The liminal space

Our modern world is a world of rush and doing, running and achieving. You are not somebody unless you are super busy with barely time to breathe.

But what happens when a crisis falls into your lap? Or falls into the lap of someone you love? Do you hold tight to your busyness and rushing around? Hide behind it and pretend that nothing is happening? Or do you heed the warning and know that you are being given an opportunity to reassess, stop and stay still, breathe and wait.

In craniosacral therapy it is the stillness that heals, the pause in the movement, the waiting. It offers the opportunity for fresh air, expansion and a reshuffling into a way that is much more comfortable and whole. It is the same in our everyday world. We race a long at a pace that is not healthy for any of us, trying to be people that we really aren’t, lead lives that aren’t ours at all. When a crisis comes storming without any warning, our life is no longer what we thought it was. It can be the death of someone we loved, financial ruin, the loss of a job, sickness, divorce or even simply not being where we thought we would be by this age. This crisis, which has fallen into our lives is called the limina. A stumbling stone for our soul, determined to propel us into the liminal space.

The liminal space is not a place we like to find ourselves, it is uncomfortable, scary and lonely, full of heartbreak and wanting to escape. Inside of this space you can pretty much break us down into two types of people, those who quickly gather up all of their belongings and move as fast as they can into the next safe house. The other half of us scramble back to where we came from hoping to re-establish what it was we were succinctly kicked out of. If you’re lucky, the door is securely locked on the next space and the place you were hoping to go back to is a shambles. So there is no going forward, no going back. If luck is on your side and you are forced to stay still in this liminal space, the space of nothing and nowhere where all lost souls can be found, hopefully it is for quite a while. It turns out the liminal space is one of the best places we have for rapid spiritual growth. Yes, it is difficult and horrible, and in all of our sadness it is the last place we want to be. But if you can find a way to put life on hold and let the disaster wash over you and fill you from the tips of your toes to the depth of your soul, then there is a good chance you will be rewarded. You will die the death of the living and come out the other side to a new world, everything apparently the same, but inextricably changed.

For this process to have its full impact you have to be still. You have to embrace the crying on the floor, hour after hour, the not doing much, the not achieving anything, no thinking, no plotting and planning, no rushing off to the next big thing. No fixing! Please, no fixing. You don’t want your world fixed, you need it broken so that you don’t slide back into old patterns, so that you don’t continue as the habits you used to be. Take a long soak in the anger and the pain, in the fear and the sadness. Let it wash over you and through you, let it have its way. Let it mould you and just possibly the person you always thought you were might step forward. 

When I entered into a run of crisis a few years ago, the best gift I was given was someone providing me with love, space, support and time so I could be still in the liminal space. My suffering and pain were immense, like nothing else I have experienced in this world, but the gift it has given me, my undeniable truth, is not something I would trade for anything. Life like craniosacral therapy needs stillness, time for us to sit and be, time to feel without distraction. If you can, and no one is saying it is easy, or sometimes even possible, allow life to be the process that creates the change you may have desired for the longest of times.

Friends - the guru substitute

There is a definite shortage of genuine gurus in Australia. People who have walked the spiritual path into enlightenment and are now there to guide the rest of us who are stumbling along.

In the guru tradition in India you commit to a guru as your teacher and guide, agreeing that you will do whatever they say. This relationship is not taken lightly by either person involved. There can be years of getting to know each other and understanding how the other person works, before enough trust is formed on both sides to move into the guru/follower relationship. One of the most important aspects in this relationship for the follower is feeling that they are being seen, not for what they present to the world but for who they really are.

This means the seeing of the whole, the beauty, the wonder and the perfection; the broken, the ugly and the dysfunctional. It means that your guru can see through all of your glitz and glamour, the pizazz and shine you throw on top of your personality to get what you want. They call you on your bullshit, over and over again until slowly you start to see what they are painstakingly pointing out, and you are able to drag it from the very depths of your lifetime patterns to the surface. Haul it into the light and see it, maybe for the first time ever, for what it really is. Not you being nice, but rather, you being manipulative and organising your world around you just the way you like it. Or maybe your default mode is, anger or sadness or eating or shopping, whatever it is that makes it easy for you not to look. All of it is a distraction from the truth that sits underneath. If you want to become comfortable with your truth, then you have to get past the distraction, and sit, for a very long time. 

So, I have a theory. In this land where gurus are all but non-existent, what if good friends or maybe a close family member or even your partner, stepped up for the job? I mean they might be lacking in certain traits, they might not have great advice on meditation, spiritual visions, pilgrimages, how to breathe backwards through your right nasal passage. But if you have formed a genuine relationship over a significant period of time where you know each other on a deep and intricate level, isn’t it possible that this friend can take on the role of guru bullshit detector?

Some of my deepest revelations have come in conversations with my oldest friends, my sisters or my mum. When they have had the courage to say, ‘What you are doing is wrong and you keep doing it over and over again. You have to stop or you will never grow up.’ You need to be ready to hear, but when you do and you know it has come from someone who loves you dearly, enlightenment, for a short moment, is surely possible.

So here’s to all of the gurus in my life, who have walked beside me, held my hand, but then looked me in the eye and told me how it really is. I hope there is a time in their lives, when they have been able to feel that guru love coming right back at them.

Love and Light

Someone asked me the other day, ‘So what is love and light anyway?’ Making reference to the fact that the saying has become so over used it is almost becoming flippant. But the question stuck in my head, what is love and light? The answer, my answer, and yours could be completely different, came very quickly and easily.

Love for me is when you accept someone else or yourself exactly as they or you are. It is when we realise that we, or the other person, are doing the best we possibly can at this moment in time with the tools that we currently have.

And light, well that is the hardest of all. That is when you turn the torch back in on your own heart, with kindness, compassion and if at all possible a sense of humour to examine your own motives and truths. This is in essence what we are all here for, the journey into the light. The more you uncover and accept, the more open you become, the more compassionate you are with yourself, the more compassionate you will be with others. The closer you sit to your own truth, the brighter your light will be.

William Sutherland, the osteopath who discovered craniosacral therapy back in the late 1800’s when he was a young man, continued to research and expand his field until his death in his eighties. In the years leading up to his death, perhaps the last decade of his work, he made the claim that craniosacral therapists were working with liquid light.

When I work as a craniosacral therapist I think about this liquid light, both inside and outside the body. The light outside is what some might refer to as God, or universal energy. The light inside the body exists at the very centre of the craniosacral fluid, a thin delicate strand of light that is gently but very determinedly connecting that outside light of God to the inside light of you.

The job of a craniosacral therapist is to make sure this light flows. If the body is opened, relaxed and in its most natural state the light is given the best possibility of flowing. Once the light is flowing in the body, then, like the torch being shined in on your heart, you are being given the option of moving closer to your truth. Living in your truth. Living in the light.

I am convinced that love and light are our draw, what pulls us ever forward on the biggest discovery of all, who we are.

And you, what do you think love and light mean?

The release of stored trauma

In my work as a craniosacral therapist I often have the privilege of witnessing the genius of the body as it unwinds and surrenders things it has been holding onto, sometimes for decades, because it finally feels safe to let go. A twisted vertebra can be more than the simple physical form of a twisted vertebra. There can be underlying emotional or spiritual reasons for the vertebra holding on so tight or it can simply be in the physicality. The letting go process can be a physical unwinding, an emotional release or a spiritual shift. Sometimes it’s very clear and other times you simply don’t need to know.

Recently I had a client on my table whose neck was very tight around C4/C5. As I worked gently to release the vertebrae I saw a vision of my client as a 9-year-old boy in murky water. He had one hand raised and kept being dragged underneath the water, he would bob to the surface again waving his hand desperate for someone to see him. Then I saw a hand reach in and pull him out. The vision was quick and precise.

At the end of the session I told him about what I’d seen. He looked at me and said, ‘Did I ever tell you about the time I nearly drowned when I was 9?’

He hadn’t. It had been a pivotal moment in his life where he said he’d seen an angel who had told him to be calm, that he would be fine. His father had finally turned around and noticed that he was struggling and pulled him out of the water. This moment, although deeply spiritual was also obviously traumatic and had been stored away in the vertebrae of his neck until there was an appropriate time for it to be released. A time when both the body and the spirit felt safe to let go. Needless to say my clients neck was much freer after this session.

Sometimes we don’t realise how we are hanging onto past experiences in our physical form. As we age we have a tendency to blame gravity for our hunched shoulders, our curved back, our aching knees. But what if during a particularly difficult argument ten years ago your shoulders became so tight that you didn’t completely let them go? Or what if the argument was so hurtful that you didn’t completely let it go and instead stored part of the argument in your shoulders? And maybe now the shoulders have been clenched for so long with so many other subtle layers of tension over the top of them that you don’t even realise that your shoulders are tight anymore.

To keep our body functioning in good physical form we must release stress and trauma from the past - physical, emotional and spiritual. The closer we can release stress to the occurrence of the trauma the better, but just because the trauma is in the more distant past does not mean it cannot be reached and released. Regular craniosacral therapy treatments are a fabulous way to break down the accumulative effect of trauma on your body and to prevent a build up from occurring. A simple and effective way of reducing the impact of ageing!

Full Moon Meditation Circle - super moon, blood moon, blue moon

On the last day of this month the most powerful moon of the year is rising. It is a super moon, a blue moon and a full lunar eclipse. This is a very rare occurrence. The last time we experienced a lunar eclipse was in 2014. The last time we had a super eclipse was 36 years ago. This super eclipse is in Leo, and that hasn’t happened for hundreds of years. There will be very significant energy moving around. The topic we are going to look at to help us utilise this energy is reconciliation - the gathering of all the parts of us and finding a place where we can sit in peace with all that we are.

The spinal energetix tables will be set up an hour before the circle for anyone who wants to free the flow of their spine in preparation for this powerful moon. After the meditation circle a couple of us will be wandering down to the creek for a bit of ritual letting go. There will be smudging and the burning of words along with some beautiful oils. This is all part of the circle and you are welcome to join us if you wish.

I really hope you can join us for what I am sure will be a heart expanding and inspiring evening.

When: 7-9pm, Wednesday, 31st January 2018

Where: Currumbin Valley

What to bring: Cushion, bottle of water, blanket if it’s cold

Cost: $20

Light healthy supper provided

RSVP: sarah@sarahjames.com.au

Please feel free to pass this invite on to anyone who might be interested.

Working with magic

I try to get on a craniosacral table every two weeks or so. I love what it does for my body and nervous system and I find my work is more refined and deeper if I am keeping on top of my own system. A couple of weeks ago I had one of those magical sessions where you feel like a miracle has occurred.

I have been having a right hip problem for a while now; a chronic niggle that I’ve been ignoring so I could pretend that running wasn’t bad for me. A few months ago I woke up and the hip was too sore to run. This time it was speaking loud enough so that I would have to take it seriously. My first strategy was a good deep glute stretch. Not a good idea. The right hip was extremely tight and didn’t want to externally rotate. My hip flexibility has always been good though, so I thought I would just take it slow. With patience and breath, I moved into the full stretch, a bit of pain, but nothing too drastic. I was even hopeful that it might help put it back into place. It didn’t.

By that afternoon I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t lift my leg and I was limping terribly. The pain was severe. It felt like the bone was out of place and the more dramatic side of me was convinced I had dislocated it. That night I didn’t sleep. Rolling over in bed was impossibly difficult and painful. The next day the pain had escalated so much that it was making me feel nauseated. I am not a drug or doctor’s type of person but that day found me at the pharmacy looking for the strongest anti-inflammatory available. The drug helped, a little, but the pain was still there and I was still limping.

It was four days before I could get on a cranio table. When I laid back with the pillows under my knees I was sceptical that the session would be able to help. Even my friend, the craniosacral therapist who was working on me, said, ‘This is going to be a process Sarah.’

She released my sacrum, my hips, my sacroiliac joints and the dural tube in the sacral and lumber region. Then she unwound my right hip. The theory with the unwinding process is that the practitioner takes all of the weight of the effected limb and then allows it to move in whatever direction it needs to, to unwind the trauma it has experienced. My friend was unaware of how I had overstretched my glute, forcing my hip into an extension it wasn’t comfortable with. Immediately though she bent my knee and started taking my leg back towards the position it had been in when the severe injury had occurred. Slowly and gently with lots of small circles, bending and lengthening, she extended my hip flexion until it was almost exactly back to the place where I had injured it, this time though without any pain or restriction.

After the unwinding was complete. I started telling my friend how I thought there was an emotional issue stored in there. We talked about what was going on in my world and she said to me, ‘It sounds like you want to kick someone.’ And that was it! That was the truth of it, the epicentre of the injury.

The healing after that was as if by magic. The next day the hip was seventy percent better, my limp was gone. It continued to improve, to the point where the chronic niggle I had been dealing with for months is no longer there and the flexibility is better than before I hurt it.

The combination of the unwinding and emotional identification of the problem can sometimes help a restriction or trauma to disappear, as if by magic. It is truly one of the humblest and beautiful places to work, the craniosacral space. If you’ve got an injury or restriction that you think might benefit from being unwound make an appointment and we will see what sort of magic we can conjure up.

Full Moon Circle - Eternal

Our next full moon circle is on the 8th November from 7-9pm.

This months topic is 'Eternal'.

It should be a fascinating night of exploration and discussion as we try and discover where the eternal starts and ends in our grounded reality, or perhaps, and more likely, it just always is.

Bookings are essential, hope you can join us as we journey into the eternal xxx

Self help craniosacral therapy 4 week course

A simple introduction to the beautiful world of craniosacral therapy, empowering you

with gentle touch skills that can enhance your own wellbeing, those of friends and

family, or offer a beautiful addition to a modality you already work in.

When: Monday afternoon, 1-3pm, 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th November 2017

Where: Halcyon Days Barn, The Nook, 1263 Currumbin Creek Road, Currumbin Valley.

Cost: $60/week - $240 in total, you can pay weekly

Minimum of 4 people for course to run, no more than 8 in the group.

Bookings essential. RSVP Sarah@sarahjames.com.au / 0423 923 747

Meditation Classes

Meditation is the key stone to a happy, for filling and peaceful life. The only true battle we will ever do is the one with self, overcoming the tyranny of our all-consuming mind, separating the truth of us from the overwhelming ego.

Meditation is all at once the simplest and most confronting of disciplines. To commit to sitting cross legged on the floor for a small amount of time each day sounds easy. And it is, I guess, if you sit there slouched with your eyes open and your mind wandering. But if you commit to sitting upright, allowing energy to flow along the length of your spine, closing your eyes gently so they have to look inwards, a very different twenty minutes will be experienced.

The beginner meditator will encounter much frustration and time will seem to drag. They will give up and start over again many, many times. But if they are committed to inner peace, if they value this more than anything and are determined in their seeking, they will keep coming back until the edges of stillness start to appear. Slowly they will learn that it is OK to be restless in both mind and body but to continue to sit, to watch and wait. They will get completely lost in their thoughts and forget what it is they have purposefully come for. But with time, and the mercy of grace, there will be, always, an intercession. A moment of peace, a gap in the monologue where the observer can see that they have been completely lost in a world of thoughts, an imaginary world that doesn’t exist. They will be jolted back to their corner on the floor and with a bit of luck, they will have just enough space to become aware of their body and the sensations it is carrying, to become aware of the sounds outside, the feeling of the air on their skin. And then it will be gone, even quicker than when it was offered. But now, for the astute, those who are willing to listen and learn, they know that there is an existence beyond thought, or perhaps better described, under thought. A place that now has the potential to be found and expanded, offering the heart the opportunity to rest in a lake of stillness.

For the committed seeker who keeps coming back to that lumpy cushion on the floor, life is going to change. It won’t happen instantly; it will be a year or two down the track of committed practice, but it will happen. And when the seeker looks back what they will see is that life that hasn’t actually changed, but rather, they have. Life still happens around them in its same raucous tumultuous ways, but it no longer has the ability to push them around.

Meditation has been a part of my life now for such a long time that I can’t remember when it wasn’t. It has changed my life completely. It has accompanied me in the easy times and helped them to shine brighter, then walked alongside me in the darkest of times, times I’m convinced I wouldn’t have found my way through without it. It has got easier to go to the floor and sit. There are days, sometimes many in a row, where I meditate in nothing but blissful stillness, but then there are other days where I bear witness to the ramblings of a neurotic mind. And that is OK, it is part of the continual journey into a deeper truth.

It has also been my constant companion and inspiration for my work as a craniosacral therapist. Without its education and ongoing reminder of the place of stillness, my work as a craniosacral therapist would be impossible. It is the perfect companion to craniosacral work.

If you would like to explore the gifts of meditation, Halcyon Days is running a meditation class on Monday afternoons from 4-5pm. Whether you’ve been practicing for years or you are just starting out we would love you to join us. The barn at Halcyon Days is the perfect place for exploring that wonderful world of stillness.

Craniosacral therapy and insomnia

Do you ever dread going to bed? Put it off because you know you are going to lie there wide awake, tossing and turning watching as the panic of another sleepless night looms ahead of you? Well you are not alone. The number of people suffering from sleep problems in the modern world is staggering. Somewhere around 1 in 5 people are sleep deprived. It’s a public health epidemic that effects much more than the bags under your eyes and yawning at work. Insufficient sleep can lead to all sorts of problems, including car accidents, cancer and diabetes. Getting enough sleep is a serious issue for your overall wellbeing.

Craniosacral therapy can really help address the torture of sleepless nights. It is a light touch therapy that allows the client to enter into a state of deep relaxation, similar to meditation, taking the client to that in between place. This therapy helps to regulate the autonomic nervous system, the part of our body that is responsible for our ability to rest and respond to stress.

When you are stressed often your sleep, concentration and digestion will suffer. If this is allowed to continue unchecked, it can lead to deeper more complicated problems opening the doorway for disease. Regulating the autonomic nervous system will enhance the ability of the body to relax, allowing for smoother digestion, clearer thinking, relaxation and deeper, easier sleep, closing down the pathway to disease.

A well-functioning autonomic nervous system is essential for a healthy mind, body and spirit. It allows for a healthy interplay of activity and relaxation, encouraging growth, healing, balancing of our moods and deep rejuvenating sleep. The type of sleep we are all entitled to.

If you are missing out on those deep, deep sleeps where you wake up ready to greet the world the next day, maybe you should consider a craniosacral session. Maybe your body needs to be reminded of the simplicity and power of stillness and the rejuvenating place that can take you to. 

The benefits of craniosacral therapy for anxiety and depression

Craniosacral therapy has been shown to have significant benefit for people suffering from anxiety and depression. This light touch therapy works with the flow of the cerebral spinal fluid helping to calm the central nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system sits right at the very centre of the spinal cord. In craniosacral therapy we like to think of this system as a very fine silver thread running up the centre of the spine, connecting the base of us - the sacrum, to our brain and cranium, the bones of the skull. This can be compared beautifully to a lotus flower resting on the top of a pond. The lotus flower, being the brain and cranium, its root to the floor of the pond is the sympathetic nervous system (silver thread) travelling down the centre of the spine to the muddy earth or the sacrum where our system is grounded.

The sympathetic nervous system is what keeps us alert for cues of danger. When it senses danger it releases adrenaline preparing us for action - for flight or fight. Sometimes when there has been severe or ongoing stress in our world our sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive and forgets to turn itself off, so we remain in a high state of alert. This often leads to anxiety, a state where we are permanently worried about the future, or depression a state where we are worried about the past, or both.

As our anxiety and depression deepens we will begin to notice its effects in our body. Our shoulders hunch forward, our heart recedes, our head sticks out because we are constantly thinking and trying not to feel, our tail bone tucks under like a dog who is scared and we end up with a back that is very rounded, or possibly even the beginning of hunching.

Craniosacral therapy, by working with the flow of the cerebral spinal fluid, gently begins to address blockages that have formed in the flow, slowly allowing our body to uncurl and at the same time releasing physical restrictions, the place where emotions are often stored. By giving the sympathetic nervous system space at the centre of our being we can encourage the body to turn off its fight/flight mode, calm the central nervous system and allow the body and mind to move back into strength and resilience.

Many people suffering with anxiety or depression report feeling better and more grounded after their very first craniosacral session. The number of treatments someone will need varies from person to person depending on the severity of their case and how long the person has been suffering for. If you would like further information about this or to talk with me, please don’t hesitate to contact me. A craniosacral session could be the first step back towards wellbeing and peace in your life.

Information Evening

Halcyon Days is hosting an information evening. There will be a talk covering the history of the modality, how the gentle touch therapy works with the rhythm of the cerebrospinal fluid and the impact the therapy has on the overall health and well-being of the body. We will look at common ailments that benefit hugely from craniosacral therapy and then there will be a live demonstration with explanation and time for questions.

This is a free evening with a light supper provided. There will be a lucky door prize and discount vouchers handed out for first sessions. Please invite anyone who you think might be interested or benefit from craniosacral therapy. We look forward to seeing you there on the night.

When: 8th March 6 – 8pm

What to bring: A bottle of water and a cushion to sit on

RSVP: For catering purposes please RSVP by 1st March

sarah@sarahjames.com.au / 0423 923 747 / please message or email for address details

Vision Board Workshop

With the spring equinox, one of the most powerful full moon eclipses and the end of mercury traveling through retrograde it looks like the world is about to take a deep breath and calm down after what has been a very tumultuous time for many. To help us get our bearings as we move into calmer waters Halcyon Days is running a Vision Board Workshop. These workshops are both powerful and visionary and can offer insight and guidance well into the future.

When: Tuesday 4th October 9am – 5pm

Where: Halcyon Days, 1263 Currumbin Creek Road, Currumbin Valley

What to bring: water bottle, cushion, healthy plate to share for lunch

Supplied: healthy morning tea, all materials needed to construct a vision board

Included: one body work session, two meditation circles, one energy healing, vision board construction

Cost: In celebration of the first workshop to be run out of the new practice Halcyon Days is offering a $100 discount, making this workshop exceptional value at $150

RSVP: sarah@sarahjames.com.au / 0423923747 / 55330204 / :Halcyon Days Craniosacral Therapy

www.halcyondayscraniosacraltherapy.com

Melissa's Wrist

Sometimes, even after working in the field of craniosacral therapy for as long as I have, I am still blown away by the instant results and relief it can offer.

My sister, who works as a florist, rang me early one morning distraught. It was two days before valentine’s day, her busiest day of the year, and her right wrist had ceased up. She couldn’t brush her teeth, she couldn’t hold a hairbrush in her hand, she had to get her daughter to help her do up her bra and she had to go to work. Work involved using her wrist all day, cutting flowers, wiring them up and then arranging them. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to do a session on her that morning so I told her to strap her wrist and take some anti inflammatories. She managed to get through her day but after work her wrist was still so bad that she had to use two hands to turn the key in the ignition of her car.

That night she came over to my house and we got her up on my treatment table. Her neck and shoulders were tight so we worked through them first and then slowly I worked my way down her right arm. After looking at the shoulder itself and gently unwinding it we went to her wrist. I did a gentle V-spread there asking the energy to shift, the membranes and ligaments to relax. Once I felt that happen I then moved to unwinding her wrist. I got Melissa to rest her arm on the table, took the weight of her forearm in one hand and then her hand in my other other hand. Gently I followed the subtle movements as her hand began of its own accord to unwind itself from the constriction of her wrist. This went on for quite a long time until it felt like we were getting down to the very internal part of the ligaments, until I could feel them grinding, almost squeaking as they tried to find their place again of most comfort and least resistance.

At the end of the session Melissa said there was definitely an improvement, she could still feel the restriction and some of the pain but she could now rotate her wrist and gently clench her fingers in and out. With a bit of luck we both thought it might be enough to get her through the next two days of valentine’s day madness.

The next morning Melissa rang me excited saying that she’d just brushed her teeth and put her bra on by herself. Her wrist was completely pain free and unrestricted. It stayed that way even after all of the pressure of valentine’s day.

The results from craniosacral therapy aren’t always this dramatic, but sometimes, like this time, it can seem truly miraculous!

Where Did Craniosacral Therapy Come From?

You could say that craniosacral therapy was a derivative of osteopathy. Not because the modality is anything like osteopathy - there is no bone cracking but instead a gentle palpation of the bones and body’s membrane systems - but rather because the father of craniosacral therapy, Dr William Sutherland, was an osteopath and so were all of those who came after him and continued his research.

If you look into the ancient traditions of India, China, the Middle East and North America you can see vestiges of something similar to craniosacral therapy. The art of working with the body in this way though didn’t come to the west until 1899 when a young osteopathic student named William Sutherland was sitting looking at the separated bones of a skull. He noticed in his own words that the bones were ‘Beveled like the gills of a fish, and indicating articular mobility for a respiratory mechanism.’ This discovery sent him on a life long journey of studying the underlying membrane system and craniosacral rhythm of the body which he called ‘The Primary Respiratory Mechanism.’

Dr Sutherland taught a handful of osteopaths his technique, one of them being Dr Rollin Becker who went on to establish the way of work referred to as bioenergetics. In the 1970s an osteopath named Dr John Upledger began studying Sutherland’s work. It is Upledger who is responsible for bringing craniosacral therapy outside of the osteopathic world. He developed a training system that was not only accessible for osteopaths but also medical doctors, doctors of chiropractic, doctors of oriental medicine, naturopathic physicians, psychiatric specialists, psychologists, dentists, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, acupuncturists, massage therapists and other professional bodyworkers. He is the man responsible for what is now the wide proliferation of craniosacral therapists throughout the world.

It is because of these knowledge seeking osteopaths who were prepared to travel into unchartered territories and discover things that many said were impossible that we are blessed today with the healing modality of craniosacral therapy. A therapy that works with the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord, extending from the bones of the skull which make up the cranium down to the tailbone area known as the sacrum. All of these osteopaths considered the health of this system known as the craniosacral system so vital that if there was an imbalance or dysfunction within it, it could lead to sensory, motor or neurological disturbances, contributing to both physical and mental dis-ease of the body.

So a craniosacral therapy session is like a tune up for your car. Once you have had your initial four to six sessions and your body has integrated the therapy into its system it’s a good idea to come back for a monthly tune up, just to make sure everything is in nice working order, leaving your body open for optimal health.

All Healing Occurs in Stillness

When I started studying craniosacral therapy the first thing the teacher said to the class was, ‘All healing occurs in stillness.’ As a long time meditator who has reaped the benefits from sitting in stillness I immediately knew this therapy was going to connect with me and it has, it has changed my life.

The very first time someone put their hands on my ankles it was another student like me who had no experience of working in craniosacral therapy. She gently placed her hands, closed her eyes and tuned into the flow that was moving up and down my body and then, when she had felt the rhythm, she asked my body with a gentle touch of her hands to be still.

I’d had a bad right knee for a long time that was stopping me from running. Whilst my body was being held in stillness by this student there was a sharp stabbing sensation half way along my iliotibial band. It came and went three times. Then she let go of the stillness. I felt my legs readjust in the subtlest of ways and then our first tentative steps into the world of craniosacral therapy were over.

The teacher told us to observe our bodies over the next few days. He told us that it can sometimes take a few days for everything to readjust and fall back into realignment.

After that smallest of sessions, it had probably only lasted five minutes at the most, my knee got worse and worse. Until about three days later when I was walking up some stairs and it had become so bad that it nearly gave way. For the first time the thought crossed my mind that I might have to have surgery. That afternoon, as if miraculously, the knee pain disappeared and until this day has never come back.

Craniosacral therapy has affected my whole wellbeing. On a physical level I no longer suffer from psoriasis (which I’d had for thirty years), asthma or hay fever. My gut has completely settled and on the whole I sleep better. Craniosacral therapy works on the dural tube, the fine membrane which covers the spinal cord. This is the membrane which all of the nerves from the spinal cord travel through to reach the organs and every different part of the body. If this membrane is healthy and functioning well the stress on the nervous system decreases significantly helping alleviate and sometimes stop completely chronic disease. On a mental level it has addressed an imbalance of the tiny bones in my skull that I have probably been carrying since my traumatic birth. This balancing has allowed a clarity in my head that I wasn’t even aware I didn’t have because I had always lived with the cloudiness. Now though a dull head or headaches are an abnormal part of my day instead of being my everyday existence. Spiritually craniosacral therapy has allowed me to connect in a more authentic way to the truth of who I really am, and the peace that brings is probably the most valuable part of my world today.

If you would like to explore the benefits of craniosacral therapy and discover the peace that it can reveal in your body please contact us at Halcyon Days. We look forward to working with you and your inherent stillness.