Spontaneous healing

How does therapeutic change occur with little or no practitioner intervention (such as in the laying on of hands, or in prayer)?

When people are calm, happy and relaxed, you may perceive a depth and vastness when you look into their eyes; like an eerie sense of an ocean within. This is easier to perceive in children. You may also experience a strange feeling of recognition. It is as if there is a part of that person that is the same as you. At our core we are that very same ocean with no separation, although on the surface we appear very different.

"When I say 'I am', I do not mean a separate entity with a body as its nucleus, I mean the totality of being, the ocean of consciousness, the entire universe of all that is known. I have nothing to desire for I am complete forever".
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

When treating a patient, the practitioner's mind quietens and returns to this "“ocean" of unified consciousness: perceived as a deep stillness. Then through a natural phenomenon known as "entrainment" (Christian Huygens, a notable physicist, coined the term entrainment after he noticed, in 1666, that two pendulum clocks had moved into the same swinging rhythm), the co-operating patient also enters into stillness, and a connected/expanded awareness. In effect, the patient is able to perceive themselves with greater perspective. This is the reason why treatment is generally more effective when a patient relaxes, lets go, and falls into a state of semi-sleep.

There is a simple explanation of why a central point of inner stillness is so important for body awareness and self-healing. Our entire experience of life is stimulation: pure and simple. Our senses perceive light, sound, smell, temperature, pressure, distraction and vibration, and our brain transposes this information into an inner vision of our body and the extenal world. Amongst this barrage of varied and changing environmental stimulation, it is simply impossible to conceive of one's true centre. For example there is no central inner vibration, or inner scream that is louder than all the rest to pinpoint a sense of true centre. The most effective way to perceive a central point of reference that the body can use for co-ordination and movement, is to have a central point of stillness. A central point of stillness is in such stark contrast to life's barrage of stimulation, it actually provides a genuine point of reference for inner orientation, stability and dynamic movement.

Patients do often report that after several treatments, when in a relaxed state, their body seems to be spontaneously shifting and changing in a way never experienced before (other than during a treatment). Becoming accustomed to an increasing sense of stillness within, the body naturally rebalances itself. This is a skill that can be learnt it time with the ability to relax and let go.

The healing practitioner plays a vital role in fascilitating therapeutic change when a patient lacks fundamental body awareness. This may be due to either a lack of practice or as a consequence of trauma where a disconnection has occured. In this case, stillness and letting go (when the patient is by themselves) is not sufficient to initiate a self-healing response. By gently holding a space of stillness and connection with unified consciousnesss, a practitioner's own view of a patient's body can (in itself) provide an additional perspective for the patient. Since at our core we are the same "ocean", what the practitioner feels during a treatment, becomes available also to the patient on a deeper therapeutic level than the conscious mind - some patient's are very sensative by nature, and such therapeutic change is within conscious awareness. An osteopath provides a patient's self-healing mechanism with a greater degree of perspective than it could otherwise achieve by itself.

"When you see clearly the problem is solved".
~ Krishnamurti

How is it that an Osteopath is able to receive detailed information from a patient's body, far in excess of a simple perception of positional alignments and physical pressure/tension? The answer lies within the concept of unity (the ocean of consciousness) as described above. When oriented to the 'ocean' of unified consciousness, the practitioner diagnoses a patient's body through sensations experienced in their own body. The practitioner's body itself becomes a very sensitive diagnostic instrument, capable of perceiving the most subtle information. For example; in a patient with a history of dental extraction and braces, the practitioner may feel a sense of temporary tightness and restriction in their own jaw and neck, an increased awareness in their lowerback or knee, they may also feel a welling up of a specific emotion. In psychology this pheneomenon is referred to an counter-transference, and is a means by which a therapist can gauge a client's progress.

"There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide."
~ Rachel Carson

The following is a small example of how both patient and practitioner awareness is important in the therapeutic process. When an Osteopath places their hands upon a patient's head, in a well functioning individual, a clear continuous connection from head to foot can be perceived. The Osteopath then knows that the patient has good internal body awareness and integration, and that their body is connected and functioning well as a whole. Assessing the reciprocal connection in the opposite direction (from feet to head) is also important, since one does not necessarily infer the other. The feet need to know where the upper body is functioning relative in space. These internal processes and neuro-muscular reflexes are necessary to effectively support the body's weight under the effects of gravity. Likewise, the head needs to know the relative positioning of the pelvis and feet, so that initiated movements do not exceed the body's capacity to perform them with ease and safety. Patients that experience musculo-skeletal (and other) problems, rarely possess this internal connection, but will experience improvement in intergrated function and associated symptomatic relief as they regain this body awareness.

Spontaneous healing occurs when a patient's own healing mechanism receives information that was previously inaccessible from a single point of reference. It wasn't so long ago that people thought the world was flat. This misconception arose because no-one could jump high enough to prove otherwise. So, a little perspective or experience goes a long way in facilitating change in one's life.

Acceptance

Natural self-healing occurs when two things come together. Firstly, an expanded awareness so that things are seen with clarity (discussed above in spontaneous healing), and secondly when an internal environment of minimal tension exists. When correct information is made available to solve a problem, and when a path is cleared of resistance, healing becomes a joyful and effortless process - as it was intended to be.

Every single patient (without exception) has a self healing mechanism that is in the process of resolving the physical effects of past accumulated trauma. Traumas unravel like peeling off layers of an onion. At some point, a patient's healing mechanism (for varied reasons) may lose it's ability to unravel the effects of a particular trauma, and so the ongoing self-healing process ceases. Cranial Osteopathic treatment functions as a catalyst for change, in providing a means by which the healing process can recommence, and continue. The Cranial Osteopath uses the principle of "creating space" to allow for this healing response.

A patient can assist in creating internal freedom by accepting things in the present. By letting them "“be" as they "are" ”(even if painful or distracting) they can create the internal space necessary for self-healing. In contrast, non-acceptance is a motive force that is in opposition to what is being experienced, consequently internal resistance and tension is created. This internal tension often compounds a problem, and makes the healing process more difficult. Physical manipulation is a way of overcoming this resistance, however many patients prefer a gentle method of treatment where they themselves are involved, and instrumental in facilitating change.

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them".
~ Albert Einstein

The answer is like a paradox. Within a willingness to accept something, this internal freedom and space allows transformation to take place. A deeper and more effective treatment is possible when there is a natural internal ease and fluidity. Acceptance of things as they are, is a very different experience to one of fatalism or resignation. Acceptance is an acquired skill that is useful on the road to self-healing and self-determination.  

Health exist only in the present moment - "In the Now" - this is an additional reason for why acceptance is of therapeutic value. Thoughts of either the past or future act as shrowds in the present; they make us forget or lose sight of the happiness and health that is inherent to our nature.

"Divine joy is in everyone".
~ Paramahansa Yogananda

By completely accepting the present moment's experience, all available therapeutic resources are harnessed for therapeutic change in that moment.

Surrender

In Cranial Osteopathy, more effective therapeutic results are achieved through surrender than struggling (or forcing) against stubborn resistance.

"Surrender is giving oneself up to the origin of one's Being".
~ Ramana Maharshi

For any practitioner, this realisation becomes apparent as time passes and experience grows. At some point in a treatment process, it becomes necessary for a practitioner to surrender their own idea of how things should (or might) be; and surrender their own will to a greater intelligence.

"I am open to the guidance of synchronicity, and do not let expectations hinder my path".
~ Dalai Lama

Cranial Osteopathy is a very subtle method of facilitating therapeutic change. Unlike a purely mechanical (manipulative) method of treatment, this gentle approach requires patient involvement: namely to suspend expectation and a surrender to stillness.

"I look towards silence. It is not as I had heard, a peak with natural footholds and crampons left by better climbers...there is only surrender".”
~ Pauline Materasso

Patience

When the human body develops as an embryo (as shown in the electron microscope image below), there is a working intelligence that pre-dates the nervous system, including the brain. Intelligent organisation and movement is present even before the nervous system begins to develop. As much as the mind (and ego) tries to convince us otherwise, the mind isn't actually running the show!

This intelligence is present and active throughout adult life: and manifests as (in Osteopathic terminology) the “"Fluid Body": a bio-energetic field of awareness that envelopes the physical body, the boundary of which forms an egg shape (or like the canopy of a tree). The shape of the fluid body will express itself through the nervous system. It therefore influences the functioning of the muscles (balance/movement), organs and also behaviour, and so encompasses the function of the whole person. The fluid body alters shape as a consequence of trauma, both physical, emotional, spiritual and environmental. It can shrink, split, twist, elongate, shear or shift (relative to the physical body) in all manner of ways depending upon the type of trauma present. As a consequence, the physical body will then bend, twist, compress or wither away through lack of vitality, awareness and nutritive support.

Every two and a half years a person's whole skeleton is completely renewed (the calcium structure is eaten away and replaced by living bone cells), the cornea of the eye is replaced every 30 days. It stands to reason that it takes time for the body to express itself into new form and function after the effects of trauma are resolved through treatment. This is determined by a newly treated, integrated and functional fluid body.

"The greatest prayer is patience".
~ Buddha

By understanding this Osteopathic perspective, it becomes easier to set aside the mind's aggitation and desire for a quick result in treatment. If you are interested in long lasting results from treatment, viewing your body from the perspective of the fluid body is very important.

“By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies".
~ Isaiah 30:15

Asking the right question

As a practitioner, it is necessary to develop a good working relationship with a patient's inherent healing mechanism. This is an instinctive organism or intellegence, beyond conscious awareness, that is millions of years old. Sitting quietly with awareness of the patient can often be all that is required to initiate a self-healing response (see spontaneous healing above). However, a patient may be 'habituated' in way of functioning, or over-anxious to achieve a therapeutic change, either of which create inertia and therefore resistance to change. In such circumstances the practitioner needs to ask the right question (from a state of stillness and receptivity). "What does this patient need?", "Where is the fulcrum of activity for this patient's healing mechanism?" or "Where is the central stillness within this patient - the 'eye of the storm'?". ”This extra intention (or direction) is often sufficient to catalyse a therapeutic change. If this doesn't work, then there are certain “'techniques'” that can be used to “kick start” and patient's system. If this doesn't work, then new questions need to be asked about the possibility of environmental stress/toxins/allergens impeding the system, or perhaps there is another issue that needs to be addressed first by another health professional prior to a successful response. Finally, it may be necessary to consider the possibility that (at this time) cranial osteopathy is not suited to the individual, and that a different modality maybe required.

Asking for help

As previously discussed, asking for help for a problem poses a therapeutic challenge. Since the best therapeutic results are made possible through the internal freedom generated by acceptance or non-resistance. How is it then possible to ask for help without compromising the therapeutic process?

The answer to this question is simple. Ask for help, but don't have an expectation or become attached to a therapeutic outcome. Such attachment is the result of non-acceptance of the present experience, and so creates internal tension.

On occasion a patient will arrive for treatment, and whilst lying on the treatment table will quietly pray to God for help with their problem. Does the act of prayer and asking God's help similarly create internal resistance?

The answer to this question is quite different. Firstly, the act of praying to God is a prayer for one's own health, or the divine spark within. Prayer will assist the therapeutic process by revealing a patient's inherent health and vitality, and also by bring the person into the present moment. The expectation of a therapeutic outcome is a relatively rare phenomenon in those with a devotional attitude. Asking for God's help in this case is generally qualified by a willingness also to accept any outcome. Such acceptance arises from knowing that there is divine timing and purpose at work, the benefits of which may not be immediately apparent.

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds".”
~ Albert Einstein

This willingness to accept any outcome (even if painful or difficult) paradoxically allows the internal space and potential for more effective therapeutic change.

Sometimes, patients have been been struggling and pushing themselves, and when they come for treatment this stress is manifested in their breathing. Success in breathing (and life) is not an act of personal will generated from the mind or through repetition. Rather, it is an act of surrender; where you are breathed (inspired/moved) by something greater and more powerful than yourself. When you are in harmony with yourself and with nature, the breath rises effortlessly with great power from the core of your being.

There is a very significant relationship between the breath, and the body's ability to create internal mechanical leverage or therapeutic drive. This is an important element in the healing process. In the absence of an integrated breath, it becomes very difficult for a body to release tension and the effects of past trauma. This is in part a symptom of our frantic modern living. Being disconnected from nature and with an overload to the sympathetic nervous system (fright/ fight/flight). If breathing has been disconnected from it's source, then a person is disconnected from their inherent self-healing capacity.

A deepening re-connection to the Breath of Life becomes an effortless process in the Yarri Creek healing room, as this is in direct communion with nature.