The Cranio-Sacral System.

The Cranio-Sacral System is a physiological system which, together with the cardio-vascular and respiratory systems, is one of the three fundamental life-giving systems. Dr William Sutherland who first identified the Cranio-Sacral System considered it to be the most fundamental of all systems. He described it as the Primary Respiratory Mechanism, suggesting that it was more primary even than respiration. It is a system which is at the very core of our being, believed by Sutherland to be the very source of life.

The Cranio-Sacral System can be identified through its inherent rhythmic motion. Just as the cardio-vascular system is manifested in the rhythmic pulsation of the arteries, and the respiratory system is evident through the rhythmic rise and fall of respiration, so the Cranio-Sacral System has an inherent rhythmic motion which can be felt as a subtle tide-like motion gently ebbing and flowing and manifesting in all the body tissues.

Cranio Sacral Motion.

At the core of our being is a fundamental life force, a profound energy that underlies our very existence, creating and maintaining our vitality. This life force - the Breath of Life - is expressed in the physical body as a vitality pervading every cell, every tissue, every part of the body. This vitality is expressed as rhythmic movement, rising and falling in wave-like, tide-like motion. In a healthy body, this fundamental life force is expressed as a fluent, symmetrical, rhythmic motion. Disturbances to health and wellbeing on any level will be reflected as disturbances to the even, balanced flow of this rhythmic motion. This rhythmic motion is expressed on different levels of our being - as the Cranio-Sacral Rhythm, the Mid-Tide, and the Long-Tide - the different rhythms relating to different levels of depth within the system.

Anatomical Components.

The Cranio-Sacral system is expressed through every cell in the body and there is no part of the body that is not involved in the Cranio-Sacral process. Certain structures however play a particularly significant part in determining the expression of the Cranio-Sacral process and can therefore be described as constituting the principal components of the Cranio-Sacral system.
These structures are:

• the Membranes (or Meninges) which surround the Central Nervous System.
• the Bones of the Cranium and Sacrum which attach to these Membranes.
• the Fascia, which radiates out from the Membranes to all parts of the body.
• the Cerebro-Spinal Fluid, a pure and vital fluid produced within the Central Nervous System and contained primarily within the membranes surrounding and enveloping the brain and spinal cord.

Fluency of Cranio-Sacral Motion is a reflection of healthy function.

Fluency of Cranio-Sacral motion in each part of the body is a reflection of the functional state of that part of the body. Restricted mobility is an indication of reduced health and vitality in that region - leading to (or caused by) disease and dysfunction. A free and unrestricted rhythmic motion is an indication of a healthy, unimpeded vitality in that region. The Cranio-Sacral Therapistís role therefore is to identify areas of restricted mobility and to enable the body to dissolve any such restrictions in order to encourage free and fluent Cranio-Sacral motion. This restoration of unhindered tissue mobility and free flow of body fluids and vitality will in turn enable the elimination of disease, the restoration of health and the maintenance of optimum function.

Disturbances to Cranio-Sacral motion may arise from a number of different causes - from physical injury, infection, inflammation, structural imbalance, muscular strain, emotional tension, or disease and dysfunction of any kind. These restrictions may arise in any of the body tissues - the bones, the soft tissues, the nervous system, the organs, the fluids, or in the subtle energy systems.

Injuries or restrictions to the peripheral structures of the body will inevitably reflect into the core of the system leading to imbalances and asymmetries within the Cranio-Sacral System. Restrictions at the core of the system will similarly reflect out to cause peripheral symptoms. By restoring the body to its natural expression of healthy, balanced motion, the Cranio-Sacral therapist can enable the elimination of the underlying source of any dysfunction (thereby also eliminating any associated symptoms) and the restoration of health and vitality.

Dysfunctions are reflected as disturbances of rhythm and symmetry. Restoration of balance and symmetry restores healthy function.

The restoration of free mobility within the Cranio-Sacral System will enable the resolution not only of recent injuries and disease processes, but also of chronic consolidated patterns of physical restriction due to past injuries and chronic tensions. Every injury, illness or tension sets up patterns of physiological disturbance - be it neurological irritation, vascular constriction, tissue contracture, sclerosis or other such influences - which become imprinted into the tissues at many levels - in the soft tissues, membranes, fascia, nerve endings, peripheral nerves, central nervous system, or in the energy systems. These disturbances become embedded so that they are held into the tissues in the form of tissue memory creating a vicious circle of reciprocal physiological activity and inappropriate neurological stimulation, resulting in chronic disturbance of function. Cranio-Sacral Therapy traces these pathways of deeply embedded physiological disturbance, dissolving the restrictions in the various tissues, reducing neurological irritation, breaking the circle of reciprocal facilitation, and resolving any consequent disturbances to healthy function.

Cranio-Sacral Therapy penetrates to the very core and alters patterns at the deepest level.

Peripheral manifestations of imbalance may be alleviated by more superficial forms of therapy.

But it is because Cranio-Sacral Therapy penetrates to the very core and alters patterns at the deepest level of our being that it brings about more profound, significant and lasting changes - as well as eliminating the more superficial symptoms.

The Cranio-Sacral process works simultaneously on both physical and emotional levels, providing a means of access to the emotions through the physical body and a means of releasing long established deeply embedded psycho-emotional traumas, patterns and conditionings along with their physical counterparts, consequences and associations.

Proper integration of the Cranio-Sacral System will therefore bring about balance and well-being in both body and mind.

The Cranio-Sacral System reflects the accumulation of all our life experience.

The Cranio-Sacral System reflects the accumulation of all our life experience, recent or long past, physical or psycho-emotional.

Interaction with the Cranio-Sacral System stimulates a natural reorganisation of the system, enabling the release of these accumulated patterns of injury and tension and bringing our whole being into a more balanced and orderly state in which it can function at its optimum level.

© The College of Craniosacral Therapy.
Maintained by Signifier.
Text by Thomas Attlee.