What is CranioSacral Therapy?
CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is an extremely gentle non-invasive therapy, generally using no more than the weight of
a nickel. As I treat the body from the inside out, I work with fluides, nerves, tissues, fascia, and outwards to bone,
ligaments and muscles.
How does
it work?
The CranioSacral system is a core system in the human body. The
CranioSacral system is a physiological system just like your respiratory and circulatory systems. Like those systems,
it produces a rhythm that can be felt anywhere on the body. It is felt as a flextion and extension phase. When
this rhythm is in disharmony, the entire body is adversely affected. An important function of this system is the production,
circulation, and re-absorption of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF). Cerebrospinal Fluid provides essential nourishment for
the central nervous system, helping it to maintain a consistent chemical balance, even when other conditions of the body are
changing. All of the critical functions that are mediated by the central nervous system are dependent upon supply of
this fluid. If the physiology of CSF is disturbed, the function of the central nervous system can be affected, with
vast ramifications for the health of the whole body.
Using gentle touch I am able
to palpate and assess the rhythm, feel for blockages and restrictions in the CranioSacral and fascial systems throughout the
body to assist the body in releasing them, and improve the funtioning of the whole person. Due to the connectedness
of fascia, the root cause of symptoms may be coming from anywhere in the body. For example, an old ankle injury could
be causing an imbalance in the pelvis, leading to low back pain or headaches. Adhesions from past surgery could pull
your shoulder or neck out of balance. As the head bones and tail bones are connected through the spine, and all bathed
in a spinal fluid and enclosed in a tight membrane, what happens at the tailbone is reflected through to the head. And
quite often, an imbalance at the tail bone due to a fall on the bottom spreads tension up to the head and results in headaches
and migraine-sometimes years after the original fall or trauma.
This
often explains the puzzeled look on clients faces when they present with head pain and I might begin by working on the other
end-on their tail-bone!
A way to look at it is to think of Cranio
as head and Sacral as lower back and tail-bone. The name implies just how important the connection between the head
and tail-bone are.
