Craniosacral Therapy

Craniosacral (cranialsacral) therapy is a holistic healing practice which employs extremely light finger pressure focused primarily on the head, spine and sacrum.

Laying on of hands for healing is as old as humanity. The earliest written reference to “movement of spinal nerves” and its importance is found in the I-Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes which is 4000 years old. The ancient Chinese called craniosacral work “the art of listening”. In the middle ages it was the bonesetters that sensed the fine movements of the body to assist healing and to treat headaches. In modern times, an American osteopath and biomedical genius named William Sutherland spent 50 years detailing the individual movements of the human cranium (skull) and pelvis. He called his work “Cranial Osteopathy”.
This was a tremendous contribution to the healing arts.

How Does It Work?
The cranial bones are connected to the sacrum by a continuous membrane system of connective tissue that houses the brain and spinal cord. The spinal fluid is pumped through the membranes, creating a rhythm which can be monitored and balanced. The rhythm, or cranial sacral pulse, is similar to the heartbeat, but it results from the rhythmic pumping of the spinal fluid in the head and spinal column. The whole body expands and contracts with this rhythm, but the cranial pulse can be felt most easily on the head. The core of your being, motor function, learning patterns, emotions, and ways of perceiving the world are affected by the balance of your Cranial Sacral system.

The therapist places their hands gently in different positions on the skull, spine and sacrum. As your Cranial Sacral system comes into balance, you will usually feel a release of accumulated stress and a general sense of well-being. Some specific complaints and physical problems will also clear up with Cranial Sacral work.

Cranial Sacral Therapy can be effective in shifting emotional holding patterns and draining accumulated stresses in the nervous system. Clients often experience relief from headaches and other problems located in the head, jaw, neck, pelvis, and diaphragm. Conditions as diverse as learning disability, poor concentration, biomechanical dysfunction, and palsy can start to clear up using Cranial Sacral Therapy. It can be used on newborns through geriatrics.

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