Biodynamic Cranioscaral Therapy
Connecting with the sacred breath of life that flows within us
If health is truly perceived, we discover that it is never lost. We find that structure and function are mutually interdependent, that the body is self-healing, self regulating. The key to this process of discovery lies in our ability to be present, to be able to deepen and widen our fields of awareness and enter a truly receptive state. It is the ability to be still and listen that the truth of the human system unfolds its mysteries. As we listen, a true humility arises as we meet the awesome Intelligence within the human condition.
What the Navajo call ‘the wind’s child,’ Genesis calls ‘the breath of life .’ It is a silent force, a field of chi, which blows through the craniosacral system, animates it, and infuses it with information and intelligence.
How does it work
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle, non-invasive holistic natural therapy. It is beneficial in treating a wide range of conditions and can bring about profound healing at all levels: physical, mental, energetic and emotional. Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy takes a whole-person approach to healing and the inter-connectedness of mind, body and spirit are deeply acknowledged.
The underlying foundation of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a recognition of the “breath of life”. The art of the therapist is to connect with these underlying forces of health, facilitating a process of natural reorganization. Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is deeply relaxing. It assists the body’s natural healing processes, increasing physical vitality and well-being.
It aids in pain relief and encourages the nervous system, organs and musculoskeletal system to balance and heal. Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is client-led. This means that the individuals’ system sets the pace at which the work progresses.
History
U.S. Osteopath Dr. William Garner Sutherland first recognized craniosacral motions and their relevance to health in the early 1900’s. He went on to study the cranial system for 50 years. During the last 21 years of his life he trained many skilled osteopathic clinicians. In the 1970’s Dr John Upledger was the first person to teach craniosacral therapy to non-osteopaths or medical staff. Franklyn Sills and the Karuna Institute teaching team have spent many years developing the biodynamic craniosacral model. Their work has created a number of other schools in the UK, USA, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, India, Japan, and more recently New Zealand and Australia. The development of this therapy continues as more understanding is gained and new approaches and perspectives are adopted.
Benefits and how it can help you
The Biodynamic approach has evolved into a remarkable body therapy that has created a highly skilled way of listening to the body’s inherent health expressions. The therapist typically looks for and encourages the forces of health to set the priorities of the session and to bring about natural adjustments from within the body’s own resources. It is characterized by a strong orientation to the holism of the human experience where both the body’s anatomy and physiology are related to in real time with the subtle forces of life that act through the interface of the body’s fluids. Subtle movements in the body’s fluid and tissue fields are being listened for and the natural movement towards stillness is seen as deeply healing.
The beauty of this therapy is its simplicity. The practitioner takes up a position of being neutral and allows the process of the treatment to unfold. The practitioner is interested in facilitating the body towards intrinsic reorganizations across the body’s tissues, its fluid matrix and its energetic and emotional layers, so that there is a holistic movement towards greater health. The therapy creates a safe space for traumatic experiences to emerge and resolve smoothly without being overwhelming or re-stimulating.
The approach to the work includes a developed model of working with trauma processes. The therapists embodied experience, touch and presence are the key components in creating a Relational Field that generates a deep sense of safety and capacity to heal from within in a client led and paced approach.
Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy for Mothers and Babies
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy can help a woman’s body adjust to the changes created by pregnancy. Treatments during the term of the pregnancy can also support the new mother to approach labour with strength, confidence and vitality. Working with mothers and babies postnatally can help with recovery from the rigors of childbirth. Babies respond very well to Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and it is particularly beneficial to re-balance the whole body system within the first year. Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is extremely gentle and respectful to the baby, and recognizes that babies are conscious and very aware.
Conditions which can benefit from Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy:
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Breastfeeding difficulties
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Colic
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Constipation
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Sleep issues
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Distress/crying
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Difficulty settling