BCST

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy

 

INVITATION:

to Tune in to Your Body Intelligence

 

As part of her dedication to her clients as well as her own ongoing, personal and professional growth and development, Christina is continually upgrading her training and she is very excited about having completed her  2-year training intensive in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (Body Intelligence) in 2016, which she LOVES for its:

  •  Supreme gentleness,
  • Non-interference, and
  • Acknowledgement of – and reverence for – the amazing intelligence of the client’s multidimensional body, and inherent health and wholeness, as well as
  • The Self-empowerment it offers clients.

FMI on FREE INTRO TALK/MINI Workshops, as well as on UPCOMING TRAINING in the Comox Valley:

Please scroll down.

NEW CLIENT SPECIAL: 

First treatment at 30% off till end of 2017. 

Please call or Contact Christina at (250) 890-9008 for a list of available appointments to choose from.

 

ARTICLE:

Tuning in to Your Body Intelligence 
by Christina Nienaber-Roberts 

Draft for 300word Editorial to be published in

The Comox Valley Record on 11 August 2016

 

Our body intelligence is truly awe-inspiring. Just think of the intelligence required for an embryo to grow; even just a cut to heal.  This intelligence is part of the greater organizing principle of nature. 

img_8035_4_web_bcst_spine_hThe basis of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is acknowledging – and establishing a relationship with – this body intelligence that expresses throughout the body as a tidal expansion and contraction of the breath of life – Chi or life force.  It is an expression of the motion that drives growth in utero and is still within us as a blueprint for health.

When we become fluent in sensing the expression of these subtle fluid-like movements expressed throughout every cell, fibre, fluid, organ, gland and structure, the body intelligence recognises that we understand its language and initiates a conversation.

When a BCST practitioner skilled in listening to this language, quietly sits with the body, holding it ever so gently, with no agenda and no interference, focussing on where the health is expressing in the body, the body intelligence will start expressing the inherent health and wholeness more fully and the treatment plan spontaneously unfolds from within.  There is no need to focus on pathology – the starting point is: “Where is the health expressing in this body?  How can it be supported in expressing more fully?”

The tides expressing the breath of life (which expresses itself in many ways throughout the body) were first noticed in the subtle movement of the cranial bones within the dural membrane in – and from which – they form in embryo.  This membrane is continuous with the entire connective tissue network that runs through the entire body, penetrates every cell, sheaths every muscle fibre and bundle and organ, lines every body cavity to create an interconnected information network much like an optic fibre network which the practitioner can touch into from anywhere on the body.

Each connective tissue tube, made up of a triple helix of collagen strands, is filled with the same cerebrospinal fluid that is located between the double layers of the membrane that cushions the brain and neural tube that hangs down inside the spine.  As the breath of life flows through a healthy body, these fibres and sheaths glide over each other massaging the organs and glands. When there is habitual contraction, a drying out of any part, or adhesions between these fibres for due to lack of exercise, the entire biotensegrity (structure and fluidity) of the body is affected, the breath of life is unable to express and enliven the system fully, and the body expresses symptoms to inform us something is amiss.  Masking the symptoms never creates greater expression of health.

Inviting a conversation with the body in this way restores awareness of the subtle movements mentioned above, allows the held patterns of experience and emotions – and resultant inertial fulcrums (areas of rigidity) – to biodynamically express themselves and resolve.  Areas of compression spontaneously release, allowing subtle and as well as gross reorganization (even of the skeleton) as muscles lengthen, connective tissue rehydrated to allow for healthy glide, and the whole system can take a deep breath.  The system settles into a more healthful expression where the body fluids (CSF, blood, lymph) biochemical and electrical circuitry and information are better able to flow.  The nervous system calms, mind clears and quietens, as we drop into long tide (theta brainwaves), expansion, and resourcing (re-Sourcing) at the deepest levels.  All systems function more optimally, more in synch with the breath of life.  Frequently even larger shifts unfold, also in the spiritual field.  “Very subtle but very profound” clients often remark afterward – or “It is like finally coming home”.

 

 

For more ARTICLES, please scroll down
For SCHEDULED INTRO TALKS on BCST 
Please see Programme/Schedule page.

 

EXCITING NEWS:

BCST Training here in the Comox Valley!!!

Body Intelligence Training to become a Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist

Seminar 1  – 14-18 February 2018.

FMI please visit: http://www.bodyintelligence.com/comox-valley

 

MORE ARTICLES:

Tuning in to the Sphenoid: One of the keystone bones in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
by Christina Nienaber-Roberts

Draft for an Editorial to be published in

The Comox Valley Record, written 10 October 2016

20151130_4_web_sphenoid_dra

The bat-shaped sphenoid bone, located behind the eyes and third eye, articulates with most of the bones of the face and skull.  In health it expresses the rhythmical movement of the Breath of Life (an expression of the Organizing Principle of Nature in the human organism) which drove our development and growth in embryo.  Upon tuning in to it, this movement of the sphenoid is experienced as a subtle forward and backward dipping motion.  Having formed from the second vertebra in the embryonic spine, it is intimately connected with the connective tissue network highlighted in “Tuning in to Your Body Intelligence” (CV Record, August 16th, 2016, p 28 – scanned copies available from author) via the continuous dural membrane that sheaths the brain, spinal cord and the cerebrospinal fluid that cushions them.  As the dura expresses the breath of life it massages these vital systems and facilitates drainage of the lymph as well as deoxygenated venous blood from the brain.  But it can only do so when the sphenoid is free-moving.

The greater wings of this fascinating looking bone form the back of the eye sockets; the wing-tips touch in with the temples (and this is the area we may spontaneously hold when we have a headache); it houses major sinus cavities; and its body contains the cup-like Turk’s saddle which holds and protects the pituitary gland.  Healthy, rhythmical, movement of the sphenoid essentially milks this master gland which is intimately related to the hypothalamus of the brain and adrenals, regulates our other endocrine glands, and therefore hormonal exchanges and “molecules of emotion” (Candice Perth, 1999).  Its freedom to move is therefore paramount to the health of our whole being.

In biodynamic craniosacral therapy (BCST), which focuses on where the health is already expressing and how it can be supported in expressing more fully, the sphenoid is therefore seen as one of the keystone bones.

Its movement can become compromised during a difficult passage down the birth canal, forceps delivery and other complications during birth, blows to the head (and can often be a factor in concussion), or cranial contraction as a result of habitual over-thinking or ongoing anxiety as in PTSD.  Luckily the sphenoid absolutely loves gentle touch and is so keen to reorganize that it is often one of the first structures to present during BCST treatments.  The opportunity to free itself biodynamically has a cascading effect throughout the whole human being: the connective tissue network relaxes and rehydrates; the musculature relaxes and thus skeletal structures they pull on are able to reorganize and sometimes jump into place creating phenomenal postural changes; organs are less compressed as a result and able to function more optimally; the endocrine system reorganizes towards more optimal health; it facilitates drainage of the newly discovered brain lymph as well as venous return – and more.

img_8023_4_web_bcst_cranial

This is why the gentle touch of BCST is such a perfect fit for offering newborns a head-start (excuse the pun).   For when the sphenoid is able to biodynamically return to freely expressing the Breath of Life right at the very beginning of the new life experience, the whole being has a greater chance of expressing original health.   Luckily it is never too late: even after 90 years the amazing sphenoid can reorganize birth patterns that may have expressed as what from other viewpoints may be may be termed “pathologies”.

Is it surprizing then that meditative practices often focus on the third eye?

When the sphenoid biodynamically frees itself clients often comment: “my head feels lighter”; “the brain fog has lifted”; “my head feels expanded/rearranged”; “I feel clear minded” ; “I have a sense of light in and above my head” and so on.

 

How Tuning in to your Body Intelligence
can Transform Your Relationship with Pain 
by Christina Nienaber-Roberts

Draft for an Editorial published in

The Comox Valley Record, 27 December 2016

Pain is Really Strange” (Steve Haines, 2015) – and it sure is!  While acute pain warns us of danger, chronic pain persists more than the 3-6 months it takes tissues to heal and is often a sign that the brain has forgotten how to switch off the alarm system.  Then we may become so over-sensitised to the pain that it overshadows our entire life; nothing feels safe; anxiety amplifies.  Chronic pain may, alternatively, be due to a memory of and experience that was too overwhelming to fully process at the time and becomes held somewhere in the body.  The brain may dissociate from that body part and somatic amnesia sets in: “it feels as if that foot/shoulder is not there”.

Ironically, only when we become more present in the body (embodied) are we able to hear the real messages our Body Intelligence is sending us.  If we listen to the body’s whispers with curiosity, it does not need to shout at us (express pain) – and we may hear what is actually going on beneath the pain.

In Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy the practitioner gently holds the body, acknowledges the amazing Intelligence of the larger body, listens with reverence and loving presence to the whole body and all of its whisperings, helps the client to start tuning in to the conversation also. Body Intelligence (Ged Sumner, 2010) is a great resource for honing this health-affirming skill.

The moment the practitioner or client notices the subtler sensations, the Body Intelligence immediately starts reorganizing the fluid, fibre and potency fields of the body to express health more fully.  Sometimes that happens incrementally over a few sessions.  Too large a shift may be too much for the system to handle – especially where pain is trauma-related.  Yet, sometimes what people call “Miracles” may unfold.

It is important to remember though, that everybody’s – and therefore every body’s – experience with BCST, and during every BCST session, will be different because our Body Intelligence will work in order of priority. So, there is no focus on pathology; no fixing; no interference.  The focus is on being present to where the health already presents – and how it wants to unfold in expressing that more fully.  And the results speak for themselves.

Clients have said: “I can’t believe it.  My shoulder/foot is back!  I have not been able to feel it for years…  I can actually move it!”   Almost universally we hear: “I have not felt this relaxed in years!  I can’t feel the pain right now.”

 

Tuning into the midline around which we grew
in embryo – and its implications for
returning to health
 with Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.
by Christina Nienaber-Roberts

Draft for an Editorial scheduled to be published in

The Comox Valley Record, 2 May 2017 

 

“Our spine is our backbone” and we think of it as the bumps we feel – but they are merely the outer edges of the spinal processes. The actual vertebrae lie much deeper, towards our midline.  The spinal column represents the midline around which we grew in embryo.  Most of us may know the more solid, bony aspect; the neural aspect – spinal cord; and the fluid aspect – the cerebrospinal fluid that cushions the neural cord.  It also has an energetic aspect – the potency carried in the cerebrospinal fluid.

Most of us are totally unaware of how we formed in embryo and birthed, an unfoldment that holds important clues to how we experience our body in this moment.

Around day 3-4 of our development cells started dying, creating the amniotic cavity behind our back and the yolk sac in front.  Around 15-16 in the living tissue of the disc between the yolk sac and amniotic cavity a mysterious groove appeared – the primitive streak that became the axis around which we grew from that day onward.  The living tissue around this streak welled up on either side, forming a tube through which the amniotic fluid circulated.  By day 20, on either side of this midline small bumps called somites started appearing, each one with all the intelligence and information needed to grow the whole segment of the body at that level, including the nerves that enervate that segment.  These segments, called dermatomes, explain a lot about referred pain and other challenges.

 By day 25-27 the tube’s ends sealed up and the trapped amniotic fluid becomes our cerebrospinal fluid.

The dying off of cells continues within our bodies still, as does the birthing of new cells, luckily!  In every moment trillions of old cells are dying off and trillions of new cells are being born – a powerful awareness that holds the key to rejuvenation and transformation.  For, in any moment our bodies present a snapshot of our past lifestyle and experiences while we are, quite naturally, constantly renewing ourselves.  So, if we can change our habits to grown healthier new cells while the old cells that represent our past are dying off, we can actually change our state of health! Faster than we might imagine:  in 5 days the entire stomach lining is renewed; the skin is replaced in a month; our liver is completely renewed in 6 weeks; the entire skeleton in a few months.  In fact, 98% of all the atoms in our body are exchanged in one year (Chopra, 2001, Grow younger, live longer, p32).  Exciting!

The author of this editorial tapped into this “river of renewal” to reverse her cancer in 3 months.

This is partly what Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy taps into also. The skilled Craniosacral Therapist (RCST®) gently and reverently supports the client’s Body Intelligence (that orchestrated our growth in embryo) in its innate drive towards growing healthier cells.  BCST also allows reorganization of the body’s issue, fluid and potency fields into a more optimally functioning body.  One in which the tissues are so relaxed that larger structures, like the spine, are no longer pulled out of alignment.  Similarly, the organs and glands have the space to expand and move with the natural rhythmical motions that support their optimal functioning.  Intercommunication between all aspects of the body is increased.  Potency can fully express and health is experienced!

Who would not love that?

 

 

INTRIGUED?

If you would like to have a BCST experience

Christina is offering BCST treatments at The Heart Gate – please call (250) 890-9008 or Contact Christina for a list of available appointments to choose from.

 

FOR FREE INTRO TALKS: 

Please see Programme/Schedule page.

 

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