Craniosacral Therapy
Craniosacral therapy is a subtle yet profound healing form which assists the body's natural capacity for self-repair. It involves the craniosacral system and the craniosacral fluid which is formed in the ventricles of the brain and then circulates around the central nervous system, inside the dural membranes surrounding the brain and the spinal column. It also extends to the fascia throughout the body via the peripheral nervous system.
Sometimes when we suffer from a trauma – at birth, a physical accident or injury, an emotional or mental shock – this trauma can get held in the body’s tissues and nervous system, leading to ill-health, dis-ease and dysfunction. This is increasingly recognized in the rapidly growing medical fields of stress, trauma, psychoneuroimmunology and epigenetics, which examine the way in which our thoughts and emotional states influence the chemicals released internally through our endocrine system as well as the response of our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, in turn influencing our immune system and the functioning of each cell in our body.
Craniosacral therapy can help to release the deeply held patterns resulting from trauma, both physical and psychological. It treats people and causes rather than symptoms and labeled conditions. The practitioner engages with the client’s underlying energetic vitality, represented in the craniosacral system, and helps the tissues to release any restrictions to the free distribution of this vitality throughout the body.
It is suitable for babies, children and the elderly, as well as adults and people in fragile or acutely painful conditions including chronic migraines, spinal problems and pelvic problems after a difficult pregnancy/birth.
Further details can be found at The Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK or the College of Cranio-Sacral Therapy.
Each session lasts around one hour and costs £65. It is usually done with the client lying fully clothed on a therapy couch, but if that is not possible physically you can sit. I will tune into your system, often through the head or the feet, and thereafter I will take up a light contact on the cranium (the head), the sacrum (the tail-bone) or any other part of the body as appropriate.
Somatic Therapy/Bodywork
One of my favourite books/heros is The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, following in the footsteps of the initial somatic experiencing practitioner, Peter Levine, and later integrated with the polyvagal work of Stephen Porges and Stanley Rosenberg. I believe it is not an overstatement to say that these practitioners have shifted stress and trauma therapy irrevocably away from psychotherapy to somatic work.
Stress and trauma of course are survival responses (fight and flight in the sympathetic nervous system followed by tonic immobility and dissociation in the dorsal vagal branch of the parasympathetic nervous system). But we are not supposed to be locked into either - when the threat subsides we are supposed to come back to the ventral vagal branch of the parasympathetic nervous system, where we can eat, sleep, relax, enjoy life and be healthy.
Today too many people however are stuck in hypervigilance or dissociation, or at least have narrowed windows of affect tolerance, such that they flip up and down very easily, with little scope to live in the ventral vagal 'happy place'.
The somatic therapy that I do is always aimed at widening the window of tolerance again, which can only take place in a safe environment, so safety, safety, safety is paramount so that we can do the necessary shadow work in the body.
Within a somatic bodywork session I may use a variety of breathing techniques, rattles, drums, holding points on the body and talking to body parts. Rocks may be placed to represent blocks, and family members or ancestors or partners (current or previous) may be called in to the room energetically, for closure of longstanding issues or conditioning.
I will also show you some exercises you can use ongoing to help manage stress, anxiety, fear, etc and I may suggest other practical body 'homework'.
Testimonials
'Evelyn’s gentle and reassuring approach made me feel safe and relaxed during her treatments. I did have immediate results with an old back injury and over time helped to prevent further resurfacing of an old injury. There have also been quite thought provoking experiences with some quite astonishing and wonderful revelations.'
'I wanted to express my gratitude for the wholeness that I now feel, thanks to you! You've helped me discover the state of meditation I am capable of achieving and the clarity it brings, giving me confidence I once lacked. I admire your abilities, you're beautiful in what you do.'
'Although I was initially sceptic of the potential of craniosacral, Evelyn succeeded in curing my long term back pain where physiotherapy, osteopathy and acupuncture had all failed.'
(From chronic sinusites sufferer) 'I suffer with sinus problems and cranio-sacral treatments have had an immediate effect on healing them. The treatments have also been very successful in curing my hip problem and are also very relaxing.'
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