What is Craniosacral Therapy and Nervous System Regulation?

Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle, hands-on treatment that uses light physical touch to locate and release any tension or pain in the physical body. With this modality, light touch is used by the therapist to assess what's called the Cranial Rhythm (think: very similar to your heartbeat/pulse, but more subtle, and runs throughout your body). The Cranial Rhythm is assessed throughout the treatment to find any places of restriction or tension, and then these areas of tension are released through a series of different holds on the body. With these holds helping to relieve tension, the central nervous system promotes a feeling of well-being by eliminating pain and boosting health and immunity. Before we go into the benefits of this therapeutic healing tool, it’s important to understand that Craniosacral Therapy (CST) works with a part of our body’s nervous system, the Autonomic Nervous System. The Autonomic Nervous System is split into two parts and are probably the two phrases you think of most when you hear the words “nervous system”: fight or flight/freeze, and rest and digest. Very often in the world, you are put into states of stress - otherwise known as a sympathetic state - resulting in “fight or flight”. This can happen when hearing a loud noise - someone honking at you in traffic, a person screaming for help nearby, or during times where you're feeling under pressure. You may take a moment to catch your breath as your heart rate increases, but then quickly move into your next action. The Parasympathetic Nervous System, whose motto is rest and digest, is responsible for lowering your heart rate, promoting rest, and helping your body do all of the amazing things that it needs to do to stay healthy. The catch here is that we cannot be in both fight or flight/freeze AND rest and digest at the same time. Our world contains a lot of stressors that put us into a constant fight or flight/freeze response - even if we don’t necessarily consciously recognize it.

And guess which state your nervous system MUST be in, in order to help start to heal aches, pains, trauma, sickness, and any other issues ailing you? Rest and digest. Craniosacral Therapy is a powerful therapeutic tool to allow your body to experience a state of calm, bringing you into a more restful state to get out of the constant fight or flight response. In fact, the two main nerve roots for the Parasympathetic Nervous System are in the base of your skull, and your low back (cranium and sacrum). Your body is a powerful living machine that does so much for you on a daily basis, helping to keep you healthy and mobile. But, what happens when we add in life’s stressors day in and day out, without taking time to fully allow rest? What happens when you take care of everyone else before yourself? What happens when you are rushing from place to place, to keep up with life? Your body ends up staying in that constant fight or flight response, which invites more tension in.

Craniosacral Therapy helps your body’s natural healing processes to take place. By the therapist assessing your Cranial Rhythm and helping to create that sense of calm, your body quite literally says, “thank you for making me feel safe!”. When this happens, your body feels confident that it can then work on healing itself. This means, less aches and pains, and more time to spend with your family and friends and do all of the things that life asks of you!

Craniosacral Therapy can help with:

• Easing Stress and Tension

• Reducing Anxiety

• Relieving Aches and Pains (neck, back, etc)

• Headaches and Migraines

• Chronic Fatigue

And so much more!

With Yvette's Craniosacral-Based Therapy sessions, she includes more tools to help you learn to regulate your nervous system during and after your session. These tools include things like guided meditations, guided reprogramming, and other nervous system regulation tools. Yvette understands that people lead busy lives, but also deeply feels that everyone deserves the best tools and care! Her clients have experienced relief from physical pain after their first session, and always feel a sense of deep relaxation during and after the treatment.

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