Tibetan Cranial® is a healing modality that originated in the Himalayan highlands about 3,000 years ago and is now practiced in its traditional form in the West.
An Ancient Healing Art
Tibetan Cranial Practitioners use their fingertips to read hundreds of pulses on the recipient’s head. With the pulses as their guide, Practitioners touch specific points on the neck and bones of the skull, including the face, the back of the head, and the palate. As the Practitioners apply gentle pressure, the pulses shift. The process continues until the pulses reach a place of balance.
The practice is a disciplined approach, designed to re-align and restore our innate capacity for self healing. Recipients report that Tibetan Cranial has led to transformation on all levels of their being: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
From East to West
Known traditionally as “Thoba Khujatag,” or skull moving, Tibetan Cranial was historically transmitted orally from teacher to apprentice in a monastic environment in Tibet. Passed down through generations of deeply-devout Buddhist monks, the practice was not just a form of Tibetan medicine. It also was considered to be sacred knowledge. Thoba Khujatag nearly became extinct after the destruction of these Tibetan monasteries following the 1950 Chinese invasion and subsequent occupation. The work survives only because one monk, while in exile in Nepal, taught this healing art to Shar Lee, an American from the Midwest.
Shar found the monk in Katmandu as she journeyed around the world to learn from healers of different traditions. Shortly after receiving the teachings and returning home to the U.S., Shar learned that the monk had passed and that he had not taught the practice to anyone else. Extensive research and searching led Shar to the realization that only a few monks who knew this work survived the destruction in Tibet, and that she was the only person taught by any of those monks.
With the survival of this ancient lineage resting in her hands, Shar began to teach it to others, always insisting on keeping the work true to its traditional form. The work is taught through oral transmission and hands-on instruction, without manuals or videos. Practitioners promise to maintain the tradition of Tibetan Cranial, neither changing its methods nor integrating it with other approaches. Unlike typical training programs that rely on completion of standard requirements over a pre-determined timeframe, Tibetan Cranial
Apprentices are released to become Practitioners they have become highly-skilled in doing the work and have achieved a level of spiritual maturity that is reflected in a change in their own pulses.
Although these traditional Eastern methods can be challenging for those in the West, Practitioners agree they are essential for maintaining Tibetan Cranial’s powerful healing effects.
With experienced Practitioners now spreading Tibetan Cranial in the US, Europe, and Asia, Shar has taken the next step in ensuring the survival and growth of Tibetan Crania by training others to become teachers.
A Powerful and Unique Healing Modality
Tibetan Cranial Practitioners employ a system of pulse reading that involves disciplined technique and attuned intuition. Practitioners learn to feel pulsations that reflect imbalances in the body.
This pulse-reading is objective in that multiple Practitioners working with the same recipient feel the same pulsations. In deciding how to respond to the pulses, Practitioners apply their training and intuition developed from their experience in doing this work on hundreds of recipients. People often ask if TC is similar to Cranial Sacral Therapy, massage, or energy work. It is truly different from other healing modalities. The system of pulse reading is unique, as is the method of applying touch to the bones of the skull (including the palate) in response to the pulses. In addition to working with the bones of the skull in a unique way, TC has methods for working with imbalances in the neck and jaw not found in any other healing method.
Moreover, TC involves working only from the neck up. The recipient lies on a special table that enables the work to affect to the rest of the body. For example, even though the TC Practitioner never touches the sacrum, observers of a session often will see a physical movement of the hips, reflecting the body’s own adjustment of the sacrum in response to the work being performed at the head or neck.
TC involves physical work through gentle pressure applied to the neck and bones of the skull. It involves energetic work as well. The pulses reflect the flow of energy through the recipient, as well as the physical state of the body and the flow of fluids.
TC works with other aspects of the Being, too. As the recipient lies on the table, the Practitioner kneels at the recipient’s head, creating a connection between the Practitioner’s heart chakra and the recipient’s crown chakra. Both the Practitioner and recipient engage in silent mantra, the repetition of a phrase, affirmation, prayer, or sound, generally of a spiritual nature. Because TC work is physical, energetic, and spiritual, it can affect the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. TC assists the body in correcting its own imbalances. Practitioners listen to what the recipient’s body is saying through the pulses, and provide support for the recipient’s body to shift toward balance, health, and equanimity.
The fundamental beauty of this work is its ability to support the body in its ongoing efforts to heal itself.
What Happens During a TC Treatment?
Most of the TC session is a silent exchange which takes place between you and the practitioner. This interaction requires comprehensive perception on the part of the practitioner as s/he listens carefully to your body’s communication via subtle pulses. The Practitioner kneels at the end of the table above the client’s head. At various times, the practitioner moves to the client’s head, hands, middle torso or feet to assess pulses. Then adjustments are made to the skull, face, mouth, jaw and neck.
What Will I Experience During a Treatment?
TC takes place in a quiet setting. Loose, comfortable clothing is recommended. You will be asked to remove your shoes and recline on a table specifically designed for TC. The practitioner kneels on the floor at your head, a position that allows for ideal facilitation of the work.
The practitioner will continue taking subtle pulse readings, touching vital points on the skull, wrist, and ankles. As pulse readings are repeated, further changes are made until optimum balance is achieved.
Throughout each session, the practitioner continues to hold an internal sacred space of prayer or mantra. Then the work is sealed, followed by a period of quiet relaxation. This process allows for full integration to take place.
On the day of your TC session:
- Avoid caffeine and any elective self-medications that can affect the nervous system, such as ibuprofen or aspirin. If you can wait until after your session before taking medications, you will receive more benefit. Do not skip any prescription medications without first checking with your doctor.
- Please tell your Practitioner before the session if you have taken any medications.
- Please do not eat right before the appointment.
- Wear clothes that will allow you to be comfortable lying on an uncushioned wooden TC table. Sweat pants, leggings, yoga pants, athletic shorts, T-shirts, sweat shirts, or pajamas work well.
- Do not wear jeans or any clothing with metal, including metal zippers or buttons.
- Please do not wear pants with belt loops, turtlenecks, or shirts with hoods or tight necklines.
- You will need to remove any metal that can come off, including underwire, jewelry, piercings, belts, and removable dental appliances.
- Please do not hesitate to let your Practitioner know before your session if you have any questions or concerns.
During the session:
- You will remain clothed during the session, except for shoes.
- You will rest on your back on a specially designed TC table, with your legs on a bolster to keep your back comfortable.
- At various times, your Practitioner will move to your head, wrists, or feet to assess pulses. Based on the pulses, the Practitioner will apply subtle touch to your head, face, mouth, jaw, and neck until optimum balance is achieved.
- Lotion typically will be applied on the neck and jaw. Please tell your Practitioner in advance about any potential allergies or other concerns.
- Traditionally, the Practitioner and the person receiving the work each say a mantra silently to themselves. If you are not familiar with mantra, your Practitioner will be happy to explain the practice and offer suggestions.
- The session ends with a “seal” followed by a period of time of quiet relaxation.
- Sessions last approximately 60-75 minutes.
After the session:
- Immediately after the session, you will need to take a short walk, for about 10 minutes, to integrate the work.
- You also will need to stay well hydrated for at least a day. Be sure to drink plenty of water, herbal tea, or juice.
Credentials
Devon Parker has lived a remarkable, unconventional life. Her parents taught her how to meditate when she was 5 years old, and by the age of 12 had traveled to over a dozen different countries. During a very tumultuous, death-defying teenage era, Devon found herself in the midst of a healing crisis. She was introduced to a wide variety of spiritual teachers, healers, and medicine people to navigate a dark night of the soul.
A friend referred her to Master Teacher Shar Lee and after just one session, she saw an immediate shift in deep wounds and patterns she spent years desperately trying to overcome. Shar informed Devon she “had the pulse to do this work.” The idea at the time seemed unfathomable to help others as she was struggling to find balance within herself. She began training and apprenticing with Shar, and through time and dedication was able to transcend her own trauma to become a “wounded healer.” With an acute sensitivity to pain, and direct experience navigating emotional trauma, she used her own experience and spiritual awakening to help others with a similar story. After much practice, in 2005 Devon became a practitioner of Tibetan Cranial. She spent the next decade working with people recovering from PTSD, TBI, sexual trauma, wounded warriors returning from Iraq and Afganistan, MS, strokes, and many other issues. Devon witnessed first hand the diverse and direct impact of Tibetan Cranial.
Devon has been a dedicated, passionate and committed TC Practitioner now for over 17 years. Through volunteering at community clinics, assisting at trainings and retreats, serving on the board of directors as secretary, vice president and various subcommittees. She has helped promote and flier for events, and bring TC greater visibility through holistic fairs, and online presence development. Her hope is that this ancient healing art will rise out of the shadows of near extinction and receive recognition as the valued, deeply sophisticated body of work it is.
Devon has stepped into the next phase of her journey with Tibetan Cranial as a teacher. She has passed through many gateways to develop the skills and experience needed to teach all levels of Tibetan Cranial. She is honored to share the knowledge she has cultivated. Devon weaves her knowledge of Japanese Acupressure, Ayurveda, Traditional Lakota Ceremony, Bon Phurpa teachings, and Ancient Mayan healing practices into her personal practice and into the deep well of wisdom she draws upon to help others. She integrates a deep understanding that comes with time and practice into everything she does. Through sharing these sacred jewels of wisdom nearly lost, there is hope that we can carry on this ancient lineage to relieve suffering in the world.
BON
In 2007 Devon attended a 12 day retreat with Geshe Chongtul Rinpoche of Bon Shen Ling to study rare ancient traditions of the Tibetan Bon lineage. This transmission helped to deepen her connection with mantra, Tibetan yogic exercises and Bon Phurpa teachings used to channel healing energy. Since then, Chongtul Rinpoche has mentored her individually over the years remotely and has been an important source of spiritual teachings, guidance and refuge. This has helped her connect into the Tibetan lineage on a deeper level.
