In Part I we spoke about intentional touch. In CST, touch is very light, often only grams of force. The cause for body response is from the intention we mentally focus on. This is of paramount importance and is the difference between a marginalized session and connecting to spirit and the deepest inner mechanisms of consciousness and self-healing. One has to be willing to trust the process. I say silently to myself (but really openly to the ever present and listening spirit of the person,) "Cranial rhythm, express yourself. Show me where to go and what to do." The Craniosacral rhythm will appear into your hands in moments if your intention is clear. We sincerely call upon the essential character of the living waters of this person, the Inner Wisdom, to direct the healing process of this session. When and if we do, what happens thereafter is up to the Inner Wisdom, not you the therapist.
In the beginning of this century, Japanese naturalist Masaru Emoto was asked if all snowflakes were alike. He placed one water sample in two petri dishes and froze them. On one he wrote "you fool." On the other he wrote "love." As they thawed, he took photographs of the crystals they produced. The 'love" one had rainbow, geometric, beautiful crystals. The "you fool" one was dark and had only fragments of crystals. From this he hypothesized that all snowflakes were not alike and that water had consciousness and intelligence. So here comes the CS therapist placing hands very lightly on the body and invoking spirit (consciousness) to encourage the waters of the body to change and heal. A scientific rationale for what we do, is it not??? This explains how light touch (California Woo Woo) can make severe pain go away or burdensome emotion to erupt and express itself, does it not??? (This is well-established mind/body science.)
Early on in my career I was seeing a young single mother of two in my clinic. She suffered from head and neck pain and weakness in the arms causing her to question whether she could care for her two very young children. She had been in a single car accident of which she had no memory. I held her from the feet, settling-in as we do; meaning I evaluate the craniosacral rhythm as it reflects through the body and I invite the rhythmic consciousness, (water), to evaluate me for authenticity and therapeutic usefulness. The body does the healing but sometimes needs outside encouragement.
As I held her I noticed her rhythm had stopped. She then drew her feet up, turned her body to the side and curled into a ball. She said her ankles hurt, her wrists and shoulders hurt, her neck hurt. She saw the color red and said she was scared. She began to cry. I moved to the middle side of the table and put my hands in the pelvic diaphragm position, to keep her on the table and to monitor the rhythm from the pelvis. I asked her if she wanted to continue. She said, "YES." This is known as a spontaneous stillpoint. We know that the position the person is in or what they are thinking at this time may be important to their healing process. The Inner Wisdom may use this moment, along with your intentional presence, to ignite an awareness for the patient.
After several minutes she stopped crying. Her body softened. On her own she turned onto her back again and slowly straightened her legs. With several long blinks of her eyes she turned to me and quietly said, "You know I remember the accident now. My car slid on the black ice. I could see the telephone pole coming. I jammed my feet on the pedals but they went under the pedals. I braced myself with straight arms out against the wheel. The last thing I remember was pain in my wrists then my neck snapped as I saw the hood of my red car coming through my windshield."
She took a couple long slow breaths, "My neck and head feel better now. What did you do?" At this point the rhythm returned. I quietly spoke about the Inner Wisdom using these moments, when it feels a person is ready, to let tension(s) and/or emotion(s) out of the body without a lot of verbal interjection from me.
Sometimes the role of therapist in the somato-emotional process is simply to hold safe neutral space, monitoring the CSR, without dialogue, providing time for the body to safely and confidently heal itself. This was a spontaneous stillpoint leading to a somato-emotional release without therapist dialoguing through the process. Many bodyworkers are turned off by thinking they have to say something. This is not true. The beautiful Inner Wisdom (Spirit) will lead the way and will never give you or the patient more than you can handle if the session is allowed to unfold naturally. Sutherland admonishes us to “Be still and know” meaning if you hold neutral, quiet intentional space, the inner wisdom of the body will unfold for the patient what she or he needs to know at this point in their life in order to be healthy and move forward on their path. “Blend and trust” the process is what Upledger says. This is based on the science of water consciousness, the writings and clinical experiences of our founders, anatomy, energy and spirit. This is why I couldn't think of anything better to put on our CSTA T-shirts. (Be Still and Know, WGS ).
If you stick with me here, I will be giving you the basic elements of our somato-emotional processing curriculum. I invite questions and/or comments/discussion. Our first somato-emotional processing class teaches somato-emotional processing with virtually no dialogue. This will serve you well if you choose to go to the CADD class on Star Island this summer. Being still and going gently and slow will also bring you an awareness of the consciousness that is in the waters of the lymphatics, no small gift as well. Sometimes dialogue helps the patient in subtle ways with the meaning of what is happening in session. This can lead to greater understanding for the patient and as the English say, "one can sort things out." I like to think of dialogue as simple conversation. This is why we view somato-emotional work as a process.
Next in Part III of this series, learn to verbally support and converse directly with the Inner Wisdom. Thanks for reading.
Happy Day,
Don
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