My journey - Dr. Barry Gillespie - mother embracing baby - Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy

My Journey

I was not supposed to be. When my mother at 34 could not get pregnant after three years of trying, the doctor said she could not have children because she was loaded with fibroids. Wow, I started bucking the medical system right from the start.

I picture my zygote in 1947 as a ball of fascia. Over the next eight weeks in the embryonic stage, my cells divided and systems were formed. This development continued through the fetal stage until birth. The goal is for all newborns to be craniosacral fascial strain-free.

That did not happen for me. I hypothesize that as I was growing, I had to deal with those fibroids. Maybe a tight uterus with fibroids did not want to expand, and the umbilical cord may have been a continual problem. I am sure that I had a hard time getting into a comfortable position. I probably kicked and punched to get out.

My father watched my uneventful vaginal delivery; thankfully he had told the doctor: no forceps. In 1947 there was no APGAR score, neonatology, or NICU. If you did not make it on your own, the doctor would tell your parents to just have another baby. Going back a generation, the family doctor delivered my dad at home in 1910 for $10.

Unfortunately, my fascial web remembered those traumas, and I was left to deal with their effects. I thank God I eventually taught people who gave me Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy. I always thought that it would help people, but never pictured my own healing.

I wore distance glasses for 50 years; my vision in both eyes was 120/20. When I revisited my birth trauma with CFT, fetal pressure on my frontal bone/eye area released over a number of visits. It was a rough ride, but my vision corrected to an incredible 20/15 at 65 years of age.

That pressure probably created a zero brain cycle, which clinically manifested as a sickly kid, reading comprehension issues, and later headaches, starting me down this alternative road in the ’70s. I feel that just plain hard work got me to the lofty goal of being a periodontist.

People may wonder why I will not retire. The bottom line is that I do not want one more human being to go through what I went through because I know it all can be prevented. I so wish I could have worked on little Barry in 1947. I so wish I could have been at my wife’s birth. I so wish that a provider could have helped you and your family members. I so wish all the little ones could have therapy now.

This global suffering is all so needless, but I have hope the world will figure this out. I trust that God is in control.

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2026 Dates:

  • January 25–27 | Melbourne, FL
  • March 22–24 | Greenville, SC
  • May 17–19 | Westfield, IN
  • June 28–30 | Bozeman, MT
  • August 9–11 | Boise, ID
  • October 4–6 | Olathe, KS
  • November 15–17 | Newtown Square, PA

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