Many masseurs and bodyworkers have experienced curious changes in consciousness or fluctuations in time during sessions. Many have sensed rhythms, pulsations and energetic streamings that are not described in classical physiology books. The aim of these courses is to clarify these experiences and to teach the skills that make them therapeutically useful and reproducible. Although these skills are drawn from craniosacral work they are taught within a context framed by bodywork pioneers such as Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen, Stanley Keleman, Arnold Mindell, Ron Kurtz and many others.
These craniosacral courses are suited to practicing therapists of all pursuasions, not only those using physical touch. They are for people who want to incorporate craniosacral concepts into their existing therapeutic practice without retraining as craniosacral therapists. They are not intended to constitute a craniosacral therapy training.
Although craniosacral work offers techniques aplenty, the key to the work lies in the constant deepening of the practitioner’s relationship and perceptual skills. Without this deepening process the techniques are just techniques. With a willingness to enter this process of deepening the work begins to sing. The courses are designed to offer the student ample practice and feedback in order to encourage the development of each student’s unique style of work.
CRANIOSACRAL SKILLS – 1
This 30-hour course is structured around the theme of stillness and the physical body.
The specific craniosacral techniques covered in this course relate to the organisation of experience in the transverse structures of the body and the softening of these structures. Throughout the course we will search for a movement towards holism – not as an idea but as a shift in perception. This shift allows us to discover the stillness within our own and within our patient’s physical organisation. Out of this stillness the intentions of the healing process can manifest unbounded.
The syllabus will cover:
- The history and development of craniosacral therapy
- An exploration of inherent health, breath of life and primary respiration
- An exploration of the neutral, the relational field and levels of stillness
- An exploration of the mid-tide, long-tide, and still-points
- Palpating and perceiving tides and rhythms
- The transverse diaphragms and their role in organising experience
- Practitioner and patient resources
- Working at the cranial dome and the sphenobasilar junction
- Working at the cranial base and the tentorium
- Working at the thoracic inlet and the respiratory diaphragm
- Working at the feet and the pelvis
CRANIOSACRAL SKILLS – 2
The craniosacral techniques covered in this 30 hour course relate to the movement of fluids throughout the connective tissue web. The course is structured around a specific craniosacral protocol called ‘venous sinus drainage’. This protocol is used to encourage fluid movement and lymphatic drainage, bringing softness and flow to the body and an equivalent softness and flow to the emotional life.
The syllabus will cover:
- The primary respiratory system
- The expression of primary respiration as motion in fluids and tissues
- Cell and tissue memory
- The dreambody
- The membranes of the reciprocal tension mechanism (RTM)
- Perceiving the membranes of the reciprocal tension mechanism
- Mid-tide and cranial rhythmic impulse
- Exploration of the cranial bones as ‘handles’ into the membranes of the RTM
- Engaging with the RTM through the occiput, temporal, parietal and frontal bones
- Perceiving the relationship between the sphenoid and occiput
- Trauma and resources