Conscious Touch and Listening

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is a light touch form of therapy that has roots originating in Osteopathy. Dr. Still was the first Osteopathic Doctor, and he believed that structure and function in the body were interconnected, and that the body is a self-correcting system. His teachings impacted Osteopathic students such as Dr. William Sutherland, who spent much of his life showing that the cranial bones (the bones of the head) move (micro millimetres).

This discovery makes one wonder how cranial bones move. Sutherland noticed that the system as a whole moves around the motion of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF runs in a rhythmic motion along the spine, into the cranium, and back down the spine to the sacrum (a bone at the bottom of the spine just above the tailbone). He referred to this involuntary movement as ‘primary respiration’.

As this fluid interacts with the structures around it, (such as membranes, bones, joints, muscular tissue, etc.), a Craniosacral Therapist can get a sense of restrictions, holding patterns, balance, and health within the body as a whole. As the body interacts with the therapist’s touch, oftentimes it will lead the therapist to where those restrictions, or patterns of experience, reside within the tissue. In this sense, we are honouring Dr. Still’s original belief that the body is a self-correcting system, and communicates its intelligence and wisdom with the acute perceptual touch of a Craniosacral Therapist.