Posts by Jenna Milner
Do We Have an Intention — Or Don’t We?
One of the most confusing elements of biodynamic training is the emphasis on non-doing. Does this mean that our clients visit us in a professional setting, seek good care, pay us money…and yet we do not seek a favorable outcome to their clinical issue? Absolutely not! Let’s explore what it means not to have an…
Read MoreBeyond Vagueness
“That was so relaxing,” or “That felt good, but I can’t put into words what happened. It was just very quiet.” Are your biodynamic clients prone to vagueness? Awareness of what has shifted helps my clients appreciate and maintain the changes they have achieved in the session. In this post I explore two ways that I help…
Read MoreOn Not Being a Saint
Lucky for us, Biodynamics doesn’t rely on the practitioner having it all together. Instead, the work depends on the quality of our Neutral. Neutral simply means we are receptive to health. In a Neutral, we are free to shift in response to Primary Respiration. Being in Neutral is not an indication that we have achieved…
Read MoreDoubt and Uncertainty, Part 3: The Fertile Territory of Not Making Something Happen
Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. (13th century poet and mystic Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, also known as Rumi) I find that when I am trying to solve a problem with my mind, or I’m uneasy about not performing well, I retreat to trying to make something happen. It’s especially easy to see this in…
Read MoreDoubt and Uncertainty, Part 2: Uncertainty Is A Name For The Neutral
Uncertainty is the very condition to impel us to unfold our powers. (Psychologist Erich Fromm) Our willingness to not-know (whether we are a healer, client, or human being) is what permits the most potent healing to unfold. Being comfortable with the unknown, dancing with chaos, is a recipe for health. We implement the Not-Knowing-Plan through…
Read MoreDoubt and Uncertainty, Part 1: The Power of Not Knowing
Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous I don’t know. (Polish poet Wisława Szymborska) The Biodynamic paradigm expresses our essential clinical inability to be certain. The paradox is that the more we lean into uncertainty, the more successful our work becomes. The Biodynamic practitioner acknowledges that our mind doesn’t know with certainty what is…
Read MoreHow to Talk about What We Do
One of the first questions I hear Biodynamic Craniosacral students ask is: “How in the world do I talk about this with my clients?” Here are a few pointers. 1. AVOID AN EMPHASIS ON EXCITING EXPERIENCES. It is easy to fixate on generating an experience for your client. This is a risky strategy. After all,…
Read MoreWhy Don’t I Feel the Tides Anymore?
The crisp biodynamic map devolves into a mishmash. There’s a certain amount of grace to the learning process. But given enough time, every student of Biodynamic Craniosacral Work becomes familiar with the journey of consciousness from a Neutral to the Fluid Tide, Long Tide, and Dynamic Stillness. We can call this the Ascending Current of Primary Respiration.…
Read MoreThe Feeling of the Fluids
From crusty bread to a delectable cream-filled donut. Many textbooks describe the Fluid Tide (or Midtide) as a rhythm of two to three cycles per minute, compared to the Cranial Wave at eight to 14 cycles per minute. I’ve even heard the Fluid Tide’s juicy fluctuation described as “the two-to-three.” But that sounds so, well,…
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