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Robert F. Harris
In more than 20 years of practice as a craniosacral therapist, I have helped countless patients achieve a therapeutic state known as the stillpoint. When a stillpoint is achieved, a persons craniosacral rhythm comes to a pause, inducing a state of deep relaxation that allows the fight-or-flight responses of the sympathetic nervous system to step down. This brings the healing and restorative powers of the parasympathetic system to the fore, liberating a wide range of selfcorrecting activity.
COMMUNITY Blog Events Letters to the Editor RESOURCES E-Newsletter Links Sitemap There are two ways in which a stillpoint can be induced: the rhythm of the craniosacral fluid can be challenged and brought to a standstill, or the nervous system can be offered slack in such a way that it shifts from a state of arousal into a state of repose. The differences between the two methods are significant, and help put into perspective a new technique I have recently discovered for inducing a stillpoint. Therapists most commonly induce a stillpoint by challenging the craniosacral rhythm with a technique known as Compression of the Fourth Ventricle, or CV-4. In CV-4, restrictive pressure is applied to the back of the head, which challenges the expansion of the Fourth Ventricle as it cycles through the flexion and extension phases of the craniosacral rhythm. When the rhythm is frustrated in that way, the system initially builds pressure beyond what the normal cycle provides, trying to work around the restriction. This has the therapeutic effect of stretching membranes slightly, releasing congestion and adhesions in tissues, and providing a gentle flushing of the entire system. When the challenge is sustained, the production of fluid eventually shuts down, and the craniosacral rhythm comes to a stillpoint. At this point the parasympathetic nervous system achieves dominance. The second means by which a stillpoint can be induced is when slack is offered to the nervous system. Most of us are already familiar with this sort of event. For instance, if you were racing against an impending deadline, and then it was suddenly put off by a week, the unexpected slack in your schedule would enable you to suddenly step back from your own stress into a state of expanded ease. A craniosacral therapist recognizes that a stillpoint is occurring through slackening whenever a significance detector is encountered during unwinding, or in an indirect technique, or during a positional release. This article concerns a new technique for achieving a slackening stillpoint, one that focuses on two specific, highly sensitive spots at the back of the head. The nature of those spots and their relationship to the nervous system enables a therapist to create an instant slackening stillpoint with a simple touch.
Slackening spots I discovered these two spots while refining a self-help tool called Becalm Balls (available at www.becalm.ca ). This device was originally
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