Introduction to Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
A 700-Hour/10-Level Diploma Program for Healing Arts Practitioners
Presented by Michael J. Shea, Ph.D.
and the International School for Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
The origins of craniosacral therapy date from the early 1900's when William Garner Sutherland, Doctor of Osteopathy, discovered that the bones of the skull have motion.
Over a period of fifty years, he learned to feel the motion of the cranial bones, to perceive the effect on the whole body from poor motion, and to help reestablish harmony to the body by manipulation of the bones and membranes.
His clinical experience revealed that altering the relationships and pressure of the craniosacral system did indeed have far-reaching effects within the client's nervous system and entire body. Then, six years before his death, he made a second discovery: he sensed a power generating a correction from the inside of a client's body without the influence of external forces by the therapist. Similar to Chi and Prana, the contact with what he called the Breath of Life changed his entire treatment focus to one of spiritual reverence and subtle touch.
Dr. Michael Shea is one of the preeminent somatic educators and therapists today, an inspiring presenter who teaches throughout the United States and Europe. He premiered this comprehensive training at the Body Therapy Institute in 2001, which set a new educational standard in the healing arts profession. The following program follows this very successful outcome - and offers a truly dynamic and life-changing learning opportunity.
Purpose
The purpose of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is to restore Health and well being to both the therapist and their clients.
This is a spiritually based therapy that has the capacity to find the cause of somatic dysfunction and to shift one's perspective
towards wholeness. Soma - as we refer to it here - is the totality of lived experience in the body.
The Biodynamic approach focuses on orienting to the forces of Health that are preexisting within the body's own fluid physiology. This was perhaps Dr. Sutherland's greatest contribution: his observation that the effect of the Breath of Life as a Primary Respiration has the capacity to correct dysfunctions in the fluid body and soma. A therapist who has the ability to be respectful, open-hearted, gentle and loving with both their touch and their whole being facilitates this kind of healing. While the therapist is freed from needing to fix or repair the client, improvements in specific conditions may occur as a natural effect of the treatment.
This body of knowledge is able to relate with most dysfunctions in the soma if the therapist and client are willing to be still and sense the potency of Primary Respiration moving through them. In this model, illness is viewed as a loss of sensory contact with the Divine and natural worlds. Thus, the therapist skillfully acknowledges the client's dilemma while listening for the Health that centers the disturbance. The therapist who has seeing, thinking, knowing hands and a big heart can experience this. Download Registration Form
Overview
This 700-hour comprehensive training experience will focus on contact with Primary Respiration and its healing potency in the fluid body and soma. Unique because of its somatic foundation, the teaching direction of this program is grounded in developing presence, appropriate contact and clarity of intention within the practitioner's own soma and embodied perception. Students will learn tools to contact the fluid biodynamic system with conscious awareness and mindfulness. These skills are necessary to facilitate the therapeutic process.
Complementing this approach is considerable work with current theories and practices of affective neuroscience and embryology, as well as prenatal and perinatal psychology. Students will develop touch skills that identify and encourage the client's spiritual and emotional resources. The training has a profound potential to access the heart of the soma's self-correcting wisdom by accessing healing through the fluid biodynamics of the Primary Respiratory System.
Faculty
Michael J. Shea, Ph.D., born 1948 in Detroit, Michigan, is the owner-director of the International School for Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (ISBC) and has been teaching seminars since 1982 in Craniosacral Therapy, Myofascial Release (adult and pediatric), Visceral Manipulation and Somatic Psychology. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in the Humanities from Loyola University, a Master's Degree in Buddhist and Western Psychology from the Naropa Institute and a doctorate in Somatic Psychology from the Union Institute.
He is a Certified Advanced Rolfer, a Florida Licensed Massage Therapist, and a CSTANA approved instructor.
Since 1979 he has been studying with numerous cranial osteopaths as well as completed Advanced Visceral Manipulation with Dr. Jean Pierre Barral from France. He is adjunct faculty at RainStar of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, teaching in the doctoral programs in psychology. Michael lives and maintains a private practice in Juno Beach, Florida with his wife, Cathy.
Format
Offered by Shea Education Inc. and Dr. Michael Shea, in conjunction with the RainStar, the four day Level 1 Foundation Class is the first step in this 10-level program consisting of 50 classroom days and 10 clinic days, to be completed over a period of two and a half years. Segments will be four to seven days in length. There are 350 hours of classroom instruction, and 350 hours of external course requirements including clinic time in the entire program. This foundation program will have a special emphasis on clinical practice. As part of training modules 5-10, an extra day or two will be spent at the Rainstar Student Clinic working on clients under the supervision of Dr. Michael Shea and/or his staff. Careful attention is given to the ethical limits of craniosacral therapy, and the use of appropriate supervision and referral guidelines.
The program is approved by the Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America (CSTA-NA). Students who satisfactorily complete all requirements will be granted a diploma, and will be eligible to join CSTA-NA and use the professional designation: Registered Craniosacral Therapist, or RCST.
The classroom instruction consists of a core training in sensory experience, mindfulness, neuro-anato-my, embryology, stress and trauma assessment, and somatic psychology. Careful attention is given to the ethical limits of craniosacral therapy, and the use of appropriate supervision and referral guidelines.
The program is approved by the Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America (CSTA-NA). Students who satisfactorily complete all requirements will be granted a diploma, and will be eligible to join CSTA-NA and use the professional designation: Registered Craniosacral Therapist, or RCST.
About The Training Environment
RainStar is located in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona with easy access to restaurants, shopping and hotels. The BTC class has a spacious and well-equipped classroom building, which makes it an excellent facility for whole-person education in the Southwest and clinic courses. Currently, RainStar and Dr. Michael Shea are developing the first Associate Degree in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy while RainStar additionally offers an Associate Degree in Therapeutic Massage and several Continuing Education Courses.
Continuing Education Credits
ISBC is designated as an Approved Provider for Continuing Education by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. This diploma program will provide 350 contact hours of continuing education credit for practitioners who are Nationally Certified. It also meets the continuing education requirements for professional members of AMTA and ABMP. Practitioners should check their specific state licensing requirements to determine whether these contact hours apply towards license renewal.
Upon request, students may receive a transcript of classroom hours completed, if needed to document earned CEU's while the training is in progress.
Teaching Assistants
Dr. Shea will be assisted in this training by a team of experienced and dedicated Registered Craniosacral Therapists who are engaged in advanced study in the Biodynamic model. There will be a maximum student/teacher ratio of 5 to 1.
Program
Show All / Hide All
- Level 1: Introduction to Primary Respiration
[Show / Hide Description]
This level introduces students to the skills necessary to come into appropriate and correct relationship with Primary Respiration, a therapeutic force and tidal movement in the body that is very slow. Contact with the intelligence of Primary Respiration requires a compassionate heart, deep perception of stillness, and the art of listening with the hands. Time is spent learning how to establish stillness, resources, and appropriate boundaries between the therapist and the client. The delicate palpation skills necessary to track stresses and strains held in the fluids will be taught. Sensory awareness practices are taught to differentiate the different effects of Primary Respiration throughout the body. In addition, there is a focus on Primary Respiration as the foundation of Health in the whole of the client. The dynamic morphology of the embryo will be presented and its significance to health and healing.
Educational Objectives:
- Learn the embryological approach to Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
- Explore biodynamic theory: Relationships between the soma (structure and function), the fluid Body of potency, the tidal body of Primary Respiration and the state of Dynamic Stillness all within the fluids of the body.
- Negotiate contact and boundaries in a therapeutic relationship: The basic skills
- Palpation with the shoulder and pelvic girdles, feet, sacrum and occiput.
- Level 2: The Autonomic Nervous System
[Show / Hide Description]
This level of the training focuses on exploring the function of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and its relationship with the cranium and the diaphragms of the body. The neural regulation of emotions, stress, and trauma are mediated through the ANS and right hemisphere of the brain. When the ANS is in a chronic adaptive state, Primary Respiration and the potency of the fluids are suppressed or muted in the body. Students will learn how to perceive therapeutic changes in the client's ANS while staying oriented to Primary Respiration. Students begin to learn ANS assessment skills relating to the client's capacity to change. The healing significance of achieving a therapeutic Neutral or the state of idling in the fluids will be detailed. In addition, precise palpation skills for identifying the major and minor osseous
Educational Objectives:
- Explore the basic neurophysiology of stress in the brain and body
- Develop internal and external resources for resolving traumatic stress
- Learn osseous relationships in the cranium
- Evaluate safety and trust in the therapeutic relationship
- Level 3: The Fluid Body
[Show / Hide Description]
The focus of this level will be the palpation of the Longitudinal Fluctuation in the fluids. Dr. Sutherland called this precise movement in the "Direct Current". When it intersects with the brain, it generates lateral and transverse fluctuations. Together, these two vital phenomena in the fluids permeate and vivify the entire soma with life force. When these fluctuations are compromised, the fluids of the soma become symptomatic and hold the symptoms as what are called inertial fulcrums in Biodynamic practice. Skills will be taught to differentiate the two fluctuating movements and evaluate its significance via exploration of the midline in the spine. Students will explore how imprints from stress and trauma are held in the fluids and are resolved. In addition, specific skills relating to assessing inertia in the mesenteries, omentum and intestines will be taught. Student presentations of the 23 Carnegie Stages of embryonic development will begin in this level.
Educational Objectives:
- Learn the basic embryological model of Biodynamic practice based on treating endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm derivatives in the adult body
- Explore sacral-occipital relationships and the spine
- Explore cranial-visceral relationships
- Learn the healing significance of specific fluctuating movements in the Fluid body
- Level 4: Birth Ignition
[Show / Hide Description]
During this level students begin to palpate and track birth ignition and its effect in the fluids especially in the fourth ventricle of an adult client. Specific birth relationships between Primary Respiration, the Fluid body and the fourth ventricle will be taught. Study in this level includes learning the most typical birth processes, the four stages of labor, and the effect of molding of the infant's cranium during birth. Students will learn to listen to the story of the client's birth as it is told by the Fluid body and how to respond therapeutically. Deeper clinical work with the therapeutic stillpoint known as EV4 will be presented via learning the movement of the Reciprocal Tension Potency in the Fluid body. Finally, students will learn to palpate the liver to promote healing of the endoderm derivatives of the embryo. Student presentations of the 23 Carnegie Stages of embryonic development will continue in this level.
Educational Objectives:
- Learn how to work with intraosseous strain patterns
- Study prenatal and perinatal psychology
- Understand birth as a CV4 (compression of the fourth ventricle)
- Explore long axis decompression and visceral effects of birth
- Level 5: The Midline
[Show / Hide Description]
This level of the training is an overview of Dynamic Stillness and its relationship with the midline of the body. The midline is the most fundamental difference between Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and all other methods of craniosacral therapy. Students will explore the Conception ignition process of Primary Respiration in relationship to the embryological development of the midline. The shaping caused by Primary Respiration into the form and function of the body occurs in relationship to the notochordal midline of the embryo. This requires both a deeper perception of the stillness at the core of the midline and an exploration of the deeper therapeutic process called "ignition". Skills include relating the whole body to the embryological midline, which becomes the basi-sphenoid and basi-occiput at its cranial end and the middle of the intervertebral discs in the spine. The 5 stages of sensing conception ignition from synchronization to augmentation, ignition, permeation and disengagement are presented.
Educational Objectives:
- Understand the embryological origins of the midline
- Learn the importance of Conception ignition
- Palpate Reciprocal Tension Potency in the Midline for decompressing the fluid body
- Continue learning the 23 stages of embryonic development
- Level 6: The Development of the Corticolimbic System
[Show / Hide Description]
The focus of this level is on both the embryological origins and infant development of the corticolimbic system especially the right hemisphere of the brain. Specific information will be presented on emotions via brain development through the second year of life after birth. The point of view in this level is to understand the most fundamental purpose of the brain is to regulate emotional states and learn intimacy in relationship. The client-therapist relationship is exactly like the infant-mother relationship. Students will study the sequence of events that leads to appropriate self-regulation of emotions including the importance of the four types of the infant maternal attachment and their importance in working with adult clients. This sequence of development imprints the soma and fluid body of the Primary Respiratory System for life. Biodynamic skills will be taught to enhance self-regulation in general and help clients to resolve numerous prenatal and perinatal effects in the visceral system (especially the kidneys) and cranium (especially the tentorium and its osseous attachments).
Educational Objectives:
- Study the development of the brain especially the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex
- Differentiate the witness function of stillness in the brain from that in the heart to that in the gut
- Understand the vital importance of projection and transference in a therapeutic relationship
- Explore additional biodynamic approaches to working with the viscera
- Level 7: The Heart and the Extremities
[Show / Hide Description]
This level will be an exploration of the healing relationship of the heart to the Primary Respiratory System. The heart has 4 levels of sensibility that become the focus of the internal perception of the therapist at this level of training. They are: neediness, service to others (compassion), love and Dynamic Stillness. Contemplative skills will be taught to clarify this perception which leads to the development of empathy, compassion and genuine healing. The teaching focuses on the cerebrovascular system and its embryological origins. Special attention is placed on perceiving Dynamic Stillness as a therapeutic force in the heart and its relationship to the embryonic fields still present in the adult. Therapeutic skills to establish freedom within the circulation and fluctuation of the cerebrovascular system of the soma and the brain will be demonstrated. Finally, specific contact skills will be taught for resolving stress and trauma in the upper and lower extremities.
Educational Objectives:
- Learn how to relate to the diaphragms above and below the heart
- Experience biodynamic approaches to relating the heart to the brain
- Work with stress and trauma frozen in the extremities
- Understand the embryological development of the cardiovascular system
- Level 8: The Viscerocranium
[Show / Hide Description]
This level looks at the embryological origins of the viscerocranium cranium (face) as it forms the upper end of the enteric or gastrointestinal system. Students will study the importance of the pharyngeal arches of the embryo and how the cranium develops from the three different germ layers of the embryo. This includes learning the 12 pairs of cranial nerves and their interrelationship with the bones and membranes of the whole cranium. The focus of this level is on developing the skill of integrating the viscerocranium (the facial bones as the hard covering around the upper end of the gastrointestinal tube) with the membranous neurocranium (the vault bones around the brain) and the cartilaginous chondrocranium (the cranial base). Therapeutic skills include detailed work between the embryological seams generated by the pharyngeal arches starting at the heart and moving up to the neurocranium. Finally, detailed work around the sacrum and coccyx will be presented.
Educational Objectives:
- Study the embryological origins of the face and hard palate
- Understand the 12 pairs of cranial nerves with a focus on the polyvagal system
- Experience the Fluid body in the viscerocranium
- Differentiate the midline of the face and cranial base via the ethmoid and vomer
- Level 9: Birth Ignition and The First Breath
[Show / Hide Description]
The main emphasis of this level is on the second part of the birth ignition process (started in level 4) involving the transition from aquatic breathing in-utero for nine months to air breathing within minutes after birth. The relationship and orientation of the first breath of the infant (thoracic respiration) to Primary Respiration and the diaphragms of the trunk and pelvis will be studied experientially as imprints in the adult body. This is the second part of birth ignition. Included in this level is information on birth anesthesia, umbilical shock and the suck- swallow-breathe reflex. These birth dynamics are studied from the point of view of shock and trauma held in the visceral system and especially the fluid body. The decompression of the birth process is re-emphasized from work already practiced in level 4. Students will not learn to work on infants or children but rather on adults who hold imprinting from the pre and perinatal time of life.
Educational Objectives:
- Learn to work with umbilical affect
- Study basic family systems theory and the foundations of pediatric craniosacral therapy
- Palpate the effect of the infants first breath with Primary Respiration and autonomic nervous system
- Learn how to listen to the story of the birth process in the fluid body
- Level 10: Rebalancing and Clinical Skills
[Show / Hide Description]
This level of training will focus on the therapeutic skills necessary to rebalance a client's Primary Respiratory System from treatment reactions and/or over treatment. Specific attention will be paid to the tentorium, balance above and below the foramen magnum and balance thorough the sacrum and feet. A model of evaluating the whole body will be taught. An overview of biomechanical skills will be presented within the context of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. In addition, specific skills will be taught to rebalance the soma, the Fluid body and the tidal body by contacting deeper levels of stillness. Common pathologies will be taught and literature presented on the efficacy of treatment. CNS motility will be explored from its fulcrum in the third ventricle.
Educational Objectives:
- Review of clinical applications and therapeutic skills
- Working with treatment reactions
- The 7-levels of stillness
- Differentiating biomechanical and biodynamic treatment processes
Upon satisfactory completion of all curriculum requirements, including an open book final exam, students will be awarded a diploma documenting their training in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. Graduates of the program are eligible for membership in the Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America (CSTA-NA).
Since psychological issues may arise during the program, participants are required to have therapeutic resources arranged for themselves between each level of the program. Although the material is presented allowing for time to integrate the work and to come into balance, some issues could require further exploration with a qualified practitioner.
- For the student to come into a deeper relationship with themselves and develop the capacity for self-regulation. This includes differentiating with well bounded contact the psychological, emotional, spiritual and physical elements of their life.
- For the student to deepen an instinctual relationship with the natural world as it connects their soma to the environment. This includes an exploration of the forces of unconditional health found in and around the soma. The student's capacity to access the world of spirit and the living soma is primary.
- For the student to understand clients' pain and suffering. This includes the ability to hold and contain states of stress, trauma and shock in the client's soma and fluid body – with a deep love in their heart.
- For the student to have unconditional presence and a witness consciousness in order to be in a therapeutic and fully embodied relationship with the client. This also includes the ability to navigate the Standards for Practice set forth by CSTA-NA.
- For the student to understand the human body in its embryological, fetal and perinatal stages of development. This includes seeing health and healing through the lens of creation mythology and depth psychology.
Learning Objectives
Admissions
Applicants to this program shall:
a) Be a graduate of a licensed school of massage or bodywork therapy, acupuncture or naturopathy with a 500+ hour curriculum, or be a licensed physical therapist, occupational therapist, chiropractor, medical doctor, registered nurse, etc. Other applications may be accepted upon review.
b) Submit the Application Form with all requested documentation; and c) Complete Level 1 in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy with the ISBC.
Note: All applicants are required to begin with the Level 1, regardless of previous training in craniosacral therapy they may have taken with Dr. Shea prior to May 1, 2003 or with other teachers. Applications may be submitted before taking the Level 1, however, students will not be accepted until all admissions requirements are fulfilled. Download Registration Form
Once accepted into the program beginning in level 2, students will be required to sign and return an Enrollment Contract along with payment of $1590 for Levels 2 and 10 to confirm their participation in the program. Admission into and/or dismissal from this program is based on both objective and subjective criteria, and is entirely at the discretion of the International School for Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and the Body Therapy Center.
Financial Information
Tuition for the Level 1 introductory class is $695. Full fee or $200 deposit must accompany registration to reserve a space. Any balance must be paid no later than 30 days before the class. Cancellation of registration at least 14 days prior to the class – full refund given. Cancellation with less than 14 days to the class – no refund or credit given for any reason.
(A special tuition rate of $250 will apply in the case of those registering for Level 1 who have taken a Level 1 class with Dr. Shea prior to May 1, 2003.)
Tuition for Levels 2-10 is $795 each. There is a $1190 Tuition Deposit for Levels 2 and 10 which shall accompany the signed Student Enrollment Contract. The tuition for Level 10 is non-refundable. The payment of $795 for each of Levels 3-9 is due 30 days before the start of each Level. Payments received late will be subject to a $50 Late Fee.
Other Costs: Required textbooks for the program will cost approximately $200. Students will also be required to receive a minimum of 10 treatments from CSTA-NA Registered Craniosacral Therapists. Cost of these sessions will range from $50-80 each.
