Carol McLellan

🍑 The Story of World Peach
 

It all began in the very first class Dr. John Upledger invited me to develop. We were teaching practitioners how to feel the cranial rhythm — not only of the mother, but also of the baby within her womb. It’s a subtle, beautiful way to help facilitate communication between mom and child.
 

To help students understand how to feel two rhythms at once, I guided them through a simple imagery exercise. I asked them to imagine holding a peach.“Notice the texture,” I said. “It’s soft, fuzzy. Is it firm, or is it ripe? When you bite into it, it’s juicy — and then you reach for a napkin that’s dry and crisp. Feel the difference.”

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Through this exercise, everyone realized that they were already capable of perceiving multiple sensations at once — a key to feeling both mother and baby simultaneously. Afterward, the class was laughing and teasing about how hungry they’d become from all the peach talk. But something deeper happened too. Everyone felt more confident, more in sync — not just with their own touch, but with one another. There was a sense of harmony in the room.

 

Later, I joked that if we kept doing this, maybe we could create world peach — a slip of the tongue that was meant to be “world peace.” We all laughed about it, but the next morning, when I arrived to teach, there it was: a peach sitting on my podium. Someone had written on it, “World Peach.” That small gesture began to travel. My friend Katja — the one who started it — began calling colleagues in other cities to continue the tradition. Everywhere I went to teach, there would be a peach on my podium, with “World Peach” written in the local language.

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Over time, the peach became more than a joke — it became a symbol.

 

Craniosacral therapy, especially in the context of birth, reminds us of something simple but profound: when babies come into the world feeling welcomed, when mothers can connect and communicate with them, a sense of peace takes root. Each gentle birth, each moment of connection, ripples outward — creating a softer, more compassionate world.

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So the peach remains — a sweet, playful emblem of harmony, connection, and, yes… world peach.