Listening to the body.<\/p>\n
Ton van der Heiden and Peter van Dommelen have both been working for seven years, each in their own practice, using an unusual research method to ultimately make full use of the body’s self-healing capacity. With very surprising results. <\/p>\n
Text: Eric Schoones<\/em><\/p>\n Search Peter: “That was very special. She placed her hand on the patient’s upper arm and felt problems elsewhere in the body. She perceived much more than we did. That was a real eye-opener.” Referred to the Sutherland Cranial College in London, where remarkably few Dutch osteopaths study, they found a balance between scientific research and the training of palpato-perceptive ability. Gradually, their respect for the body\u2014as instilled at the I.A.O.\u2014grew greater and greater, especially through the books of Rollin Becker and William Garner Sutherland, both of whom describe the body as ‘the silent partner, who knows best.’ <\/p>\n Ton: “The books by Sutherland and Becker are classics that you must read as an osteopath; they are mandatory reading!”<\/p>\n Peter: “These insights brought us closer to what Andrew Taylor Still describes in his autobiography: ‘Cause and effect are perpetual,’ and ultimately the body proved to help us here in finding causes and understanding the patient’s problem; after all, that is always where healing begins.”<\/p>\n Jean-Pierre Barral Information from the body Peter: “He said: ‘you don’t need a medium, you only need to open yourself to the information the body can give,’ and W.G. Sutherland said: ‘The only thing I did, I pulled a curtain away for further vision.’ There is more information to be gained from the body than just loss of movement.”<\/p>\n Pim van Lommel Ton: “That is a pity because if you look at it with an ‘open mind,’ without prejudice\u2014which is also the prerequisite for any form of science\u2014then there is much to discover. There are countless links with other disciplines and research, for example with ‘endless consciousness’ about which Pim van Lommel wrote a very inspiring book. Still also discovered much that his contemporaries were apparently not yet ready for. Sutherland refers to this regularly. Goethe also wrote about correct perception, the basis for pure feeling.”<\/p>\n Peter: “This way of examining, sensing well how the body reacts, is a matter of training. You can compare it to a conductor who hears when one of his eighty orchestra members makes a mistake, or a wine connoisseur who can tell you exactly where a wine comes from and which harvest it originates from.”<\/p>\n Control Peter: “During the course, Barral deduced, also using yes\/no questions, not only the location of the emotional lesion but also the year in which the lesion originated.”<\/p>\n Ton: “That is essential in our research. In addition to finding the location of the primary lesion, we also find the year in which the primary lesion originated. The patient can very often confirm that a significant event took place in that particular year, relevant to the development of the complaints. That is the beauty of this method. We only feel that something must have happened in a certain year, and the patient provides their own story, with details that we could not possibly know.” Peter: “When you hear those stories, you don’t want to work any other way; every patient has a unique and complex story, I record them daily.” Ton: “I have treated people in China, patients who spoke only Chinese and with whom I could only communicate through an interpreter. However, the non-verbal communication with the bodies of these patients was no problem.” Respect Ton: “It has proven very risky to assume that you, as a practitioner, can know exactly what is happening in the body. Through study and experience, you come a long way, but you never know as much as the body itself; that is why we prefer to listen to the body. Face to face with endless consciousness, only modesty is appropriate.”<\/p>\n Peter: “As practitioners, we consciously take a step back in our examination, because the body always tells the truth, unlike the patient who sometimes consciously or unconsciously withholds information.”<\/p>\n Ton: “The brain forgets much, the body does not. You could therefore not wish for a better conversation partner, because the body has been present for everything. The body always tells the truth, prompted by the urge for healing.” It seems as if the body has its own agenda, separate from our mind? <\/p>\n Ton: “Yes, and I suspect it is even more complicated. There is a continuous exchange of information between various levels. Andrew Taylor Still uses the terms ‘matter,’ ‘mind,’ and ‘motion.’ Quantum physicist David Bohm talks about ‘implicate and explicate order’ in his book ‘Wholeness and the Implicate Order,’ and biologist Rupert Sheldrake suggests the influence of morphogenetic fields.”<\/p>\n Peter: “Here we hold on to what Still calls ‘matter,’ where the flow of information from the ‘mind’\u2014and I don’t mean the ‘mind’ of the brain, but the knowledge from the body\u2014is crucial to gaining insight into the behavior of that same body.”<\/p>\n Healing Peter: “Modesty is appropriate here again, because ultimately it is the body, the patient themselves, who realizes the healing; we only help to set the process in motion, and we often have a very good and grateful feeling about that together with the patient.” Ton: “For example, about the great importance of the lymphatic system: ‘Finer nerves dwell with the lymphatics than the eye can see.’ This seems to play an evident role in, for example, allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, or the development of gonarthrosis \/ arthritis. Ton van der Heiden and Peter van Dommelen would like to get in touch with readers, welcome an exchange of thoughts on this subject, and would like to pass on their experiences to interested parties, possibly in a course. They look forward to hearing from you. <\/p>\n From the magazine “De osteopaat”, March 2010. Publication by Ton van der Heiden D.O.-M.R.O. and Peter van Dommelen D.O.-M.R.O., B. Sc. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Six concrete cases recorded by Peter van Dommelen and Ton van der Heiden:<\/strong><\/p>\n A 29-year-old man has had frontal headaches several days a week since high school, sometimes with severe migraines. The headache starts as soon as he wakes up. The primary lesion found is the frontal arachnoid at the level of the Crista Galli of the ethmoid bone and, according to the examination, is the result of an inflammation at the age of eight. The patient confirms the dating found: at the age of eight, he contracted mumps, resulting in meningitis. <\/p>\n A 74-year-old woman has been suffering for two months from her right hip and pain at the level of the right sacroiliac joint radiating to the right groin. The primary lesion identified is tension in the capsule of the right kidney, originating from an emotional event four years earlier, which was triggered two months before the examination. The patient confirms that four years ago she was in mortal fear when she lost a lot of blood during a collapsed lung after a fall. Two months ago, she was in a similar situation; the memory gave her the same mortal fear again. <\/p>\n A 58-year-old woman comes to the practice with sternal pain at the level of the attachment of the fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs on the left and right. The GP noted high blood pressure. The primary lesion was found in the pericardium, and the examination pointed to an emotional event in 1986, which was activated two weeks before the examination. The patient talks about her divorce in 1986, after a period of infidelity by her husband, which caused her much heartache. Two weeks before the examination, a meeting with her ex brought back memories of her divorce. <\/p>\n A 15-year-old girl complains of fairly frequent occipital headaches and is consequently often unable to go to school. Examination reveals a primary lesion in the intracranial arachnoid, 7th octant left, caused by a head injury with an emotional charge at the age of four. Shortly before the onset of the complaints, this sensitivity was stirred up again. Her mother says that at the age of four, she had been skied over by a man on a black, icy slope. And, not unimportantly, she was immediately sent back onto the slope by her father, himself a ski instructor, to overcome the fear. The complaints were triggered by a fierce argument with her father about a planned skiing holiday. <\/p>\n A 39-year-old man has complained for years of chronic fatigue and allergies. The primary lesion is in the lymphatic tissue on the medial side of the right eye in the right eye socket, caused by a chemical overload of this eye at the age of twelve. The patient says that his parents had a car spray shop at the back of the garden. Work was also done outside on the grass, where the patient played a lot at the time. At twelve, he was hit in his right eye socket with a copper pipe. Shortly afterwards, he had a severe attack of high fever, which was inexplicable to the GP. <\/p>\n A 10-year-old boy with concentration problems and poor reading and arithmetic performance has difficulty falling and staying asleep and regularly wakes up crying at night for no apparent reason. The primary lesion is in the emotional center in the 5th octant of the right hemisphere, burdened by a negative emotional experience at the age of seven. Inquiry with the mother reveals that at that age he witnessed a serious accident involving his brother, who was hit by a car. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Listening to the body. 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\nAfter years of study\u2014initially physiotherapy, manual therapy, and later osteopathy at the I.A.O.\u2014Ton and Peter primarily knew ‘what others told them.’ However, they were looking for a more fundamental ‘knowing.’ A course by Hanneke Nusselein at Panta Rhei proved to be a first step in that new direction. <\/p>\n
\nAll the pieces of the puzzle fell into place during an ‘Emotional Release’ course by Jean-Pierre Barral, also at Panta Rhei. In his view, our entire body has a memory. All events are stored in the body; cellular memory plays a role in this. ‘Only tissues know.’ Lesions can be caused by energetic traumas (mechanical or through radiation), emotional traumas (fears, grief, guilt, helplessness, anger, etc.), or biochemical burdens (from bacteria, viruses, parasites, or exposure to, for example, lead, cadmium, zinc, or ink). This lesion can be activated by a repetition of the injury or by a specific ‘reminder’: sensory information that played a major role at the time the lesion originated, such as the smell of fish during food poisoning. <\/p>\n
\nFilled with great awe for the French master\u2014’the gap between his almost infinite knowledge, skills, and experience and ours seemed unbridgeable’\u2014Ton van der Heiden and Peter van Dommelen began working with Barral’s insights themselves. The technique, no great trade secret, proved as simple as it was inexplicable. However unlikely the method seemed at first glance, Ton and Peter gradually found more and more confirmation that they were on the right track.
\nTon: “The art is to extract information from the body. After all, the body carries all the information with it. Jean-Pierre Barral said that the body responds to questions the practitioner asks in their mind. You make contact with the patient by holding the head, and the reactions to the questions you ask in your mind\u2014inaudible to the patient\u2014are subtle but clearly perceptible with the hands. In this way, you work through a certain sequence of yes\/no questions and, by deduction, a diagnosis emerges: a complete story, the relevant structure, and the explanation of why this structure behaves this way.” They cannot rationally explain exactly how the body reacts, but it is a fact that Andrew Taylor Still already wrote about it. <\/p>\n
\nIn recent years, Peter and Ton often encountered a lack of understanding.<\/p>\n
\nAll osteopaths are looking for the primary lesion, but even if there is consensus on the research models, the diagnoses often turn out very differently. Hence the need for a means of control, which Ton and Peter were offered in a very remarkable way through Barral’s working method\u2014a method they have now been applying for seven years with very surprising results. <\/p>\n
\nTon and Peter see a clear added value here, a confirmation of the diagnosis made, because the cause of the primary lesion and the time it originated are inextricably linked to the lesion.<\/p>\n
\nLanguage plays no role in this.<\/p>\n
\nWhich therapy is subsequently used is entirely up to the practitioner: mobilizations, HVT techniques, fascial techniques, or a biodynamic approach.<\/p>\n
\nAt the basis of this method lies a great respect for the body, and for nature in general.<\/p>\n
\nTon and Peter are grateful to be allowed to work with this technique.<\/p>\n
\nThey have also made remarkable discoveries.<\/p>\n
\nWe have also learned a lot about the various emotional centers. We can now fully agree with John E. Upledger’s statement that certain emotions always seem to have a preference for certain structures. For example, the emotion of mortal fear likes to settle in the kidneys.”
\nBut back to the most essential factor in the examination: time. Ton: “By determining the time the primary lesion originated and its activation sometimes years later by certain events, we come closer to an answer to the most important question, namely the ‘why’ of certain complaints that manifest themselves again at certain moments in a person’s life. Because we can provide a plausible explanation for the patient by checking the years, this brings the patient much peace, understanding of the complaint, and motivation to actively work on the healing process themselves, even if it requires a different lifestyle.” <\/p>\n