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What is Craniosacral Therapy?

It's a 'hands on' therapy. For treatment, you remain fully clothed and lie on a treatment couch and experience the very light touch of the therapist's hands. You may feel a deep sense of relaxation, and possibly become aware of heat, tingling, pulsations or other sensations.

This extremely gentle therapy uses no manipulation. The therapist listens, via the hands, to what is going on in your body, and in this way both identifies and relieves pains or tensions held in the body.

Craniosacral therapy is client-led. Your body will set the pace of work, so you will remain comfortable, in control and able to integrate the changes that occur.

Since it is your body (rather than your mind) that sets the priorities, you may find that the reason you came for treatment is not what changes first. In the way that a tiny stone thrown into a lake creates ripples, Craniosacral Therapy works subtly, yet its effects are profound and far-reaching.

Craniosacral therapists work at a very deep level. They are chosen for their sensitivity and trained to a high degree of competence. They never use force, they work with the body's own natural rhythms and can achieve remarkable results.

How does Craniosacral Therapy Work?

In response to disease, physical knocks or emotional stress, the body's tissues contract. Sometimes, particularly when the shock is severe or occurs within an emotional situation, the tissues stay contracted.

Any stresses, strains, tensions or traumas which have been 'stored' in the body in this way will restrict the body's functioning and may give rise to problems over the years. The effects may be both physical (such as back pain, migraine or digestive disorders) and emotional (such as anxiety or depression).

Restrictions in the body's functioning show up in the way that craniosacral motion is expressed. Craniosacral therapists are trained to feel these subtle effects in the body, and can identify areas where there is congestion or restriction. In this way they can identify the possible origin of a problem, and then gently release the causes of discomfort and unease leaving you feeling refreshed and deeply relaxed.

As well as releasing the body's tensions, this frees the energy which the body was previously using to hold itself in contraction. So one of the benefits of the therapy is an increase in the level of energy available.

Can Craniosacral Therapy help me?

Craniosacral Therapy is so gentle that it is safe and suitable for people of all ages, from babies to the elderly, as well as for fragile or acutely painful conditions.

Indeed, it is often appropriate when other therapies may be unsafe, such as during pregnancy, after an operation, accident, fall or injury, and for young babies. As a whole body therapy, Craniosacral Therapy may aid people with almost any condition, by raising the vitality and enabling the body's own self-healing processes to be utilised.

But you don't have to be ill or have any particular symptoms to benefit from Craniosacral Therapy. The alleviation of life's stresses, and the increased sense of well-being that Craniosacral Therapy can bring are welcome to most of us at any time.

It is also extremely useful for those seeking deeper insight into themselves and their lives, it encourages lateral thinking allowing the mind to expand and function more creatively.

Conditions that may respond favourably

The therapist

Sue Baxter RGN RCST ITC IHBC DipAroma MICM

Sue Baxter, principle of The Natural Therapy Centre, has been in the healthcare profession since 1980. She is a registered nurse and has been working in complementary medicine since 1990. Sue is available for consultation and treatments by telephoning The Natural Therapy Centre on King's Lynn (01553) 777133.

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