There is a topic that I have been thinking about a lot and, in a nutshell, it is touch. The more I think about it, the more complex and intriguing it becomes!
I have been putting my hands on people in a professional capacity since I was 18 and still feel like there is still so much more to learn. As my palpation skills have become more refined through my CranioSacral training, I continue to be fascinated by just how little force is needed to create profound change.
For example, I had a client come in and see me who had developed knee pain after walking down a steep hill. She felt it at the end of the walk yet noticed that the pain seemed to ease up. After a few days at work, where she stands a lot, her knee started to ache a great deal. Over the course of the last four weeks, the pain gradually worsened. Now she was feeling pain all the way down to her foot. It was to the point that she planned to ask her doctor for an MRI of the knee. Given her history, I suspected that the source of her pain might have more to do with her back.
I began the session with one hand over the lower abdomen and the other hand cradling her sacrum. After a while, I could feel her back starting to soften into the bed while some adjustments took place under my hands. I asked her to check and see how her knee and foot were feeling. The dull ache that she had felt in her toes had gone and the knee was feeling much better, too. Whilst I was treating her back, she kept telling me that she had not been feeling any back pain. In other words, I was treating the wrong place in her body! She was blown away by how her knee and foot pain disappeared.
To facilitate significant change, it blows me away with how little effort it takes on my part and on my clients' part! My client texted me two days after her treatment and let me know that her knee and foot continue to improve. When she feels the pain returning, she is able to calm it down by putting her own hand on her back just like I did.
Do you have any stories about the power of touch? I would really enjoy reading about them and how touch has impacted your life.
As I write this blog, I've just returned from Skills to Energize Your Life with Suzanne Scurlock Durana. I'm looking ahead and growing more excited about presenting the ShareCare class with Robyn Scherr. It's a fun opportunity where we explain CST in more depth plus show how each and every one of us can use our own hands to help ourselves and others. We hope to see lots of you there!
It is also not too late to join Suzanne and me in our latest online class to discuss the importance of touch, what CST can help with, and the importance of being grounded and present in the world. We have a live Q&A on October 3rd where you can ask us any questions you have. All the previous three audio recordings will be available for you to listen to and download for your own keeping.
I look forward to hearing about what's touched you!
From My Hands and Heart, Kate xx