Craniosacral Awareness Re-emerging

Recently, I started assisting a friend of mine as she taught a Craniosacral class. It is a class for beginners, looking at the basics of healing touch, alignment, self care and of course going through the fundamentals of Craniosacral work.

For anyone out there who does not know what Craniosacral Therapy (or Craniosacral Biodynamics) is / are, they are modalities that work with balancing the cerebro spinal fluid, deepening awareness as energy, as body and as fluid awareness. CST has been very beneficial in treating a number of issues associated with head injuries, headaches, back problems, pelvic issues and many things in between. In particular, Craniosacral Biodynamics, which is the more holistic of the two (Craniosacral Therapy is more mechanical in orientation), is extremely potent for those people who are sensitive to it. The layers of contact and healing touch are simply extraordinary. Each day I practice, I realize more fully how one could spend an entire life practicing CS Biodynamics and be learning up to the day of death. Wow!

And what I am becoming aware of, having now assisted with two three-hour classes, is that my personal experience and awareness of the Craniosacral rhythms is deepening to points I did not think were possible. To clarify, the tides or rhythms at which the cerebrospinal fluid ebbs and flows are known by three names as 1) the Cranio Rhythm (once every 3 – 5 seconds), 2) the Mid Tide (once every 20 seconds or so) and 3) the Long Tide (once every 50 – 100 seconds). These tides can be tracked and perceived once a practitioner has a lot of hands on practice under the guidance of a qualified teacher. Sometimes when a client goes into a deep state of healing relaxation, these tides cease altogether or become so slow as to not be perceivable. This cessation is known as a “still point.”

For most practitioners, they must put their hands on a client to feel these rhythms. I am beginning to notice that as I walk around the class, holding space (being aware of the vastness of the sky above and bringing my attention out to the horizons behind me and to the sides), if I focus on someone’s table – students work in pairs, one giving a practice treatment and one receiving – I can tell if / when someone goes into a still point and when they come out of it. Plus I have the same breath changes as they do. Pretty amazing!

It seems my depth and intensity of practice is starting to pay off. Also, when the students were working on each others’ occipital bones, I felt mine open and widen and appreciate the change in the energetic field. Similarly, when students started working on each others’ sacrum, I felt a shift in my own as it opened and began to loosen its strong attachments. Very cool!

I will keep tracking what I notice and keep y’all updated. Thanks for reading!