Biodynamic Terminology Part 5

Midline. A fundamental principle and metaphor implying meaning and potential body organization in biodynamic craniosacral therapy. The context of the midline is wholeness (see wholeness). Postulated to be a central organizer or inducer of growth and development of the body, mind and spirit (the whole) or by some to be a permanent universal structure and function in the human body. Furthermore, it is linked to the psychospiritual meaning of life and thus is associated with healing. The following are metaphors for the midline:

1. Structural/Functional. In traditional osteopathy it is postulated that there is a dorsal and ventral midline. The dorsal midline is structural represented by the spine and the ventral midline is functional represented by a line from the nose to the pubic bone along the surface of the skin. Formerly, the embryonic notochord was considered a central organizer of growth and development of the whole embryo until that notion was disproved scientifically. The notochord could be considered to be an organizer of the central nervous system and thus the midline of the brain and neural tube but only temporarily in development. The embryo has no morphological central organizing midline for its whole.
2. Energetic/Bioelectric Magnetic. East Asian philosophy and medicine postulate a bioelectric midline(s) around which form and function is organized prenatally and throughout life. Used by some biodynamic teachers.
3. Cultural/Origin Myths. A midline around which a culture tells the story of its creation and its people to create meaning for the experience and healing of pain and suffering. The creation of the first human being is also described in some religious and cross-cultural iconography and spiritual writings as a part of the midline story. Totem poles in Native American cultures, the story of Adam and Eve from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, obelisks in Egypt and the Crucifix are some examples. Scientific embryology is the current Western motif for an origin story or cultural midline.
4. Spiritual. The connection between a human and the divine or sacred is considered to be a midline such as Jacob’s Ladder in the Old Testament of the Bible. The loss of such a midline is considered to be disastrous. This may be related to a culture’s origin story as noted in #3 above. Sufism postulates that the heart is the center of human development and spirituality as does other religions.
5. Biodynamic. A midline from the biodynamic osteopathy point of view is considered to be a function (not a structure) and particularly that of the perception of stillness in any or all of the zones of awareness. Such a midline or hollow space of stillness can exist both in (locally) and outside the body (non-locally) or both. Thus the metaphor of stillness being an ocean, our body being the water and a tide moving through it is used to describe this midline.
6. Experiential/Phenomenological. A midline is a metaphor for a direct clear perception of order within the whole that includes but is not limited to the space in and around the body. It implies an integrated and differentiated embodiment. See healing, fulcrum, embodiment and wholeness.

Metaphysical. The Sanskrit tradition of some traditional (Hindu, Jain and Buddhist) philosophical and spiritual traditions postulate an energetic body consisting of chakras (wheels) located in front of the spine attached to a central channel called the sushumna and two side channels called the ida and pingala.

Mindfulness. The ability to recognize, reduce and contain wandering thoughts and then to reorient to the felt sense of embodiment while in a session or post session. It develops the ability to know what phenomena to accept and what to reject in the five categories of ignition. Mindfulness is a discipline about keeping one’s attention in the present moment or what is called nowness. Nowness is a practice based on the four foundations of mindfulness: 1., mindfulness of body, 2. mindfulness of emotions, 3. mindfulness of mind and thoughts, and 4. mindfulness of life and its stories that contain one’s neurosis. Gradually mindfulness leads to a deeper sense of watchfulness in which the practitioner is less reactive to perceptions of the client’s body based on practice with the four foundations.

Morphogenesis. The molding of cells and tissues into definite shapes via cellular biotensegrity. A process now called prestructuring. It begins by the fluid body forming a scaffolding within which a structure can condense. It refers particularly to the wide range of biological processes associated with organogenesis in which local phenomena within a metabolic field like budding, branching and clasping occur. It is a phase of embryonic morphology. See morphology, tensegrity and eight metabolic fields.

Morphology. The study of the development of shape, positional relationships and structure of a particular organ or of a part or the whole body via the physical forces/movements (biokinetic and biodynamic) present in the fluids and cells of the embryo. It includes understanding growth and development of the body via four discrete stages (not associated with the 23 Carnegie stages). Physical movements and forces (biodynamic and biokinetic) present in the human embryo and throughout life that act holistically (interconnected) to generate a singular unified form that is only ever in a continual process (stages) of development, of becoming, of manifesting, of appearing, of unfolding, of enfolding, of being free, of becoming a more differentiated whole. Morphology can be outlined as follows:

1. Four Stages. There are four stages of morphology described in the literature associated with week one, week two, week three and weeks four through eight of the human embryo. In each of these four phases the embryo undergoes specific patterns of movement unique to that phase. The predominant movement associated with phase one is compression, phase two is expansion, phase three is centering and phase four is flexion-extension.
2. Three Elements. In the study of the four stages of morphology three elements are critical: the position of the cells or their location in the developing embryo, the shape of the cells based on the external influences of the fluid forces and neighboring cells, and finally the pre-structuring and structuring of the anatomical features represented by such clusters of cells. This third aspect of pre-structuring is called morphogenesis.
3. Eight Metabolic Fields. From this understanding of the four stages and three elements of morphology, eight metabolic fields or unique aggregations of cells (each has their own unique position, shaping and structuring) have been identified in the human embryo. These eight fields in combination with the three laws of fluids (see three laws of fluids), the four stages of morphology and its three elements are generally responsible for the structuring and functioning of the human body prenatally and postnatally.
4. Interconnectedness. All metabolic fields are interconnected to each other in several ways especially through cell adhesion factors. See morphogenesis, wholeness, biodynamic, biokinetic, metabolic fields and fluid body.