03/06/2026
FORCES IN ACTION
In Craniosacral Biodynamics we talk about Biodynamic, universal, ordering forces and Conditional forces which are the forces generated by individual experience. Rollin Becker called these Biodynamic and Biokinetic forces, names derived from the work of pioneering embryologist Erich Blechschmidt. Interestingly, Becker refers to both the Biodynamic and Biokinetic forces which operate in the living body as ‘intrinsic’, which means that they are unavoidable, or inseparable from life itself. Later teachers both inside and outside the osteopathic profession give us the idea that the Conditional/Biokinetic forces are introduced externally, which implies that they are somehow optional.
However, Blechschmidt used these terms to describe entirely different phenomena. His work is concerned with movements of tiny particles across the cell membrane and gross developmental movements in the embryo such as the rotation of the gut or the primary heart loop. In both cases, at both micro and macro scales, directional forces are applied, there is a transfer of energy, hence work is done.
So, in Blechschmidt’s terminology Biodynamics refers to physical forces acting in a specified region, which could be a single cell or an aggregate of cells, while Biokinetics is the ensuing movement. That movement could be the bidirectional transfer of particles across the cell membrane or the positional changes of tissues and organs during embryogenesis.
Hence when we ‘borrowed’ Blechschmidt’s nomenclature and applied it to the principles and practice of Craniosacral Therapy it was a massive departure from the original meaning, a case of poetic licence.
