Craniosacral in a Nutshell

Craniosacral Therapy uses a combination of awareness exercises and gentle touch to help your nervous system self regulate and track different trauma and tension patterns it may be holding onto. Once your body can be more aware of these patterns, it can begin to reorganize and shift through them.

What does a typical session look like?

Well, as so well put on the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America's website:

"Sessions will vary from practitioner but generally your session will begin by sitting and talking with your therapist about any of your health concerns. Together you will discuss a brief health history and what you would like to get out of the session.

During the session, you will be fully clothed, sitting in a chair to start and then lying on a massage table in a supported and comfortable way. It is important that you feel comfortable and safe at all times so you will want to ask for any adjustments you need to the lighting, temperature, etc. Your therapist may ask you from time to time what you are experiencing, and will help you to stay present with whatever your experience is.

When the session begins your therapist will check with you to make sure that you are comfortable. Then there will be a period of dialogue before your therapist makes physical contact with you. Sometimes it takes some time and dialogue to get your comfort just right so you can relax. You will be guided through this process. Establishing comfort is an important first step that ensures that what unfolds in the session is about you and not occurring in reaction to a feeling of lack of safety with the therapist or comfort on the table.

When contact is made the therapist will check in again to make sure the touch is right for you. Session work involves a very light, gentle touch. Your therapist may begin at your feet, at your head (cranium) or on your sacrum (the triangular bone at the bottom of the spine). During your session, depending on your areas of concern, your therapist can go to any area of the body that needs to be worked with, using the contact that feels best for you.

Sessions can last anywhere from a half hour to an hour or an hour and a half depending on the therapist you are working with and your needs. During that time, the therapist will quietly, gently hold parts of your body, listening to the subtle rhythms and tracking changes in your system. In this process the therapist will listen for your body’s expression of the order of priorities for this particular session which will lead to your desired outcome. It is important to note that while a single session can have noticeable effects, it often takes multiple sessions to achieve the results you are seeking.

During the session, you may:

Relax so deeply that you fall asleep

Enter a quiet meditation-like state

Feel as if you are dreaming while awake

Experience memories or insights while on the table

Enjoy a pleasant sense of warmth, softening, widening or floating

At times, you may experience other kinds of sensations as energy that has been held in the body is released. If this occurs, just stay present with your breath and bodily sensations and allow this energy to discharge. The session quite often involves a process of letting go of patterns that inhibit your health and vitality. Once these patterns begin to shift, the therapist may notice changes in your fluids, tissues, bones and potency. You may experience a sense of integration in your body, mind and spirit.

At the end of the session, you may:

Feel relaxed, but also energized

Find yourself breathing more fully and deeply

Stand straighter and taller

Feel more comfortable in your body

You may be surprised to feel a new sense of peace and ease as you leave the office to return, renewed, to your life

Notice an improvement in your sleep patterns

No matter what your experience, your therapist will take some time with you after you are off the table to check in about how you are doing. This is a great opportunity to find words for your experience and reflect on how differently you feel after your session. The effects can also be felt even after you leave your session.

Take time in the next 2-3 days just to notice how you are in the world.

What is the quality of your sleep that night?

How is your digestion?

How is your overall experience of life?

By paying attention to the lasting effects of this work you will be able to gauge what the ongoing use of this work might offer you."

What does CST help with?

Craniosacral Techniques can help with so many conditions because it's focusing on balancing the nervous system which is in control of every other system in the body

Here are some examples: