Craniosacral Therapy, Fascia and My Own Experiences

Unlike Massage and Myofascia Release, Craniosacral Therapy causes a more subtle "unwinding" effect on Fascia and in that provides muscles more room to move. The movements are light, almost unnoticeable. The effects are amazing.

The first time Craniosacral Therapy crossed my path I was a busy single parent of a 10 year old. While he was really bright and could articulate all kinds of information that he took in, dissect and discuss it, my son always had trouble with writing it down. Any kind of paragraphs, essays, stories...were a struggle. Over a coffee discussion with a therapist who specialized in Craniosacral Therapy for children, my son ended up with an appointment. He felt comfortable right away and fell soundly asleep on her table. She asked me at the end of his session if he had ever hit is forehead and she pointed to the centre.

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At 18 months old in his attempt to climb a big rock, my son had fallen and smacked the centre of his forehead quite hard, just beneath his forehead curl. He had a bruise and lump about the size of a walnut come up almost right away. But like most busy toddlers he cried a little and then carried on to again try to climb the rock. I never really thought about it again until the therapist mentioned it.

​She said he may notice some changes in the following weeks.

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Three or four weeks later was when I was stopped to really think about the impact of this therapy. His grade 6 teacher asked me what Jeff was doing at home that was different. I said nothing I could think of. Apparently he had begun writing essays, really good essays, nothing the teacher had seen from him before. That's when it dawned on me that perhaps the Craniosacral therapy had shifted something. It was the only different activity he had experienced.

Two years later...

The month my second year in Massage Therapy training was to begin I was rear ended in a car accident. I was stopped and the driver behind was traveling at 50+. I remember my head swinging forwards and backwards a couple of times and that I felt quite dizzy and spaced out. Massage Therapy, Physiotherapy, Chiropractic and being used as the model in school for how to treat whiplash, my neck and shoulders received a lot of therapy.

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Part of the curriculum in our training was to complete our first level of Craniosacral Therapy. I was excited about it after the impact it had for my son. Part of training is students practicing on each other under instructor supervision. When the person practicing on me started to work around my shoulders and neck, I noticed a lot of emotion coming up and had the physical sensation of my head moving forwards and back with force. It felt real, as though it was happening, but in actual fact my head wasn't moving at all.  My fascia though was busily unwinding from the final effects of whiplash and that allowed the fear and emotion from the car accident to surface as well. 

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Over the next few weeks the headaches I had been experiencing since the car accident stopped and the flashback sounds of metal crunching on metal eased. I had less neck pain and was sleeping better. 

As a Craniosacral Therapist

I really enjoy sharing Craniosacral Therapy with clients. While I've grown accustomed to clients experiencing benefits I am always encouraged by the results they have and how it uniquely impacts them. I've pulled it out of the skill set at times when nothing else has been working and Craniosacral Therapy has usually triggered a change that other therapies I practice haven't been able to. I believe it's because of the subtle effect on the Fascia. As it loosens and gains flexibility it seems to begin a deep healing process that perhaps I didn't feel or the client wasn't aware of. Definitely one of those ongoing journeys in learning!

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