Our Training for Spinal & Cranial Therapy
Throughout our professional career we have learned a range of powerfully effective techniques, and synthesising these skills and their insights, we have evolved our Spinal and Cranial Therapy.
Having run a busy physical therapy practice in Monmouthshire for over a decade, thousands of people locally have benefited from our expertise. Most come to us by recommendation, from doctors, therapists, friends or family members. BUPA and some Health Insurances use our services too. Our gentle treatment is well suited to all ages, from newborns to great-grandparents.
Our inspiration
We were led into this work through suffering accidents ourselves and discovering the power of these bodywork methods for maintaining our own health. Our motivation has been to pass these benefits on to others.
This is exactly how Englishman John McTimoney, the founder of the McTimoney Technique, learned his art. He trained with chiropractors of his day, and being an engineer and gifted innovator, developed his own, more holistic, approach, inspired by the original philosophy of chiropractic.
We have been fortunate to learn directly from his first students, and to be fired with "Mac's" vision of physical healing. Among the tenets of his "natural neurology" are:-
- addressing underlying structural causes, rather than symptoms
- the crucial importance of alignment of joints to the functioning of nerves,
- making a whole-body evaluation
- using light, quick adjustments as a stimulus to the body's self-healing capacity, thus avoiding harmful side-effects.
Our connection with Tom Bowen is similarly direct, we learned with Julian Baker, the first person authorised to teach Bowen Technique in the UK, and with his teacher, Oswald Rentsch - one of the handful of Australian osteopaths whom Tom Bowen "apprenticed" to pass on his technique.
A principle of Bowen Technique is that "less is more", and our treatment may be likened to setting a ball rolling in the right direction. This Technique gives us a means to feel the story of the muscles and fascia (connective tissue), adding a further dimension.
Craniosacral Therapy can access these levels and more, with awareness of visceral organs, cerebrospinal fluid, energetic patterns, and the role of the mind and emotions in causing disease.
It monitors the subtle motion of cerebrospinal fluid around the brain and spinal cord, which is reflected in the bones and organs. Disturbances in the body show in the way this craniosacral motion is expressed. The energy held in these contracted areas is freed when these restrictions are released.
Our Craniosacral studies were with similarly outstanding teachers, including Thomas Atlee, Matthew Appleton and Mike Boxhall, who are at the forefront of their field in the world today. This is a constantly developing area of therapeutic practice, and we keep abreast of the latest professional developments.
These therapies are living traditions, passed on only by those able to practise them. We have found the close connection with such outstanding innovators to be invaluable in picking up their spark of inspiration. It is this inspiration, more than the tools they provide, which allows us to find our own personal way of helping you.
Our treatment
- We believe that the best remedy for your body is natural treatment without chemical medicines, surgery, X-rays or electronic devices.
- We listen to your symptoms, reading their story, rather than suppressing them with drugs.
- We work in harmony with your body, rather than imposing changes upon it; building your intrinsic health, rather than challenging it. Our gentle methods reflect this attitude.
- In our partnership with you, we analyse habits of body use which may be a contributing factor, helping you to take control of your own health.
- We consider your body as a whole, not isolating one part - you only have one health, no part of you is separate from the rest.