Craniosacral therapy works with the fluidic rhythms in the body (specifically the cerebrospinal fluid) and it can be a wonderful skill to apply to aquatic bodywork. See more on this blog: 'Quotes: Craniosacral therapy in water' and 'An aquatic kriya: the bodywave' (towards the end).
The wonderfully watery extract below is best read aloud or even better read to you (try the 'Listen Now' button). It comes from an article by Candice Marro which was published in the Cranial Wave Magazine (2003) and can be read in full on The Craniosacral Therapy Education Trust (UK) website.
Thanks to craniosacral therapist and artist Ray Lacey for introducing me to this beautiful article and also for his kind permission to share his gently pulsating image 'Blue'. Ray is inspired by the way in which art informs therapy and vice versa. To learn more about his work, please visit his website, Craniosacral-Art.
'From the sea of impermanence to the still heart of the ocean
How to give it a try? You are going to use your hands as the servants of your heart. Your hands will be the eyes, ears and medium of your heart; not your confused and emotional heart but the heart of your heart, your Still Heart, your all-knowing and all-encompassing Heart. What is the gateway to this place within yourself?
Find a neutral, a place within you where there is balance, calmness, availability. There is always such a place but not always the same one. Search for that place and settle into it. Let the neutral gradually spread to your whole system. Then open to your friend on this journey, this friend who is going to be both your client and your teacher.
This is it, you have found a sense of stability within yourself and you have established your fulcrum, casting the anchor that will provide a sense of safety on your journey. Now open your perceptual field to the third presence that will be with you both, that is generated by your coming together: the relationship. Then start your exploration.
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Leave your fears and uncertainty behind, focus on your breath until you meet or are being met by The Breath, a deeper and slower inhalation and exhalation. The Breath breaths through you - actually it is breathing you. Can you feel it?
Stay with it. You are now invited to follow the cycles of primary or universal respiration. You are invited to trust the Breath of Life. Yes, the Breath that carries Life expressed to you as motion. This primary respiration leads you into the realm of life forces and principles. Let yourself be rocked by the long immutable rhythm of primary respiration. It is your fundamental support, a living presence that has always been there and will never cease.
Can you feel a shift happening? Can you feel your confusion, your noise and your fears now floating into the distance? Can you feel the relationship is orienting you both towards a place of resource, a place where the different layers of function work as a unit and are interdependent? However, this is not yet the place where you are One. But here, at least, you are not fragmented anymore. You are still in contact with tissue memory, symptoms and shapes but something more is there: organising forces.
In this realm you have allies: fluids and the potency within fluids. Yes, you can start to sense potency within the fluids, the ocean. Fluids that pass everywhere, go around any obstacles and patiently try to erode the barriers. And there is the fluid at the core of all fluid: a golden, subtle, potentized fluid that will teach you to be an alchemist. Can you now feel that your hands have become like antennas, more receptive, more empowered and potentized? Do you notice that one part echoes the whole, that the smallest fragment in the system is vital to the whole and plays a key role in maintaining balance?
But beware for these fluids are being moved and crossed by deep forces at work that you now start to feel; deep forces of creation, forces of health and forces of inertia. The fluid may be your ally provided that you learn its language, know how to work with it and know the nature of these forces that move it.' Candice Marro 2003
This wonderful piece of writing also inspired another post on my weblog Diving Deeper: 'Do you have a quest?'.How to give it a try? You are going to use your hands as the servants of your heart. Your hands will be the eyes, ears and medium of your heart; not your confused and emotional heart but the heart of your heart, your Still Heart, your all-knowing and all-encompassing Heart. What is the gateway to this place within yourself?
Find a neutral, a place within you where there is balance, calmness, availability. There is always such a place but not always the same one. Search for that place and settle into it. Let the neutral gradually spread to your whole system. Then open to your friend on this journey, this friend who is going to be both your client and your teacher.
This is it, you have found a sense of stability within yourself and you have established your fulcrum, casting the anchor that will provide a sense of safety on your journey. Now open your perceptual field to the third presence that will be with you both, that is generated by your coming together: the relationship. Then start your exploration.
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Leave your fears and uncertainty behind, focus on your breath until you meet or are being met by The Breath, a deeper and slower inhalation and exhalation. The Breath breaths through you - actually it is breathing you. Can you feel it?
Stay with it. You are now invited to follow the cycles of primary or universal respiration. You are invited to trust the Breath of Life. Yes, the Breath that carries Life expressed to you as motion. This primary respiration leads you into the realm of life forces and principles. Let yourself be rocked by the long immutable rhythm of primary respiration. It is your fundamental support, a living presence that has always been there and will never cease.
Can you feel a shift happening? Can you feel your confusion, your noise and your fears now floating into the distance? Can you feel the relationship is orienting you both towards a place of resource, a place where the different layers of function work as a unit and are interdependent? However, this is not yet the place where you are One. But here, at least, you are not fragmented anymore. You are still in contact with tissue memory, symptoms and shapes but something more is there: organising forces.
In this realm you have allies: fluids and the potency within fluids. Yes, you can start to sense potency within the fluids, the ocean. Fluids that pass everywhere, go around any obstacles and patiently try to erode the barriers. And there is the fluid at the core of all fluid: a golden, subtle, potentized fluid that will teach you to be an alchemist. Can you now feel that your hands have become like antennas, more receptive, more empowered and potentized? Do you notice that one part echoes the whole, that the smallest fragment in the system is vital to the whole and plays a key role in maintaining balance?
But beware for these fluids are being moved and crossed by deep forces at work that you now start to feel; deep forces of creation, forces of health and forces of inertia. The fluid may be your ally provided that you learn its language, know how to work with it and know the nature of these forces that move it.' Candice Marro 2003
