This article appears in the Autumn/Winter
2010-2011
'Body Sense' magazine published by the Associated Bodywork and Massage
Professionals (ABMP)
Craniosacral Work-Accessing The Healer Within
By Paul Brown
It’s no secret that proper nutrition, exercise, and
living a low
stress lifestyle are among the keys to good health and longevity. If we
pay close attention to these three cornerstones of our health, our body
will reward us with vitality and well-being. Amazingly, even when our
body gets a little out of balance--a sore tennis elbow, an irritating
cold, or an achy neck from a tense business meeting--we are each
equipped with a high-performing immune system miraculously designed to
heal our body and protect us from disease.
The demands of our modern world often challenge our
immune system’s ability to keep up. We get pulled in competing
directions-- work, kids, telephones--with everything vying for our time
and
attention. Stress has a way of creeping in cutting us off from the
precious life forces that lay at the root of our foundation for health.
If
we haven’t been building and maintaining the nutrition, exercise and
stress management cornerstones we need, then the sore tennis elbow,
cold, or tense neck becomes more serious and our health foundation
starts to crumble. When this happens, we instinctively reach out to our
doctors to “cure” us. We fail to realize that nature has already
provided us with our very own miraculous inner healing force--the
craniosacral system. My role
as a craniosacral practitioner is to help them find a way to optimize
their own healing force so they can build a solid, healthy foundation
or
restore it if the crumbling has already begun.
A GENTLE TOUCH
Craniosacral therapy is a healing modality that grew
out of osteopathy, the ancient art of bone setting. In craniosacral
therapy the subtle art of precise
and gentle touch is applied to correct imbalances in the fluid and
membranes surrounding and protecting the brain and spinal cord.
Craniosacral therapy is based on a particular
understanding of
human anatomy. Imagine your craniosacral system has a regular rhythm
much like the heart only more subtle and slower. Just as your heart
pumps needed blood to the rest of the body, the craniosacral system
pumps important fluid-- cerebrospinal
fluid (CSF)-- between your brain and spinal area.
The CSF plays important
roles in your immune system’s performance. These include offering
protective covering for your delicate brain tissue, delivering
glucose (a type of sugar that nurtures and cools the brain) to the
cortex brain, inhibiting viruses and bacteria in the brain and
forming a transport medium between the blood and the brain. CSF has a
big job to do, but health problems can
create an imbalance in the flow of the CSF, limiting health and
clarity. If CSF is allowed to flow unimpeded, then the body
has the opportunity to maintain, or, restore balance.
Proper performance of the craniosacral system and its
fluids is
essential and necessary to the entire central nervous system, which is
a network of specialized tissue that controls the
actions and reactions internal to the body and your body’s adjustment
to your environment. The crazier your environment, the harder it has to
work. The two main components of this system are the brain and the
spinal cord. Think of your brain as a computer and the spinal cord as
the cable. The spinal cord links the computer’s input and output to the
rest of the body. Remarkably, your entire motor function, learning
patterns, and emotions are affected by the craniosacral system as
your whole body expands and contracts with the rhythm of the pumping
fluids. This is where craniosacral therapy can improve the functioning
of these essential self-healing systems.
Think of your craniosacral practitioner as your partner.
You and
your body do the work, but your practitioner lends his or her knowledge
and skills to help you. Together you are able to bolster your body’s
own resistance and improve how your central nervous system responds to
stress and illness. When soft touch is
applied to this system, clients can achieve incredible releases from
long-standing restrictions, stress and tension.
Craniosacral therapy
achieves, not only relief from physical pain, but also restoration of
clarity and emotional wholeness as well.
Craniosacral therapy can successfully address:
Central Nervous System
Disorders
Chronic Fatigue
Chronic Neck and Back Pain
Digestive Problems
Emotional Difficulties
Facial and Jaw problems
Headaches (migraines,
cluster, etc.)
Sinus Pressure
Stress and Tension related
problems
Tinnitus (ringing in the
ears)
Vertigo
WHAT TO EXPECT
During a craniosacral session, the practitioner
will have set up a space devoid of distractions. In my practice I refer
to this as the “sacred
space” because I strive to embody the philosophy that time and space
are special, unique, quiet, restful, and where stillness resides. The
practitioner will ask questions to try and understand what health
or healing concerns the client has. This is a critical part of the
healing process because craniosacral therapy offers many techniques
that can be directly customized to the client’s needs. By having
a
conversation first, the client and practitioner work together to find
the best option for
healing.
Next, the client lies on a traditional massage table,
fully clothed,
and the practitioner begins to apply a slight amount of pressure (about
the weight of a nickel) to the craniosacral system. In my case, I
draw on more than a hundred different techniques from my years of
training and use a precise, gentle touch to areas such as the brain,
spine, or other parts of the body. Intuition, perception, and intention
come into play here and I use these gifts to direct me to go to those
places needing the most attention. Once the body is in a relaxed state,
craniosacral therapy has the ability to teach on a cellular level. The
body knows this; that is, every cell in the body will remember the
connection with the forces of healing and the more the body remembers
those forces of healing, the more it can allow itself to heal. For
example, if you’ve had a stiff neck in the past due to stress, it is
likely next time you have stress your neck will get stiff again. The
cells in your body remember and now equate stress with a stiff neck.
This same “cellular memory” can be achieved in a similar, but positive,
way by giving the body--and the central nervous system--an extreme and
wonderful experience of deep and often profound relaxation through
craniosacral therapy. The more the
body remembers this natural state, the more it can allow itself to
heal.
By the time you leave your session, you will most likely
feel
relaxed, refreshed and re- energized. Some clients even report “a
reawakening of power” as the body, mind, and heart find their own
profound medicine.
THE STILLNESS
Most of us have
mastered the art of “doing” in our crazy, activity-filled world, but
“being” is actually tougher, much more rewarding, and is truly a gift.
Lao Tzu, the prolific sixth century B.C. E. philosopher, said ‘The
source
of all great movement lies in stillness’. I’ve often been awed by what
the body can do when we give in to the stillnes--when we slow down
enough for the body to respond positively to its own healing ability.
While craniosacral therapy is a
complementary practice, I also view it as a
spiritual practice. Now, more than ever before, we are witnessing a
return to healing that encompasses the totality and wholeness of the
body, mind, spirit, and psyche. We are paying more attention to what we
eat, we are looking for alternatives to drugs, and we are stopping to
think for a moment before we make that call to the doctor. We are
flexing the muscles of a deeper consciousness as we strive to
experience what it means to live a healthy and authentic life. In many
ways, we are reaching out to the spiritual roots of our healing.
By tapping into our inner healer, craniosacral therapy helps us get
there.
805-637-8756 paulbrowncranial@gmail.com