CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY EDUCATIONAL TRUST

THE ORIGINS OF HEALTH
WITH MICHAEL KERN D.O., R.C.S.T., B.C.S.T., N.D.

FROM AUGUST 23RD (EVENING) TO AUGUST 28TH (LUNCHTIME) 2008
AT KIENTALERHOF - A BEAUTIFUL VENUE, STUNNINGLY LOCATED IN THE SWISS ALPS SERVING DELICIOUS MACROBIOTIC FOOD

The biodynamic model of Craniosacral Therapy is based on an understanding of the forces of creation. In the human embryo these forces organize the movements that take place during our growth and development, and carry an essential ordering matrix into the body that acts as a blueprint for health. These original patterns of movement continue throughout our lives as expressions of primary respiratory motion, organizing our form and function. During this seminar we will explore this essential core of health, as well as the impact of conditioning experiences during gestation, birth and the first few years of life. The emphasis will be on practical craniosacral approaches for resolving imprints of early trauma in infants and adults. There will be ample time for table work, reflection and meditation.

Areas explored will include:

• deepening into the wholistic shift - the gateway to the therapeutic process
• orienting to "automatic shifting" and the wider field of health
• our original blueprint for health; the perfection that lies at our core
• the significance of pre-natal dynamics
• dynamics of conception and implantation
• sensing the inner embryo
• natural fulcrums of the three embyological germ layers - the third ventricle, heart and umbilicus
• the branchial arches and their derivatives
• formation of the face and working with embryological fluid fields of the face
• significance of the 'social nervous system' and polyvagal theory
• birth dynamics and the principles of working with birth patterns in babies, children and adults
• formation of the cranial bones and review of intraosseus patterns
• the role of space in the therapeutic process: finding space in tissues, fluids and potency
• offering things up
• sensing perfect function.

Course Tutor

Michael Kern is a Craniosacral Therapist, Osteopath and Naturopath with a practice in London. He is course director of the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust, a senior tutor for the College of Osteopaths, the International Cranial Association and the University of Westminster, and chair of Drukpa Trust (Buddhist charity). He teaches Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy courses in the USA, Italy and Russia, and is author of 'Wisdom in the Body - The Craniosacral Approach to Essential Health' (pub: North Atlantic Books, 2005), now available in seven languages.

Teaching will be in English and translated into German. This workshop will include 30 hours of classroom attendance.

For further details and bookings, please contact:

Kientalerhof,
Hauptstrasse,
Kiental/BE,
Switzerland,
CH 3723

Tel: +41-33 676 26 76
Fax: +41-33 676 12 41
Email: info@kientalerhof.ch
Website: www.kientalerhof.ch

SEMINARS IN BIODYNAMIC CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY

IN TUSCANY, ITALY
WITH MICHAEL KERN D.O., R.C.S.T., B.C.S.T., M.I.Cr.A., N.D.

New series of five seminars starting in May 2008 . . .

SEMINAR ONE:
BREATH OF LIFE - PERCEPTUAL SKILLS AND STATES OF BALANCE

May 24th - 28th 2008

This seminar will cover core diagnostic and treatment skills in biodynamic craniosacral practice. The pioneer of this approach, Dr William Sutherland, realised that the 'Breath of Life' is our deepest resource for healing which operates with the utmost intelligence and precision. In this workshop practitioners will learn how to appreciate and support the supremacy of the 'Breath of Life' as a therapeutic medium, and how to deepen into the heart of the healing process. An emphasis will be placed on working with the deeper rhythms of primary respiratory motion and helping to access 'states of balance'.

Areas explored will include:

• Palpation and perception
• Practitioner fulcrums and negotiating contact
• The primary respiratory system and unfoldments of the Breath of Life
• Shifting perceptual fields
• Perception and palpation of the 3-Tides
• Therapeutic presence, the practitioner neutral and a wide perceptual field
• The midline and our embryological development
• Palpating expressions of health within tissues and fluids
• Perceiving patterns of experience and inertial fulcrums
• Shifting perceptual fields
• Perception of the tides: the cranial rhythmic impulse, the mid-tide and the long tide
• Appreciating the role of our essential blueprint for health and its embryological origins
• Understanding and perceiving biodynamic and biokinetic forces
• Trauma and overwhelm, resources and health
• Understanding and perceiving the role of balance and stillness in the healing process
• The heart of the healing process - 'states of balance'
• Orienting to the whole of the patient
• Perceiving the unit of function of tissue, fluid and potency
• Dr Rollin Becker's work - the state of balanced tension and 'three step healing process': (1) Tissues and fluids seek a state of balance; (2) perceiving expressions of health within states of balance; (3) perceiving tissue and fluid reorganisation
• Following the inherent treatment plan (1) - letting go of conditioned motion and orienting to the 'wholistic shift'
• Moving from local to systemic states of balance
• The mind-body continuum
• Clinical connections and applications.

SEMINAR TWO:
THE STORY OF THE BODY - THE INHERENT TREATMENT PLAN AND AUGMENTATION SKILLS

September 27th - October 1st 2008

During this seminar the practitioner will learn how to listen for the intelligent treatment priorities of the Primary Respiratory System, and initiate subtle palpatory and perceptual 'conversations' with tissues, fluids and potencies. These 'conversations' may be used for both diagnosis and treatment. The seminar will cover clinical skills necessary to work cooperatively with the healing and creative intentions of the Breath of Life. An emphasis is placed on relating to the deeper forces that organise our functioning.

Areas explored will include:

• Review of the 'primary respiratory system'
• Establishing a clear therapeutic contact
• Review of Dr Rollin Becker's work: the state of balance and 'three step healing process'
• Initiating 'conversations' with tissues, fluids and potency
• The principle of traction as a 'conversation' skill
• Traction and the reciprocal tension membranes
• The point of balanced membranous tension
• The principle of disengagement as a 'conversation' skill
• Disengagement or decompression within sutures and joints
• The principle of 'doing not-doing'
• Following the inherent treatment plan (2) - orienting to shifts of potency within the fluids
• Cooperating with priorities of the patient's primary respiratory system
• Learning how to 'Trust the Tide' as a dynamic reality
• Resources, stillness and stillpoint
• Creating safety during practice sessions
• Shock and trauma theory - review
• Trauma and overwhelm, resources and health
• Relating to states of freezing and dissociation
• Accessing resources and the process of 'shuttling'
• Stillpoints revisited - 'CV4' and 'EV4'
• The mind-body continuum
• Fluids, fields and fulcrums
• Direction of fluids and potency - 'V-spreads' revisited
• Perceiving lateral fluctuations of fluid and potency
• Lateral fluctuation fluid skills.

SEMINAR THREE:
SPARK IN THE MOTOR - THE 'IGNITION' PROCESS AT CONCEPTION, BIRTH AND THROUGHOUT LIFE

November 26th - 30th 2008

This seminar will focus on skills to help the physiological incarnation and manifestation of the vital potencies of the Breath of Life. We will consider the vital role played by fluids (particularly cerebrospinal fluid) in disseminating these potencies throughout our physiology. We will also work with the central nervous system and key areas of the brain to facilitate the expression of essential health. All practical clinical approaches are derived from a craniosacral biodynamic approach to work in the field.

Areas explored will include:

• The original fulcrum at conception
• The quantum midline, primal midline and fluid midline
• The embryological origins and role of our blueprint for health
• The groundswell and transmutation of the Breath of Life
• Sensing the 'spark' at the start of primary inhalation
• Fluids, fields and fulcrums
• Fluid fulcrums
• The state of balanced fluid tension
• Longitudinal fluctuation and lateral fluctuation
• Facilitating longitudinal fluctuation
• The dynamics and motility of the ventricles
• The 'tour of the minnow'
• Neuro-endocrine considerations
• The pituitary and pineal glands
• The importance of the third ventricle and primary ignition
• Synchronising with the dynamo motion at the third ventricle
• Facilitating the dynamo of the third ventricle
• CV3 and role of stillpoints in recharging the 'battery fluid'
• Following the inherent treatment plan (3) - moving through the 'mysterious gateway'
• Freeing the outlets to cranial fluid drainage
• The dynamics and embryological unfoldment of of the central nervous system (CNS)
• CNS motility
• Facilitated segments
• Somato-visceral and viscero-somatic patterns
• Brainstem and CNS facilitation
• CNS and the stress response
• Relating to inertial fulcrums involving the CNS.

SEMINAR FOUR: OUT INTO THE WORLD - PRE-NATAL AND BIRTH DYNAMICS IN BABIES, CHILDREN AND ADULTS

March 25th - 29th 2009

Our early patterning creates the basis for how we face experiences throughout life. During this seminar we will look at pre-natal and birth dynamics and develop practical skills to safely and effectively relate to early traumatic patterning in babies, children and adults. In addition, we will seek to re-connect with the very ground of health and healing.

Areas explored will include:

• Introduction to pre-natal dynamics - conception, implantation and embryological development
• Our embryological blueprint for health
• Primary patterning during embryological and foetal development
• Primary patterning and 'life statements'
• Pregnancy and birth
• The infant's skull
• Four stages of the birth process
• Common pelvic types
• Birth trauma and its effects
• Common birth patterns
• Intraosseous lesions
• Negotiating contact with babies and children
• Principles of treatment of babies and children
• The umbilicus and secondary ignition at birth
• The relationship between the coccyx, umbilicus and third ventricle
• The horizontal/relational midline at the umbilicus
• Umbilical shock
• Following the inherent treatment plan (4) - deepening into Stillness and rhythmic balanced interchange
• General pelvic dynamics
• Pelvic patterns
• Completions.

SEMINAR FIVE: ORGAN DYNAMICS - THE THORACIC, ABDOMINAL AND PELVIC CAVITIES

September 30th - October 4th 2009

This five-day course will fill in many of the gaps from foundation trainings by familiarising the practitioner with the motility and mobility of the body viscera. Work is geared to reestablish the original intention of cells and tissues via an appreciation of the Breath of Life, its midline dynamics and embryological organising forces. All practical approaches are derived from a craniosacral biodynamic approach to work in the field.

Areas explored will include:

• the embryological development, motility and mobility of each organ
• the mobility of the organs and their related connective tissues
• therapeutic approaches to adhesion, fascial plane resistances and organ mobility
• the motility of the organs, potency and fluid dynamics
• facilitated segments and organ dynamics; somatovisceral/viscerosomatic reflexes
• the role of stillness and states of balance in reestablishing the original intention, the embryological blueprint of form
• longitudinal and lateral fluctuation of fluid and organ dynamics
• the psycho-emotional aspects of the organs and their relationship to the therapeutic process.

Course Tutor:

Michael Kern D.O., R.C.S.T., B.C.S.T., M.I.Cr.A., N.D. - craniosacral therapist, osteopath and naturopath with a practice in London, and a leading international teacher of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. He is co-founder of the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust in England, a senior tutor for the College of Osteopaths, the International Cranial Association and the University of Westminster. He also teaches Craniosacral Therapy courses in the U.S.A., Spain and Switzerland. He is author of the book 'Wisdom In The Body - The Craniosacral Approach To Essential Health'.

For further details and bookings, please contact:

Istituto Terapie Cranio Sacrali,
via Litoranea, 76,
04010 Borgo Sabotino (LT),
Italy.

Tel: +39-(0)773-648283
Fax: +39-(0)773-404177
Email: info@craniosacrale.it
Website: www.craniosacrale.it