CranioSacral Therapy & SomatoEmotional Release

• The CranioSacral System
• Evaluation &Treatment of the CranioSacral System
• How Does CST Differ From Other Cranial Manipulative Treatments?
• Tissue Memory
• The Energy Cyst
• SomatoEmotional Release
• Chronic Pain & CranioSacral Therapy
• What Others Say
• For Your Information

The CranioSacral System

Each person has a craniosacral system and a craniosacral rhythm. The rhythm is created by the increase and decrease of the cerebrospinal fluid being produced and reabsorbed at a regular rate within and around the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).

This rhythm (usually 6-12 cycles per minute) can be felt all over the body. It is similar to the rhythms that can be felt when the pulse of the heart and respiratory system are evaluated.

Palpation of the craniosacral rhythm can be used to diagnose asymmetry or unbalanced motion. When unbalanced motion is found, especially when related to the head and sacrum, it suggests to the practitioner that normal body functions may be disturbed. When body functions are disturbed, symptoms may develop.

Evaluation & Treatment of the CranioSacral System

Evaluation and treatment of the craniosacral system is accomplished through the application of very gentle traction or lifting forces. This is a light force directed along the natural pathways of cranial bone movement in the flexion or extension phases of the craniosacral cycle.

If on gentle traction the cranial bones do not move freely and smoothly then the therapist will work to release the area of restriction. Restrictions may occur between adjacent cranial bones or within the dural membrane. Hence, a distinction is needed between osseous and membranous restriction. Distinguishing this is a significant part of the basis for evaluation and treatment.

Common problems that can be resolved by craniosacral therapy: menstrual problems, before and after surgery/childbirth; morning sickness, various lumbo-sacral problems, respiratory problems, digestive difficulties, thoracic outlet syndrome, almost any neck/shoulder problem; face/mouth pain including TMJ dysfunction, arthritic pain, headaches/migraine, insomnia, fatigue and anxiety are a few examples.

Many clients who have experienced a CST session say they have never before experienced such deep relaxation.

The therapist works through your clothes; all you need remove are your shoes. It is preferable that you do not wear heavy clothing such as denim.

How Does CST Differ From Other Cranial Manipulative Treatments?

Other modalities focus specifically on the osseous structures of the cranial system – the bones and sutural connections. The dural membrane system is the priority target of craniosacral therapy. However, if there are osseous restrictions these must be treated first.

Successful correction of membranous restrictions enhances overall mobility and compliance of the craniosacral system. Attention to membranous lesions can also prevent the need to correct recurring sutural problems that arise when only the osseous structures of the cranium are treated.

The structure of the cranial membranes dictates the most effective therapeutic approach. As visco-elastic structures, the cranial membranes must be given time to adapt to the gentle, corrective force of the practitioner. In applying the craniosacral techniques it is important to know that the craniosacral system cannot be rushed. The minimum amount of corrective force is used and gently increased only if after some monitoring it is shown to be necessary.

Why not use the maximum force allowable to start with? Because the body reacts by resisting a strong force and the resistance can take a long time to reverse.

Tissue Memory

Before we discuss Energy Cyst formation and SomatoEmotional release it may be important to discuss the phenomenon of tissue memory.

Tissue memory is the name given to the hypothesis that body cells and tissues, such as muscle, fascia, bone, teeth and other connective tissues or viscera, have the ability to retain the memories of experienced trauma. Further, it would appear that somatic and visceral tissues and cells of all kinds, outside of the nervous system, store the energy of specific emotions related to the remembered experienced trauma. These memories are not restricted solely to trauma but it is the traumatic experiences that are usually encountered in CranioSacral Therapy.

The Energy Cyst

A traumatic input of energy into a subject’s body, such as that caused by a fall or car accident, can either be dissipated immediately by the body and followed by the natural healing process or, it can be retained within the body. In addition, emotional trauma, pathogenic microbes, exposure to toxic substances etc. can produce energy cysts. Some have said energy cysts are more accurately called “pockets of quantum”!

The body has to adapt to this deposit of abnormal physical force or other source of retained energy. The energy cyst becomes an area of dysfunction as normal body energy must detour around it. The dysfunctional area does not co-operate with normal tissue and fluid motion thus the energy cyst inhibits normal body function.

SomatoEmotional Release

Energy Cyst release is the precursor to SomatoEmotional Release. The former is focussed upon more localized problems while the latter is global in focus. Both, however, deal with the residual effects of past injuries or negative experiences. The facilitation of both is achieved by touch.

SomatoEmotional Release is based on the concept that the whole body as well as each of its cells, tissues, viscera and systems have independent and yet integrated consciousness. Dr John Upledger and Dr Zvi Karni developed this system of releasing obstructive emotional issues from the consciousness over a 3-year period whilst working in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel.

Chronic Pain and CranioSacral Therapy

Please read these helpful comprehensive articles for more information on this subject.

Part 1: www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=13489

Part 2: www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=13507

What Others Say

One physicist (subcontracted to NASA for over 18 years) said on the subject of tissue memory to an audience of questioners: “If we can store a symphony on a piece of plastic, and a video with sound on a little more complicated but still molecularly simple piece of plastic tape, it certainly seems reasonable that something as complex as a piece of muscle or liver could store the memory of an experience and its attendant emotion”. I have nothing to add!

Candace B Pert PhD, Research Scientist, Washington, D.C. and author of “Molecules of Emotion” - “(Upledger, the creator of CranioSacral Therapy) talks about “somato-emotional cysts”, pockets of blocked emotion held in the body, causing a breakdown in the energy flow and general health… What is this “energy” referred to by so many alternative healers, who associate it with the release of emotion and the restoration of health? … It’s my belief that this mysterious energy is actually the free flow of information carried by the biochemicals of emotion, the neuropeptides and their receptors”. “Our new understanding of neuropeptides and receptors has enabled us to see more of what is going on in conditions of stress. When stress prevents the molecules of emotion from flowing freely where needed, the largely autonomic processes that are regulated by peptide flow, such as breathing, blood flow, immunity, digestion and elimination, collapse down to a few simple feedback loops and upset the normal healing response.”

For Your Information

William Sutherland was the first person to write about craniosacral work but Dr John Upledger is the current authority in this field. For more information on John Upledger follow this link: www.holisticmed.com/add/upledger_bio.html