Suzanne Scurlock-Durana - Reclaiming Your Body: Healing from Trauma and Awakening to Your Bodys Wisdom

Also by Suzanne Scurlock-Durana

Full Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Bodys Wisdom

Copyright 2017 by Suzanne Scurlock-Durana

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for education. It is not meant to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical practitioner or therapist. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given or liability taken.

Names and identifying characteristics of the individuals in this book have been changed.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Scurlock-Durana, Suzanne, [date] author.

Title: Reclaiming your body : healing from trauma and awakening to your bodys wisdom / Suzanne Scurlock-Durana.

Description: Novato, California : New World Library, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017000435 (print) | LCCN 2017006593 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608684687 (paperback) | ISBN 9781608684694 (Ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Craniosacral therapy. | Mind and body. | BISAC: BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Healing / General. | SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / General. | PSYCHOLOGY / Psychopathology / Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). | HEALTH & FITNESS / Alternative Therapies.

Classification: LCC RZ399.C73 S382 2017 (print) | LCC RZ399.C73 (ebook) | DDC 615.8/528dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017000435

First printing, June 2017

ISBN 978-1-60868-468-7

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-469-4

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my mom, Mary Jane,
for her indomitable spirit and her love of life

Contents

T he information in this book was born over three decades ago out of my own healing and my exploration into what was needed to facilitate that healing. In that time I have practiced and taught CranioSacral Therapy (CST), which is a gentle hands-on technique, originally practiced only by osteopaths but now taught and practiced by a wide range of healthcare providers. It utilizes light touch and engages the bodys wisdom and healing potential through a series of physical and emotional releases. During this therapy, you mobilize the bones and membranes of the brain and spinal cord. My mentor was Dr. John Upledger, and I have taught for the Upledger Institute since 1986. I tell the story of how I discovered and trained in this work in .

CST healed my chronic pain and sent me on a mission to uncover more about how we can truly become friends again with our own body. In my healing process all those years ago, I discovered that my cells hold wisdom that is just waiting to be listened to. And listen I have more and more closely to all parts of myself. By using my bodys wisdom listening to and being present in my heart, my gut, my pelvis, and my bones for healing and guidance I developed the program I call Healing from the Core (HFC) to share this internal body wisdom and experience with others.

The stories in this book are all real examples of cellular intelligence, awakened by my HFC work alone or combined with CST. I am unabashedly biased in this realm. My hope is that, once you are shown how revolutionary this is, and you give it a real chance, you will agree. There is no doubt in my mind or body as to its validity and efficacy.

However, our culture as a whole does not always see what is so obvious to me. All the recent breakthroughs in brain research and trauma (which I describe later) were thought to be heresy as little as ten to twenty years ago. When I teach this work in a new professional group, I often assume people know and understand about their bodys wisdom. How could you miss it? It is so simple and obvious to me.

And yet, again and again, I am shocked to witness exactly the opposite. The good news is that people these days now understand the central concepts. They understand why they might want to be grounded and centered and that yoga and meditation bring these concepts to life. Presence is a huge buzzword in the coaching and psychotherapy world, and our awareness of being in the present moment has been growing ever since Ram Dass pointed it out to us decades ago. My own healing work and the explorations in this book build on these concepts.

Still, many people have never actually had the experience, and this work is all about the experience the direct experience of full-body presence and body wisdom what it feels like, tastes like, smells like, and looks like. Beyond our five senses, it is also the ineffable experience of simply being alive, which encompasses our body, mind, and spirit. Many people dont even realize what they are missing. Yet without being present in our body, our experience just is not the same. It is severely limited. Its like a building without a solid foundation. My hope is that this book helps you build that foundation.

I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me.

HERMANN HESSE

Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources.

WILLIAM JAMES

T he body has its own language that is older and more primal than most of us realize. Our bodies speak to us with sensations, images, emotions, and an inner knowing that is beyond words. Have you ever had a niggling doubt that nags you for days, a vague pain in your leg that wont go away, or a heaviness in your heart that could mean either I need to call my mother or I should call my doctor? This book will help you understand what these sensations mean and how to respond to them.

Common idioms, the little everyday phrases that people use, often capture glimpses of this body wisdom. For instance, my heart goes out to you is obviously not meant literally. It is a figure of speech that means I am feeling empathy for you and am reaching out to connect. But when you hear or read those words, how do they make you feel? When I read my heart goes out to you, I feel a rush of warmth in my chest, and I soften. My chest expands as I contemplate my heart energetically encompassing someone in need.

Most of us are conditioned at a very young age to turn off this inner guidance system of sensation, imagery, and inner knowing. Our priceless body wisdom is getting lost as our culture speeds up and becomes more technology driven. Compounding this issue is the fact that lifes traumas also cut us off from our bodys wisdom.