When Nature & Nurture Shape Opportunities

by SharonHartnett | Oct 15, 2024 | craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, healing, Healthy Body, meditation, mind body & spirit, mindfulness, move effortlessly

Nature & Nurture Awaken the Inner Intelligence Within

Let’s talk about Nature & Nurture. From a Craniosacral Therapy Perspective, an experienced Craniosacral Therapist knows that each individual has a working Inner Intelligence Living Within. This Inner Intelligence is a Deep Conscious Awareness. I see it as the essence of each person connected to.a Higher Source. At least these are the best words which I can describe it.

This Inner Intelligence is constantly working to support the health of our physical bodies, our emotional state, our thinking patterns, our relationships and even our connection to spirituality and what we call God. For example, we hardly don’t even have to think about getting out of bed in the morning, straightening our legs so that we get begin to walk through our day. It’s an effortless flow for most of us. Everything is aligned and we begin to move our lives through time and space here at home within our bodies.

In any case, this Intelligence miraculously brings us to life. It allows us to interact with the world we know. It’s in a constant dance with Nature & Nurture.

Biologically we have genes that get turned on. From the time of conception, the heredity influence unfolds into this unique song that makes us who we are. Our environments have their own unique sound, and blend with our systems to create new relationships and growth patterns. These two influences mutually work together to create our Life Experiences for us as individuals. I would say in a larger sense as well.

Such a dynamic pairing: Nature and Nurture. However, there are times when we do get stuck in a glitch. The Intelligence Within is always available, but our choices and life experiences can begin to isolate us or limit our potential. Our genetics can get tripped off into a disease process, or our environment can become toxic or painful for us to live in through certain influences and choices. Triggers could be anything from things like early abandonment, trauma, developmental support lacking and so on. This history, as we live it, is held in the posture and tissue of the body. When we don’t feel connected and in sync with Nature & Nurture, we don’t thrive.

From a Craniosacral Therapist stance, the first thing we do when we work with a person is to connect with ourselves and to create a safe and healthy environment. This connects us with our own nature & nurture qualities and inner wisdom. Then we listen to the person who comes to see us fully and with intention to connect to their own inner intelligence. My hope is that as a team, and while plugging into Source, the techniques and intelligence in my system will nourish the missing steps or pieces to re-awaken what is needed for wellness.

By working with the Craniosacral System, we can listen and sense deeply into another. By melding and blending we encourage and give a little nudge to help release and to restore healthy communication and dialogue. The Nervous System especially feels this healing touch. Integration brings everything back together .People process, but by the end of a session, usually they find a deeper peace and sense of knowing themselves. The Craniosacral Rhythm is restored. That’s because the Inner Intelligence is awakening and moving us to the next level of wellness.

Nature & Nurture are at the foundation of who we are if we are to be healthy and thriving. None of us are meant to live alone. We all need support to keep our own resources reinvigorated and vital. It’s the bond that pulls life together which makes us stronger and more vibrant. Sometimes this is done internally, and sometimes we need to fill in the gap through our relationships.

Learn to connect to Your Own Inner Intelligence. We are all able to do this. Our Higher Selves, when we clear the way, will always keeps us on the Path which brings the best to our soul. When we are able to receive and give through nature and nurture freely, we have more power to influence and co-create in health and wellbeing.

Sharon Hartnett CST-d
703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

How to Move Effortlessly Through Life

by SharonHartnett | Sep 28, 2024 | craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, grounding, healing, mind body & spirit, mindfulness, move effortlessly

Grounding: Move Effortlessly with Grace

Move Effortlessly. It’s easy to escape the moment. To not be fully present. The mind easily wanders into the past with regrets and guilt. Undoubtably it moves forward with worry and anticipation as well. This is to be human.

However, what if there is a way to engage with life more deeply and fully?

I was reading FB today and came across a beautiful post about grounding. I feel it’s so important to connect to the earth. She supports us and nourishes us continuously. We are made of the earth, and she lives within all that we are. So I am including this writing by “Lowen” to share here. Let go of your burdens my friends… Discover Your Human Body.

Lowen is credited with coining the word “grounding” in the physiological and psychological sense and emphasizing it’s importance in human development. I believe it has now become a term widely understood (if not precisely understood) in the broader pop culture.

“Once he is grounded, a person no longer holds himself up but allows the ground to support him. By coming down to earth, he finds that his blood pressure also drops. But effecting that kind of change requires a commitment to the body and to a way of life that respects the body and it’s needs.

Unfortunately, our culture is moving away from the body as the source of feeling and spirituality. Our fitness programs are not designed to enhance the sensitivity of the body but to hone it as if it were a machine. In so doing, they produce people who are fit only to run the race of life. I suppose that if reaching the top is one’s goal in life, our modern-day fitness programs may help. But if one’s goal is to experience the joy of being fully alive, the excitement of feeling part of this pulsating universe, and the deep satisfaction of being a person who is both graceful and gracious, one must turn elsewhere.

When I was a young man, being “earthy” was regarded as a virtue. I never hear anyone descibed that way anymore. Has the quality of having one’s feet on the ground lost its meaning? I believe it has. The modern individual is more properly described as “flying high and fast”. It is hard to slow down when the world is racing by. It is difficult to be grounded when the culture itself is ungrounded, when it denies reality and promotes an illusion that success represents a higher state of being and successful people live richer and more fulfilling lives. All the same, the real values of life are “earthy” values: health, gracefulness, connectedness, pleasure and love. But these values have meaning only if one’s feet are planted firmly on the ground.”

– Alexander Lowen from The Spirituality of the Body

To Move Effortlessly is freedom and Joy

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

How to Create a Healthy Space for Noise Overwhelm

by SharonHartnett | Sep 27, 2024 | Craniosacral Therapy, healing, meditation, mindfulness, upledger institute

Are you Feeling the Overwhelm of Loud Noises in Social Situations?

Have you heard of the term “neurodivergent”? For people who feel as if they think and feel differently, I think it’s a good topic to explore for self-understanding. The differences of neurodivergent experiences land anywhere from ADHD, to sensory sensitivities, to autism and other mental health conditions. However, the topic I want to speak about today primarily is the overwhelm of loud noises for some people with neurodivergent thinking. I think it’s important to find a way to acclimate and still join into social interactions. Overwhelm can take us away from people and activities we enjoy. So how do we deal with loud noise when we are sensitive to it?

Each of us is unique in how our brain works. How we learn, how we process, and funtion does’t have to fit into a “typical” model. In the past, and even still now, when a person is different, it can be looked down upon or. seen as problematic. But more often, now adays, there is a fresher acceptance and understanding of people who think out of the box with the concept of neurodiversity. More and more, we want to include, embrace and find the strengths inside each individual. The healthier outlook is to celebrate our differences.

In particular, for neurodivergent people who feel awkward in social situations, they may need a little bit of help to know that their differences and vulnerabilities can also be understood as strengths. Researching this topic can bring relief in knowing that there is a new openness to consideration for diversity. I know, for myself, it took a long time as an adult to feel comfortable when there were a lot of people talking at once in a room. For example, I couldn’t think and the inside of my ears would actually start to hurt when I was in a loud crowded restaurant until I left and went outside. I felt like my ADHD has been healed for the most part, or maybe a better word would be integrated. Yet my brain disagreed. It still does when I am in a noisy area with many people speaking all at once. There have been times when I had felt anxious because I felt like I was the only one experiencing this. Now,understanding that how my brain operations is different yet normal has made me feel more comfortable in uncomfortable situations. So in my later years, I have learned to support myself, and others in helping to cope with loud noise. Especially people with ADHD since I know what it is like to be challenged this way and to move through to the other side.

Some of the things that I have found to be helpful with noise overwhelm are:

1. Wearing noise reduction/cancelling head phones in loud spaces. I can still hear what is going on in my enviroment, but the noise is subdued.

2. Meditation: One helpful meditation in specific is ringing a bell and following the sound with mindful focus. It helps the mind to release tension when other noises come into the space.

3. Craniosacral Therapy has helped my nervous system to feel more balanced and in ease. Especially when I can express my feelings in a safe environment from a mind body perspective. This can also help a person to feel more grounded and embodied. This helps my clients as well!

4. Developing the Witness. This is spending time stepping away from yourself in a neutral intention. Stay curious in your experience. Not being judgmental.

5. Realizing that the noise and ovewhelm is temporary. In most instances, one can leave and move into a more quiet place.

6. Don’t avoid sound because this can increase fear and stress. For example with tinnitus, begin to understand that the sound is unimportant so that. you don’t put your constant energy into negative thinking about the buzzing sounds. This isn’t normally an easy fix, by tinnitus can come and go for many people. Empowering the mind can support adaptability and relief.

7. Check in with an audiologist. Sometimes they can help, and sometimes not. But some centers do have helpful tools.

Having your brain operate differently doesn’t make a person bad or unhealthy. Being sensitive is just a different expression of being human. Seek courageous ways to face your challenges, but also find the right balance of self-care. Overwhelm does not have to be your life. Know that you are not alone, and that our differnces are what make us interesting.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

7 Things to Know about Highly Sensitive People

by SharonHartnett | Sep 8, 2024 | barbara brennan, Craniosacral Therapy, Energy Healing, healing, mind body & spirit, mindfulness, Spiritual Healing

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Recognizing the Gifts of Being with Highly Sensitive People

Understanding Sensitive People takes effort. Yet it’s definitely worth your while. About 20% of people are sensitive. Basically, what this means is that we (I am including myself) react more to life’s stimulation. At times, it’s not as easy for us sensitive people to screen out certain stimuli. Things can become overwhelming for us if we aren’t mindful to our comfort zones.

Anyway, in the recent past, I was talking to my Craniosacral Therapist about my sensitivities in group relationships, and she recommended the book, “The Highly Sensitive Person“, by Elaine N. Aron. As I began to take the test in the beginning of the book, I checked off almost every single characteristic of a Highly Sensensive Person (HSP). Wow, this woman understood my life without even meeting me!

Honestly, I can’t tell you how alone I have felt (on a certain personality level) for a long time being highly sensitive. Most of the world either masks it or is less sensitized. I have processed things and been in the healing and therapist field for close to 30 years. I have worked on boundaries and so many things. Yet, still-when I walk into a room, I feel the mood of the people, and all the nuances in human relationship. I hardly miss a thing, especially emotionally. This even extends to plants, trees, and watching a bird fly. It’s as if I feel ever flap of the wings. My heart resonates. Yet I also feel very vulnerable.

At the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, we learned to develop what Barbara called “HSP” Higher Sense Perception. Same acronym. This is a fine tuning of seeing, feeling, tasting, sensing etc at a very subtle level. This helps people who work with energy or relationships to become astute and skillful in meeting people in connection, the auric field and other dimensions. This has benefited my clients in that I can deeply sense stress, pain, and dysfunction simply by tuning in. When I do this, I can use my sensitivity skills to help ignite the healing response within.

For me, being aligned with my sensitive nature is tremendously helpful in my work. I can sense things and support where others may not. On a fine level, I gather so much information through listening and melding. I know how to meet the “Other” in a gentle manner with touch which can encourage wonderful openings. At the same time, I often have to take some alone time afterwards to settle and digest life experiences. Being senstive doesn’t necessarily make me an introvert, but I do need to rest and integrate often. Self care is crucial.

Aron, writes in her book that our mind/body experiences are different and unique. Some of our positive traits that she mentions are:

1. We are better at spotting errors and avoiding making errors.

2. Highly conscientious.

3. Able to concentrate deeply on things where we are drawn.

4. Especially good at tasks requiring vigilance, accuracy, speed and detection of minor differences

5. Good at being able to process materials at deeper levels.

6. Deeply affected by other people’s moods, which help us to understand and be more present.

7. Able to learn without being aware we have learned.

There is so much great material in this book. What I like best about it is that I don’t feel so alone in that I feel different than so many others. Also, It helped me to refocus on the gifts of this personality I have lived with. I feel so aware of the interconnection of all of life. I feel it deeply. Sometimes, life hurts as the casing around the heart breaks wide open, but I am also able to have such profound life experiences. I have become emotionally stronger in my vulnerablity and can hold that for others in “Presence”

I am sharing today about being sensitive, and I hope this helps someone else recognize that there are many other of us around. We need to learn to accept ourselve and find the seeds of truth and kindness inside to make this life of sensitivy so worthwhile. We do this through self nourishment and awakening to our authentic selves.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

How to Empower Yourself By Facing Your Own Fear

by SharonHartnett | Aug 31, 2024 | Craniosacral Therapy, fear, healing

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Fear Embraced

The Stimulation of Fear. Prepare to Run! Get ready to fight! What a great friend fear can be to each of us. It often moves us toward safety. Fear is a strong emotion. Human Beings, as animals, have evolved successfully thanks to the biological process within each of us that shifts our bodies into gear when in danger.

In fear, the adrenal glands prompt us to react when faced with an immenent threat. The challenge though is when we can’t fight or flee, the brain freezes.

In Craniosacral Therapy, I often work with people who live in patterns of anxiety, PTSD or panic attacks. At some point in their lives, there was an inability to act against a given threat. So in current times, sometimes the logical mind is taken over by the limbic system. Living in hyperarousal, it’s easy to be overly sensitive or to be easily triggered.

If this sounds like you, take back the reins of your own life force! There is a way through. I find that there are many good therapists out here in the world with great tools to reflect and teach how to calm and bring you back to center.

From a Craniosacral Therapy perspective, we work with the Cranosacral System (CS). Bascially, that focus is on the brain, the spine, and particularly on the cererospinal fluid which surrounds it and flows. We listen and meld with the rhythm of the CS of an individual, supporting and helping to enhance the nourishment of the nervous system as well as helping to release toxins. Most clients find deep relief and peace after they start to trust the process of receiving the benefits of their own healthy self-regulation.

A Craniosacral Therapist works in a body centered manner. In the higher level, they learn to open up dialogue to fear. There are also body centered psycotherapists who work with the body which can be helpful too. Then there are therapists like me, trained in both. All of these work at supporting the limbic system to find balance. We include the body to brain relationship, from bottom up. This acts as a doorway to transform and heal.

I do want to remind you that fear is never the enemy. I often invite my clients instead to allow whatever is happening to move through as long as they are strong enough and in a comfort zone to make room for the movement of emotions. If not, there are techniques and different ways to slow down or minimize at a healthy pace.

Fear is only an emotion. It’s not who you are. It’s just waiting to be processed and to come into completion. When that’s done. you are set free.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Introducing You to Craniosacral Therapy

by SharonHartnett | Aug 29, 2024 | craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, healing, Healthy Body, upledger institute

Anyone with an open mind can enjoy the benefits of Craniosacral Therapy.

At the very core of Craniosacral Therapy, there is an Inner Wisdom Within each individual. This is where the faith comes in with this manual therapy.Trusting that the body has its own intelligence. A craniosacral therapist listens, follows, and melds with the Craniosacral System to help mirror, nourish and acknowledge the power that is held in each of us.

The Brain and the Spine are part of the information highway of the nervous system withing each of us.When a therapist blends and supports the Inner Wisdom though blending with the fluids, magical things happen. They really do. Not in an abstract way only, although that can certainly be the case. But also in a very science based methology. Craniosacral Therapy restores and benefits by enhancing the quality of the rhythm of the cerebrospinal fluid.

Cranioacral Therapy is gentle yet powerful work. It enhances wellbeing and brings strength to the whole body by enlivening the tissues and waking up new awareness within the body’s communication network. New messages are born. New information changes.

The thing is, a person must be open minded. They need to think outside the box of traditional medicine. Imagine, a 1:1 relationship where full attention is on your deepest body intelligence. What amazing things could your body do when it is acknowledged and empowered? It’s enough that it works as it does miracoulously every day. But boosting its efficiency, and optimizing its health frees one to deeper wells of inner resources.

If you want to find out more about Craniosacral Therapy, check out the Upledger Institute. Dr. John Upledger has gifted the world with this beautiful and powerful manual therapy. Learn more about how it can help you.

May the fluid flow peacefully Within You!

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com