--- In craniosacralnetwork@yahoogroups.com, Nicolette Madry
<nicolettemadry@y...> wrote:
>
> As a relatively new pracitioner of craniosacral therapy I have come
across an interesting reaction in recent months and would like to
know if anyone can offer an explanation or has had the same sort of
reaction in their clients.
>
> After completing a stardard 10 step protocol with a slight emphasis
on the L5/S1 decompression, several clients have left the session
feeling relaxed, well and "looser" in the lower back area and with no
or minimal pain in the original problem area.
>
> However within the next few days they develop a feeling of
weakness in the same area that originally contained the pain (lower
back or legs). For some it resolves itself and the strength returns,
but in one case a very ill client could no longer support her own
weight while standing (whereas she stood for 2 minutes straight after
the session.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Nicolette Madry (Australia)
>
>
Nicolette,

I would like us to make an inquiry to explore what might be possible
as regards the decompression at L5/S1.

First of all, let's acknowledge that offering more space to the area
of this joint by way of CS applications is intending to assist the
mobility and motility of the joint so that it is free to express its
inherent rhythms. This is not a practice in joint mobilisation with
the intention to change the joint condition. Yes, very often some of
the conditions that the joint is orienting around will dissipate, but
this is not the same as "fixing the problem." This is transformation
by way of resolving the conditional forces that have been acting on
the joint. This occurs because the Healing Potency that had become
inert in relationship to the conditional forces is now liberated from
that relationship.

We must keep in mind that pain or limited movement in the lower spine
must be assessed with regard to its present functioning. Is the
musculo-fascial field bracing the area to restrict movement because
the area is still too vulnerable (the presence of conditional forces
is greater than the resources of the physiological system)? Have we
gone too deep too quickly? We must trust the Tidal Potency to
resolve what it has the resources to address; we must not intend to
decompress a joint for the sake of relieving pain or discomfort. We
must be careful of holding a joint relationship at the barrier of
resistance; the system will interpret US as a conditional force and
start to orient to our intention, regardless how good-natured it may
be. It will consider us something to be reckoned with rather than
someone assisting its own ability to heal. This also distracts the
work from what may be possible to what we expect.

In any case, when we choose to go quietly and slowly, we give
ourselves time to observe what is happening and what we are causing
to happen. We hold a field of compassion for the restriction at a
joint and listen for what it is asking of us. What tale is being
told? What does it need--not what techniques do we know? When we
can hear this, then we have come into a relationship where
transformation just happens because the body physiology knows what to
do and that it trusts us to assist it.

With all this having been said, Nicolette, don't worry. I would
propose that what is happening is likely that some of the conditional
forces are being resolved in a session; this would explain the relief
of symptoms. The return of symptoms suggests that the body physiology
is reorganising itself to other conditional forces that have yet to
be resolved. Remember that CST assists the body's natural functions,
so a session simply sets the work in motion. The momentum of the
work is correlative to the client's resources. When the symptoms
return, we just have to trust that the body has found a new
orientation to some existing condition. Pain or discomfort may arise
due to insufficient resources to resolve this new relationship. Time
for another session!

I hope this helps!
Brian