CranioSacral Therapy (CST) basically helps heal the body through a non-invasive touch and about five grams of pressure which is roughly the weight of a nickel. A CranioSacral specialist’s job is to assess and uncover restrictions and imbalances in a patient’s body and heal the patient. The therapy frees these restrictions deep within the central nervous system so that the other bodily systems can heal themselves and relax. CranioSacral Therapy can help patients naturally free themselves of emotional discomfort, stress, and pain, reinforces their ability to resist disease, and boosts their wellbeing and health.
Just like the respiratory system and circulatory system, your CranioSacral system has a certain distinct pulse. This pulse beats about six to twelve times a minute. By using an extremely sensitive touch, you can virtually feel this pulse in every part of your body.
One important role of the CranioSacral system is the circulation, manufacture, and re-absorption of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF). The CSF supplies vital nutrients to the central nervous system, enabling it to maintain a constant balance even when the body’s other conditions are changing. Every crucial function that are controlled by your Central Nervous System rely on the provision of this fluid. The CSF is located within the Dura and around the spinal cord and brain protecting these two very important organs. It feeds nutrients to the spinal cord and brain and is extremely rich in information. Evaluating this fluid can tell a lot about the health of a person.
The membrane system is found within the CranioSacral System. The membrane system is the lining around the cranium and dural tube that envelops the spinal cord. This system is also made up of the bones of the skull and the sacrum.
CranioSacral Therapy can significantly affect the Autonomic Nervous System, which is made up of the parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system. This is quite helpful in our modern way of life where people are always on the move and have to deal with stress every day of their lives. The constant stress will eventually overtax our sympathetic nervous system. CranioSacral Therapy can soothe our sympathetic nervous system and kick in our parasympathetic nervous system to generate a more peaceful internal environment, which can help the cells of our body to function and develop properly. Every cell can benefit from our body being in balance or be in a state of homeostasis. However, if any of our bodily systems start to malfunction, our bodies will experience a breakdown of homeostasis. This will adversely affect our cells, which will result in illness, or even death if the collapse of homeostasis is severe enough and if this imbalance is left untreated.
Fascia
One important tenet of CST is that every part of the body is interconnected to each other. This means that it’s impossible to affect one area of the body without affecting all of it.
One of the specialized systems of the body is the Fascia, which looks like a loose knit sweater or a spider web. The fascia is the body part that you need to cut through when you separate the skin of a chicken from the meat. It is a thermoplastic like covering that encloses every bone, muscle, artery, vein, and nerve as well as the internal organs of the lungs, heart, spinal cord and brain. The fascia system is more than a system of unconnected coverings. It practically is one unbroken structure that seamlessly stretches from your head to your toe.
So we now know that the fascia is the organ system that connects every area of your entire body, like the yarn in a sweater. Inflammatory reactions, surgery, and/or trauma can result in myofascial restrictions. The fascia becomes restricted and tight, which can limit the function of the energy channels (meridians), nerves, and the flow of blood within that organ or muscle. Longstanding restrictions can give rise to thick fibrous parts within the fascia that lead to dysfunction and eventually illness in the bodily systems. CST can help your fascia return to its healthy normal state, and help you to feel good and relaxed.
Function and structure are unseparable, and changes in one, will change the other to a certain degree. CST can help boost brain structure to the hilt, which in the end bolsters function.
What Can CranioSacral Therapy Treat?
CST is more and more used by people as a way to maintain health and prevent illness. It supports the natural self-healing abilities of the body since it reinforces resistance to illness, and works well against a broad gamut of medical conditions related to dysfunction and pain, some of which include:
- Chronic pain
- Headaches & migraines
- Motor-coordination problems
- Pregnancy difficulties
- Autism
- Colic
- Orthopedic problems
- Central Nervous System disorders
- Scoliosis
- Traumatic Spinal Cord and Brain injuries
- Chronic fatigue
- Learning disabilities
- Tension and stress related conditions
- Emotional problems
- TMJ
- Fibromyalgia & other connective-tissue conditions
- Post-surgical dysfunction
- Post-traumatic stress
disorder
Everyone can avail of CranioSacral Therapy, even newborns.
The patient should bring with him loose, comfortable clothing for the session. A typical CranioSacral Therapy starts with the patient comfortably lying down on a table fully clothed. The CranioSacral specialist will ask the patient to take his shoes off.
The treatment is usually done with the patient comfortably lying on a massage table. Sometimes, he may be told to seat or stand. The specialist will commence treatment by applying a light touch at the feet to evaluate where restrictions and other associated conditions are found in the patient’s body. The specialist then continues to work through other areas of the patient’s body.
What happens during a session?
Experiences during a CranioSacral session are as unique as the patients themselves and differ from session to session. Sometimes, you may feel deeply relaxed or even fall asleep, at other times you may keep on talking, expressing emotions or recollecting hidden memories. You may even remain motionless during the entire therapy, barely noticing the specialist’s assessment and treatment. Other patients may feel sensations within their bodies as the assessment course progresses.
Sometimes throughout the treatment, the specialist may need to support the spine and limbs of the patient while helping release pressure that has built up in the patient’s body. This method is known as Myofascial release or energy cyst release. During this procedure, the patient may occasionally remember events surrounding a past injury, trauma, or shock. Freeing and recalling previous hurts can help the body reverse dysfunctions and restore its former healthy range of movement. The specialist can re-create those previous dysfunctions and hurts. They have a term for this technique: SER or SomotoEmotional Release.
Because the affected bones are closely associated with the Sphenoid bone, it may be important for the specialist to perform, during a CranioSacral session, some related work in the mouth along with some of the face muscles. If these bones are out of balance, they may be the underlying reason of the dysfunction.
A follow-up session
Since patients respond to the therapy in different ways, the immediate outcomes can be just as diverse. The soothing experience may cause people to sleep for several hours post therapy, while some may feel a meaningful rise in their energy levels. An improvement in function or a significant decrease in pain may be immediately felt post therapy, or it may gradually develop over the next few days. It’s not uncommon for improvement to continue well after the therapy since CranioSacral Therapy causes the body to resume its natural self-healing processes. In the meantime, as their bodies adapt to the release of formerly held patterns, some patients may need to undergo an integration and reorganization (follow-up) phase.
Ni Nan Healing Art Center
2579 Merrick Rd
Bellmore, NY 11710
(516) 442-7408
https://www.ninanhealing.com
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