CranioSacral Therapy: A Case Study
My blog contribution this month is a case history, because it is a beautiful example of what is possible when we are willing to look beyond a western medical diagnosis, and to consider the whole person and their mental/emotional/spiritual history and patterns. For me personally, this is also a celebration of what is possible when someone is willing to be honest and accountable, to take responsibility for themselves and to fully commit to their own healing journey.
L was born into a creative and artistically talented family, but was discouraged throughout her life from pursuing her own creative urges to dance and drum. She is the youngest of four children, and suffered from neglect and verbal abuse throughout her childhood. As a child she coped with this discouraging situation by dancing secretly, and by communing with nature. As an adult she escaped from her family to pursue her dreams of dancing and drumming in New York City (NYC), where she had some amazing creative years before developing vision problems in her left eye and eventually being diagnosed with an epidermoid tumor. Normally benign, this type of tumor traps normal developmental cells within the growing brain. They are extremely slow growing and usually do not present until the ages of 20-40 years old (1,2).
Once she was diagnosed, she had difficulty finding a Canadian surgeon willing to operate on this now very large tumor located in the front left of her brain. Her luck turned with the occurrence of 9/11 in the year 2000, when NYC grew to a standstill, and a famous and successful brain surgeon, temporarily without work, decided to take on her case pro bono. He was able to successfully remove the tumor. When L asked her surgeon what may have caused the tumor, his response was "Verbal abuse" (3). After the surgery, L remained in NYC for another decade before the tumor had increased in size again and warranted further surgery. She returned to Toronto so that her family could take care of her. The tumor continued to grow, and she had several other surgeries, and a drainage shunt was placed at the back of her head. She began having seizures after the last surgery and started taking anti seizure medications.
In my understanding this continued growth happened because the original cause, the verbal and emotional abuse, continued unresolved. The tumor had an important function for her, because it allowed her to disconnect from the effects of the abuse that were contained within the tumor. Her creative outlets, music and dancing were what kept her alive and hopeful throughout her childhood and adult years in NYC, but post surgeries she was no longer able to do these things.
We are usually taught that tumors are dangerous invaders, enemies to be exterminated with various, often toxic treatments and surgeries. This is obviously an accurate view to some extent, but I would like to encourage anyone affected to look deeper into themselves, their psychological history, their coping strategies, and more. In my experience there are always connections and causes that weave together a tapestry that make an extreme coping mechanism like a tumor a necessity (4 & 5), but they also show the path toward healing.
By the time I met L in the summer of 2020, I was deeply missing my work due to the pandemic, and was looking for a pro bono client who would otherwise not be able to afford treatment. At that point L was on anti-seizure medications and mostly blind in her left eye, which was having convergence issues and not in sync with her right eye. She was lost in negative self beliefs, and her brain dulled from the medications she was on. From the first treatment on, it was clear to me that she needed help with boundaries, a healthy way of rejecting the messages and effects of a lifetime of abuse. With each treatment the healing changes were profound. At the end of our sessions her left eye was almost fully in sync with the right eye, and her sight started to improve. She had only one minor seizure shortly after we began working together, but it was mild and she was able to manage it. Since then, she has continuously reduced her medication under the supervision of her doctor who listens and respects her wishes, and is now in her first month of no medication at all. In her own words: "For many years, dancing gave me good, grounding feelings. But after receiving your working hands, the feelings are much, much deeper than when I was trying to dance and trying to discover my inner balance and center."
I would describe my work with her in the following sequence: First I focused on helping her realize that she is allowed and able to reject foreign interference (verbal and emotional abuse). This allowed her to establish boundaries that stopped her from continuously bleeding energetically, and thus providing the tumor with purpose and opportunity. As her sense of self developed and her confidence in her own ability to heal herself grew, our work shifted towards helping her cope with the inevitable anger that arises from the realization of how the abuse had hurt her, and how she had allowed others to control her mentally and emotionally. She is now able to reject this type of control and abuse, and to maintain healthy boundaries. We continue to work on expanding a state of unconditional love and forgiveness toward her family. In practical terms this means not hoping for an apology, and accepting them for where they are at, even if they may never fully understand and accept her. Her regular scans show that in the last two years the tumor has stopped growing, the swelling on the left side of her face has gone down, and her left eye continues to improve. She now has a clear sense of self and is able to protect herself against abuse. Most importantly, she is deeply invested in and committed to her own healing journey and does daily work in a variety of techniques, including breathwork, grounding in natural environments, cold water therapy, and quantum medicine. She has started drumming again, and wants to teach disadvantaged children about the healing power of music and dance.
I am deeply in awe of what she has accomplished in the last two years, and I am honored that I was able to provide her with the support she needed to find her true self. I hope that this case study serves as an example of how the various layers of our psychological, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies connect and affect our physical well being, and how receiving a medical diagnosis does not need to victimize the client, it can also open doors to new and amazing possibilities.
If you wish to learn more about this healing modality, see Sonia’s previous blog or call us at 416-604-1114.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559118/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4543573/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5488571/
