Introduction
The Karuna Institute is a post graduate training centre located in beautiful Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. The Institute endeavours to provide a safe and stimulating learning environment for its students. All courses are taught residentially. Students stay at the Institute during seminar times and all fees include room and board at the Institute.
The Karuna Institute offers a two year intensive training in Craniosacral Biodynamics. Franklyn Sills RCST is the course director and co-ordinator. He, along with the Karuna teaching staff, has pioneered the theoretical and clinical teaching approaches used in this course. This approach is now being used by other allied trainings around the world. The course is recognised by the Craniosacral Therapy Association of the United Kingdom, The Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America and similar associations around the world. Successful completion of the course leads to a professional qualification in Craniosacral Therapy. The professional training consists of ten five day seminars given over the space of two academic years. All seminars are held residentially at the Institute. The course has an international flavour as participants have come from Britain, mainland Europe, America and the far East.
Dates and Costs
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Two Year Training Application Form
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Craniosacral Biodynamics
Craniosacral Biodynamics is an approach to the teaching and practice of Craniosacral Therapy which acknowledges the deepest foundations of the human system. In this approach, we, as human beings, are seen to be an expression of the wholeness of life itself. Life is experienced to be undivided and the human system is perceived to be an expression of this whole . In this concept, a vital life force is perceived to express this wholeness within all of manifestation. This vital force is perceived to express a biodynamic potency within the human system. The human system organises around the expression of this potency. It orders and integrates all cellular and tissue function from the moment of conception until death. This biodynamic force is called the Breath of Life. It is considered to be the basic ordering and healing principle within the human system and maintains and integrates all of its life functions. It manifests as a subtle inner breath called primary respiration.
Its expression generates a rhythmic impulse in the body called primary respiration. It arises quite literally at the core of the body; in the brain and spinal cord, and the fluids which bathe them.
In this concept, the potency of the Breath of Life is expressed as an ordering force within the fluids of the body. This potency maintains and integrates all life functions within the human system. It is expressed as a series of tides , or pulsations, within the body. This is the intrinsic Health of the system. Students learn to perceive this intrinsic Health and the subtle rhythmic pulsations and motions which it generates. This Health is never lost and the intention of the work is to re-establish the relationship between seemingly chaotic and disordered cells and tissues and the potency of the Breath of Life. The emphasis of the work is to sense how the body is expressing this Health, even in the most acute resistances and pathologies. This idea is seen in Chinese Medicine where jing is the essence within the body whose role is to maintain order, integration and healing processes. It is also seen in Tibetan Medicine where
the " wind of the vital forces" is the unconditioned blueprint energy of the human system. In both of these traditional medical systems this inherent force is said to initially reside within cerebrospinal fluid, just as maintained in the cranial concept.
The Teaching of Craniosacral Biodynamics
Craniosacral Therapy, as taught at the Institute, is based upon this profound biodynamic understanding. Essentially, the work is an art of listening. The course emphasises the perception of the Breath of Life within the human body. In this context, the student learns to perceive the patient's life story. This history is clearly expressed in the dynamics of the fluids, cells and tissues of the body. In this process, the student learns to palpate the motions and dynamics within the fluid and tissue systems of the body. Reading the nuances of the tidal forces, and the fluid fluctuations which relate to them, becomes an important focus in the work. In this context, an awareness of both the motility and mobility of the major tissue systems of the body unfolds over the length of the course. These include cranial bones and membranes, the central nervous system, the major joints of the body and the motility and mobility of connective tissues relationships.
The student is taught how to relate clinically to patterns of trauma, distress and pathology.
In this process, the student learns to encourage the body's own healing resources to come into play. Firstly, students learn to palpate the expressions of Health within these various relationships. Then students learn to discern the history of the patient. This entails the creation of an appropriate relationship to the pain and suffering of the patient. Patterns of dysfunction, congestion and inertia in any dynamic can be perceived and related to clinically. In this process, the student learns to facilitate a reconnection to the biodynamic principle, the potency of the Breath of Life, within any pattern of dysfunction and distress. Clinically, the practitioner always encourages the Health of the system to be expressed even within the most chronic patterns of restriction and resistance. In this work the intention is not to fix anything, but to encourage new levels of order and balance in mind and body.
This work is truly an art of listening to the language of the body, sensing and understanding that language, and appropriately responding to the healing intentions of the human system. In this context, the student also learns to facilitate the patient's vitality and constitutional strength by encouraging a fuller expression of the potency of the Breath of Life.
Patients may feel deep relaxation and become aware of alterations in fluid pressures, tissue release, heat, tingling and energy . The patient s awareness of his or her personal process is an integral part of this work. The work is not just a physical fixing but is an experiential exploration which encompasses our mental processes, feelings, emotions and their physical manifestations. In this context students learn trauma skills based on the work of Dr. Peter Levine PhD. These skills allow the practitioner to safely relate to shock affects and emotional processes which may arise in session work.
The overall intention of the Institute is to offer a training of a high standard open to qualified practitioners of varied backgrounds. To meet this end, the professional training has been set up to provide a comprehensive exploration of, and training in, Craniosacral Biodynamics. The training integrates many trends in the cranial field and also incorporates important insights from professionals working in related fields. The intention of the course is to provide an integrated, comprehensive training for qualified practitioners who are drawn to working in this modality. It is given out of a belief that the world needs this work and that people who are ready to learn it, and who have appropriate backgrounds, should be able to.
Dates and Costs
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Download Brochure -
PDF
Two Year Training Application Form
- PDF
