Some Health Benefits of Craniosacral Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy is a practice that uses light touch to both sense and restore subtle rhythmic motions expressed within fluids and tissues of the body, as a means to restoring health. The expression of these subtle rhythms is a primary factor in determining our state of health, so resolving any areas of inertia and dysregulation in these rhythms can provide deep benefits.
Michael Kern, Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust co-founder, has been a teacher at the cutting edge of Craniosacral Therapy for the past 35 years, and is the author of the highly acclaimed book, ‘Wisdom in The Body: The Craniosacral Approach to Essential Health’.
Improved Mobility and Motility
Craniosacral Therapy helps to restore the natural mobility and motility of the body. Mobility refers to the movement of one body structure in relationship to another, and motility refers to the movement that takes place within all living structures. By resolving restrictions of motion, fluid flow (i.e. blood, lymph and cerebrospinal fluid) and nerve irritation can improve. As a result, pain and inflammation are reduced, and we can move with greater flexibility and ease. Essentially, if things move well, they can function well.
Improving Sleep
Craniosacral Therapy can be used to treat numerous physical and mental health concerns, including anxiety and poor sleep. Poor sleep can have important knock-on effects on many areas of life. If we don’t sleep well, waste products cannot be effectively flushed away from the central nervous system, and our bodies and minds do not get the time needed to rest and rejuvenate. This may lead to a repetitive cycle of disorders, including becoming more and more prone to the effects of stress.
Craniosacral Therapy can also help regulate the autonomic nervous system, allowing clients to enter a state of deep letting go and relaxation, settling the body and mind in a similar way to meditation. In fact, the practitioner’s light touch and presence can be described as a kind of ‘meditation in relationship’.
Dealing with Stress
The effects of regulating the autonomic nervous system have widespread benefits, including improved sleep, emotional regulation, and a greater capacity to deal with stress.
The autonomic nervous system helps to regulate many of the unconscious or involuntary functions in our bodies. The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system comes into play when we are faced with threat or danger, or stressed, mobilising the body’s resources to fight or run away. However, many people remain in a state of ‘sympathetic activation’ even when any immediate danger has passed. Craniosacral Therapy can help to down-regulate the sympathetic nervous system, particularly when it’s been stuck “on”, and promote the function of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, so bringing us back to states of “rest and restore”.
Not only can Craniosacral Therapy help to alleviate the effects of current stresses, but it can change our long-term responses to stress that have become habituated in our bodies. This helps improve our long-term responses to stress, giving us greater resilience and adaptability, making future stressful situations much easier to deal with.
Pain Alleviation and Immune System Function
By helping to reduce nerve irritation and inflammatory processes in the body, Craniosacral Therapy can be a useful tool in the alleviation of chronic pain. There is evidence to suggest that Craniosacral work helps with conditions such as fibromyalgia, central nervous system disorders, hormonal imbalances, and other conditions that can cause ongoing pain.
By increasing lymphatic drainage, as well as integrating the functions of the central nervous and immune systems, Craniosacral Therapy may also help to improve immune system function, resulting in a greater resilience to combat disease and infection.
