My CST Journey
The Extended Version
While pregnant with my first, I took the second Upledger Institute CST class. That intelligence with regular pregnancy sessions really opened my eyes to the multitude of benefits CST has to offer. Postpartum, I took the first Somato Emotional Release (SER) class and got to process a large chunk of trauma from the unplanned c-section. We had planned for a home birth, but he was breech from about 34weeks onward. I felt weird about doing a manual flip and come time for labor my anxiety set off my blood pressure and he hadn't flipped. Even got to be fully dilated but I "had" to do the c-section because breech and "eclampsia." The few days in the hospital weren't the greatest either. I had so much anger and frustration, but we were all here and alive, be happy everyone said, but so much anger lingered. In SER, I got to be a demo and with the beautiful work from the instructors, the trauma in my body was found. I got to dialogue, I cried and released a layer of tension all related to the birth. During the practice sessions I had more releases, one of anger that turned to laughter and another triggered sneezing fits. I coulndn't laugh or sneeze without pain while the incision was healing, so I figured my body bottled it up but still needed to get that energy out. CST kept getting better in my eyes.
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SER 2 happened while pregnant with our second, but by that point I had nearly completed the energy work training and looked at so many of my traumas that I think I was cried out. I was really able to focus on some of the amazing concepts/benefits of CST/SER at that skill level. A fascinating topic discussed was the completion of a biological process. For example, pregnancy through labor, delivery and bonding is a biological process. Digestion is another. While I didn't have a big SER in the class, I did experience a past life. In this past life, I died in battle, spear to the throat, and had regret of never telling my loved one how much I cared for and appreciated her. Dying of an unnatural cause, is an unfinished biological process, so my body, on a cellular level, was holding onto that information, that trauma, and affecting me in this life. The funny part, is that past life wife, is this life's husband, our roles were switched, but the message was the same. I felt I didn't express how much I appreciate him. We released that trauma with CST and dialoguing and I have moved forward, working on expressing myself more, in a healthy way. Just when I thought how amazing CST is, it went and got better.
CST was an amazing help throughout pregnancy again. I "coincidentally" had an appointment scheduled the day I went into labor, again, because it happened with our first also. We got the home birth experience too. Successful home VBAC. It was perfect. So at that point, I'm feeling every mama needs this work, the babies, kids, everyone needs CST, this is the best. Then I decided to take the pediatrics course and was absolutely blown away.
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In the pediatrics class, students are responsible for getting littles and families for the practice times, and our own families were an option. So we said, amazing, lets go, the kids can get this amazing work and I can expand on this skillset. We ended up being the demo family, where everyone watched the instructors work on us as a family. I had to pretend to nurse, with my actual boob out, a baby doll, on a projector screen because my son insisted I do so, during his session... Turned out, I was holding onto guilt for having to stop nursing him sooner than I expected. I thought he was jealous of his sister nursing. He was just reminiscing about that bonding time we shared and was totally okay about stopping. It was all unnecessary weight I made up and was carrying around. Poof, released, thank you CST.
Another amazing part about that class, was the demo session with our 5 month old daughter. We were worked on simultaneously by the instructor and assistant. She was only pooping every 4 or 5 days, and I knew there was a tension pattern, but frustratingly wasn't able to treat it myself. So they found a tension pattern in my hips, connected to my uterus, daughter had the same one. Thru some dialoguing mine released, followed by hers. She's had a normal poop routine ever since. I already had the understanding that working on yourself, helps your kids, but this was next level stuff for me. To be able to treat a family unit all at once, is nothing but pure magic. That class was such a gift to our family and a skill I am so excited to share with others.
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Every class with Upledger, even being a teaching assistant, makes me love this work more. It is truly magical what being neutral, curiousity and gentle hands can do for a person's health and wellness.
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Thank you for taking the time to read a piece of my story.