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1 2 characteristics and healing properties. These rhythms express themselves in more than just the tissues of the body; they are an energetic phenomenon that moves through the whole body and bio-field of all living beings. Primary respiration came to be known by several names in an effort to describe its palpatory feel, as well as the mystery of its patterns and potency. With its inhalation and exhalation cycles, it was originally named the "Breath of Life" by Sutherland, with all its attendant spiritual connotations. It was revered as "intelligent and purposeful" by Sutherland and those who came after him—"an intelligent, physiological functioning that transcends all others in the body," an "unerring potency." 4 In the early teachings of cranial osteopathy, the ebbing and flowing movement of primary respiration was likened to the tides of the ocean, and so the whole systemic rhythm came to be called "the Tide." In time the Breath of Life was recognized as being of a kind with what we call "life energy." Becker termed it "biodynamic energy," from which this form of craniosacral therapy derives its name. In essence these terms—Breath of Life, primary respiration, the Tide, biodynamic energy—are synonymous, yet they articulate differing facets of the same phenomenon. On the most practical level, what Becker termed "biodynamic energy" is what every BCST practitioner aligns with as a touchstone throughout a session. Practitioners palpate the biodynamic energy as rhythmic cycles of energy that create, sustain, and transform the living body. This energy does not differentiate between systems of the body, parts of the body, or even energetic aspects of being. It does not comply with our artificial distinctions between the head and the heart, the spirit and the body, a localized injury, or symptomology. It moves through and heals the whole being of the client on our table. It is a holistic, unified source and expression of life at all levels of our being. The hallmark of a BCST approach is a direct orientation to the universal and conditional forces of life. In this approach, the practitioner: 1. Settles into a still and receptive state of being. 2. Clearly negotiates a relationship with the client and their system. 3. Orients to the presence of primary respiration. 4. Waits for a shift within the client's system to this formative ordering force. 5. Creates a container within which decisions are made by the Breath of Life and the primary respiration it generates. THE PRINCIPLES OF BIODYNAMIC CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY BCST follows five principles: 5 1. HOLISM Holism is the recognition of the fundamental truth of biological life: every being is complete in every moment, the living body functions as a unified whole, and individual beings are inseparable from the larger environment they inhabit. Life is seamless and without fragmentation. It is only the cognitive process of human beings that has divided the body into anatomical parts and physiological systems. In BCST, we acknowledge this activity of human cognition but respect its limitations, knowing that the loss of 84 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k j u l y / a u g u s t 2 0 1 7 a holistic perspective on the part of the BCST therapist can result in limiting the healing potential of the client's system. When we practice, we are in relationship with the wholeness of a living person; when we touch part of the system, we are touching the whole of the system. 2. ENERGY ORGANIZES FORM, MOTION, AND FUNCTION With the recognition of the Breath of Life, or biodynamic energy, an essential principle of BCST emerges: the living system is organized by energetic forces. The Breath of Life expresses itself as primary respiration, seen as cycles of inhalation and exhalation in alignment with the midline of the body. This movement is without restriction, unless the living system is impacted by disease or shock/trauma. Following this principle, we understand that shock/trauma and disease are also energetic in nature; they are energetic intrusions that interfere with the free expression of primary respiration. When these forces enter the living system (Becker called them "biokinetic forces"), they are held in stasis by the biodynamic energy as a protective function to minimize their impact on our physiological health. These areas of stasis are known as "inertial fulcrums." The intrusive energies are held until the biodynamic energy can safely process and release these energies. BCST RECOGNIZES THAT THE RESOLUTION OF INERTIAL ENERGIES BY THE BREATH OF LIFE IS IN ESSENCE THE RESOLUTION OF SHOCK AND TRAUMA.