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William Garner Sutherland, D.O., D.Sc, (hon)
In 1899 William G. Sutherland was a student at the American School of Osteopathy. While examining a displayed skull he was struck by a curious thought:
"Beveled like the gills of a fish, and indicating articular mobility for a respiratory mechanism"
For five years he tried to put this absurd thought from his mind to no avail. Finally he decided to prove it wrong by beginning an in-depth study of cranial anatomy and physiology. However, despite his efforts to disprove the nagging thought, he discovered it to be true. He had discovered the Primary Respiratory Mechanism and taken Osteopathic Manual Medicine into a new realm.
Dr. Sutherland studied and experimented with this remarkable mechanism for 30 years before teaching anyone what he had learned. In 1947 the Cranial Academy was founded by some of his students and in 1953 Dr. Sutherland established the Sutherland Cranial Teaching Foundation.
Since then his students have carried this work around the world. Today Europe and Canada are home to some of the field's most innovative practitioners.
"Have you ever had a thought strike you?
"I have told many times of the thought that struck me before I graduated from the American School of Osteopathy. [In trying] to prove that motion between cranial bones in the living adult is impossible ... I gained knowledge not only of the articular mobility of the skull but also of the Tide and something within that I call the 'Breath of Life.' I do not consider this contribution of thought mine - I call it a guided thought.
"The goal with your patients is to find the way to healthy function within the mechanism that they bring to you. Study the Life principle and come closer to understanding what I mean by the 'Breath of Life.' To the digger who will take time to dream and the dreamer who will wake up and dig, the science of osteopathy will unfold into a magnitude equal to that of the heavens."
- Dr. William G. Sutherland . |