Cranial Academy : They Went to Paris

They Went to Paris - Cranial Academy

News Letter, Volume 18, Number 2, December 1964

« En 1964, soit dix ans après la mort de Sutherland, Harold Magoun, Viola Frymann et Thomas Schooley se rendent donc à Paris, au cabinet de René Quéguiner, pour enseigner les arcanes du Mécanisme Respiratoire Primaire. Ils sont neuf présents, quatre médecins et trois kinésithérapeutes français passés à l’ostéopathie, René Quéguiner, Francis Peyralade et Bernard Barillon. » [1].

Cet article a été repris dans The AAO Journal, 2003, p. 10-11 - Reprinted with permission from The Cranial Academy

They went, they taught, they soared ...and "enthusiasm, encouragement, exhilaration" are only a few of the inadequate words to describe the reports, verbal and written, on the success of the course in cranial osteopathy conducted in Paris, France, by Drs. Harold I. Magoun, Sr., Viola M. Frymann, and Thomas F. Schooley.

Aside from the detailed report to the Cranial Academy Executive Board, D^r. Magoun would stress to the Academy membership "the fact that the clans was outstanding because of three reasons : (1) The initiative, which sparked the preparation over a period of many months with study group meetings under D^r. Brookes’ coaching and D^r. Lung’s translation of The Cranial Bowl and the text ; (2) the interest, which pervaded the class-room at all times, as manifested by the tape recordings, the photographing, the diagramming and the diligent application to master the work being given ; and (3) the hospitality, which warmed ail our hearts with so many thoughtful and unusual expressions and made the extracurricular activities memorable indeed."

Further details of the above points are brought out in the following report, written for the News Letter, by D^r. Viola M. Frymann :

History was made on August 29th, 1964. At 8:30 am, Harold I. Magoun, DO welcomed nine students to the first European course in cranial osteopathy sponsored by the Sutherland Cranial Teaching Foundation (SCTF). It was held in the spacious offices of D^r. René Quiguiner in Paris, France. The students included five doctors of medicine who practice in France, one doctor of medicine who also holds an osteopathic degree from the London College of Osteopathy and who practices in London, and three doctors of osteopathy who practice in various parts of England.

One of the latter, Denis Brookes, was responsible for the organization of this course, and the outstanding preparation of the French students. For several years he had devoted a weekend out of every month to studying with them the philosophy, theory and art of osteopathy. In 1962, he attended D^r. Magoun’s lecture at the British School of Osteopathy. As a result of this, the was inspired to take the introductory course in Kansas City in 1963. He returned to his French "study group" with the textbook, Osteopathy in the Cranial Field. This was translated, word for word, into French, and they began to study the theory of anatomy and physiology described therein. When the possibility of an SCTF course in Europe was presented to learn the technic and the practical application.

D^r. Brookes also served as the official interpreter on the numerous occasions when the limited French of the faculty was inadequate to the needs of either social or professional discourse.

Two of the Frenchmen were Vietnamese, graduates of the University of Saigon. Their training in the art of acupuncture, which requires very fine discrimination in the palpation of the pulses, equipped them with a wonderful palpatory instrument for cranial, sacral, and other physiological rhythms of the body. One English DO holds a degree in anatomy and is a part-time assistant in the anatomy department of the University of Leeds.

This group of students of diverse nationalities and education, struggling with a foreign language, were united in the wonderful fellowship of a common purpose to deepen their understanding of osteopathy in general, to gain a practical knowledge of the cranial concept and the ability to use it. Their enthusiasm, their eagerness to understand every word and demonstration, their concern to preserve every lecture on tape and every technic on moving pictures and their thrill as the concept and its application unfolded before them was an unforgettable and stimulating experience. I feel sure I speak for the whole faculty — Harold Magoun, Thomas Schooley, and myself — when I say it has never been our privilege to teach such an enthusiastic, responsive, and receptive group of student as we met in Paris this year.

But no account of this experience would be complete without a mention of the fabulous hospitality extended to us. Each evening a different facet of French life was presented. On the first night, aboard the Bateaux-Mouches, we enjoyed an unusual and delectable repast as we glided gently up the Seine. The climax of this voyage was the sight of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, floodlit — gradually the lights were dimmed until its dark silhouette clone was visible against the night sky. Then the inner flow of light behind the rose window become visible through this colorfully stained glass. Eventually this also faded, giving place to a purple light, which bathed the towers and gradually spread all over the building. A hush fell upon the company at this ethereal spectacle.

Another right a truly oriental repast in the custom of the Vietnamese was provided. The visit to the Palace at Versailles on another evening was memorable, too.

But the climax of these social hours came on the last evening. The French doctors, assisted by their charming wives, had planned a banquet in the restaurant of the Eiffel Tower. Two hundred feet below lay Paris. The Seine reflected the lights above. L’Arc de Triomphe, floodlit in the distance, stood out in sharp contrast to the darkness around it. Within, the atmosphere was light and gay. And, then, at a prearranged moment, the lights were dimmed. A flaming baked Alaskan cake, inscribed with Happy Birthday and surmounted by nine pink candies, was placed on the table in celebration of my daughter’s ninth birthday. The orchestra drew near to play their birthday greetings and everyone rose to toast her.

On the day alter the course, we were taken on a lovely 260-miles journey to the Cathedral of Rheims ; through the rolling hills, covered with the vineyards of the champagne country, to visit a champagne manufacturing plant and to enjoy a delightful dinner in the home of D^r. Mau at Pleurs. It was indeed a fitting conclusion, complete with fire-works in the garden, to an unforgettable experience, the birth of cranial osteopathy in France.