biodynamic craniosacral sessions
Our body is a portal; a portal to our deepest longings and desires, to our grief and pain, to our well of creativity, and to our senses.
Our physical vessel is a direct channel to our heart and our emotional body. Beeing seen and held with, and through, our body is such a vulnerable and intimate experience, that often gets overlooked in everyday life.
Craniosacral biodynamics is a form of somatic therapy that works with gentle holds on different body parts. This kind of bodywork is trauma-informed, consent-based, and prioritizes the clients own process and boundaries, through autonomy and self-sovereignty.
— What is Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy? —
Despite the very long and tong-tying name, Biodynamic craniosacral sessions are actually quite simple in their essence. It is based on the notion that our bodies are highly intelligent organisms that have unique abilities to regenerate themselves, when given a safe, loving, and peaceful container to do so.
Craniosacral biodynamics, also known as biodynamic craniosacral therapy (BSCT), is a deeply restorative, somatic, and relational based form of therapeutic bodywork. As a BSCT practitioner, I tune into the inner landscapes of the body through light touch. I listen to how muscles, ligaments, blood, and fascia are in relationship with each other and the body as a whole. Through the inputs and sensations I notice in the clients system, and through the clients own description and experience, patterns of tension, pain, and muscle suppression begin to express themselves.
BSCT is a very gentle and slow practice, that allows clients to really tune into their felt sense and their own soma in present time. Its unique approach to the body-mind connection, makes it a practice unlike any other therapeutic modality - working at the “crossroad” of fields like bodywork, osteopathy, trauma therapy, and psychomotor therapy.
Craniosacral therapy emphasizes the importance of creating safety for the client, so that traumatic and emotionally charged patterns that might be held in their system, can be witnessed and tended to in a supportive container.
One of the founding figures of BCST is William Garner Southerland, who studied with Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of Osteopathy. They worked and studied together for many years, discovering a wide variety of new insights around the musculoskeletal system, the cranium, and the spine. Although Craniosacral biodynamics has developed a lot since those early years of research, the roots of BCST can still be traced back to osteopathy and Southerland’s lifetime of research.
Are you longing for a new and more compassionate relationship with yourself and your surroundings?
Having intentional time to rest and integrate, helps our nervous system, our mind, and our spirit to soften, and step by step, invite in more peace in our lives.
— How does BCST work? —
Since the beginning of time, humans and animals have used touch as a way to connect and restore. When a baby comes into the world, we open our arms to embrace and welcome them to the earth. When our loved ones are sick, we hold their hands, as they heal and recover. Many of us know the power of touch, without necessarily giving it too much thought.
Studies have shown that physical touch is deeply important for our development, our ability to give and receive love, and for our overall well being. Staying connected to the world around us through physical touch, is an inherently intuitive way humans have lived and survived through centuries.
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However, over the last century, our pace of life, especially in the western part of the world, has rapidly increased, and many of us no longer have the restorative practice of touch and connection ingrained in our daily life. A core pillar of BSCT, is the notion and understanding that touch is important, and in fact crucial, for any healing process, whether physical, mental, emotional, or a mix of all of the above. Through a BSCT practitioner’s “listening hands,” we palpate the fluids within your body, also known as cerebral spinal fluid. This fluid is created in the deep layers of our brain, and is strongly linked to our central nervous system. We might compare the cerebral spinal fluid as oil for a rusty bike chain; if the chain has gone a long time without being oiled, it will make any bikeride a lot more difficult, and in the end impossible. Whenever our central nervous system is overworked, the production and flow of CSF is affected, making the “bikeride” of life a lot more difficult and stressful.
In a biodynamic craniosacral session, we make space for unprocessed experiences, pain, and emotions held within our nervous system, our fascia, and our brain to express itself, and over time, perhaps slowly release or adjust. What is important to point out, is that any release or shift happening in the client’s system is initiated from within the body, rather than mechanical interventions by the therapist. This gives the client a space to move at their own pace, and to reclaim and reconnect with their own autonomy, integrity, and sense of self in present time - a deeply important process in recovering from trauma, boundary violation, and neglect. Through this process, new neurological pathways emerges and seeds of greater resource and resiliency are almost literally planted in our nervous system and our memory.
Who said that science was not inherently magical and miraculous?
Although BSCT, in many ways, is really simple, it is simultaneously a very complex practice and body of work. Once we “open the door” to the field and science of Biodynamic Craniosacral, multiple new insights and paths tend to show themselves. This is partly due to the long standing lineage of the work, the “patchwork” kind of layers that exist within it, and the continuously new research that is happening in the fields of neuroscience, physiology, and trauma recovery.
I mention this, because the fields of health and wellness often provide one solution, or one “correct” answer. In the field of BSCT, we acknowledge that although (and even though) we have a long education on our CV, we are also constantly students.
— How can BCST support you?—
BCST treatments offers long term- sustainable healing, and results a very varying from client to client. You may feel improvement after just one session, or you may feel improvement after several months of working together. Everybody is different, and thus every body reacts differently to the treatment.
It is important to note that BSCT a non-diagnostic, health-supportive modality and does not equal to, nor substitute a medical treatment. This also means that clients hold responsibility for their own wellbeing and health. We generally do not have a binary approach to health; meaning that BSCTS treatments are supportive to your health in a variety of ways, rather than the end-all, be-all solution.
- With all of this in mind, here are some ways that A BSCT treatment may support you -
Generally BSCT supports overall health, longevity, vitality and a balanced metabolism. Through a treatment, clients will come into a greater relationship with their own natural resources, helping your body to prioritize what is most needing to be held and tended to.
Because biodynamic craniosacral work actively connects with- and supports the parasympathetic nervous system (our rest and digest system), a session often brings a deep sense of restoration, relief, and regeneration. From this space in ourselves, we come into a greater connection with our wholeness and our sense of being (often in contrast to our sense of doing, which many of us are used to operating from).
Through trauma-informed care and space holding, past experiences that may have overwhelmed us and stripped us from our organic and natural response, may be met anew in a safe container. This approach allows for self-tending, and for new neurological pathways of nuance, empathy, and connection to be reestablished in our system. BSCT emphasises the importance of slowing down, so that the body-mind connection can reorient to our present experience and resources.
As a BSCT, I make space for the client’s emotional processing through a somatic based approach. Helping you to cultivate a greater sense of embodiment, allows you to have a felt sense of your own boundaries, experiences, and your integrity. Once we start to have an ongoing relationship with our bodies, we are better able to embrace the fullness of our lives, building resources and tools to help us be tethered to our heart, through the low’s as well as the highs.
Our worldwide experience with BSCT, is that it may be a great support for soothing physical pain, whether that be recent joint/muscle pain due to injury, or long term pain/chronic pain. This is primarily due to the connection that pain receptors have to our brain and our nervous system. Again, keeping in mind that a treatment is not a guarantee for a certain desired outcome.
Biodynamic craniosacral sessions also have a longstanding history of supporting folks experiencing physical aftermaths from concussion, accidents, and whiplashes. (and perhaps even what we are most “famous” for). This might be a bit more complicated to explain, but generally has to do with allowing the body to express any physical reactions to sudden falls, chocks, and physical trauma, that wasn’t accessible/possible at the time.