What is Cranio-Sacral Therapy and what does it involve?
Cranio-Sacral Therapy is an exceptionally gentle and non-invasive yet extremely powerful form of treatment, increasingly recognized for the depth of its influence, the comprehensive range of its therapeutic effects, and its ability to resolve issues that are not helped by other means.
It is a ‘hands on’ therapy. For treatment, you will usually lie on a treatment couch – fully clothed – and experience the very light touch of the therapist’s hands. You may feel a deep sense of relaxation, and possibly become aware of heat, tingling, pulsations or other sensations. Treatment is usually experienced as a very profound relaxation which may pervade the whole person, physically, mentally and emotionally, often accompanied by a feeling of lightness and ease.
This extremely gentle therapy uses no manipulation.
It involves a very gentle touch of the practitioner’s hands, both for diagnosis and for treatment. This light contact may be taken up on the the head, the sacrum (the tail-bone) or any other part of the body as appropriate, identifying subtle disturbances to the free motion of body tissues, the free circulation of body fluids, and the unrestricted flow of fundamental energy, potency, or vitality – the Breath of Life.
It is important to realize that the therapist is not actually ‘doing’ anything to the client. The process is a partnership in which the therapist assists the body to find its own vitality and healing resource.
How does it work?
In response to physical knocks or emotional stress, the body tissues contract.
Sometimes, particularly when the shock is severe or occurs within an emotional situation, the tissues may stay contracted
Any stresses, strains, tensions or traumas which may have been ‘stored’ in the body in this way will restrict the body’s functioning and may give rise to problems over time. The effects may be both physical (such as back pain, migraine or digestive disorders) and emotional (such as anxiety or depression).
Injuries or restrictions to the peripheral structures of the body will inevitably reflect into the core of the system leading to imbalances and asymmetries within the Cranio-Sacral System. Restrictions at the core of the system will similarly reflect out to cause peripheral symptoms.
The Cranio-Sacral Therapist’s role therefore is to identify areas of restricted mobility and to enable the body to dissolve any such restrictions in order to encourage free and fluent Cranio-Sacral motion. This restoration of unhindered tissue mobility, free flow of body fluids and vitality will in turn enable the elimination of disease, the restoration of health and the maintenance of optimum function.
Craniosacral Therapy is client-led. Your body will set the pace of the work, so you will remain comfortable, in control and able to integrate the changes that occur.
What can it treat?
Cranio-Sacral Therapy treats people rather than conditions. It is primarily concerned with creating and maintaining a healthy, balanced state on all levels – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Cranio-Sacral Therapy works on many different levels and influences many different structures within the body. It influences the musculo-skeletal system, the nervous system, the cardio-vascular system, the immune system, the organs, the connective tissues, the fluids and the energy systems of the body.
It is so gentle that it is safe and suitable for every age from newborn babies to the elderly, including all ages and also in fragile or acutely painful conditions.
Cranio-Sacral Therapy is also particularly valuable in solving and resolving chronic and persistent conditions as it can eliminate symptoms and their underlying causes.
The Cranio-Sacral System
The Cranio-Sacral System is a physiological system which, together with the cardio-vascular and respiratory systems, is one of the three fundamental life-giving systems.
It is becoming much better known these days. It 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 as a tide-like ebb and flow; while bones, organs and other structures of the body each follow their own particular pattern of movement.