Katherine Ukleja Cranial

30/11/2025

WHAT’S IMORTANT

2026 will be my final year of teaching. As I plan my schedule, I am choosing subject which I consider essential to the professional practice of Craniosacral Biodynamics. Hence, I have chosen Potency and Touch, but I am also including seminars which deal with vagal tone. Good vagal tone is the cornerstone of resilience, in turn, resilience underpins enduring holistic health.

I am kicking off the year in Poland, with two rounds of Behind the Smile, a seminar which distils specific cranial skills for meeting poor function of the Social Engagement System. This neural substrate is also known as the Ventral Vagal Complex. In his early research papers, Stephen Porges defined a ‘social engagement system, which focuses only on the neural regulation of the striated muscles of the face and head and the specific autonomic functions mediated by the myelinated Vagus’. He conceptualised this system as having ‘a common neural substrate composed of several cranial nerves that develop embryologically together’

This seminar is dedicated to understanding this group of Cranial Nerves, which together comprise the Ventral Vagal Complex. It concentrates on specific touch skills designed to improve the regulation of heart rate and boost vagal tone.

Come and join me in Wrocław, I will be teaching in English, with translation into Polish.

BEHIND THE SMILE, January 15 -18 and 22 - 25, 2026

https://www.europejskiecentrumterapii.pl/produkt/behind-the-smile-drugi-termin-katherine-ukleja/

30/10/2025

DIAGNOSTIC TOUCH

Rollin Becker wrote:
‘The physician’s mind becomes an observing tool, an analytical tool, an exploring tool, and an interpretive tool that accompanies the sense of touch as it follows the changes that are taking place. One might say that the physician’s mind alertly parallels the sense of touch throughout the diagnostic process..... the physician’s mind must follow deep within the patient’s body...

Thus, the use of diagnostic touch is more than a passive laying on of hands. It is a form of palpation that one might call an alert observation type of awareness for the functions and dysfunctions from within the patient, utilizing the motive energy deep within the tissues themselves.’

If you want to refine your palpation skills so your hands become confident ‘analytical and interpretive’ tools join me in Exeter in November for a two-day CPD seminar of deepening, expanding, refining our palpation skills and simply enjoying the power of touch.

TOUCH – November 15-16, 2025
https://circlecranio.com/post-graduate-cpd

11/10/2025

TOUCH, OUR SUPERPOWER

Quoting James Jealous:

‘We use our hands diagnostically, perceptually, and therapeutically - that’s how simple and profound this is. We are not listening for symptoms but for a pre-established priority set in motion by the Health in the patient. The founder of osteopathy, an MD surgeon, had a vision and followed his insight. He trained physicians to use their hands for healing, along with very simple and natural remedies - diet, rest, meditation, prayer - nothing was added but ‘hands-on healing’. It works!’

Yes, it certainly works! Touch is what we do. Touch is the cornerstone of craniosacral practice. Join me in Exeter in November for two days of deepening, expanding, refining our palpation skills and simply enjoying the power of touch.

TOUCH – November 15-16, 2025
https://circlecranio.com/post-graduate-cpd

07/10/2025

Franklyn, in our hearts

‘Health can be defined as the emergence of Originality’ (James Jealous)

Originality flowed from Franklyn. He inspired so many of us to go beyond the limits of our conditioning and beyond the limits of everyday perception, into the unimaginable depth of interconnection at the heart of our humanity.

If you missed his memorial service here is a link to where you can view it.

https://www.youtube.com/live/1MrRhgOrL4E

30/09/2025

‘WE ARE SHAPED BY OUR EXPERIENCE’

As I think of Franklyn these words play in my head. I heard him repeat these words often, over my long years of close association with him and they guided my clinical practice.

Southerland was fond of the proverb ‘As a twig is bent, so the tree will grow’. Meaning that events in early life affect our future health. In particular, he was describing the impact of physical forces exerted on the head when we are born and how these forces mould the growth pattern and potential of the whole body, as we progress through life.

Franklyn’s phrase, WE ARE SHAPED BY OUR EXPERIENCE, expands that idea beyond the structure and function of the physical body to encompass the emotional, psychological and spiritual dimensions of human experience. The living body becomes a storehouse for our biography.

So, when we put our hands somebody, we are touching their life history, their whole being. That opens the door to a more authentic, compassionate engagement with those who seek our help.

15/09/2025

DANCING WITH POTENCY

Life is motion. That motion is sustained by an animating force that we know as the Potency of the Breath of Life. Whenever and wherever that motion is compromised dysfunction ensues. That is the essence of Sutherland’s pivotal model of Primary Respiration. And it the Potency that has the power to re-animate and restore healthy function.
No matter if it’s a sprained ankle, sympathetic hyperarousal, emotional turmoil, or systemic disease it is the Potency that initiates healing. Our job is to align our superbly sensitive touch with the many functions of Potency to support all levels of healing from the physiological to the transcendent.

DANCING WITH POTENCY is a seminar for craniosacral professionals. It is the culmination of my forty years of clinical practice in the osteopathic and cranial fields and thirty years as a teacher of Craniosacral Therapy. Many, many of those years spent alongside Franklyn Sills at the Karuna Institute, a period of evolution in our philosophy and touch skills that culminated in the birth of Craniosacral Biodynamics.

There are still some places available on DANCING WITH POTENCY in Exeter, October 2 -4, 2025. I hope you can join me. It will be the last time that I teach this seminar in the UK before my retirement.

For details
https://www.katherineukleja.co.uk/seminars
Bookings
https://circlecranio.com/post-graduate-cpd

31/08/2025

https://www.ourbirthjourney.com/course/franklyn-sills

This will be an informal gathering in memory of Franklyn Sills.We will share stories, memories, and reflections. We welcome contributions from anyone who feels moved to speak, listen, or simply be present in remembrance.

25/08/2025

THE SHADOW OF TRAUMA

With images of unimaginable suffering in war zones flooding our media, trauma is ever present in our thoughts. As touch therapists we have a lot to offer, even to those who have survived unimaginable events. As well as tendering empathy and co-regulation in deep stillness we can hone our touch skills to meet nervous system dysregulation at source and help traumatized individuals regain a measure resilience to help them navigate daily life.

This is the subject of Hands On Trauma, a seminar which I will be teaching in Berlin this October. As this will be the last time that I will present this material before my scheduled retirement, I hope you will join me. The seminar will be taught in English with translation into German. There will be no online option for this class.
Bookings:
https://www.wegdermitte.de/index.php?mid=139&uid=379&sid=782
Email school:
cst@wegdermitte.de
Info:
https://www.katherineukleja.co.uk/seminars

21/08/2025

FOR THE LOVE OF FRANLYN

Dancing With Potency – seminar date change.

POTENCY is the central tenet of Craniosacral Biodynamics. First observed by Sutherland in his latter years, central to Rollin Becker’s practice and illuminated by Franklyn Sills, my seminar DANCING WITH POTENCY, honours the input of all these three great men and adds insight from decades of my own practice about the nature and actions of Potency.

Both I and the Circle Cranio team are deeply saddened by the recent loss of Franklyn. His memorial service is scheduled for 5 October, and we all plan to attend.
Hence, we have adjusted the dates of this seminar. It will now run in Exeter Thursday October 2 to Saturday October 4. It will be the last time that I plan to teach this seminar in the UK before my retirement next year.

Hope to see you in Exeter for the seminar or at Karuna Dartmoor for the celebration of Franklyn’s bountiful life.

https://circlecranio.com/diary-of-events

12/08/2025

END OF AN ERA

A sad, sad day for the global cranial community. Franklyn Sills who transformed our understanding of Craniosacral Biodynamics inspired legions of practitioners and educators in our field has died. He was my mentor and my dearly loved friend. My hope is that his teachings will resonate down the generations and his spirit will live on through those who follow in his footsteps.

04/08/2025

THERAPEUTIC TOUCH AND TRAUMA RESOLUTION

Traumatic experiences change our physiology. The most dramatic shift is in the function of the nervous system. The higher brain appears to lose its ability to impose its executive function over the Autonomic Nervous System which runs amok and chronically disrupts homeostasis. The result is dysregulation of sleep, digestion, libido, cardiorespiratory rates, hormonal balance, memory, learning, and emotional control.

Some years ago, I developed a seminar called Hands on Trauma based on my clinical observation of ANS function in clients with a history of trauma. While every story was unique, markers of ANS dysfunction were surprisingly similar, involving the great spaghetti junctions of autonomic nerves such as the mesenteric and cardiac plexi. Using our highly honed cranial touch to restore primary respiratory coherence in these areas proved to be a very effective way of improving ANS function and with it the many symptoms associated with trauma.

I will be teaching this seminar for the last time in October this year ahead of my scheduled retirement. I hope you can join me in Germany.

Details below:
https://www.wegdermitte.de/index.php?mid=139&uid=390&sid=773

28/04/2025

https://www.stillpointcst.com/campaigns/view-email/SJzez42RlAGxRxoC4YH_ORhswDMmAFAJ5IA2dUqPjQr86SsLZz-jkSTUATRZ7O2JBGrjZA1lIjMffCqfMEUceFHRbIOVZxuCdWQaNoTLQsipjB2MdZgIZkj67U6YPilP1DqXa7nGlwxm1VBnpLshiaBGVRIutzYjHr-utw==?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=680a1d15c1e777517fc38708&ss_email_id=680b72245530757db6414279&ss_campaign_name=On+the+Origins+of+Osteopathy&ss_campaign_sent_date=2025-04-25T11%3A29%3A53Z

The roots of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy lie in Osteopathy, which its founder said is rooted in "laws of nature as old as time itself." An origin story orients us and provides a fulcrum of stability in our work and path when we feel uncertain, lonely, or unsure of our next steps.