Ignition Processes

By Michael J. Shea
2005

Ignition is an augmentation of a pre-existing therapeutic process that is under the direction of Primary Respiration. Ignition is the engine of the therapeutic process. It could be said that it is THE therapeutic process in biodynamic craniosacral therapy. Dr. Becker called it the “inherent treatment plan”. It is a fundamental perception in all states and tides in the Primary Respiratory System. The root or basis of ignition takes place within the tempo and guidance or direction of Primary Respiration in relationship to the midline. It has been said that Primary Respiration is “self-directing” the therapeutic process. It does so through ignition. There are four levels of Ignition and each level corresponds to each enfoldment of the Primary Respiratory System (PRS). The four levels are conception, heart, birth and somatic. Conception ignition corresponds to the tidal body. Birth ignition corresponds to the fluid body. Heart ignitionn corresponds to the dynamic stillness and finally somatic ignition corresponds to the body and the cranial rhythmic impulse.

Since biodynamic craniosacral therapy is the creative application of a set of principles, it must be stated as a principle of ignition, that all rates and rhythms in each of the four enfoldments of the PRS, all activations in the autonomic nervous system of the soma and even one’s dreams are ignition related. All phenomena in the Primary Respiratory System are therefore attempts of the PRS to ignite or re-ignite health and well-being of the client in relationship to the midline. It is the constant on-going process of balancing the forces of life and healing the imbalances located in the fluids of all living beings. As Dr. Sutherland said of the healing Potency of the Breath of Life: “it is in the fluids not of the fluids”. The wisdom and intelligence in the body is centered in the activity of the biodynamic ignition process.

Perception of the four ignitions is critical to the therapeutic process in biodynamic craniosacral therapy. Heart, birth, and somatic ignition take place within a milieu or matrix of biological resistance or interaction. Tissue and fluid resistance, which is metabolic, is natural to growth and development in the developing embryo. It is part of the process of condensing into form called dynamic morphology. Inertia imprinted in the heart, fluid body and soma from stress and trauma also provides the kindling for ignition. Resistance such as the natural compression of two adjacent tissues fields in the embryo or an illness or a relationship between two people is the flint by which the organism is ignited at the level of the heart, the fluid body and the soma especially its autonomic nervous system. Furthermore diaphragmatic breathing, as Dr. Sutherland discovered, is the fuel for ignition. The maintenance of heat on the midline and its distribution via the constriction and resistance of the capillaries to the whole body via the blood is one of its main by-products. As Dr. Blechschmidt, the German embryologist once said, “there is no growth without resistance”. This begins as a metabolic process in the embryo, continues as a physiological process throughout life and has a psychological and spiritual function as well.

The Ignition process is therefore of critical importance for the initiation, maintenance and integration of all metabolic, physiological, psychological and even spiritual events in the life of a body and the Primary Respiratory System. Ignition is the carrier of the original blueprint for the restorative and regenerative functions in the Soma via Primary Respiration. These restorative functions are derived from the Potency inherent within Primary Respiration.

Conception ignition perception

Conception ignition is a critical process that takes place within the tidal body. It is directly associated with Primary Respiration and involves the perception of a five step process. The five steps are: spark, ignition, permeation, augmentation and transmutation. Dr. Sutherland said there is a “spark” in the fluids that animates life. He said that the spark represented a type of sensory experience and palpable reality for the practitioner. “This is not an idle dream” he was fond of saying. The spark of the Breath of Life is designed to enter into its embryonic fulcrum every 100 seconds in the third ventricle in the adult brain. The spark occurs at the beginning of Primary inhalation in the third ventricle and its direction of movement is from the top down. If it is not, then it is likely an indicator of conception shock or other trauma held in the fluid body. Dr. Sutherland compared it to a beam of light that didn’t touch the water or “sheet lightning”.

The spark is preceded by an inherent natural augmentation of a Potency located within Primary Respiration that occurs specifically at the end of Primary exhalation. Thus, the spark occurs immediately after augmentation at the beginning of Primary inhalation and lasts a millisecond. In other words, the spark follows augmentation. As mentioned above, if the spark is absent or muted, it is likely an indication of inertia in the fluid body that was imprinted before, during or shortly after the actual conception of the client. A biodynamic CV3 may be necessary to clarify the spark and the original intention of the Breath of Life.

The spark is mirrored by an equal and complimentary movement of the life force emerging up from the pelvic floor. This is an event contained within the fluid body and coupled to the tidal body of the embryo. Thus there is the perception of translation or bridging that is constantly occurring back and forth between the tidal body and the fluid body at quantum speed. Bridging is an effect of Primary Respiration and is a discreet perceptual experience in biodynamic practice. Dr. Sutherland called the movement of the life force emerging from the coccyx up, the longitudinal fluctuation of the fluid body or the “direct current”.

Although present in all living fluids, the longitudinal fluctuation initiates the formation of the human body with the arising of the primitive streak in the embryo at the beginning of the third week post-fertilization. The primitive streak via the “direct current” invited the embodiment of the mesoderm, the formation of the muscles, bones and vascular system of the body. Embodiment at this time means that the layer of cells that form the framework of the body fill in between those other two layers (germs-ectoderm and endoderm) of cells much like an envelope being filled. The longitudinal fluctuation of the fluid body directed the placement of the cellular structure of the body at that time. This same movement in the adult body begins at the coccyx and flows up towards the third ventricle.

The longitudinal fluctuation of the fluid body initializes the formation of the body plan in the embryo and through the action of a reciprocal tension potency in the fluid body, a life force permeates the soma. As a result, the life force ignites every cell, which vivifies and animates the body as a whole. Simultaneously in the tidal body, all the biological systems in the body and its entire metabolism are able to transmutate during Primary inhalation because of the relationship of Primary Respiration to the midline. Transmutation allows the different systems of the body to integrate and regain coherency from stress and trauma as it is selectively released by Primary Respiration. The physiological systems of the body regain their function as a cohesive unit as the fluid body automatically shifts with the intentions of Primary Respiration in the tidal body.

An important ignition principle regarding transmutation is that Primary Respiration chooses when, where and how inertia is resolved in the fluid body and soma. It is out of the practitioner’s hands. No pun intended. These five stages of conception ignition are related to the function of the midline and its intrinsic stillness. All movement in the tidal body, fluid body and soma is oriented to the stillness of the midline. All phenomena arise out of the midline. Conception ignition is the foundation for all subsequent ignitions in the other enfoldments of the Primary Respiratory System. Stillness is the core around which the transformational movement of Primary Respiration revolves or orbits, so to speak. In other words, Primary Respiration is the first sleeve of experience around the midline’s core of stillness. Then the next sleeves superficial to that are the different aspects of the fluid body just mentioned and so forth.

Just as the tidal body and fluid body are coupled together, so to the tidal body and the dynamic stillness are linked. Frequently the practitioner’s perception of Primary Respiration fades to the background as the stillness fills the foreground of perception. This may indicate a period of silence as held inertia comes down into its fulcrum for resolution and automatic shifting or it may signal the accessing of one’s pre-conception totality. Either way, practitioners must continually rest their attention in the stillness when it fills the foreground and sense the void or emptiness that centers the stillness. In practice it helps the learning curve of the practitioner to differentiate between a total stillness that fills the room and extends to the horizon, a global stillness that surrounds the practitioner and the client and finally localized quieting of the tissues and fluids in the client’s body.

Let’s review early embryology from a biodynamic point of view. The fertilized ovum (zygote) is One entity and One Whole at conception. It is free of differentiation, division and separation at least at a metabolic level. Spiritually the being who is attempting to incarnate has just separated from spirit to join matter or perhaps an environment is generated by the union of egg and sperm that invites spirit to incarnate. The experience of Oneness as a metabolic imprint lasts about 24 hours. It is even called a stage “1” embryo in conventional embryology. Then cleavage (separation) of the zygote takes place generating a polarity, a duality, a metamorphosis and the first separation at the beginning of the long road to the discovery of that which was pre-existing at the beginning of embryonic time, original wholeness. This division and separation invokes a tension or resistance between two complimentary forces. You could say that this two celled stage of the embryo is a twin because both cells are nearly identical and could each become a fully grown human. In fact researchers have found that somewhere between 60%-80% of all human embryos have a twin at the beginning of the embryonic stage of life. Obviously many, many twins are lost which is another big story to contemplate for another time.

The basic work of self-regulation however, is to contact the tempo of wholeness which is Primary Respiration first and then for the practitioner to hold this twin tension in a spacious container of sacred space. Sacred space is characterized as having a functioning midline. The midline in biodynamic practice is dynamically still at its core as mentioned. This allows what Carl Jung called the transcendent function, or what Goethe called the Suprasensible, to reveal Itself between the two forces. One force is the force of autonomy and the maintenance of uniqueness. The physiological systems of the body especially the immune system are primarily designed to support one body (“my body”) and this perception of autonomy occurs at an instinctual level of understanding deep in the belly. It is perhaps a function of the “animal” body that is shared with all other bodies. At the same time, the nervous system, heart and viscera in particular, have functions that also rely on the relationship with another person(s) for their growth and development. Thus, the other force is that of relationship and interconnectedness. These two forces, at every level from the spiritual to the psychological to the metabolic, dance together in a ratio of balance and imbalance throughout life. They look for a midline to dance around.

Self-regulation is the goal of biodynamic craniosacral therapy and ignition is the process that develops and maintains it over the life span. Creating a containment field for these two things allows the One thing of our embryonic nature to re-emerge. This One thing is imprinted on our being as well as imprints of inertia such as stress and trauma. Both are always there. These are the keys to maintaining our embryonic nature: through awareness of the midline as the center of sacred space and synchronizing with Primary Respiration as the principle effect of incarnation and embodiment. Healing in biodynamic craniosacral therapy begins as a conjoining of these two forces which means that the practitioner must synchronize with the intentions of a therapeutic process already happening in the client’s body. It is a pre-existing force in the body. The therapeutic process is already happening. This healing intention of Primary Respiration is called ignition. In order to align with the priorities of the ignition process, a practitioner needs a functioning inner witness and be relatively capable of self-regulating himself or herself. The traditional axioms “physician know thyself” and “heal thyself” are true.

At the middle and core of the midline and life is stillness. Stillness is the starting point and state of mind that the practitioner seeks to inhabit in order to observe ignition in the client. Remember that the egg that all of us fellow human beings came from first differentiated long before the birth of our mother. Actually the egg that each of us came from differentiated when our mother was an embryo inside of her mother! Creation of a human being starts long before actual conception. Creation and incarnation is a long process. Conception and fertilization changes the egg to a zygote, the next life development of becoming an embryo.

Creation in the biodynamic model is initiated during Primary inhalation as a spark which ignites all of our biology. A subtle, luminous, clear consciousness is exhaling into the egg (Breath of Life) from the horizon of perception, thus causing the fertilized egg to respond differently to Primary inhalation in the cytoplasm of the zygote than before fertilization. Primary Respiration is one of the principle effects of the Breath of Life and the experience of the outside presence of Primary Respiration coming from the horizon has been named the long tide by the cranial osteopathic community. The genetic material of the sperm sets the egg spinning and vibrating. Centripetal and centrifugal forces begin to manifest in and around an original fulcrum in the center of the zygote as the state of consciousness of the divine coming through the Breath of Life inhabits the matter of biology and the genetic engine of conception is switched on by currents and tides in the cytoplasm responding to Primary Respiration. Numerous practitioners report sensing these movements including the vibration and spiraling of the zygote as it prepares to become two cells.

There is a center point or fulcrum of orientation and growth in the fluid cavities of the embryo during the first two weeks post-fertilization that influences the cell nucleus to produce the matter of life or the raw material of incarnation and embodiment. This fulcrum automatically shifts due to the changing shape, position and form in all four stages of dynamic morphology especially to areas around the third ventricle and the umbilicus. The function of this fulcrum becomes more localized in the increasingly complex structure of the embryo. Then the arising midline in the third week post-conception (which corresponds to the third stage of dynamic morphology) takes over its systemic functions of developmental orientation. Through all of this the very core of the fulcrum remains dynamically still. It is the stillness in the middle that allows the forces of incarnation and embodiment to orient. The midline arises during stage three of morphological development at the beginning of the third week post-conception. The midline now supersedes the function of the original fulcrum regarding the orientation of growth and development. The function of the original fulcrum, however, is still present in the fluid body performing localized and systemic functions such as inviting ossification centers to arise and orienting the inter-relationship between the various metabolic fields and physiological systems of the embryo and the adult body. Together with the midline, the fulcrum and the midline act as the air traffic control tower and the air traffic controllers for the shaping, positioning and forming processes in the embryo. This is called dynamic morphology or the biokinetic processes which are the result of the biodynamic process of conception ignition. At the core of the midline is also a dynamic stillness. Thus, all morphology is oriented to the core of stillness both in the fulcrum and the midline.

The human embryo is the new creation mythology of our time. The direction and vector of incarnation unfolds from the light-coming-down-from-heaven-above, and embodiment emerging-up-from-the-dark-womb-of-the-earth-below. Each direction is a mirror of the other. Each one contains both possibilities for creation and Incarnation. Incarnation is a process of revelation, step by step, sequence by sequence and stage by stage in the embryo. What is revealed? The answer is perfection, wholeness, grace and love. This is the “blueprint” that Dr. Sutherland spoke about that is contained in the fluid body, tidal body and soma. It requires conception ignition every 100 seconds throughout life to reveal the blueprint. Every human is constantly in a process of becoming One and maintaining access to original wholeness. It can be accessed by “knowing, thinking, feeling hands”.

Heart ignition perception

Sacred space is critical for containment of the forces of all levels of ignition. When the heart becomes ignited with compassion sacred space arises. It will inhibit the therapeutic process greatly or negate it altogether when there is no sacred space. Sacred space is characterized by the presence of a midline or center point in the space that connects the human, natural and human worlds together. As was stated previously, the core of the midline and fulcrum is dynamically still. The heart space is invited to arise in the third week post-fertilization along with the midline. The heart is invited to arise by the movement of the embryo’s blood that is circulating around the disc of the ectoderm and endoderm. The heart space stands out at the top of the newly formed midline and fills with amniotic fluid. Then something amazing happens and the heart space and its fluids become dynamically still for a couple of days. Thus the heart at its very core is imprinted with stillness.

In biodynamic practice, the heart is the sacred middle or center of the therapeutic relationship that connects the universe together. The practitioner is the manager of the container and keeper of the stillness and the flame, the heart essence so to speak, of how to ignite the midline for healing. Ultimately one of the functions of the heart is to imprint the blood with warmth. Warmth is the heat of compassion constantly radiating from a sleeve around the core of stillness in the heart. The practitioner embodies all these principles in his or her heart and mind. They are contained, managed and imaged by the heart-mind of the practitioner. The office of the practitioner is a heart rather than a womb. The world from this point of view is also a heart. There is nothing other than heart in human relationships. The lord god of Hinduism Krishna said “if you want to follow the spiritual path, I will give you the tools to follow the spiritual path. If you do not want to follow the spiritual path, I will also give you the tools to not follow the spiritual path”.

Heart ignition is the origination and maintenance of the middle world between the consciousness of the inside of the body and the consciousness of the outside of the body. During the first week post conception, the embryo is imprinting the consciousness of inside (endoderm) or subjectivity. During the second week, the consciousness of outside (ectoderm) is imprinted. Finally during the third week, a middle ground or connection between the two must happen for the embryo to survive. This is when the heart forms for such a connection (mesoderm). The blood already began to form in the second week. The embryonic heart forms at the top of the head and then gradually is placed in the center of the body at the beginning of the fourth week post-conception. It is the only structure in the middle of the body at the beginning of man’s existence. The heart is the middle connecting relationship between the structures of the endoderm and those of the ectoderm. The heart-mind consciousness connects and communicates between the two opposing layers of inside consciousness and outside consciousness.

The heart as mentioned ignites the blood with warmth especially with the help of the hormone oxytocin, which one researcher has called the “hormone of love”. The structured water in the blood is imprinted with the warmth of love and compassion in the heart as crystalline structures. These fundamental qualities of the heart go to the brain first and then the rest of the body carried in the blood through 40,000 miles of capillaries. Love and compassion circulate constantly in the body and between bodies especially in a therapeutic relationship. The heart is ignited by taking in pain and suffering (compassion) and transforming it into the light of love. It can do this with ease and grace because at the core of the heart is stillness and compassion. Compassion is the most fundamental ignition process of the heart. That is why practitioners of biodynamic craniosacral therapy wait for the impulse of compassion to arise in the heart prior to making contact with the client. Practitioners ignite their own heart at the beginning of a treatment by various practices and meditations such as tonglen (exchanging self for other).

Embryologically the hands differentiate from an impulse in the heart. The hands grow from the heart! As the hands grow they follow the curvature of the heart with the palms down. The curvature of the heart allows the joints of the fingers and elbows to form. The hands are an expression of the heart and in healing work; the practitioner either ignites the heart consciously or waits silently for heart ignition to manifest as the compassionate impulse to make contact with the client. Heart ignition is incandescent. There is a bright light in the center of the heart and the hands are its beacons. The client is held in love and the hands cradle the client with that attitude. It is unnecessary and unproductive to merge with the client. Surround the client with love rather than penetrating the client with love. At the beginning of a biodynamic session, the practitioner ignites his or her own heart and senses the heart ignition flow down the arms into the hands to surround the client rather than enter the client. This is how the first physical contact with the client is made. The client is held with loving kindness.

Heart ignition is sparked by the union of stillness and compassion. The embodiment of stillness occurs in the core of the heart where it merges with the compassion of human relationship and connection to all sentient beings. This requires the mind witness (outside consciousness) and gut witness (inside consciousness) to merge with the heart witness. The heart witness is the primary witness necessary to manage the utmost complexities of life, love and spirit. The key is for the practitioner to be receptive and inviting of the client’s nervous system to enter the practitioner rather than projecting one’s “energy” into the client. Projecting or merging into the client stifles the potential for self-regulation in both the client and the practitioner. Receptivity must be self-regulated so when the client enters the practitioner’s nervous system and body, the practitioner knows who’s who and what’s what. Being receptive to the totality of another human being is the work of the heart. Heart ignition is a reflex built into the heart and develops over a lifetime with patience, generosity, prayer and meditation and skill.

Biodynamic craniosacral therapy with the heart involves exploring the pelvic, thoracic and respiratory diaphragms. The embryonic heart at one time filled the space between the pubic symphysis and the clavicles. Thus the major diaphragms must be explored for imprinting related to the heart. The respiratory diaphragm as an embryo was called the transverse septum. The first arising of the transverse septum was to stabilize the heart in its relationship to the liver and the heart’s position in the trunk cavity. Finally the atlanto-occipital area is explored biodynamically as fibers of the pericardium indirectly extend to the cranial base and the vagus nerve that enervates part of the heart passes through this critical area. Therefore the space above and below the foramen magnum must be balanced biodynamically.

Following such exploration with the diaphragms the pharyngeal arch derivatives and seams are sensed very gently. Specialized aortic arches arose in the embryo for each of the five arches that become the structures of the face and neck. The aortic arches gradually regress and disappear in later stages of embryonic development but leave a lasting imprint. The face head and neck are firmly anchored by the embryonic heart and its specialized arches and therefore no exploration of the adult head, neck and face or heart is complete without sensing the embryonic arches and the embryonic seams or creases between each of them. Embryonic flexion and extension are the underlying biokinetic forces inviting the face, cranial nerves, anterior neck and foregut to arise. It is the biodynamic force of the fluid body and tidal body that invites the embryo to flex and extend. This is the fourth and last stage of dynamic morphology of the embryo. It starts in week four and continues until the end of the embryonic period. The first three stages of dynamic morphology as mentioned correspond to each of the first three weeks of embryonic development.

This level of biodynamic practice requires that the practitioner visualize the migration of embryonic neural crest cells moving from the posterior aspect of the occiput forward to the arch derivatives in the face and neck. It is further important to visualize the surface of the client’s body that is out of view, typically the entire posterior surface of the client’s body as he or she is usually lying supine. The practitioner holds and visualizes both himself or herself and the client three-dimensionally. This facilitates the perception of Primary Respiration in the practitioner first, then in the client and finally when both the practitioner and client are breathing together in the same field of Primary Respiration. The perception of this type of therapeutic “breathing together” is a fundamental component of heart ignition and the healing process. Safety and trust in the therapeutic relationship requires time for the wounds of the heart to heal. The breathing together of the dyad in Primary Respiration may take time but is an essential part of the therapeutic process in biodynamic craniosacral therapy. This is heart ignition where stillness and compassion come together. Patience is an essential component of heart ignition as the practitioner waits for the priorities of Primary Respiration to be clarified through the heart.

Then there are two visceral triads that also need to be assessed. They are the liver, lungs and heart and the bladder, small intestine and kidneys. These assessments are done within the tempo of Primary Respiration. This balances the heart-mind connection and integrates heart ignition through the rest of the body and central nervous system especially the viscera. The actual physical heart must be evaluated from the point of view of its embryological development and surrounding tissue fields of the pericardium. The two visceral triads supported the heart as the heart supported the brain during embryonic development. The heart continues this level of support through the life span.

Birth ignition perception

Birth ignition is a series of events that take place before, during and immediately after birth. These events principally occur within the fluid body or mid-tide. The baby chooses its time to be born and must be supported with the presence of Primary Respiration by those facilitating and supporting the choices made by the baby and the mother. As with conception, birth involves compression and a major transition from one state to another. Whereas conception is a metabolic transition, birth is mostly a physiological transition especially moving from an aquatic breathing environment to an air breathing environment in a relatively very short period of time. Thus, in traditional osteopathy, birth ignition has a major component called the “first breath”.

Primary Respiration and secondary respiration are coupled together throughout life. Primary Respiration controls secondary respiration. This is very evident when sustaining attention on Primary Respiration. It is necessary to sense the way Primary Respiration controls the pace of breathing. Both respirations are further designed to be synchronized periodically at the beginning of Primary inhalation. After birth the “spark” needs oxygen to ignite the fire of life to meet the world and society. At conception, the zygote starts to “breath” with a suction motion in the cytoplasm. The fertilized egg begins to expand and contract with the gesture of a pair of lungs. This is a pre-exercising of lung function and the earliest of all human functions to appear. Assessment of the function of breathing is critical to biodynamic treatment processes and especially birth ignition. Likewise, this synchronization of the two respirations is designed to happen via the first-breath of the new born baby. Natural birth compression in a vaginal delivery squeezes fluid out of the infant’s lungs which helps to generate the power for the infant to manifest 80% of the adult force necessary to take the first-breath. Each subsequent breath of the infant gradually brings the respiratory tonus down to match the infant’s innate smaller capacity or physiological force as the lungs convert to oxygen breathing. It may take up to a year or more after birth to complete the structural and functional transition from aquatic fetal life to air breathing life. The heart, lungs and liver had fetal by-pass valves, so to speak, as oxygen was coming through the umbilical veins and arteries and by-passing the lungs and liver. This transition begins to take place very quickly within five minutes at the end birth, as these fetal by-pass valves between the liver and the heart and the lungs and the heart gradually become ligaments. This also includes umbilical-bladder veins and arteries becoming ligaments. This transitional work builds the potency to meet life and society. Dr. Sutherland was very skilled at soliciting a deep breath from his clients at the beginning of Primary inhalation. It was one of his favorite therapeutic skills. This re-ignites the first-breath. This event is directly linked to the function of the heart and lungs as well as any imprinting held within those functions. Imprinting of all sorts can occur within these functions as a result of numerous prenatal and perinatal experiences especially a medicalized birth. The practitioner divides attention between cycles of Primary Respiration and the client’s diaphragmatic breathing pattern.

Oxygen is necessary for ignition of the fluid body and building heat on the midline for distribution to the extremities, the viscera, the brain and every cell in the Soma. It has been said that an infant is a fire to be ignited rather than a basket to be filled. To meet the world and have the world meet the infant requires a supplemental load of heat and fire on the midline. The temperature change between the fetal environment and the post natal environment is quite dramatic. Thus, the fluid midline of the infant needs to be re-ignited. The fluid midline was ignited at conception adding impetus to the egg cell nucleus to divide and become a stage 2 embryo known as the process of cleavage. At birth, however, this level of ignition involves long-axis compression-decompression especially between the sacrum and the occiput. Again this occurs naturally in a vaginal delivery but is frequently interfered with in unnecessary medical interventions. The side-lying sacral-occipital hold is a good position for the adult client to be in when the practitioner is drawn to sense this level of birth ignition. The fluid midline compresses, stillpoints and resolves the stillpoint with an expansion of the fluid body. It is the type of skill that may need to be repeated regularly.

Vaginal births are a CV4. The fluid body is naturally compressed into a fulcrum in the fourth ventricle as part of the long axis compression between the sacrum and the occiput. A birth CV4 is related to igniting the physiological breathing centers around the floor of the fourth ventricle, the sleep centers and many specialized functions of the cranial nerves that must now come on-line, so to speak, and help the infant face the world of the mother. The cranial nerves must be ignited especially to facilitate the suck-swallow-breathing reflex, critical to the life of the infant. The use of CV4’s in clinical practice must take this into account or the autonomic nervous system may remain fixated in dissociation from a medicalized birth. Frequently the channel between the third ventricle and the fourth is congested from birth trauma especially by the use of vacuum extraction devices. The third ventricle gets ignited by the fourth ventricle in an uncompromised delivery. The third ventricle is related to the ignition of the neuro-endocrine-immune axis between the pineal and pituitary glands. The hypothalamus can become imprinted if this axis is improperly ignited. Improper ignition frequently manifests as feeding, absorption and elimination issues in the infant. This may also be related to what is called umbilical affect. Premature cutting of the umbilical cord after birth induces stress and possibly shock and trauma into the infant’s gut, lungs and heart via the pathways of the umbilical veins and arteries. Umbilical-endoderm work is more important than work on the head to a newborn. Umbilical affect must be negotiated first and the visceral system de-stressed for proper birth ignition. In other words, endoderm derivatives are more important clinically than the ectoderm derivatives of the cranium in the majority of newborns. The birth ignition processes however, of long axis compression-decompression and the stillpoint of the fluid body fulcrum in the fourth ventricle supersede cranial molding issues in most cases which I will talk about in the section called somatic ignition below.

Drug imprints, anesthesia shock and medical interventions from birth will most certainly arise in the therapeutic process with infants and adults. The practitioner attempts to discover these fragments and fulcrums including the prenatal maternal history, etc. Early imprinting is pervasive and the practitioner is like a detective. The whole story is in the Fluid Body and Tidal Body and secondarily in the tissues. If the client does not know his history, that’s where the practitioner will find it – in the fluids. The tissue story is secondary to the fluid imprints.

Now that the infant has a set of air breathing lungs and a rudimentary but highly functional vocal and emotional expression system, the epic story of the previous nine months can be told by the infant. It will take six years for this vocal-emotional expression system to fully develop structurally in terms of the pharynx, the cranial base and the “social nervous system” (the polyvagal system). Up until now the growing gestures of the embryo and the patterned neuromuscular movements of the fetus have been the main forms of expression. The epic adventure that the infant has personally experienced for the past year has added potency behind and indeed the infant wants to express itself fully. The prenatal and perinatal story must be allowed to be told in contained and resourced ways. The most recent medicalized adventures such as C-sections, forceps and vacuum extractions are particularly compelling stories. The fluid body tells the story of birth through gesture (shape shifting), viscosity changes between thick and thin, heat, metabolic gradients of activity (currents), and projecting itself into the practitioner’s fluid body. The newborn baby is almost completely symbiotic in the first year of life. In other words, his survival depends upon his ability to merge with the caregiver and likewise the caregiver’s ability to merge with the infant. This symbiotic relationship is the most beneficial way for the infant to get his most fundamental needs met. He completely projects them into the caregiver via sophisticated interactions between the right hemispheres of both the infant and the caregiver. Merging with the caregiver builds the autonomic nervous system of the infant in alignment with the way the caregiver’s autonomics are functioning. In clinical practice this means that the client’s birth and gestational story is being unconsciously projected into the practitioner. Again, the practitioner’s birth story may be projected into the client, if the practitioner is unaware of her own birth dynamics, especially if there was trauma involved. The client-therapist relationship therefore is a direct analog of the infant-mother relationship. This is critically important.

It is imperative therefore, that the practitioner be aware of her own birth dynamics and know how to self-regulate her emotions. This means the practitioner needs to differentiate her own emotions and history from those of the client. It is not valuable to an adult client to remain in a merged state with the practitioner or vice-versa. Self-regulation, the goal of birth ignition is thwarted in the unconscious merged state. Merging with the client happens naturally. It is very powerful and must be brought to consciousness for resolution of prenatal and perinatal issues to occur. The fluid body needs desperately to be reignited in most clients as a result of prenatal and perinatal imprinting of stress and trauma on the fluid body.

Ideally, the infant-mother attachment is secure. This happens approximately 50% of the time. Otherwise, the client-practitioner relationship must devote more time to establishing such security and managing projection and transference issues, especially dissociation. Differentiation of the family system makes it possible for the infant to have her own fire ignited rather than her amygdala “kindled”. The amygdala is the most basic operating part of the emotional brain that is highly functional for the first three months after birth. It is particularly susceptible to fear. Mom and Dad ideally are in a process of knowing themselves psychologically and/or spiritually to lessen the “fear factor” in the infant. Fear compresses the fluid body because the infant must reorient its brain function care for them and their stress. It manifests behaviorally in the infant, child and the adult as shame and hopelessness. This could be called an insecure birth ignition.

Orientation to the presence of Primary Respiration needs to be available inwardly and outwardly to the client just as it was an essential need of the infant. The infant needs someone in the space to be in a slow tempo. So does the embryo. Otherwise, dissociation is the result. This allows the infant to access his midline. Orthopedic and myofascial splits and distortions in proportion to the perception of a missing midline frequently occur during the prenatal and birth process. This includes conjunct cites and pathways, intraosseous strains, SBJ patterns, etc., that resulted from mild, moderate or severe trauma in the birth and/or prenatal process. Some of these are primary “lesions” and must be circumnavigated by the practitioner. The client frequently uses them as developmental fulcrums. Proper birth ignition allows the infant to access its midline which represents autonomy and self-regulation, two essential ingredients for maturing into the world.

The whole gestational story is held as an original Creation Myth. It is unique to each human being and yet similar to all of humanity. Birth ignition has the elements of Irony, Pathos and Ecstasy in it. Early imprinting is held as images and story line in the physical body and the mind of the client because the imprints occurred during the preverbal time of life. The adult client has no conscious recall of the imprinting or the effects of the imprinting. Such imprinting is also held by the fluid body as congestion, density, compression and erratic movement. The key to resuscitating the fluid body and rehabilitating birth ignition is for the practitioner to stay within the tempo of Primary Respiration.

Somatic ignition perception

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the cranial rhythmic impulse (CRI) maintain the ignition of the life force in the Soma. The ANS is the carrier of both stress and joy. The prevalence of stress and trauma in the culture are reframed to consider states of activation and withdrawal in the Soma as repeated attempts of the Primary Respiratory system to ignite. The ANS is similar to a box of matches. Working with the CRI is contraindicated unless the practitioner is able to synchronize with the three previous levels of ignition. Ignition hinges on Primary Respiration and the practitioner must be able to continually rest his or her attention on it. Furthermore, the practitioner must have developed skills of containment should the ANS become hyperactive. Then somatic ignition can be coupled to conception, birth and the heart in resourced ways. Somatic ignition is an ignition of coherence between physiological systems through the discharge, containment and self-regulation of the ANS.

One type of somatic ignition relates to the way an infants head is molded by the maternal pelvis. As an editorial note, the use of medical head bands on infants, in my experience has not been helpful. The overlapping of the infants’ immature and flexible cranial bones and sutures is natural. This shapes the infants head in ways that depict the passage through the maternal pelvis and its unique shape. After other considerations such as umbilical affect have been assessed, it may be time to visit the infant’s cranium with the permission of the infant or the adult client’s head with the permission of the client. The cranium gets ignited by the circumferential compression and gliding forces placed upon it in the birth canal. Because there are strong surges of stress hormones coursing through the mother’s body and in the infants’ body, pauses in the birth canal by the infant may concentrate the stress hormones in locations and points of greatest contact. These are commonly called conjunct sites and conjunct pathways. A site is in the bone and causes intraosseous strain patterns in the bones themselves. Conjunct pathways are imprints in the fascia of the head and whole body since the fascia is a global interconnected system. These sites when touched unconsciously by a practitioner may trigger a cascade of events in the ANS of the client and the infant. Even when a practitioner is conscious of birth imprinting these conjunct sites and pathways may still become activated. The practitioner holds these activations as a type of somatic ignition within the context of Primary Respiration.

Somatic ignition is further related to birth in the activation of the piezo-electric system occurs in the superficial fascia as a precursor to the galvanic skin response between infant and the mother person. Birth compression from a vaginal delivery ignites the superficial fascia, especially the skin. The skin is derived from ectoderm and at the beginning of infancy gives the child a three-dimensional sense of its own body when being held by a caregiver. This is the domain of the development of a healthy body image that is carried through the lifespan. When the caregiver holds the infant, the infant unconsciously reads the state of the mother’s nervous system thru the galvanic skin response. The baby also “reads” the context of the touch, whether it’s safe and nurturing and this in turn helps to develop the centers for self-regulation in the orbitofrontal cortex of the right hemisphere of the infant’s brain. When a biodynamic craniosacral practitioner places his or her hands on the client for prolonged periods of time (5-20 minutes per handhold) the client synchronizes with the autonomic nervous system of the practitioner just as the infant did with her mother.

So far, ignition has been discussed as an internal process involving Primary Respiration and linked to it. Ignition, however, also has an external component. The action of the practitioner’s intentions, mechanical pressure as well as the use of techniques and protocols, may in fact facilitate somatic ignition. This means that biomechanical craniosacral therapy can be reframed as an external Ignition when properly and appropriately applied by a biodynamically trained practitioner. Biomechanical work is considered an augmentation of internal ignition by the practitioner’s hands. It involves the limited use of a technique, skill or protocol to ignite the fluid body or soma. This is traditionally called “automatic shifting” of held inertia in the fluid body in biodynamic practice. Any use of such biomechanical skills requires that the Fluid body and Tidal body be balanced immediately afterwards and furthermore that the ANS be contained. Practitioners trained in biomechanical work would only use techniques from the biodynamic point of view in the middle of a treatment and only for several minutes. The therapeutic part of the treatment begins and ends with Primary Respiration with stillness in the background. Therefore, biomechanical skills are only used in the middle of treatment. To repeat; the tidal body and fluid body must be balanced before and after the use of biomechanical work.

All trauma resolution work is somatic ignition work. The basic principles of trauma resolution therapies are involved with containment and self-regulation of affect, slowing and stilling the therapeutic process and connecting the client to intrinsic therapeutic resources already present in the client’s life and body. These principles and therapeutic skills, when used by a well trained therapist support and facilitate the biodynamic ignition process. Primary Respiration is considered to be the most significant therapeutic resource in biodynamic craniosacral therapy. When the practitioner is able to synchronize his or her attention with it, the process of transformation inherent within conception ignition is able to reveal itself more fully to both the practitioner and the client. Birth, heart and somatic ignitions become the means whereby conception ignition manifests its healing power.