What can I expect from a Craniosacral Therapy Session?

A typical session takes place in a quiet setting. You remain fully clothed as you relax on a comfortable treatment table.

The therapist begins by gently touching various parts of your body to evaluate the rhythm and motion of the craniosacral system. By carefully listening with the hands to the whole body your therapist can locate areas of restriction, in body tissues or fluid motion, for example, and trace their origin.

Delicate, precise and effective manual techniques are then used to help release any problem areas. While many techniques are carried out from the cranium and /or the sacrum, your therapist may also work on other parts of the body when that is relevant for you. Sometimes, the places where we experience 'symptoms' are not where the actual problem's roots are.

A session can last up to an hour or more. It can be used alone or integrated with other therapies. What you experience from a treatment is highly individual and can be different each time. Typically, people report feelings of warmth, softening or pulsing in the areas the therapist is working on and generally, they feel deeply relaxed.

What is Craniosacral therapy useful for?

In general Craniosacral Therapy (CST) can improve our body's ability to take better care of us.

Like many alternative approaches CST can be useful as a preventative therapy to help keep us in optimal  health.

Practitioners and clients find that it also helps relieve pain and dysfunction from may sources, often uncovering and addressing the deeper causes of our symptoms. The types of problems we find people seek treatment for are very varied but may include stress and tension related disorders, musculoskeletal pain, migraines and headaches, brain and spinal cord injuries as well as many other acute and chronic conditions. People often think of CST as a treatment for babies and indeed parents often report that many typical newborn's problems improve and that they are more settled after treatment.

Since CST is not prescriptive in its approach, we will always work by listening to and following what it feels your body tissues need to do, whatever the condition you may be experiencing.

CST is not a replacement for appropriate medical care and if there are any concerns we recommend consulting your doctor.

What do I do?

Recently I have been thinking about what I actually do when clients come and see me.

I have done numerous courses and exams in CranioSacral therapy. I have had the atunements to be a Reiki Master and I have done courses in Massage, Aromatherapy, Polarity, working with autism and the dying. These are what I call my tools and I keep them in my tool box beside my therapy couch.

I have over the years been on a journey with my meditation, Tai Chi, Yoga, hypnosis and Somatic Emotional Releases during my CranioSacral sessions. These events have given me an insight and the feeling of the Oneness of life. That feeling of ease, trueness of purpose and absolute rightness of being. A moment where there are no emotions such as guilt, loneliness, inadequacy or doubt. A moment where what you are and what you are doing is absolutely right and you are part of the immense cosmos.

So what I do with clients is show my client's subconscious that feeling of Oneness and then it uses my tools from my tool box to achieve that same feeling. So I follow where my hands go and I ask the questions that come into my head and together the client and I journey to that place of Ease.

What this is called is still up for discussion but my favourite so far is WeRa. If that word means anything to anyone then I will have to think again.

What the Festive Session can do to you.

The first day of 2014 and the festive session is almost over.

How are you feeling?

You may have succeeded in eating too much; not exercised enough; continuously drunk; and been emotionally pulled every which way by family and friends. That's quite some beating for your body and soul.

Craniosacral therapy(CST) can help you step into the new year revitalised and rejuvenated.

Your Chakra energy centres may be depleted and unbalanced and unaligned from all your indulgences and emotional turmoil. A CST therapist is experienced in rebalancing and aligning the chakras centres. They can also help to unblock the prana flow in your Meridians and realign your proprioception Vectors to improve your balance.

If you need to help yourself meanwhile I would suggest a Jin Shin Jyutsu balance.

• Place your right hand on the top of your head and leave it there.
• Place your left hand on the following parts of your body, leaving it there until you feel a flow of energy between your hands.

1. Centre of your eyebrows
2. The tip of your nose
3. The centre of your sternum
4. The base of your sternum
5. The pubic bone

• Keep your left hand on your pubic bone and move your right hand from your head to your coccyx. Feel the flow of energy between your hands.

You should now feel energised and balanced.

I find this technique is best done lying down to support the arms.

Enjoy being balanced!

Holistic Companionship to the Dying

I wanted to tell you about a wonderful group of people called the Soul Midwives.

Established and trained by Felicity Warner, the Soul Midwives work with people that have recently been diagnosed with terminal illnesses or are in Hospices to support them on their journey to the end of their lives.

Much like the stages of birthing so there are stages of dying. Both of which are stressful and fearful if you don't know what to expect. But with an experienced midwife and a plan of action a lot of fear can be taken away and a sense of control over the inevitable established.

I spent a fascinating day at one of Felicity's workshops organised by Alternatives in London.

She explained about the four stages of dying and how a Soul Midwife can be there to support each of these stages. She also made us consider what sort of death we would like. This is not a normal topic of conversation and most people would shy away from it but she held the space wonderfully so we could consider that final of moments.

She gave us a list of questions to answer and suggested we pin the answers on the fridge so all the family would know what we want and to encourage a conversation that no one likes to have.

These are the questions. Have a go at answering them!

My Last Wishes

.This is where I would like to be

.This is who I would like to have with me

.This is who I would not like to have with me

.This is what soothes me when I am anxious or in pain

.This is the music that makes me feel calm and strong

.This is the poem or saying that gives me strength

.This is how I imagine the most perfect passing for myself

www.soulmidwives.co.uk

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Are you unsure about where you are going in life?

If you are having difficulties knowing what to do next or where to go in life, or you just want to know why you can't do something you know is right, then Craniosacral therapy may help.

Craniosacral therapy has techniques that help you answer these questions by establishing a dialogue (verbal or non verbal) between your non conscious and the therapist's non conscious. This enables your conscious mind to receive images or messages from your non conscious. The therapist facilitates this process by asking open ended questions and feeling the effect of the dialogue on your body's tissue to keep you on the appropriate train of thought.

So if you need to know why you have been held back doing something you would like to do, then the therapist can ask your body to show them where the resistance to this action is felt in the body. When that place has been located the therapist can then use Craniosacral techniques to clear that area of resistance. This is repeated to see if other areas in the body need to be cleared.

As an additional step, after all the areas have been cleared, the therapist can encourage your non conscious to outline to your conscious mind what the next steps should be to move forward with this action.

Our non conscious knows exactly what we need to do, whether it is how to heal ourselves or what we should be doing in life to be fully fulfilled. Using Craniosacral therapy helps us to make that connection between our mind and our non conscious so we can follow our own good advice.

Upledger CranioSacral Therapy and children with ASD.

I recently had the pleasure to participate in a richly informative workshop by Rachel Lowden from Autism Sussex about the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and what we as therapists need to do to prepare our clients for their visits and how to conduct sessions and make evaluations.

What was made very clear was the disconnect these children have between their minds and their bodies and the wide range of the extent of that disconnection.

Back in 1976 Dr John Upledger began studying the effect of CranioSacral Therapy (CST) on children from the Genessee County Center for Autistic Children in Flint, Michigan. What he found was that the meningeal membranes, especial the dura mater, were not growing at the same rate as the child's growth. This disparity in growth rates leads to restrictions in the normal growth of the brain and cranial vault that stresses their central nervous system.

By using non invasive techniques and bones that attach to the dural membrane the dural mater can be manually stretched to counteract this disparity in growth rates. The treatment needs to be on a regular  basis up until the child has fully grown.

CST is a deeply profound therapy that also helps the child to quieten the chatter in their mind and give them a few moments of respite from their tireless analysis of the world.

Thank you Rachel and Autism Sussex for giving me a greater understanding of what I need to do (and mostly not do) so that I can offer CST to children with ASD.

Here are some articles from the IAHE

http://iahe.com/images/pdf/3524_001.pdf
http://iahe.com/images/pdf/3549_001.pdf
http://iahe.com/images/pdf/2294_001.pdf
http://iahe.com/images/pdf/3263_001.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0aYkPbono&feature=youtu.be