Dynamic Stillness - Cranial Sacral Work Workshop with Charles Ridley – 9 /10 $ 9/11 2011
It’s interesting to note that while Charles had a very successful practice in NY for many years, he is now ‘unlearning’ everything that he learned in order to let the wisdom of the body heal itself.
I was hooked only $300, no special requirements to attends, for practitioners of any kind…
Cranial Sacral work is what I always wanted to know about. It was the first time that I had permission to just lie down and rest….physical therapy for my neck….all I did was lie there….the therapist moved around the table on a little rolling stool and just touched me. When asked if I wanted to go to the Pilates machines or in the back room, Back room, blurted out every time….permission for someone of ‘authority’ to lie down, permission that I would eventually learn to give to myself.
I purchased the recommended reading book but as usual, didn’t read it, oh I tried, just wasn’t that interesting to me….Psychology and Erotic something….In the writings that Charles had sent for us to read, there seems lots of talk about erotic and perineum and genitals….I had no idea what I was getting into….but I knew that I was to go. I said to my friend the night before, I better shave it may be a sex orgy for all I know!
I was intrigued when he mentioned areas of the body that can hold ‘dust’ as he called it. The jowls, the solar plex’s and the perineum. From my own personal work, I also knew that droopy eyelids should be included in the list. I began to wonder if the fat, just above the scars at my bikini line were also a place containing dust.
In this Bio Dynamics work, (something that anyone can do) there is a sitter upper and someone lying on the table. In this case, the sitter upper holds the space for the healing of the bodies’ own wisdom.
I was lying on the table, he came and laid hands on my jowls. He did each person lying down for about a minute as an example. When he left me, my awareness was drawn to someone holding my lower back and their other hand on the perineum. Certainly no one physically was. Next it came time for the sitter upper to do a session and at one point she did the same hold as I had previously felt. I began to panic. I got hot flashes my breathing became quick, I wanted to throw the blanket off…I remembered what Charles had said, “When you get into a dust storm you have 2 choices, be with it or leave. It is simply a portal, an invitation to go deeper. So I consciously began the breathing practice that he had been teaching. The sitter upper, also recognized the change in my breathing and had begun wondering for herself, what to do…she also re-grounded and rode it out with me. (I’m grateful).
Over the years, trying to master “Be Still and know that I am God….Be still and know, Be still…I’ve attended countless meditation classes and workshops including moving meditations like QiGong.
I get many dust storms while on my journey to find me and though I know what to do, sometimes I just wallow in panty twist mode.
I’m happy to show this method to anyone who wants to know. It can be healing for your family and friends and it’s just simply touching. Your family and friends can also do it for you! Once we get out of the way, the wisdom of the body is free to heal. The work begins with our breath.
So for the last two days, I was immersed once again in lessons of letting go, of my preconceived ideas of what the workshop was or wasn’t going to be. Trusting, my apprehension of attending as I knew no one, I knew nothing about the group attending, not even the facilitator and receiving, what was there for me to learn, deepen my relationship with myself, with the Mystery of it all (God) and the gentle touch of my healing partner.
Interesting note: As I’m writing this, thunder, lightning and the angels chimes are going crazy. It’s early in the morning and the storms usually come in the afternoon!
