What is Craniosacral Therapy?
Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle touch modality with roots in Osteopathy, a branch of medical practice that emphasizes treatment through massage and structural balancing. Our focus is on the nervous system and what it may be holding: calm or agitation, emotion or trauma, chronic muscle tension or stress.
By balancing the nervous system we are given a doorway into the soft tissue (muscle, fascia and fluid systems) of the body where unwinding and tension release can happen on a deeper level than many other bodywork modalities.
Working in this way makes Craniosacral Therapy ideal for babies and children who may be experiencing tension or nerve issues and need a lighter touch as well as older people enduring chronic stress, PTSD or disruption of the nervous system resulting in disruptions of digestion, sleep and focus.
A calm, restful nervous system state facilities repair and healing in the body that is otherwise inaccessible when under stress or duress.
Do you only treat babies?
I treat ALL ages!
My experience includes several years in the birth room as a doula and my continuing study is focused on infant development, feeding issues and childhood development making this population well suited to my practice.
Older siblings, children and teens are also welcome!
Treating adults overcoming trauma and chronic pain are one of my original and continuing focuses, especially when these experiencing overlap with our earliest journeys in life.
What does a treatment look like?
Adult Craniosacral Sessions - the client stays fully clothed, lying on a treatment table similar to massage. Comfortable clothes are recommended to facilitate relaxation and easy movement for fascia release techniques.
Infant sessions - are most often in arms, either in the arms of the parent or on the lap of the practitioner. As babies grow, we will often bring them to the table or the floor to see how movement milestones are tracking.
Toddlers and crawling babies are given free rein of the office play space where we treat and assess in short bursts as they play and roll.
Older children sometimes enjoy the novelty of being treated on the table, others choose a parent’s lap. As we treating the nervous system first and foremost, our focus is always on the child's safety and autonomy and allow children to choose what feels best for them.
How many sessions do I need?
Babies and children usually benefit from 3-5 sessions with check-ups at milestones for tension recurrence or ongoing issues. Feeding issues often resolve with 3-5 sessions. More detail can be found on the Oral Tie page.
Adults are recommended to begin with 3 CST sessions spaced a week to three weeks in between. Our goal is to provide an opportunity for the system to feel deeply regulated and reflect on how that changes our daily movement through life. From there, we focus on maintaining regulation or forming a treatment plan to help you meet your goals.
What can I expect after a treatment?
Adults often report feeling a new level of calm and deeper rest. Often accompanied by a new level of mental clarity and a recalibration of our inner and outer worlds. Many report movements in their physical space, jobs or relationships.
Physical symptoms include an increased need for rest and hydration in the first day or two followed by greater energy and freedom of movement. Emotional release is also common in the first 3-5 days after treatment.
Children - parents often report many of the same reactions as adults: their child slept longer, wanted more water or specific foods. Children may also experience some emotional release or greater clarity in their inner knowing and ability to communicate their experience.
Babies are less tense overall facilitating better breastfeeding, digestion and sleep. Parent's frequently let me know a child completed a movement milestone they have been struggling with or added words to their vocabulary within days of treatment.
I often hear:
“they are so much softer in their body,” “they are feeding so much better and less gassy!”
Some babies and children experience a bit more emotionality the first day or two as the body re-calibrates, bringing greater range of motion, better feeding, clearer focus and less stress.