Andrew Still, founder of Osteopathy and teacher of William Sutherland—considered the father of Cranial work—said, “It is the physician’s responsibility to find health, anybody can find disease.” Substitute “physician” with “bodyworker”, and consider for a moment what this means to you. How do you seek health in your clients?
Washington State AMTA Massage Journal, January 2009
I’ve recently been working with a client who was in a near fatal head-on bicycle accident. At the emergency room, the doctors diagnosed him with a concussion, told him to take it easy and reassured him he could return to work. He followed their advice.
Washington State AMTA Massage Journal, January 2008
The other day a client in her early 60’s came to my office. She had developed sciatica as a result of frequently picking up and carrying around her grandchild. It was her third visit to my office and her sciatica was almost gone. While I was working on her lower back, she was suddenly transported back to the time of her marriage, which had ended many years ago. She had felt painfully unsupported, undervalued and disrespected by her former husband, the father of her children. She told me how full of himself he had been, inattentive and rude to her – a real pain in the butt! Tears of old hurt and frustration came up. I continued to work on her back as I empathetically listened to her story.
Washington State AMTA Massage Journal, January 2004
As humans, we have a deep longing and need to be seen as whole, integrated and healthy beings. We do not experience ourselves as separate parts, broken down into psyche, body, or mind. We are each one of us a whole person. If the body is not well, neither is the psyche, nor is the mind, and vice versa. Pain affects all aspects, so does happiness.
Over 100 years ago, while in the last year of his studies to become a Doctor of Osteopathy, William Sutherland was walking through the halls of the School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri when felt himself being drawn to the disarticulated cranial bones that he had passed by many times without further notice. He felt transfixed by the articulation of the Sphenoid and the Temporal bone, "then, like a blinding flash of light came the thought, 'beveled, like the gills of a fish, and indicating articular mobility for respiratory mechanism.'" This man, who had never heard inner voices before, was so struck by this revelation, that he dedicated the rest of his life to exploring the movement of the bones of the skull.
Washington State AMTA Massage Journal, July/August 2003
The ease and the challenges of Cranio-sacral work are the same: being present, listening, and non-doing.
This modality works with the cerebral spinal fluid or CSF that surrounds the central nervous system. The CSF supplies the central nervous system with nutrients and removes its waste, amongst other functions. The central nervous system registers all information coming into one's being, and gives out directions for responses. For example, the nerves of the hand send messages to the central nervous system when it touches a hot plate. The central nervous system registers this information and directs the hand to withdraw. It also registers when a person sees another person suffering and responds with sadness, fear, the desire to help, or other emotions.
"To find health should be the object of the physician. Anyone can find disease."
~ Andrew Still
The father of cranial therapy is William Sutherland. But in his texts, he makes clear that his approach to patients is rooted in the theory of his teacher, the founder of Osteopathy, Andrew Still. In 1850, Andrew Still introduced a revolutionary paradigm with the science of Osteopathy declaring that the doctor was not to focus on disease but on health. This idea of finding health rather than treating disease is still a revolutionary in most fields of western health care, be it psychology or medicine.
