About the artwork: A soft movement that’s easy to miss, with small flecks of light nearby. Notice What You Notice: the body often senses more than the thinking mind reports.
Most of my new clients arrive in one of two ways. Some have done their research online, so they already know a little about me or about CranioSacral Therapy. Others were referred by someone they trust. That referral matters to me. Trust comes with it, and I want to honor that trust.
Either way, most people have the same questions: What will I experience? And how will this help me? Those are fair questions, and they’re why every first session starts with a conversation.
A pattern that changed how I work
Years ago, I noticed a pattern with a certain group of clients. They were mentally strong, but disconnected from their emotions and from feeling their Physical Body.
If I didn’t explain the process first, they’d get on my table and I’d find myself having thoughts that weren’t mine. Is this working? What am I doing? Am I on the right spot? I wonder how they’re doing. None of those questions had anything to do with CranioSacral Therapy.
My attention is supposed to be in my hands, so I can feel the Physical Body. What I realized was that I was picking up on my client’s thinking for much of the session.
When we finished, some of them said, “I didn’t feel anything,” or “Nothing happened.” That didn’t make sense to me, because I had felt the structure of their body moving under my hands. The movement can be very subtle, but it’s movement, so I knew things were working.
When the Mental Body judges a felt experience
Then it clicked. These clients experienced the world mostly through their thoughts. CranioSacral Therapy is a Physical Body experience, so their Mental Body was judging the process without communicating with the other three Bodies.
So I started explaining things up front, to give their Mental Body enough information to be satisfied.
That’s also where I coined the phrase “Notice What You Notice.” It isn’t a logic question or a thinking question. Each of the 4 Bodies communicates differently. If you want to know what’s happening during a session, the first step is recognizing when you’re thinking, in your Mental Body, because thinking alone will never fully understand a felt-sense experience.
Notice What You Notice isn’t a thinking question. It’s an invitation to feel.
Why the 4 Bodies make sense to people
Today, I explain the 4 Bodies and homeostasis to new clients. People relate to the 4 Bodies because they’re a felt-sense experience they can recognize in themselves, not a logical theory that only the Mental Body can follow.
Homeostasis makes sense, too, when it’s explained in simple terms, without scientific jargon: your body is always working to stay in balance, and when one area holds tension, other areas compensate.
That early experience started my exploration into the 4 Bodies, and how to help people become more aware of them.
If you’re coming for your first session, expect us to talk first. You can read more about my approach and what a session is like.
Between sessions
If you’d like to practice working with your 4 Bodies on your own, I created 4Q Boundaries. The first tool, the Grounding Cord, is free.
