The Central Channel – Anchoring the Practitioner Fulcrum: Part 2

This is maybe the most important practice I will share. It reflects back to the original technique I taught in the cranial sacral foundational work. It’s the Practitioner Fulcrum, but we are going to add a second name that has been used in Eastern medicine and arts, the Central Channel. The gateway to the Primordial Field. It is in every tradition of meditation in the East. OK, maybe not every one, but it’s an ancient practice.

We have arrived now to this practice on the foundation that has been built by our previous practices. I know there can be the impulse to jump right into this. Unless you have had some previous training in other disciplines, you are making a mistake. Some people can jam successfully on the guitar without knowing any scales, but if one has practiced the scales of their musical instrument it gives you them lot more flexibility, and I dare say more acumen. Enough said.

This is the last technique, and maybe the most important and powerful. You can anchor this strongly into the ground when you feel it clearly and merge with your client’s midline, creating a very safe relational field for the work to unfold in. This is very important. The most powerful changes transpire once the client’s system feels “safe” and willing to share the history embedded within it. If you have been practicing everything up to this point it will become a seamless practice. The different tools will spring up for you to use without thinking about them. If that has not become rooted yet, after practicing this one hopefully it will. And you can always go back and use any one of them to anchor the systems together and keep you focused on what is happening in your field of awareness.

This technique should be practiced while sitting. That is easier during Cranial work, but there are plenty of times when I sit while doing Rolfing work, especially neck work, so there is no problem. Once you have the technique it can be done while standing as well. But, to practice, a nice straight and comfortable back and spine is required. If it means stacking some pillows behind you to achieve the position with a straight-backed chair…do it!

Start to breath into your lower belly for a few minutes and then imagine a tube in front of your spine about an inch or so in diameter. Don’t get hung up on the size, just don’t make it huge. Even a half inch is great. Use the perineum, the spot between your sexual glands and your anus as the starting point. The breath begins there and will feel like the back of your body somewhat. It’s about three or four inches below the navel right in front of the sacrum. Begin breathing there and just observe for a few minutes. If you feel any blocks while doing this, breathe into your tan tien/navel area and try, breath by breath, to open the blockage until you are slowly moving up the channel in small increments. Stay anchored and move up the channel very, very slowly!

As you begin to move up the channel you can use the chakra concepts as your way stations, or just imagine moving up to the top of your head. Come to the top of your head, above your pineal gland, but don’t project above it and out of your head. All places that feel obstructed should be dealt with in a very gentle, non-judgmental way. We don’t have to get to the top as quickly as possible to win the prize. This is an exercise in opening our channel, no one else is involved. Just go deeply and dissolve, opening and clearing. Use your breath and any imagery that works for you to open your own blockages and listen to your patient’s system at the same time..if possible.

Once you open a blockage, move up and then let it go for just a moment and get a felt sense of your patient’s field. Is there a qualitative difference in it? Then keep moving up until you are clear. Its best to do this for a week or so when not palpating your patient’s system to learn the technique and stick the new tool in your toolbox. Of course, if you have patients that week, by all means, do it with them, but most importantly do it on your own while in a comfortable meditation type posture at home or your office.

Again, any practice that is worthwhile takes time! This is how we connect to the Mysterium, our Primordial Being, the Quantum field. It can be used anytime you feel like the anchor is no longer rooted. Even at the grocery store or stuck in traffic! PRACTICE this!