If you have encountered
obstacles on the road to the new you, don’t assume that the cause is
some personal weakness or having made poor choices. Instead, the
culprit may be locked in your tissues. An especially fruitful place to
look is in the control room of your nervous system. Whether your
immediate goal is to surmount a chronic health or behavioral
challenge or find and accomplish your purpose here on earth,
optimizing the various substructures of your brain can help
tremendously.
The brain’s
subcomponents have basic needs: adequate space, blood, and
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). When any of these are lacking, function is
impaired. The source of the problem can be physical (mechanical,
chemical, or spatial), conceptual (erroneous beliefs), emotional,
spiritual, and/or energetic. New CranioSacral Therapy techniques make
it relatively easy to determine whether these basic needs have been
met, and if not, to rectify the situation.
The techniques
come from Dr. John Upledger, a pioneering osteopath, who, with his
students, began talking to the substructures less than a decade ago.
That research has provided a clearer idea exactly what these
structures do. Much of what was learned confirmed prevailing
scientific thought; however, the research also answered questions
scientists tend to neglect, but which are especially relevant to
personal and spiritual growth.
What Dr.
Upledger and his associates did was to verbally question the various
substructures of the brain. The substructures replied using the
patient’s voice. The patient’s body then guides the therapist’s
hands to where they need to go to release restrictions deep in the
brain and optimize internal operating conditions. If this sounds like
child’s play, it is! (For more on this work, see “Finally, A Magic
Bullet for Chronic Life and Health Problems” at: www.alaskawellness.com/BodyworkGeneralArchive.htm#magic%20bullet.)
My clinical
experience suggests that there is an undiagnosed epidemic of people
whose nervous systems are stuck in an elevated alert mode. This
includes but is hardly limited to those who have been diagnosed with
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Typically, these patients will not
even be aware of the situation, as they’ve been in it for such a
long time. The patient is
usually aware of one or more of the common symptoms: compromised
digestion, immunity, and concentration; chronic muscle tension;
adrenal overload/exhaustion. Structures involved in perpetuating the
problem include the entire reticular formation:
cerebellum, pons, medulla, spinal portion of the central
nervous system, and the adrenal glands.
Medicine has
not recognized this elevated alert syndrome. Oblivious to the
underlying cause and the biomechanical needs of the body, most doctors
focus on medicating a few of the symptoms. Unfortunately, this
symptomatic approach is ineffective, expensive, time-consuming, and
often counterproductive. By
contrast, treating the cause is extremely easy for an appropriately
trained manual therapist. Lowering the alert level terminates the
symptoms en masse and makes it possible for patients to find their
bliss—whether that entails enjoying screaming grandchildren,
meditation, or both. Paradoxically, lowering the alert level enables
the patient to detect danger earlier and respond more appropriately;
in other words, the patient is safer.
The cerebellum
is fertile ground for those interested in personal growth.
Cerebellar function is often compromised, owing to chronic
elevated alert status, chronic muscle tension, whiplash, mechanical
trauma, and stored emotions. In addition to having a say in basic
life-support, the cerebellum plays a major role in coordinating
voluntary motor muscle movement and also makes timing, content, and
audience decisions when we speak. Optimizing the cerebellum’s
operating conditions can bestow previously unrealized athletic grace
and oratorical powers, both of which contribute to confidence and
self-esteem and bring us that much closer to our goals.
From the
perspective of attaining the new you, another particularly significant
structure is the pituitary, which occupies the very headwaters of the
endocrine system. Optimizing this small gland’s operating conditions
can rectify a host of problems downstream in the hypothalamus,
thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, and reproductive organs and all the
other organs and tissues they affect. Pituitary is also a great
problem solver and pharmacist: Pituitary
can resolve conflicts between other structures and can arrange the
production of virtually any chemical or compound the body needs.
Not as
independent as you would like? Check the pituitary! When we have not
fully cut the apron strings, our mother’s energy can crowd pituitary
to such an extent that neither we nor our mom thrives. When this is
the case, evicting Mom is a simple matter and has profound and often
immediate positive effects for mother, adult child, and their
relationship.
Often called
the master gland, hypothalamus is a very busy structure, producing
several critical neurotransmitters which regulate temperature,
metabolism, mood, alertness, and other activities. Buried deep in the
center of the cranium, the hypothalamus theoretically enjoys
considerable protection from external forces and distractions. But too
often, hypothalamus is crowded and impaired by neighboring and distant
structures, chemical residues, and emotions stuck in the body. While
extremely busy and therefore reluctant to engage in casual
conversation, hypothalamus nonetheless will usually take time out to
help you identify and resolve a wide variety of problems. If your goal
is to lose weight, for example, and you’ve tried everything else
with no lasting effect, a simple request to hypothalamus to increase
the metabolic rate might do the trick.
From a
personal/spiritual growth perspective, centrum is one of the most
important and useful structures in our body. In this regard, arguably
only the heart comes close in importance. And for many of us, knowing
and listening to what’s in our hearts can be quite problematic as a
result of childhood trauma and the din of competing familial and
societal messages (which the cerebral cortex is happy to parrot ad
nauseum—quite literally until we are sick) . This is precisely where
centrum’s full value becomes obvious.
A triangular,
prism-shaped structure, centrum surrounds the third eye and, like the
Nike swoosh, extends through the cerebral cortex clear to the
cerebellum and down spinal portion of the central nervous system.
Hundreds of centrum have confirmed that they are our personal and
direct uplink to the Divine. In other words, if you want answers to
the big and important questions (What
is my purpose in life? Why did such and such a thing happen? What
should I do about a given situation?) centrum can access that
information for you—provided, again, that centrum’s basic needs
for adequate space, blood, and CSF have
been met.
No matter how
wise and well-intentioned they may be, friends, family members,
mentors, and therapists typically cannot compete with centrum when it
comes to providing unbiased, unimpeachable advice, custom-tailored to
your soul and path.
One of the
pleasures of working with the brain’s sub-structures is that each
has its own personality. Hypothalamus, for example, often comes across
as extremely busy, even harried. Therefore, it appreciates a very
direct, business-like approach. On talking to centrum, on the other
hand, don’t be surprised if it sounds authoritative and serious, as
in THE VOICE OF GOD—which isn’t to say, however, that centrum
doesn’t have a sense of humor.
Any one of the
score of other structures in your brain may hold the key to regaining
physical health or attaining your personal and spiritual goals. One of
the great things about the CranioSacral Therapy brain work is that it
puts the patient in the driver’s seat in terms of troubleshooting
and resolving problems wherever they occur. Through this process,
patients gain a deep appreciation for their nervous system and the
innate wisdom therein. Equally important, patients gain the
encouragement and confidence necessary to assume an ever greater role
in their own healthcare and spiritual growth.
Almost
at the speed of thought, brain work can move us from victims and
survivors to thrivers. In other words, it can very quickly position us
to discover and fulfill our life’s purpose, whatever that may be.
A CranioSacral therapist
in Anchorage, Mike Macy
works with Centrum, Hypothalamus, Pituitary and other substructures of
the brain to locate and address the causes of chronic and mysterious
health challenges (258-7261).
