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This was the question fired at me in a State Occupational School Board meeting. Well, I responded slowly, as I collected my
thoughts, “cranial” refers to the head, “sacral” refers to the tail, and between them is a tube; the spinal cord. The whole thing
resembles an old fashioned key hole, and is called The Central Nervous System (CNS). The therapy is gentle, hands-on bodywork that
affects and enhances the flow of cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) and all of its pathways throughout the body as it follows nerves out of the
fascial coverings protecting the tube(meningeal system). So, since CSF is everywhere in the body, Craniosacral Therapy is a whole
body therapy.
This seemed to satisfy the Board, but let’s backtrack and bring alive this deeply spiritual understanding of Health in the human
body (or animal body).
It all began with a young student in Osteopathic School in Kirkville, Missouri, in the late 1800’s, William Sutherland. Will was
given an assignment to do a paper on the sutures of the brain. As he stared at these lines on an old skull he’d gotten from the school’s
attic, he wondered why they were beveled and wriggly rather than straight-edged as in 2 doors meeting. Then he noticed that the
bones that house the inner ears (temporals), flapped over the bones on top of the head(parietals), and the thought struck him: “They
are beveled . . . like the gills of a fish.” And, like a thunderbolt, came the next thought: “The gills of a fish are built for breathing!”
In those days, all medical science taught that the cranial bones meet and fuse together, forever, somewhere around age 7 in
humans. A brave, creative, spiritually inclined man, Will Sutherland began his life’s work . . . to prove to the world that the cranial
bones move and breathe. He learned to feel and track their movement of 8 to 10 cycles in a minute and found thru a series of
experiments on his own head, that if they were not moving properly, multiple symptoms were caused; such as pain, confusion, shock,
nervous system overstimulation with resultant immune function depression, tissue and fluid congestion anywhere is the body and
multiple brain and spinal cord problems. In fact, he found that most “disorders” and “dysfunctions” could be traced back to the
Central Nervous System and the bones that surround it.
Will (now Dr. Sutherland), went on to become a full professor at the Osteopathic School and taught many doctors how to gently
place their hands on the cranium, sacrum, or spine; feel the rhythm there, and subtly induce change in areas of blockage or
misalignment. This change had huge affects of the health and vitality of the patient. The work came to be known as Cranial
Osteopathy.
In his 70’s, in the early 1900’s, Dr. Sutherland was still going ever deeper into exploring what he called “The Tides” in the body.
He discovered that the 1st rhythm (8 to 10 cycles per minute) that he had found, was the response of tissue being moved by
cerebrospinal fluid. Then he became aware of a second rhythm; a 2.5 second cycle, that he determined was the movement of CSF
itself. Finally, from a place of deep stillness within himself, he began to notice a sense of a global, very slow rhythm throughout the
entire body. He likened all these movements to the movement of ocean tides, with this deepest one, like the ocean floor . . . a sense of
something, which he called “liquid light” or “radiance”, expanding out for 50 seconds, and then into someplace deep in the body for
another 50 seconds. He had found the very life force itself! . . . and called it “the Breath of Life”, or the “fluid within the fluid”.
In great excitement, he tried to share with his colleagues this new knowledge and skill, and the huge implications it had in healing
chronic, “incurable” dysfunctions in the body and brain. Unfortunately, very few, perhaps 5, other doctors believed him, did their own
research, and found these deeper rhythms to be truth. Most thought that the “old doc” had gone senile. Thanks to the work and
teaching of these few brave souls, Dr. Sutherland’s work continued and has come to be known as the “Biodynamic Model” of
Cranial Therapy.
In the mid 1900’s, Dr. John Upledger, another courageous Osteopath began teaching the first rhythm to lay people(anyone who
was not a doctor) and founded the Upledger Institute, based in Florida, and, over a ten year period, this work on the 1st rhythm,
spread throughout the world and was called Craniosacral Therapy.
More and more scientific research is proving that the body, mind, and emotions are inextricably connected. Humans cannot heal
without paying attention to all levels of being. Therefore, infused into the two year, 700 hour, Biodynamic training, is the study of
Trauma Therapy; giving the practitioner skills to be “present” and effective with the many emotional patterns that surface when the
work touches so deeply into the human psyche. Also included in the Biodynamic model is the study of Embryology; understanding the
miraculous origins of life. How each of us is formed, alike, like leaves on a tree, yet each distinctly different. And we learn how these
patterns, and those of birth, affect us as adults.
For instance, somewhere around 3 to 5 weeks of age, in utero, our nervous system begins to form. To do this, we “entrain” or
“resonant” with Mom’s nervous system to give us some information about how to relate to the world we will be entering. What if
Mom was “unavailable” due to circumstances in her life? What if Mom was a “nervous wreck”? You can see how this would affect
us as a being in formation and, hence, track throughout our lives in how our own nervous system relates to the world. This very early
ability to “resonant” with other, ie; know what other is feeling, is evident in our lives as “gut sense” or “intuition”.
By working with this natural ability of “resonance”, from a place of “neutral”(no agenda), a skilled practitioner can tune in to the slow,
100 second cranial rhythm, see/feel the patterns that developed so early in life, and verbally bring awareness and consciousness to
them. When we have consciousness, we are aligned with “life force” or “Breath of life” and patterns can change. Often both
practitioner and client can feel changes in tissue, and a sense of fluid/hydration is experienced as “spreading” from somewhere deep
inside the body. The result is life changing.
Today, both Osteopaths and “Lay People” are trained in Craniosacral Therapy in both models. The Biodynamic model training is
the more extensive; 2 years/700 hours, and is strictly regulated for lay people by the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Assn. Of North
America (BCTA/NA). For more information and to find practitioners and schools, go to craniosacraltherapy.org. Ask your practitioner
if they are “registered”(have RCST status).
One last thing . . . the question always comes up: “Do I have to take my clothes off?”
No. This work is very safe and gentle. The hands are placed on various parts of the body and head, and, since the work happens
from within, there is no need to remove clothing.
Kathleen Morrow is the Director, and a teacher/therapist at the state approved School of Inner Health, with 25 years of experience
in the field of Wholistic Health.
For more information about therapies and classes, go to the School’s website: www.schoolofinnerhealth.org.
thoughts, “cranial” refers to the head, “sacral” refers to the tail, and between them is a tube; the spinal cord. The whole thing
resembles an old fashioned key hole, and is called The Central Nervous System (CNS). The therapy is gentle, hands-on bodywork that
affects and enhances the flow of cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) and all of its pathways throughout the body as it follows nerves out of the
fascial coverings protecting the tube(meningeal system). So, since CSF is everywhere in the body, Craniosacral Therapy is a whole
body therapy.
This seemed to satisfy the Board, but let’s backtrack and bring alive this deeply spiritual understanding of Health in the human
body (or animal body).
It all began with a young student in Osteopathic School in Kirkville, Missouri, in the late 1800’s, William Sutherland. Will was
given an assignment to do a paper on the sutures of the brain. As he stared at these lines on an old skull he’d gotten from the school’s
attic, he wondered why they were beveled and wriggly rather than straight-edged as in 2 doors meeting. Then he noticed that the
bones that house the inner ears (temporals), flapped over the bones on top of the head(parietals), and the thought struck him: “They
are beveled . . . like the gills of a fish.” And, like a thunderbolt, came the next thought: “The gills of a fish are built for breathing!”
In those days, all medical science taught that the cranial bones meet and fuse together, forever, somewhere around age 7 in
humans. A brave, creative, spiritually inclined man, Will Sutherland began his life’s work . . . to prove to the world that the cranial
bones move and breathe. He learned to feel and track their movement of 8 to 10 cycles in a minute and found thru a series of
experiments on his own head, that if they were not moving properly, multiple symptoms were caused; such as pain, confusion, shock,
nervous system overstimulation with resultant immune function depression, tissue and fluid congestion anywhere is the body and
multiple brain and spinal cord problems. In fact, he found that most “disorders” and “dysfunctions” could be traced back to the
Central Nervous System and the bones that surround it.
Will (now Dr. Sutherland), went on to become a full professor at the Osteopathic School and taught many doctors how to gently
place their hands on the cranium, sacrum, or spine; feel the rhythm there, and subtly induce change in areas of blockage or
misalignment. This change had huge affects of the health and vitality of the patient. The work came to be known as Cranial
Osteopathy.
In his 70’s, in the early 1900’s, Dr. Sutherland was still going ever deeper into exploring what he called “The Tides” in the body.
He discovered that the 1st rhythm (8 to 10 cycles per minute) that he had found, was the response of tissue being moved by
cerebrospinal fluid. Then he became aware of a second rhythm; a 2.5 second cycle, that he determined was the movement of CSF
itself. Finally, from a place of deep stillness within himself, he began to notice a sense of a global, very slow rhythm throughout the
entire body. He likened all these movements to the movement of ocean tides, with this deepest one, like the ocean floor . . . a sense of
something, which he called “liquid light” or “radiance”, expanding out for 50 seconds, and then into someplace deep in the body for
another 50 seconds. He had found the very life force itself! . . . and called it “the Breath of Life”, or the “fluid within the fluid”.
In great excitement, he tried to share with his colleagues this new knowledge and skill, and the huge implications it had in healing
chronic, “incurable” dysfunctions in the body and brain. Unfortunately, very few, perhaps 5, other doctors believed him, did their own
research, and found these deeper rhythms to be truth. Most thought that the “old doc” had gone senile. Thanks to the work and
teaching of these few brave souls, Dr. Sutherland’s work continued and has come to be known as the “Biodynamic Model” of
Cranial Therapy.
In the mid 1900’s, Dr. John Upledger, another courageous Osteopath began teaching the first rhythm to lay people(anyone who
was not a doctor) and founded the Upledger Institute, based in Florida, and, over a ten year period, this work on the 1st rhythm,
spread throughout the world and was called Craniosacral Therapy.
More and more scientific research is proving that the body, mind, and emotions are inextricably connected. Humans cannot heal
without paying attention to all levels of being. Therefore, infused into the two year, 700 hour, Biodynamic training, is the study of
Trauma Therapy; giving the practitioner skills to be “present” and effective with the many emotional patterns that surface when the
work touches so deeply into the human psyche. Also included in the Biodynamic model is the study of Embryology; understanding the
miraculous origins of life. How each of us is formed, alike, like leaves on a tree, yet each distinctly different. And we learn how these
patterns, and those of birth, affect us as adults.
For instance, somewhere around 3 to 5 weeks of age, in utero, our nervous system begins to form. To do this, we “entrain” or
“resonant” with Mom’s nervous system to give us some information about how to relate to the world we will be entering. What if
Mom was “unavailable” due to circumstances in her life? What if Mom was a “nervous wreck”? You can see how this would affect
us as a being in formation and, hence, track throughout our lives in how our own nervous system relates to the world. This very early
ability to “resonant” with other, ie; know what other is feeling, is evident in our lives as “gut sense” or “intuition”.
By working with this natural ability of “resonance”, from a place of “neutral”(no agenda), a skilled practitioner can tune in to the slow,
100 second cranial rhythm, see/feel the patterns that developed so early in life, and verbally bring awareness and consciousness to
them. When we have consciousness, we are aligned with “life force” or “Breath of life” and patterns can change. Often both
practitioner and client can feel changes in tissue, and a sense of fluid/hydration is experienced as “spreading” from somewhere deep
inside the body. The result is life changing.
Today, both Osteopaths and “Lay People” are trained in Craniosacral Therapy in both models. The Biodynamic model training is
the more extensive; 2 years/700 hours, and is strictly regulated for lay people by the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Assn. Of North
America (BCTA/NA). For more information and to find practitioners and schools, go to craniosacraltherapy.org. Ask your practitioner
if they are “registered”(have RCST status).
One last thing . . . the question always comes up: “Do I have to take my clothes off?”
No. This work is very safe and gentle. The hands are placed on various parts of the body and head, and, since the work happens
from within, there is no need to remove clothing.
Kathleen Morrow is the Director, and a teacher/therapist at the state approved School of Inner Health, with 25 years of experience
in the field of Wholistic Health.
For more information about therapies and classes, go to the School’s website: www.schoolofinnerhealth.org.
| WHAT IS CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY ANYWAY? By Kathleen Morrow, RCST®, RPP, LMT |
| For training information, to register or for treatments call 719-685-4805 |
