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One cannot underestimate the importance of this research for it set in motion a paradigm that to some extent predominates even today. The “engram” that Penfield postulated meant that within particular areas of the brain there is (or should be according to Penfield) a direct correlation with memories.

Enter the young Pribram. In 1946, he was employed by the pre-eminent neuropsychologist Karl Lashley at the Yerkes Laboratory of Primate Biology, Florida. Here Lashley had spent decades researching for “the elusive anisms responsible for memory”.² What Lashley had done was to train rats to negotiate a maze and once they had so, to selectively remove sections of their brains. Even with most of their brains removed their memories remained “stubbornly intact”.³ When Pribram helped to write up the huge amount of research, the fact that no area of the brain reflected memory was a lightning bolt that awoke his consciousness.

In 1948 Pribram went to Yale. Here he became convinced that in the absence of memories living in particular areas of the brain (or even in particular neurons), they then had to be distributed across the brain’s neural network. Lashley himself had suggested that that the brain interference patterns might play a role especially in perception, however he too was at a loss as to how this occurred. So this is the scenario: Even when the temporal lobes were surgically incised, memories remained — stroke victims, the self same story. To boot, Penfield’s research was also problematic in that he found it could not be duplicated in any other way other than with epileptics.⁴ So… the brain obviously stored memories, however the mechanism by which it did so continued to elude him.⁵

In an interview Pribram was asked as to the “classic puzzles of brain science”.⁶ The engram as seen above as well as “the constancy problem, the question of how we recognise an object regardless of distance or the perspective from which it is viewed […] Then there’s the similar problem in the motor system, in which skills can be transferred from one limb to another […] I’m right handed, but if I try, I can write with my left hand. Or even by holding a pencil with my teeth […] [Also the problem of imitative learning whereby you can copy a certain behaviour e.g. a tennis serve, without ever having done so […] The vastness of our memory – how do we store immense amounts of information in a small space?⁷ [T]he question raised is: how does a hard wired brain, in which connections between parts is fixed, allow perceptual flexibility?”⁸ [emphasis added].

Quo Vadis?

Lashley’s observation about ‘interference patterns” comes to bear fruit when Pribram reads in Scientific American (in the mid-1960’s) about how to build a hologram.^{9 10} What excited Pribram was that “one of the things that make a holograph possible is a phenomenon known as interference. Interference is the crisscrossing pattern that occurs when two or more waves, such as waves of water, ripple through each other. For example, if you drop a pebble into a pond, it will produce a series of concentric circles that expand outward. If you drop two pebbles into the pond, you will get two sets of waves that expand and pass through one another. The complex arrangement of crests and troughs that results from such collisions is known as an interference pattern…Any wavelike phenomena can create an interference pattern, including light and radio waves. Because laser light is an extremely pure form of light, it is especially good at creating interference patterns. It provides, in essence, the perfect pebble in the perfect pond. As a result, it was not until the invention of the laser that the hologram […] became possible.”¹¹ The hologram is a very particular storage device (vide Jeff Prideaux). The interference patterns are the method by which elaborate information is captured and this information can be seen by exposing the hologram to light.

So, again, what got Pribram so excited?

In the aforementioned interview, Goleman asked:

“What does any of this have to with the brain? [And Pribram answered…]

“Sir John Eccles mentioned in an article several years ago that the “synaptic potentials” – the electrical exchanges between brain cells don’t occur alone. Every nerve branches, and when the electrical signal goes down the branches, a ripple, a wave front is formed. When other wave fronts come to the same location from other directions, the wave fronts intersect and set up an interference pattern. It’s somewhat like the meeting of ripples the form around two pebbles thrown into a pond […] It seemed plausible to me that if there are interfering wave fronts in the brain, these fronts might have the same properties as a hologram. Both holograms and brain tissue can be cut up without removing their image-processing capabilities. Holograms are resistant to damage like memory in the brain […] the brain had to behave, in part. Like a hologram.”^{12 13}

The “perceptual flexibility” (vide above) Pribram was looking for finds its home in the hologram. There was a further problem that he was fully aware of and that was the mechanism through which the brain took in the information, and again, in how it released said information. Pribram was convinced that as the brain showed holographic similarities, it would then also have to be subject to the “mathematical laws that comprise a hologram.”¹⁴

There is numerous data which shows this mechanism is called a “Fourier transform”¹⁵, named after Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768 – 1830). This is a form of calculus “that transforms a complex pattern into its compound auditory waves.”¹⁶

The data of how the brain performs this “Fourier transform” comes from various laboratories and scientists across the world:

• Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854) postulated auditory brain cells act as frequency analysers.
• Nikolai Bernstein showed that the movements of dancers converted into the language of waveforms could be analysed using the Fourier transform.
• Helmholtz showed this analysis explained how the auditory system functioned.
• Fergus Campbell showed the “visual system […] worked as a frequency analyser for patterns”.¹⁷
• The work of Russell and Karen DeValois (1979) of Berkley¹⁸ clinched this. They “mathematically converted a plaid pattern into the Fourier domain […] and then recorded how the cells in the visual cortex responded to the same plaid […They] found the cells were selective for the Fourier transform, not the pattern of the original plaid itself.”¹⁹
• Pribram’s “final” epiphany came with the work of David Bohm.

David Bohm had long had a problem with Niels Bohr’s assertion that at the sub-atomic electron level “particles only come into existence in the presence of an observer, then it would be meaningless to speak of a particle’s properties and characteristics as existing before they are observed”.²⁰ Bohm chose instead to focus on the interconnectedness between apparently unrelated sub-atomic particles. For some rhyme or reason, this was the orphan child that no scientist other than Bohm recognised.

Bohm received his doctorate from the University of California in 1943 whereupon he worked at the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. Here he studied plasmas (gases containing a high density of electrons and ions. Here he made a fundamental discovery, viz. “electrons [in plasma] stopped behaving like individuals and started behaving as if they were part of a larger and interconnected whole. Although their individual movements appeared random, vast numbers of electrons were surprisingly well organised.”²¹

In 1947 Bohm became assistant professor at Princeton and continued his study in this field, only this time in the field of metals. He discovered that unlike Niels Bohr’s assertion about two particles being connected in a way “Einstein did not believe was possible”²², “there were no longer situations involving two particles, each behaving as if it knew what the other were doing, but entire oceans of particles, each behaving as it what untold trillions of others were doing.” (emphasis added).²³

From Niels Bohr’s perspective i.e. that particles don’t exist in the absence of an observer, and, that nothing existed beyond this sub-atomic sphere, proved to be the hunting ground for Bohm. He overthrew these assumptions. This allowed him to provide for better explanations than Bohr. This new sub-atomic field he called the quantum potential “and theorised that, like gravity, it pervaded all of space. However, unlike gravitational fields, magnetic fields, and so on, its influence did not diminish with distance.”²⁴

This is a powerful concept in our understanding of what is reality. This concept of “wholeness” proposed by Bohm turns science on its head. No longer is the state of the system the result of the interaction of its parts but that “the behaviour of the parts were actually organised by the whole”.^{25 26} “Electrons are not scattered because, through the action of quantum potential, the whole system is undergoing a co-ordinated movement more like a ballet dance than like a crowd of unorganised people²⁷ […] such quantum wholeness of activity is closer to the organised unity of functioning parts of a living being than it is the kind of unity that is obtained by putting together the parts of a machine.”²⁸ Imagine! The very substance that constitutes “reality” has of its own, an intelligence. David Bohm’s thinking is that we in are ourselves a construct of something deeper and perhaps infinitely larger.

This is mindboggling stuff but it still left some very practical problem. For example, how to explain “Bohr”s photons” (vide footnote 27) having the same angles of polarisation. He postulated that what Bohr had considered “two” photons could instead be considered “one”. He explained this by giving the example of a fish in a tank. Assume two cameras were observing said fish – one head-on and one from the side. The fish appears to be two fishes because of the different observation points. As importantly, as one fish moves, so too does the other at exactly the same time. As Talbot observes: “[B]ecause the quantum potential permeates all of space, all particles are non-locally connected […] the picture of reality Bohm develops was not one in which sub-atomic particles were separate from one another and moving through the void of space, but [rather] one in which all things were part of an unbroken web and embedded in space that was as real and rich with process as the matter that moved through it.”²⁹

Late in the 1950’s, Bohm (now a research fellow at Bristol University – thanks to McCarthyism), and Yakir Aharonov, discover what is to be called the Aharonov – Bohm effect. Essentially, what this is, is for an electron, under the right circumstances, to be able to “ […] ’feel’ the presence of a magnetic field that is in a region where there is zero probability of finding the electron.”³⁰ This is another striking example of the “non-local interconnectedness” that is Bohm’s trademark. Bohm in a very powerful way is making a claim to an “intelligence” that is as controversial now as it was then. Even today there are doubters claiming that the Aharonov – Bohm effect simply does not exist. Be this as it may, Bohm is postulating this during the 1950’s and, as such, suffers the same problem of Carl Pribram, viz., how to explain this.

Enter the 1960’s and Bohm has turned his attention to “order’ (not surprisingly). Again he turns science on its head by realising that “order” is simply not that which is organised, vis-á-vis that which is not. He now talks about matter having various degrees of organisation. We are talking hierarchies of organisation and with this come the notion that this may be an infinite order. Given “infinite order”, this would imply that there is no randomness. This is an incredible place to come to. The only “randomness” would be an “apparent randomness”, i.e., the depth of organisation is too deep for us to observe so therefore it only appears to be random. So, what appears to be “disorganised” may only be a different level of “organisation”. When thinking of this, one must continuously keep Bohm’s “wholeness” in mind. At this point of his thinking, our very concept of reality is changing. Everything is connected all at once. Everything is organised, again, all at once. Everything, without locale, “knows” about everything else.

At this time, the goddess of “serendipity” chooses to show her face. Bohm sees on the B.B.C. a program that demonstrates a peculiar phenomenon. It is a cylinder filled with glycerine and a handle with which to turn the glycerine backwards or forwards. A drop of ink is put into the glycerine and when the handle is turned one way the ink spreads, becoming thinner and thinner, until it appears to disappear. However, when the handle is turned in the opposite direction, the ink “reconstitutes” itself³¹. For Bohm this was a revelation. “This immediately struck me as very relevant to the question of order, since, when the ink drop was spread out, it still had a “hidden” (i.e. non-manifest) order which was revealed when it was reconstituted. On the other hand, in our usual language, we would say that the ink was in a state of “disorder” when it was diffused through the glycerine. This led me to notions of order must be involved here.”³²

With the above in mind, we finally come to an explanation. The functioning of a hologram and what this implies, now, as in the case of Pribram, finds a fertile place. This business of the ink moving in and out of observation; how there are orders that are “hidden or enfolded”³³, how, given the right perspective, the order (picture) reveals itself; all of this inspires Bohm as to an explanation. Unlike Pribram, who in all likelihood at this time would have looked to the “unbroken web” (vide above) as producing interference patterns in which holograms could have been generated, Bohm takes this further. He is ” […] convinced […] that the universe actually employed holographic principles in its operation, [and] was itself a kind of giant, flowing hologram” and this distilled his thoughts into providing for a “sweeping and cohesive whole.”³⁴

That both Pribram and Bohm come to explanation vis-á-vis reality during the same period is no doubt, some kind of a universal zeitgeist joke. “Synchronicity” is after all explained by the hologram. One would suppose that the universe might have a giggle at our expense at some point.

We know that Pribram shows the brain and memories are a function of the Fourier transform. Bohm takes this further by showing the universe performs the Fourier transform in the way it functions. Where does this leave us? With David Bohm, the implications of what he says are revolutionary in every way.

• “Tangible reality of our everyday existence is really a kind of an illusion, like a holographic image. Underlying it is really a deeper order of existence, a vast and more primary level of reality that gives birth to all the objects and appearances of our physical world in much the same way a piece of holographic film gives birth to a hologram. Bohm calls this deeper level of reality, the implicate (which means “enfolded”) order, and he refers to our own level of existence as the explicate (or “unfolded”), order.”³⁵
• “[…] Bohm believes that an electron is not one thing but a totality or ensemble enfolded throughout the whole space [emphasis added] […] When an electron appears to be moving it is due to a continuous series of […] unfoldments and enfoldments”³⁶, particles are in continuous flux, appearing and disappearing continuously. To put it another way, “[…E]lectrons and other particles are sustained by a constant influx from the implicate order, and when a particle appears to be destroyed, it is not lost. It has merely enfolded back into the deeper order.”³⁷ This is very important in our understanding as to how things function at the sub-atomic level because it provides an explanation for some of the puzzles that abound.

1. The “constant and flowing exchange between the two orders, explains how particles, such as an electron in the positronium atom, can shape-shift from one kind of a particle to another […] [O]ne particle, say an electron, enfolded back into the implicate order while another, say a positron, unfolds and takes its place.”³⁸
2. This organisational capacity also shows why “reality becomes non-local at the sub-quantum level. As we have seen, when something is organised holographically [called “holomovement” by Bohm to show its dynamic nature of “folding’ and “unfolding”], all semblance of location breaks down. Saying that every part of a piece of holographic film contains the information possessed by the whole is really another way of saying that the information is distributed non-locally.”³⁹

As we can see, Bohm provides with some revolutionary insights, but what are we really talking about? As mentioned both Pribram and Bohm have come to explanation about how we function in the universe. To be precise, they are talking about a re-evaluation of what is reality. This “reality” is based in the hologram and how the “Fourier transform” works. When taking both Pribram and Bohm together, “[t}heir theories provide a profound new way of looking at the world. Our brains mathematically construct objective reality by interpreting frequencies that are ultimately projections from another dimension, a deeper order of existence that is beyond space and time. The brain is a holograph enfolded in a holographic universe.”⁴⁰ Understandably this is a difficult concept to grasp, but what it means, in essence, is that “reality” might not be what we originally thought it was. In fact,” [w]hat is “out there” is a vast ocean of waves and frequencies, and reality looks concrete to us because our brains are able to take the holographic blur and convert it into sticks and stones and other familiar objects that make up our world.”⁴¹ Let us be clear here, however. On the “sticks and stones” hologram that our brain manufactures, this reality does have joy, happiness, pain and suffering. The implications of how we deal with reality must change. For example, if Bohm is correct and “wholeness” shows that everything is connected, then this too has profound implications in our everyday lives. If everything in the universe is part of a continuum, then “despite the apparent separateness of things at the explicable level, everything is a seamless extension of everything else, and ultimately even the implicate and explicate orders blend into one another.”⁴² But as Bohm points out this does not mean we live in an undifferentiated mass. “Things can be of an undivided whole and still possess their own unique qualities […] [However, as humans we have a tendency to divide and fragment this universe into “things” {or as Bohm called it, “relatively independent sub-totalities”}, and although through thinking and perception this may allow us certain decision making abilities, […] to fragment the world and ignore the dynamic inter-connectedness of all things is responsible for our problems, not only in science but in our lives and our society as well. For instance, we believe we can extract the valuable parts of the earth without affecting the whole. We believe we can deal with various problems in our society, such as crime, poverty, and drug addiction, without addressing the problems in our society as a whole […] Our current way of fragmenting the world into parts not only doesn’t work, but may even lead to our extinction.”⁴³ [emphasis added]

And so, by a long and circuitous route we come to “TraumaPractik©”, and the www.anatomyoftauma.com.

When we talk of “healing” it often conjures up many preconceptions– from the most practical (e.g. a cut), to the most esoteric (e.g. a deep psychological scar). When it comes to “trauma”, the healing process encompasses the whole range, from the deepest spiritual recesses to the most obvious physical aspects. In the deepest and most profound trauma, the body, mind and spirit all suffer.

The Eight Steps of Healing

“Trauma can be defined as an injury or wound, whether physical or psychic, caused by an extrinsic agent.”
(Baral et al TRAUMA.An Osteopathic Approach pp.5).

1. Belief

When we speak of “trauma” it is generally associated with circumstances which are beyond the person’s control (unexpected), that tend to be violent in nature (a blow, an accident), that are not circumscribed by time (can occur from an instant to an eternity). When these align the result is pain and suffering. Without the resolution of “what has happened”, there can be no resolution of trauma, no healing process. So what are the eight steps of healing?

“Belief” is the beginning of healing. Without the fundamental belief in one’s self (I can heal), the process and the practitioner there is simply no where to go. What has been damaged without the belief to heal, will remain damaged.
As difficult a place as this is for the traumatised person, without being able to envision a place other than their pain and suffering, this leaves them without recourse.

2. Commitment

Healing requires a commitment to the very idea that one can and will get better. It also requires a commitment to the process of what it takes to get well. This is not easy to ask of someone who has suffered a deep trauma, but without this the person comes to a place where they will “try” to get better. “Try” is a potential precursor for failure in that should the going get tough (and it will), the idea of quitting is all right in that “I tried”.

3. Trust

“Trust” is related to “belief” in that it involves a faith in self as well as the process. “Trust” is not easily attained but is earned through the practitioner and what they do, as well as the impact this has upon the victim.

4. Knowledge

“Knowledge” occurs on many levels. The deepest knowing is that place we come to, where we have an understanding of what has occurred, what has changed, what we have lost (or gained). This is a profound place for it reflects an understanding of “spirit” rather than that of “intellect”. In a nutshell, trauma changes us. When someone talks of nightmares, or night terrors, or panic attacks, or some fundamental change after having sustained trauma, that person needs to come to an understanding of what has occurred. Without this place there is no healing process. Here, “knowledge is power” has never been more true.

Another aspect of” knowledge” is the knowledge of the practitioner. From this perspective, the starting point is always to identify what one is really looking at. What happened? What do we see in the physical plane—how do they move? What is obvious? Where do they have pain? What assymmetries do they have? How do they communicate? How do they sound? The whole point here is that we have to create a rapport and “safe place” for the trauma victim. No healing will ever occur if the person who, having sustained a profound hurt and trauma, finds themselves in a place of “no confidence”. This is a journey and the practitioner is the guide as well as the catalyst.

5. Love and Compassion

This is probably the most articulated perspective. Still it remains one of the fundamental truths. Often, we find that after a profound trauma, people can sustain a loss of such magnitude that the very idea of there being such a thing as “love”, and that it might still be available to them , is completely foreign.

For example, “Jack”, after bidding a fond and loving farewell to his four year old daughter and expecting wife, went to work, as usual, one morning. All was normal and as usual, he was entertaining all sorts of ideas as to the forth- coming babies. The kind we all indulge in- the colour of the walls of the new room, where the cribs would go—the mundane and happy thoughts we all have from time-to-time. What occurred that morning would shatter Jack’s life forever. His pregnant wife, babies-to-be and little daughter were all killed in a freak accident on their way to the grocer. Jack was left bereft and such pain that all he could do for some time was to “scream at God”. Combined with this he was left with many “what ifs”—“if I had done this” or rather have “done that”, “why did I not say this or that?” The guilt and recriminations were all enormous. He was inconsolable.

The work with Jack has been, and continues to be, some of the hardest we have ever experienced. How do you console the inconsolable? How do you start the process of healing in someone so bereft as to be locked in a terrible anger and rage? A rage so consuming that just the sheer act of getting out of bed in the morning is a major act of courage? As a practitioner the answer for us has always been, and will always be, “love and compassion”. In essence you have to like people and be prepared to do whatever it takes to move them from pain, suffering and trauma to a place of healing. Yes, we need the expertise to identify what is wrong in body, mind and spirit, and have the further expertise (or access to it) in order to facilitate the process. However without being able to “place” that person in a space of safety, love and compassion, there is no ability on that person’s part to heal. One has to realise that when people have been severely traumatised (soldiers with post traumatic stress syndrome, for example), they are hyper-aware and hyper-responsive to an unsafe environment, even those who initially present little or no reaction. The whole point of the process is to allow the person to let their guard down so that they might begin to allow their pain and suffering out.

“A psychic reaction to trauma affects the deepest part of the victim’s person, while an emotional reaction is merely a manifestation in response to the problem. In serious cases, the emotions and the psyche interact.” Baral et al pp.159.

So what of “Jack”? To understand what happened to him is to understand the depth to which trauma goes. Physically there was no assault upon his person, emotionally or spiritually, however, the trauma was immense. What Jack experienced was a loss so great that it divided him from himself, as well as from his perceived Maker. No Jack was not by nature a religious person. The kind of separation we are talking of is a spiritual one. We see this time and again in the sustaining of trauma. In Jack’s case he experienced his loss as a senseless, inexplicable, and vindictive act. He continually asked ‘Why? Why? Why? He continually directed his rage at what he perceived to be his Maker. He continually screamed his rage at the top of his lungs demanding of God an answer. Given Jack’s circumstances, he is no different from anyone of us. The loss of love is by far the most traumatic thing we can experience. Truly, there are no atheists in a foxhole.

6. Understanding

The human being has need of explanation. Whether this comes in form of a “spiritual kick to the head”, an epiphany so profound as to change one’s life, or whether we have to delve into some learned tomes looking for an answer. Either way, we are looking for an answer, some kind of an explanation as to what has happened. Trauma is a puzzle, both for the victim, as well as for the practitioner.

For example: “Brian” was a carpenter who fell some two stories onto the sidewalk, sustaining injuries that were almost beyond belief. The very first question he was asked-
“How are your nightmares?”
“How did you know I was having nightmares?”

Inadvertently, he had just been asked the question. It seems in Brian’s case, of all the injuries he had sustained, it was not the broken bones (and there were many), it was not the torn tissue or ruptured tendons (and there were many), it was the fact that he was terrified to go to sleep at night. Of course, this lack of sleep exacerbated everything. Without sleep pain is that much worse.

“I know, this sounds like a stupid question, but why do you think you are having nightmares?”
“Man I don’t know, but it’s like I’m going to die, you know.”
“Do you ever die in your nightmares?”
“No, shit, I always wake up screaming”

What Brian had just articulated was something we have come to see often in trauma. The specter of death. That people survive tremendous trauma always leaves an indelible stamp on them. The very fact that they have survived against all the odds, leaves them, at the deepest level, in a limbo of the spirit. It is almost as if they have experienced this death that they should have had, without actually physically doing so. In a sense they are caught in that space between life and death, in a space between what “was” and “is”. There is a continuous feedback between the unconscious and the conscious- an ongoing dialogue that never stops. It is only when they come to understand this, that this traumatic schism can be healed. In Brian’s case we were fortunate in that we asked the question that went to the core of his problem. In doing so, immediately a rapport was struck and we were able to move rapidly from this point. We are not always so astute or lucky and sometimes (as in the case of Jane) it takes a long and rough time in coming to that understanding.

In passing, when we talk of “understanding”, it is not enough for the person to “get it” at an intellectual level. This “spiritual tear” can only be repaired at the level at which it has occurred. In other words, the healing required has to occur at the appropriate level.

So what does this mean?

Well, firstly, when John Upledger talks of a traumatic injury as an “injection of energy”(SomatoEmotional Release, pp.25), people who have experienced trauma instinctively know this. Many times we have been told by the victim that “I have not been the same since…” Secondly, knowing this, the traumatically instilled energy has to be released. And that means, in turn, they have to, in some way, relive this trauma. What goes in, has to come out. Herein is the crux of the matter. All that “chaotic and disruptive” energy that has been incorporated in the body, in the mind, and in the spirit- all have to be released.

7. Forgiveness

Yes, we know that this has been written about until the cows have come home, but it is and will always remain one of the major aspects of healing. “Forgiveness” is a very peculiar thing. People go through their lives without the realisation that the act of forgiveness is not simply an act of contrition but a condition of “release”, so to speak. This is especially true for trauma. In Jane’s case it was not only the forgiveness of mother, but the forgiveness of self that was part and parcel of her healing. So too with Jack. It is a strange and terrible thing to have something so powerful happen to you that your life becomes a painful parody of what it used to be. That there needs to be a reconciliation with what has happened, as well as with who and what you have become, is non-negotiable. No forgiveness, no movement. No movement, no release. No release, no healing.

8. Practice and Application

When it comes to the actual work of dealing with trauma, we use a number of modalities, ranging from naturopathy to neuromuscular therapy to osteopathy. Quite candidly, “trauma” demands an ever evolving practice and we continually are questioning what we do. Bear in mind that each human is an accumulation of unique experiences and when trauma enters the picture it confounds that particular person.

So… What do we do?

In our clinic we have a long passageway through which a person has to walk down. This allows us to evaluate a lot of variables. For example- How do they move? Is there anything blatantly obvious? Is there something they are not doing? What is their pallor? Is there anything that strikes us on an intuitive level? This is all before we sit down and interview them. The tool of observation is always the beginning of any process. Often, once we begin the interview, we find that the person provides “meat” to the “bones” that we have already discovered. Also do not underestimate your other senses as a practitioner. Abigail (a nurse with many years of emergency practice) once trusted her sense of smell in detecting a septicemia in a post- birth woman. Left undetected the consequences would have been rapid and dire.

What next?

Once we have completed the “detective” stage, in the case of trauma, all things being equal, the person is on our table. Generally, the body is the place to begin for, within and without, it is the sole repository of all that has happened. It is the only source and access to that person. It sounds ridiculous to say this but what someone brings into the clinic is all that they are – the hidden and the obvious – it is all there.

Palpation and Communication

Fundamentally these are the same things in that we are talking to the person and at the same time listening to what the body has to say. A communication that is both verbal and non-verbal. Finding out what the body is doing. Finding out what moves and what does not. Finding out what should move and does not. Finding out what does move and should not. Finding out where there is pain. The list is endless but it is always an ongoing balance between what is presented against a template of what ought to be. In other words- What is going on and what to do about it? Above all, learn to palpate. Learn to listen.

The scope of this paper does not allow an in- depth look at the techniques we use, but when it comes to trauma, we can never know or learn enough. However, one of the fundamentals is learning how to palpate the Primary Respiratory Mechanism (PRM).

What is this?

This all begins with an osteopath by the name of William Garner Sutherland who whilst being a student in the late 19th century, had an epiphany whist examining some cranial bones. In looking he found beveled articular surfaces in the sphenoid bone. In an instant he concluded that these bevels “indicated [an] articular mobility for a respiratory mechanism”.
( Sutherland , A. With Thinking Fingers, quoted in R. Paul Lee, op cit pp.128)

Bear in mind, what we are talking about is the concept of “bony motion”. Mobility in the skull! Such a revolutionary idea! Even today this is still an heretical statement. According to the mainstream, our craniums are solidified, almost immobile masses. How cerebrospinal fluid is supposed to move against gravity is relegated to the province of…?

What Sutherland did was to define “ five aspects of the primary respiratory system, or the craniosacral system. These are 1)the inherent fluctuation of cerebrospinal fluid, 2) the motility of the central nervous system, 3) the “reciprocal tension membrane”, 4) the mobility of the cranial bones at the sutures, and 5) the involuntary movement of the sacrum between the ilia.”

(Roger Gilchrist. Craniosacral Therapy and the Energetic Body, pp. 24 – 25)

As one can see this is a respiratory system not of air, but of liquid – the cerebrospinal fluid. Why Sutherland called it respiratory refers more to its action of inhalation/exhalation – indeed – this is sometimes referred to as the “tide”. More so, Sutherland pointed to something far more profound when he spoke of this as also being the “breath of life”. Now for him this carried extensive implications, which covered from the most spiritual to the most practical. In practice what we know is that when one palpates this rhythm, one is also able to discern how strong or weak it is. It provides us with information as to how healthy this person is, or is not. In a sense we are feeling the “potency”. Do not forget, this system encompasses the brain and the central nervous system, so, it does not take much imagination to see that anything that would affect such a system must, and does, produce profound effects and changes. When huge and unexpected amounts of energy explode into the body (e.g. a motor vehicular accident), we are talking of a liquid medium that conveys shock very well (e.g. hydraulic brakes). This impact on very fine and delicate membranes (the brain and spinal cord) is horrifying even in what are considered “mild accidents”. This is what we are, in essence, palpating. It is a starting point to something that is deep within us. What we are palpating is trauma.

Conclusion

As mentioned above, we practice many modalities. Our experience has shown the use of osteopathy, John Upledger’s CranioSacral Therapy, Paul St. John’s Neuromuscular Therapy, and Naturopathy, have all proven invaluable in resolving trauma. This is not to say that other therapies and modalities are not effective. Regularly we refer to psychiatrist and psychologists and various others, however trauma is as much about the physical , as it is about the mind, as it is about the spirit. The eight steps of healing is a small part of what we do, however we cannot emphasise enough that trauma requires a global approach without which our current paradigm is doomed to stagnate and fail.

Bibliography:

• BARAL, Jean-Pierre & Lain Crobier. TRAUMA – A Osteopathic Approach. Eastland Press 1999.
• DiGIOVANNA, Eileen L. & Stanley Schiowitz. An Osteopathic Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment, 2nd Edition. Lipponcott – Raven 1997.
• GILCHRIST, Roger. Craniosacral Therapy and the Energetic Body. An Overview of Craniosacral Biodynamics. North Atlantic Books 2006.
• KELEMAN, Stanley. Your Body Speaks Its Mind. Center Press 1981.
• LEE, R. Paul. INTERFACE– Mechanisms of Spirit in Osteopathy.Stillness Press 2005.
• MAGOUN, Harold I., Osteopathy in the Cranial Field, 3rd Edition. The Journal Printing Company 1976.
• UPLEDGER, John E. & Jon D. Vredevoogd. Craniosacral Therapy. Eastland Press 1983.
• UPLEDGER, John E. SomataEmotional Release Deciphering the Language of Life. North Atlantic Books 2002

Imagine you are walking down a snow-dusted slope unaware of the icy surface below (it’s coming your way soon). Your legs fly out from under you and you land on your bum. A massive explosive force rips through your body and, with nowhere for it to dissipate, it tends to create chaos within the tissues. Think of it this way; imagine throwing a pebble into a calm pond. The ‘shock’ waves radiate outward in concentric circles and, should they meet a solid object such as a rock they then ricochet back causing an interference pattern, an area of chaos. In our bodies that rock might be a bone and, given that our bodies are over 70% fluid, impacts create similar disturbances within our fascia, organs, cavities etc.

The fascia is a vast support system encompassing all vessels, nerves, muscles, joints and organs. It is an information highway, a system for exchanging fluids between compartments and circulating blood. It is an absorber, coordinator and a dissipater of shock. When injury is too great it’s viscoelastic properties may change profoundly, even tear.

Imagine the fascia as a somewhat fluid saran wrap-like three dimensional body stocking that extends from your toes to the top of your head. Like stockings, it looses elasticity with age. With frequent ‘hits’ it tears more easily and requires ‘darning’ (a function of scar tissue) to repair the damage. And, as with stockings, each repair job makes the whole a little more rigid eventually leading to puckers in the tissue. These areas often entrap or compress nerves and/or vessels thereby obstructing the normal conduction of information, fluids and nutrition. These areas no longer absorb and dissipate shock/impact and become what is often referred to as an ‘energy cyst’, like a holographic imprint of the injury. It retains the memory of the stress/shock/trauma in an autonomous manner, independent of any higher control mechanism. Ultimately, in most cases, some kind of disease/pain syndrome sets in. When the pain starts to change your personality, shape your day or occupies your emotions and thoughts it has become a trauma.

Back to the fall on your bum. The shock will most likely travel all the way up your spine to your shoulders and neck and into the brain via the system of tissue that covers the spinal cord, a membrane called the dura mater. This membrane continues from the base of the spine where it is attached to your sacrum and then reattaches again in your neck and goes into your head through the foramen magnum (the opening at the back of your skull) creating some really funky architecture within.  Depending on the angle of your fall and the impact zone, the shock waves travel through your pelvis and viscera (internal organs). Then as the injury settles in and establishes itself, you may experience headaches, a sore back or neck, a burning sensation between your shoulders, tingling arms maybe even a sore knee. Most likely nothing will show up on X-Ray or scans but you know you have pain and, no, it is not all in your head.

Try standing in front of a full length mirror and see if your body is aligned. Is one hip higher than the other, one shoulder higher. Is your head tilted or angled to one side? Does your belly button line up with the notch between your collar bones? Are your ears on the same plane? Your eyes? Your cheek bones? These are all bony markings that we, the ‘body detectives,’ notice and use as clues to help guide us in our treatments.

Abigail Szathmary
January, 2005

“So Doug, as stupid as this may sound, what do you want?”“I want to get better…I want to get out of this cage…”

“Have you any idea what this will take?”

“No idea BUT I’m willing to do what it takes.”

”Fine Doug, you’re ready. On the table and let’s begin”

This is what I needed to hear- both the commitment AS WELL AS THE belief. These are the two fundamentals when someone begins the journey that is healing. Make no mistake it is a journey- a hard one- that takes no prisoners. With a deep trauma such as Doug’s from the very outset the outcome is by no means certain but without belief and commitment there is simply no way. This becomes even more evident when, having begun this journey, there are always setbacks.

The Healing of Doug Smith.

“So Doug you have to be clear that anything is possible in this process? Also let’s be clear that my role here is to facilitate this- there’s no getting out of this without you doing the work . If you think that being on the table IS the work and that you are the passive bystander who is going to get healed, then this is not the place. Understood? Whatever happens now you have to understand that you have to trust in me, you have to trust in the process and, finally, you have to trust that your body, your mind and your spirit all have an innate template as to how this is going to happen. Your body is your mind is your spirit- there is no exception to this…Good?”

“Yes.”

So, with that begun a process which involved many modalities such as Osteopathy (including Dr. John Upledger’s Cranio-Sacral Therapy), Paul St. John’s Neuro-Muscular Therapy, Naturopathy as well as a number of Soma-centric therapies (Stanley Keleman, Alexander Lowen). All of these modalities are vital in bringing about the kind of change that is required. Also such various kinds of therapy provide a vital structure as to enable whoever has suffered “trauma” something to “hang their hat on”, so to speak. A structured environment provides for confidence, both for the patient, as well as in the practitioner.

What happened.

Yet Doug, being committed, realised that failure and setback required a perspective that allowed him to both understand and integrate as to what was really going on. He also understood that what is and is not possible are based on preconceptions. Our history and experience defines for us in every way as to our capabilities. It is only when we push against our perceived boundaries and our perceived limits that we find out as to the illusion. This is perhaps the hardest lesson especially when it comes to trauma. It truly is a case of “believing is seeing” rather than the other way around.

Did Doug get better? Well, yes. Today he actively involves himself in all kinds of activities. To know Doug is to know a truly driven individual whose commitment to life is as large as is the size of his heart and the word “quit” seems to have been purposefully excluded from his dictionary.

What did Doug Learn?

Other than what we have seen above we gave Doug an inventory of anatomical laws and dictates. We always do this so that people who are going through trauma have some kind of explanation as to what is happening. Now the scope of this paper does not really allow for this but I will mention a few by way of example.

Hering’s law: A cure is the result of one manifesting symptoms from the present to the past, and from the inside to the outside.. This we have seen time and time again. People experience in reverse order what has occurred to them always beginning with the deepest trauma- From the sole to the skin, so to speak. I once dealt with a carpenter who had fallen two stories onto pavement and survived with some tremendous injuries. The first question I asked him, however, was “how are your nightmares?” His reply? “How did you know I was having nightmares?”

Wolff’s law: Biological systems deform in relation to the lines of forces imposed upon them.

Hooke’s law: Deformation (resulting from strain) imposed on an elastic body is in proportion to the stress (force/load) placed on it . However ther is a limit to which the “body” will absorb/adapt beyond which it will break down.

Davis’ law: If muscle ends are brought together, then the pull of the tonus is increased, thereby shortening the muscle, which may cause hypertrophy. If the muscle ends are separated beyond normal, then tonus is lessened or lost, thereby weakening the muscle.

These are a sampling as to the kinds of explanations as to why things are as they are. As with Doug these provided a valuable tool.

Anatomy of Trauma

About the Authors:

Tom Tomlinson is a Naturopathic practitioner with wide professional education ranging from Osteopathy, Neuro-muscular therapy and Physical

Abigail Szathmary is an R.N. as well as having extensive education in both Osteopathy and Neuro-Muscular Therapy.

They can both be reached at info@anatomyoftrauma.com