Re: Back from Class - Catching Up -

[Guest guest]

No training? Horsepuckey. If you are doing CST and some of the

other stuff you mention, you have a level of training well beyond

the rest of the list, other than those of us who are professionally

trained in it.

First off, I would say you have a well developed sense of energy

already if you are picking up energy beyond your hands when doing

CST. We need to differeniate between the sensations of the

cranialsacral rhythm and other energetic sensations you might be

feeling.

To begin with, you can sense the CST rhythm anyplace on the body,

not just the head. In fact, the three main " listening " stations for

CST assessment are the feet, the pelvic floor and the head. When I

do a full assessment, I start at the feet, move to the thighs, then

the hips, the diaphragm, shoulders and finish with the head using

three different cranial vault holds. In total, I am using eight

different hand positions. And you do not need to be touching the

body to feel it - you can sense it off-body. In fact, I quite often

do the assessment off-body, particularly in the diaphragm area, so I

don't pick up any intereference from the respiratory rhythms.

What I am looking for are the strength, quality and uniformity of

the rhythms, one side of the body to the other. Is it strong? Is

it weak? Is it non-existent? Does it feel full and robust? Is it

erratic? These kinds of things. This tells me where there might be

blockages or problems, either energetic or physical. This is very

similar to what Therapeutic Touch practitioners do, except they

follow a different pattern protocol and typically do it all off-body.

Given all of the above, the cranialsacral rhythm follows two basic

patterns depending on bone structure, as in paired or single bones.

Paired bones are the arms, legs, ribs, and temporal and parietal

bones in the head. The single bones are the spine, sternum,

occiput, sphenoid, and frontal lobe in the head. Paired bone rhythm

is a pulsing, rocking, wave motion, out and back at a rate of about

one full cycle every 2-3 seconds. The single bone pattern is the

same except down to the feet and back up to the head.

Depending on your sensitivity, you might only feel it in your

palms. On the other hand, you could end up sensing it up your arms

and in your head as well. The question I would ask is what does it

feel like - regardless of where you feel it? Does it feel like I

have described above or does it feel different?

The other rhythm that is easy to detect, particularly hands-on and

on broad, flat body surfaces such as the thigh, hip, shoulder

girdle, etc, is the lymphatic wave. The easiest way to describe

this is to visualize your hand on a flat surface and then having a

wave start on the little finger side and move all the way across

your palm to the thumb, stop and then start over again. This

pattern generally runs about 3 seconds or so per cycle but it can be

faster or slower than that. This can also be felt off-body.

Then we get into Chi - the energy flowing in the meridians and

chakras. For me, this is more of a vibration or buzzing sensation

and not a rhythmic pattern at all.

As for the hand vibration, is it an energetic feeling vibration or a

physical shaking? In other words, do you just feel it or can you

see your hand actually vibrating/shaking?

Bottom line on any of it though, is to realize that not everyone

feels it the same way. My recommendation would be to start trying

to identify, if you can, which energetic rhythms you are picking

up. A really good skill development tool is to ploace your palm(s)

on your thigh(s) and to mentally switch in and out on the rhythms.

Consciously try to differentiate between them. I used to do this

while I was commuting. One hand on the wheel and the other on my

leg.