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!

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.

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.

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!

Abundance

How do you react to the word "Abundance"?

A definition of "Abundance" is "plenty of something". Not an easy word to feel comfortable with in our lives where most things have a finite size and life span.

Does it have to be like that though? Perhaps our perception of how life works is skewed and there is in fact plenty of everything. Have you ever wished for an abundance of love or peace or more time to do things or more money or to be more generous?

Recently I have been drawn to this whole question of abundance and whether we have the right to ask for  such an extraordinary thing. Then I realised that that was my first block to gaining abundance. Somewhere durning my life I learnt that it was not my right to have an abundance of anything. Said like that it looks pretty crazy but we have all been told in various ways by various people during our lives that we are not to have abundance for some reason. Some might think that money is evil or you only get money by working very hard; having time to do what you want is an indulgence; peace is only for gurus; and many more. These are all self imposed blocks to having abundance in everything.

So what can you do if you would like to get rid of these blocks?

You can start by becoming aware of which blocks you have and this awareness may be sufficient to release those blocks but if they have been there for a long time then you may want to see a CranioSacral therapist who can use the tools of Imagery and Dialogue to bring the awareness into the conscious mind and see how to deal with it. Then finally there are teleseminar courses on the web which you can find if you google the word "Abundance".

So enjoy getting rid of your blocks and relaxing into abundance.

I know I have.

Smile! It's so easy.

I was out Christmas shopping recently with my determined face on and my "To Do" list in my hand when someone smiled at me.

Immediately I relaxed and started to breathe again and the effect stayed with me for the rest of the day. It was so simple and so effective.

It also put me in mind of a practice that I had long forgotten about that is explained in full in the book by Mantak Chia "Awaken Healing Energy through the Tao".

The practice is simple. You have to remember to smile both outwardly and inwardly.  The outward smile comes quite naturally after you have been practicing the inner smile.

So what is an inner smile?

Imagine a smile spreading out behind your eyes and feel all the muscles around your eyes relax which in turn relaxes the muscles in your forehead and down into your cheeks and jaw. The feeling in your face is effortless and light and if you look in the mirror you can see your smile. The effect on others is magnetic. Any anger, fear or stress they may have when they are looking at you just dissolves away.

You can practice your inner smile to all parts of your body and the message of love it sends can only be positive for your health.

It's such a happy practice.

Enjoy!

Do you want to know your reason for being alive?

Jill Windmill

Have you ever wondered why you are here on earth? Have you ever wanted to know where to focus all your energy? Have you ever wandered how you can best help this world?

You may have asked yourself these questions or others that are equally large and profound. But do you have an answer?

I have been working with CranioSacral Imagery and Dialogue techniques to address these questions for my clients.

We may not know or even want to know the big ultimate reason for being alive but wouldn't it be helpful to know what we can be doing to get a step closer in the right direction. What can I do in the next week/month/year to move closer towards my purpose or focus or reason for being?

When people come to me with a serious desire to know what to do next I invite them to ask themselves what their big question is such as "How best can I help this world?" and then become aware of where in their body they are feeling this question.

Then using Imagery and Dialogue techniques we focus on this area of the body and see what it requires. It could be there is a blockage to communication or the area is a portal through which the subconscious wishes to communicate with the conscious mind. We work towards allowing the area to feel in harmony and at peace.

It is at that point when the more immediate question can be asked. "What do I have to do in the next week/month/year to move towards that big question?" This is when the understanding of how to move forward is revealed and honed to provide a comprehensive to do list for you to practice over that period.

It is of course up to you to follow that list and return when the period is up to find out what is needed next but I am sure the joy in your heart that comes from following your path will help you in your endeavors.

Turn bad days into good days.

Peace

Do you have days when your mind just goes around and around with incessant chatter. When you have a pain in your body and you just feel low in spirit?

There are three things you can do on a regular basis that will limit the number of days you feel like that.

• Meditate
• Practice Tai Chi, yoga or Qi Gong
• Chanting

Sitting and meditating helps quieten the mind so you can think and feel more clearly.

Practicing Tai Chi, yoga or Qi Gong helps the body to open up so it can function more efficiently and it enables you to sit and meditate without getting pains in your body.  Concentrating on the moves also helps still the chatter in the mind.

Chanting helps you to breath more fully and the movement of the diaphragm helps to massage the other organs to keep them healthy. It also focuses your mind to help quieten it down.

If you are in the Brighton area why not try:

• Brighton Buddhist Centre for meditation
• Taoist.org.uk for Tai Chi classes
• www.chanting-group.co.uk for chanting practice

Have fun and feel better.

It's just a matter of using your imagination

Jill Windmill

Thanks to the works of Jung and Freud we are much more comfortable with the concept of the difference between subconscious and the conscious.

By the very nature of the subconscious it's mode of communication with the body and conscious mind is different from the thoughts and logic we use in the conscious mind.

So how do we tap into the subconscious and have a chat?

In Upledger CranioSacral therapy we have a technique called "Imagery and Dialogue" that we use when a client goes into SomatoEmotional Release or SER. In other words when the subconscious wants a chat it uses images.

The client sees images that can be worked with by the therapist asking open ended questions about why that image is there, how the client feels about the image and what they would like to do with the image. The images can change as the dialogue takes place and as moments of realisation are reached by the client.

A brief example.

I had a tight throat that was causing me to gag when I was lying down. I didn't know why this was happening and in this instance there seem to be no need for me to know why. My therapist began to work on my throat and I felt myself falling into my body so I was no longer aware of the room I was in. I then began to see an image of the inside of my throat. There appeared to be a build up of a limescale like substance that was sticking to the wall of my throat. I felt I should be chiselling it off and washing the powder that formed down my throat. So that was what I started to do in my imagination. I had a chisel and I hacked away and imagined a spray of water coming down my throat to wash the rubbish away. When I had almost finished my awareness came back into the room and the session ended. I was still aware of the image of the limescale even after the session and I was able to imagine going back into my throat and finishing the job later in the day. My throat felt relaxed and the gaging feeling had gone.

Just the tip of the iceberg.

The South Downs

The pain is in your knee and you can't remember what you did to cause it but its painful when put weight on it or bend or sit for too long.

Is it just the knee thats the problem? Does the body work in isolated compartments? I think we all realise that is not the case.

The cause of your knee problem could be traced back up the leg either through the groin or the psoas muscle and into the pelvic girdle where the sacroiliac joint could be tight or there is inelastic scar tissue in the pelvis or it could be tight in the back muscles that are pulling the pelvis and that leads up to the spinal vertebrae mid back whose nerves are associated with the stomach!

So there are quite a few physical possibilites for a painful knee but what if the tissue around the knee has been storing the memory of an event that took place in your life that you have not fully come to terms with and it envolved the knee area. For example you tripped over a mat and fell onto your knee with all your weight but at the time you were having an argument with your then husband and you were feeling threatened and vulnerable. This might have happened twenty years ago but now the knee is painful for no apparent reason. It could be that the tissue has stopped compensating for that unresolved memory and the pain is there to get our awareness to do something about it.

So whether the pain in your knee is physical or emotional Upledger Craniosacral therapy has the tools to help your body resolve those issues.

Worth a try?