"The best this to do when it is raining is to let it rain." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Photograph by Edward Steichen

What does it mean to let it rain when it's raining? (Or snow when it's snowing ;-) My answer points to a core tenet of Craniosacral therapy.

Yesterday I was feeling agitated, angry, distressed. I went to a quiet place to walk it out, leaned against a tree, and felt its neutral witnessing. (Yes, I feel things from trees ;-) The tree did not shame or judge or suggest, and that felt good!

The tree was practicing mindfulness! I think of mindfulness as Neutral Witnessing. Listening, seeing, being with what's there.

Craniosacral touch is a kind of neutral witnessing. We honor the body and psyche by listening. We don't impose our will, we ALLOW and trust the body and psyche to heal itself. As Carl Rogers said, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change." Carl Rogers was not a Craniosacral therapist, but he could have been! When we as Craniosacral therapists are just WITH what's there, whether it's sticky fascia, tense muscle, or inner critic, then healing starts to happen. The body/psyche feels seen, honored, trusted, and " Inner Physician" (CST's name for Inner Wisdom}, takes over.

Are we blaming, rationalizing, blocking, approving, judging, grasping? Loving, hating, adoring? Mindfulness to me seems to be noticing any and all and ...just noticing.

I know I am going to practice being like the tree -- standing tall and accepting. Being with myself, being with you, noticing, allowing.