There are three major ways you can incorporate Cranial-Sacral Therapy (CST) into your practice:
– Use specific CST techniques at key points in a ‘typical’ massage
– Do a Complete CST Protocol session
– Include SomatoEmotional Release and other Advanced CST techiques
Use certain CST techniques in a ‘typical’ massage
I’m not sure there is such a thing as a ‘typical’ massage. Most therapists start with Swedish coupled with Deep Tissue and any number of other modalities, such as NMT, MFR, Reflexology, etc. And most of us follow whatever protocol we’re comfortable with, based on our client’s condition.
During the CST CEU classes, you learn a lot of gentle yet powerful techniques, and we discuss the benefits of each for specific conditions. At any time during your massage session, you can utilize one or more of these techniques along with whatever else you do. In this way, you can help relieve the symptoms of a specific condition within a full-body, relaxing massage.
For example, the Occipital Cranial Base Release followed by 3-dimensional Cervical Traction works wonders for nearly any headache. The Sphenoid Release has been shown to help those with anxiety issues, ADD, ADHD, and much more. And the Pelvic-Sacral Release helps with low back and pelvic problems. The specific features of each CST technique are outlined in the CEU classes.
Also, if you’re doing fairly deep work on someone, because of low back or sciatic pain or because their job or activities require deep work, I find that following the deep work with gentle CST techniques helps to ‘integrate’ all your good work with the central nervous system. The result, generally, is that your client has less incidence of soreness, more immediate relief, and longer lasting benefits from the massage. I have successfully used this combination in thousands of massages.
Do a Complete CST Protocol session
There are many situations where a client can benefit from a full session of CST, utilizing the protocol learned and practiced in the CST 3 class. These situations include clients who cannot handle ‘typical’ massage because of their symptoms – like classic fibromyalgia clients, elderly, those with chronic, severe illnesses, etc.
There are also those who prefer not to disrobe for one reason or another – or where it’s not appropriate, as when working on infants and children. Sometimes, you intuitively know that a client’s symptoms may respond best to a purely CST session. And there are many clients that like massage but also like CST so much that they want complete CST sessions at times.
Also, many therapists find that, after several years of leaning over their table, they gravitate toward using gentle CST techniques exclusively. These therapists have seen their clients respond successfully to CST, and they see this as a way to extend their career for many more years. (Of course, it might help to actually go get a massage once in awhile…:-)
Advanced CST – SomatoEmotional Release and Beyond
In advanced CST trainings, there are many subtle techniques that can be learned to help clients deal successfully with the physical, mental, and/or emotional energy that is bound up in the tissue, causing chronic problems.
I myself have participated in several SER and similar trainings. In fact, I’ll soon be participating in a Clinical Applications class in CST and SER in Colorado. This is an intensive 5-day workshop with only six students and two of the best CST instructors in the world. (This is on top of over 100 CEUs I’ve completed this past year. Even with over 7,000 sessions in my experience, there is always more to learn. Someone once said that ‘when you stop learning, you die’.)
You can register by clicking on ‘Live Classes’ or you can call 800-584-1562
Stay well,
John Joseph Ray
Ray of Light Massage Training