In the early 1900s, Osteopath William Garner Sutherland, DO (1873-1954) discovered that the body expresses itself in a series of subtle tide-like rhythms, expressed in our fluids, bones, organs and tissues.. This breath-like movement, called Primary Respiration, precedes the respiration of the lungs that starts at birth. Together it amounts to a potency known as ‘The Breath of Life’. In other traditions, this life force is called ‘Chi’, ‘Ki’ or ‘Prana’. Sutherland wrote, “ within the cerebrospinal fluid there is an invisible element that I refer to as the Breath of Life….. is it really necessary to know what makes the fluid move? Visualize a potency, an intelligent potency, that is more intelligent than your own human mentality.”
These early Osteopaths recognized that when this ‘Life Force’ has full expression, many conditions improve. In a session the practitioner listens to the expansion and contraction of these rhythmic tides. It is a manifestation of a primary intelligence that is expressed in nature as well.
At times of stress, protective patterns of tension arise around the initial distress impacting us on a physical, emotional and physiological level. We hold our history in contracted tissues and overactive minds. With this work, we become more present to ourselves, bringing acceptance and compassion.