The Osteopath must not be a blacksmith only, and only able to hit large bones and muscles with a heavy hammer, but he must be able to use the most delicate instruments of the silversmith in adjusting the deranged, displaced bones, nerves, muscles and remove all obstructions, and thereby set the machinery of life moving. To do this is to be an osteopath.
- Dr A T Still
Autobiography pg 360 (1908)
Osteopathy is a science.
Its use is in healing the afflicted. It is a philosophy which embraces surgery, obstetrics and general practice. An osteopath must be a man of reason and prove his talk by his work. He has no use for theories unless they are demonstrated. Osteopathy is to me a very sacred science. It is sacred because it is a healing power through all nature.
- Dr A T Still, Research and practice pg10 (1910)
I do not claim to be the author of this science of osteopathy. No human hand framed its laws; I ask no greater honour than to have discovered it.
- Dr A T Still, Autobiography pg 371 (1908)
How often in this day and time do we hear reference made to the Master Mechanic of the human body, the grand architect, the master architect, God, Deity, Creator, or other terms of reference for the maker of the human temple in which we reside? These are the terms of the science of osteopathy envisioned by Dr Andrew Taylor Still.
Dr WG Sutherland told us “I have often said that we lost something in osteopathy that Dr Still tried to get across, that was the spiritual that he included in the science of osteopathy”. Dr Still was closer to his maker than mere material breathing in his development of the science of osteopathy; he was guided by a spiritual fulcrum and so was Dr Sutherland.
If we, as students of the science of osteopathy, are to understand osteopathy, we will find it necessary to reawaken our knowledge of the Diety that centers us, make it our spiritual fulcrum for our guidance, and learn to think, feel and use the creator in our daily practices.
- Dr Rollin Becker
Be Still and Know - Sutherland Memorial Lecture (1965)
Osteopathy is not an idea or a rationale that can be applied from one’s own understanding. It is a living interface with the innate forces of healing in ourselves and the patient. This means that a treatment is not between you and the patient but between both of you and a separate healing force Dr. Sutherland called Primary Respiration. Primary Respiration has supra-natural intelligence that was part of Dr. Still’s devotion in practice. Biodynamics as an Osteopathic reality is as much about our personal growth and healing as it is about the patient.
- Reflections of Dr James Jealous
August 2020 - Centre for Traditional Osteopathy
