Quiet Descriptions Can Amplify Technique.
I’ll often use words to silently describe what I’m feeling during a session and find that activity helpful to the client and myself. Identifying adverse tissue patterns while gently assisting the body as it self-corrects is a primary focus of CranioSacral Therapy. Describing the quality of a client’s tissue when it’s engaged, and as it changes, can add precision and effectiveness to the therapeutic process.
“Sensory Listening” Is a Valuable Tool.
“Sensory Listening” is an activity in which our hands are informing our brain of what they are feeling. We can have greater understanding of sensory information as conscious descriptions inform us about our “felt” experience. Our mind listens to perceptions while transforming sensations into words, which softly “pop” into our awareness. The brain does not “grasp” for words, but rather rests comfortably as descriptions arise.
Descriptive Words Increase Understanding.
Actively listening to descriptive words elevates our awareness of adverse patterns (APs), such as:
• What APs feel like,
• Where APs are located,
• When and How APs change, and
• What the tissue feels like after correction.
Client Benefits Can Improve As Practitioner’s Awareness Increases.
Using a descriptive process while applying manual techniques can increase the effectiveness of a client’s corrective process by:
• elevating our ability to feel body patterns which increases our therapeutic presence,
• imparting clarity about tissue/nerve/fluid restriction and correction,
• improving the way in which we listen to our perceptions,
• helping describe the session to our clients, which aids their experience and understanding of their individual compromises and self-healing processes,
• giving us invaluable information to use as a learning experience and note taking guide, and
• compelling us to investigate the anatomy/physiology of what our sensed experience was during the session.
A Multitude Of Words Can Be Used During Sensory Listening.
A small example of descriptive words are: thick, rigid, heavy, bound, free, hot, cold, slick, smooth, dry, broken, like glass, like water, brittle, like steam, like ice, smashed, stitched, held, pulled, balanced, easy to move, full of life, lacking life, devitalized, energized, in harmony, isolated, lopsided, pliable, towards the middle, spike like, jumpy, toxic, metallic, gaseous, still, twisted, bent, compressed, overly stretched, flowing, easy, full, soft, harmonious, vital, and in synchrony.
What words do you hear when listening to your client’s tissue?