What is Cranial Sacral Therapy?
Cranial sacral therapy (CST) is a gentle but powerful healing modality that balances the body’s nervous system, addresses pain and problems that are often inaccessible by other means. Techniques can include but are not limited to, subtle and gentle touch applied along the spine from the sacral area to the cranium, therapeutic dialogue and imagery. It provides profound relaxation, restoration and supports self-healing. Recipients experience pain relief, more flexibility and well-being. You remain fully dressed during a CST session and can wear loose yoga-like or exercise clothing. Sessions are tailored to each person’s unique needs. CST is often combined with other complementary therapies to help with optimum functioning of body/mind.
History and Practice
Pioneers of cranial sacral therapy include osteopath physicians Dr. William Sutherland and Dr. John Upledger and Franklin Sills. Training is based on the perception and palpation of the cranial rhythmic impulse and movement of CSF, cerebrospinal fluid. The CSF can be felt anywhere on the body because of the connective tissue (fascia) network throughout the body. Fascia reflects the rhythm and movement of the fluid. Using light focused touch to access connective tissue and deep structures of muscles, bones and parts of the nervous system, therapists can precisely locate and relieve areas of restriction that can be causing pain or limitation.
There are 3 tides or rhythms produced by the Breath of Life that are considered as express
ions of health. CST practitioners evaluate and assess these tides during a session. They are: (1) cranial impulse, expressed at an average rate of 8-12 cycles per minute; (2) the mid-tide rhythm that carries ordering forces into the body at 2.5 cycles per minute and (3) the long tide expressed once every 100 seconds and considered as the first stirring of life and emerging from a grounded, deeper stillness at the center of our being. These expressions are a blueprint which is carried through our bodies by our fluids, especially our cerebrospinal fluid CSF, which acts as a flow of information for physiological, spiritual and mental health. CST seeks to free obstructions to this blueprint and and activate self-healing, restored health, function, balance and harmony.
How Misaligned Cranium Bones and Bunching of Fascia Can Cause Imbalance & Pain
The bones of the cranium are interconnected like the teeth of a comb and are slightly movable. Sometimes during birth or head injuries these bones can become misaligned and cause an imbalance and pain. In the cranium there are contacts used to energetically open and align the bones of the cranium. Once they are aligned the fluid is free to flow delivering oxygen and nourishment and often times the pain goes away as the pressure is relieved. Inside the body there is a thin layer of interlinking fibrous membrane that separates and envelops muscles and organs throughout the body called fascia. It looks like the thin layer of membrane that is seen over the muscles on the inside of chicken. Imagine this skin being like clingy plastic wrap and at the moment of trauma (mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually), it bunches together causing it to pull in other areas of the body. Over time, it causes body tissues to crystallize and squeeze nerve endings, fascia then restricts the flow of interstitial fluids and the result is friction, stress and pain.
The Body’s Natural Way To Unwind Itself
Called cranial unwinding, the body is able to unwind itself physically while the therapist helps the client move his/ her body by following this movement. While the body is in movement the mind can replay thought processes that happened at the time of trauma and the subconscious can put thoughts of current value into perspective. This unwinding loosens the tissues and allows fluid into areas that were too tight to benefit from the nourishment the fluids offer. As flow is renewed to the body’s tissues, spine and the cranium, loosening of the tissues also helps to free nerve endings, thus relieving the cause of pain. Cranial Unwinding has been known to help: Chronic Pain Syndromes, Headaches, Arthritis and Joint Pain, Neuralgia, Fibromyalgia, Lower Back Pain, Traumatic Injuries, Strokes, Degenerative Disease of the Central Nervous System, Trauma from Surgery and Emotional Trauma.
Therapists Are Trained To Listen To The Body
CST Therapists are trained to deeply listen to the body, to what the client is feeling, sensing and saying, thus becoming a mirror for the client to reflect. The therapist can feel and sense these energy blocks through their touch and even through their own body. The potency and fluctuations of this most inherent life force can communicate to the practitioner and they can help the client awaken their awareness within.
Life's Ebb and Flow
As energy expands back to Source and moves away from the body’s “held” spots, a person may experience ‘moving’ back through the contraction, tension, held postures, patterns and emotions blocked in the tissue or other levels. A healing flow occurs, a rising, expanding and moving back to balance. Think of the ebb and flow of the ocean and imagine the waves going ‘outward/ebbing’ and not returning, as if the water got stuck ‘out there’, the ebb did not flow back or rise or move inward again. Honoring our body’s ebb and flow is a sacred fundamental of life. Imbalances and resulting lack of health, physically, mentally and emotionally are a result of ‘getting stuck’ and not returning to center, to balance, to Source energy where all balance occurs. Our cranial sacral system and CS fluid must ebb and flow to experience optimal wellness on all levels.
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