Craniosacral Therapy
This is a form of healing
which through light touch, facilitates the body's natural powers
of self-healing. At the core of the craniosacral system are the
membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the
brain and spinal cord and which create the subtle motions and
pulsations throughout the whole body. These different tie-like
pulsations are in interface enabling the therapist to make a connection
with the organising forces of life. In craniosacral therapy, palpating
these pulsations enables therapists to access the forces of life
and to make a therapeutic relationship with the body-mind through
their hands. Thus therapists can gently release tensions and restrictions
from past (or current) illnesses, accidents, emotional trauma,
etc. It is a non-manipulative discipline that has developed from
the same roots as cranial osteopathy.
How
Does It Work?
The therapy is based on observations that, for the healing process
to develop spontaneously, it is often enough to really listen
through palpation. To do this the therapist puts preconception
to one side. Cranial therapists are also trained to make a variety
of interventions if appropriate. By focusing on the body's internal
rhythms and allowing restriction to change, therapists help the
client to learn, on both a conscious and sub-conscious personal
level, how to recognise and release area that my be causing illness
or hindering recovery. The therapist will always also be aware
of the anatomical structure of the person he or she working with
and use that to guide the treatment. Therapists recognise a number
of different rhythms or "tides"; the slower tides are
thought to be more related to deeper levels of healing.
What
does it involve?
Clients casually lie, or sometimes sit, fully clothes on a comfortable
treatment table. The therapist uses his or her hand to "listen
with the hand" to the boy's subtle rhythms and then engages
the tissue of the client's system. The hand may be still for quite
long periods of time. It feels different to everyone, you may
feel heat or cold, tingling sensations, gently pulsing or sense
of deep relaxation.
