Relational Healing Arts, LLC by Liza Borodkin

Dear friends and future colleagues,

You will be exploring how by developing your listening and non-judgment skills, you will allow the bodymind organism to heal itself. This is a therapy of observation, not manipulation. Be prepared that an essential part of learning how to heal involves embarking onto your own personal development process. By studying CST, you will continuously receive its benefits as a patient, and will likely finish the training with a wider and wiser outlook on life.

There are several ways of participating in the training, based on your level of commitment and  availability of time.

The recommended way to launch your own practice in this therapy is through a 2-year Foundation Training, which is outlined below. The other option is to pursue weekend training over 1 or two years. Please read on.

Option 1: 2-Year Foundation Training

Liza Borodkin



Download the Application Form (MS Doc).

When you have completed the application, please email it to liz@lizborodkin.com along with your photo and application fee of USD $100.

The application deadline is August 30, 2011

Goal

The purpose of this training is to graduate practitioners who can confidently use basic biodynamic craniosacral skills in order to safely and effectively treat clients with various conditions and knowledgeably accompany them through their healing process.

What is Healing Based on Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy

It is a touch therapy, although it doesn’t have to be through touch, whereby a client and a therapist take a joint journey into the exploration of the inherent Health that underlies any seeming pathology. The recognition of the Health by the two people greatly magnifies the workings of the already-existing healing process and helps bring it up to the surface. The Health in question is expressed via an inherent energetic pulsation throughout the human mindbody system and is referred to as the Tide.

The Tide expresses the Health history of the person going as far back as his/her conception. The recognition of the peculiarities in the flow of the Tide by the practitioner and the client is all that is needed for the Tide to re-balance itself in such a way that the client’s system shifts to a higher order of functioning and rebalances itself. Since matter is nothing more than concentrated energy,  re-balancing within the Tide allows to address the client’s energetic, emotional, and physical conditions. This is a therapy of observation, and not manipulation. One can rely upon the Tide.

The "Breath of Life"

The Breath of Life produces a series of subtle rhythms that may be palpated in the body and which make up an integrated physiological system. At least three subtle rhythms have been identified in this "primary respiratory system", each having a different rate and producing rhythms within rhythms. These three "tides" are referred to as:

• the cranial rhythmic impulse; a more superficial rhythm expressed at an average rate of 8-12 cycles per minute,
• the mid-tide; a tidal rhythm that carries ordering forces into the body expressed at a slower rate of approximately 2.5 cycles per minute and
• the long tide; a deep and slow rhythmic impulse expressed about once every 100 seconds. The long tide is considered to be the first stirring of life and motion as the Breath of Life emerges from a deeper ground of stillness at the center of our being.

Essential ordering principle

In the biodynamic approach of craniosacral work the subtle rhythms produced by the Breath of Life are regarded as expressions of health that carry an essential ordering principle for both body and mind. Dr Sutherland realized the important role played by the fluids in the body (particularly cerebrospinal fluid) in helping to disseminate these ordering forces throughout the body.

The essential ordering principle carried in the rhythms of the Breath of Life acts as a blueprint for health which is present from the time of our early embryological development and is the fundamental factor that maintains balance in our form and function. Thus, the ability of cells and tissues to express their primary respiratory motion is a critical factor in determining our state of health - when these rhythms are expressed in fullness and balance, health and well-being naturally follow.

Inertial patterning

During the course of our lives our bodies become patterned, shaped and conditioned according to how we¹re able to deal with stresses or traumas. If stresses or traumas are overwhelming, they become locked in the body as sites of inertia - until such a time as we are able to access resources that allow them to be processed and released. These sites of inertia effect the natural rhythmical movements of the Breath of Life and so hinder the ability of our essential blueprint for health to manifest at a cellular level.

Common causes of inertia are physical injuries, emotional and psychological stresses, birth trauma and toxicity. Due to an accumulation of these stresses, tissues can become imprinted with the memory of unresolved experiences and so act like video tape which may keep replaying whenever stimulated.

A gentle facilitation

The emphasis in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is to help the body access its inherent resources and health, and thereby resolve the trapped forces that underlie and govern patterns of disease and fragmentation in both body and mind. This involves the practitioner "listening through the hands" to the body's subtle rhythms and any patterns of inertia or congestion. Through the development of subtle palpatory skills the practitioner can feel how the health of the body is expressed, read its story, identify places where issues are held and then follow the natural priorities for healing as directed by the patient¹s own physiology.

The intention of treatment is to facilitate the expression of the Breath of Life and so enhance the body's own self-healing and self-regulating capabilities. This is done in a non-invasive way as the practitioner subtly and gently encourages the conditions that allow for the reemergence of primary respiratory motion. Furthermore, the practitioner's deep and clear quality of presence can become a reflective mirror for the patient and an invaluable cue for their potential for change.

A holistic approach

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy takes a whole-person approach to healing and the inter-connections of mind, body and spirit are deeply acknowledged. It is an effective form of treatment for a wide range of illnesses helping to create the optimal conditions for health, encouraging vitality and facilitating a sense of well-being. It is suitable for people of all ages including newborn babies, children, the elderly, pregnant women, and can be effective in acute or chronic cases.

What Conditions Craniosacral Therapy Can Help

There isn’t a condition for which cranisacral therapy may not be helpful. Even at the latest stages of terminal conditions, craniosacral therapy could help a person access the state of underlying health. Remember, Dr. Sutherland’s most profound experience with the therapy was accompanying a person into his death. The following is a partial list of the conditions that craniosacral therapy has been known to help:

• chronic pain
• confusion, anxiety, depression, lack of energy/vitality
• insomnia
• head injuries
• circulatory disorders
• organ dysfunctions
• learning difficulties
• neuro-endocrine problems
• TMJ and dental problems
• psychiatric conditions
• infants' conditions and pre-natal trauma
• trauma of all kinds — birth, falls, accidents and other injuries, physical, sexual or emotional abuse, Post-traumatic stress disorder, loss/grief, surgery, anesthesia, feelings of compression or pressure.

BCST is also excellent as a preventive therapy because it can facilitate the resolution of imbalances within a patient/client's system that s/he may not be consciously aware of.

Specific Goals of Training and Skills to be Acquired 

• To provide a non-judgmental and safe learning environment conducive of observation and exploration
• To encourage and support the personal development process of each student.
• To explore together and develop the necessary palpation and therapeutic skills and be able to apply them within a clinical context.
• To provide an integrated training in healing that is rooted in the principles of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and incorporates influences from other self-reflective and relational disciplines such Peter Levine's trauma healing model, yoga, ayurveda, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais method, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, eastern meditation techniques, and others.
• To provide a deeply-rooted, “embodied” understanding of the basic principles of Craniosacral Biodynamics and enable students to see the unfoldment of these principles in every aspect of their life. At the end of the course, the students will have an appreciation for CST being a way of living, rather than just a healing modality.
• To be able to safely and knowledgeably apply these principles with clients and have the skills to accompany each client through their healing process
• To teach observational and verbal skills necessary to support the on- and off-table therapeutic work.
• To graduate skilled, safe and therapeutically effective practitioners

What a student will be able to accomplish by end of the 2-year training

• Get an initial “read” of the client through the client’s Health Intake form and the initial interview during the 1^st session. This initial read will be based on both concrete clues, such as the person’s body language, verbal language, appearance, as well as non-concrete clues, such as the impression the patient gives off, the student’s own reaction to the client’s presence and ability to see what’s behind the client’s facade.
• Explain what is Craniosacral Therapy to the client, how the client will benefit from it, and how the work will be conducted.
  
• Be aware of one’s presence and intentions and establish a safe relational field before putting hands on the client.
  
• Upon placing hands on the client’s body, be able to palpate the Tide, at least at the mid-Tide level, and be able to palpate and describe the quality thereof.
• Become aware of other key craniosacral Health indicators, such as the potency of the Tide, the fluid drive, the orientation of the system to the midline, and any obvious inertial fulcra
• Be able to meet the client’s conditions in a safe and non-judgmental manner so that a potential shift out of those conditions might occur
• Be aware of the overall process or “story” of each session. How did the session begin, what was the transformative phase of the session (and whether or not it was present at all), and how did the session finish. In other words, throughout the course of a session, where did we start, and how did we end up?
• Be able to relay what happened in a session to the client in such a way that the client understands and feels empowered by it.
• Explain to the client the expected process of healing or “the treatment plan”, accompany the client through it, and trace the gradual change in the craniosacral and non-craniosacral Health indicators from session to session.

The Teaching

• The course will be given over 2 academic years, 10 segments of 5 days each. At the end of the course, upon completion of all 10 segment, the students will receive a Diploma for having completed 2-year Foundation Training in Healing Based on Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy from RHA (Relational Healing Arts).
  
  
• The students have to commit to completing all 10 segments of the course. Without this, participating and exchanging work with other students is not fair because of difference in experience levels. 
   
• Each segment will consists of 5 days: 4 full days (9:30 am - 1 pm, 3 -  5:30 pm), 5th day is a half-day as a conclusion (9:30 am - 1 pm)
  
  
• The course will run much like a craniosacral session itself. Instead of focusing on “pathology” or what is wrong, not working, and needs to be in any particular way, we will shift our attention to what we do learn, perceive, and what is the health behind every step of the learning process. We will observe and explore, rather than judge and manipulate.
  
  
• There will be homework assigned between segments (practice sessions minimum of 2 per week, readings, write-ups, anatomy drawings, perceptual exercises).
  
  
• In the second year of the training, each student will undertake a written clinical case-study, whereby a practice client is treated and progress is noted over the course of 10 sessions.
  
  
• I will be fully available to all the students over email and phone for support and questions to guide students through the process or learning, and their own personal process as it arises during the study of this therapy. It is the responsibility of each student to seek qualified professional help, be it from a CS therapist, a psychotherapist, or a healer in other modalities) should the personal process so require.
  
  
• Being a continuous client of this therapy is an essential part of learning it. Students will be provided with a list of qualifying biodynamic craniosacral therapists in Bahrain, and will be required to arrange for sessions with one of them at least once a month. Students will also be required to exchange sessions with one another at least once monthly.
  
  
• Each student will conduct two assessments sessions on Liz for the purposes of feedback and tracking progress. These will take place once on each year of the training.
  
  
• Course notes will be provided for each segment.
  
  
• Teaching format will consist of lectures, practical work (sessions), various exercises, meditation, visual and auditory aids, body-awareness-oriented movement (e.g. simple yoga, tai-chi, Feldenkrais ATM’s, a bit of Argentine tango)

Reading List

This reading list is not meant to overwhelm you with information or increase the homework load. Consider these books as your in-home professors that you will consult for reference, inspiration, and to continue building your knowledge relevant to CST.

Required:

• Craniosacral Biodynamics, Volume I & II, by Franklyn Sills
• Waking the Tiger : Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine
• Emotional Anatomy, by Stanley Keleman
• A comprehensive anatomy atlas and book, such as that by Frederic H. Martini, or Frank H. Netter MD

Recommended:

• Acland's DVD Atlas of Human Anatomy, set of 6
• An anatomy coloring book
• Wherever You Go, There You Are - Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-zinn 
• A book on body language, such as Body Language by Brian Smith

Topics To Be Covered for the full 2-year Foundation Training. An appropriate subset of these topics will be covered in the Weekend Trainings (like a craniosacral session itself, these topics are just a proposed skeleton; however, we will go with the flow of things, which means if the student’s natural learning process will take us into a different direction, topics may be modified to maintain an organic progression).

• The Basics: History of the Work, Basic Theoretic Principles, Development of Practitioner Awareness, overview of the Biodynamic Model, Establishing a Relationship,  Ritual of Contact, Palpation of the Tide
• Cranial Dynamics, Sacral Dynamics, Reciprocal Tension Membranes: Sutherland’s Fulcrum, Facial Dynamics (including TMJ), Vertebral Dynamics, Midline, Visceral (organ) Dynamics
• Health and its Craniosacral indicators
• Working from Stillness
• Working on distance
• Practitioner’s Perception & Contact – the silent co-conductors of the session
• The Tide and its various manifestations – CRI, Mid-tide, Long Tide, other Tides. Meeting the client where they are: exploring various layers within the tides, stillpoints, neutral, states of balance
• Working with Dissociation and Trauma: will be covered on several segments throughout the training, with different aspects and nuances highlighted each time.
• Embodying Spirit: Energy, Fluids & Tissues – their motility and dynamics
• Psychology within the Tide – observation and palpation of the psychological layer of the system.
• Embryology & Birth Process, Ignitions, Formative Forces, Interosseous Issues
• Nervous System Dynamics
• Natural and Inertial Fulcra, embodied shapes
• Session Process
• Shifts of State (often referred to as transmutation)
• Local and global work
• 3-step process and sequential process
• Tide-initiated resolutions – stillpoints, lateral fluctuation, augmentation, transmutation, etc.
• Qualities of Systems – learning to describe various systems
• Clinical skills, practice development and accompanying clients through the healing process

Dates and Cost for 2-year Foundation Training:

• First Year dates, consisting of 4 segments are as follows:
• October 14-18, 2011
• Jan 6-10, 2012
• March 2-6, 2012
• June 1-5, 2012
• Year 2 dates, which will consist of 6 segments will be announced later and in agreement with the course group.
  
  
• The total cost of the course is USD $10,000 for the entire 2-year Foundation training consisting of ten (10) 5-day segments. Only a limited number of students will be enrolled. The application fee of USD$100  is to be submitted (via wire transfer) together with the course application, and will be deducted from the course fees if the student is accepted and enrolled.
  
  
• Payment options: the fees for the course are to be paid in full by September 15 2010, or via 10 installments of USD $1,100 two weeks prior to the beginning of each segment. All payment are to be made via wire transfer.

Dates and Cost for Weekend 1-year Basic Skills Training:

• This training consisting of 5 weekend segments is on the following dates:
• October 20-22, 2011
• Jan 12-14, 2012
• March 8-10, 2012
• June 7-9, 2012
• Weekend 5: TBD
• The total cost of the course is USD $3,000 for the entire Basic Skills training consisting of five 3-day weekend segments. Only a limited number of students will be enrolled. The application fee of USD$100  is to be submitted (via wire transfer) together with the course application, and will be deducted from the course fees if the student is accepted and enrolled.
  
  
• Payment options: the fees for the course are to be paid in full by September 15 2010, or via 3 installments of USD $1,100 two weeks prior to the beginning of the first 3 segments. All payment are to be made via wire transfer.

Dates and Cost for 2-year Basic Foundation Training:

• First Year dates, consisting of 4 weekend segments are as follows:
  • October 20-22, 2011
  • Jan 12-14, 2012
  • March 8-10, 2012
  • June 7-9, 2012
  
• Year 2 dates, which will consist of 6 segments will be announced later and in agreement with the course group.
  
  
• The total cost of the course is USD $5,000 for the entire 2-year Basic Foundation training consisting of ten (10) weekend segments. Only a limited number of students will be enrolled. The application fee of USD$100  is to be submitted (via wire transfer) together with the course application, and will be deducted from the course fees if the student is accepted and enrolled.
  
  
• Payment options: the fees for the course are to be paid in full by September 15 2010, or via 10 installments of USD $550 two weeks prior to the beginning of each segment. All payment are to be made via wire transfer.



Testimonials

Here is what some of the students had to say about training in BCST with Relational Healing Arts:

“For me craniosacral therapy has opened up a whole new world, a mysterious magical world not visible through the eyes but perceived through the hands”

“In a world full of chaos craniosacral therapy for me has paved a road to peace and tranquility”

“Not only does craniosacral therapy alleviate suffering, it takes you a place where you become a part of the non-physical reality, that is awe inspiring and truly powerful”

“As a patient craniosacral therapy has not only cured my back pain, more importantly it has ignited in me a beautiful path of discovery that ultimately showed me the means to contentment, as a student practicing this therapy I realized that this modality must be the only one where therapists can alleviate the suffering of others while at the same time transforming their own suffering”

“It is through learning craniosacral therapy that I started to feel a deeper connection with my body, and its relationship with others. I became aware of the inherent health in our bodies and learnt new ways of accessing it. Craniosacral therapy accompanies me whenever I sense my body is not responding well; whenever my children are not feeling well; whenever there is an emotional shift which calls for attention. I am grateful for Liza to have opened this learning opportunity last year and for teaching us the essentials of craniosacral therapy in a simple and practical approach that stays with us after the workshop for direct application.”

“I already took 2 modules of cranio-sacral therapy and would like to tell you how much it has  enhanced my daily meditation practice very positively. Through cranio-sacral I learned to get in touch with my deeper tissues and organs. Any time i have aches or pains i am capable of neutralizing them through craniosacral practice.

Practicing on others has been a delight to both myself and the other; we've experienced amazing results. I would like to add that learning this therapy with Liza has been wonderful, she is very thorough and very skillful at communicating the information to us. Thank you Liza and i look forward to the next modules.”