Water. Water is the key to all life on this Earth. As water trickles, meanders, or spills out throughout the land, it keeps the creatures surrounding it alive. Likewise, the fluids in our bodies infuse us with vitality and healing power.
What is the Craniosacral Motion?
Within the craniosacral system, fluid moves in and out of a semi-closed hydraulic system in a cyclical motion through the body. This unique movement is involuntary and unconscious ...and is crucial for life to continue. More specifically, the brain and spinal cord are enveloped in a tube of three layers: the dura mater; the arachnoid membrane; and the pia mater. This life liquid pulses in a gentle motion, rocking slowly in and exhaling back out in harmony with the bodies’ other systems. The bones of the cranial vault are always moving along with the fluctuating undercurrents and dural membrane tensions in the craniosacral system.
How Therapists use the Craniosacral Motion to Help People
Craniosacral therapists are trained to attune to the rhythm of the person they’re treating. As they palpate the occipital or sacral bones—or simply tune in through a gentle touch of the person’s feet, they are acutely zoning in on what this motion is revealing. One complete cycle of movement includes one flexion and one extension. The bones of the skull broaden into flexion, causing the system to expand out in a wavelike arc. Next, the bones narrow to extension: the fluids roll back in and pause briefly in a neutral zone. The craniosacral motion normally cycles six to 12 times per minute and is clearly distinct from the normal breathing rhythm (eight to 16 breaths per minute) and cardiovascular rhythm (60 to 100 beats per minute).
Ultimately, the practitioner will track the craniosacral pulse's mobile activity to explore any system restrictions. Restrictions impair the functional physiological motion of the craniosacral system within the body: these barriers first make their way into the body as a result of injury, inflammation, somatic dysfunction, or emotional trauma. Fascia, the connected tissue that runs from head to toe is also kept in synchronistic motion with the craniosacral rhythm; so, restrictions in any part of the body can be accessed through the craniosacral rhythm. Restrictions interfere with our overall health and well-being, distracting and/or impeding us from living in the unencumbered way our natural states were first set course on before the restriction entered in.
Using proprioceptive and palpatory senses, the craniosacral therapist can work with the body’s innate healing power to release that restriction to restore the optimal flow. John Upledger, the founder of craniosacral therapy, describes this process of release as “a softening of the obstacle or restriction against which the inherent physiological motion was fighting. The resistance melts and there is a palpable relaxation of the tissues. Release is a positive event.”
The craniosacral system is intertwined with and has a reciprocal influence on the nervous, musculoskeletal, vascular, lymphatic, endocrine, and respiratory systems; therefore, releases have tremendous power to impact a person's overall health.
When water is free to move where nature intends it to go, the result is a lush and nourished ecosystem. Similarly, when the vital energy contained in the fluids of our bodies has the full space to surge through us—unencumbered by the blockages we’ve acquired as we journey through life—we can flourish. As we honor the cycles of our natural world and become more and more aware of our own natural rhythm, we reveal more and more of our true being, unrestricted and full of light.
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