Thoughout the world, there are countless examples of Nature achieving the unimaginable. If we could only witness a handful of these first hand, this would likely change our perception of life (and ourselves).
After a dash for life across the open sand and into the ocean, green sea turtle hatchlings proceed to swim the oceans of the world for a period of 20-50 years before reaching sexual maturity. They then finally return to the exact same beach they originally set out from, to lay eggs of their own. It has been suggested these remarkable creatures utilise the electromagnetic fields of the earth to navigate home from across the globe.
The human body lays down articular cartilage outside a joint space (where there would normally be none found), in order to protect itself from the damaging effects of a hip deformity of the teenage years. Individual cells of the body remarkably change (and multiply) to match the structural needs of an unexpected change in function.
With this living and dynamic interplay between structure and function, it seems likely that the millions of symbiotic relationships that exist within nature (between plants, insects and animals), have not just developed by random chance and natural selection. Nature is living, dynamic and actively changing - just like your body is too, responding dynamically to it's own environment.
In certain capacities, the instinctive nature of a turtle or human body far exceed the abilities of the intelligent/rational human mind, yet we rely so heavily upon the rational mind to make decisions for our own health's sake.
When it comes to non-life threatening health concerns, it is pure common sense to set aside one's need for critical/analytical thinking, and to give the body's own instinctive self-regulating and self-healing capacity a chance of success.
The green sea turtle has an inner homing beacon, that guides it home after 20 or more years at sea. The human body is similar, in-so-much as it retains an instinctive memory of the original health it had at conception. The trick is to quieten the analytical mind and reduce the stress of modern living - sufficiently to allow this deeper memory to resurface. This is the process of self-healing, and is what Osteopathy aims to facilitate.
The human body itself is an integral part of nature, and contains an instinctive self-awareness, and natural (at times seemingly miraculous) capacity for self-regulation and self-healing repair.
In 1999 I graduated from RMIT University with a Bachelor of Clinical Science and Bachelor of Osteopathic Science, and previous to this I had completed a Bachelor of Economics and studied 2 years of Architecture. Since that time I have practiced in the South West of WA, Auckland and Perth; and pursued extensive Osteopathic training in the US. In addition, I have spent the past 20 years experiencing a vast array of other therapeutic healing methods. Combining my experience of Architecture and Osteopathy, I also has an interest in therapeutic product design
A UNIQUE APPROACH TO OSTEOPATHY
David finds the stillness within Osteopathic treatment to be enormously fulfilling - as it brings us all closer to the Health residing deep within us.
David's great great grandfather was a priest in the early years of Western Australia, who traveled for his work on horseback between Toodyay and Albany. Several generations later, a practical spirituality comes very easily to David. In different circumstances, the priesthood is a vocation that David himself would have very comfortably chosen - but it turns out that Osteopathy provides opportunities for similar connection and fulfillment. David himself seeks treatment with Osteopaths who have a deep spirituality - which is a very rare quality to find in this busy modern life.
Most often it is the challenges experienced in one's own life, that determines the unique skills bought to the treatment table. In David's case it was physical birth trauma and surgery immediately after birth that shaped his life’s trajectory. Naturally, David has a heart-felt passion for helping people during the periods of preconception, pregnancy, mothers/babies, and for adults wishing to rediscover their original health within themselves.
Finally, David has a natural sensitivity that lends itself to ‘communicating’ with animals. This skill spills over into his practice of Osteopathy, since we all have a deeper instinctive nature.
David's Osteopathic journey began at the Busselton Osteopathic Clinic alongside Dr Yvan Ducat - having spent countless hours observing at his clinic from 1995 onwards, and starting work there after graduation in 1998.
David's greatest influence has been in pursuing international (USA) training in Biodynamic and Paediatric Cranial Osteopathy with Dr James Jealous (Retired Osteopathic Physician and Obstetrician); a method of treatment that is ideally suited to treatment of babies and during pregnancy. This field of work has offered David the greatest possible fulfillment.
To seek treatment during the early period of life (before pregnancy, during and after birth) offers an opportunity to retain a natural expression of Health, that becomes progressively obscured with life's unexpected stresses and trauma. The treatment of mothers and babies, brings great clarity for the treatment of adults also - since it is this capacity for original health that each and every adult is striving to rediscover.
Australian Osteopaths are primary health care providers, and use a purely hands-on form of manual medicine. Historically Osteopathic Medicine has had a full scope of medical practice. Today this is still the case, except outside the US Osteopaths do not practice in hospitals, nor do they provide life saving intervention in emergency situations. Osteopaths are ideally suited to treating both acute and chronic conditions through hands-on treatment. It is their primary intention to activate the body's own self-healing and self-regulating capacity. In this regard, Osteopathic treatment may eliminate or diminish the need for Allopathic drug therapy or surgical intervention. Where Osteopathic treatment is not indicated, the Osteopath will refer a patient to the relevant health provider.
Each treatment is completely unique, since each patient has their own unique history: a history reflected in the structure and function of their body. Treatments result in a re-activation of the body's own natural vitality, as structural anatomy and functional body awareness synchronise. With greater vitality and awareness, a patient’s body becomes better equipped to resolve a history of trauma, mechanical imbalance or functional incapacity. Osteopathic post-graduate training deepens the ability to listen with one's hands: to be guided by and cooperate with the indwelling intelligence of the body. The Osteopath's skill is used in guiding and facilitating the patient healing themselves, through utilising the memory of Health already present within.
Qualifications and post-graduate education/experience:
• Bachelor of Economics (UWA) 1993 • Bachelor of Applied Science (Clinical) (RMIT) 1999 • Bachelor of Osteopathic Science (RMIT) 1999 • Associate: Busselton Osteopathic Clinic 1998-2000 • 40 hour Foundational Osteopathy in the Cranial Field: Sutherland Cranial Teaching Foundation (SCTF), Australia 1999. • 3 month Intensive Training Apprenticeship with SCTF faculty member: New Zealand 2000 • 40 hour Foundational Osteopathy in the Cranial Field: SCTF, New Zealand 2000 • Associate: Still Sutherland Centre for Osteopathic Medicine: New Zealand 2000-04 • Phase I Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: International Biodynamic Faculty (IBF), Australia 2005 • WA President/Director of Australian Osteopathic Association: 2006-07 • Phase II Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: IBF, Australia 2006 • Phase I Biodynamic Treatment of Children: IBF, Australia 2007 • Phase III Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: IBF, New Zealand 2007 • Phase II Biodynamic Treatment of Children: IBF, Australia 2008 • Phase IV Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2008 • Phase V Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2008 • Phase VI Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2009 • Phase VIII Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, Australia 2009 (attended twice) • 2 weeks attending the John of God Healing Centre, Brasil 2011 • Phase VII Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2011 • Phase II Biodynamic Treatment of Children: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2011 • Phase VI Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2012 • 2 weeks attending the John of God Healing Centre, Brasil 2013 • Phase VIII Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2013 • 4 weeks attending the John of God Healing Centre, Brasil 2014 • Phase IV Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy: Dr J. Jealous, USA 2015 • 2 weeks attending the John of God Healing Centre, Brasil 2015