Social Distancing through a Craniosacral Lens

Where is the health right now? That is the question I sit with every day. It is easy to see where it isn’t with so much news about the Coronavirus and all the related strains connected to it. And, it feels important to recognize the health that is all around us moving in its organic fluid nature. It is in the unfolding of spring. It is in the birds singing and squawking in the morning. It is in the weather changing day-to-day- 60 degrees, followed by a spring snowstorm. It is in the quiet blossoming of buds. It is in a less structured schedule to go here, there or anywhere (a reverent nod to Dr. Seuss). It is in moments of connection to be with my kids in a different way. It is a zoom meeting that allows me to see and communicate with others, even though I have a love/hate relationship with technology. It is in slower cooked meals. It is in eye contact with strangers or neighbors that walk by our house. It is in people sitting at the ends of their driveway to talk or have an impromptu happy hour. It is in cleaning, reorganizing and simplifying our belongings. It is in time to just sit, because there is only so much you can do. And really, how many times can you reorganize your pantry or clean out your closet?

In craniosacral therapy, one of the ways to understand attunement and connection is to understand the different zones, or layers. These zones contribute to connection with self and other within the larger field in which we all coexist. There are four zones. Zone A is the body itself: the skin, the internal organs and structures within, as well as the thoughts and intentions that we hold. Zone B, incorporates Zone A from the midline (heart/spine) and extends about 15 to 20 inches off the body. Zone B is the bubble around us- an extension of us, but a filter, of sorts, that manages what comes from within as well as what comes towards us. Zone C is the room you are in. In a session this is the space a practitioner has created. In life, this is the room, house or space you are in at any given moment. Zone C is a place where we are all spending a lot more time in, with stay-at-home orders mandated for much of the country. Zone D is the larger space around us that incorporates the outside, the natural environment and beyond the horizon that we can see. Zone D holds all the other zones within it.

What has me thinking about zones? Well, in the time of Covid 19, the practice of social distancing is a physical manifestation of a more energetic practice. Now, we are being asked to live in very specific zones. It is asking us to pay attention to ourselves, our distance to others and the space we live in and make contact in, on a daily basis. We are being asked to sit with ourselves in a way that normal life and all its distractions can obscure. For me, I both relish the pause and feel frustration that I cannot get away from it. I am more acutely aware of my physical, mental and emotional experience while living in a small home with my family. Yes, I live with them all the time, but my kids go to school, my husband to his office and me to mine. Now we are all having our individual experiences in a confined space- so we are energetically bumping up against each other in ways feel more heightened in this new unknown “normal”. Now more than ever, getting out (6 feet away from anyone else) is necessary for my bodymindspirit, but also for a larger perspective, to digest this unprecedented place that the whole world is experiencing.

I am lucky and privileged in that I have my basic health and the basic means to have much of life on hold right now without extreme panic. This shut-in will have long-term economic impact on my family, but I’m not homeless and my husband can work from home. I don’t know what the future holds- especially for those of us who employ touch for a living. It will be an interesting unfolding on the other side of this pandemic. The longer this goes on, though, the more individual and collective the strain will feel. But for now, I can just be with the pause and see what arises.

Since most of my work involves physical contact with other people, most of it is on a mandated pause. My biggest challenge is to stay connected to myself. I’d be lying if I said I was doing it with grace and ease at every moment, but my intention is to be compassionate and present with myself with all of the imperfections. So, for me, the concept of zones has been an interesting lens to view social distancing. As a meditation practice I have found it potent to sit with the physical self, the areas of holding and tightness as well as the places that have more fluid movement. Then taking my awareness from my heart and my midline to the area surrounding my body. These two zones can be pretty activated, which is when I shift my attention out into the immediate room and to the larger space outside. When my attention stays too locked on my body/mind with the myriad of thoughts, I can feel stuck, tight and anxious. But, when I pendulate my attention between my body and the larger space of my room and the natural world beyond, there is a softening, more movement- a sense of connected wholeness.

Although I have found it interesting to play with the zones when I sit, I think the most profound experience is noticing how my connection to the natural world offers me the clearest felt-sense of my inner experience. This isn’t a new phenomenon, but to be doing it alone, in a collective manner, as the rest of the world also has to pause, has intensified my already organic nature to socially distance. I have always found natural space the salve to my internal tensions. My hope is that others who are not acutely sick or caring for someone who is sick can sit on their porch, in their yard, look out an open window and allow the support that exists around us to offer presence, ground and perspective.

Perhaps the concept of zones can offer any of you that happen upon this post to consider that we exist in layers and that those layers are supported by the larger forces in the natural world. Even though many of us are in various forms of isolation, it can be helpful to know that we are truly connected through the larger field that holds all of us.

This will pass. Things will be different. Wishing for the health that is always present to offer support as we move through the unprecedented times.