Foundations in Craniosacral Biodynamics

 

Foundations in Craniosacral Biodynamics Volumes 1 & 2 by Franklyn Sills are gold-standard text books that outline the biodynamic model of Craniosacral practice. These volumes are recommended to all students and practitioners of Craniosacral Therapy, and are included in the essential reading list for students on the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) training at the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust. Franklyn is a pioneering teacher of a biodynamic understanding and has developed an in-depth curriculum that orients students to its principles and practice. He was also co-founder of the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust

According to Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist, Naturopath and teacher Michael Kern, BCST emphasises working with the underlying forces that govern how we function, and it takes a whole body, whole person approach that deeply acknowledges the interconnections between spirit, body and mind. Foundations in Craniosacral Biodynamics offers this holistic and spiritual understanding, differentiating it from other more mechanistic and purely materialistic approaches. The books outline how practitioners can build their perceptual and clinical skills to become adept at identifying and working with subtle respiratory motions (primary respiration) that become expressed through the body. The books also orient students to the essential ordering principle of the Breath of Life and its role in healing processes. Sills provides a range of exercises and explorations that build an experiential understanding of the biodynamic approach, which can become embodied and put into practice with the support and mentoring by experienced teachers.

A Short History of Craniosacral Biodynamics

The early development of craniosacral practice was initiated by Dr. William Sutherland, an osteopath who realised that subtle rhythmic motion is a necessary pre-requisite for good health and integration of body and mind. The roots of biodynamics also lie with developments that Dr. Sutherland made during the latter stages of his career, after he had a direct experience of the presence of the Breath of Life that prompted him to shift gears from a mechanistic orientation and to a more non-invasive approach. He realised that the ‘unerring potency’ of the Breath of Life can be employed to make corrections in the body, rather than the introduction of any external forces. As such, the focus changed from analysis and the application of techniques to an appreciation of presence and stillness, and the recognition of primary respiration in initiating the healing process and maintaining equilibrium in the human body.

The principles outlined by Dr. Sutherland have been developed and extended by later practitioners, such as Dr. Rollin Becker, Dr. James Jealous and Franklyn Sills, who together with Michael Kern established the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust (CTET) in 1989.

How Babies Can Benefit from Cranio

Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle way to trigger the body’s natural self-healing capabilities: it helps to resolve traumatic imprints, allows us to process stresses, and supports the nervous system to down-regulate. The gentleness of this approach makes cranio perfect for babies.  

Helps with Head Bruising 

Craniosacral Therapy can be beneficial for babies who have experienced difficulty during birth and who may, as a result, have bruising to the head, forceps marks, chignon caused by vacuum extraction, cephalohematoma or an abnormality of head shape. 

It can also help resolve any underlying physical or emotional tensions that can be left behind in the baby’s system, even after these marks have disappeared.  

Adjustment After a Long, Difficult or Fast Birth 

The birth experience, particularly if it was prolonged, very fast, with medical interventions, or was by C-section, can result in the baby experiencing ongoing physical and emotional distress. According to Craniosacral Therapy teacher Michael Kern, these birth imprints can effectively be processed and resolved by helping to restore natural rhythmic movements within the body and supporting the body’s natural tendencies to find health, This leads to happier and more well-adjusted babies. 

Can Make Breastfeeding Easier 

Craniosacral Therapy is often used to support breast feeding. If a newborn is struggling to latch onto the breast, it could be due to unresolved stress, pain or discomfort, or as a result of the after effects of medication administered during the experience of birth. Tightness in the jaw or throat regions, or compression of cranial bones resulting from a difficult birth can impact on tongue sensation and the ability to easily feed. 

Soothes Crying 

Babies who inconsolably cry, or cry with a high pitch may also be supported with Craniosacral Therapy, which can resolve the imprints of birth trauma. It can also allow the baby to move through ‘memory crying’, in which their birth story can be revisited and resolved. A deep listening to the intelligence in the body is key to this practice.  

Babies Diagnosed with Tongue Tie 

Tongue tie may be another cause of feeding difficulties, but there are some issues that can mimic the symptoms of tongue tie, such as fascial restrictions, cranial nerve dysfunction and nervous system activation. All these may be amenable to treatment.  

Can Resolve Torticollis/Head Preference 

Some babies present with torticollis, which can be an uncomfortable condition that can also create difficulties with latching onto the breast. Tortocollis may result from unresolved compressions experienced during the birth process, or by patterns that develop in the uterus before birth. It is sometimes indicated by a baby’s habitual preference to lie on one side, and not on the other. Craniosacral Therapy sessions can be of great benefit!

Craniosacral Therapy: An Introduction

 

Craniosacral Therapy is a therapy using a light touch that essentially supports the expressions of our intrinsic health and wholeness. The hands-on skills used by Craniosacral practitioners are designed to restore natural rhythmic motions in the body, which has the effect of bringing the body and mind back into balance. As a result, Craniosacral Therapy can be used to treat a variety of conditions.

The Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust provides training courses with a ‘biodynamic’ approach of Craniosacral Therapy, which orients practitioners to the underlying forces that govern our health. A whole-person approach to treatment is taken, appreciating the interconnections of body, mind and spirit. The Trust was co-founded in 1989 by Michael Kern, Craniosacral Therapy teacher and author.

The Primary Respiratory Mechanism

Craniosacral Therapists use touch to sense the subtle rhythmic motions expressed through the body, and learn how to feel any places of restriction or dysregulation. The subtle rhythms carry an essential ordering principle for body and mind, but can become compromised by unresolved stresses and strains that are held in the body. In this way, places of inertia affecting the expression of natural rhythmic motion can compromise the expression of our intrinsic health and be a primary factor in the development of disease and pathology. Areas of inertia may result from factors such as physical injury, emotional stress, trauma, or an unsuitable diet.

The ‘primary respiratory mechanism’, sometimes referred to as the ‘craniosacral system’, refers to a system of anatomical and physiological relationships found in and around the core of the body. It comprises the brain and spinal cord, cerebrospinal fluid, cranial bones, membranes that surround the central nervous system, and the sacrum. The subtle rhythmic motion of these tissues and fluids plays a significant role in our health, so craniosacral practitioners frequently work with these areas. However, Craniosacral Therapy is actually a whole body, whole person approach to treatment, that also includes all the organs, fascia, muscles, bones, fluids and tissues throughout the body.

Conditions for Health

The body retains deep-seated and powerful capacities to heal, which can become supported by the skilful touch and presence of Craniosacral Therapy practitioners. In this process, practitioners can support the conditions in which the body’s natural capacities to restore health are facilitated. These conditions include states of safety and physiological settling that allow for the processing and resolution of any unresolved stressful or traumatic experiences and states of dysregulation in the body. Through creating the right conditions, our natural corrective wisdom can begin to promote healing from the inside out; the benefits of which can be long lasting and life-changing.

The ‘Tides’

Within the biodynamic approach taught at the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust, students are instructed how to perceive and support the expression of at least three subtle rhythms, as well as the basic ground of stillness that underlies the function of these rhythms. Each of these rhythms, often referred to as ‘tides’, has its own rate and physiological significance.

By resolving any retained patterns of stress and strain in the functioning of these rhythms, the expression of the basic ordering principle that’s carried in these subtle motions can be facilitated at a physiological level. This re-establishes the expression of health in the body, and restores a balanced integration of body and mind.

Integrating Mind and Body

Craniosacral Therapy can be very helpful for dealing with trauma, anxiety or strong unresolved emotions, as these experiences are fundamentally retained in the body. By working with the physiological roots of these experiences, they can often be processed and dissipated without the need for medication or other interventions.

 

Craniosacral Therapy Advanced Courses: Formative Embodiment

 

A range of training courses are offered at the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust, which operates as a school of excellence to provide comprehensive trainings for existing therapists and those looking for a career change. Each course combines theoretical learning with hands-on experience, emphasising development of practical skills.

Michael Kern, Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust co-founder, established the school in 1989 in partnership with Franklyn Sills. Formative Embodiment is a new postgraduate course being offered for the first time in the UK in 2021 at the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust.

Postgraduate Study

Formative Embodiment is the next step for many craniosacral, somatic, body-orientated, psychotherapy and counselling practitioners, and others. This integrative approach was initially developed by Dr Jim Feil, inspired by a number of influences including Craniosacral Biodynamics, Stanley Keleman’s Formative Psychology, Pre- and Perinatal Therapies, Focusing, and Polarity Therapy.

The revolutionary training programme designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of practitioners will be taught by Dr Jim Feil. Dr Feil has been working in somatic and energetic therapeutic practices for more than 45 years.

Three Main Pillars

Formative Embodiment is based on three main pillars. The first of these is the formative process, which begins at conception and continues actively throughout life. The formative impulse, which is the priority of the body to adapt and survive, is at the heart of Formative Embodiment. The second pillar is Somatic Orientation, which involves listening closely to the body and supporting healing through tapping into bodily resources. The third pillar is Energetic Foundation, focusing on the energy circuitry that powers all human beings. This circuitry is today mapped in quantum science yet has also been mapped in several ancient traditions.

CTET Practitioner Courses

Note that CTET also offers practitioner training courses for those beginning on their Craniosacral Therapy journey. These courses take place part-time over two years, with 48 days of classroom-based study.

The curriculum is well-structured to cover a broad range of skills and adaptable to include new scientific research and perspectives. Each course is based on biodynamic principles, which involves learning to support the natural forces that organise our form and function and working with natural rhythms that get expressed within our bodies in order to promote healing and wellbeing.

Craniosacral Rhythms

Craniosacral therapy is a holistic therapy that uses gentle touch to bring the body back to optimal health. It works with subtle rhythmic motions that are expressed in the body, on the principle that as long as these rhythms are expressed freely a state of good health follows. These subtle levels of physiology dictate how we function, in body, mind and spirit. Michael Kern co-founded the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust in 1989 as a teaching facility for those who want an in-depth training in this healing art.

Motions of Life

A key principle of Craniosacral Therapy is that life is expressed as motion. In health all tissues and fluids in the body express gentle and involuntary breath-like movements, that can be described as an inhalation and exhalation. All living cells subtly breathe with these motions of life, but these rhythms may become compromised as a result of unresolved stresses or traumas that are held in the body. By gently facilitating these rhythmic movements in places of stuckness or inertia, practitioners can support the body towards a state of optimum health.

Dynamic Stillness

Craniosacral Therapists trained in the ‘biodynamic’ approach also recognise a ground of deep stillness that underlies all our day to day physiological functions and activities. This stillness is a unified and essential ground state of being that exists within the core of everything, with no object, subject or duality. An experience of ‘dynamic stillness’ can become accessible when we quieten our minds and deeply let go and rest in our natural state, resulting in a reconnection to our full potential for healing.

Motion from Stillness

Once we emerge from an experience of dynamic stillness, we never come out in the same way that we went in! Something changes and re-organises towards health. Within the stillness there is an opportunity for the intelligent forces of the ‘Breath of Life’ to make any corrections and adjustments to the body.

The Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust in London trains practitioners to work with the subtle rhythms of life and to reconnect clients with their full potential of health.

 

Fascia-nating New Research into Fascia

In recent years an appreciation of fascia’s function in the body has become more understood in the wellness community. For more information about fascia, see the attached PDF. 

Explaining the Human Body: What is Fascia?

Michael Kern, founder of the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust, has written about the important role played by the ‘living matrix’ of fascia in maintaining our health, so helping to dispel the myth that fascia is an insignificant part of the body.  

There is still a lot more research needed on this topic, but many practitioners are now recognising fascial motion and function as a major contributor to health.  

Healthy Fascia, Healthy Body 

Fascia is a type of connective tissue that’s extensively found throughout the body, so it’s understandable that the health of fascia reflects the health of the whole, and vice-versa. Healthy fascia can make it easier to recover after exercise and plays a significant role in the regulation of the central nervous system. Even cellulite may be reduced by increased fascial health.  

 

To learn about three main types of fascia found in the body, take a look at the attached infographic.  

Introducing the Three Types of Fascia

The Influence of Inertial Fascia 

The benefits of a healthy fascial system cannot be underestimated, but likewise it’s easy for lifestyle issues, stress or trauma to cause the fascia to become inertial and constricted, potentially creating a range of problems. Eating an inappropriate diet, not getting enough water or sleep, and not getting enough exercise are common factors that may affect fascial health.  

Restoring Fascia Health 

Healthy fascia is supple, hydrated and mobile, and regularly performing stretching exercises can contribute to overall fascial health. This, of course, is also good for the body as a whole. Stretching regularly can keep the fascia in a state of optimal hydration, suppleness and support.   

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy for Fascia Health 

Based on the principle that a healthy body physiology expresses subtle rhythms in all areas, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy seeks to work with these rhythms when they get out of sync or become inertial. Fascia can be a significant place of engagement for Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, since it can be an important factor that influences the functioning of the whole system.  The gentle and skilful hands-on approach of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy can provide an effective treatment for stressed or unhealthy fascia. 

For an overview of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and how it works, take a moment to watch the embedded video.