How CranioSacral Therapy Activates the Listening Cure

WHAT CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY AND MIKE TYSON ILLUMINATED FOR ME

By David Lauterstein

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. – Mike Tyson

This somewhat shocking quote from Mr. Tyson is nonetheless important to all of us, as individuals and as therapists.  Each person has a time they recall, sometimes just a moment, in which someone said something or we experienced something that altered our plans in some radical way.

For me as a bodyworker, my punch in the mouth, ironically came from one of the gentlest of therapies.

I had recently completed training with the Rolfer, Daniel Blake in 1982 and a friend had interested me also in CranioSacral Therapy.  I took a weekend workshop and was astonished.  This light touch seemed to affect me even more deeply than the deep soft tissue work I had learned and experienced.

It made me realize that it was the quality of the touch that is most powerful, not the quantity of pressure.  At that point, my work, which still did include structural bodywork, took a new turn, incorporating lessons from the gentle offshoots of osteopathy, CranioSacral work and Zero Balancing.

It is the quality of the touch that is most powerful, not the quantity of pressure…

Why Every Therapist Should Study CranioSacral Therapy

I recommend the study of CranioSacral Therapy for every single massage therapist and any other health professional engaging soft tissue.  The ability to LISTEN to the body(mind) is amplified wonderfully by even a few days study of this modality.  Of course, like any modality it can be the study of a lifetime or simply a facet you add to this gem of mindbody understanding and practice.

All the tissues in the body, including the bones, are floating.

We are mostly water.  Therefore, all the tissues in the body, including the bones, are floating.  In response to the various rhythms produced by the heart, breathing, and the flow of cerebrospinal fluid  – one can palpate the rhythmic movement of the bones. This knowledge, that body is not solid, it is mostly waving fluid, changes the quality of your touch – whatever modality you are using.

CranioSacral Therapy and The Listening Cure

Psychotherapy was originally called, “the Listening Cure.” In fact, clients’ health depends on their  ability to deeply listen to themselves – to their feelings, thoughts, and sensations.  A skilled therapist will develop his or her own ability to listen to themselves and to their client.  This in turn encourages clients to pay more caring attention to themselves.

Studying CranioSacral will amplify your ability to activate this “listening cure;” at its best, facilitating the self-healing of our clients.

Check out our massage continuing education calendar to learn more about upcoming CranioSacral Therapy workshops.