Contacting Creativity – Evening Workshop

Volunteers Needed!

I’ve recently been prototyping some ideas for a creativity workshop building on the ideas I’m developing through my craniosacral work and am looking for a few volunteers to be willing guinea pigs in the process.

The next evening is this Friday 12 August from 7-10pm at my home in Camden. There is no charge for participation and all volunteers will receive my undying appreciation.

You don’t have to be working in a creative field, or feel that you are a ‘creative’ person in any traditional sense of the word. You just need to have a willingness to playfully explore your relation to creativity, what inspires you, what blocks you and where those blocks come from. A desire to get rid of some of those blocks (we’ll call them monsters) is highly desirable.

The workshop will look at 4 Cornerstones to Creative Discovery and will involve some fun (and maybe weird) exercises:

1. Safety - We’ll look at building a sense of safety for your creative exploration allowing you to connect to your intuitive, creative self. We’ll introduce ‘What if’s’ and ‘If only’s’ as tools that both hold you back and present possibility. There will be a guided meditation, but don’t worry, I won’t make you sit upright in a really stiff uncomfortable chair.

2. Intuition - We will playfully explore ‘object reading’ or ‘psychometry’ as a tool for allowing the imagination to roam and opening the intuitive channels. Each participant will need to bring in an object that has particular meaning to them for this. (And don’t  tell anyone else what you’ve brought!)

3. Trust - Inspiration is everywhere but what is it that makes us not trust our first thoughts? We’ll look at those 2nd and 3rd thoughts that so often shut down our brilliant flashes of genius. We’ll turn those 2nd or 3rd thoughts into our monsters creating them from materials provided on the evening.

4. Possibility - Going back to ‘What if’s’ and ‘If only’s’ can you imagine what you would do if your monster didn’t exist? In what ways can you recover some of your personal power from your monster? Here we’ll fight fire with fire by using a little magic and maybe some smoke and mirrors against our monsters.

Please note, this evening is considered Part 1 of the whole workshop and we will look at the first two principles: Safety & Intuition. I will be following up with a Part 2 in September.

Get in touch if you’d like to volunteer!

CST With Veterans

I recently found this inspiring video of veterans suffering from a variety of Post Traumatic States describing their first experience of craniosacral therapy.

CST with Veterans from Nathan Havey on Vimeo.

Sound vs Noise in the Treatment Room

I love this video of Zen master Sunryu Suzuki Roshi explaining the difference between Sound and Noise. I love his cheeky smile and the way he just radiates joy (even in black and white). I’m no Zen master or maybe I’m so Zen I only have  a sketchy idea of what Zen is & I can be with that. However, his teaching here reminds me of a shift I’ve noticed in myself in my practice over the last two years.

London is not a calm or peaceful city. It can be downright noisy. I ran a clinic for a year in a beautiful, tranquil, herbal medicine shop that happened to have a perpetual construction zone next door. It was not uncommon for sessions to be  interrupted by vibrations of jack hammers, grinding of drills and all manner of constructive implements of torture. On a good day I could get through my morning sessions without much interruption. But on a bad day the noise, and it was definitely noise, could drown out even the most dynamic of stillnesses.

At first, this worried me. What if the clients were disturbed? What if the noise wouldn’t stop? What if the clients didn’t come back? Should I apologise about the noise? Should I pretend it didn’t exist? Should I hold my clients in such a deeply, anchored stillness that no one would notice that the building on the other side of the wall was being slowly dismantled brick by brick by brick?

Needless to say, this was stressful. This meant I went into each session with an edge, a worry. There was already a thought of “Oh God…what if…”

I worked around it. I battled it. I struggled with it. For a year. Unfortunately the shop closed and I moved my clinic elsewhere. Unfortunate because the shop was, despite the noise, a wonderful place to be but also because my attitude towards noise has gradually shifted over the last year and it would have been good to experience this shift in that environment.

Singing with the bird

In the video above, Shunryu Suzuki explains how when you hear a bird singing you think there is a bird singing over there but for buddhists when they hear the bird, “bird is me…I actually am not listening to the bird. Bird is here in my mind already and I am singing with the bird.”

Nowadays in sessions when a noise from outside interrupts whether it’s the roaring of an airplane over head, a passing ambulance or a cat mewing outside I see it more as an opportunity to expand our awareness (the client’s and my own) out into the wider field. It’s almost as if the natural world outside is tapping on the door saying, “Pardon me, I’m a part of this too.”  This can be a great window to working in the long tide. I will sometimes verbally acknowledge an emerging sound just by saying simply, “There is a loud motorcycle outside. Just include this sound allowing your awareness to expand out from your body into the room out into the street outside, as far as the horizon if you can.” I also like to use humour, “There is a cat crying outside the window. This is just nature reminding us that it’s still there.” (something we lose site of in London)

I believe Michael Shea addresses this issue when he talks about Attunement. I like the definition of attunement: To bring into a harmonious or responsive relationship.  For Michael Shea it is one of the basic points of biodynamic practice – a way of establishing safety – and is the rhythmic slow movement of attention towards and away from the client. This is the ‘key to the rehabilitation of the client’s nervous system’ or to bringing the client into a harmonious and responsive ‘right relationship’.

What I have found is that the simple act of not trying to control noisy interruptions makes my treatment room more quiet. Singing with the bird. Crying with cat. Roaring with the motorcycle. Have you ever noticed that when clients come in upset, worked up about something, or angry then suddenly the space outside the treatment room is full of the noise of sirens, engines, doors slamming, people shouting? I believe this is the natural world saying, ‘slow down and listen.’ Or in more familiar craniosacral parlance, ‘Be Still And Know.’

Two Brains, Two Selves: Logic vs Artist Within Craniosacral Work

Recently I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about the nature of creativity. What is it? Where does it come from? How can we release blocks to creativity? The hemispheric concept of left brain vs right brain has come up a lot in my reading. While my understanding is that neurobiology has moved on from thinking about the strict lateralized of brain function, I find the metaphor of Two Brains/Two Selves informative to my work. Recent reading of The Inner Game of Tennis, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Monsters and Magic Sticks shows just how far these concepts have filtered down in thinking about the human condition, consciousness, and ways of being. My intention here is to explore how craniosacral work relates to the idea that our brains, our selves, are essentially divided into a Logic Brain (Self 1) and an Artist’s Brain (Self 2).

Self 1 vs Self 2 – a brief explanation

I’m exploring the idea that Self 1 – the Logic Brain – is essentially our acting and analysing self. It is rational, categorical, linear and neat. It also voices the thoughts of our Censor. The inner voice that comes out with our 2^nd 3^rd or 4^th thoughts, often silencing, criticising or belittling our first thoughts of inspiration or artistic expression. Its voice is verbal, knowledgeable & extremely convincing.

Self 2 – The Artist’s Brain – voices our first thoughts, those intuitive answers that seem full of childlike wonder. It is our self that makes connections, thinks metaphorically, is holistic, creative and insightful. It is intuitive wisdom. While the the Logic Brain is about knowing or rather thinking that you know, the Artist’s Brain is about trust. Its language is often abstract, visual, emotional and tonal.

Most of us spend most of our time in Self 1. Analysing everything, thoughts whirling around in our head unable to switch them off, worrying about bills, school runs, what our friends & colleagues think of us, re-running should haves and could haves over relentlessly. I call it the ‘washing machine’ and when I see clients like this I may talk about the Stress Response or the Sympathetic Nervous System. We start from here, making it safe for that SNS response to slow down thus allowing the body to relate to the possibility of stillness of something else.

The Felt Sense of Self 2 – Something Happens

And once it does go quiet, then what? How can I work with Self 2? I’ve often found in my practice that once we’re in Self 2 the sessions are mainly silent. We’re working in the deeper tides, the body is often relaxed, sometimes the client is conscious but seems to be in a deep meditative state. Some report seeing colours, feeling a presence in the room, others see dream-like images. There may be a floating feeling or the sensation of energy travelling through the body. Some notice nothing except a deep sense of peace. Something happens (SH) at a level where the ‘thinking’ logic mind has a hard time describing it. More often than not this part of the work is conducted in complete reverent silence.

As the practitioner my perceptions at this level are similarly ephemeral. Non-verbal. I find it very hard to put into words what I’m noticing here because at this level we are working with the phenomena of pure perception before the verbal, reasoning mind has had a chance to analyse, describe & label. The things I notice here are like vast soundscapes or fields of magnetic, wave-like currents. Coalescences. Tinglings. Bubblings. Sinkings. Evaporatings. I find that I can often draw or describe what has happened – only after the session – when I disengage from this deep, rich, creative space. There is a tendency here to “space out”. So I am constantly looking for tools that enable me to stay present with the client in this space (the treatment room) & this time (Wednesday morning at 11:30) with this pattern (that undulating tingling feeling coalescing under my hands in the left scapula) while still allowing an exploration of the wider fields of consciousness emerging here.

And then what? A little dissociation is not a bad thing

I don’t believe human experience is ever a purely, physical, embodied phenomenon. Learning to experience ourselves as we are includes an expansion of consciousness outward from the body to include the space around us, an expansion of consciousness back in time to include our personal narrative & an expansion of consciousness into the future to include a sense of possibility. It also includes an expansion of connection to those around us and a meeting of their experience of their physical, spatial and temporal selves. I don’t include a separate spiritual connection here because for me all connection is spiritual.

I sometimes feel at odds with lines of thought in the craniosacral community that stress embodiment above all else, constantly bringing clients back into a bodily awareness. I’ve often had clients in states of hyperarousal who are acutely aware of every minute detail of their body, the rocking of their sphenoid, the flexion and extension of their femurs, the tightness of their palatines. With the accuracy of an anatomist, they often can’t stop reporting exactly what they feel in their bodies. I would argue that a little dissociation is not a bad thing in these cases. The ability to expand out from the body would offer a welcome respite. It would allow the possibility of connecting with something that can’t be readily rationalised, categorised and known. It offers the possibility to trust a deeper nature of ourselves, a human truth that is intuitive, creative, wise and whole. This is the intelligence of the human condition that is so often referred to in craniosacral thinking. I find that the creative, healing, force behind Self 2 is already there the instant we get out of the way and let ourselves be breathed by it.

I’ve heard Michael Shea talk about dissociation as an emergence that wants to be reconceived and reborn, a consciousness of something different that might not be simply “back to the factory”. (Bernstein – Living in the Boderland) Dissociation in other cultures is a normal part of healing. I’m thinking here of trance-like states used in various healing & religious rituals. Ayahuasca rituals. Whirling Dervishes, Speaking in tongues, Faith Healers. Getting out of the body is something that is honoured, desired and considered sacred & healing. This is the space of sacred symbols where the images we see, lessons we learn, the messages we receive can have profound transformative effects. The management of these symbols is the job of the therapist.

Working With Self Two – Listening to The Story

The healer holds & manages the container and the centre so the client can be reborn in a ‘right relationship’.
Michael Shea

To me holding the container means allowing for this expansion outwards from the body but keeping it anchored in the hear & now – giving it a centre to expand out from. The therapist finds ways to acknowledge anything that emerges & gives the client the tools to explore this rich, new landscape. This means connecting on the level of metaphor, symbol & archtetypes.

Once we have reached this level of work we can deepen the experience by working with metaphor, symbols and the deep primal universal truths of the human condition. As a therapist we can shift from questions which bring the client into their bodies, to questions that engage the imaginative and intuitive mind. We can ask, “What is that like?” “Can you imagine a time before you felt this way?” “Can you imagine the first time you felt like this?” “If this (thing you are describing) were a symbol, what would it be a symbol of?” or maybe something like “It’s as if your legs have something to say.” “How do you feel when you see that colour?” “I’m wondering what that reminds you of?”

Working with Self Two requires that we suspend our disbelief. If a client says, I feel like a herd of pink elephants has just tap-danced its way into my brain then we say, “Oh, I’m wondering what it’s like for your brain to be danced on?” It requires that we meet the client where they are and allow the story to be told. One of the fundamental acts of human beings is telling stories and listening to stories. In a craniosacral session the way we listen determines how the story is told.

Can we allow this story to be one of creation and healing?

Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, speaking at TED on Nurturing Creativity and avoiding the pitfalls of success.

This is the most inspiring and brave talk I’ve heard in a long time and, I think, essential viewing for anyone engaged in creative pursuits who’s ever experienced the fear of  ”What if it’s no good?”. She begins by discussing the preconception that creative genius is very dangerous thing, coming from suffering and often leading to destruction – alcoholism, drug addiction, madness, suicide. She then goes on to look back in time to ancient ideas of creativity citing the Ancient Greeks & Romans who believed creative inspiration is something that comes from outside the individual. She argues that this creates a valuable psychological construct which separates (and protects) the artist from the product of their creativity. She puts to us that maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. After all we are then able to do our part of the job (i.e. showing up on page) and leave the genius to that Something Else. It allows us to let go of the fear and performance anxiety by saying, “If this book is not brilliant then I am not completely responsible…I showed up for my part of the job.”  The rest is up to the “divine cock-eyed genius assigned to your case.”

Utterly moving and inspirational!

Voices in Craniosacral Therapy

Living with MS

I’m so pleased to find a video testimonial of the beneficial effects of craniosacral therapy! Cranial work certainly seems to have helped with the symptoms of her MS. I think real life testimonials are a great way of increasing awareness about the benefits of cranial work, but don’t think I’ve come across many on youtube or elsewhere. Let me know if you find any, or perhaps create your own and I’ll share here.

via YouTube – Living with MS: Craniosacral Therapy.

What is the therapeutic relationship in craniosacral therapy?‬‏

Thought I’d share the following video from Michael Shea discussing the importance of the therapeutic relationship in craniosacral therapy. Michael’s books and teaching (I was lucky enough to attend one of his seminars last year) have been profoundly influential for me, especially his teaching around the heart and interoception.

via YouTube – ‪MichaelSheaTeaching’s Channel‬‏.

All the answers

Recently I asked for volunteers to help me out with some research by answering a questionnaire on creativity. I have been really touched both by the number of people who participate but also by their inspiring, touching and heartfelt answers. I’ve learned something important from each and every one. Then John Dalton, a fellow Cranio Bod, posted his answers on his Maya Noise book blog. It slowly dawned on me that I really should get around to answering my own questionnaire.

So here it is below. I’d like to hear your thoughts below. Do any of these questions have strong resonances for you? Let me know.

1. Do you consider yourself to be a creative person? How do you know?

   Yes, my initial answer to ‘how do you know?’ is because my non-creative, mathematical brain doesn’t work so well. I value creative people & creative pursuits highly. From a very young age I was drawn to drawing, writing, painting, music – the arts! And I’ve always been highly imaginative.

2. To what extent do you feel a need or desire to be creative?

   Intensely, my desire to be creative has led to drastic career changes more than once in my life. It allows me to be flexible & open minded.

3. What words describe how it feels when you are involved in a creative activity?

    In the zone. The still eye of a hurricane. Peaceful. Connected.

4. Do you work in a creative field? If so, to what extent does this fullfill your creative drive? If not, would you like to work in a more creative job?

   Craniosacral therapy is profoundly creative – though I wonder if this is at first evident – I think the material of cranial work is pure universal creative potential. For me, my work is the synthesis of all my other past creative trainings, careers & pursuits. Giving up music, felt like a waste until I found cranial work – now I see that a musical background gave me a keen ability to listen and to feel. Giving a cranial session, to me, feels not dissimilar to sitting in the middle of an orchestra or band with all the different rhythms and layers of sound surrounding you and passing through your body. A very different experience to sitting in the audience because of the physical sensation of both creating the SOUND and being a part of  the group SOUND. In my small, artist, child, heart I would have to say that part of me would love to write or paint – these are still desires.

5. What is creativity?

   A universal energetic force. A basic human need. A survival mechanism. An expression of self. A means for connecting. These and more.

6. Where does it come from?

   From the outside in and then back out again. It is a universal quality we can all tap into. Call it an energy if you like, life-force, vitality, potency, God. Whatever works for you. It comes from somewhere else, gathers form through the artist’s inspiration and expresses itself through the body – the physical act of creating.

7. Are we born with creative potential or is it a talent that only some possess?

   We are all born with it, in it & of it. Some find it easier to let themselves be creative. Some have a hard time getting out of the way.

8. Creativity is _______% inspiration & _________% perspiration. I can’t give a definite answer here, the values are always fluctuating. Creating can be a struggle but sometimes it can just flow. The two aspects are intertwined and inseparable. Also creativity is different from creating. The perspiration comes in the creating. Creativity isn’t material it’s pure inspirational flow.

9. Complete the sentence:

   Artists are: poor, mad.

   An artist always: dreams, starves.

   An artist never: thinks of others, commits to them.

   I could be a (more) successful artist/writer/musician etc if only: I weren’t afraid.

10. Was there a time in the past when you felt more or less creative than you do now?

    Yes, I felt very creative that year in Florida with my ex-husband when we had a little house on the water. I had a little room where I would paint. We had no money & I was teaching music lessons & working in book store. We fought like cats & dogs. But also were very creative. He spent a lot of time writing & I had this wonderful little space to sketch & paint & make a mess without worrying about cleaning up afterwords. I remember the smell of linseed oil vividly.

11. Have you ever experienced a creative block? What was that like?

    Yes, like being confined, overwhelmed, muffled. Like being a failure, imploding.

12. What, if anything, made it better?

    Hmmmm…moving on to something different. Giving up?I don’t know if I’ve gotten over a block, I’ve gotten through them by powering through the mechanical motions of completing a project. Unfortunately my natural tendency seems to be just to quit & move on to something else.

13. Free association: please write the first thing that pops in your head?

    Artist – painter, palette

    Writer – Hemingway, typewriter

    Musician – Sexy! Rocknroll

    Actor – Pretty boy, big smile, white teeth

    Painter – housepainter in white overalls.

    Architect – Uptight, anal, glasses

    Sculptor – Great hands! Tactile! Sensual!

    Composer – The Great Creator! Flow. Sees all, hears all.

    Poet – Enlightened, Sensitive, Tuberculosis.

14. If you have a creative talent to what extent, if at all, do you have an obligation to use it?

    I struggle with this a lot because I was brought up to be a musician from a young age & certainly experienced the pressure of competition, needing to succeed etc. I was also imprinted with a very strong feeling that if I didn’t use it I would lose it. But practising was ALWAYS a struggle for me. I didn’t enjoy it & used to fight my parents over it. Once I made a tape recording of a practice session & would lock myself in my room. I could play the tape & convince my parents I was practising but really I was reading Anne Rice novels (as you do) or writing or drawing. So I’ve felt a lot of guilt over giving up music & now see that feeling of obligation as a block to my being able to enjoy performing now. It’s been amazing seeing other people’s answers and reactions to this question, because by and large everyone has answered a resounding NO to this question. This has shown me what a huge block this is for me but also that I don’t need to feel this way. I feel grateful for what I’ve learned from this question!

14. Being a creative person enhances my life by:

    Making me feel different & unique & weird. I like being different! Helping me find ways to connect with my daughter, giving me the openness to accept that those ways might not be my ways. Giving me things to hang on my wall and just that amazing, expansive feeling you get in those moments when you are IN THE FLOW. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

15. Being a creative person negatively affects my life by:

    Making me bad at math, finances & practicalities like housekeeping, car maintenance, balancing cheque books, paying bills on time?

16. Criticism. Who criticised your creative pursuits? In what way? Remembering this criticism, how do you feel right now?

    A certain  teacher who shall remain nameless was pretty rotten to me (and a lot of other people) in so many ways that it’s hard to put it all into words, nor do I feel comfortable putting specifics in a public place. He’s received his kharmic justice in my opinion. But remembering it makes me outraged, angry & sorry for the teenage me that was put in a position of having to condone it all & accept it. Part of me is screaming now “WHAT A BIG BIG POO POO HEAD!” in a very childish way because it makes me feel very small & powerless.

17. Do you spend as much time as you would like on your creative pursuits? If not, why?

    No, I don’t make enough time for them but I’m trying to make more time & trying to be open to seeing creative opportunities when they arrive.

18. Do you spend too much time on your creative pursuits? How do you know?

    Not possible!

19. Do others think of you as a creative person? Why or why not?

    Yes, I think it shows in the way I live my life, in the way I speak to others, the way my home looks, the way my daughter is brought up & in the things I value.

20. Anything else you think I should know about your creative being?

    I’m very grateful for having been brought up in a creative household where things like music & art are considered worthwhile pursuits. Thanks Riggs Family!

The Zone

I’ve been skimming through W. Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis about 15 years too late. It was practically required reading back in my music school days but I never got around to it. I’ve come across this great passage about playing in The Zone that I’d like to share.

I was reading a description of the zone by Bill Russell, the famous basketball player for the Boston Celtics: “At that special level all sorts of odd things happened…it was almost as if we were playing in slow motion. During these spells I could almost sense how the next play would develop and where the next shot would be taken. Even before the other team brought the ball in bounds, I could feel it so keenly that I’d want to shout to my teammates, ‘It’s coming there!’ – except that I knew everything would change if I did. My premonitions would be consistently correct, and I always felt then that I not only knew all the Celtics by heart but also all the opposing players, and that they all knew me. It seems less odd to me now. It seems more like, yes, that’s the way it is, that’s the way it should be all the time. We can be focussed. We can be conscious.”

We can be focussed. We can be conscious. This sounds almost like a mantra or prayer to me and touches something deep in my psyche. Maybe more on that later.

Creativity: Core Principles

A few months ago a friend and I were brainstorming next steps for our practices. We both felt strongly that the things we were taught in our training didn’t reflect very well how we were actually working. This led to a questioning. Well then, just WHAT are we doing? Is this Craniosacral Therapy? Or something else? There were lots of vague and sweeping descriptions of ethereal impressions, visions and intuitions flying about. So we turned to brainstorming ideas for creating something concrete. How about developing a course to unblock creative flow – sort of a Craniosacral Artist’s Way?! We promptly forgot about it.

Last week in a session I had a flash of insight. It was as if a voice was saying repeatedly, “Do the course. Do the course. Do the course.” I knew exactly what it was referring to. So I met my friend and told him, “I think we should do it”. The creative buzz was immediately palpable. When you receive a message as clear as “Build it and they will come.” or “Do the course. Do the course. Do the course.” then it’s in your best interest to either listen or to at least get of the way.

So here we are. We’re developing a structured course incorporating craniosacral treatments (as much as cranial work CAN be structured) aimed at helping people learn how to let themselves be creative. This is involving a lot of self exploration for me. I’ve always considered myself a highly creative person, but now I’m faced with questions like “What is creativity?” “Where does it come from?” “Are some people born with more talent than others?” “Where does inspiration come from?” “What is the felt sense of a true creative block?” “What would I be if only…”

This has led to the development of a few Core Principles that the course is developing from. These in no way indicate a final, concrete basis of our approach. They are a very fluid working set of principles that may grow, shrink or change in any direction. But here they are, as they stand, tonight 15 May 2011.

1. We are all at essence creative beings. The essence of life is to create.
2. There is a universal, intelligent & creative force at work in each of us.
3. When we get out of the way this creativity can flow. It knows what to do.
4. Creativity is a spiritual practice which makes us whole – physically, emotionally, intellectually & instinctively. It is an expression of our innate wisdom.
5. The body knows. The body is the instrument through which we create. Embodiment is the process through which we tune our instrument. By bringing our conscious awareness to the body we can learn to ‘let’ creativity act through us.
6. Creativity is a healing force. The images, sights & sounds that both inspire & block our creative output speak so often of experiences that have wounded us. By honouring our creative potential we allow these experiences to pass through us in creative flow rather than remaining as blocks in the body.
7. Creation is a whole body phenomenon involving all bodily systems & functions. Nurturing the body nurtures creativity.
8. There lies a source of stillness at the heart of creative inspiration. This is the place where we let go.

10 Things About Connective Tissue

Yesterday I scared a client*. Working from his feet I could feel two clear areas of restrictions, his left hip and his right shoulder. I asked him first if he noticed a difference in he right and left side but he couldn’t really detect anything. So I asked specifically what his sense of his left hip was. He nearly jumped off the table. He’d strained his hip at the gym and even though it was now throbbing in pain, he didn’t want to tell me because he was embarrassed to have injured himself. He became very agitated trying to figure out how I’d picked up on it from his feet.

I felt I needed to reassure him there was nothing supernatural going on so I started explaining connective tissue. The body is like a piece of cloth, I explained, there is a continuous web of fabric and if you pull one of the threads the whole thing can start to unravel or lose it’s shape. I started talking about connective tissue and the wonderful world of fascia. He fell asleep.

Connective tissue, most often in the form of fascia, is seductive ground for bodyworkers. When I close my eyes and picture the connective tissue system I picture tough but fluid-filled layers and compartments, (Stanley Keleman’s tubes, pouches and pumps) giving the body it’s shape, holding it erect, protecting it from injury and defending it from disease but also retaining constrictions from old injuries or illnesses and shaping the body to reflect its history and experience.

As a refresher, for myself, I’ve dug out some old notes and condensed them into the following 10 points.

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1. Considered the packing material of the body, it is a seamless web that covers and connects muscles, organs and skeletal structures in our body. It surrounds every muscle, bone, nerve, blood vessel and organ of the body right down to the cellular level.

“One can travel from the most peripheral aspects of the body to its core without ever leaving fascial tissue.”
John Upledger

2. Consists of a serous ground substance of mucopolysacharides (cabohydrates bonded with particular protein chains) in which may be embedded fibrils such as collagen and elastin as well as cells such as fibroblasts, mast cells, macrophages, adipocytes and more.

3. Its consistency varies dramatically from fluid and watery to dense and thick – from elastic and resilient to stiff and resistant. This consistency changes both with time and in response to injury, stress and disease becoming less fluid (sol) and more solid (gel) as we age. Membranes, fascia, tendons and ligaments will all contract when placed under stress.

4. Fascia is of particular interest to body workers. Malfunction of the fascial system due to trauma, posture, or inflammation stimulates fibroblasts to repair the damage by producing more collagen. This can create a binding down of the fascia, resulting in abnormal pressure (up to 2000 pounds per square inch) on nerves, muscles, bones, or organs.

5. Defense – The fibrous compartments of connective tissue serves as an effective barrier to the spreading of infection and disease. The many compartments of fascia throughout the body tend to contain infections, diseases and tumours and prevent them from spreading into the rest of the body.

6. Memory - Connective tissues all have tensile capacity. When a force which can not be expressed, dispersed or assimilated enters the body a pattern of force is retained in the body. Work with fascia releases restrictions in order to restore freedom of movement, relieve pain or release patterns of force held in the body. However connective tissue has a tendency to remember a tensile pattern of contraction, and fascia, with its high levels of collagen, can be resistant to change.

“It is about current origins, not past history per se. There is a history, a context, but the forces originating the disturbances within the field are still present.”
Franklyn Sills on tissue memory

7. Fascia has thixotropic properties. By applying pressure, stretching or mobilising the bodyworker can generate friction and thereby raise temperature and the energy level to a tissue. This creates a more fluid ground substance where nutrients and cellular wastes can be exchanged more efficiently.

8. Communication – The energetic meridians of Traditional Chinese Medicine seem to align with areas where sheets of fascia diverge or separate to surround and support different muscle bundles. Recent research which points to a body-wide cellular network of fibroblasts within connective tissue shows that acupuncture changes the alignment of collagen and elastin fibrils local to the needle, thereby allowing fibroblasts to become more spindle shaped and less compressed improving their signalling capabilities.

9. Fascia is organised mainly longitudinally in the body hanging off the base of the cranium. It provides the mechanism that makes us a unit of function.

10. In health fascia glides and by tuning into fascia we can take out the distance between the place we make contact and the perception of any restrictions or resistance to this glide.

*Mentioned with permission of the client. Any identifying details have been changed to protect the identity of the client

What is Craniosacral Therapy?

1. Craniosacral Therapy is a form of light touch bodywork based on regular weekly sessions with a therapist in a safe and confidential setting.
2. Craniosacral Therapy provides a unique experience that focuses entirely on the individual. It is not a massage nor is it a coaching or advice session. Instead, Craniosacral Therapy uses very light touch to give you the opportunity to explore how your life experiences are imprinted on the fabric of your body. 
3. Craniosacral Therapy aims first to make the body a safe and comfortable place to be and helps to relieve any pain, tension, trauma or  discomfort encountered there.
4. Craniosacral Therapy is time out in the week to really work on yourself. It is your time and no one else’s. It is a personal journey and should always be a matter of personal choice.

Why Have Craniosacral Therapy?

1. Some people come because they feel as though they aren’t coping and that life is very difficult. Craniosacral Therapy can often be a last resort after many years of struggle.
2. Some people come because they have long standing health issues which make it very difficult to cope. Craniosacral Therapy can help relieve the emotional and physical side-effects of living with long term illness or pain and can support the body in its natural movement towards  health.
3. Some people come because they have experienced traumatic events that they can not move past. Craniosacral Therapy is a very safe, gentle and effective way of treating trauma and post-traumatic states.
4. Some people come because they are incredibly stressed and anxious and can’t seem to find any relief from a very busy mind. Craniosacral Therapy is especially good at encouraging a very deep sense of stillness allowing the mind slow down and rest. Many people say they sleep very well after a craniosacral treatment.
5. Some people come because they just need to be held and listened to. The most important thing a Craniosacral Therapist does is to simply be present for the client and hold the therapeutic space allowing the client’s process to unfold naturally.

Craniosacral Therapy Awareness Week at Lemon Balm

Special Offer

Craniosacral Therapy Awareness Week is an annual event help by the Craniosacral Therapy Association involving talks, events, and special offers all over the UK. Its purpose is to inform the wider public of the benefits of Craniosacral Therapy and  build recognition for the transformative effects of the work.

On Tuesday 9th June from 10-2 at Lemon Balm, I’ll be doing my part by offering half hour Craniosacral Therapy taster sessions for £15 to inform people of the benefits of craniosacral therapy and make the work available to the wider public.

This is an opportunity to find out more about cranial work to see if it’s right for you and to have any questions you may have answered.

If you’d like to book in ring me on  07919074331

New Craniosacral Practice at Lemonbalm, Camden Town

From Tuesday April 7th I will be starting my craniosacral practice at Lemon Balm, 76 Parkway, Camden, NW1. I will be there every Tuesday from 10am – 2pm. Lemon Balm is a beautiful and peaceful complementary therapies clinic and health and beauty shop, showcasing the very best in alternative medicine and natural and organic health and beauty products.

For the first 5 weeks I am at Lemon Balm, I can offer special introductory rates to friends for £40 per hour. I work with people of all ages from newborn babies (for sleeping difficulties, non-stop screaming, difficult births) to the very elderly, am experienced in working with those with impaired immune function and work to relieve tensions, illness, trauma and pain – both emotional and physical.

Please help me build my practice by booking in or passing this on to anyone you think might be interested. Bookings can be made through reception on 0207 267 3334 or with me directly on
0791 907 4331.

I’m sure by now most of you have experienced, or heard about, the transformational effects of craniosacral work, I hope this will be an opportunity to offer some craniosacral health and healing back to you.

links for 2009-01-09

• A Holistic Approach to Insomnia
  An article from The River Journal on insomnia from the perspective of several different modalities including craniosacral, accupuncture and reflexology. Craniosacral therapist, Ilani Kopiecki, discusses red flag syndrome when the reticular alarm system is stuck on high (like a danger sensor). Craniosacral therapy can help relax the body and relieve red flag syndrome thus offering a good night's sleep.
  (tags: health craniosacral, insomnia,)

Walking meditation and craniosacral practice

“In beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.”

I’ve heard so many people say, “I really wish I had time to meditate.” “I just can’t sit still.” Or “I always fall asleep.” They want to start a meditation practice and feel that in some way meditation would be of benefit but they encounter barriers that prevent them getting what they think they want from the practice. They feel guilty about it and this becomes a further barrier.

Like most people, I also struggle with this but one way I’ve been able to incorporate a meditation practice into my daily life is through walking meditation. This is something I learned way back in pregnancy yoga. Very simply, just walking and breathing and bringing your attention to your body, to the sensation of your feet rolling across the floor with each step, noticing the twist of your pelvis around the central axis of your spine etc.

New research: Our cells actually respond to human touch

A two-year research study headed by Gloria A. Gonowicz of the Department of Surgery at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, N.J., credits certain forms of alternative energy medicine with the successful stimulation and growth of normal human cell cultures.

The study involved using Therapeutic Touch to “treat” cell cultures and measured cell growth against control groups.

> cick here for full story

Positive voices

On Monday mornings I give three hours of my time to Positively Women, a London charity supporting women living with HIV. Their motto is “living with HIV, changing lives”. I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this month’s magazine which showcases their recent Oral history project. Supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project is recording the testimonies of positive women talking about their experiences of family life, work, community, politics, the daily grind and extraordinary events in their own words and how HIV impacts upon this. These recordings will be available as part of the British Library’s Oral History Archive.

The stories in this month’s Positively Women are amazing. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, always honest they are deeply human and capture the voices of these phenomenal women.

Four sample recordings are available on positivelywomen.org.uk (scroll to the bottom of the page)

The Cranial Space

I’ll be working at the upcoming Mind, Body, Soul Show in London on Nov 15th, 16th. Working with a group of other therapists under the umbrella of The Cranial Space, I’ll be offering taster sessions for £20/half hour. We’ll have a number of different therapists on hand on both days offering treatments, answering questions and handing out more information.

Craniosacral Therapy for Children

The Children’s Cranial Network is a group of experienced therapists providing information about Craniosacral Therapy for children.

This site for a Canadian network of exeperienced therapists is a fantastic resource for information on how craniosacral therapy can help treat a variety of childhood illnesses and problems. If you are a parent considering cranial work for your child then I’m sure this site can answer many of your concerns.

Go to The Children’s Cranial Network.

What is health?

A craniosacral approach

The following was written as part of my coursework for the very first seminar of my craniosacral therapy training. While my thoughts on Health have solidified since then I think it sums up some of the key concepts of the craniosacral vision of Health.

Growing up severely asthmatic I spent a lot of time in doctor’s offices, emergency rooms and hanging my head out the car window at 3:00 in the morning as my parents drove me around hoping the moving air would help me breath. There were lots of things I couldn’t do as well or for as long as the other kids. I never played any sports because I couldn’t run for any distance at all. Games of chase and hide and seek usually ended with me sitting on the side lines unable to breath. Holiday  visits to my cousins inevitably resulted in midnight trips to the emergency room triggered by new allergens in an unfamiliar environment. In those days, they didn’t prescribe inhalers for children and they didn’t have any of the new steroidal preventative or the long-acting protective drugs. The drugs I was given had strong side effects that included anxiety, shaky hands, inability to sleep, vomiting and more.

Osteopathy: Art of Practice : Fluid exchange

• Osteopathy: Art of Practice : Fluid exchange
  Fluid Exchange is vital to normal physiology. All the processes of life occur because fluids flow. It is with this understanding… almost a poetic appreciation of anatomy and physiology that we can begin to place our hands upon our patients and perceive a single unit of function: A Fluid Body.
  (tags: craniosacral osteopathy)

more

links for 2008-08-17

• Energy Osteopathy: matter, motion and interrelationships
  Rollin Becker Memorial Lecture on 29th November in London given by Nicholas Handoll DO MSCC. Nicholas Handoll expands on the research presented in his book Anatomy of Potency to show that structure has no form and matter is an expression of motion. This is the first time that Nicholas Handoll has presented his work on potency in its entirety.
  (tags: craniosacral osteopathy events)

links for 2008-08-10 [delicious.com]

• RESEARCH AND PATIENT CARE: INTEGRATING THE SCIENCE AND ART OF MEDICINE
  David Riley MD interviewed by Bonnie Horrigan

links for 2008-08-09 [delicious.com]

• RESEARCH AND PATIENT CARE: INTEGRATING THE SCIENCE AND ART OF MEDICINE
  David Riley MD interviewed by Bonnie Horrigan
• Craniosacral Therapy and Alexander Technique
  Jane Turney explains how Craniosacral Therapy and Alexander Technique can work well together using fascial unwinding as an example. She gives a clear and simple explanation of the basics of Craniosacral Therapy
  (tags: craniosacral)

links for 2008-08-08 [delicious.com]

• Sutherland Cranial Teaching Foundation – Osteopathic Excerpts
  Quotes from Sutherland and Becker
  (tags: cranial)

Booking sessions for September

I currently have Monday morning appointments and some evenings free starting in September from my home in NW1.

One hour sessions are £40 but I offer a block of five treatments for £150 – a discount of £50.

Contact details are at the bottom of the page.

Working with the head chakras

Sunday 21st September 2008 at Hoathly Hill, Sussex

I’m intending to attend Monica Anthony’s workshop for qualified craniosacral therapists.
In this workshop, which is self-contained and does not depend on having come to earlier seminars, we will continue to develop the themes of tuning, resonance and inner listening presented in the previous days on ‘Listening to the Song of the Soul’.