Craniosacral therapy - the healing waves!

What is Craniosacral Therapy? How can it benefit me?

Craniosacral Therapy is a profound, non-invasive, healing process that works through gentle touch to release stress, disturbance, injury and deep-seated trauma. It is known to benefit an entire range of problems, from minor aches and pains to severe chronic conditions.

CST is a holistic technique that works through the various levels in the body impacting the musculo-skeletal, nervous, cardio-vascular, circulatory and immune systems as well as the organs, tissues and fasciae. It triggers the body’s self-healing mechanisms to relieve diseases, symptoms and root causes. This restores balance across the various systems of the body, bringing it back into its state of effervescent health and well-being.

A CST session can bring an intense sense of relaxation to the entire system, and so, many people take sessions just to sink deep within and recharge themselves.

How does Craniosacral Therapy work?

If you scratch yourself, or get some cut or small wound, in a few days’ time, your body manages to heal itself. The body has an innate intelligence and enjoys good health and it forever wants to be in that state of vibrant health.

Many times, we abuse our body by disrupting its natural rhythms (not sleeping or eating on time), over indulging (eating wrong types of food, working too hard, etc) and consuming obvious poisons like non-veg food, alcohol, tobacco or recreational drugs causing it terrible stress. Accidents, bugs, illnesses and other mishaps all contribute to the assault on it.

The body is a brilliant piece of organic engineering and most times manages to bounce back to health, albeit, with a few leftovers of distress. These distresses pile up over time causing our immune systems to break down and creates disease.

There is a vast intelligence in the body and if you could tap into them, almost infinite resources available. Craniosacral Therapy acts as a catalyst for you to tap into your own system, use resources available to you, and create great health. Of course, lifestyle changes would need to happen alongside CST for it to have a more dramatic, permanent effect.

Through touch, a therapist can figure out what’s going on in the body and bring about balance and harmony by supplementing its own drive towards great health.

What’s the history of CST? Who developed it?

An American osteopath Dr. William Garner Sutherland developed CST almost a century ago. He observed that the bones of the skull are joined together in a zig-zag pattern, like the gills of a fish. He had an astonishing, ground-breaking realisation that maybe the skull bones are not completely fused as is widely believed. Possibly, there is some scope for minute movements… Even he thought the idea was ludicrous, and developed the techniques of CST while he tried to prove himself wrong!

As he refined his theories, he found out that not just the cranial bones, but every muscle, bone and organ in the body has a particular type of movement to some sort of a rhythm. In health, these movements are unrestricted and free. When some injury or disease affects some area, the movement is compromised.

A Craniosacral Therapists is trained to feel this dance of the various systems of the body through “thinking, feeling fingers” – and when they perceive it to be restricted, to gently nudge them back into synchronicity. The body then reorients itself towards health.

This makes CST both a preventive and a curative procedure.

Are there any side-effects of undergoing a CST treatment? Can it be done in conjunction with other therapies or treatments?

CST is holistic and organic in nature. It respects the innate ability of the body to heal itself. It will not interfere with any treatment you are currently undergoing and could in fact enhance and speed up recovery.

Is there any age or any other restrictions to get CST?

Anyone can take CST – including new-borns, pregnant women and the elderly.

Any precautions? Are there times when one doesn’t take CST?

In general, there are no precautions needed to be taken. CST can be even given pre and post-surgery with the consent of the operating surgeon – though in many cases, CST has helped prevent surgery in the first place. It’s great when your Craniosacral therapist can work with your health care physician and supplement your existing treatment.

How long is each CST session? And how many sessions does one typically need?

A CST session could be between 45 minutes to an hour. Each person’s experience and response to the treatment is unique. The number of sessions required could vary depending on the severity of the condition. Some people feel “cured” in just one or two sessions, others may need many more sessions over the course of a few months or even years.

In our experience, most people will return for sessions long after they are completely alright, to relax and rejuvenate themselves, enhance their sense of well-being and make sure they don’t fall ill.

What are the reviews like? What do people say after treatments?

Minor aches and pains vanish like dew drops in the morning sun. Many have reported a feeling “a lot better”, “feeling fresh”, “feeling like I have a new body”.

People with chronic or severe issues report the gradual lessening of their pain over a few sessions. People with physical problems like migraines, back problems, arthritis, etc have got much better and could be weaned off the medicines they were taking.

CST has helped people with depression or anxiety resume their normal day-to-day lives – many say – I am back to being me again!

CST treatments have enhanced focus and clarity in students and professionals making them better at their jobs.

Almost everyone enjoys a CST session.

What do traditional doctors have to say about CST?

Many allopathic, homeopathic and ayurvedic doctors now work with trained CST therapists to bring back their patient’s health in more holistic and organic ways, preferring to give CST treatments a chance before exploring more invasive procedures.

However, there is still a lot of work and formal research to be done for CST to get more widespread acceptance.

Craniosacral therapy explained: Khurshed Batliwala - CST practitioner trainer at Sri Sri School of Healing Arts (SSSOHA)