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

The Craniosacral Society AGM and workshop weekend

What better value for money than your membership fee subsidising a weekend of workshops in London! So that in mind and not one to miss a bargin I headed up to Covent Garden for the Craniosacral Society AGM and workshop weekend.

Situated in comfortable rooms near the Masonic centre members were invited to participate in hands on workshops and network work over numerous cups of tea and sandwiches.

The workshops covered using multihands in a treatment; working with the Significant Detector to feel which words were important for the client to work on; being more considered with our dialoguing techniques so we don't talk too much; and working directly with the Immune System, cells and all.

So after a weekend of working on colleagues and being worked on and communally investigating the vast and deep implications of the work that Dr John Upledger left for us, I feel furthered inspired to be present for anyone that can use this wonderful work.

Craniosacral Therapy in the water.

Last week four of my Craniosacral Therapy colleagues and I got together to give each other treatments in a hydrotherapy pool and what an amazing three dimensional session it was.

During a conventional therapy session on a couch the body is often inclined to move around as it unwinds restrictions in the fascia or replays an unresolved event in life such as the birthing process. Arms and legs move and the body may turn onto the side and sometimes slip (with full support by the therapist) onto the floor. But in water this movement takes on a whole new dimension.

You start by floating on your back in the water surrounded by the therapists who offer gentle support and intuitively place their hands on the parts of the body that need assistance. As the fascia begins to unwind,your arms and legs move freely in the water and the body can bend and stretch or roll over and back again fluidly and elegantly and without restriction.

You have the feeling of being weightless and with your ears under the water you loose a sense of the outside world as you slip into your process where time is suspended.  You have the ability to remain under water much longer than you ever imagined you could and your body's fascia unwinds like a dance in the water.

There are few places in the UK where it is possible to provide an aquatic Craniosacral multihands treatment but I am hoping that will change in the near future.

It is available in the States and in the Grand Bahamas the Upledger Institute offer a Dolphin assisted clinic.

For more information visit http://www.upledgerclinic.com/therapies.html

That adds a whole other dimension to a Craniosacral session!

That wriggly child.

Why are some children unable to sit still?

They wriggle in their chair; sit on one leg; then lean forward off their bottoms onto the table. Anything but sitting still in a chair.

This could be partly due to some primitive reflexes that have not been integrated into the nervous system.

When a baby is in the womb and in the early months of life it had certain primitive reflexes that it uses to protect itself. These reflexes then become integrated as the nervous system develops in a specific sequence.

For instance the Spinal Galant Reflex.

You can see this at work if you stoke the lower back of a baby on one side of the spine. The reflex is to twist away from that side and raise the hip. Stimulation down both sides of the spine at the lower back activates a related reflex that elicits urination.

The Spinal Galant Reflex is normally integrated between 3-9 months.

However if is not integrated by then it can be stimulated at any time.

Light pressure from a child's belt or waistline or from leaning against the back of a chair may activate the reflex causing the child to wriggle and constantly change body position. The constant irritation affects concentration and short term memory.

In addition the bladder voiding reflex may lead to poor bladder control and prolonged bedwetting as the   bedsheets stimulate the reflex.

Upledger Craniosacral therapy has techniques that may help balance the body and reduce the effect of the reflex.

Saying thank you can help you.

I am sure most of us were brought up to say "please" and "thank you"but did you know that saying thank you can help you feel better?

If you take a moment before you go to sleep to remember your day and say thank you for all the good things that have happened both big and small you will feel different.

For some of us the act of remembering the good things puts the day into a more positive perspective and you can close your eyes with a lighter heart. For others the act of saying thank you may shed awareness on some of the events or stream of events during the day. It may also be a moment for others to remember to slow down and consider themselves for a few seconds and that is almost as good as a hug.

So why not try it tonight. Say thank you for all that has happened in your day.

Be happy.

Craniosacral Therapy and a visit to the dentist.

You are sitting in the dentist's chair after having had an x-ray. Your hands are a bit sweaty with anxiety about what is to come and what you have experienced on previous visits. Your jaw is wide open for a bit too long so it starts to ache and you are trying to swallow and move your tongue without getting in the dentist's way. Then the injection in your gum to numb, the sound of the drill starts and your teeth are pushed and pulled and plugged and sanded. Then finally you can rinse out your mouth and go home numb mouthed and trembling.

The good side is the pain has gone and your teeth look great which gives you that extra bit of self confidence.

But what of the residue of that treatment? There is the general anxiety which hopefully has dispersed but what of the trauma experienced by the teeth and gum and jaw? This is where Craniosacral Therapy CST can be very helpful.

We have techniques that can identify any emotional residue in the teeth, gum and jaw and facilitate its release. We can rebalance and realign the TMJ, the maxilla and the muscles holding the jaw. Then we can help relax the mastoids, the cranial base and the neck to remove any residual strain. And then finally we can check on the Reticular Alarm System RAS to ensure complete relaxation.

So at the end of the day a visit to the dentist is only a positive experience thanks to CST.

Pain relief.

Pain can be all consuming and the worst must be pain in the head.

I have just been suffering from an abscess in my jaw. Before I could get to see a dentist I was experiencing waves of pain that had me in tears and reminded me of birthing contractions! The abscess was stimulating my trigeminal cranial nerve, sending snakes of pain along my maxilla, down to my mandible and up the side of the eye. There was also pain down my neck and my shoulder was tense and tight. This was probably due to the spinal accessory cranial nerve being stimulated. The trigeminal nerve is connected to the reticular alarm system so when the pain came I had to get up and walk it out.

When talking to friends about the pain I realised that quite a few had been through the same experience and they winced at the memory.

So what can you do when you are suffering with so much pain?

There are some amazing drugs that you can take that give you periods of relief to catch your breath or time to sleep but if you want to be able to do something for yourself as well, particularly when the drugs are wearing off but you can't take another dose just yet, then try this.

Direction of Energy Technique.

The idea behind this is that you send energy through the body's tissue and bone to help release the tightness of the pain at a particular area. This doesn't necessarily get rid of the pain for good unless that area was the root of the problem but it gives you moments to recover. So for my abscess I was able to reduce the pain and the amount of drugs I needed but the pain didn't stop until the dentist had drained the abscess.

The technique is very simple. You place your first and second fingers in a V shape around the area of pain and then using your other hands place a finger perpendicular opposite the area of pain. In the case of my abscess this was quite easy as I could put my finger in my mouth behind the gum and with the other hand I could make a V on my cheek. You may find that being perpendicular from the pain takes you on the other side of the body but that is fine.

Then with your hands in place you can start sending energy from your finger through the body and out between the V. Continue to do this until the pain has reduced or stopped.

Sending energy is something you can visualise and can be different for each of us. If you have done energy healing or Reiki you will know how it feels. Otherwise you can imagine it in any form you like but the essence of the energy is your love, compassion and empathy for your body and what it is going through at that moment. I suppose you could call the energy, self love, and where that self love comes from depends on what you believe.

I would suggest you start by practising on a ache so that you are comfortable with the technique when the pain hits you.

Enjoy loving yourself.

A New Year.

I usually find the eve of a new year one of tension and anxiety about what I have done or not done during the year and what I want to do in the year to come.
It feels as though I carve solid images of myself to represent what I have done and what I want to do. Structured and immovable. Devoid of emotion and separate from who I am at this very moment.
Then it occurred to me that a carved solid image is hardly a living entity and I am very much alive and breathing. So why don't I see myself as such?
So I looked at the images I made of my "last year's" self and my "next year's" self and saw them as living entities with high and lows, goods and bads but most importantly with love and compassion. Now I feel relaxed, maleable and content knowing that what has been, has been and what will be, will be and love supports it all.
Be present in that love.
Engage with the flow of life.

So what makes someone a psychopath?

At my book group this month we read a fascinating book called "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson.

Have you ever met a psychopath or would you know one if you had? I wouldn't have known one before reading this book so here is a description of one:

"a person who behaves in an antisocial way and shows little or no guilt for antisocial acts and little capacity for forming emotional relationships with others."

Jon Ronson very skilfully led us past an array of people that may have been psychopaths but a definitive assessment was hard to come by except for one finding. Psychopaths all have damaged or dead amygdala!

The amygdala are almond-shaped masses of grey nerve cells located within the temporal lobes, one on each side within their anterior regions at the ends of the fornix. From the outside, they would be behind the upper eyelids and about two inches inward which, from the side view, places them about midway between the eye and the upper ear.

The amygdala receives information about problems and crises and then decides which brain areas should be activated to initiate the survival response. When the amygdala are overwhelmed by the severity or number of problems the organism may die. Also when the amygdala suffers injury in the embryonic stage, the adult may have a reduced or complete lack of emotional feelings and responses.

It makes you think!

What cleans out the brain?

In August of this year the University of Rochester USA posted a Youtube link describing their findings on research they have been doing on Alzheimer's.

It has been found that Alzheimer's sufferers have a build up of amyloid between the neurons in the brain that cause the neurons to die.

Using mice they have been trying to determine how to eliminate this build up of amyloid and they have come to the conclusion that Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) is the brains cleaning agent.

Dubbed the "Glymphatic System", the CSF follows the artery routes to the brain and then passes through the brain clearing out any debris on the way and then exits down the route of the veins. When experiments on increasing the flow of CSF in mice with amyloid build up were conducted it was found that up to 50% of the amyloid was removed.

This understanding may have implications for traumatic brain injuries, strokes and Parkinsons suffers.

As Craniosacral Therapists we know the importance of improving the flow of CSF through out the body!

Now thats something to think about.

Anything is possible.

What an amazing couple of months we have been having with the Olympics and now the Paralympics.

If there is one thing that stands out to me is the joy of realising that anything is possible. I feel it in my body as a shivering sensation of excitement and infinite possibilities.

When the athletes are in their "zone" all the years of training become intuitive and their subconscience effortlessly talks to their mind enabling them to perform beyond anything they had achieved before.

Learning to listen to our subconscience/ soul/ super conscience is something that we can all do so we to can achieve beyond what we have ever dreamed of.

Using the tools of Craniosacral Therapy "Imagery and Conversation"we as therapists can facilitate that connection between your subconscience and your mind. Enabling you to awaken to your greatest potential so you to can be in your "zone" and perhaps feel the shivery sensation of excitement and infinite possibilities.

Have fun!

Letting go makes life easy!

I had the opportunity recently to participate in a five day Tai Chi workshop that incorporated meditation and taoist chanting and if there was one thing that became obvious throughout the workshop was that  letting go made life a whole lot easier!

We practiced both seated and standing meditation and the pain in my arms and legs became quite severe after a time and all I could do was focus on that pain. Then there was a point when I couldn't take it any more and the muscles relaxed and gave way and the pain went and I was left wondering why I had held my muscles so tight when I could be in the same position with relaxed muscles and no pain!

The same applied to the chanting which we did kneeling up for over an hour. The chanting is in cantonese so you start by trying to focus on each word to say it right but the chant is so fast that you don't have time and you have to let your focus soften and breath gently to get to the end. Then after a time the knees and back begin to ache so again you allow the body to let go and relax to allow you to kneel for that bit longer.

In Tai Chi as you let your arms relax you can stretch that millimetre further which lengthens the tendons and lubricates the joints rather than using the muscles to push the arms into a stretch. It also makes the movements more flowing and graceful and less like a workout.

Letting go is a key element in Craniosacral work. When there is a dysfunction in the body or energy cyst it means the energies are not able to flow freely around the body and the body can't function in the most efficient way. As therapists we act as facilitators for our clients to help them become aware of where those energy cysts are and how to release them and let them go so the body can work easily and effortlessly again.

Have fun letting go!

Multiple Sclerosis and Craniosacral Therapy

In Upledger CranioSacral Therapy (CST) it is assumed and has been proved that all tissues, organs, glands, cells and molecules have a consciousness and intelligence.

As such it is possible to establish a dialogue between the mind and the rest of the body to ascertain the reasons and needs of a particular disease.

With MS when the immune system is destroying the oligodendrogliocytes that produce the myelin sheath on the nerve axons this is a good starting point in opening up a dialogue between the attacking immune cells, the oligodendrogliocytes and the nerve neurons. This is a dialogue between the client and their immune system facilitated by the CranioSacral therapist and is a dialogue that the client can continue on their own.

In addition CST can be helpful in reducing urinary frequency which is often a common complaint by releasing and relaxing the tissue in the area and it can be used to improve blood flow from the head and spine to the heart if the cerebrospinal venous have narrowed.

CST can also be used to improve fluid motion in the cerebrospinal fluid, blood and lymph and balance the  bodies internal systems.

Craniosacral therapy and Tourettes and Asperger's Syndrome

I recently had the good fortune to work multi hands at a Craniosacral clinic run by a colleague who has years of experience as a Craniosacral therapist and in particular in pediatrics. Together with another colleague we were able to have three pairs of hands on each client. This multi hands work enables the body to resolve its imbalances more quickly as it's supported in several areas at once.

I thought I would tell you about two of the clients that we saw.

We saw a 15 year old boy with Tourettes Syndrome. This syndrome manifestes itself in multiple bodily tics and at least one vocal tic. The boy had visited the clinic several times previously and the mother reported that he now had fewer tics and the boy said he felt calmer. He certainly came into the session eagerly and left with a big smile.

Another client we saw was an 18 year old with Asperger's Syndrome. This syndrome is seen as a mild form of autism and manifestes itself amongst other things in social aloofness and an excessive preoccupation in a specialised interest. This boy had also been to the clinic several times and his demeanour on each visit had changed from quiet, sullen and depressed to being chatty and giggly. In fact he didn't stop talking and laughing the whole way through the session. His mother also said he was much easier to live with now.

Another happy day at the office!