Presence Matters

Full Body Presence and CranioSacral Therapy

In light of the current political and financial instability, it makes sense for all of us to walk through our worlds, grounded and present in our bones. Our bones are those deep recesses that hold wisdom and provide us with a sense of steadiness and clarity.

What follows is a classic example of how the current political and financial situation is affecting many people on a physical level, and how full body presence combined with CranioSacral therapy allowed me to support and facilitate my client in shifting into more trust and steadiness.

This week, a client, Vanessa, comes into my office, and as she lays down on my treatment table I am immediately drawn to her lower back and sacrum. She tells me they have been bothering her.

As I cradle them and she begins to talk, her back tightens up further. I ask her to bring her awareness to the area between my hands, and as she does this she pops out with, “I am enraged - at the financial markets, at my financial advisor not warning me and keeping me out of harm’s way…” Her voice trails off. Her back is not relaxing.

What can I do as a hands-on therapist in response to this appropriate outrage? The American public as a whole has a right to be outraged with the political process and greed that got us to where we are today. Her retirement is certainly at stake, and she is less than a decade away from wanting to live on it. It behooves us to know how to come back to our center in times of stress and crisis like this, in order to better meet the issues for healthy resolution.

As I listen, I realize that I need to gather my full body presence to be able to hold a neutral, therapeutic space for her healing process. Her low back and sacral area are in spasm and have been for almost a month, since the financial markets first began to take a downturn.

As I ground myself, and listen to the flow of energy through her system, I feel her outrage in her low back muscles and gut as excessive heat and extreme tightness. She acknowledges the continued tightness and tells me how powerless she feels to change it. I remind her that in times of stress, one of the most important things anyone can do is to “plug in,” call in their angels, say a prayer, ground themselves and fill up with nourishing sensation. In other words, reclaim their trust in life. She chuckles, “I am always calling in angels for everyone else - I forgot to do it for myself!”

As she does this, the room fills with a scintillating energy that we both can sense. This begins the softening process in her back. I can now feel a spreading sensation in my hands. Then we go through the process of contacting her inner wisdom, which leads her to the realization that her heart, the master conductor of her system, is feeling small and dark.

Next her inner wisdom guides her to take her awareness into her bones, deep into her bones. To help her with this, I invite her to notice how her spine feels resting in my hands. Quickly she begins to feel the warmth and aliveness in her lower spine, where I have been holding and mobilizing the system. Her cold, stiff upper back, which is the support for her heart, is now calling to both of us. What can be done here to help her heart?

I move my hands to her upper back to meet the tissue and mobilize this area, using more CranioSacral techniques. At the same time, I continue to invite her more into her own full body presence so she will be able to hold the treatment she is receiving.

As I make contact with her bones giving her spine more space, her upper back relaxes into my hands. I love combining CranioSacral Therapy, which so beautifully opens up the bones and membrane structures, with the Full Body Presence awareness work. They go hand in hand, supporting each other seamlessly.

So, as her spine opens and she can feel her chest filling - her heart plumping out and relaxing - I ask her how she feels throughout the rest of her body. Relaxing even more into her bones, Vanessa says, “I feel calm and steady. I can see the entire situation without my outrage rising up again. I feel like I can see more clearly. Whatever I need to say or do when I get into my financial advisor’s office next week, I know I can be clear and steady - no matter what he tells me. I’ll be able to strategize with him from a very different place than when I walked in here an hour ago.”

This is a wonderful example of how full body presence allows us to contact the wisdom that our bones impart to each of us, when we can be fully present there. Think about it. Our language - “bone deep” knowing, “I feel it in my bones,” and other such phrases highlight the recognition that our bones hold an essential knowing for each of us. So take a moment and feel your bones.

What does your backbone feel like against whatever you are leaning on right now?

What do your sitting bones feel like on your seat?

How do your feet feel resting on the floor?

Notice how taking your attention to these three places can subtly but powerfully change you sense of steadiness and clarity. Feel free to continue to play with this.

And, enjoy!