As Children, We grow up believing much of what we are taught.
The first half of life, we as children absorb and live through many experiences which form our world. We as children, usually question everything wanting to understand how life on earth works. In this, we make the best decisions we can that will help us navigate and live in harmony and love. For the most part, we want to feel included, and part of the systems in which we find ourselves. We do almost anything to feel like we belong. There is a certain safety in that. We listen and often do what we are told. We accept the world around us, when it makes sense, and even when it does not.
As we grow a little older, we start to press up against our parents, our teachers, and community leaders to find out more about the question, “Who Am I”. Often we are confused, and our bodies change, and our world too. We lean toward our peers, and friends become important players in our lives. Many of the beliefs that we were raised with will help shape how we choose to interact with those around us. We often move towards or against. Sometimes when we choose the easier path, we ride the wave.
By the time we start our own families, beliefs start to become a powerful force in how we create. Young adults will eventually start to question all the things that come back to them from their outer world. To become empowered individuals, they will have to learn how to make their own decisions free from other people’s thoughts. Wise parents will teacher their kids to be independent thinkers, and to not take any beliefs too seriously, but rather to try on different hats, and to experience life to the fullest. But they will also have to help define boundaries and learn to respond rather than react. Maturity means becoming responsible and owning the choices we make.
Our children eventually leave, and we find ourselves as empty nesters. When we are fortunate to retire our jobs, we are sometimes given the opportunity to find our real life’s work. If we are even luckier, we rekindle our passions as follow that path. This is a wonderful time to re-question what we think and how we want to do things. If we are open enough with curiosity and wonder, we may even become more clear that reality is not what we once believed. We may understand that the moment in which we now live is rich and it is ours to travel.
As we age into our later years, we start to think about death. Our parents have left years ago. Our friends start to pass too. We grieve. We fear. And yet we know that our time in this life is shorter. At this point we can let go of everything that has ever stressed us. We know that we can’t take anything with us when we cross that bridge. There is a certain freedom awaiting us. And that possibility in the Unknown is Wide and Deep. We can either embrace the mystery, or resist. But we know that we are the authors of our own destiny.
At any of this moments in our lives, God gives us the opportunity to believe or not. We are always given the gift of questioning. Sometimes along the way, we take things so seriously. We get entangled into what is right, and what is wrong. We often throw away important relationships for the sake of what we are believing. It’s not a bad thing to let go or walk away. But if you want to be a Truthful Authentic Human Being, be willing to step into another person’s shoes, ask questions, open up to other possibilities you could never imagine. Invite new things in. When you judge others, notice that. See how your criticisms affect the situation you are in. Do they serve you or do they not? Be willing to lay down all the things you once thought were important to invite the Light of God back into your heart, even if it has been broken. Especially if it has been broken. There is something so sweet and powerful about being vulnerable in truth. So transformative and empowering.
What say you? Are you willing to surrender into the truth? Take an inventory and throw out the things that limit you from being in your heart?
Can Craniosacral Therapy help relieve symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
To live through a deeply disturbing event, can afterwards lead a person into overwhelm. The ability to cope with every day life can become very difficult. Each person responds to a trauma differently. What one person can deal with, can be very scary for another to experience. With PTSD, a person could continue to feel anxious, sadness, experience nightmares, or flashbacks. There is help. In conjunction with psychotherapy, massage and bodywork can be very helpful in reducing stress, and in supporting emotional integration.
Reducing PTSD Stress
Healing Team between Psychotherapists and Bodyworkers
Many Massage Therapists and Bodyworkers train to be able to support people who process emotionally when they are the table. While this is not psychotherapy, there is a way that Craniosacral Therapy can offer a sacred space for people who have gone through difficult experiences to move through PTSD symptoms. By creating a safe environment with safe touch, we can dialogue with the Central Nervous System so that it can better regulate. I have witnessed many people release deep tensions, fascial restrictions, and more importantly let go of old stories that no longer serve their health and wellbeing. Often I work with clients who see their psychiatrists and psychotherapists as well. I look at this as the building of a healing team. A successful healing process includes whatever it takes to support the client safely navigating through a frightening internal journey to the other side.
Craniosacral Therapists (CST), in particular, who have gone through SomatoEmotional Release Education are professionally trained at the Upledger Institute to serve in this way. This work is very gentle, powerful and focused on helping the client to find his/her own inner resources to heal. How we do this, is by listening to the Craniosacral Rhythm for any significant stops. While this work is subtle through touch, a trained Craniosacral Therapist can feel when something meaningful is presenting in the body by the change in quality, symmetry, amplitude and rate of the rhythm. Once this happens, a meaningful dialogue whether through touch, feelings, speaking or spiritually oriented experiences often happens. Support and presence are key moment to moment.
On a personal note, I have worked with many clients who are living with anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks to the extent that they have a rough time functioning well on a daily basis. There are times when it may take many sessions before I even place my hands on the client. Intentional Touch has to be done by building trust, and strengthening the bond between the CST and client. Safe touch means taking the time needed to build the relationship necessary so that the Central Nervous System can calm down. This can be done with weekly sessions, but there are also Comprehensive Intensives through the Upledger Work to receive multi-hand work when a person is ready.
SomatoEmotional Release
I enjoy working with people hands on this way. As each client is unique, so too is each Craniosacral Therapist. Along the way, I have studied Hakomi at the Hakomi Institute, and Trauma work with Pat Ogden at SPI. I also studied at taught at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. There has to be a place where people can find a way to relax in their bodies and to find embodiment at their own pace and in a way that feels nourishing and secure. All people are worthy of a good life that is kind, compassionate and enlivening. I feel blessed to be a Craniosacral Therapist who works holistically with people. I feel honored to work with people who show up to be courageous and work through their dark times.
If you would like to find a SomatoEmotional Release Therapist near you, check out the Upledger Site. My recommendation is to look for a practitioner who is certified and has completed the first four classes. Ask for a consultation to find the best therapist for you.
It is the ability to keep finding solutions that is important; any one solution is temporary. There are no permanently right answers. The capacity to keep changing, to find what works now, is what keeps any organism alive.
Did you know that there are an estimated few million sports concussions and brain injuries each year? Many of those are young athletic children who hit their heads during their daily sports activities. Likewise, there are also many more people who hit their heads while involved in exercise, car accidents, falling off roofs, bikes, and also those who experience such mishaps as slipping on ice or tripping on a sidewalk. The symptoms of a concussion may not feel apparent at the onset of a fall, but these head injuries can often negatively affect the functioning of the brain. It’s important to keep an eye for any indications of a concussion after any forceful head impact. Even more critical is that you take good care of yourself until you heal and follow your doctor’s advice.
My Clients:
These are the types of people with whom I work. Many of my clients who have come in to see me have been in an accident. I’d say about half of them have experienced some type concussion signs. Some also find themselves in chronic pain. While most people do recover pretty well from concussions, there are those who do not. Some of the unresolved issues I have worked with are: confusion, blurry vision, headaches, imbalances, difficulties with concentration, fatigue, and sensitivities to light. Sometimes for months, and even years- my clients had not found any type of relief. Often Craniosacral Therapy is their last stop.
Brain Concussions and Trauma can become a huge disturbance in your life. I have worked with people who have had to quit their jobs and those who have been “let go”, only because there was no cure to pain and disorientation in their head. But rest assured, there is help. One of the places that encouraged me to become specialized in head trauma is the Upledger Institute. They have been doing Comprehensive Intensives with professional athletes at their clinic in Florida. The results of their work and reviews by clients have demonstrated time and time again that the brain can be helped to become better organized biomechanically and supported to self-heal. On a personal note, as I have attended a few 5 day intensives with the Institute both as a support and primary therapist, I have seen what seemed like miracles happen with many clients many time over. Observing improvements like that influenced me to go ahead and receive my Diplomate level expertise to treat just as effectively to bring out optimal health. Over the years, I have seen quite a few people walk out of my office happier and healthier people. They re-discover how to function more clearly in life again. A series of sessions can the symptoms disappear resolve and disappear.
How Brain Work Works
I have been doing massage therapy and bodywork for about 20 years, but the Brain Work that I have learned at the Upledger Institute has given me the tools I need to support my clients Inner Wisdom. During a session with a client who has experienced a concussion, I am often led to dialogue with different parts of the brain, while keeping a holistic picture approach. This can be done quietly biomechanically, but at other times, the client will speak and share his/her experience from this internal environment. The intelligence of the body leads him/her back to health and wellbeing like nothing I have seen before.
What I love about being a Craniosacral Therapist is that the work is so gentle, and it listens to the wisdom of the body to direct the session. All of the facilitation leads you back to the Inner Guidance inside of you leading the session toward your health. The results have been profound as the work releases unhealthy restrictions, and promotes more fluid flow and motion. I am the facilitator who uses learned techniques to treat, but the body and the essence of the person is what heals.
Self Care
If you have hit your head, or someone in your family has, please go see a physician and get yourself diagnosed and treated. It’s important that you focus on self-care. I will say, I have had personal experiences with concussion too. The worst trauma I felt was after I fell off my horse and hit my head. I rested for a month and could hardly do anything. No television. No computer. No reading. Just quiet rest. However, once I could travel, I went straight to the Upledger Institute and put myself in the hands of Craniosacral Therapy. I also found a local therapist here in Columbus too who helped me. I recovered. Ever since, I have made Concussion work my primary focus in my work serving clients.
Free Telephone Consultation If you have been diagnosed with a medical condition or are having questions after talking to your physician, please call me. I offer a free 10 minute phone consultation. Whether you come here, or need assistance to find a therapist near you, I am glad to help. My phone number is 703 509-1792. I enjoy working with people who are ready to turn the tide back to health and wellbeing.
It doesn’t serve anyone well when you keep your light dim. But sometimes, people don’t know the way out. They don’t know how to take the next step to move to the next place in regard to their dreams and hopes. But I say, “Why not choose Joy?”
What I find helpful in my life are these keys for movement of the soul
Be Mindful
Dream Big but be ready to put work into it. Commitment is important.
Realize that there is always help available. So reach out and ask for it.
Know that empowerment comes from being in the Moment and making the best choice you can right here and now.
Notice how grace works for you. The Universe is at your disposal.
Question your thoughts that keep you limiting yourself.
Live in Gratitude and say thank you.
One of the most difficult things for people who are not accomplishing their goals is that the past keeps them down. To realize your dreams, it’s important to realize the conscious and unconscious patterns that you keep generating and believing.
My friends, it is time to spread your wings. The world will be a better place, and so will you.
The best answer that I can think of is that you want to feel good again. If you are feeling stressed, if your body is in pain, or if you have been in a terrible accident, Craniosacral Therapy can help. I have treated people who have experienced great results who have come in with anxiety, Traumatic Brain Injury & Concussions, car accidents, TMJ, back & neck pain, just to name a few conditions. The major reason that I have success helping people as a Craniosacral Therapist is because I use a method that is so gentle, that the body welcomes the touch. I don’t have to force my work through layers of fascia. Rather, my hands listen to what the body already knows I trust that it can unwind painful patterns by using craniosacral techniques that are supportive and precise. I believe we want to heal, and that having a compassionate presence helps move that process through naturally. It feels to me like I hold a flexible yet centered point for my clients to re-organize around. It works for me as a therapist, and it works for them as clients.
I have been practicing bodywork for 20 years, and Craniosacral Therapy since 2003. During this time, I have studied and worked with advanced Craniosacral Therapy techniques, SomatoEmotional Release, and emphasized brain and spine related work in my work practice. What I have witnessed at times, is nothing short of a miracle. In 10 sessions, I have seen clients who have come in with fogginess, depression and pain get up and resume extraordinary lives. Now I don’t guarantee this, but it is possible. The people who have shown me the most success are those who are committed to their healing practice, those who are open to change, and those who can quietly take in the work, and express deeper thoughts, feelings and sensations as they show up during the session. This is because we are each whole. And when the mind, body & spirit connecting get tangled up, they need to be sorted out to tap back into the whole essence of the individual. When we connect to the deeper essence of life, great things can happen.
I don’t know that any one therapist is a Master in their own right. It is the client that has the power to heal. What you want to find in a Craniosacral Therapist is someone who has faith that your own “Inner Wisdom” who can show you the way back to health and wellbeing. As a Craniosacral Therapist, it is my job to use this model and all the techniques that I have learned to help you self-correct any dysfunctional patterns that show up. As you let go, the healing has begun.
I trust the Central Nervous System to communicate all of it’s know how as we set the stage for deep release, better balance, more vitality, and emotional clearing if necessary.
If you looking for a Craniosacral Therapist, you can see my profile on www.Upledger.com. Look for me in the Columbus, Ohio. If you live elsewhere and you would like a reference, I’d be glad to help you sort through the website. Craniosacral Therapy is a humble service. We practice from a neutral place to help clients to find their own way.
Craniosacral Columbus
Looking forward to hearing from you. Let me know if I can be in service to your healing journey.
