Embracing Hell

Bodywork, Craniosacral, Medicine, Mystery

Apr 242017

I’ve read Dante’s Inferno, en el mezzo del camino… but, in my opinion, he had always gotten one thing wrong and that was that hell wasn’t spinning.

Until recently I would have described Hell as {insert here the details} but it is spinning, constantly spinning, everything is going around and around and there is a constant sense of both being completely disoriented and nausea, the two working together to keep the participant rolling in crashing wave after crashing wave of physical and mental agony.
Until recently I would get dizzy after running in a circle twice while chasing my 3yr old teacher; with that dizziness would come the beginnings of nausea and that cold sweat and the sense of being overwhelmed by discomfort. So it is with joy and great surprise that I find myself whirling and spinning on the spot, each morning, for 10 minutes at a time! As I observe the contents of my room passing by me over and over and faster and faster until blurring speeds, and as I stay aware of my breath and my posture and my turning feet I am constantly and repeatedly amazed at what is happening. How can this be? And simply: WOW!

This feels like a door that had always been locked shut and kept in the shadows has been unlocked and brought into the light. I’m excited to open it and explore.

The Medulla Oblongata

Anatomy, Bodywork, Craniosacral, Guided Visualizations, Meditation

Dec 172015

Screen Shot 2015-12-12 at 12.08.11 PM I want to focus on showcasing the brain structures in relation to the brain’s Ventricular System. In this series of posts and videos I will be considering the Ventricular System to be the main central landmark of the brain and showing the various brain structures in relation to it.
Here is the Medulla Oblongata, the first brain structure one encounters when passing upward through the foramen magnum.

The Little Tent

Anatomy, Bodywork, Craniosacral, Guided Visualizations

Dec 112015

Spent part of today playing with colors and textures for representing the different parts of the brain. Particularly working on the tentorium cerebelli and the cerebellum. I may make the ventricles more water-like too.

What do you think?

Meditation on the Ventricular System

Anatomy, Astrowork, Bodywork, Craniosacral, Guided Visualizations, Meditation

Dec 102015

The more I thought about this jump that I have made from showcasing individual bones to showcasing the ventricular system the more it makes sense in terms of my larger goal of dissecting the body and presenting the relationship between bones and brain (and spirit).

You see, I had thought I would transition next to the sections of the brain that are in closest contact to a particular bone such as the Sphenoid and thus progressively work my way inwards; this is generally how brain anatomy has been taught (to me). However, the brain is an extremely complex structure not just in function but also in form. Studying brain anatomy is a huge field of research and we have still much to understand. So I feel that, as is the case with learning your way around a new city, we need to start by the main landmarks. We have the walls of the city, those are the bones, those are a key landmark now the city itself is made up of grocery stores and the city hall and the post office and the individual living houses AND running through the city is its waterway. It seems to me that it makes much more sense to give directions to someone based upon the internal landmarks rather than the city walls.

“The grocery store is 50 meters north from the 4th cistern”.
“From the main gate follow the stream south and you will first pass by the bathhouse then you will come to the city hall and afterwards you will see the church on your right”.

For when we are studying or living in the city we can quickly forget about those all-important containing walls but we never forget where the closest water-source is.

And as such I have completed the video on the Ventricular System and completely justified myself to myself as to why my innate intelligence chose to showcase the Ventricular System next.

Enjoy!

My invitation is that you watch this video and that you practice closing your eyes from time to time, maybe pausing the video at key moments, and take into your mind’s eye the image of this waterway that exists within you. Continue this practice until you have a good sense of the shape of this waterway and until you can sit in meditation posture and replay the video within your mind’s eye.
Once you have accomplished that major milestone then allow yourself to feel the sensations arising from the Ventricular System within you. For some it may be helpful to relate this system to an area of your brain that is spacious and flowing, thus feeling the flowing nature of the ventricular system.

In my next post I will expand upon the Ventricular System to highlight a few other key aspects of its shape.

Blessings.

Nel mezzo del cammin…

Anatomy, Bodywork, Craniosacral, Guided Visualizations, Meditation

Nov 302015

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita

mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,

che la diritta via era smarrita.

Midway upon the journey of our life

I found myself within a forest dark,

For the right path had been lost.

- Dante (of course)

In the middle is the journey. Sitting between the apparent beginning and the apparent end. And though they too carry importance, those stagnant tips of the the rope, it is in the middle that.

Making the ends transparent we peer into the middle where we get lost and lose all hope of return.

Beauchene – Part 1

Anatomy, Archetypes, Astrowork, Bodywork, Craniosacral, Guided Visualizations, Meditation

Nov 162015

I have just posted a new video (made a year ago) when I started some explorations into showing the Beauchene representation of the skull. A Beauchene skull is also known as an Exploded Skull and it is one in which all the bones have been separated from each other. This is an amazing feat to accomplish using real bones and pins and screws and wires; much easier when using model bones.

From Craniophiles.wordpress.com https://craniophiles.wordpress.com/tag/beauchene/

I’ve been fascinated with beauchene skulls since I found out about them in 2007 or so. After making these meditation videos for several years I began to envision a meditation that would show the skull coming apart. At about the same time I was reading Eliade Mircea’s “Shamanism” and was impressed by how in some shamanic traditions the initiate dies and is taken apart, all bones separated, and then put back together again. I found this a powerful image and wanted to recreate some that through videos.

This is an initial meditation towards that goal.

Enjoy:

Stillness

Anatomy, Astrowork, Bodywork, Craniosacral, Meditation, Stillness, Zazen

Oct 162014

All right action must arise from stillness

Summer 2014 Newsletter – Fresh Perspectives

Astrowork, Bodywork, Craniosacral, Honoring Nature, Meditation

May 302014

Summer 2014

Firstly, as last time, I want to thank all of you for supporting my practice by coming to see me! Being able to make a living out of my passion is such a blessing and it wouldn’t be possible without YOU.
I just returned from my sabbatical month in Gainesville, Florida. This was a time for being with the family, for reading, for meditating, for, to use a term I picked up from Carl Jung, reverie – unscheduled time. Time for Being. Sometimes I think that I meditate too much or that I emphasize JUST BEING too much, but then I remember that that is my job. In this society of Go Go Go my job is, in part, to help you remember to settle down physically, emotionally, mentally.
I spent much of the month writing, thinking, visioning and sharing ideas with friends. It is from that space that I have returned to my work here, refreshed and eager to dip my hands in the ocean.

Below are two projects that were born from this fresh perspective, I hope you can join me in them. In addition to these projects I am, of course, offering loving, awesome bodywork.

The Stillness Project

This project was kept coming to me as I sat, meditating, in the early mornings.
I am aware that so much happens when I sit in meditation. Cars drive by, airplanes fly by, people bustle to their jobs, and during all this I try to sit motionless for an hour and in that motionlessness I find much movement.
I let go of my neck (was I holding it) and it finds a better place; I feel fully settled, then I notice my upper lip (was I holding there?) I let go and it finds a better place; I feel fully settled, deeper than before then I notice my belly (really? how come I didn’t notice that tension) and I let go and a new sense of alignment and identity arises, and the process goes on and on and on.
This to say that there are many layers of tension to let go of, and these layers become clear through stillness.
Stillness is at the root of my work and I want some brave souls (YOU) to come explore stillness together.
The structure that I envision for these sessions is 90minutes: 30 minutes dedicated to talking and checking-in, possibly even a written or video interview followed by 45 minutes of 1 hold, followed by 15 minutes of transition back to the world.
Come STUDY stillness together.

1 Year – 50 Books
In this society of Go Go Go (I repeat myself) we have lost time to slow down and read. We are often flicking the screen of our ipods/iphones/ipads and before we know it an hour has passed. I want to encourage you to join me on a project I’m calling: “1 Year – 50 Books”.
Sounds daunting but it breaks down to 1 book a week. This may seem unrealistic but, well, you know the saying “Aim for the stars and you may reach the Moon” (as an astrophysicist that would mean that you were unaware of some major errors).
Lets replace screen time with page time. Lets reclaim bookreading! Whenever you are going to reach for the gadget to check on the status of the world reach for the book instead. I’m also writing a brief review of each book on my reading blog and my facebook site so drop by and tell me which books you are reading.

I look forward to being with you.

Skilled Bodywork is Simply a Reminding

Bodywork, Craniosacral, Poetry

Sep 132013

Image from a craniosacral workshop at the Florida School of Massage

You could probably best define someone by the things they hold on to.

You could say “hold on” or you could just as well say “cling to”. The things we cling to are the things we will not bend for. Ghandi held on to his quest for Truth, satyagraha – the quest for truth. He wanted to know truth, understand truth, and embody and live truth. We may not even know what is at our core but we may insist on … we may insist on “dinner is a time for family to be together”, or television time at the end of the day, or “my God exists and he is the only one”, or “I do it for money”, or any other phrase we may have adopted as our motto.

We hold onto things in our body too. Our verbal and mental phrases are physical postures too. They may be slight such as a passivity to the eyes, downturned corners of the lips, or a shuffle to the step. Or they may be pronounced, such as an arrow-straight spine, or a collapsed one.

We hold these voluntarily… though oftentimes we forget.

The most skilled kind of bodywork is an act or reminding, not a forcing. I, as the bodyworker, touch the body and look for the fulcrum, the center of all that is happening. And yes, the fulcrum is an attitude and a posture but with the right words, and touch and the right movement we can reach the level of the posture and the attitude.

To encourage a change it is not necessary to put a lot of effort; in fact, it is often counterproductive and our effort gets in the way of working with the person. Find the way to be effortless while being fully effective.

“A good cook need sharpen his blade but once a year. He cuts cleanly. An awkward cook sharpens his knife every month. He chops. I’ve used this knife for nineteen years, carving thousands of oxen. Still the blade is as sharp as the first time it was lifted from the whetstone. At the joints there are spaces, and the blade has no thickness. Entering with no thickness where there is space, the blade may move freely where it will: there’s plenty of room to move. Thus, after nineteen years, my knife remains as sharp as it was that first day.”
- excerpt from Chuang Tzu’s “The Dextrous Butcher“

Working with the Craniosacral System

Bodywork, Craniosacral

Jun 042013

Mary (assistant) and students: JJ, Lesley, Chanity, Michelle, Ella, Ariel

On March of 2008 I attended my first craniosacral workshop in the small portacabin at the magical Florida School of Massage. Now, 5 years and 2 months later I returned to the massage school to teach my first craniosacral workshop!

I have been assisting Hugh Milne workshops for 2 years; at the end of 2012 I completed the trainings and felt ready to venture into teaching my work. I was particularly interested in teaching some of the gems that I had come across in my practice so I put together a protocol that would, over the course of 2 days, lead the students through the various aspects of this work.

Over the 2 days we talked about ways of touching, ways of deepening the perception of what is happening, and particular positions/postures for contacting key areas in the body such as the sacrum, the heart, the neck, the jaw, the head and brain. A beautiful deep space was easily generated by the focus and dedication that each of the participants showed, I feel extremely grateful.

I can give you nothing

that has not already its origins within yourself.

I can throw open no

picture gallery

but your own.

I can help make your own world visible–

that is all.

- Herman Hesse

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