I was recently asked a question: how to learn to feel the cranial rhythm and generally feel interstitial movement. And I wondered, really, how. No, of course, there are many techniques, manuals, even videos. After all, I teach this myself. We even have a small section in the book dedicated to the art of palpation. And yet, how? In fact, there are a huge number of types of palpation, which, in fact, depend on the object of palpation. Those. The question is, first of all, what we want to palpate, i.e. palpate or feel. The teaching methodology will also depend on this. What is the object of palpation in SEST? On the one hand, the answer is very simple and concrete - movement. On the other hand, clarification is required - the movement of what. Here you can’t answer right away. Let's start from afar. Everything in a living organism moves. Movement is a sign of life. The dead doesn't move. At the same time, there are many different types or forms of movement. Listing everything would take too much time. But, if we focus on what interests us primarily in SEST, then the list can be shortened. So, we are talking about the movement of the cranial-sacral system, i.e. bones of the skull, sacrum, membranes of the brain and spinal cord, movement of the brain itself. Movement within the cranial system, i.e. movement of cerebrospinal fluid; movement in a liquid body, i.e. so-called tides. Interstitial movement. Moreover, the latter can be divided into both general movement of the entire body and movement of individual sections; we are especially interested in movement along the projection of acupuncture channels and movement within individual acupuncture points. All? No, not everything. But that's enough for now. Wait a second, but with the exception of the last two points, all of this is dealt with by cranio-sacral therapy, in one form or another. And what does SEST have to do with it? But what does it have to do with it. We are, after all, not interested in movement in itself, but in the point of view of how disruption of various types of movement affects the functioning of the body. How can we use the assessment of these disorders in diagnostic and therapeutic work. One of the basic postulates of SEST is the identity of the cranial-sacral and energy (channel) systems. Therefore, the perception of the above types of movement allows us to judge disturbances in the energy system at its various levels, in its various departments. Returning to training in the perception of movement, we can talk about different levels of this perception. At the initial stage, we only need to learn to sense the very presence or absence of movement in a specific area of ​​the cranial system, namely, at the level of the dura mater of the spinal cord of the cervical spine. Is there movement at the level of a certain segment or not. All. We are not interested in the form of movement - direction, force, amplitude, speed, etc. Just its very presence. Well, perhaps also the synchronicity of the right and left sides. You often hear from students: how can you feel this? This is deep. It's so insignificant. The depth of any structure, its accessibility for direct palpation - all this does not play any role. But what plays is your attention. It all depends on the focus of your attention. At the initial stages, reference to anatomical structures and their visualization are very useful. You simply project your attention to the desired depth. I don’t know how our perception works, but I know for sure that it is connected with focusing attention. At more advanced levels of perception, even anatomical reference will not be needed. You simply enter the space of the patient's body, where the structure and its function are fused into a certain movement and you feel the harmonious combination of all types of movement as a single whole. With such perception, any deviation, falsehood in the sound is very noticeable. So, the first factor is attention. Then a very important condition is faith. Believe in yourself. Trust in yourself, your feelings. Without this faith nothing will happen. Cast aside your doubts. You must.