Craniosacral Therapy
What is Craniosacral Therapy?
Craniosacral Therapy is a hands-on therapy where you will usually lie on a treatment table while my hands make light contact. This gentle approach does not use manipulation. I will listen, via my hands, to what is going on in your body, to identify and help relieve pain or tension held there. You may feel a deep sense of relaxation and become aware of heat, pulsations, tingling or other sensations.
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.
Who is a Craniosacral Therapist?
All Craniosacral therapists have to cultivate a particular presence and touch. How to cultivate that particular quality of touch is the biggest part of a lifelong journey.
Relational touch dramatically changes physiology, switches the person from a charged sympathetic state into a parasympathetic state, immediately down regulating the system.
It is difficult to describe what a Craniosacral Therapist does, because the artistry lies in the not doing, being informed yet completely open, non-judgemental, non-interpretational.
The more knowing the practitioner has the more the system of the client can tell and be heard. Some people come in with structural problems, others with depression or anxiety, the practitioner will listen to the entire human being, not the individual parts.
It is important for the practitioner to be familiar with the way they hold their own story because there is a resonance between client and practitioner and their own history, their own pain can be triggered and they need to be able to differentiate what’s theirs and what is not.
That’s why it is important for a practitioner to be aware where they are in themselves, their own process, be empathic with their own difficulties and failings, be aware of how they hold their own story instead of coming in with their own conditioning and allowing that to get in the way.
They also need to have a good understanding of anatomy and physiology, an understanding of the workings of the physical body, where structures are and what they are supposed be doing because otherwise they might not recognise when the body is expressing a physiological pattern.
The practitioner is very responsive and open and never overrides. It is very much about finding the place of true meeting where you can both feel safe, and both start to drop into a place where you can be relaxed. In this field of connection and safety what wants to emerge in the session can show itself.
In my experience when something shows itself it is already in the process of expressing, of changing, of resolving itself. If this happens in form of an emotion and I can feel it in my own body, my ability to self-regulate is an enormous tool for that emotion to be heard and shift, it supports the ground that allows for something else to happen. To quote my teacher ‘If I am ok my client is ok’
I cannot comment on the approaches that other practitioners in the Craniosacral Therapy World use, because I have studied Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy with CTET and can only talk about the way they work. I have had treatments with practitioners from other branches in the Cranio field and thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from it. In my experience it is important that a client finds a practitioner that they are resonating with.
Who is Craniosacral Therapy best for?
In my work I have supported people with general states of stress, depression and anxiety as well as the emotional and physical traumas resulting from accidents and post-surgery. I also work with many people that have non-specific back and neck aches with great results. It is great for people who don’t tolerate deep tissue work. Some of my regular clients use sessions as a tool for general wellbeing and a better sense of self.
Clients have found Craniosacral Therapy helpful alongside their medical regiment to manage long-term conditions, including the sometimes overwhelming physical and emotional aspects that can go hand in hand with it. We are not looking to counteract a specific problem, we are looking for wholeness and how an individual who somehow has become fragmentised can return to that ground of wholeness.
What does Craniosacral Therapy treat?
It is suitable for all ages, from Babies to the elderly. Often beneficial for fragile or acutely painful conditions, as well as during pregnancy, after an operation, accident, fall or injury.
You don’t have to be ill or have any particular symptoms to benefit from regular sessions. The easing of life’s stresses and the increased sense of vitality and well-being that Craniosacral Therapy can bring are welcome at any time.
