Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is a gentle, non-invasive form of bodywork descended from Osteopathy that uses the subtle rhythms of the body as a guide to uncovering the patterns that underlie all health and dysfunction. Your body has an innate intelligence that knows what it needs in order to heal. BSCT helps the body settle into deep relaxed states, and I listen to and support the healing process as it occurs naturally.
Who can benefit from biodynamic craniosacral therapy?
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy helps to reconnect the various parts of the body to the deeper underlying rhythms of health, and is especially beneficial for the nervous system, so BCST can be useful for a wide variety of ailments. In my practice, I work primarily with clients that have complex medical issues that they are having difficulty addressing through other modalities, and especially people from the following groups:
Members of the Queer community
People looking to lesson or resolve the symptoms of trauma histories
People living with the effects of Post-Acute Infection Syndromes, like Long COVID or Lyme’s Disease
However, I see clients for other reasons as well, so if you are unsure if we are the right fit, please email me and we can schedule a phone call to discuss your needs.
What can I expect from a biodynamic craniosacral therapy session?
First, we’ll have a conversation about your history and the things you would like help with during the session. When it feels like the right time to do so, I’ll have you lay down on my massage table, and we’ll spend some time making sure you are quite comfortable. I’ll then place my hands on some part of your body (often the heels to begin with, or under your thigh and shoulder), and then be there a while. I’ll be listening to the subtle undulations of your body, and often I listen for 5–10 minutes in any one spot. Most people don’t feel a lot of specific things happening while receiving sessions, though it is possible you will. Most people feel a deep sense of calm start to settle over their system after a bit of time on the table. As we begin to work with the patterns causing your trouble, it’s possible that uncomfortable sensations or feelings could arise, and we’ll make sure that these don’t feel too overwhelming, and help them to release. Often after these discomforts arrive and release, it allows the body and mind to settle even further. However, it is always fine to choose to just stay with the more pleasant, relaxing parts of the work. After the session, we’ll debrief a bit and talk about next steps and things you can do to help integrate the work after the session.
Why is it called biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?
The Central Nervous System (the brain and spinal cord) are encased & protected by the skull (cranium) and vertebrae of the spine all the way down to the base of the spine (the sacrum). Surrounding and inside of the Central Nervous System is Cerebral-Spinal Fluid, an exceptionally pure fluid that allows the nervous system to function properly. While there is Cerebral-Spinal Fluid surrounding all parts of the Central Nervous System, there is a flow to the Cerebral-Spinal Fluid where more of this fluid moves up into the cranium before moving back down into the sacrum, like the tide bringing sea water onto the shore before receding back out into the ocean. In craniosacral therapy, we learn to sense this tidal flow of Cerebral-Spinal Fluid, and the movements of the bones of the skull, spine, and sacrum that result from this flow. These tidal movements are an essential expression of health, and when these movements become stuck or veer off onto meandering paths, it can create dysfunction in the Central Nervous System, and outwards into the whole body. A primary effect of this work is helping the Central Nervous System work more efficiently, so this body of work was dubbed “cranio-sacral therapy.”
While the flow of the Cerebral-Spinal Fluid is the most potent and the easiest to feel, all of the interstitial fluids of the body (the fluids that surround and bathe the individual cells of the tissues) exhibit this same tidal movement, so craniosacral therapy can be effective not just for dysfunction in the skull, spine, and nervous system, but for all of the systems of the body, including all of the joints of the limbs and the workings of the organs. In a wider, more inclusive context, this tidal, breath-like rhythm can be felt in the human energy field that extends beyond the physical body into the space that surrounds us, and the biodynamic approach to craniosacral therapy can be used to foster more balance in the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our being. As such, biodynamic craniosacral therapy is a truly holistic approach to bodywork that can be used to address a wide variety of ailments in the entire Self.
What is the difference between the biodynamic approach and other lineages of craniosacral therapy?
The work that we now call craniosacral therapy was originally called the Cranial Concept in Osteopathy, and was developed by Dr. William Sutherland over a long period of years in the first half of the twentieth century. Dr. Sutherland and his teaching team trained a relatively small number of osteopathic doctors before the osteopathic profession in 1953, so for many years there were very few doctors trained in the work. Beginning in the 1970s, Dr. John Upledger surmised that some of these techniques could be safely learned and practiced by non-doctors, and began teaching these techniques, which he named craniosacral therapy, to bodyworkers and physical therapists. His approach to the work was based on Dr. Sutherland’s early teachings and was fairly mechanical, involving manually manipulating the bones of the skulls to produce the intended therapeutic results. This is biomechanical approach to craniosacral therapy is the most common form of the work.
However, as he deepened further and further into the work over his long career, Dr. Sutherland began to understand that there was an energy propelling the movement of the Cerebral-Spinal Fluid that was inherently intelligent. He called this energy the Breath of Life, and found that the Breath of Life could be supported to do the healing all on its own, without outside pressure or force. In the last year of his life, Dr. Sutherland trained a small group of doctors in this new way of thinking, and commissioned a textbook that explained some of these concepts. Shortly after his death, however, that text was revised to remove what many in the profession felt were to too spiritual and unscientific ideas.
In the 1980s, Franklyn Sills, an American osteopath living in England, discovered these late teachings of Dr. Sutherland and that of his students and grand-students, especially Drs. Roland Becker and James Jealous. He and a team of teachers at the Karuna Institute began to incorporate these ideas into their teachings, and named this new lineage biodynamic craniosacral therapy because it supports the inherent dynamics already present in the body to do the healing. He also incorporated teachings from energy medicine and Buddhist philosophy to expand this work out of just the physical realm of the body into the mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual aspects of our being.