College of Body Science

There are 10 weeks of online lectures, demonstrations, quizzes and activities for you to complete on the anatomy and physiology. These are supported by 10 weekly, live, online sessions on Monday mornings, after which you will have access to the next week's online material. After a break there are 3 weeks covering pathology.  Then you will have time to review and revise before the exam. The 3-day in-person session will usually be scheduled yearly. 

Each week we will look at a different part of the body, starting at the head and moving downwards. We will not teach it in the typical system by system way, but will introduce aspects of each system where they are relevant and review and expand when we meet them again. 

For example we will have a (very) short introduction to endocrinology when we look at the brain, hypothalamus and pituitary on week 3, but we will cover more details, types of hormones, their feedback loops, etc, when we get to week 4 and the thyroid, and the adrenals on week 8. Similarly for aspects of the blood supply - we will mention key vessels when relevant, re-cover that when we do the heart on week 5, then add in more vessels on weeks 8 and 9 when we get to the lower abdomen, pelvis and legs. We have found this seems to work quite well for students!

So here is a breakdown of topics for each week:

• Introduction: anatomical language, body components, the cell, tissues, organs
• The Head: bones of the cranium, joints, muscles, TMJ, meninges, ventricles & CSF
• The Brain: structure of the nervous system, nerves, endocrine system, special senses, blood supply
• The Neck: bones, joints and blood supply, hyoid, pharynx, thyroid, neck muscles
• The Thorax: bones & muscles, respiratory system, heart & cardiovascular system, blood & lymph
• The Shoulder & Arm: bones, joints, muscles, movements, physiology of bones & muscles, fascia
• Digestive abdomen: Function & physiology of organs, getting fuel in and wastes out, peritoneum
• Posterior Abdomen: urinary & reproductive systems, adrenals, endocrine functions
• The Pelvis and Lower Limb: bones, muscles, nerve & blood supply, joints of hip, knee, ankle
• Pathology: immune system processes & cells, cardiovascular & respiratory pathologies 
• Pathologies of the digestive & musculoskeletal system, nervous and endocrine system
• Participatory review of all coursework - areas determined by student need and request
• AP&P Exam

Phew! Look at all that! We think that covers the start of what you need to know. 

It will give you approx 85 contact hours (approx 50 by recorded video, 15 live online and 20 on the in-person days), plus extra consolidation study for a recommended 3-5 hours a week. 

It is equivalent to a level 3 / 4 qualification (and then some to be honest) honed to give you what you will need as budding cranial or other hands-on bodywork practitioners. 

Of course, there is always more, and you will continue to broaden and deepen your knowledge as your training progresses. But we feel this is a good start. There are pieces of written work to be completed and an exam to give you the impetus to help you find your own inventive ways to absorb it all - and prove to the world that you did!  

It is intensive. Students often say "when you said it would be intensive I didn't realise you meant 'intensive'!" You will need to have time each week to go over and learn the information that we have presented. But they also say it is very rewarding. And those that are studying CranioSacral Therapy too are really well prepared when they start their hands on training.