Be Still and Know
I Am

These are the words etched on the grave markers of
the founding father of Cranial Osteopathy, William Sutherland and his wife, Adah Sutherland.  A profound teaching that continues to live in and evolve our consciousness expressed through this work.

In the final years of Dr. Sutherland’s amazing life he described the therapeutic force he was feeling as the “Breath of Life.”  This breath, more fundamental than our ordinary breath, has rhythm and ”Intelligence” and
it is “the Tide that is making the corrections.”  Dr. Sutherland’s teachings spanned what we now understand as mechanical, functional and biodynamic cranial approaches.

Cranial Osteopathy originated out of the field of Osteopathy through William Garner Sutherland.  Osteopathy came to us through his teacher, Andrew Taylor Still.  This is the contemporary and Western origin of the work, however, I wish to also acknowledge that the sacred and healing art of laying
on of hands is ancient and thus a natural and inherent human capacity that crosses time and cultural barriers.

Similar to having a heart rate and a breathing rhythm, there’s an even subtler rhythm of the cerebral spinal fluid that Dr. Sutherland referred to as the “Tide” or the “Breath of Life. “ CSF bathes, protects and nourishes the brain and spinal cord held within the meningeal layers surrounding the central nervous system.  In this work, we sit quietly, similar to the quality of presence in meditation, and apply simple contacts with gentle touch while allowing this subtle rhythm and its enfoldments to express their optimizing healing power.  It is altogether the most sacred as well as the most ordinary and natural thing one human being can do with another – to sit together in the power of Love’s presence and allow its healing power to come forth and ‘make the corrections.’