This course provides osteopaths with a structured framework to deepen their engagement with patients’ bodily experiences through interoceptive touch in cranial osteopathy. It aims to strengthen the therapeutic alliance in clinical contexts where biomedical models reach their limits by integrating previously underexplored perspectives that are nevertheless aligned with the core principles of osteopathy, including the unity of body, mind, and spirit.

Overall Objective

To provide osteopaths with a reflective and practical framework for exploring patients’ lived experiences through interoceptive touch based on concrete clinical situations. Drawing from participants’ perceptual experiences, the course builds on perceptual neurology, medical anthropology, and indigenous epistemologies that shaped early osteopathic thinking. The aim is to examine how modulation of therapeutic attitude can influence diagnostic and therapeutic palpation and strengthen the therapeutic alliance.

Specific Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Critically analyze perceptions
• Integrate neuroscience into physical perceptions
• Incorporate anthropology and indigenous knowledge
• to strengthen the therapeutic alliance
• to communicate interprofessionally

In our interview with Rafael Zegarra-Parodi, you’ll gain initial insights into his thinking:
We need to talk about OSTEOPATHY – Torsten Liem meets Rafael Zegarra-Parodi