Frequently Asked Questions
What should I expect during my first visit to a Craniosacral Therapist?
Your first session will begin with a 15 min consultation, which includes a brief medical history and your concerns. Treatment mainly occurs on a massage table where the client will lie fully clothed, comfortably supported on their back, with a light blanket over the top. It’s a good idea to wear comfortable clothing. This is a client-led therapy and sometimes the client will prefer to be side lying or sitting in a chair or (if the client is a child) playing with toys on the floor. All of which can be easily accommodated.
Unlike massage there is no oil, kneading or manipulation during the session. First contact with the client often involves a light touch on the sides of the feet, where an initial hands-on assessment is made and a treatment pathway forward emerges. I will then move, with the client’s permission, to where their body needs the most support, for example, the back, diaphragm or head. If you’re used to massage the light touch can seem different. However, it is exactly this type of “non-doing” relational touch that signals to the body that is safe, enabling a deep relaxation of the nervous system. Often, as the nervous system regulates, there is a gentle release of systemic tension and long held patterns (including past trauma).
Sessions usually involve a combination of talking and a deepening silence as the client relaxes, sometimes falling into a light REM sleep or feeling almost like they are in a deep meditation. During the session the client may notice small adjustments within the body, a sense of lengthening and/or widening, tingling sensations (usually down their arms and legs), changes in temperature, subtle sensations of internal rhythms and the occasional rise of emotion. Often, as the session progresses, the client will feel an emerging sense of ease, spaciousness and centredness. By the end of the session(s), many clients report a decrease in their symptoms, feeling more relaxed, balanced and grounded or a greater sense of energy and feeling more engaged with life. On a deeper level some clients report a stronger sense of self, a change in perspective regarding important issues and/or a greater sense of meaning (usually from insights that have risen during the session).
How many sessions do I need?
New clients are always welcome to attend on a session by session basis.
As a loose guide the number of treatments needed depends on how long the client has had the problem, how severe it is and how your body responds to treatment. For example, 1-2 sessions may be all that is required for relieving mild concussion or post operative stress. Whereas, for an issue such as chronic fatigue or PTSD the client may require regular sessions over three or more months. I often find that at the end of a treatment both the client and myself are usually very in line with regards to whether there should be follow-up session and whether that should be in a week, two weeks or a month or more. One lovely outcome of biodynamic craniosacral therapy is that the effects are cumulative. Also, the body becomes used to how the therapy works and increasingly more efficient at being able to regulate and heal itself.
How can Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy help my baby?
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a very gentle therapy that can support both mum and baby through pregnancy, birth and post birth. By regulating and relaxing their nervous systems each of these milestones can be met and integrated less stressfully. Babys are very receptive to craniosacral therapy and it can be particularly supportive for some of the challenges that new born babies might experience. For example, post birth, it can encourage the optimal arrangement for the softer developing bones of the head. Similarly, it can also encourage optimal intestinal positioning plus the continued development of the digestive system. For babies that have had a difficult birth craniosacral therapy can be supportive in a way that allows both baby and mum to move on. These are just some of the examples where craniosacral therapy can support your baby and help it to experience happier feeding, sleeping and bonding with your family. The following issues can respond well to craniosacral therapy:
Latching, feeding and tongue tie
Colic, reflux and constipation
Disturbed sleep, consistent crying and/or “fussiness”
Attachment or bonding issues
Assisted births, Caesarean births, Premature births and birth trauma
Head and jaw tilt, hip dysplasia
Head formation, e.g. coning or flattening
Preparation for birth
Back pain and general discomfort
Post partum, post-natal depression and hormonal imbalances
Why might a child need Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?
As mentioned, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a very gentle therapy that works with the whole body and, especially important for children, is non-pathologizing in its approach. Each stage of development for children can have its own set of challenges for the child and the parents. Craniosacral therapy is a wonderful way to approach developmental issues, especially as they are emerging. Development, which is a dynamic, unfolding process, can be impeded by internal states such as a constantly dysregulated nervous system or subtle restrictions caused by long term tension, birth patterns or trauma. Craniosacral therapy will also help children to develop their sense of interoception or awareness of their own bodies, which can help with communication between parents and children. Through craniosacral therapy children can get a sense of what it’s actually like to really slow down or, as they feel more confident in their own bodies, to be able to speak up . Most children find craniosacral therapy to be a supportive, non-confronting, quieter space in their lives. The biggest challenge is that they might get bored – but we have strategies for that. The following issues can respond well to craniosacral therapy:
Sleep issues, night terrors, bed wetting
Sore tummies, constipation, IBS
Ear and sinus infections
TMJ, issues with the teeth, inc. orthodontal treatments
Recovery, post-accident, surgery or trauma
Stress, anxiety, depression
Dreamy, ungrounded, extreme shyness, fearfulness
Stimming and tics
Growing pains, postural issues, such as scoliosis
Developmental delays, including learning difficulties
Autism, ADHD, ADD, Aspergers Syndrome
How can Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy help my teenager?
Biodynamic craniosacral therapy is essentially a non-verbal treatment for the majority of the time, and for this reason, it can be a welcome relief for any teenager needing support. Most teenagers would prefer not to have to talk about their issues again with another adult. As mentioned above, craniosacral therapy can also help teenagers to increase their levels of awareness with regard to how their bodies are feeling. Which, in turn, supports a clearer articulation of what’s going on for them in a much more organic, unforced way. This is one of the reasons why craniosacral therapy pairs so well with counselling or psychological therapy. Another reason, is how craniosacral therapy supports the continued development of a stronger sense of Self, something that most teenagers are grappling with. Also, during treatment sessions, clients will commonly have meaningful and helpful insights. As your teenager feels more relaxed, balanced and grounded, they will often report feeling more engaged with life and having greater energy. The following issues can respond well to craniosacral therapy:
Stress, anxiety, depression, OCD, eating disorders
Digestive issues, ear and sinus infections
TMJ, issues with the teeth, inc. orthodontal treatments
Recovery, post-accident, surgery or trauma
Dreamy, ungrounded, extreme shyness, fearfulness
Stimming and tics
Postural issues, such as scoliosis
Developmental delays, including learning difficulties
Autism, ADHD, ADD, Aspergers Syndrome
How does Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy support other treatments?
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy can effectively support many medical treatments and therapies. This is one of its unique strengths. The reason why is because craniosacral therapy is focussed on supporting and improving the client’s overall baseline of health. By regulating the client’s nervous system, releasing tension, inertia and/or trauma, increasing relationality within the body and with the external environment, by supporting organisation and restoring rhythmicity, craniosacral therapy can effectively support the positive overall outcome of other treatments. For example, post operation or post chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment. Another way in which this therapy can be supportive is by helping the client to successfully integrate different approaches to treatment. This is relevant, for example, with chronic illnesses, which often require a multi-disciplinary approach over a period of time.
As previously mentioned, craniosacral therapy can also support counselling or psychological treatment, including for clients who are working with challenging life experiences, such as trauma, grief or palliative care. This is because it not only increases the client’s overall baseline of health physically but also emotionally and spiritually.
How does Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy help with breakthrough spiritual experiences, psychedelic treatment and/or spiritual development?
“Some 37% of Australians have had a mystical or supernatural experience or know someone who has. A further 30% believe it could occur. Just 23% think such experiences do not occur.” "Most Australians believe in spiritual experiences" by NCLS Research
A diverse range of breakthrough spiritual experiences are more common than we admit. Regardless of whether people are religious and/or spiritual or non-religious, such experiences, positive or negative, can leave us feeling unsettled. Also, because spiritual experiences remain relatively marginalised by many professional communities, they can be isolating. Craniosacral therapy offers a safe, client-led, non-judgemental and doctrine free space that can help clients to regulate, to feel grounded and in control, with a greater sense of safety and clarity. This is also true for client’s who are interested in their own spiritual development. Whilst many spiritual practices are beneficial, they are not entirely risk free. Common traps that can hinder development or wellbeing might include an increased tendency towards spiritual bypassing, feelings of being better than or of “spiritual exceptionalism”, transference or developing too quickly and becoming dysregulated and ungrounded.
Psychedelic treatments are being sort out more frequently, often as a way to address long term trauma or depression. Feeling safe during and after a treatment is of paramount importance to its success. With this in mind craniosacral therapy can help to prepare clients and/or help the client to integrate and get the most out of an experience post treatment.
A 2023 research paper "Spiritual Complexity in Australia: Wellbeing and Risks" provides some local context for spirituality in Australia in the 2020s and ends with the following statement:
“We conclude by suggesting that spirituality is certainly not just a passe 1990s New Age phenomena, or simply replacing religion in the twenty-first century, and that its abiding presence in Australia and globally should no longer be ignored or downplayed. We also argue for the need for more in-depth research on spirituality and spiritual wellbeing in and beyond Australia to better inform policies, practices and curricula to more adequately reflect the lived reality of contemporary societies that are increasingly non-religious, religiously diverse, and spiritual.”