Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
Your Essential Health
Your body is seeking balance each and every moment.
Learning to feel, know and trust your body is an essential ingredient to maintaining balance and wellness. When health is compromised, we all need help finding our way back to wellbeing and our sense of self.
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is the jewel in the crown of body work. Deeply rooted in ‘Inherent Health’, BCST opens the door to immense resources within our body. Scroll down to learn what to expect from a session.
BCST regulates the central nervous system, restoring access to our parasympathetic, or ‘rest, digest and heal’ mode. This shift paves the way for restoring communication between the systems in your body, including the connective tissues, muscles and joints. This deeply relaxing therapy reconnects you to your inner resources, making it an ideal approach to healing injury and trauma including recovery from illness or surgery.
“Craniosacral therapy with Jennifer has helped to calm my nervous system and supported the processing of difficult emotions. Jennifer is a very compassionate person who creates a safe environment which helped me to relax and get the most out of each session!
I would highly and enthusiastically recommend her.”
What to Expect
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 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
Frequently Asked Questions
What is BCST?
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST)supports the subtle movements necessary for health in all of the structures, systems and fluids in the body. We attune to your health by assessing the movement of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) that moves between the sacrum, along the spine, to the head and in the brain. There is valuable information about your overall health in the flow of the CSF. Your therapist can sense and influence this flow, at the level of the pelvis (at the sacrum), along your spine and especially on your skull.
“There are two big ideas at the heart of cranial work. One – the whole body expands and contracts in a rhythmic or tidal way. Two – there is an intelligence expressed throughout the entire body.”
-Steve Haines, Body Intelligence Trainer
History
Craniosacral therapy has its roots in the discoveries made by Osteopath Dr William Garner Sutherland in the late 1800s. He developed an approach to Osteopathy known as “the Cranial Concept”. These original concepts have been refined and extended to become the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy of today.
Biodynamic Touch
Biodynamic touch is skilled, listening, non-invasive and reverential. There is never any pressure, manipulation or force. Your therapist is trained to create a calm, still and embodied presence. This presence supports a sense of safety allowing your brain to switch from flight or fight to rest and repair. It is in this state that healing and change can begin to take place.
What does a BCST session involve?
Your practitioner takes a written case history, listening with care to the reasons for your visit. This part of the session is important, both for gathering information, and to establish a good understanding with your practitioner. You then lie fully clothed on a massage table. If you are unable to lie flat, you can be on your side, or in a chair. Typically during the session you relax quietly while the practitioner uses a number of gentle hand contacts on the head, base of the spine, and other areas.
How long is a session?
Craniosacral Therapy sessions usually last for an hour, though this can vary.
What will I experience during a session?
People report a wide variety of experiences, including the following: Relaxation and sense of ease, warmth, and tingling sensations. A sense of harmony and peace. A feeling of letting go. Feeling balanced. Increased energy. Feeling more fully alive. Getting in touch with emotions and deepening self- and body- awareness.
How many sessions are recommended?
To fully benefit from craniosacral therapy, you may need more than one or two sessions. You and your practitioner will decide on how many sessions will be best for you.
Is BCST suitable for adults and children?
Craniosacral Therapy is so gentle and non-invasive, it is suitable for all ages.
What about during pregnancy and for babies?
Many women seek BCST during pregnancy to help their bodies adjust to their growing baby, as well as in preparation for delivery. Babies can respond very quickly to this work as they re-align themselves to health following the profound experience of birth. Sessions are often done with mom and her baby together, as they are of course a unit unto themselves.
What is different about this approach?
Through the simplicity of gentle listening touch, Craniosacral Therapy offers a distinctive stillness that allows your mind and body to rest deeply and begin to restore a natural balance. Craniosacral Therapy recognises and assists the connections between body, mind and emotions. In the peaceful space created during a session these strands can become more fully integrated.
Is BCST for me?
Some people come for stress relief and as part of a proactive approach to their health and well-being.
It can be helpful for a variety of conditions including migraines, digestive issues, sports injuries including concussions, chronic pain syndromes, anxiety, and depression. BCST can be very useful to help the body work through traumatic events or injuries and even for the mystery aches and pains that don’t seem to have an identifiable cause.
Can I use BCST with other complementary therapies and approaches to health?
Craniosacral Therapy works well on its own, and can also alongside other forms of complementary approaches, such as Acupuncture, Homeopathy, and Yoga. If you are unsure please talk to a practitioner.
How does BCST relate to psychotherapy and counselling?
BCST is a perfect complement to talking therapies. Processing emotional issues and trauma held in the body supports the work of counselling and psychotherapy.
If I have a medical problem can BCST help?
BCST is not intended as primary healthcare but to work alongside the relationship you have with your doctor. If you have a particular medical concern we would always recommend that you consult your GP. practitioners do not diagnose or prescribe medication.
What kind of training is required to become a Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist?
A 700 hour training over the course of 2 years, including: anatomy and physiology, 100 hours minimum practice hours, case studies and ongoing supervision.
How do I know if a practitioner is qualified?
There are two associations that register craniosacral therapists and require their ongoing education and adherence to ethical guidelines: the BCTA/NA (www.craniosacraltherapy.org) and PACT (https://www.biodynamic-craniosacral.com). Your practitioner should be a member of one of these organizations.