Craniosacral Therapy

What is Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST)?

BCST is a healing art that works with the energies that create and maintain health in the human system. While not a manipulative therapy, it has its roots in osteopathy and has evolved to include influences from human development, pre and perinatal psychology, trauma resolution, and recent advances in neuroscience. BCST supports nervous system regulation and allows the resolution of conditions resulting from stress and trauma. Practitioners use an educated, gentle, non-invasive touch to engage with the expressions of health in the system.

What is a session like? 

Sessions will vary but generally, your session will begin by sitting and talking with your therapist about any of your health concerns. Together you will discuss a brief health history and what you would like to get out of the session.

During the session, you will be fully clothed, sitting in a chair to start, and then lying on a massage table in a supported and comfortable way. It is important that you feel comfortable and safe at all times so you will want to ask for any adjustments you need to the lighting, temperature, etc. Your therapist may ask you from time to time what you are experiencing and will help you to stay present with whatever your experience is.

Session work involves a very light, gentle touch. Your therapist may begin at your feet, at your head (cranium), or on your sacrum (the triangular bone at the bottom of the spine). During your session, depending on your areas of concern, your therapist can go to any area of the body that needs to be worked with, using the contact that feels best for you.

Sessions can last anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half depending on your needs. During that time, the therapist will quietly, gently hold parts of your body, listening to the subtle rhythms and tracking changes in your system. In this process, the therapist will listen for your body’s expression of the order of priorities for this particular session which will lead to your desired outcome. It is important to note that while a single session can have noticeable effects, it often takes multiple sessions to achieve the results you are seeking.

During the session, you may:

• Relax so deeply that you fall asleep
• Enter a quiet meditation-like state
• Feel as if you are dreaming while awake
• Experience memories or insights while on the table
• Enjoy a pleasant sense of warmth, softening, widening, or floating

At times, you may experience other kinds of sensations as the energy that has been held in the body is released. If this occurs, just stay present with your breath and bodily sensations and allow this energy to discharge. The session quite often involves a process of letting go of patterns that inhibit your health and vitality. Once these patterns begin to shift, the therapist may notice changes in your fluids, tissues, bones, and potency. You may experience a sense of integration in your body, mind, and spirit.

At the end of the session, you may:

• Feel relaxed, but also energized
• Find yourself breathing more fully and deeply
• Stand straighter and taller
• Feel more comfortable in your body
• You may be surprised to feel a new sense of peace and ease as you leave the office to return, renewed, to your life
• Notice an improvement in your sleep patterns

No matter what your experience, your therapist will take some time with you after you are off the table to check in about how you are doing. This is a great opportunity to find words for your experience and reflect on how differently you feel after your session. The effects can also be felt even after you leave your session.

Take time in the next 2-3 days just to notice how you are in the world.

• What is the quality of your sleep that night?
• How is your digestion?
• How is your overall experience of life?

By paying attention to the lasting effects of this work you will be able to gauge what the ongoing use of this work might offer you.