Craniosacral Therapy: When Our Central Nervous System is Happy, So Are We

It's October, the month we traditionally associate with the transition of seasons, changing and cooling temperatures (at least here in Maine), contemplating warmer, more comforting foods, and Halloween, to name just a few things. The human skull often appears as a symbol of Halloween, of creepiness, of death, of mysterious, powerful goings on...and indeed it is a powerful, complex structure physiologically and metaphorically. I want to talk about the skull, or cranium, in terms of a therapy that I do whose workings can appear mysterious and muddy, and bring a little clarity to it. I'm referring to Craniosacral Therapy, and here's what it is at its most basic:

We all have a physiological rhythm in the body created by the cerebrospinal fluid in our brain and spinal column. It is a rhythm in the body like respiration, heart rate, or blood pressure, but it doesn’t coincide exactly with any of those. Craniosacral Therapy practitioners are trained to palpate this rhythm and use it to evaluate restrictions in the body.

Craniosacral therapy is a manual, light touch therapy using the craniosacral rhythm to evaluate restrictions in the body, and then free up or treat those restrictions peripherally in the body as well as in the spine and the head. This is designed to take tension and stress off the central nervous system, so that the body can shift what it needs to shift toward better health and function.

CST can be used to help support and release discomfort, dysfunction and imbalance caused by many physical and emotional conditions. People who have received CST have reported feeling symptom relief associated with the following conditions and more:

Autism Spectrum Disorders, cancer treatment, central nervous system disorders, chronic fatigue, concussion syndrome, fibromyalgia, headaches and migraines, infant and childhood disorders, neck and back pain, orthopedic (bone, joint, ligament, tendon muscle, nerve) problems, post traumatic stress, scoliosis, spinal cord injuries, stress and tension related disorders, TMJ syndrome, and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

As a CST practitioner my role (as in my other modalities) is to be completely present with the client, their body, and listen with my hands and whole self to what is being said. In a session you as a client might feel relaxed, and you may even fall asleep- I have, and I recently did some CST with my 9 year old daughter and she feel asleep within minutes!

I may cue you verbally to what I am doing next, where I might place my hands, or have you position yourself...but generally I see these sessions as sacred, "time out of time" for you and your body, and conversation is limited. We will talk briefly before and after your session, but the table time is a time for you to receive, for your body to do the work it needs to do when restrictions are released (physical or emotional).

The nature of touch in a CST session is light, at most the weight of a nickel (5 grams). You might wonder, 'how is it possible to affect change in the body, with the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid), with such a light touch?' Well, the CSF system is a hydraulic system, like the brakes in your car. You don't have to press very hard on the brakes to get 2 tons of steel to stop, relatively speaking, right? Palpating and working with the CSF rhythm in your body operates similarly.

My own experience with CST has been fascinating and unexpected. I have long experienced TMJ syndrome; tightness in my jaw and facial muscles, an inability to open my mouth very wide (that's super fun when at the dentist....), jaw clenching while sleeping, wearing custom made, expensive mouthguards at night, and at its worst, headaches that resulted from all of this tension. I am aware that the source of some of this dysfunction is stress related. During a recent session I received I experienced a softening of my jaw and it felt like I couldn't really close my mouth all the way. It wasn't unpleasant, but just different. I felt more of a sense of freedom in my body, and ease in my face and head. This has remained, several weeks later. I did feel a bit "off", and nauseous the next day. After a session, one can experience feeling "off" or "ick" sometimes as your system adjust to the work. I don't view this as a negative, but only part of the healing process. Everyone's individual experience during and after a session will vary, because we are all unique in how our bodies receive the work, what issues and restrictions we present with, how long they have been going on, etc.

CST is a powerful therapy on its own, and can be incorporated into other manual modalities as well. I use pieces of the 10-step Protocol (a one hour session of CST) in my polarity therapy sessions regularly. If you have more questions after reading this far, please reach out to me to chat, or book a session to experience the work directly.

Be well!