Th 3 - Intention
Ξ June 19th, 2008 | → | ∇ Treatment Theory |
We use intention to help restrictions release. Intention has the
potential to sound almost mystical. Particularly when the therapist
works on the head from the feet, which can happen from time to
time. Intention is similar to attention but includes intent.
You are in a forest. A young boy is hiding behind a tree about 1m
away from you. 10m in front of him you can see a young girl whom
you suspect is his sister. She is hiding behind another tree. In the
distance you can see their father looking for them. You are enjoying
the reactions of the children in their game of hide and seek.
What you are using in the forest is your attention. You look at the
boy close to you, then the girl in the middle distance and then the
father in the distance. When you are looking at the girl you are aware
of the boy and his father, because they are all in your line of sight,
but your attention is on the girl. The same when you look at the boy
or his father.
Attention has no intent in it. It is simply the focus of your observation.
With intention we are talking about the focus of our palpation. What
level or depth you are working in the person’s body. Like the princess
and the pea, we feel through all the mattresses (layers of fascia) to
the pea (restriction) at the bottom.
You are six years old. Your grandmother has sent you a Christmas
gift in the mail. You parents place it under the Christmas tree and
say you can’t open it until Christmas morning. As soon as you are
alone you pick up the package and start to feel it. It feels like it
might be a doll. But Granny has wrapped the doll in something
before she put the wrapping paper on. It feels like bubble wrap.
It is kind of squeaky and plasticy.
You are palpating through two layers now, the wrapping paper
and the bubble wrap.
Opps! You have popped the dolls leg out accidentally. You can
feel it through the dolls clothing. (That’s three layers you are
palpating through.)
After some wriggling and squiggling you manage to get the dolls
leg back in its socket. You have done this without ever contacting
the dolls leg directly. You have used a form of intention to put the
dolls leg back in place.
In Cranio Sacral Therapy we use our intention in a similar way to
help structures to release, that are impossible to contact directly.