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THE BREATH OF LIFE Charles Ridley Ridley believes the Breath of Life is in charge and intention and regard for function get in the way. While there are various approaches, the core root is deep and singular. We find these roots in the works of Andrew Taylor Still and his most famous student, William Sutherland, doctor of osteopathy (DO). In 1892, Still established the first school of osteopathy and following that development, Sutherland created cranial osteopathy. Doctors of osteopathy practice cranial osteopathy, and massage therapists and other bodyworkers train and practice in the various programs of craniosacral touch. If you are interested in exploring craniosacral touch as a modality for your practice, the following primer offers a summary of leaders in this field and the training programs they offer. THE BIODYNAMIC CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA Based on the work of Franklyn Sills and his Karuna Institute, located in Devon, England, biodynamic craniosacral therapy works to help resolve the trapped forces that underlie and govern patterns of disease and fragmentation in both body and mind. Peggy Risch, a registered practitioner of this approach, is also a teaching assistant with the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America (BCTA/NA) training programs. She says toward the later years of Sutherland's life, he recognized that there was an Intelligence, an Innate Wisdom in the body that was expressed through what he called the Breath of Life, or the body's life force. The Breath of Life manifests itself through palpable rhythms, like the craniosacral rhythmic pulse. Risch says biodynamic craniosacral therapy looks for the downregulation in the nervous system when these deeper tides become dominant, hold potency, and allow the client's Innate Intelligence to self-regulate. "The human system will tend to want to go to a level of higher order," she says. "The biodynamic craniosacral therapy work is an acknowledgement of the Breath of Life and its manifestations within the human system. It is the recognition that health is never lost and the intention is to reestablish this 76 massage & bodywork january/february 2009 relationship between the cells and the tissues with the Breath of Life, and that this is possible even in the most acute processes or pathologies." Training through the BCTA/NA involves a 700-hour certification course spread over 10 segments. Completion of the course spans a minimum of two years to a maximum of three years. In addition to course training, each student gives 150 one-hour practice sessions, receives 10 sessions, and completes 150 hours of independent home study. An exam and a class project complete the requirements, allowing one to apply for certification as a registered craniosacral therapist. BREATH OF LIFE CRANIAL TOUCH Charles Ridley, founder of dynamic stillness, says in his school of thought, the practitioner does not treat. Instead, the practitioner senses and cooperates with the movement of health as it is directed by the client's primary respiration. One of Charles Ridley's valued contributions to the craniosacral and biodynamic community is a clear delineation of three distinct approaches to the work: biomechanical, functional, and biodynamic. In his book, Stillness: Biodynamic Cranial Practice and the Evolution of Consciousness, Ridley presents each cranial enfoldment, or tide, as a level of human consciousness, as accessed by resting in heart perception. Ridley's biodynamic approach represents a total non-doing. He believes the Breath of Life is in charge and intention and regard for function get in the way. Sensing the relationship between body and the Breath of Life requires deepening one's heart perception to the psychic level of consciousness (fluid tide), where the self knows itself as one with nature. Deepening further, one evolves with the unfolding of the Breath of Life into