Restore Your Flow

I am sincerely grateful for your commitment in the work we accomplish together. Your focus may be purely physical or at the meeting point of body, mind and spirit. The beauty of the process never ceases to amaze me. Session after session, assisting your healing and experiencing the power of CranioSacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation and Reiki is a rare privilege. Time slows down when other realms open, providing access to empowering changes, inspirational insights and blissful silences.

After we say our goodbyes, the question comes back often: “What should I do after the session?” The answer is as singular as each of your personalities. Still, I will try to offer some perspectives.

As you know, CranioSacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation are gentle manual thechniques which do not seek to “fix” you but offer support to your body, being respectful of its uniqueness and self-healing process. CranioSacral Therapy improves your cerebrospinal flow and the nutrition and the detoxification it provides. Your central nervous system calms down and operates smoothly. Visceral Manipulation releases the myofascial tension around the internal organs and opens the space for your body to function efficiently. Both therapy provide the opportunity for one to go through a reset phase, letting go of what is not needed anymore and emerging rejuvenated and renewed. Therefore, an important part of the work happens after the session when your body is processing and rebalancing.

To clarify the process, let’s take an image. Your home is messy and you have friends coming over. You decide to shove everything in the closet quickly, so that your place looks good for your visitors. That’s analogous to your body creating compensation patterns by storing issues away to ensure that, no matter what, you are functioning on a daily basis.

To continue the image, your friends arrive, you have a great time with them and they leave. You then decide: “I’ve had enough of the mess, I need to put this house in order.” In the analogy, this is when you decide to book a manual therapy appointment. During a CraniosSacral Therapy or Visceral Manipulation session, you take everything out of the “closet” and spread it to see clearly. Then begins the integration phase. You examine each item, throw away some old stuff that you don’t use anymore, organize everything and put it back nice and neat. At times clean up is fun, but sometimes it’s a necessary chore and the fun comes afterwards when you can kick back and relax in your spotless living room.

The man who removes a mountain

begins by carrying away small stones.

William Faulkner

Integration

During a manual therapy session, I offer you information and help your body clear old compensations that no longer serve you. After the treatment, your body integrates or “reorders” the closet. An old issue might resurface or any other transient signs might come to light. You might feel uncomfortable and tempted to run back to what is known even if it’s not so healthy. The changes happening are sometimes a stretch outside of the comfort zone of your inherent compensation patterns. Admittedly, it’s not the most fun, ok, but just like cleaning your closet, any awkwardness will pass. You know that with patience and perseverance you will reach your goal.

That’s why, if possible, I recommend to skip any strenuous activity for one or two days. According to your personal situation, the most supportive self-care might include sipping on a cup of tea, a fresh juice or clear water, going for a peaceful walk, melting in a bath, indulging in a nap and the like. In any case, allow your body to be dedicated to its own natural healing.

This is especially true when you have an injury. If you were to entrust seeds to the earth, would you only give it 24 hours before digging them out to see if these carrots are (at last!) ready for your salad? Offer yourself the gift of time.

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

On the table during the session, right afterwards or in the following days, you can experience what might be considered special moments. You become relaxed and breathe more deeply, your inner flow returns and you feel like your body and soul are one. Indeed, they are.

More often than not, a sense of renewal and clarity gives rise to new thoughts and perspectives. You have an easier access to deeper aspects — physical or emotional — and higher parts of yourself. You become aware of more choices and options. These might manifest as a different diet or exercise pattern or a change in behaviors or relationships. A world of possibilities that did not seem to exist lies before you now.

You may call this intuition, inner voice or gut feeling. Whatever you name it, it is speaking out loud and you are in the best condition to listen. At this point, however, it’s simply a state of being, a taste of what you can build by following the choices that unfold in front of you. Unfortunately, a state is very fleeting and there is little chance you will feel the same uplifting inspiration reflecting back on your memories a few days from the session. However you can be with it, cultivate and give it space and time to make your state unfold to a stage.

One of the first principles to honor in your relationship with

yourself is to respect and trust your own inner voice.

This form of trust is the way of the heart,

the epitome of well-being. 

Michael Beckwith

Journaling

I highly recommend you to commit your newfound insights and ideas to paper when they are fresh in your consciousness. Take the time to explore your inner world and honor your process. It might not look like much at first, but this is a creative incubation: the cocoon before the butterfly, if you will.

To journal is to clarify your thoughts. It’s your chance to refine and focus certain aspects of your experience and new understanding. Your body, mind and spirit unify around the insights offered by a healthier and broader version of you to lead you towards the next stage of your evolutionary journey. You may initially come in for a back pain or a headache. You can choose to keep your CranioSacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation session to a relaxing moment or bring it to the level of a life changing experience. It’s up to you.

If I have ever made any valuable discoveries,

it has been owing more to patient attention

   than to any other talent. 

Isaac Newton

CranioSacral Therapy, Somato Emotional Release and Visceral Manipulation in New York.