! Body Intelligence: What Is Bcst?

What Is Biodynamic Craniosacral

Therapy?
A Brief Introduction
Contact: training@bodyintelligence.com
Courses: www.bodyintelligence.com
Wiki: www.bodyintelligencewiki.com
Book and blog: www.cranialintelligence.com

Steve Haines, Jun 2016, Updated 18 Dec 2017

1. Touch and Presence 2 seminar 7: neural matrix 11

The influence of another presence 2 seminar 8: the facial complex 11
Craniosacral touch 2 seminar 9: deepening into the relational field 11
seminar 10: cellular intelligence 11
2. What is Biodynamic Craniosacral
Therapy? 3 6. About Body Intelligence Training 13
Overview 3 Intention of the training 13
A brief history of cranial work 3 Living anatomy 13
Biodynamics 5 Learning process 13
Study and Practice 13
3. Breath of Life 6
Accreditation 13
4. We Are Shaped by Experience 7 Some further reading suggestions 14
Patterns of experience are imprinted on the body 7 What the course offers 15
Trauma 7 Directors of Body Intelligence Training 15
Application 15
5. Curriculum 8
Postgraduate courses 15
Curriculum mindmaps 8 Graduation requirements 16
seminar 1: relational touch 10
seminar 2: the midline 10
seminar 3: whole body dynamics 10
seminar 4: craniopelvic resonance 10
seminar 5: birth, ignition and original health 10
seminar 6: visceral intelligence 10

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! Body Intelligence: What Is Bcst?

1. Touch and Presence At the heart of the craniosacral touch there is a state
of being present. Practice will make you more skillful
The influence of another presence at being able to manifest this. Eventually this starts to
become part of you in a more apparent way. What you
Just being there is no small thing. When we are will notice too is a burgeoning sense of spaciousness.
present with someone’s expressions of their life force, Both gross and subtle. You will feel bigger and fuller as
there’s a profound affect created that brings about if you not only occupy your body but the space around
healing. How relieving it is to be heard. Just to be it too. Also you will notice a mental and emotional
heard. Not having someone qualify the hearing of you spaciousness that allows you a deeper and richer
with providing a solution, intervening, or trying to contact with your thoughts and feelings. The
offer something else. Rare indeed is it that someone spaciousness allows a disengagement, so that a natural
will just listen intelligently without intervening with state of non-attachment comes about.
their own life story, opinions, solutions, or ideas/
concepts/fantasies of what is happening. You can engender this state through a practice of
opening into this spaciousness. The wider the space,
When you experience this, a wonderful healing the deeper and more energetic the manifestation of
takes place and there is a natural relief of your health. As you widen out there is an expression of
suffering. This can be so profound that you have energetic forces within the body that can be felt as
physical sensations and changes as well emotional tingling or fluid like movements throughout the body.
expressions. Someone has acknowledged who you are. This is the movement of potency and the phenomenon
It might only be for a short time or just a moment but of primary respiration.
that’s all it needs. It’s the deepest form of
communication, being to being. There are no words in
this connection and it feels timeless. As a craniosacral
therapist you bring this into the therapeutic space.
Your beingness. The more deeply you can manifest this
the more powerfully people respond to your touch and
presence.
Sit for a moment and see if you can be with your
state of beingness. When you reside in it you can truly
be the witness. Its qualities are presence, clarity,
simplicity and non-doing. It’s a state of repose and
acuity, it’s not a sleepy state. You are actually bringing
together a balance of internal and external awareness
into harmony. From this place you can begin to see
what is happening. Let go of ideas of what you might
find, or formats for making sense of things. Try to
observe what is, unfettered by your own fantasies or
anxieties. Only then will you be able to have any sense
of what is happening in yourself or in another person.

Craniosacral touch
In biodynamic craniosacral therapy we use touch as
a way of communicating and listening. The focus is
always on exploring sensations and the nature of being
in a body. The cranial paradigm teaches that there are
certain phenomena that occur in the body and the
space around us. These include a sense of stillness,
expansion and contraction through all the tissues and
structures, a surge and tide like movement of fluids
and shifts in an electric like charge we call potency. A
skilled therapist can interact with these phenomena to Fig 1 The whole body takes part in the phenomenon of
support a movement towards health. primary respiration. Left: The inhalation phase of opening,
rising, widening. Right: The exhalation phase of closing,
sinking, narrowing.

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! Body Intelligence: What Is Bcst?
2. What is Biodynamic
Craniosacral Therapy?
Overview
Two big ideas go to the heart of cranial work. One;
the whole body expands and contracts in a rhythmic or
tidal way. Two; there is an intelligence expressed
through the whole body.
A skilled practitioner can interact with the rhythms
and tides expressed by the body. The rhythms are very
rich in information. If you were watching someone
breathing and they were breathing quickly and rapidly
in their upper chest you might learn to associate that
with activity, excitement or anxiety. Similarly the
tempo, strength and presence of the various tides in
the body tells us huge amounts about that person.
Sutherland initially described five key movements in
the body; the mobility of the cranial bones, the
fluctuation of cerebrospinal fluid, the motility of the
central nervous system, the reciprocal tension
membranes and the involuntary mobility of the
sacrum between the ilia. When Sutherland was first
struck with the thought that the bones in the head
moved, this was against the accepted model of his
time. The tide is not limited to theses five elements, it
is expressed through out the total human system;
every cell knows the tide. Every cell breathes, inhaling
and exhaling within cycles of what Sutherland called
‘primary respiration’.
The smartest thing in the room is the intelligence
expressed in our bodies. There is millions of years of
evolution behind the shapes and forms and
movements in the body. There are lots of coordinated
self regulating processes that respond to events and
maintain an internal balance and flow. This intelligence
defines the chemistry, nervous activity and alignment
in the body. Biodynamic craniosacral therapy
experiences this intelligence as an expression of a
wider ordering principle in nature. Health is an active
principle, it is a living breathing reality that can be
palpated by knowing hands. Sutherland named the
ordering principle as the breath of life. We also use the
term biodynamic health to represent this principle.
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A brief history of cranial work
The work grew from the pioneering insights of
William Garner Sutherland. His identity was very
much that of an osteopath and his writings are full of
references to his teacher A.T Still, the founder of
osteopathy. He started writing about and teaching
‘osteopathy in the cranial field’ from the late 1920’s. He
died at the age of 81 in 1954.
Sutherland’s early descriptions of the ‘primary
respiratory mechanism’ defined five phenomena:
1. The fluctuation of the cerebrospinal fluid - the
potency of the Tide.
2. The function of the reciprocal tension
membrane.
3. The motility of the neural tube.
4. The articular mobility of the cranial bones.
5. The involuntary movement of the sacrum
between the ilia.
Towards the end of his life his writing underwent a
shift in emphasis to include not just the mechanics and
infinitesimal movements of the structures of the body,
but also an increasing reverence for the breath of life. It
was during the last few years of his life that he began
to describe principles such as being a more passive
observer and waiting for something to happen rather
than just applying techniques, ‘liquid light’, primary
respiration as being outside as well as inside the body
and the power of stillness.
The cranial approach was passed on through a
lineage of osteopaths, Rollin Becker and James Jealous
being the most prominent.
In the 1970s an American osteopath, Dr John
Upledger, observed the distinct, regular movement of a
dural tube (the tough membrane that surrounds and
protects the spinal cord) during surgery on a patient’s
neck. He studied the work of Sutherland, did his own
experiments and caused a schism in the work by
starting to train non osteopaths in ‘craniosacral
therapy’. Upledger was a prolific writer and trainer
and has done a huge amount to increase awareness of
craniosacral therapy. The Upledger Institute claims to
have trained over 100000 people around the world.
The Upledger training is a modular approach with
different certification levels from a few weeks to a
couple of years in training.
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Fig 2 Sutherlands’ initial five phenomena making up the craniosacral system.

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Biodynamics
Biodynamics is an attempt to always
appreciate the whole of things. The work is
about a surrender to the priorities of the
body. There is a trust that, given the right
relationship and with enough resources, the
intelligence in the body will choose the best
way to heal. In biodynamics we do not
impose a plan from the outside. We listen and
support the inherent striving of the organism
away from fragmentation and towards
health. This approach orients to the slower
tidal movements (mid tide and long tide)
expressed by primary respiration. Stillness is
a defining goal and experience in the work.
Change happens in the still moments where
an individual comes back into relationship to
what is around them.
Jim Jealous adapted the term biodynamic
from his study of the embryologist Erich
Blechschmidt. Jealous calls his work the
‘biodynamic model of osteopathy in the
cranial field’. He emphasizes the embryo as
being ever present in the living organism.
The word biodynamic has connotations of
holism and interrelationship.
The biodynamic principles began to be
applied to craniosacral therapy through the
work of Franklyn Sills and the teachers at the
Karuna Institute in the UK. There is now an
Fig 3 Top: On inhalation the whole head widens side to side and
International Affiliation of Biodynamic
narrows front to back. Bottom: The cranial base opens like a flower
Trainings (IABT) consisting of ten schools. around the sphenobasilar junction (SBJ).
The biodynamic approach is one in which the In biodynamics the orientation is to the whole skull changing shape
main focus is the forces at work within the as a fluid, membrane bag or the cranial base opening and closing
human system via mid tide, long tide and like a flower, never just the movements of individual bones.
dynamic stillness. The work orients to
insights from the later years of Sutherland’s
life.
To review; there are cranial osteopaths
and craniosacral therapists (sometimes
described as having a biomechanical
approach). There are biodynamic osteopaths
in the cranial field and biodynamic
craniosacral therapists. This leaflet is about
the latter approach.

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3. Breath of Life
Sutherland discovered the existence of a movement
in the body that he termed primary respiration. The
animating force behind this movement he called the
breath of life. He believed this was an energetic
expression of an intelligence in the universe. The
expression of primary respiration is a longitudinal
fluid motion that has two phases of inhalation and
exhalation, oriented around the midline of the body.
Inhalation can be felt as an arising movement that
expands laterally and exhalation as a complementary
movement that recedes down towards the lower body
and narrows side to side. Very much like the ebb and
flow of the tide. The qualities Sutherland attributed to
the breath of life are:
• Basic constitutional energy of the body, having a
potency and healing function.
• Conveys intelligence to every cell and tissue of the
body and is the inner physician.
• Maintains order and integrity in the body.
The breath of life has several expressions that can
be palpated by the skilled practitioner. One of the most
common is the expression of primary respiration as a
tidal movement, sometimes called the Tide. Often you
will be struck by its longitudinal expression which can
feel very tidal, like an ebb and flow. The flow is a
potent surge of fluid potency that moves up the length
of the midline to the head. A strong expression of this
can feel like its pushing you out of your chair. The
Fig 4 The embryo is a very powerful motif in biodynamics. The human form takes shape from a ball of cells. The growth
movements that occur in the first 8 weeks of life give many clues for understanding how the adult body heals.
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other expression is the lateral widening and narrowing
that can feel like an expansion and contraction.
Sometimes the head and body feel like a balloon that is
inflating. Sometimes you have a full sense of the
movement as a rising and widening and it feels like the
balloon changes shape but not volume. It is interesting
how you perceive it and how different aspects of show
themselves to you.
As you become more adept at feeling these
expressions you can gain a sense of the nuances of the
Tide. This is the characteristic movements for that
individual. So how the inhalation and exhalation
phases are, the pauses at the change of the phases, the
drive or amount of potency behind the movement all
defines the body system and becomes the baseline for
tracking change. Being in relationship to this force of
life changes everything. There’s a chain reaction that
brings about a greater order of health. Watch the Tide
and see what happens. It’s as if the body is made of
sand and the movement of the ocean is reshaping and
smoothing out the contours. The action of the Tide
itself highlights the body’s forms and patterns and
then brings about reorganization. In a treatment the
Tide may not reveal itself all the time. If you are
following the inherent treatment process and orienting
to the body with an adaptable perceptual field you will
be in relationship to what the body wants to show you
i.e. its priorities for treatment. Then, often the Tide will
reveal itself at key moments in the treatment and bring
about deeper and more holistic changes.
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4. We Are Shaped by Experience • Fragmentation and compartmentalization

• Unable to express the primary respiration
Patterns of experience are imprinted on • Lowering of potency and craniosacral motion
the body expressed with altered shape
Sometimes we meet events in life that we cannot
deal with because they are too overwhelming. These Trauma
experiences are then held in the body-mind as imprints The understanding of trauma is fundamental to
and memories and create physiological affects. We use biodynamics. We are all hardwired to respond to
the term patterns of experience to describe how the overwhelming experiences in the same way. We
body centres and responds to the conditional forces of contract away from danger. The control mechanisms
life events. Biodynamic forces represent the inherent (nervous, hormonal and immune) take us immediately
adaptability of the body, its continual striving for into states of being activated (flight or fight) or
health. How much you are affected by an event dissociated (freeze). The good news is that we evolved
depends on your resources and your relationship to to respond quickly to trauma and have the innate
biodynamic health. We all do the best we can, given ability to process and overcome trauma. We would not
our history and current circumstances. Many of our survive as a species if this were not the case.
responses are deep reflexes embedded in our
Biodynamic craniosacral therapy is very good at
personality that are based on previously successful
supporting safe, contained processing of traumatic
strategies. Bringing awareness and choice to our
experiences. This includes ‘hard trauma’ from single
habitual responses and our deepest imprints is a huge
overwhelming events or the slow accumulation of
part of biodynamic craniosacral therapy. This is
stress and tension from multiple distressing
necessarily an embodied awareness as most of our
experiences (‘soft trauma’).
defining experiences our encoded non-verbally and
non-consciously in our bodies.
Patterns of experience can be created by:
• Physical trauma - injuries
• Birth process - foetal distress, interventions
• Nutrition - deficiencies, toxicity
• Emotional trauma - abuse, neglect, lack of support
• Belief systems - strong beliefs, attitudes can fix the
body
• Environment - air, water, light
• Hereditary factors - genetic influences
They are formed when the potency of the breath of
life is unable to dissipate the effects of an
overwhelming experience. Often these patterns emerge
and resolve themselves by coming into a new
relationship with the breath of life. However
sometimes the system needs help with this and a
powerful way to help is for your client to come into a
deeper connection with their own health. Patterns of
experience are places of resistance and fixation in the
body. They are formed by the inability to recover from
an overwhelming experience. The following is a
typical sequence of events:
• Threatening event
• Contraction
• Experienced as overwhelming
Fig 5 Birth is an early defining experience. It can leave a
• Frozen state/fixation trail of patterns in the body that affect future events and
behaviours.

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5. Curriculum
Curriculum mindmaps

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seminar 1: relational touch • Wide perceptual fields and the Long Tide

Explores the phenomena of touch, space, • Practice development: skills of assessment,

perception and Tidal forms. Looks at the craniosacral diagnostic baselines, language for touch, recording
biodynamic concept in depth. treatments

• The relational field

seminar 4: craniopelvic resonance
• Holistic shift
Explores primary respiration around cranial and
• Unfoldments of the Breath of Life
pelvic bones. Looks at how the two poles of the
• Perceptual Fields midline mirror each other and create health when there
• Stillness is synchrony.
• Resourcing • Mobility and motility of cranial vault and pelvic
• Patterns of experience bones

• Inherent treatment plan • Patterns of experience

• Specific resonances
seminar 2: the midline • Bipolar contact
Explores the spine as a unit of function and natural • Integration and resourcing
fulcrum for the whole body’s health as well as a • Bony-membranous expressions
conductor for the primary energies of the bodymind
• Core-periphery resonance: midline and limbs
system. Looks at how natural adjustments take place
around this axis. • Practice development: structure of a treatment
session, treatment processes, safety in practice
• Embryological origins
• Original health and blueprint seminar 5: birth, ignition and original
• Primal midline health
• Holistic spine Explores how we develop in utero and the prenatal
• The two poles - sacrum and occiput conditions for health. Craniosacral therapy can form a
• Spinal motion dynamics relationship to these early forces and facilitate a re-
ordering of early affects. Looks at the process of birth
• Fluid spine
and how the body shapes itself in response to this
• Key joints
unique event.
• Natural states of balance
• Pre-natal experience and the psyche
• Tissues, fluids and potency
• Cranial base patterns and their resonance
• Body learning
• Whole body birth shapes and posture
• Recognising and treating trauma affects
• Understanding entrainment

seminar 3: whole body dynamics • Ignition processes

Explores the phenomenon of holism. When the
body communicates and moves as a whole, there is
access to greater health. Looks at continuity of tissues,
whole body patterns and shapes. Also looks at
reciprocal motion through the body.
• Connective tissue
• The fascial web
• Reciprocal motion in membranes
• Horizontal and transverse structures
• Whole body, whole field
• Resolving whole body patterns
• Trauma models
• Hip and shoulder joints as key nodes in fascial web
• Attachment and bonding body affects
• Relating to the transpersonal
• Pacing and containment
• Practice development: developing trust in body
intelligence, diagnosing health and assessing
change
seminar 6: visceral intelligence
Explores how organs feel and move - their
embryological origins and primary health expressions.
Looks at how treatment can change their physiology in
a profound way.
• Visceral nervous system
• Fight or flight response and the brain stem

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• Limbic system and emotions
• Individual organ expressions and clinical
considerations
• The gut and umbilical affects
• Physiological affects of stillness
• Practice development: acute and chronic
conditions, dealing with serious illness,
relationship with short, medium and long term
clients
seminar 7: neural matrix
Explores the fluid/electrical phenomenon of the
central nervous system right at the heart of us. In
particular how the brain feels and responds to light
touch. Looks at how to relate to neural patterning to
bring about smoother neural flow dynamics.
• The whole brain
• Neural flow
• Ventricles and deep potency reservoirs
• Blood and brain
• Brain states and nerve facilitation
• Understanding pain
• Stillness in the central nervous system
• Sea of stillness
• Practice development: being a successful fulfilled
craniosacral therapist, how to survive as a self
employed therapist
seminar 8: the facial complex
Explores the dynamics of the face and the special
senses. Looks at how the face functions in relationship
to the neurocranium, the whole body and a plethora of
inter-relationships. Particularly looks at the pivotal
relationship of the jaw and throat to the whole body
and how it is the fulcrum for powerful physiological
and psychoemotional expressions and repressions.
• Cranial nerves and special senses
• Motions and emotions of the face
• Hard palette dynamics
• The jaw and TMJ harmonics
• Emotional entrapment and its expressions
• Shock and the jaw
• The pivot of the throat
• Key joints of the lower body
• The empathetic practitioner
• The power of acknowledgement and non-action
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• Practice development: framing the physiology of
emotion and pain, developing presence and
simplicity in the treatment session
seminar 9: deepening into the relational
field
Pregnancy, birth and early life are profound and
formative times. These first moments can determine
many aspects of our health and nature that condition
the rest of our lives. Craniosacral therapy offers a
powerful understanding of these events and through a
unique and deep contact with the human system can
help the expression of the innate life force within each
individual. To be able to use these skills effectively can
help the development of the embryo, foetus, baby and
mother.
• Mother and baby resonance
• Treating the pregnant woman and acknowledging
the baby's presence
• Physiological changes during pregnancy
• Conditions that can develop in the antenatal period
• Natural labour
• Labour complications, the medical model and
cranial perspectives
• Postnatal period and the changes that occur
• Treating mother and baby for the first time
• Health expressions/trauma expression in mothers,
babies and children
• Physiological differences in the young child
• Treating mobile infants
• Maintaining practitioner neutral under challenging
circumstances
• Verbal skill enhancement
• Skills for staying present)
• Practitioner self care and the role of supervision in
practice
seminar 10: cellular intelligence
This workshop will look at how the body response
is holistic in its very nature. The nervous system,
endocrine system and immune systems are intricately
linked and complementary, co-influencing our
emotional and psychological states. Attachment theory
and neuroscience will be examined as theories to help
us understand what lies behind physical and
emotional conditioning along with practical ways to
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bring this knowledge into the treatment room and
meet your client's system in a truly holistic way.

• The phenomenon of the hypothalamic-pituitary-

adrenal (HPA) axis

• Metabolic fields and the thyroid

• Immune system potency and the immune organs

• The hormonal molecular fluid matrix

• Regulation of the neuro endrocrine immune system

• Understanding the stress/inflammatory response

• Practice development: building your practice, legal
requirements, ongoing development

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6. About Body Intelligence
Training
The training offers a 50 day practitioner course for
individuals wanting to become qualified craniosacral
therapists. The training is biodynamic in its approach
orienting to the body’s natural wisdom allowing
innate intelligent processes to emerge and bring about
authentic change. These changes are physiological and
psycho-emotional. The body’s own priorities for
change are listened for and encouraged to arise. The
art of the therapist is to connect with the underlying
forces of health and facilitate a process of natural
reorganisation. These forces express as subtle motion
of tissues and fluids that can be felt by informed
hands. Biodynamic craniosacral therapy takes a whole-
person approach to healing and the inter-
connectedness of mind, body and spirit are deeply
acknowledged.
Intention of the training
The intention of the training is to provide a life
transforming educational process that creates
practitioners of excellence. The training is in-depth and
comprehensive and honours the classical roots of the
work along with recent developments in the field.
Emphasis is placed upon the development of
palpatory, perceptual and treatment skills which the
student practitioner can integrate in a step by step
process. The course is designed so that the information
and skills gained in each seminar are layered and built
upon during subsequent seminars. There are a number
of elements running through the course that create a
basis for successful practice: contact and treatment
skills, clinical understanding, practice management
and self-development. The training’s goal is to
facilitate student practitioners in the application of
skills and theory to the practice of craniosacral therapy
in order to provide effective and safe treatment.
Living anatomy
In order to become aware of subtle motions and
qualities in the body it’s necessary to develop a high
degree of sensitivity. To enable this, the course places
an emphasis on body awareness exercises and covers
anatomy through self-experiencing. This opens up
ways of becoming more body conscious and creates an
ability to differentiate tissues and structures within
your own body and ultimately in your client’s.
Learning process
The training is offered in a format of ten 5-day
seminars over one year. This period of time is
What is BCST v14.pages! © Body Intelligence Training!
necessary to allow key skills to develop through
regular practice. The seminars are powerful
experiences and are a mixture of verbal teachings,
discussion, small group explorations and hands-on
bodywork. The development of practical skills is based
on the student practitioner’s own explorations and
experience of the work, supported by supervision from
tutors. Biodynamic craniosacral therapy is a process-
oriented practice and requires practitioners to be
skilled at working with their own somato-emotional
patterns as well as with a client’s. The deep listening
that is offered in the work allows the experiences that
are held to arise as body and mind processes. The
contact sessions in the seminars will naturally engage
with your deeper patterning, which is both personally
transforming and a key learning experience for
becoming a therapist. Most of the deeper
understanding of the work emerges from the
experiential work on the course. It’s necessary to
continue this process between seminars with personal
one to one treatments throughout the duration of the
course.
Study and Practice
The training includes homestudy that is a mixture
of reading, writing, and hands-on practice. Written
work and practice write-ups help you and the tutor
team understand how you are progressing. The written
work includes craniosacral oriented anatomy,
philosophy and clinical material. The training offers a
continuous assessment with regular feedback on your
understanding and skills. At the end of the first year
there is a self-assessment program to help clarify any
areas of uncertainty. In the second year there is a case
study program offered to help develop your
understanding of practice and treatment processes.
There is also a regular student clinic to create
confidence in practice. There is regular hands-on
feedback at tables and opportunities to put your hands
on tutors. Comprehensive course notes are provided to
support the learning process.
Accreditation
Upon successful completion of the training you will
be certified as a biodynamic craniosacral therapy
practitioner.
The training is accredited by the Pacific Association
of Craniosacral Therapists (www.biodynamic-
craniosacral.com) which maintains standards of
practice in Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia.
The training is recognized by the Association of
National Health Practitioner of Canada
(www.nhpcanada.org) which sets competency-based
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! Body Intelligence: What Is Bcst?
standards for natural health disciplines and modalities Trauma Is Really Steve Singing Research-based
in Canada. Strange Haines Dragon comic book
(2016) explains the
The training is provisionally accredited by the nature of
Craniosacral Therapy Association (CSTA), a trauma.
www.traumaisre
professional body which maintains standards and
allystrange.com
represents therapists in the UK.
Anxiety Is Really Steve Singing Research-based
Senior tutor are recognized teachers of the
Strange Haines Dragon comic book
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of (2018) explains the
North America (www.craniosacraltherapy.org) which nature of
anxiety.
sets standards in practice and education.
www.anxietyisre
The training is a member of the International allystrange.com
Affiliation of Biodynamic Trainings (IABT) which
Recommended Books
sets standards in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
courses (www.biodynamic-craniosacral.org). The Body Ged Singing Highly
designation BCST (Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist) Intelligence Sumner Dragon recommended
Meditation: (2014) book by Ged on
is awarded to graduates of the Body Intelligence Finding creating a
Foundation Training.Books to learn more about Presence deeply felt
biodynamic craniosacral therapy Through connection to
Embodiment the body.

Some further reading suggestions Zen Mind, Shunriyu Weatherhi Elegantly

Beginners Mind Suzuki ll Pubs defines many
Essential Books principles
for the course essential to the
work
Cranial Ged Singing From senior
Intelligence - A Sumner Dragon tutors of Body Zen and the Art Eugene Pantheon Fantastic book
Practical Guide and Steve Intelligence of Archery Herrigel Books on power of
to Biodynamic Haines Training. ‘non-doing’
Craniosacral (2010) Available from
Therapy Amazon or The Body Has a Blakeslee New Really good on
Singing Dragon Mind of Its Own. , S. and York: how we map
or on Kindle How Body Maps Blakeslee Random out our bodies,
in Your Brain , M. House incredibly useful
Body Ged Singing A very useful Help You Do (2007) in understanding
Intelligence Sumner Dragon book for getting (Almost) the neurology of
(2009) to know the Everything perception.
body in a Better
holistic way
The Spell of the Abram, London: The best book I
In an Unspoken Peter North Excellent book - Sensuous D. (1996) Vintage (Steve) know on
Voice: How the Levine Atlantic a deepening of Books. perception.
Body Releases (2010) Books the model
Trauma and developed in Life Ascending. Nick Lane Profile Excellent
Restores Waking the The Ten Great (2010) Books summary of
Goodness Tiger. Inventions of evolution. Highly
Evolution recommended
Painful Yarns Lorimer Dancing A very funny,
Moseley Giraffe short and clear
(2007) Press. book on pain. A
***Only primer on how
available your nervous
as an systems creates
ebook meaning.
(Kindle**)*

Pain Is Really Steve Singing Research-based

Strange Haines Dragon comic book
(2015) explains the
nature of pain.
www.painisreally
strange.com

What is BCST v14.pages! © Body Intelligence Training! 14

! Body Intelligence: What Is Bcst?
What the course offers
• Experienced tutor team who create an open and
exploratory learning space
• Excellent student/tutor ratio that produces healthy
and supportive group dynamics
• Appreciation of the holistic nature of the human
experience
• Clear and sensitive feedback and supervision
• Safe environment to grow in
• Emphasis on producing effective successful
practitioners
Directors of Body Intelligence Training
Ged Sumner – Ged is the Director and Founder of
Body Intelligence Training. He is a practicing
craniosacral therapist. He has also studied shiatsu,
healing and attachment based psychoanalytical
psychotherapy. He has taught biodynamic craniosacral
therapy as a senior tutor and course director for the
Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust’s (CTET)
practitioner trainings in London and as a senior tutor
for Resonance Trainings courses in Australia and New
Zealand. He set up the Fountain Clinic in London
which is a specialized craniosacral therapy clinic
(www.fountainclinic.com). He also set up and directed
the ‘Living Anatomy’ training for CTET offering an
holistic view of the body’s anatomy and physiology.
Fro many years he was a director of the Healthy
Living Centre (www.thehealthylivingcentre.co.uk), a
multi-disciplinary alternative therapy practice in
London. He is also director of the College of Elemental
Chi Kung offering Chi Kung classes, workshops,
retreats and a Chi Kung teacher training program
worldwide (www.elementalchikung.com). He is the
author of ‘Body Intelligence – Creating A New
Environment’ and co-author of ‘Cranial Intelligence -
A Practical Guide to Biodynamic Craniosacral
Therapy’. He has a degree in Chemistry and has three
children.
Steve Haines – Steve has been working in
healthcare for over 25 years and as a bodyworker since
1998. He is the co-author of 'Cranial Intelligence' and
author of the comic books 'Pain Is Really Strange',
'Trauma Is Really Strange' and ‘Anxiety Is Really
Strange’.. Understanding the science of pain and
trauma has transformed his approach to healing. He
has studied Yoga, Shiatsu, Biodynamic Craniosacral
Therapy, and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE). He is
a UK registered Chiropractor and teaches TRE and
Cranial work all over the world. His treatments now
What is BCST v14.pages! © Body Intelligence Training!
use education, embodied awareness and light touch to
help people move more freely and be more present.
Steve lives and works between London and Geneva.
Treatments: www.stevehaines.net,
Teaching TRE: www.trecollege.com,
Comic Books: www.painisreallystrange.com,
www.traumaisreallystrange.com and
www.anxietyisreallystrange.com
For Skype supervision with Steve check
www.stevehaines.net/geneva for dates.
Application
Interested individuals should complete the
attached application form. There are no formal criteria
for entry to the training. However, it is important that
prospective candidates have the right intentions and
experience to take on the training, as it is personally
and therapeutically demanding. Each application will
be assessed on an individual basis and all applicants
will be interviewed for suitability. It is highly
recommended that you attend an intro day so you can
be sure this is the right training for you.
The course includes an anatomical perspective
however if you have no previous knowledge or
training in this, it may be necessary for you to
complete additional anatomy and physiology studies
as part of the course homestudy program to enable
you to have a fuller perspective of the body’s physical
processes and to graduate. The training's accrediting
bodies require a minimum of 80 hours of study.
www.bodyintelligence.com is the best source for
dates, venues, prices and application forms for
individual courses.
Postgraduate courses
Body Intelligence Training offers an extensive
postgraduate program for practicing Craniosacral
Therapists. The intention of the program is to provide
an exploratory learning space that enquires into the
nature of the work and maintains the context of the
clinical environment, keeping practitioners in touch
with the latest evolutions in the biodynamic field. In
recognition of continued professional development
and effort towards practitioner excellence, Body
Intelligence Training will certify practitioners who
have attended five advanced workshops with an
Advanced Diploma in Biodynamic Craniosacral
Therapy in accordance with IABT guidelines. See
website for current post-graduate schedule http://
www.bodyintelligence.com/postgrads
15
! Body Intelligence: What Is Bcst?

Graduation requirements

Category Detail Complete?

1 Homestudy All homestudy assignments are to be completed in good time to a

satisfactory standard and sent to your tutor at least two weeks before
the start of the next seminar.
Homestudy must be submitted regularly throughout the course, it has
been thoughtfully designed to aid your learning in each seminar. We
strongly discourage late rushes of outstanding homestudy. This may
incur admin fees due to the extra tutor time involved (country dependent)
and there may be a delay in returning late homestudy.
2 150 Practice 150 practice sessions need to be completed over the duration of the
Sessions course. This is an average of two practice sessions a week for the
duration of the course. You will need to record each session and
periodically show the all treatment records to your tutor.
You will be asked to keep a running total of the number of treatments
you have given between each seminar. Case history sessions count to
the total of 150. We would expect you to work on at least 10 different
clients in the 150 sessions.
Sessions within a seminar and student clinic sessions do not count. The
sessions must be with non fee paying clients and must be pure
biodynamic craniosacral therapy practice sessions. (So, doing some
extra cranial work at the end of a session with a client paying you for
existing therapeutic skills does not count).
3 Feedbacks On going assessment and feedback during exchange sessions with
students and tutors. Complete a final feedback towards the end of the
second year to satisfactory standard, demonstrating the following core
skills: negotiating and holding a safe space, tracking change in
diagnostic baselines, supporting the inherent treatment plan and
facilitating change in the clients system, appropriate verbal skills and
client handling.
4 Self Assessment Completion of student self assessment at the end of the first year.
5 Case History Completion of case history project (3 case histories and 1 research
Project project) in the second year to a satisfactory standard.
6 Competent Attainment of competent craniosacral contact and presence skills and
Contact Skills ability to safely treat trauma.
7 Maturity and Appropriate maturity and personal stability to become a practitioner.
Stability
8 Receive 10 Students are expected to take responsibility for their personal process.
BCST Sessions To encourage this and so that a student has a clear sense of an on-
going therapeutic process, a minimum of 10 private sessions with a
qualified practitioner is required to be undertaken outside of seminar
time. Proof of this will need to be submitted.
9 Payment of Graduation is dependent on full payment of the course fees
Course Fees
10 Attend Seminars It is mandatory to attend all seminars. If you miss a whole seminar, you
1 to 10. will be required to attend the equivalent seminar on another Body
Complete any Intelligence course. This depends on a new course running in your
tutorials country or being able to do the seminar in another country. Attending a
required for seminar in another country requires negotiation and cannot always be
missed days. guaranteed.
Any missed days in a seminar must be made up through tutorials and
additional homestudy at your own cost. This should be negotiated with
the course director. Generally we recommend at least one hour of
tutorial time for every day missed, for two consecutive days three hours
of tutorial time.

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