Excerpt: Dedication

This book is dedicated to the two people in modern times who have defined craniosacral work, in my view; John Upledger and William Sutherland.

William Garner Sutherland pioneered the notion that cranial bones were designed to move. He designed the original hand placements for the cranial techniques and laid the foundation for other forms of bodywork. He gave craniosacral therapy the terminology of flexion, extension, and opened the curtain to a field of therapeutic touch for the early and mid twentieth century. He stressed anatomy, gentleness, thoroughness of palpatory evaluation, and respect for the beautiful sphenoid, occiput and craniosacral system. He was an original, adventurous medical freethinker.

John Erwin Upledger was my direct teacher. I owe him the second half of my professional life. He too was a pioneer and the keystone proponent and originator of modern craniosacral therapy in the last half of the twentieth century. He was the brave one who stood up before the entire medical world and defended Sutherland’s concepts through research at Michigan State University in the 1970’s. He also was the one who brought the technique to the public domain in books, and world wide teaching programs. He was the only one who said this work is so simple and so profound that it should be available to parents, teachers, therapists, nurses, doctors and it should be in common trust to anyone in the world who has good intention, a gentle compassionate touch and a willingness to learn basic anatomy.

He reconfigured Sutherland’s cranial techniques and added others to create a basic delivery system known as the ten-step protocol. He designed this method to work from the periphery, releasing first the fascial planes, then freeing the spine and finally liberating the cranium. This method of enhancing the function of the craniosacral system has been taught to more than 80,000 students worldwide with satellites in all corners of the world.

He developed and organized cranial osteopathic techniques into a working protocol for mouth work and defined the liberated bones and joints of the face and voice mechanism as a vehicle for expression; “The Avenue of Expression."

And he brought aspects of somato-emotional release to the modern era of advanced awareness with dialogue techniques based on the physical rhythmic reaction of the craniosacral rhythm. He defined the inner consciousness of the body as the Inner Physician and showed us how we could actually dialogue with organs of the brain and even individual cells of the body.

And most of all, he instilled in us a legacy of respect for the patient and the inner knowing of the body. If we could learn to be facilitators for change and encourage the body to heal itself, it would heal itself in a most gentle, and natural process, that was individualized for each patient. It is with the most profound respect for these two amazing people that I dedicate this book and humbly the rest of my life in promoting craniosacral work.