Tree Hugging & Brain Tides

"Within that cerebrospinal fluid 

there is an invisible element

 that I refer to as the ‘Breath of Life...’ 

You will have observed its potency and also its Intelligence,' spelled with a capital 'I'.

It is something that you can depend upon 

to do the work for you.

 In other words, don't try to drive the (body) through any 

external force. 

Rely upon the tide."                       

                                                                                                                                              William Garner Sutherland, D.O.

     My last post was about water. This one is, too, only it deals with learning to feel the tidal waves that exist within other people and within myself.

In May, I took a Biodynamic Craniosacral course in Manhattan at The Open Center. It was taught by Michael Shea. 

Our Class (minus Mark--photographer)

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy began with Osteopath, Dr. William Garner Sutherland (1873-1954). "William, a student of Andrew Still, the founder of Osteopathy, made an unusual discovery during medical school. Upon closely studying the bones of the cranium, the thought, 'beveled like the gills of a fish, for primary respiration,' came to him. Eureka.

This powerful insight began 50 years of exploring and developing skills in relation to the human body and health.  Through his continued research and practice, he observed subtle rhythmic pulsations that would ebb and flow in and around the body that caused all the tissues of the body to respond with functional changes. 


He called this motion the “Tide”.  

The brain and spinal cord are enclosed in a sac of water. The sac is called the Dura. Here is an illustration by the one and only, Dr. Netter :

Here we can see the fluid that surrounds and 

flows through the brain:

Check out these two amazing videos showing 

the tidal movement of the cerebrospinal fluid:

Let The Trees Be Your Teachers

Different tides can be palpated or sensed not only in the human system, but also in other living systems such as animals and plants. As practitioners, we are trained to sense different levels of stillness and thus palpate the expression/movement of the system as the treatment unfolds--according to its own innate intelligence.

This work is about deep listening through stillness
and letting go of resistance...

We were told to practice on trees, houseplants, and pets. 

I caught my kitten, Barnaby, doing a Craniosacral hold on Arthur.

     Through the practicing I have done, I have noticed the powerful potential within stillness and its paradoxical ability to move tissue that has long been hardened. Through becoming familiar with this work, I am reminded that it's in quiet patience that health is able to spontaneously arise. To open up and know thyself requires the release of expectations, mental chatter, and any resistance to the flow of life.

"Know Thyself", as inscripted above the entrance of the Oracle at Delphi.