The Cranial Academy
3500 DePauw Boulevard, Suite 1080
Indianapolis, IN 4268-1136 Tel: 317-879-0713

The Upledger Institute
11211 Prosperity Farm Road, Suite 325
Palm Beach Gardens,FL 33410-3487 Tel: 800-233-5880 or 407-622-4344

A leading practitioner says about this technique;
"Imagine this light force as the amount of strength needed to pull a piece of submerged paper towel through a sink full of water with ones hands. Very little force is needed to accomplish the results" (1). The caregiver assesses a persons "Cranial rhythm" from anywhere on the body in order to reach still point" a sign the body is releasing stress via intuitive balancing.

Cranial Sacral uses forceless hands on approaches to treat the human frame. The therapist uses intuitive sensitivity to assess the "cranial impulse anywhere on the body. Cranial work techniques were developed by late Dr Sutherland, dean of Palmer Chiropractic college. Others have remarked how cranial work functions at the level of the meninges, deeper than muscular activation techniques. Getting a crainial session many people have described to me that they felt as they were floating eyc, a fact I can testify to, did not actually occur! Cranial is not massage and somewhat difficult to describe to those who have never experienced it effects.

People have varying impressions of its application and occasionally, more than one session is required before its deeply relaxing waves of energy effect can be felt. Cranial sacral is used to treat migraine, spinal cord injury, asthma, stress related illness, back, neck, arm & leg pain and in cerebral palsy patients a 57 % increase in urinary voiding, or improved out flow. A related discipline "Unwinding" now called Somato Emotional Release is another related discipline where armored' tissues often spontaneously release facilitating recovery, a letting go of 'remembered' trauma?

Many explanations are offered for CST effectiveness.
Deeper relaxation is known to cause more coherence and add to this, more interconnectedness in diverse areas of brain activity in general happens when entering deeply meditative states. Cranial can bring a person to that place of deep inner calm, offering newfound strength through its organizing and tension dispersing effects Cranial work is used to treat a variety of disorders from injuries to asthma, stress related dis-eases and spinal cord injury. Beyond its clinical use, Cranial sacral is a wonderful compliment to stressful living where deeper relaxation may be elusive and so, in need of helpful re-activation, harmonization.

In the early 1900's, Dr. William Sutherland, an Osteopath, discovered that the bones of the skull were designed for movement and developed Cranial-sacral Therapy. The cranial sacral rhythm, or pulse, is similar to the heartbeat, resulting from the rhythmic pumping of the spinal fluid in the head and spinal column. This rhythm is experienced through the entire body as the body expands and contracts with this rhythm and pulse.

The balance of your Cranial Sacral system crucial in neurological function, muscle and organ function, balance, sensory perception, and emotional well being. ...

When restriction are present in the movement of the cranial sacral structure you may experience any of the following: problems located in the head, jaw, neck, pelvis, and diaphragm, dizziness, balance disturbances, weakness, ringing in the ears, headaches, difficulty in movement, back pain, an increase in emotional holding patterns, and stresses in the nervous system.

Cranial- sacral Therapy is appropriate for the treatment of conditions such as learning disabilities, diminished concentration, structural imbalance, bio-mechanical dysfunction, and neuro-muscular impairment.

The Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America (BCTA/NA) is a non-profit organization supporting practitioners and schools of the biodynamic model of craniosacral therapy, as developed by Franklyn Sills, in the lineage of William Garner Sutherland, DO, and others. BCTA/NA was founded in 1998 and incorporated in Canada as a not-for-profit in January 1999. Subsequently BCTA/NA was incorporated as a non-profit in the US in February 2006.

This unique organization was founded to establish a curriculum, approve teachers and recognize, register and provide a referral service for, Registered Craniosacral Therapists (RCST®s) and to educate the public about its trainings and the practice of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.

HISTORY
Around the start of the 20th century, a final-year student of osteopathy, William Garner Sutherland, was examining a set of disarticulated bones of a human skull in his college laboratory. Like other students of his time, Sutherland had been taught that adult cranial bones do not move because their sutures (joints) become fused. However, he noted that he was holding in his hands adult bones which had become easily separated from each other.

While examining the bevel-shaped sutures of a sphenoid and temporal bone, Sutherland had an insight which changed the course of his life. He described how a remarkable thought had struck him like a blinding flash of light. He realized that the sutures of the bones he was holding resembled the gills of a fish and were designed for a respiratory motion. He didn’t understand where this idea came from, nor its true significance, but it echoed through his mind.

William Sutherland set out to try prove to himself that cranial bones do not move, just as he had been taught. As a true experimental scientist, he reasoned that if cranial bones did move and that if this movement could be prevented, it should be possible to experience the effect. So he designed a kind of helmet made of linen bandages and leather straps which could be tightened in various positions, thus preventing any potential cranial motion from occurring.

Experimenting on his own head, he tightened the straps, first in one direction and then in another. Within a short period of time he started to experience headaches and digestive upsets. This response was not what he was expecting, so he decided to continue his research to find out more. Some of his experiments with the "helmet" led to quite severe symptoms of cranial tightness, headaches, sickness and disorientation. Of particular interest was that when the helmet straps were tightened in certain other positions, it produced a sense of great relief and an improvement in cranial circulation.

After many months of pulling and restricting his cranial bones in different positions with these varying results, Dr Sutherland eventually stopped this research, having convinced himself that adult cranial bones do, in fact, move. Furthermore, the surprising responses that he felt in his own body had shown him that cranial movement must have some important physiological function. Sutherland spent the remaining 50 years of his life exploring the significance of this motion. ...

An involuntary system
From an early stage, Dr Sutherland understood that he was exploring an involuntary system of "breathing" in tissues, important for the maintenance of their health. At a fundamental level, it is this property to express motion that distinguishes living tissues from those which are dead. Dr Sutherland perceived that all cells of the body need to express a rhythmic "breathing" in order for them to function to their optimal ability. Much of his research was carried out by combining a profound knowledge of anatomy along with an acute tactile sense. He started to realize that these subtle respiratory movements can be palpated by sensitive hands. He also discovered that this motion provided a wealth of clinical information. ...

The Breath of Life
The inherent life-force of the body, the Breath of Life, was seen by Dr Sutherland to be the animator or spark behind these involuntary rhythms. Alluding to the source of this phenomenon, other practitioners have referred to it as "the soul’s breath in the body". The Breath of Life is considered to carry a subtle yet powerful "potency" or force, which produces subtle rhythms as it is transmitted around the body. Dr Sutherland realized that the cerebrospinal fluid has a significant role in the expressing and distributing the potency of the Breath of Life. As potency is taken up by the cerebrospinal fluid, it generates a tide-like motion which is described as its longitudinal fluctuation. This motion has great importance in carrying the Breath of Life throughout the body and, as long as it is expressed, health will follow.

The primary respiratory mechanism
Dr. Sutherland named the system of tissues and fluids at the core of the body which express a subtle rhythmic motion, the primary respiratory mechanism . As these tissues are not under voluntary muscular control, they are also sometimes referred to as the involuntary mechanism (or I.V.M.). Dr. Sutherland used the term "primary" because this motion underlies all others. It is the manifestation of the life-stream itself. Every cell expresses this primary respiratory motion throughout its life. Significantly, many different symptoms and pathologies which involve both body and mind are related to disturbances of primary respiratory motion.

Secondary respiration
There are, of course, other vital rhythmic motions in the body such as the heartbeat and lung respiratory breathing. Although necessary for the maintenance of life, these are considered "secondary" motions because they are not the root cause of the body"s expression of life. Without the Breath of Life there would be no other motion. Lung respiration or the breathing of air is therefore sometimes called secondary respiration. ..

In the mid-1970s Dr John Upledger was the first practitioner to teach some of these therapeutic skills to people who were not osteopathically trained. Dr Upledger had become drawn to exploring primary respiratory motion after an incident that occurred while he was assisting during a spinal surgical operation. ... It was Dr Upledger who coined the term "craniosacral therapy" when he started to teach to a wider group of students.

Cranio Sacral Reflexology(CSR)
was developed by Dr Martine Faure -Alderson
http://www.okinhealth.com/articles/cranio_sacral_reflexology_Canada_2009.html

CSR is a therapeutic method which combines the use of pressure on specific areas of the foot, which relate to the 12 cranial nerves, and to the pulse of the cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) which surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The distinction between Cranio Sacral Therapy and CSR is that with the latter, one is accessing the CSF from a point in the foot or the hand.

Cranio Sacral Reflexology works ... by balancing the distribution of CSF within the four ventricles of the brain. Pressure applied to the specific points on the feet stimulates and re harmonises the Cranial Rhythm4 - Primary Respiratory Movement (PRM). The movement of CSF can be felt in the feet, as a pulse or a wave and is quite distinct from the pulse of the heart. A rhythmic cycle of six to twelve cycles per minute is the norm for humans of all ages. It can go to twenty five during a fever, and can go as low as two in coma or anoxia. During illness or trauma there will be a variation in the rate of flow. Normally this rhythm is felt on the head, but it can equally be felt on the fingers or toes.

Babies who have a difficult birth are very affected by the compression of the cranial bones, namely the fronto – sphenoidal, the occipito – mastoid and the spheno basilar symphisis. Symptoms include crying, restlessness, vomiting, and colic. If untreated these children present at a later age with headaches, digestive problems, lack of concentration, emotional and abdominal pain. Dr Frymann examined thousands of children of different ages and found that the symptoms created during birth can extend into teenage and beyond into adulthood. These people fail to reach their full potential, which is a tragedy; given how simple the initial treatment is, if given at the outset. ...

Dr Martine Faure -Alderson has been a holistic therapist for 40 years, and includes cranial osteopathy, reflexology and cranio sacral reflexology, homeopathy, osteopathy, and medical herbalism in her method of practice. In this way she achieves a maximum holistic approach, according to the particular needs of each individual patient. Martine set up the RTTFA School of reflexology in Paris in 1974 and she lectures widely internationally on Cranio Sacral Reflexology (CSR).

Somato Emotional Release
SER is a therapeutic process that uses and expands on the principles of CranioSacral Therapy to help rid the mind and body of the residual effects of trauma.