Relieve pain, migraines, tension and let go of stress with craniosacral therapy

A form of gentle touch therapy, Craniosacral therapy (CST) is used to assess and enhance the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid. This technique eradicates the adverse influences of stress and can fortify the body’s ability to take better care of you.

Craniosacral therapy is used to treat dysfunctions and alleviate pain and tension enabling the body to rectify itself automatically and help it relax. Whether you are suffering from neck pain, chronic pain, back pain, or you want to free your central nervous system from blockages, craniosacral therapy can improve your health holistically as well as your performance and eliminate stress and pain in a natural way.

In the 1930s, it was Dr. Sutherland who developed cranium osteopathy. According to him, in early childhood, the skull or cranium do not completely fuse and retains some flexibility.

In the 1970s, it was Dr. Upledger who formulated the Craniosacral therapy technique. He discovered the fluid that protects and nourishes the membranes enclosing the pulses, sacrum, spinal cord, and brain known as the cerebral spinal fluid. For him, osteopathy and craniosacral therapy are two totally different approaches since he considers the former as being ” bone-oriented” rather than “membrane-oriented” (enclosing the spinal cord and brain) and “soft tissue-oriented,” which CST is all about.

When you come in for CST treatment, your therapist will first evaluate you. Afterwards, he will sense the rhythm of your cerebrospinal fluid and determine if there are blockages that impede the free movement of your craniosacral system. This system is checked for symmetry, rate, quality, and amplitude. The evaluations are important factors in determining whether there is dysfunction in the various regions of your body.

The client is comfortably and fully dressed when undergoing craniosacral therapy. He or she is told to lie down on a massage table in a quiet environment.

Every day, your body encounters and absorbs all kinds of strains and stresses. These stresses can be both external (from the environment) and internal (from within, guilt, fear, anger, strong emotions, etc.). Over time, the body’s ability to cope with stress decreases and the tissues begin to tighten up eventually affecting the spinal cord, brain and the function of the systems of your body.

Relieve your pain, migraines, tension and let go of stress with craniosacral therapy and enjoy life to the hilt.

Megan Dauphin is a California board certified acupuncturist and herbalist, with specialty certifications in infertility, sport’s medicine, and orthopedics.

Solutions And Problems In Craniosacral Therapy

The complexity and clarity of Craniosacral Therapy (CST) are the same: non-doing, listening, and being present.

This therapeutic technique works with the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) surrounding the central nervous system (CNS). The central nervous system’s waste is eliminated by the CSF and supplies the system with nutrients, among other functions. The CNS monitors all information entering into a person, and provides directions for responses. For instance, when the hand touches a hot plate, its nerves dispatch messages to the CNS. The CNS then processes this information and normally responds by quickly removing the hand from the plate. Also, when a normal person sees another person suffering, the CNS processes and reacts with the desire to help the person or responds with fear, sadness, or other emotions.

When there are no restrictions to CSF flow and when it flows smoothly, the central nervous system functions normally and the psyche and body are healthy. We have difficulty reacting healthily to the events in our lives when our central nervous system is overworked.

In every individual, health is present at all times. But when a dysfunction of some kind occurs, whether as a response to the environment, to life events or as a result of physical trauma, emotional injury often occurs. In craniosacral therapy, the practitioner focuses on the patient’s health and not only on the dysfunction. He may determine how a person is manifesting health and then summon the body to help spread its health. The practitioner focuses on what works rather than what doesn’t. He focuses on the area where CSF flows optimally, and then generate compassion for the parts where it has problems. With his help, the practitioner can enable the body to be conscious of its own strength, its own healing power and its own health.

All one needs to do is listen but we need to get quiet within ourselves, and be truly present to another individual. This implies listening with our ears as well with our psyches, minds, bodies, and hands; in other words, with our entire being. There will be no room for judgment or preconceived ideas when we really listen. We naturally stop trying to make unpleasant things go away, stop trying to find a problem, and stop trying to fix things when the only objective is listening.

One great thing about listening is, it enables the body to lets its guard down and relaxes. This promotes a fluency of expression, and its sorrows, joys, and strength can be clearly communicated by a relaxed body. In addition, the body starts to listen to itself, hearing its own profound truth and own subtle messages. The body contains the blueprint for its own health since it has all the wisdom it needs to develop and thrive; and when the practitioner joins in the listening, it hears the real reasons on how dysfunctions developed. For health to replace dysfunction, the things needed for healing should be recognized and implemented.

Wonderful effects are experienced by the patient when his CSF is worked on. As the chatter inside decreases, the body falls into an altered state of consciousness where a more soulful, more profound wisdom is manifested, a wisdom that both the practitioner and client can discern.

Good listening is assisted by a knowledge of pathology, physiology, and anatomy. The more information is brought to the table, the easier it is for a practitioner’s listening-being to reach areas of the patient’s body and listen to what is there. If you have been to a symphony concert, you may choose to listen to a certain musician, to a particular instrument, or to the fullness of the music. This also applies to the body: a person can go with the awareness of his heart and then just listen to what the heart has to say or he can simply listen to the whole symphony.

If all these sounds strange to you, let me cite a couple of cases from my practice. I had an 80 year old female patient who was suffering from a whiplash injury which happened while riding a taxi. She presented with a rigid body, and at the onset of our work together, she told me a lot about her life, and how she became preoccupied with everything that was well and good. She was lonely and had few friends since her values were rigid. After treating her neck for a number weeks and listening to its tense and tight muscles, and when the muscles are relaxed, space began to arise between her vertebrae. The patient began talking about life and death and all sorts of things. She said that she started befriending another lady nearby and became more open to her neighbors. When the treatments ended, the female patient commented that CST made her feel that more flexible and that she doesn’t anymore experience pain in her muscle and joints.

Another patient who was suffering from lower back pain told me about her inability to find closure for a relationship that had ended. She rose from a restful deep place, opened her eyes and asked if what I am doing has got anything to do with letting go? While listening to her pelvic floor, my patient felt more at peace and with two additional sessions found closure with the ended relationship.

At the heart of craniosacral therapy, there is finding health, non-doing and listening and although there are other modalities that can be applied as well, these three basics provide adequate challenges for a lifetime, while opening us every moment to the ease and joy of our own true selves.

Eastern Healing Solutions, LLC
10875 Grandview St #2200
Overland Park, KS 66210
(913) 549-4322
http://www.overlandparkacupuncturist.com