 One of the most important aspects of a craniosacral session is teaching a client how to settle inside themselves. Many of us have our focus and attention outwards - and in such a busy, busy world, this is often needed. Unfortunately, if our pattern is constantly outward-looking, we may find it nigh on impossible to bring our attention inwards!
Bringing our attention inwards, I believe, is the key to health and wellbeing. It's really important to allow time to just be; to feel what is going on physically and emotionally in oneself and in craniosacral terms, we call this 'settling'. Learning to settle helps to slow down the pace of life and helps the body to re-access its resources. Even a short space of settling (10-15 minutes) can have a harmonious impact on your wellbeing. That’s because, in the settled place, time opens up and we become immense, absorbing everything that we are. There are a number of ways I use with a client, once they are on the couch, to bring their attention inwards, all of which you can try at home: i) Try running your attention around the outline of your body, all the way from the top of your head, down your left hand side to your feet and back up your right hand side. This is the physical space you take up and by bringing focus to your boundaries, this can help feel the distinction between your internal world and external world, and bring that more into balance. ii) Become aware of the felt-sense of the surface you are lying on - how it holds your weight, how the texture feels along the whole length of where your body is in contact with it. If you have a blanket over you, bring your attention to the weight of that too, and the pillow under your head and knees (if placed). This all helps orientate to present moment felt-sensations: the key to bringing attention back inwards. iii) Finally, breath has such an impact on us. Simply being like a curious child, watching the rise and fall of your chest with the in and out breath, can help you to settle within yourself. The richness of the internal world, once you've settled into it, is awesome! You can read more about settling in my article in Ciren Wellbeing. |