In Visionary Craniosacral teachings a healthy Sacrum bone is represented by the 5 S's; Safety, Security, Sexuality, Sensuality and Sacredness. A healthy expression of the 5 S's will feel like the ability to hold self-confidence in who we are. Security in our expression of the sacred through our spiritual practices. Safety to be at home in our sexuality. The willingness to feel the sensuality of all our sensations.
Rudolf Steiner says that in the first 7 years of the child's life it is important to cultivate in the child (and the parent) the feeling that the world is a safe place. The language chosen to use with a frightened young child who learns about the existence of burglars may sound something like this, "Yes sweetie there are people who choose to steal but there are many kind Police officers out there keeping us all safe." We are always trying to highlight and more importantly embody that the world is a safe place for the young being.
Image 1 . Cultivating safety in the developing child
My 7 year old self did not always receive such affirmation when confronted with the dark and scary things in life. Inevitably I had to find my own way through the troubled water. Part of that journey was learning to trust my inner sensations. Somatic Meditation is a fine tool for that - you can find a free course here https://secure.gethealthie.com/appointments/embed_appt?dietitian_id=388221&require_offering=true&immediate_checkout=true&offering_id=46713) In the process of creating the experience of safety we are regulating the Autonomic Nervous system, the part of our nervous system that is involved in the stress response. We are learning to move from our Sympathetic "fight, flight or freeze" response to stress into our parasympathetic "rest and digest" response. It is in the parasympathetic system where we are able to heal. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) teaches us a 3 step tool to help us more readily access this resting state; this is exactly what we do in meditation.
Identify your direct feeling or sensation,
Identify the thought pattern that is associated with that feeling
Identify the behaviour pattern associated with the thoughts
So in the case of the Sacrum it may look something like this - Feeling - the pain in the lower back or hip, Thought pattern - "this is no good, this will never go away, I have tried everything." Behaviour - giving up and choosing to disengage with your exercise plan (freeze) or pushing through a movement and causing more pain in your body (fight or flight).
When we simply become aware that these feelings, thoughts and behaviours are inside us we find ourselves taking a deeper breath, or even shedding a tear, and this is the parasympathetic "rest and safety" response coming online.
GUT healing as a tool to safety.
Meditation and CBT programs are not the only tools to support the transition into a healthy expression of the 5 S's. Another option is to access the enormous healing power of the gut.
Historically and to this day the ancient practices of healing circles and sweat lodges provide a space for the participant to move inwards and purge stress through speech, sweating, and other forms of emotional release. Entering these healing circles and using fire and heat to release powerful stuck emotions reminds me of the process taking place in our guts. Heat and digestion, medicine and plants are moving through us, releasing and purging the dysbiotics, making room for our healthy bacteria to thrive. (See Image 2) . Dysbiotic bacteria are known to contribute to inflammation which over time can run havoc on the autonomic nervous system.
When we recognize the inner workings of our gut we are stepping into our healing circle. We come face to face with our inner demons or our dysbiotic flora and these micro-organisms who block out our beneficial microflora often have something to say and behaviours to act out.
Image 2. Comprehensive Stool analysis demonstrating the microbacteria profile of a clients Gut
Image 3. Highlighting the natural herbal medicine that are used to treat the overpopulated dysbiotic bacteria.
The beauty of this process is that there seems to be a universal law that awareness continues to reveal itself. In revealing the troublesome bacteria we find the natural allies that help clear the clutter and we can remove their grip on the normal functioning gastrointestinal system (See Image 3) . In the case above colloidal silver, grapefruit seed extract and caprylic acid show high sensitivity for removing the bad bacteria. No more guesswork needed.
As the feelings of Safety, Security, Sexuality, Sensuality and Sacredness return to our life and the blood and digestive juices to our gastrointestinal tract we enter the next stage, as Steiner says, the world is beautiful. This is where our now 8 year old selves have the life force to see that amongst the danger and threat in the outside world there is a fundamental beauty present in all of it. A beauty that we are a part of. We have a choice to create the beautiful world we want to live in.
For more information on learning more about your own gut microbiome click here to set up your free discovery call with David.
Comments