What you need to know About CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY
What is it?
Cranio-Sacral Therapy is an exceptionally gentle yet extremely powerful form of treatment, which engages with the deepest inherent healing forces within the body in order to enable integration of the whole body-mind.
The human body has a powerful inherent healing potential, but this potential can be compromised or depleted by injury, disease, trauma and stress. The forces of nature, both within and outside the body, have a natural tendency to reintegrate and restore healthy function. Quantum science demonstrates that this potential arises from the electromagnetic and other forces which pervade the whole universe, which are the basis of physics, chemistry and biology, which permeate all living beings, our environment and the whole matrix within which we exist, and which are responsible for generating life, growth, health and healing. These forces are expressed in the body as rhythmic motion.
CST engages with these forces in order to enhance the body’s natural healing ability and to restore health and integration of body, mind and spirit. It can enhance health in any circumstances - from new born babies to the elderly, from birth patterns, injury, illness, severe trauma, and all the many stresses and strains of life, both physical and emotional, often resolving issues that are not helped by other means. It is a profoundly transformative process.
CST is a ‘hands on therapy. For treatment, you will usually lie on a treatment table and experience the very light touch of the therapist’s hands. You may feel a deep sense of relation, and possibly become aware of heat, tingling, pulsations or other sensations.
The extremely gentle therapy uses no manipulation. The therapist listens, via the hands, to what is going on in your body and in this way both identifies and relieves pains or tensions held in the body. Craniosacral Therapy is client-led. Your body will set the pace of work, so you will remain comfortable, in control and able to integrate the changes that occur. Since it is your body (rather than your mind) that sets the priorities, you may find that the reason you came for treatment is not what changes first.
Also, some people find that it can take a few sessions to get used to what they are feeling. For these reasons, you may need to consider having a series of treatments to gain the full benefit of Craniosacral Therapy and its cumulative effects. Craniosacral Therapy is based on a number of findings about the body’s subtle physiology, which were made by osteopaths in the USA nearly 100 years ago.
These findings show that every cell in a healthy body expresses a rhythmic movement which is fundamental to life – and which has been called craniosacral motion.
At the core of the body the cerebrospinal fluid, which bathes and cushions the brain and spinal cord, expresses this motion in a tide-like ebb and flow; while bones, organs and other structures in the body each follow their own particular patter of movement.
This motion is so subtle that it is barely measurable with instruments, but the hands of a trained therapist are able to perceive it. Craniosacral Therapy has gradually been refined and further developed into the subtle, deep healing process which is available today.
How does it work?
In response to physical knocks or emotional stress, the body’s tissues contract. Sometimes, particulary when the shock is severe or occurs within an emotional situation, the tissues stay contracted.
Any stresses, strains, tensions or traumas which have been “stored” in the body in this way will restrict the body’s functioning and may give rise to problems over the years. The effects may be both physical (such as back pain, migraine or digestive disorders) and emotional (such as anxiety or depression).
Restrictions in the body’s functioning show up in the way that craniosacral motion is expressed. Craniosacral therapists are trained to feel this subtle motion in the body, and can use it to identify areas where there is congestion or restriction. In this way they can identify the possible origin of a problem.
Then using the hands to reflect back to the body the pattern it is holding, the therapist provides an opportunity for the body to let go of its restrictive pattern and return to an easier mode of functioning. This happens at a deep, unconscious level within the body, but it occurs in the same way as we might take other, more conscious decisions. For example, if someone holds a mirror in front of you when you are frowning, you suddenly become aware of your expression and may well choose to relax your eyebrows.
As well as releasing the body’s tensions, this frees the energy which the body was previously using to hold itself in contraction. So one of the benefits of the therapy is an increase in the level of energy available.
What does it involve?
Cranio-Sacral treatment is most often carried out with the patient lying down, fully clothed, in a quiet and peaceful environment. Treatment involves a very gentle touch of the practitioner’s hands. This light contact may be taken up on the Cranium (head) the Sacrum (tail-bone) the feet, the trunk, or any other part of the body as appropriate. Treatment is generally experienced as a profound relaxation and reintegration which may pervade the whole person, physically, mentally and emotionally, often accompanied by a feeling of lightness and ease.
Gentle and Safe Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy is so gentle that it is safe and suitable for people of all ages, from babies to the elderly, and also in fragile or acutely painful conditions.
Indeed, it is often appropriate when other therapies may be unsafe, such as during pregnancy, after an operation, accident, fall or injury, and for young babies. As a whole body therapy, Craniosacral Therapy may aid people with almost any condition, by raising the vitality and enabling the body’s own self-healing processes to be utilised.
TYPES OF CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY:
I am trained and experienced in biodynamic, biomechanical and have developed multidimensional craniosacral therapy. I was trained at the College of Craniosacral Therapy in London in 2000 and continued on to do additional post-graduate courses in biodynamics and other techniques.
Through accessing multidimensional fields of spiritual anatomy in my healing practices I was able to apply therapeutic craniosacral listening to multidimensional levels to address causes of symptoms back to past life, ancestral and other dimensional origins, thus resolving them and releasing traumas held in the energy field and physiology resulting from these traumas and restrictions.
"A Biodynamic approach can be very effective in appropriate circumstances. A Biomechanical approach can be very effective in appropriate circumstances. An Integrated approach, incorporating both Biodynamic and Biomechanical principles as well as a wide range of other processes, provides a more comprehensive range of resources, enables a highly effective response to each individual according to their needs, and enables each practitioner to develop a broader perspective." Taken from the College of Craniosacral Therapy Website
WHO IS IT FOR?
Craniosacral therapy can be be beneficial for all ages with many different conditions.
But you don’t have to be ill or have any particular symptoms to benefit from Craniosacral Therapy. The alleviation of life’s stresses, and the increased sense of vitality and well-being the Craniosacral Therapy can bring are welcome to most of us at time.
Conditions Treated
