Craniosacral Therapy from a Different Perspective

Craniosacral Therapy first emerged out of the beginnings of Osteopathic Medicine between 1864 and the 1930’s. Since then it has been an unfolding journey into how to work with the living physiology and to unlock a person’s own natural healing process in the face of disease, trauma, illness and chronic pain. Dr A.T. Stills (the founder of Osteopathic medicine) who through the great trauma of watching his children die of spinal meningitis at the hands of allopathic medicine in 1864 questioned whether the human capacity to heal was locked inside the body rather then something that could be treated by medications. “In sickness has God left man in the world of guessing?” He decided “God is not a guessing God, but a God of truth. All his works, spiritual and material, are harmonious. His law of life is absolute. So wise a God places the remedy within the material house in which the spirit dwells.” He then set out to study the mechanism behind our tissues which became the ongoing study behind true Osteopathic philosophy and would be carried on by those interested in the living organism. He discovered that through the connective tissue layers all things were connected. Viscera (organs) are connected to Soma (connective tissue, joints, nerves, blood, lymphatic vessels and basically all tissues and fluids of the body as a whole). And that any dysfunction in either system would affect the other. He discovered that by palpating the body he could actually trace how the tissue was affected through his keen sense and understanding of the living body. He also came to understand that that there was a kind of life force that organized the body that was beyond what could be seen, measured or completely understood.

Stills work was continued on by one of his students W.G. Sutherland who discovered that there was a subtle, palpable oscillation, which the Breath of Life engenders, called the ‘Primary Respiratory Mechanism’. This discovery of Primary Respiration and its mechanism ended up being the most outstanding contribution in the history of physiology. Furthermore, this subtle motion is found most predominately in the tissues of the central nervous system but also exists throughout the entire body and, this motion is what organizes all of the tissues and function of organs in the body.

Today, the continuation into the understanding of the Primary Respiratory Mechanism is embodied in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and follows the evolving research of Stills and Sutherland as well as, Osteopaths Rollin Becker, James Jealous, Embryologist and Pre and Perinatal Psychology Pioneer William Emerson, Psychologist Franklin Sills and Continuum Movement Theory originator Emily Conrad.

The underlying principle is that there is a Healing Intelligence within the body that maintains Health at all times. Health is always there. It is an ever present force in our Being. It is neither born nor dies. It is constant. In our Soma, health is forever organizing around the original embryological Blue Print of our making which anatomically begins with conception. How health organizes in our bodies is, modified from the Original Intention of that embryological Blue Print, by our life experiences and by our genetics. All parts affect the whole, this is the concept behind the Osteopathic term Inherent Health.

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy facilitates the body's own natural healing processes in restoring health and balance. It is a gentle, non-invasive method of treatment that has proven to be effective in treating a wide range of medical problems associated with pain, trauma, illness and dysfunction. It is a subtle yet profound approach to healing.

A Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist works to support the Health that is already there and not necessarily the place of trauma. The more wider known Biomechanical ‘CranioSacral’ Therapy is more centered around structural balance and integrity while also finding a way to align the body through ‘Craniosacral manipulations’. A Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist also holds a deep knowledge in manual therapy, but actually works to hold the entire aspect of Inherent Health and works to make Health and the underlining Intelligence stronger in the body. They do this by helping the cellular tissues to settle and trusting the Breath of Life and the physiological Tides. Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is centered on helping the physiology find Stillness where it can re-charge and gain access to its original state. By doing so the body can release holding patterns associated with trauma, illness and other chronic conditions. If unwinding happens in a session, the therapist works to slow things down and to resource the trauma. Their knowledge of how to work with the Primary Respiratory Mechanism comes from a deep understanding of Anatomy, Fluid Dynamics, Embryology and Buddhist Psychology. The therapist listens to the entire system with their hands and their entire Being all the while helping the body to remember the Health and Intelligence that is already there. Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a gradual process, but the effects can be complete and lasting.

What happens in a Biodynamic Craniosacral session? The client will usually come in presenting with their condition in the foreground, or on the center of their consciousness, with the Blue Print out of reach from their resources. The therapist provides a neutral and non intrusive field that will reflect and perceive wholeness in the client’s system from the moment the client walks in the door. Within the therapists neutral field they will include the Whole in their awareness that contains the story, the condition, the history in the system as well as the anatomy and physiology, the Health, the Blueprint and the Mid-Line point of balance in the tissues. After some time, the client’s physiology will begin to remember space, option, Health, Blueprint and wholeness all the while beginning to present signs of resource. Resource is important in the healing process because that is where the body can change its state through a process called Transmutation. Transmutation is where form is organized, fluid cohesion and integration can happen through the building of Potency on the cellular tissue. This Potency brings movement to the physical tissue in a place called Dynamic Stillness. When these elements occur the body can experience healing sustain on a permanent level, because it has moved on its own, on its own time with the support of the therapist.

Craniosacral Therapy is not energy work but more based on the physical body and its subtle expressions of movement. In order for the practitioner to feel these movements and to perceive the whole system of expression they must sit quietly listening with a quite mind and hands that are "thinking-feeling- seeing-knowing". The fluids of the body are very intelligent and it is only when the client is in a relaxed state, feeling safe and secure on the table that the motilities of the body can show the practitioner their true nature.

What they listen for is the embryology patterns, the nervous system functions, the organ motility, bone and ‘fascial tensile fields’ which are all driven by the Fluid System. Within the Fluid System there are very subtle rhythms that have many different layers to them. Those layers are called Tides because they move throughout the body just the same as the different Tidal layers of the oceans and all the bodies of water on Earth. These Tides give potential for the potency of Breath of Life to be carried into every cell, and tissue in the body bringing life and Health to the surface.

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapists also work with the relational field in a way that creates a safe therapeutic atmosphere before a client gets on the table. Craniosacral work can transform the process of the psychology when treating chronic conditions and disease. The movement of the Breath of Life and Primary Respiration alone is what preserves the transformation process of the psychology. Psycho-therapeutic dialogue is not essential to the therapeutic process of the inherent treatment plan and can be more of an interruption to the therapeutic process. However, the degree of safety between the therapist and client is essential to the healing process which is established by the therapist’s ability help the client settle into Mindful Awareness of the body and its sensations.

One of the things that is so amazing about the effects of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, is that it is like the gift that keeps on giving! Often times the real change in the physiology will happen weeks after a session. The body will move and adjust itself just at a speed that is right for that individual person. The healing process is a slow process and if the body has a chance to correct itself on its own time than the changes that occur will stay.

This is copywrite by Dominique Clothiaux-Sarff RCST, LMT, CD(DONA) of Charolttesville, Va for for information please visit www.registeredbiodynamic-craniosacraltherapy.com