Craniosacral Therapy (CST) - What is it?

Craniosacral Therapy or CST permits impartial relationship following the principals of science and physiology to facilitate self healing.
We are relational beings
We thrive on relationship
We are immensely nurtured by relationships where we are heard and appreciated
Neutrally, without prejudice, judgement or hurt.  With words and by presence.

A large part of the training and continued practice for me as a CST involves going inward and listening to the body.  Silently, impartially.  This is quite unlike ‘normal’ everyday outward relating with others.  To listen inwards can reveal how little I know and yet to also wonder at the body and its magnificence.  An organism that self regulates, that always seeks wellness when given the opportunity.  

Experience shows me how external circumstances can influence the way we think, feel and nourish ourselves.  This can in turn impact the body’s self regulation ability.  It can become overloaded and malfunction.  Dis-ease, physical and or mental difficulties arise as a sign that outwardly all is not well.  We stop, take stock and begin to change certain aspects of our life in order to get better.  Someone might recommend a CST session and so you say “why not?”

Compared to many other modalities, CST appears externally void of doing - which it is!  There is little if no outward moving or manipulating joints, limbs and torso.  Dropping into a silent presence, grounded and acknowledged by me, the practitioner, I gently invite a connection through light touch and wide yet attentive listening with the system of the client.  The ‘system’ may be the primitive intuitive limbic brain, the para sympathetic nervous system, the skeletal system, the emotional body, the mental or metaphysical body.  It is the client who at some level chooses the type of engagement that will benefit his or her system in that moment.

All systems appear to be interconnected via the fundamental and little known Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF).  This viscous fluid bathes the spinal cord, brainstem and cranium in it’s protective light. The fluid appears to have a rhythmic ‘tidal’ movement as it flows up and down the spine.  This is because the CSF space is a dynamic pressure system, protecting and nourishing the Central Nervous System and the brain.

This fluid is one of the golden keys to opening to the body’s ability to self correct and heal.  It also allows for stuck emotions to surface like a gentle wave and move through and clear, sometimes with understanding, other times just dropping away like the ebb of the tide to be absorbed into the vast ocean of all that is.

There is a wonderful You Tube video called “Strolling under the Skin”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW0lvOVKDxE&t=912s
Combining at times an amusing Strauss waltz with a rather turgid English translation of a plastic surgeon, Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau, this video captures the movements of soft tissue dividing, aligning and continuously accommodating the weblike reconstruction required for everyday movement.  It is to me totally enthralling, displaying an inner world of tensegrity like I have never seen before.  Worth watching if even for a few moments.

This video mirrors the sensations I often feel as I notice a client’s body adjusting and their soft connective tissue rearranging itself throughout the whole fascial sheath.

In today’s information and fast paced world, generally speaking, our physical and mental bodies are exhausted and on overwhelm.  The nervous system is too often on high alert (sympathetics) and imbalance occurs when the rest and repairs (parasympathetics) are not able to get a look in.  The parasympathetics kick in when we feel safe, supported, relaxed, quiet.

As practitioner, I rest into a meditative, resting nature and by contact and presence with the client, their system will move towards, if not fall head long into a similar state.  Why?  Because the system is so relieved to be witnessed and feel the resonance of this state and move into ‘rest and digest’!  This effectively reduces stress, anxiety, improving sleep and boosting the immune system.

Craniosacral Therapy does not comfortably fit into any known box and so it remains a little mysterious, aloof, set apart from the normal.  When in fact it is so absolutely NORMAL!  It is the body normalising ITSELF, coming into balance, witnessing itself.  There is an energy exchange between client and practitioner.  Presence and the holding of space by the practitioner allows the client to move into a place of self correction, release, restoration, acceptance.

CST is an unlimited modality.

To conclude:
CST impacts soft tissue release, structural decompression alleviating joint, nerve, emotional, mental pain.
CST aids mobilisation, balancing and releasing of joints, organs, muscles.
CST stimulates the Endocrine system, Metabolism and Nervous system.
CST aids fluid change from cellular level to vascular and lymphatic flow.
CST allow for an energy exchange and emotional release, restoration and acceptance.
CST is effective in reducing and eliminating the underlying conditions that cause chronic pain and inflammation.

Lastly, this is not something that is done to a client or happens by magic, although at times it does appear to be full of Grace and magnificence.   This is a 2-way equal exchange entered into by the client whole heartedly.  As I said in the beginning, it is relational.  Mutual trust and allowing for the arising of known health and ease of being.  That is what CST is about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-mLstQUKQ0&t=1s

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I give most grateful thanks to Jan Kennedy, who came to me for yoga and invited me to have a CST session with her.  Absolutely amazed by our weekly sessions together, my life took a turn I could never have imagined and the journey has been nothing short of miraculous.  Beginning the healing of deep wounds both physical and emotional, facilitated release and the ability to forgive and receive.  I wish all of you reading this the most heartfelt compassion for all that you are and all that you can be.

A toast to life’s journey with all it’s twists and turns, ups and downs, and with the ability for abundance and well being.
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Why not try a session and see for yourself?