South Sound Healers Network

Everybody Has a Story to Tell
by Silke Miller

"The body's life is the life of sensations and emotions. The body feels real hunger, real thirst, real joy in the sun and snow, real pleasure in the smell of roses or the look of a lilac bush; real anger, real sorrow, real tenderness, real warmth, real passion, real hate, real grief. All the emotions belong to the body and are only recognized by the mind."

-D.H. Lawrence

All of us have been overwhelmed at some time in our life by difficult or traumatic experiences. These might be physical or emotional in origin. It usually helps to talk about such experiences later. Just as it is necessary to process these experiences through thinking and talking about them, it is also necessary to process them physically. The body creates patterns around traumatic and painful experiences. These patterns are defensive patterns that prevent us from really feeling what has happened to us at a time when it is too overwhelming to do so. When we feel overwhelmed we restrict the feeling of overwhelm by restricting ourselves. We hold our breath, pull up our shoulders and tighten muscles to contain the sensations of anxiety and fear that threaten to overwhelm us. By doing so we freeze parts of our past in our tissues, cutting them off from the rest of us, so that as we continue with our lives there is always some of us that is not present. Yet those parts of us that we have exiled to the past tend to turn up again in the present in the form of depression, irritability, anxiety attacks, irrational anger, bad dreams, exhaustion, difficulty in concentrating, phobias or physical symptoms.

Craniosacral Therapy approaches the body by listening to how it expresses itself at any given moment. This is done by resting the hands gently on the body and sensing the underlying qualities and movements that the tissues hold. Cranial touch is non-invasive. Indeed, clients aren't even required to undress. It is the gentle and non-invasive nature of Craniosacral Therapy that enables the tissues to tell their own story, without any agenda being set by the therapist. The listening hand of the therapist may detect many different levels of experience. These can be felt as patterns of muscle tension, bony compressions, membranous twists and pulls in the connective tissues, agitations and abnormal fluctuations of the body fluids or cycling energies within the Central Nervous System. Permeating all these different levels is our Vital Force known in Craniosacral Therapy as the "Breath of Life" or as "Chi" in Chinese medicine. The bioenergetic potency of that vital force is taken up by all fluids and tissues of the body. This potency is the primary driving force around which embryological development occurs and continues to support cellular organization throughout life.

In response to pain and trauma the body organizes itself the best way it can at the time. By listening to these patterns of organization and reflecting them back to the body with subtle responses in the level of touch, the tissues become aware of them and are able to let go of them and the original state of being can be reinstated. This is similar to the way in which a counselor or psychotherapist may reflect something back to us and we suddenly become aware of an emotion that we only dimly felt before or a limiting way of seeing things that we have been holding. In the same way Craniosacral Therapy enables the body to complete somatic processes it has become stuck in. It is as if the tissues tell their story and in doing so can begin to breathe again. Clients often feel more present after treatment, as they literally become more of who they are.

The release of trauma patterns may be experienced in many ways by clients. There may be sensations such as tingling, pulsation or heat, emotional releases or vivid images and memories. Craniosacral Therapists recognize and respect the wisdom of the body in organizing itself around trauma, so do not push anyone into processing before they are ready. Instead, much of the work is concerned with building up internal resources, so that it then becomes safe to visit these difficult places within us without being overwhelmed as we were before. A sense of spaciousness and ease can be encouraged around the pattern of holding, so that it is eventually able to melt away without becoming overwhelming and retraumatizing.

Many experiences may leave patterns of traumatic holding in the body. These may be extreme life threatening events such as car crashes, muggings or rape. In America Craniosacral Therapy has been used very successfully to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in veterans of the Vietnam war. Simple accidents such as a bad fall or blow may also leave residue patterns in the tissues. Perhaps the incident happened at a time when we were very stressed or we have been brought up to 'pull ourselves together and get on with it', thus not allowing ourselves to process the shock in our systems. Emotional issues such as relationship break ups, moving home, changing job and everyday stresses and strains can also either temporarily overwhelm us or become more deeply ingrained within us, limiting our ability to move on in life. Childhood experiences, birth trauma and even pre-natal events leave very powerful patterns, for as we grow we are shaped around these patterns, just a tree may grow and shape itself around a fence or pole.

Silke Miller LMP, PT, is a German trained physical therapist and licensed massage practitioner with over 10 years experience. She specializes in Craniosacral Therapy and Somatoemotional Release for adults as well as children and infants. Silke is currently in private practice in Federal Way at the Three Trees Yoga and Healing Arts Center. For more information go to www.ihap.com/silke.miller or www.threetreesyoga/healing-arts.html. To schedule an appointment please call 253-683-0903. Most insurances welcome. Silke is also a member of the South Sound Healers Network.