When feeling truly out of sorts...

Last week I experienced a problem. I was often despondent and moody, and one morning I just couldn’t seem to function. I had no energy and no desire to change. I didn’t care what I ate, what I did, how I did it—nothing! This situation alarmed me, to say the least.

At one point, I asked myself, “what would you tell a client, who came to see you like this?” I thought a moment, and it occurred to me that probably my sphenoid bone (the keel of the skull, if you can permit a boat analogy) was stressed, or “off.” So, I lay on the couch and applied my knowledge to solving my little problem. Sure enough, I could detect no discernible movement in the sphenoid bone, and hence, none in the occiput (back of the skull) either. Now, I’ve been working in this field for a long time, and I can detect a lot with my hands and fingers, probably down to about 5 microns in thickness or wave motility; for reference, a typical sheet of copy paper is about 100 microns thick. Cranial motion usually operates in the range of 4-25 microns in amplitude. Anyway, I wasn’t feeling much.

To “correct” my sphenoid’s pattern—more accurately, for bodyworkers reading this, the meningeal dura mater exerting tension and torque on the greater wings of the sphenoid bone—I performed a modified distraction of the sphenobasilar joint by way of drawing the maxillae (cheekbones) forward, anchoring the sphenoid at the temples. This technique is often called Sutherland’s Grip. This worked somewhat, so I went further; I “dug on.” I took the thought to myself, “sphenoid, what do you need? Is this the pattern you wish to have right now?” Silence. There was now no absence of movement, but a cessation of movement and non-movement; i.e. there had just ceased to be a struggle at all. My skull had just taken a time out.

Within moments, a new pattern began to appear that seemed to defy the definition of “pattern.” In the place of the old “pattern” of movement (such as it was) was a new, fluid, 3 dimensional and liquid dance of perhaps 20 microns in amplitude, Sensing a change, I sat up, and my mood was clear, I felt lighter, happy, and entirely unburdened by stress or despondency. I was just fine, and I have remained so up till now.

I write this as a proof for my reader, that I do this work for myself, too. And this work can treat us well when we feel out of sorts. It’s not just bodywork for headaches or whiplash. CranioSacral Work is a vital, beautiful fulcrum work for opening us up to the challenges and rigors of personality, conflict, emotion, spiritual space, stress, and personal purpose. If you don’t feel right, or unlike yourself, you may benefit from this work. I know I do.