Engaging the Movement of Life : Exploring Health and Embodiment Through Osteopathy and Continuum

Foreword ix Emilie Conrad Introduction 1(10) Prologue: Beginning with Saline Fluid Resonance 11(4) Engaging the Movement of Life: The Common Ground of Osteopathy and Continuum Movement 15(28) What Is Continuum Movement? 18(1) Watery Motion: Rhythm, Speed, and Amplitude Variation 19(2) The Movement of Breath and Sound 21(2) The Primacy of Breath and Fluidity as More Than Mechanical Events 23(3) Open-Ended Inquiry 26(1) Attention 27(1) Habit: A Closed System 27(1) Mutability: The Capacity to Change, Adapt, and Heal 28(2) ``Release'' Is Not a Goal 30(1) The Body Is Primarily Fluid 30(1) The Embryonic Field 31(3) Fluid, Movement, and Health 34(2) Developing a Sensory-Based Kinesthetic Vocabulary 36(1) Experiencing Osteopathy in Continuum Practice 37(4) Each of Us Is Our Own Healer 41(2) The Dynamics of Attention 43(32) Learning to Attend to Myself as Well as I Attend to Others 43(5) The Philosophy of ``What Else...?'' 48(1) Thinking Does Not Create Embodiment 49(3) Inquiry about Relationships 52(2) The Effects of Being Attentive 54(2) Modes of Attentiveness 56(2) The Measurable and Immeasurable Aspects of Attention 58(4) Concentrating versus Paying Attention 62(2) Engaged Support versus Intervention 64(3) Utilizing a Map to Explore the Territory 67(2) Open Attention and the Tempo of Silent-Felt Listening 69(1) Language, Belief, Attention, and Perception 70(3) The Value of Embodied Information 73(1) Attention as a Portal to the Mystery 73(2) The Nature of Water in the Living Human Body 75(41) The Indirect Answer That Fueled My Inquiry 76(2) Fresh Water and Salt Water Distribution in the Body and on Earth 78(1) Interesting Properties of Water 79(2) The Natural Characteristics of Moving Water 81(5) Spiral Movement in Water 86(5) The Saline Fluids of the Body 91(1) Water Content 92(2) Self-Care Using Water and Its Vital Qualities 94(4) Water as a Conduit for Information Transfer 98(1) Material Characteristics of CSF, the Body's Fresh Water 99(6) Nonmaterial Characteristics of CSF 105(6) Health and the Expression of Fluidity 111(5) The Embryonic Field and Healing 116(15) The Literal and Archetypal Embryo 116(1) Embryonic Field Influence in Children and Adults 117(2) An Overview of Conception and Implantation 119(1) The Emergence of the Midline 120(3) The Trilaminar Embryo 123(2) Questioning Stem Cell Research 125(2) Embryonic Field Considerations in Diagnosis and Treatment 127(4) Health as the Reference Point 131(19) Hope versus Expectation 133(6) Caring for Ourselves 139(1) Discipline versus Devotion 140(3) Biology versus Biography 143(1) Need 144(1) Healing as the Future Moving into the Present 145(2) Healing Is Not about Self-Improvement 147(1) Our Need for Help 148(2) The Mutability of Mesoderm 150(43) The Accidental Osteopath 150(5) The Origin and Nature of Mutable Mesoderm 155(7) Non-Structural Elements of Embryonic Mesoderm 162(1) The Illusion of ``Systems'' in the Body 163(2) What Makes Connective Tissue Connect? 165(3) The Basic Composition of Tissues Derived from Mesoderm 168(5) The Role of Water in Connective Tissue 173(3) Is the Name ``Osteopathy'' a Misnomer? 176(3) Form Follows Function 179(5) The Communicating Matrix and the Possibility of a ``Continuum Pathway'' 184(1) Forces That Influence Developing Tissue Continue throughout Life 185(4) Bone Health, Aging, and Degeneration 189(2) Mutability: The Common Rationale for Working with Mesoderm 191(2) Fitness: Working ``Out'' or Working ``Within''? 193(22) What Is Fitness? 193(2) ``Jungle Gym'': A Dynamic Expression of Continuum 195(3) Why Do You Choose a Particular Activity? 198(2) What about Doing Physical Activities Just for Fun? 200(3) What about Yoga, Pilates, and the Gym? 203(4) The Problems with Excessive Static Stability 207(2) The Value of Attentiveness-Based Fitness Training 209(1) Movement as a Prescribed Treatment 210(4) Sensing How We Move versus Moving What We Are Told to Move 214(1) Backs Don't ``Go Out'' 215(4) Continuum Movement and the Eros of Life 219(5) Movement and Stillness: A Mutually Inclusive Continuum 224(9) The Paradox of Simultaneous Movement and Stillness 224(1) Physical Stillness versus Dynamic Stillness 225(2) Stillness in Osteopathy: Dynamic, Rhythmic, Balanced Interchange 227(1) Shifting the Paradigm from Physical to Metaphysical Fulcrums 228(2) Movement and Stillness: A Mutually Inclusive Continuum 230(3) Resources 233(2) Acknowledgments 235(4) Notes 239(8) Credits and Permissions 247(2) Index 249