything.  Don’t allow the persons
system to move you. Simply hold it and . . .

Wait.

If you don’t wait you will just get pulled
along and it’s very hard to effect any substantial
releases that way.

Waiting conveys your authority in the situation
because the communication from your system to
theirs, while you are holding and waiting is,
‘I choose to follow.’

In that choice lies your authority and once
you establish it the persons system will feel
much more secure with you and reveal very
delicate restrictions because it knows you
can support it through them.

Specifically regarding your patient,
if he continually goes into vigorous unwinding
and you get the feeling that it isn’t productive
then I suggest you direct the energy of his
unwinding back into his system.  Basically
this requires you to hold his system and not
let it move around too much while at the
same time using your intention to direct
what releases that are occurring back into
his system.  This has an implosive rather
than an explosive quality.

Because his system is used to moving
around a lot it may be difficult in the
beginning but if you persevere you will
find that you will get to deeper levels
of release.

***QUESTION***

Death and Rebirth:

Dear John

Winter will soon bring our energies inwards
and with the Winter Solstice approaching,
here in the North, I find that many of my
clients are suffering with melancholy and
soul loss.

How can CST help?

Ingrid Hoffman.
Rathfeigh Tara Ireland

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Hello Ingrid,

Don’t get me started on the winters in
Ireland.  They are SOOO depressing.
Getting up in the morning in darkness,
going to work in darkness, coming home
in darkness and in between, grayness
- if you’re lucky!
If you’re not lucky it will be raining
gray sheets of liquid concrete.

No wonder the pagans used to throw a
big party at the winter solstice.
Can you blame them?
Even though they knew they were in for
another couple of months of depressing
weather, just the knowledge that the
days were getting a little longer,
even if it was only by a couple of
minutes each day, was cause enough
for celebration.

Having said all that I have found
that while the weather can get a person
down, it won’t cause depression.

Now before you start quoting me all
the statistics on SAD’s,  [Seasonally
Affected Depression] I’m not saying
it doesn’t exist or that it isn’t
linked to the weather.  What I am
saying is that I haven’t found the
weather to be the root cause.

When I used to live in Australia
I treated just as many people for
depression and they were up to their
armpits in sunshine.

The sense of being a ‘lost soul’
is something that goes deeper and
will surface regardless of the
environment.

It is where a person feels like
their life has lost its meaning.
Where the joy has gone and they
are ‘off track’. Day to day feels
like just going through the motions
and nothing has any real meaning.

They feel their life doesn’t represent
them at all. It is often described to
me as waking up one morning and realizing
that they are not living the life they
thought they would or know they should.
If you’re feeling like that and the
weather is awful it will amplify the
feeling for sure but as I said it’s
not the cause.

Cranio sacral work is particularly good
at helping with this kind of lost soul
feeling because it works with the deeper
disharmonies that lead to this kind of
condition.

So that’s it for this issue.

Let me wish you all the very best for 2009.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.