Craniosacral Therapy is Working Miracles in My House!

13 years ago I had surgery to treat my endometriosis. The surgery was extensive and I did not recover from it well at all. I was in constant pain, weak and frail. I rarely left my house because I was in so much pain. While I was still unable to work, I went to a massage therapist that my mother saw. My mother told me that this massage therapist had a type of massage that might really help me. I did not know what to expect. At first I was expecting a massage but when she told me to keep my clothes on I wasn’t sure what to think. What I experienced that day was a turning point in my healing from that surgery. I share more of this story in the book Trust Your Intuition (affiliate link).

Lets see if I can explain the theory behind CST. All of the nerves in the body are connected. What you may not realize is that they are also all surrounded by a membrane and inside of that membrane is a fluid. We call that fluid cerebral spinal fluid when we talk about it around the brain and spinal column. Many people are aware of this membrane surrounding the brain and spinal column but most do not realize that it actually extends to encase all of the nerves in the body. This fluid moves, it is not static, and it has a regular rhythm to it’s movement. This rhythm is different from the rhythm of the heart or breathing. It is possible to feel this movement if you are tuned into it. It is very subtle but distinct. When you do CST you hold or stop the movement for a time. This allows the fluid to flow into some of the more restricted places and work things out.

That is how it has been explained to me. I’m sure that if I were trained to be a CST therapist I would learn a lot more about the theory behind this method, however that has been enough for me. Interestingly the CST therapist that I have started working with was saying that she really doesn’t understand why or even really how it works. It is just that she sees that it works. It isn’t about doing something to the body as much as encouraging the body to work out it’s own problems. If that makes any sense.

That first experience with that CST therapist was quite profound. She worked on me for 2 hours and it marked a turning point for me in my healing from that surgery. I felt strange sensations all over my body, in parts that she was not touching. I was so amazed at the changes in me from that one session that I continued to go for CST regularly for the next couple of years. My CST therapist was incredibly helpful to me when I was pregnant and even came to my house to work on me and my newborn baby when we got home from the hospital 4 days after her birth. Her work in my daughters mouth made a profound difference in her ability to latch on and breastfeed immediately afterward.

We moved to another area and started going to a chiropractor who did do CST and I didn’t think much about it again for several years. Then a friend arranged for a CST therapist that she knows to speak to a mom’s group that I am in. Speaking to her I was reminded of the unique role that CST had played in my recovery from that surgery many years before and a seed was planted. I have learned that CST can help many children with ASD diagnoses. My older daughter struggles a lot with attention issues and if it were not for GAPS would probably be facing a diagnosis on the spectrum.

I decided to make an appointment for my daughter to see what might happen. My daughter is used to seeing chiropractors and having them work on her but she was still nervous with seeing a new practitioner. This woman works as a massage therapist and CST is just part of her practice. Thankfully my daughter was quickly comfortable with the therapist and was able to relax and participate in a session with her. When you are getting CST, you just lay there and the therapist holds your feet or your head or puts a hand under your back or your sacrum. I find it to be incredibly relaxing but you really have to be willing to be touched and held and to relax while the session happens.

My daughter did great with her first session and then we noticed something spectacular. Her ability to do her school work in a timely manner was greatly improved! She has always been very distractible and struggled with staying on task and getting easily frustrated by some tasks. However, for several days after that CST session, she could easily accomplish tasks that she decided to do. But then it wore off. So after about a month we made another appointment. I wasn’t sure at that point if it was just a fluke or if it was because of the CST session. Again following the session we had several days of much better focus on her work. Others noticed it as well and commented on it, but they didn’t know why. They just attributed it to her working harder at focusing that day. This told me something very important. My daughter was not being distracted on purpose. Clearly there was something going on in her that made it so difficult for her to focus. This was not a choice of hers to be “difficult”. I was thrilled to have a way to help her focus at last! We have continued to have regular sessions and if I let it go too long she will request that I make an appointment for her. She likes having her brain work well too.

Read on to learn what happened to me at my first session with this miracle worker. More Miracles from Craniosacral Therapy