Sisterlocks and Certifications

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The Art Of Study

Many fellow therapists ask about the Upledger Craniosacral Techniques Certification process and I had often heard some wonderful tips including; practice the 10 step protocol, experience being a teaching assistant, review classes, study hard.  I never heard anyone mention the blood, sweat and tears behind it, the studying on waking and studying before going to sleep, the living on coffee, salads and wine for Three weeks during the run up to exam day, STRESS HIVES which I recently found out are a thing. I mean, I lost two of my Sisterlocks (a type of dreadlocks) over this..TWO!  So here is my Certification story.

My experience of the certification process showed me many things about myself.  After Nine years of Craniosacral Therapy (CST) practice I saw my biggest flaws. This self observation inspired me to locate, dissect, and process them to achieve my certification goal.

Test Anxiety

The unexpected shocker for me was Test anxiety. I had no idea that this was an issue I had but pretty soon into the first sitting of the exam I began to freeze and with every question I felt like I was becoming smaller and smaller like Alice In Wonderland.  My examiner became a giant peering down at me (she really was lovely and not threatening at all but this is how the anxiety took hold of me in that moment). I knew there was no coming back from that when I began to feel like I was falling into a big bottomless pit that I had no way of getting out of.  After a few CST sessions I began to process what I was feeling and what unfolded and came to the surface was some unprocessed childhood memories. This took me back to suppressed memories of Elementary and middle school, I was a dreamer! I still have a report card from when I was Seven, my teacher said I would often day-dream, if information wasn’t presented in a way I found appealing I would clock out and day-dream I guess to somewhere that was more appealing. In Middle school this became more apparent as I would have a low test score in science but ace the class work but back then no one ever acknowledged test anxiety. In One CST session I had a SomatoEmotional Release (SER) experience which connected to the emotions I felt during the test.   SER is an advanced therapeutic process that can happen in a CST session and may be defined as a release from the body tissues of energy that has been retained, suppressed and isolated in the tissues for some time.  An example of this is if you are involved in a fall or accident and suffer a physical injury, it may be accompanied with shock or emotional trauma that gets absorbed into the tissues of the body. In order for the physical injury and restrictions to fully heal, we often need to address and  resolve the emotional components also. My process took me as far back as my birthing process, something happened when I was born (which I had no idea about but later got confirmation from my aunt). I was blue in the face due to a cord issue so my first glimpse at my mother was a look of horror! My reaction to that created negative emotions and feelings like “I’m not good enough, I’m not worthy, did I do something wrong”. So here is the connection to the test; my body had recognized the anxious emotions of feeling small, not worthy and not good enough in that test.  I felt the examiner looking down on me (again she was really nice and was not looking in horror). The feeling of falling into a dark pit I can only imagine I probably wanted to fall back into that dark hole (the womb) I just came out of after being looked at in a certain way). It all came to the surface from that day and I was able to process this over a few weeks.

Believe it or not, this was the best thing that could have happened, with the help of my instructor I was then able to refocus my path and identify my needs which led me to find a better way of retaining information so that I would feel confident enough with no anxiety no matter what questions were asked. Flashcards played a big part of that along with retaking the basic classes/study groups and I re took the test a year later. This was a completely different experience, when I arrived at the instructors office the receptionist said “oh you’re here for the class”. I thought, wow this is a learning experience not this big ball of test anxiety and I immediately felt at ease. There was zero anxiety, I was relaxed, confident and focused, there was even lots of laughter! There was one area that I needed to work on before passing which was some of the membrane core intentions. I had such a good experience because I was so impressed with myself during Three hours of testing at how confidently I was answering the questions. The retaining the info plan worked and this raised my confidence level tremendously! I knew in that moment I easily had it in me to pass the test so I dissected my needs some more.

The Final Countdown

I looked at my flash cards with fresh eyes and I saw that there was now too much information on One card to digest and retain. There was only Three things on each card; Core Intent, Hand Positions and Technique but only one of them I needed to work on so I made a new set of core intent flash cards.  I never in  a million years would have thought that this one adjustment was going to be my game changer! I took them on my 6 mile morning walks, I have two daughters at home age 7 and 10 who are always interested in what I am learning, they tested me. Once I had memorized the core intent cards a major shift happened. When I worked on my clients, I would automatically (silently) say the core intent of each technique I was applying. This helped me verbally connect what I was saying to what my hands were helping the body with, this intention also intensified the technique and refined my work.

Success

I passed the certification the Third time around! Some may read this blog and think, its easy if you know your stuff, that may be true but the purpose of me sharing my experience is to highlight that your needs for learning may differ to others. Figuring out what your study needs are is as important as learning the subject you are studying and every step of this process including failure was detrimental to my journey.  I hope this helps someone.

Test one: I faced my fears, Test Two: I found confidence, Test Three: I became wisdom.

Being born is the test: If you are reading this YOU ALREADY PASSED!

Written by Viv Henderson LMT, CST-T

Life Balancing-What’s Your Recipe?

  • Images by Isorepublic.

Life can sometimes feel like a balancing act, but life can also be what you make it! When asked how I manage being a mother, a wife and run Craniosacral Therapy business my answer is this:

“Life is like a homemade bowl of soup, the recipe is love, patience and understanding with abundant sprinkles of gratitude”. This is the base mix, what you may need to hold everything together. But lets be realistic, wanna know what else went into Viv’s life soup recipe?

Disappointment, failure, anxiety and self-sacrificing. You may be wondering why on earth would you add such negative emotions and actions into your life. Well I didn’t, but guess what sometimes you make soup and just like life, it dosen’t always turn out the way you want it to or taste the way you think it should. No matter how hard you microread the instructions or buy good quality ingredients from Trader Joes, the outcome still might not feel right for you. Negative emotions can be helpful to you, working on processing them is key. I have done so much processing naturally on the table in Craniosacral Sessions that I recognise life triggers/blockers as they come when I am off the table. Here is how they have helped me:

  • Disappointments fuelled my search for inner happiness
  • Failure taught me to thrive
  • Anxieties taught me how to process my life blockers and emotions attached to them. This brings me peace, calmness and brings me into alignment. When you are aligned with who you are, anxiousness and insecurities disappear and are replaced with groundedness and confidence.
  • Self-Sacrificing, giving everything to others and sacrificing my own needs. It took me years to actually realize this applied to me. After opening a shop front therapy business, working around my husbands long work shifts and having baby no. 2 at the same time (I know yikes), I belived my plan was pretty good and I couldn’t lug a massage table around during pregnancy. I worked 9-5, 6 clients a day, gave my clients the best of me, picked up the kids from school/sitter, bath time, homework, dinner, husband time and then clean up. I thought it worked well because I was able to get it all done. I thought that switching off from work at 5pm and giving my family all of me was enough..but it wasn’t, I was there but I was not fully present. Most people transition from selfishness to self-sacrificing, I did the opposite but in a positive way. I had my own needs, I was becoming drained, I wanted fun family time so I blocked my schedule for quick get aways and I hired therapists to lighten my load. Still, my anxieties showed me that after 3 years, the shop front was moving in a different direction than desired. Just like life’s soup, it needed something more, my taste palate had changed.

Moving my business out of the shop front and becoming a mobile therapist again was a game changer! So I changed my recipe! (literally, I became vegetarian lol). Here’s what I added to my recipe:

  • Re-invention – New Business Name/logo
  • Determination – Transitioned through feelings of failure to realize, I am the business not a building
  • Discipline – Motivation, time blocking, held myself accountable to meet personal deadlines and yes I occasionally have a business conference with myself (it’s good to take yourself out of your home/work environment especially if you’re easily side tracked by laundry baskets)

I maintained great clients, remained highly reccomended from healthcare professionals, I got to utilize more ‘me’ time and learned how to replenish my energy. Home life became balanced, I was no longer tired and stressed and in a place to further my studies in craniosacral Therapy and found the next part of my journey.

I am now an Upledger Certified Craniosacral Therapist and on the path to teaching. My life soup recipe wasn’t straight forward, expected or easy to make how ever, it has been a joy to make, it is full of flavour, uniqueness, it’s good for ME and with plenty of room to change and grow!

Enjoy YOUR soup, don’t like it? Change the recipe!