I often get asked, “What is Cranial-Sacral Therapy?”
and “How does it help the body, especially when it’s so gentle?”
The answer is that Cranial-Sacral Therapy (CST) releases restrictions on the bones and fascia around the brain and the spinal cord. This allows for the free flow of CerebroSpinal Fluid, which is essential for a healthy Central Nervous System (CNS). And as I like tell my students, the CNS is like Mom. When Mom is happy, everybody is happy! And when the CNS is happy, the rest of the body is happy, too, because the CNS affects ALL the other systems in the body.
And just like you need to listen carefully to Mom and you don’t want to push her to get your way, extensive experience has shown that gentle encouragement of the cranial bones and the underlying tissue, while ‘listening’ and ‘following’ the path of least resistance, leads to more dramatic and lasting releases than more aggressive manipulation.
Below, I list some of the major ways the free flow of CerebroSpinal Fluid helps your body function optimally.
CerebroSpinal Fluid (CSF) is consistently being produced (by the choroid plexus and ventricular structures of the brain) and removed (via the arachnoid villi around the brain). It flows into and around the brain and spinal cord tissue, acting as a cushion or buffer of these sensitive structures. This consistent adding, flowing, and removing creates a slight expansion and contraction of the Crainal-Sacral system that can be palpated to observe the health of the CS system and to see how well the CSF is flowing.
The CSF enables the flow of nutrients to the nervous system tissue and the removal of waste products. Do you think this might be an important function? 🙂 CSF also helps to maintain optimal temperature, acid-alkaline balance (ph), and hormonal function around the brain and spinal cord.
Each one of these tasks is vital to the functioning of your body and mind. Keeping the CSF flowing freely and releasing any restrictions in the bones and fascia around it is vital for the optimal functioning of the Central Nervous System (or Mom) and consequently the rest of the body. CST provides the tools that you need to accomplish this successfully in your clients.
You can use CST to help people with tension or migraine headaches, seniors, those in hospice, children, infants, people with anxieties, clients with back and neck problems, and many other disorders.
CST can easily be combined with other modalities – which is what we do in Direct-Indirect Technique™ – such as with Swedish Massage, Deep Tissue, NMT, MyoFascial Release, Shiatsu, Reflexology, and many others.
You can get training in CST through me (using the link above), through Upledger (at upledger.com), or through other trainers. Everyone adds their own twist to the core techniques. I have personally used CST in over 7,000 sessions, and I have successfully taught hundreds of massage therapists how to incorporate CST into their practice.
This is from an e-mail I got this week from an LMT who took my CST classes last year: “I love CST and you are an awesome teacher at the technique! I have a new little branch of clientele that I do CST on, and am doing more and more of the TMJ with CST work. Going well for me and the clients… everyone benefits. People are getting real results and the work is so enjoyable and peaceful for me to perform as well. Thank you John!!” Patty
Stay well,
John at Ray of Light Massage Training