Oct 31 2007
Welcome to Presence Matters: Reflections on Mind, Body and Spirit
Hello - I’m Suzanne Scurlock-Durana and my main focus is to help you and all of us as bodyworkers have a stronger, more effective presence in the healthcare community today.
We play a pivotal role in the health care arena right now. We help people slow down in a world that runs far too fast. And no matter what our modalities are, hopefully we are all offering our clients the nourishment of therapeutic touch.
This is deeply healing in a touch deprived (or sexualized) culture. We take time with our clients when other healthcare providers are squeezed to spend less and less time with each patient. The connections we make have a lasting impact on health. It may show up immediately or it may be an influence that blossoms over time.
I was reminded of this recently when a client of mine with multiple sclerosis (MS) came in for her regular visit. She’d been receiving bodywork from me for over three years (every two to three weeks for an eclectic mix of CranioSacral and other modalities).
In her latest CT scan the largest plaque on her brain meninges had disappeared. Her neurologist was stunned. He couldn’t explain it. MS “does not go away.” Yet he had witnessed the plaque disappear on her CT scan. And now the client is getting better. Her fingers and hands are no longer as numb.
I tell you this story not to toot my own horn. But to share with you that week by week I wasn’t feeling a great deal of change in her system. I felt like I was simply maintaining the status quo.
Occasionally I’d wonder why she kept coming back. She didn’t have any big “aha” moments, and her system definitely needed the same work every time. Yet here she was telling me these treatments were making a huge difference in her life, one tiny bit at a time.
In my early years of practice, I would have been tempted to feel like I hadn’t been doing enough, or worse, that she must be resisting the healing process in some hidden way.
As I have grown and learned to stay grounded and be a strong presence for each client, I know now that I can relax and know that if I do my best that day, the healing process will take place. I simply need to get out of the way and let my therapeutic presence and connection speak for itself in the healing process - whatever it may look like that day.
What I have learned after many, many years of practice and hearing from thousands of students is this: the clearer and stronger our therapeutic presence, the better we feel after each session. And the more impact we have on our clients, aside from any technical skills we may use.
So my mission in this blog is to keep you up on what is feeding and nurturing me and the therapists in my classes, and what I am exploring that may feed and nurture you in some way, so that you can be a better therapist and lead a happier life while you are at it!
We have to walk our talk or it just doesn’t make sense in the long run.
I hope I can be of some help, and I look forward to hearing from you. If you’d like to receive an e-mail whenever I post something new, please subscribe below. I hope to eventually post audios with some of my latest guided explorations and perhaps a video or two.
Stay tuned. And,enjoy!
Hi Suzanne –
Came here by way of another massage-related blog (Fingertips, maybe). What an excellent inaugural entry.
I am in school right now to become a massage therapist — just started a ten-month long program that ends in July. I’m at the point now where I and some of my classmates are hitting the learning curve hard, and it’s difficult to assimilate and integrate all of the information being hurled at us.
With all of the new information, it can be difficult to remember that therapeutic presence and connection is quite possibly the most important thing I can offer to my clients. Thank you for posting this! I look forward to more entries.
Jan
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Amy Taylor reply on December 25, 2007:
Hi Suzanne,
As a Feldenkrais prac, I’m just getting the message that we Feldies are providing a healing presence for our clients, too, and that our job, which is very much about tuning in, requires us to be fully available. Actually, in the Feldenkrais community, more and more trainers are presenting workshops on presence, centering, and resonance with our clients.
And I am focusing on my own healing and “dialing down” of my overdrive. So it will be a big support to read your blog regularly.
Thanks for making it available. I hope I’ve successfully signed up for your emails.
Amy
Hi Jan,
Thanks for the encouraging words. My passion is helping all of us remember the important things that make our work and play more pleasurable and effective. Therapeutic presence is definitely it in my book. Good luck with your studies and let me know how you are finding the development of your own therapeutic presence as your massage skill level grows. It is my strong contention that when we start teaching massage students how to cultivate therapeutic presence from the beginning, it will raise the success rate and drop the burnout rate in our profession. If you would like some help in this area, check out my audio series, Healing from the Core: A Journey Home to Ourselves. It systematically goes through all the steps, with practical exercises, to developing a strong therapeutic presence and maintaining it in your life. See my website, www.HealingFromTheCore.com for more information on it. Stay connected to healthy resources and enjoy!
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Hi Suzanne,
It’s been a long, long time since we’ve spoken… you knew me as Dottie Post. I am so happy to learn of your Blog. And, it as always, it comes at the perfect right time. I am just about to leave for San Diego to teach the CST Specialization class at IPSB College, the students final class in the CST curriculum. I mention your name in every class I teach, highly suggesting they take your Healing from the Core classes.
Presence is what I find they struggle with most. Often doubting their skills, feeling they have not done enough or know enough to really help their client. Your opening Blog story perfectly speaks to this. May I share it with my students? I will also add your Blog my list of CST Resources page.
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 31, 2007:
HI Dorothy,
Great to hear from you and feel free to share my blogs with your students and to suggest that they subscribe themselves - right now the Massage Magazine staff is working on making it easy to subscribe to my blog so stay tuned and enjoy! If you go to the upper right corner of this page you can fill out the Subscriber Opt In information and you are in. Enjoy!
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne,
Enjoyed your blog entry and it came at a time when I was just about to give up on a practicing CST on a client. I have only taken CST 1 and felt that since my client wasn’t reacting with an ‘Ah Ha’ moment perhaps I just don’t know enough or have ‘the touch’. I will persist and plan to take CST 2 soon. Please add me to your blog list to receive updates. Ellen
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 31, 2007:
Hi Ellen,
If you go to the upper right hand corner of this page and fill out the Subscriber Opt-In information then you will get further blogs from me. And, I think you will enjoy CST II - it is a fabulous class packed with good information. Keep up the good work - and enjoy!
Suzanne
thanks susan
this was the very thing i needed to read today
i will stay tuned in to your blog
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 31, 2007:
HI Chris,
Glad to hear that. There is now a subscribe button on the blog so you can be notified as I write new stuff.
Warmest regards,
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne:
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. Because of it I, now feel so much better. The same situation happened to me.
I have a client that keeps coming at least twice a month for CST and a bit of other modalities. I was for a moment feeling guilty thinking that she probably was wasting money and time and not getting the results she wanted. She is is still coming and has a strong will to feel better and feels that CST is helping her, probably more than we both know.
I don’t think I’ve heard the term ” therapeutic presence” before. I just finish my CST II and I am having a strong feeling about taking your course. I think that’s exactly what I need to take next. I also believe in walking the talk very strongly. How can I help others if I’m not as good as I can be to help others?
Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge with us!
Loving Light!
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 31, 2007:
Hi Hilda,
Thanks for the feedback - I highly suggest you take the Healing From the Core: Grounding and Healthy Boundaries before going on to the next level in the CST curriculum. As an instructor in both, I have heard MANY students say that they were so thankful they did take it before going on to SER I - it gives you the therapeutic presence to be able to relax and take in the information better. Also, if you order the audio series now and work with it, it will prepare you for the class. Good luck and enjoy!
Suzanne
Hello Suzanne.
Thank you so much for this blog; we as practitioners really need this information, not only to read, but to integrate into our practices and our lives.
Big hugs and eternal blessings
Dana
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 31, 2007:
Hi Dana,
Big hugs back at you!
Suzanne
hey suzanne-
the message came at the best time for me. was getting ready to discharge a client because I was feeling as if she was coming week after week and nothing was happening for her. Thanks for the reminder, healing is about the clients timing and the best thing I can do is hold the space and a strong presence for her.
Love and Hugs,
Michelle
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Hello Suzanne,
I loved your article. I would like to know what other treatment you used. I have two little boys with MS, that are my neighbors I would like to help. If you could share further please let me know
Thank you & Blessings
Shelley
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 31, 2007:
HI Shelley,
Have you taken any CST classes? And in which system - biodynamic, Upledger, or another one?
Suzanne
Aloha, Suzanne,
We meet again at another beginning of another journey. We just keep crossing paths. I am blessed to cross paths with you again.
Its interesting that we meet again, because I have started to teach LomiLomi Hawaiian Sacred Massage at a tech school. I have been ever greatful for all the training in CST, SER, but most, Healing From The Core. I have found that using the techniques that I have learned from your course and you personally have helped in keeping the healing presence in my classes, but most of all, with me. I find that when I feel scattered, all I have to do is reconnect with my “root” system in Haumea, (Mother Earth) and focus on my presence and the energy around me. I just have a hard time allowing myself to let go and allow the students and clients to feel safe and free to heal in their way, or learn in their way and in their time.
You have been in my thoughts for a few months now. Now I know why.
“On a spiritual level, aloha is an invocation of the Divine and mahalo is a Divine blessing. Both are acknowledgments of the Divinity that dwells within and without.”
Mahalo My Dear Friend,
Marilyn Chantrill
P.S Please add me to your list.
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 31, 2007:
Hi Marilyn,
Great to hear from you! Good luck in your new endeavors and stay tuned!
Hugs,
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne,
Thanks SO MUCH for your blog. As a CST practitioner working in a small coastal area on the east coast of Australia, it really closes the gap and brings you much closer. I’m the only CST practitoner in the area, and love the opportunity to chat with other CST practitioners who speak the language.
Your blog is a wonderful reminder for that that I as a therapist don’t matter and what I know or don’t know doesn’t matter and that I can’t fix anything or anyone except me.
I love being reminded and encouraged by what you’ve shared. Thankyou for this blog and thankyou for the work you do.
Warm best wishes
Maggie
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Hello Suzanne,
What a pleasant surprise to find this. You are amazing, and we miss you. We speak of you often in our classes here in Abubquerque and encourage our students to come to your classes. We give them as much of a taste as we can.
Love & Blessings from both of us.
Judy & Gregory
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Hello Suzanne,
Thank you so much for taking the time to create this blog; to continually share as you create. The Healing from the Core principles and practices sustain and redirect me in times of stress and depletion as well as in my day to day world.
Integrating the feeling of being grounded and full makes all the difference as I navigate my days both as a health care provider and middle-aged woman, increasingly aware of the opportunities and challenges of my life cycle.
I am learning the joy of staying “at home” in my own navigational system as I witness transformation in both my patients and myself. Thank you for your continued leadership in this area.
A Ho!
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on December 30, 2007:
Hey Asha,
Thank you so much for the compliments. AND, I am sorry you won’t be able to make it to Release and Renewal in Sedona in January. I will miss you! I do understand when family and home responsibilities must take first priority. We will be thinking of you as we hike those red rocks.
Warm hugs,
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne,
Thank you so much for your blog on Presence. It has been a very timely reminder for me.
warmest regards,
Elvira
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on January 1, 2008:
Hi Elvira,
Glad to hear that it was a help. Stay tuned - there is lots more where this came from!
Warmest regards,
Suzanne
Hello Suzanne,
Thank you for the wonderful reminder! Please add me to your email list
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on January 1, 2008:
Hello Myoka,
You are welcome - stay tuned.
Warmest regards,
Suzanne
Suzanne, I hoe you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I never know where you are in the World, I do know that you are sharing your energy and light to others. I am in my 3th year as a .T and 1tenth year in alternative theray thanks in great art to you. I just noticed that the is not working, so if you dont understand my email I understand. This Blog is a wonderful tool to kee in touch with other ractioners. When you have a moment, yet me know how you and the family are doing
eace and Light
JON
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on January 1, 2008:
Hi Jon,
The “P” in my keyboard IS working, so you will be able to understand my reply more easily - it is good to hear from you and I hope you are doing well. Life is VERY full and my family is well. Please stay in touch and good luck in the coming year.
A warm hug,
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne,
I’m so happy to find you have a website! I was a student in one of your SER I classes in Reston a few years ago. I enjoyed your ‘presence’ in the class .. what a perfect name for your website!!
Thanks for sharing your experience with your client. I have also doubted my skills as I work with clients who don’t seem to be making headway anymore. You inspired me to trust that healing sometimes happens in subtle ways and in the client’s own timing.
Looking forward to being on your mailing list!! And one of these days I’ll see you in a Healing from the Core class!
Blessings!
Sandy Siegel
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on January 1, 2008:
Hi Sandy,
Great to hear from you - if you have filled out the Subscriber Opt-In information in the upper right corner of the blog page, then you are on my mailing list. Hope to see you in a Healing From the Core class soon. There is one coming up in Reston in a few weeks if you are interested. Go to www.HealingFromTheCore.com and click on Seminars to see the other course dates and places. Have a wonderful 2008!
Warmest regards,
Suzanne
Hey Suzanne,
Congratulations on your new blog!
Thank you for the story about your MS client. It is good to be reminded that our work often goes beyond our conscous perception.
Big hug and Happy Holidays to you.
Hope to see you soon!
Irwin
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Suzanne Scurlock-Durana reply on January 1, 2008:
Hi Irwin,
Good to hear from you and look forward to our paths crossing in 2008 - Happy New Year!
Warmest regards,
Suzanne
Dear Suzanne,
Loved reading your messages. I was just stating today as I instructed my massage school, you never know when you can help someone on the spot. Thanks for continuing to be such a wonderful influence in the world of bodywork! I recommend your classes & materials to all my students & graduates!
Margie
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