Insights

Today I read a book called “Your Inner Physican and You”, written by John Upledger, the guy who invented CranioSacral therapy. It was FASCINATING. For anyone who is interested in learning more about central nervous system function and how to improve overall physical and emotional health – I highly recommend this book.

Here are some of the highlights for me:

* Chronic conditions may be caused by subtle physical conditions such as positioning of the spine, skull bones, etc. For example, he describes reducing spasticity by working on cranial bones and the sacrum.

* There are emotional components to physical health. He describes a technique called somatoemotional release. By working with his hands he descovers areas of the body that have retained emotional trauma leading to imbalances.

* Subconscious memories can have very deep, long-lasting effects. He describes many stories of working with patients who’d had experiences when they were very young (one as young as 2 days old), and what they heard and felt changed their physical health for the rest of their lives. Think of all the things we do and say around our children that we don’t even think twice about?

* Intention matters. He describes the difference between healers is their intention and the belief in their work. He talks about healers who don’t really believe they can help, so they don’t. Then he talks about healers who have a profound belief in their work, so they have miraculous results. Intention also relates to the patient himself, therapists, parents, caretakers, etc. If we believe the person will not get better, it is likely he won’t. If we believe he will, he has a much greater chance of improvements.

* He talks a lot about hands-on healing and directional healing. He talks about simply using his hands to heal, without using specific craniosacral techniques. He describes feeling his hands heat up, and with this heat comes healing. He claims he has measured this heat and electrical responses when using his hands for healing and can scientifically proof the effect of hands-on healing. He also describes “directional healing” which means putting one hand on one side of the wound, and the other around the wound, and ‘sending” energy from one had to the other. This apparently causes healing.

Reading this book answers many questions I’ve recently been asking myself. Specifically:

– Why so some therapies work so well for one child, then you take another child and the therapy doesn’t help at all?

– Why do these very subtle therapies work so profoundly? ABR, Rolfing, ABM – they are all so subtle. Now I understand better. They are using energy to activate and strengthen the body. Most importantly they use energy to ignite the body’s self healing responses.

– Reading this book has given me a much better udnerstanding of ABR. This is exactly what ABR is – feeding the body and cells with energy. No wonder ABR is so effective!

– Why do I have to work on so many levels with Nathan? Because the body is so complex, and when the “quarterback” (the brain) doesn’t work, many things start to malfunction. If the craniosacral system isn’t working properly, many other bodily functions are negatively affected.

– Upldedger describes our Inner Physician – he claims we all have an inner physician that can help us heal. This is an innate desire to heal and improve. If you combine this inner physician with brain plasticity – then you can conclude that the body/brain always wants to learn and to improve. So what the lady from the Carter Centers told me about kids with holoprosencephaly not being able to improve – baloney. Perhaps it may require more effort and time and intensity – but kids with HPE are human and have craniosacral systems and inner physicians like everybody else, and the body’s tendency is to strive for healing. So if we provide opportunities, they will improve.

I have to admit I feel excited, encouraged, and so grateful that this book fell into my hands recently! I am more motivated and excited than I’ve been in a while!