WHAT IS CRANIOSACRAL WORK?
Craniosacral work is a holistic healing practice that uses extremely light finger pressure to optimize a movement pattern within the body that is known as the “cranial wave.” Craniosacral work differs from most other modalities by its lightness of touch, and the long, attentive duration of each contact. It believes that focus and gentleness are the foundations of healing.
Craniosacral work is one of the most respectful of all bodywork techniques. While craniosacral work focuses on helping the cranial wave flow freely through the head, spine and pelvis, it is not limited to those areas, and may be used to work with painful or restricted conditions anywhere in the body. In fact, many practitioners find that craniosacral work helps the client access their own clarity and insight, and hence it is used not only to relieve pain, but also to help empower the client to deal successfully with many different life situations. Some therapists use it to facilitate sensitive psychic states such as are used in past-life regression therapy.
WHAT IS THE “CRANIAL WAVE?”
When we breathe, the movement of our body is obvious. Each time our heart beats, we can feel the movement of blood along the superficial arteries. But the cranial wave is so subtle that it takes trained hands to feel it, and we usually cannot feel our own wave at all. A sheet of writing paper is 100 microns thick; the average movement of a cranial bone (our heads are composed of 22 bones) is 40 microns. The normal frequency of the cranial wave cycle is from 8 to 14 per minute. The quality and frequency of the wave as it passes through (or is unable to pass through) different bones and tissues in the body is assessed by the craniosacral practitioner, who “listens” to it in order to gauge the need for treatment. (Practitioners also listen to it to sense the effectiveness of their work.)
Different conditions, such as whiplash injury, trauma to the head, or migraine headache produce different qualities in the cranial wave. The trained practitioner can recognize these qualities. The frequency of the wave can also be dramatically affected by illness—for instance, in coma it slows to 2 cycles per minute. And in meditative states, it may calm down to 3 or 4 cycles per minute, which unlike coma is a time of great inner nurturing: it is a return to the source.
The cranial wave is known to physiologists as the “Traube-Hering Wave, or “Third Order Wave.” Because craniosacral work deals directly with the energy field, it is primarily what healers call “energy work,” rather than structural work. In this sense it has more in common with acupuncture and shiatsu, than it does with structural techniques such as Rolfing.
