What happens in Cranio-sacral sessions
A space for deep rest, slowing down, and possibilities for whole-system change.
When people consider coming to cranio-sacral sessions, it is often because they have been feeling tired, tense, aching or overwhelmed. Sometimes there are health issues that are not changing with other treatments. Sometimes there is only a longing for ease with the body-heart-mind, a sense that we need space to settle into ourselves, to gather in. Cranio-sacral sessions offer a way back to ourselves.
There are many different ways this model is expressed. Different schools teach different styles, and each practitioner brings their own skills and ways of knowing. I write about what I see in my own work, being trained in the biodynamic, integrative lineage, and drawing upon my other interests.
There is no fixed format in this practice. Every session and every practitioner is unique. We meet each person we work with as they are in the moment, not through any pre-determined routine. We evolve together as rapport builds, new layers emerge, and both practitioner and client learn more about what is needed.
Still, if you are considering this type of support, it can help to have a sense of what sessions feels like, and here’s how I see it in my practice.
Arriving and Settling
Before you come to session, we will have already connected and I will have a sense of what brings you in. When you arrive, we take a few minutes to check in about what’s most important for you at the time.
You lie fully clothed on the table, and we take some time to let the body land. I place my hands lightly, often starting at the feet and then maybe at the head, pelvis, heart or abdomen, wherever your body seems to ask for attention. It could be anywhere, and always with permission. The touch is soft and steady. Often it is more like listening than doing, though sometimes there is some more active touch. We wait for the body to show its rhythms, tensions, patterns, stories.
Often the body will tell us what the mind cannot, what we do not yet have words for. Sometimes it is just crying out to be heard and included.
I listen to deeper story of the body, as well as to your words. I respond to subtle qualities I sense, physical, emotional or energetic. There are many nuances to this, and all of you is welcome. We often talk together about what we are noticing and what is arising for you. Events, memories, behaviours, any aspect can show up in sessions, we work with whatever arises, and within the limits of what we can manage.
Unwinding and Reorganising
As things settle, there is often a natural slowing down. The breath deepens. The body can begin to release tension, sometimes subtly, sometimes in waves of softening. At times I might invite gentle movement of an arm, neck, or hip to support unwinding through the whole body. This can bring tangible relief. No matter what else happens, almost invariably people describe a deep sense of rest, peace and slowing down. We can be so exhausted in our modern lives. Many symptoms never get a chance to heal because the body remains on high alert or in shutdown. Sessions can offer a chance to shed that weight and be held.
There can be moments of quiet stillness where everything feels suspended and hidden.
Often this is where your system is reorganising within. It can feel mysterious, as if we are out of ordinary time and space. Some people feel nothing dramatic at all, maybe just a gradual easing or a deeply nourishing rest.
Sometimes this practice brings us into contact with difficulties held inside for a long time. Old emotions, memories, or patterns of tension can surface and begin to shift. These are met with slow, steady grounding, without force or pressure to change. I’m available to talk through anything that comes up afterwards too. The framework is designed to meet us wherever we are, and offer us the opportunity to shift whatever is right for the time.
Ending and Integration
People often leave feeling more rested, softer, quieter inside somehow. The impact can be immediate or unfold over the next few days. They tend to build over time as trust grows and the body settles into the process. Much of the work continues between sessions as the system integrates. It can be helpful to notice how you are affected and any changes that arise. Perhaps some insights come that lead to small or significant changes in how you live. I welcome contact between sessions if that is useful.
For some people this is a place to dip in every now and then for nourishment and a reset. For others, it becomes part of how they take care of themselves, something regular and supportive.
How this can help
This practice takes time. It is true that sometimes positive changes happen quickly and they are to be celebrated, but we don’t go in expecting instant miracles. Bodies don’t work that way. It takes a long time and many factors for health to get out of balance. For it to return may require many small shifts building up over time. That’s how changes stick.
Sessions offer opportunities for our being to soften, reorganise, and return to its own natural vitality and health.
Many people find they can meet longstanding challenges with more ease, clarity, and resilience. I have witnessed complex health patterns soften or shift through this work. This tends to unfold most fully when there is a good sense of connection and safety with the practitioner.
Arriving in the Body
Many of us, for all kinds of reasons, haven’t been able to fully arrive in our bodies and into our senses. Modern life also pulls us up and out. We end up living at a distance from ourselves. This is a crisis of disembodiment. We can get lost in the intellect, the news, even some kinds of spirituality, and more.
One of the things that I find interesting about the cranio-sacral framework is the way the physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and the spiritual (or wider subtle aspects) of our human existence can co-exist and be included. It depends on the person, what their needs and inclinations are, and also on the practitioner and their ways of working. On the one hand practitioners can go deep into the study of anatomy or trauma physiology, and on the other we can investigate the energetic body, intuitive sensing, and distant layers of experience. A body without subtlety feels dense and flat, while subtlety without grounding in the body feels vague and disconnected.
Our health suffers when we leave ourselves behind to keep up with external demands.
Cranio-sacral practice offers an attentive space for us to be welcomed and met as we are, without external agenda or demand. We may come with a physical symptom, and stay because the sessions help us drink from a deep well of life available to us all. Something in us remembers this place.
For appointments, get in touch or see session information.