Author: Heike

Craniosacral Therapy is usually deeply relaxing and calming, but there is always a chance that trauma comes up during a session. Because of this, we have to know strategies to slow everything down for the client and bring him/her into the present moment. This is important so that the client doesn’t get overwhelmed or even re-traumatized.

The first thing we do is that we always try to find a resource for our client before we even start the session. A resource is something that makes us feel good. This can be an outside resource (i.e. flowers, exercise, hobbies) or an inside resource (i.e. what feels good inside your body, a warmth or a strength). It is often difficult for a client to find a resource. They cannot connect to their bodies.

When we find an outside resource, we then want to ideally connect that with an inside resource. For example, the client has said that flowers are a resource. We could then ask: How does it make you feel in your body when you look at flowers?” My answer to this would be: “It gives me a feeling of joy” The next question to this could be: “And can you feel this joy anywhere in your body?” My answer would be that I can feel it in my heart. A feeling of joy in my heart area.

Once we have this resource, we can then reconnect the client to this at any stage during the session when difficult emotions, thoughts or a pain come up by asking, for example: “Can you still feel that joy in your heart?” It is important to check in with a client or, that the client lets the practitioner know when a difficulty comes up. When someone gets pulled into a trauma vortex, we want to provide an opposite healing vortex into the opposite direction that brings them to a good feeling and into the present moment. Into the here and now where everything is safe and o.k.

(Trauma and healing vortex from Peter Levine “Waking the Tiger”)

I can remember my first experience of this as a “client” during one of the seminars of my CST-training. I could feel this strong sense of an overwhelming feeling coming up stronger and stronger. At first, I didn’t realize that this overwhelming feeling was abandonment. It is interesting, in hindsight, to see that this abandonment extended around my entire field as all the tutors were busy in that particular moment when I wanted to approach them. Only one of the tutors was available or felt approachable to me. This was Michael Kern. I went to him and told him that I am feeling overwhelmed and I don’t know why. He asked me whether I wanted him there close by in the next session work. I said yes, please. During the next session work I was working with one other student and while she was practising on me, Michael was there next to us. I am not exactly sure anymore what happened, but I think I suddenly started to cry violently. I could feel this deep pain coming up out of nowhere and I had no idea that that was inside me. Michael stepped in and asked me what I was feeling and where. I said that I felt this strong abandonment in my heart. Only then I really realized that this overwhelming feeling was abandonment. It felt so deep to me that I think that it might have been a generational thing. Michael connected me with my resource, which at that particular moment was feeling my body on the table and the connection to the earth and being grounded. This connection felt quite powerful. I was astounded at the time how much this apperently small connection could help me pull out of this deep and unbearable pain. I will always be grateful to Michael that he helped me during this session with this deep trauma and to myself for asking for help at that moment, something that I am normally not good at.

In shuttling we also make use of our resource. We connect the client with a resource and also with a difficult feeling and then we guide the client back and forth until ideally something changes in the difficult feeling.

Another good way to slow things down and bring the client into the present moment is to make the client aware of his/her breath. We could ask: “How is your breath at this moment? Is it a shallow breathing or a deep breathing? Try to follow your inhalations and exhalations without trying to change it.” or “Can you take a deep breath in and out?”

Then there is also a technique called WOSI, which stands for weight, outline, skin and inside. Possible questions we could ask the client here are: “How does the weight feel on the table?, Is it evenly spread on the table or is there one side or body part that feel heavier on the table? If you imagine lying on sand, would there be a deeper inprint somewhere? If you had to make an outline of your body, how would that outline look like? Are there missing bits? Can you get a sensation of your skin? How do the clothes feel on your skin? Can you feel the air on the skin where there is no clothing? How does the inside of your body feel? Can you get a sense of your organs? Is there a tension or pain anywhere? Or does it feel like there are some organs missing?”

The WOSI can also bring the client back into their body, slow things down and bring him/her into the present moment.

This blog was inspired by a question around verbal skills that one of my students asked me and while I was writing it, I thought it might be nice to write a blog and share this with more people. It’s also a reminder for myself and maybe for other CST-therapists.

Heike Clarke

www.findstillness.co.uk

June 2020

The following is written by a cranial client of mine, who describes her experience of biodynamic craniosacral therapy.

“I came to CST by chance when exchanging services with Heike. I’m a photographer, she needed photos and I was keen to try CST although I had never heard of it before meeting her. The main physical issue I came to her with was continuous lower back pain that I had has for 2 and 1/2 year since my son was born. It was preventing me from sleeping properly at night and made any position uncomfortable after a little while. I had tried many different approaches such as yoga, osteopath, massages, naturopathy but unfortunately the pain remained. The pain must have disappeared after the 4th session, at first I didn’t even realise that it had gone. I think it’s quite typical of CST, it works in subtle ways that are not obvious but can be quite transformative at a physical, mental and emotional level. It certainly has been for me.

With CST I find that you may come to a session with a specific issue – physical or emotional- that you want to work on, but keeping an open mind on outcomes helps as most of the time the session follows its own course and might take you to unexpected places. During a session, I remember suddenly having memories of the early phase of labour/induction when my son was born. I remembered having my water broken by the nurses, something I didn’t want to happen but felt coerced to accept. There was a lot of anger associated with these thoughts. And I suddenly burst into tears (or rather sobbed uncontrollably). This was very unexpected to me because I hadn’t thought of this specific moment since it had occurred and the sobbing was very intense, not my usual cry, more like a release. This was a very powerful session, very cathartic and I know this specific session and others that preceded and followed helped me release anger and anxiety associated with my son’s birth. Before CST when I thought about the possibility of having another baby (which was a thing I always wanted) , I was crippled by panic and anxiety. Now, I am able to consider this option in a much more relaxed way.

Some CST sessions have much more subtle outcomes, I sometimes come out of a session with a sense of lightness and flow where everything feels easy. Sometimes a feeling of great joy that last for days (a bit like being high without a come down). Other times I just feel simply deeply relaxed. I very much enjoy exploring my body and its energy and how it links to my emotions through CST and would definitely recommend it. If you are curious, open minded and want to get to know yourself more it’s a beautiful avenue to do so.” Melodie

www.findstillness.co.uk

Presence – A healing lunch                                                       Monday 23^rd July 2018

I would like to share a special healing experience of presence I had on a recent holiday in Thassos, Greece and hope I will be able to describe it in a way that will do it justice.

When my husband and I went up the mountains in Prinos – Megalo Kazaviti, we came across a beautiful, magical square with an amazing tree in the center of it and a restaurant that had placed tables all around it.

The tree had such a strong presence even though it was compelety hollow inside, or maybe because of it. The center was burned away by a fire and only the outside bark was left and it was still very much alive. I always assumed that the inside of a tree was the most important bit.

 

I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Not only because of its looks, but there seemed a strong force – presence around it. We started to relax and drop as soon as we sat down at our thoroughly chosen table. I kept looking at the tree on my left hand side being in awe of it. Then my husband told me to look to my right. There I saw the most amazing cat. It also had such a strong presence. I instantly thought: “Wow, Yoda incarnated”. It was totally cool, cute and adorable. The menu had clear instructions not to feed the cats and I pointed at the menu showing and telling it that I am not allowed to feed it. It looked at me as if saying in a cat-like way: “I don’t need your food.” I was torn between looking at the tree and the cat, both beaming with a strong presence. We sat between the two and I felt that we were being held by both of them. My husband and I started to drop and relax more and more. In hindsight I was pretty sure the tree and the cat were doing a cranial session on us.

On top of that I chose the most amazing soup for lunch. It was marked as the restaurant’s special and I have learned to trust to go for specials in greek restaurants. It felt like medicine food and was superdelicious. I had never felt such a strong presence in a tree, a cat or anyone or anything else. Well, maybe Yoda. Presence is not always the same. It changes from one moment to the next and maybe we were just there at the right time when it was particularly strong in both of them. To be present and have a strong presence is an important issue in both chi kung and craniosacral therapy. Maybe that’s why I felt that we were getting a cranial session. I feel honoured and grateful that I was able to experience such a special lunch and have such unexpected teachers – a reminder of how it feels to be fully present.

Heike Clarke – www.findstillness.co.uk

Monday 23^rd July 2018