Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy – What Is It (Besides a Mouthful)?

After you’ve experienced an injury, illness, or a trauma, at what point would you consider yourself fully healed? 

Have you ever had something happen like a car accident or a gut-wrenching heartbreak that constantly leaves you saying, “I’ve never been the same since…” or “Ever since x happened 5 years ago, I haven’t been able to y.”

Oftentimes, while our minds may think we are “over” something because we’ve jumped back into our routine or we no longer have acute pain, our bodies are still in a holding pattern. (If you haven’t read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, I can’t recommend it enough.)

Every experience you have is registered by your body. Most of the time, your body can process and move through physical or emotional events with no issue. Sometimes though, a stressful or traumatic event can leave behind a pattern that’s held in the body – in the fluids, the tissues, the bones, or the biofield. 

How can we release these patterns and pains that are stored in the body? 

First, we must learn the somatic language that our body communicates through – clenching, tightness, looseness, immobility, fluidity.

This means developing our perceptual awareness to the point where we can actually feel what’s going on inside the body. This is possible - the human nervous system is able to perceive a 10 nanometer tactile shift (about half the width of an eyelash) - it just takes practice.

Understanding our somatic language, along with deep listening and presence, helps us create the conditions for the body to finally heal the wounds left from stress impact or trauma. 

Now what does this have to do with Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST)?

BCST is an energetic healing practice that focuses on cerebral spinal fluid – its movement, its qualities, and its effect on the body – in order to facilitate the body’s innate healing potential.

Like all forms of energy work, the definition isn’t really going to mean anything if you haven’t experienced it. (But if you need more for your mind to chew on, I do like the Cleveland Clinic’s definition) 

Instead of trying to distill the practice down to what it is, I’m going to explain why I fell in love with this brilliant modality of healing. 

The beautiful thing about BCST is that your body is directing the healing process.

This bodily wisdom – below the conscious mind, the conditioning, the bullshit – dictates exactly what’s needed in the moment to unwind the effects of a trauma.

It determines whether you experience structural shifts, whether you move fast or slow, or whether you simply need to resource while you doze off on the table. 

Some people revisit memories, some see images or hear sounds, some feel muscles releasing or energy moving, some fall asleep, some cry. Whatever happens, it’s the thing that your body wants to happen in that moment. And it’s more perfect and beautiful than anything the practitioner or the receiver could think up or plan with their minds. 

A fundamental principle of BCST is that health is always present in the body, even when disease or dysfunction arises.

Whenever we are in a session, we are aiming to connect with the “health that is never lost”—the body’s inherent ability to heal itself.

Even when symptoms or disease states arise, they are still ultimately an expression of health - the body is doing the best it can with the resources it has available at any given time. 

If you always walk with your purse on your right shoulder, the muscles and fascia in your shoulder (and elsewhere in your body) are going to compensate. Yes, the new patterns that your body creates may cause you pain and discomfort down the line, but the forces at play that created those patterns were the result of an intelligent system adjusting in the best way to its environment. 

Just like when your body compensates for your shoulder bag, similar forces give rise to our psychospiritual tendencies. 

The habits you can’t seem to break, the reactions you have, the insecurities you can’t seem to shake, are all coming from an intelligent system that ultimately wants to keep you safe (your ego/limbic brain).

BUT, regardless of what’s happening—if you can breathe, you have the ability to heal. Health is always present. And the body is innately capable of healing. Practices like BCST simply facilitate this process. 

So what happens during a session? 

The session takes place with you lying down fully clothed. After taking a moment to ground and settle into our shared space, I gently place my hands on your body (after you give me permission to do so). 

This could be your ankles, your head, your shoulders, etc. From there, the only thing you need to do is relax and be present for whatever is coming up for you, whether that’s sensation in your body, an emotional release, or sleep.

You can talk about what you’re experiencing or not. You can laugh, cry, cough, emote— this is your time. Meanwhile, I am using the aforementioned language to listen to what your body wants to say and making space for it to adjust in a way that promotes healing (pain relief, nervous system regulation, emotional processing, whatever it needs). 

With craniosacral work, my intention is to always be a vessel for whatever healing your body needs in that moment to come through. That intention leads to the most beautiful unfolding that leaves me in awe after every session.   

If you’re feeling called to try this gentle yet profound work, I’m offering biodynamic craniosacral therapy as a part of my in-person energy work sessions. If you’re experiencing pain, trying to process something really heavy, or your nervous system could use some support, these sessions are for you. You can book here or email me with questions here.