Going completely against the established teaching of his time, he recognised a subtle motion within the intricate bony structure of the skull. During the next 100 years, more and more people were drawn to investigate this revolutionary therapy. At first, it was taught only to osteopaths, who were thought to be cranky even within their own discipline. Remember the struggles osteopaths have had to become accepted by the medical establishment and then think how difficult it must have been to establish a new science that went against even the accepted tenets of osteopathy. Fortunately, however, the knowledge and skill has been made available to a wider cross section of therapists during the last twenty years, and more and more people have come to realise that here is a very powerful way of bringing the body back into balance and harmony.
Movement is life, and without movement there is no life.
Think of the beating of the heart, the coursing of the blood and lymph through their channels, the wavelike movements of the digestive system. As the subtle movements of the primary breath take place, that CSF travels along the core of the body, drawn upwards during 'inspiration' and flowing downwards with 'expiration'. This movement of fluid is like the movement of the oceans and has been called 'the Tide'. The subtle movement within the core of the body is taken up and expressed throughout the tissues and organs so that in an ideal body there would be a synchronised and harmonious rhythm within all the parts. Our systems meet physical and emotional stress and challenge by contracting, and in that contraction they disturb and disrupt the flow of the tide.