Craniosacral therapy is based on the belief that functions of the human system are maintained and integrated by a biodynamic force known as 'primary respiration,' or the breath of life. Found in the brain, spinal cord, and bodily fluids, this rhythmic pulse promotes healing and health. Written for students and practitioners but accessible to lay readers, this text presents the fundamental concepts and techniques of a method that redirects the cerebrospinal fluid to areas of imbalance, thus enhancing overall health. Volume One covers both the history and conceptual ideas fundamental to Craniosacral Biodynamics, as well as the more complex structural and tissue relationships.

Craniosacral Biodynamics, Volume One: The Breath of Life, Biodynamics, and Fundamental Skills

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Sills, Franklyn

Alternative Medicine

North Atlantic Books

In this book, Franklyn Sills extends the concepts and skills covered in his first volume to the specific structural membrane and tissue dynamics of the human form, demonstrating the connection between craniosacral therapy and osteopathic healing. Volume Two shows students and practitioners how to relate to the major tissue structures within a wide perceptual field and a craniosacral biodynamic orientation. A thorough survey of the major body areas, including motility, structure, and anatomical relationships, offers practical applications throughout the book.

Craniosacral Biodynamics, Volume Two: The Primal Midline and the Organization of the Body

In this thorough, award-winning explanation of the theory and practice of polarity, cranial osteopath Franklyn Sills guides the reader through Dr. Randolph Stone’s mapping of humans’ subtle energies. Popular in Europe, polarity incorporates holistic health, diet, exercise, massage, and spiritual practice. This is an approachable introduction to a form of bodywork that therapists and lay individuals interested in alternative health practices will find useful.

The Polarity Process: Energy as a Healing Art

Exercise & Fitness

Being and Becoming is a wide-ranging analysis of the nature of being and selfhood. The book presents an original, integrated paradigm with the aim of creating a comprehensive overview of the human condition—and finding ways to alleviate suffering. In essence, the book explores the question, “What does it mean to be?” Being and Becoming begins with fresh interpretations of the work of Martin Heidegger and Buddhist, Taoist, and Christian writings as they relate to this question. Most of Being and Becoming, however, is about the nature of self and selfhood as a process of “I-am-this,” “my becoming” rather than “my being.” Author Franklyn Sills interweaves concepts from object relations theories, psychodynamics, pre- and perinatal psychology, and Buddhist self-psychology, along with his own rich experience as a Buddhist monk, somatic therapist, and psychotherapist, into his inquiry. The works of Fairbairn and Winnicott are discussed in depth, as are Winnicott and Stern’s insights into the nature of the early holding environment, the infant-mother relational field, and early perceptual dynamics. A thoughtful guide for psychologists, therapists, counselors, and other health professionals, the book is also ideal for Buddhists and anyone looking for alternative therapy models.

Being and Becoming: Psychodynamics, Buddhism, and the Origins of Selfhood

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is commonly seen as the spiritual approach to craniosacral therapy (CST); in fact, BCST as taught by Franklyn Sills, the pioneer in the field, is quite different from conventional CST. Biodynamic work is based on the development of perceptual skills where the practitioner learns to become sensitive to subtle respiratory motions called primary respiration and also to the power of spontaneous healing. Through the Breath of Life, which, Sills asserts, echoes the Holy Spirit in the Judeo-Christian tradition, bodhicitta in Buddhism, and the Tai Chi in Taoism, students of BCST learn to enter a state of presence oriented to the client’s inherent ability to heal. In Foundations in Craniosacral Biodynamics, Sills offers students and practitioners an in-depth, step-by-step guide to the development of perceptual and clinical skills with specific clinical exercises and explorations to help students and practitioners learn the essentials of a biodynamic approach. Individual chapters cover such topics as holism and biodynamics; mid-tide, Long Tide, Dynamic Stillness and stillpoint process; the motility of tissues and the central nervous system; transference and the shadow; shamanistic resonances; and more.

Foundations in Craniosacral Biodynamics, Volume One: The Breath of Life and Fundamental Skills

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Foundations in Craniosacral Biodynamics presents a comprehensive grounding in the clinical skills needed in a biodynamic approach to craniosacral therapy. Author Franklyn Sills places particular emphasis on developing what he terms "perceptual skills," diagnostic skills that enable the practitioner to perceive the subtle sensations and intuitive insights that are the groundwork of most forms of holistic somatic therapy. The biodynamic approach has its origins in the clinical exploration of W. G. Sutherland, DO, (1873-1954), the founder of osteopathy in the cranial field and "forefather of craniosacral therapy." In the last ten years of his life, his work changed from a biomechanical approach to a fully holistic orientation toward the ordering and enlivening forces present in the human system. Sutherland described his experiences of a mysterious presence, the "Breath of Life," from which ordering forces and healing intentions arose. His work then shifted from biomechanics to biodynamics; from analysis and motion-testing to an appreciation of the unfolding of the "inherent treatment plan." Sutherland encouraged practitioners to use no outside force whatsoever, but to allow the inherent ordering forces, which he called "potency," to make the decisions and do the work. Franklyn Sills pioneered the biodynamic approach to craniosacral therapy outside the osteopathic profession. This approach has now spread around the world in various forms. Sills wrote the early books in this field, and this new book now brings the text up to date. Foundations in Craniosacral Therapy, Volume Two expands on the work described in the previous volume, starting with an overview of a biodynamic approach to craniosacral therapy, which emphasizes the suspensory nature of the human system. Here we review and deepen our understanding of the "three bodies"—the physical, fluid, and tidal bodies. We also review and expand upon the suspensory nature of the holistic shift—the physical body suspended in the fluid body, in turn suspended in the tidal body—within the context of the inherent treatment plan. The following chapters of the book orient to our earliest life experiences—the embryonic period and the pre- and perinatal experience—with chapters devoted to birth, birth dynamics, and craniosacral approaches oriented both to birth trauma and to the tissue patterns it generates. Here we orient to the prenate and birthing infant as a sentient being having and responding to life experience. Further chapters orient to the primal/notochord midline and the tissue structures that form around it. We explore the dynamics of the pelvis, vertebral axis, cranial base, face and hard palate. Volume Two finishes with four important chapters on the neurophysiology of stress and trauma and related craniosacral and verbal skills. All chapters include appropriate biodynamic approaches to traumatization and CNS activation.

Foundations in Craniosacral Biodynamics, Volume Two: The Sentient Embryo, Tissue Intelligence, and Trauma Resolution

In this thorough, award-winning explanation of the theory and practice of polarity, cranial osteopath Franklyn Sills guides the reader through Dr. Randolph Stoneâ€™s mapping of humansâ€™ subtle energies. Popular in Europe, polarity incorporates holistic health, diet, exercise, massage, and spiritual practice. This is an approachable introduction to a form of bodywork that therapists and lay individuals interested in alternative health practices will find useful.

Polarity Process: Energy as a Healing Art

Tempest Books

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