Craniosacral Therapy
By Adam Rubinstein
"We have at our core, a fundamental health which is
incorruptible. Illness and disease are simply layers imposed
outside of that, like caked layers of mud enclosing a diamond.
The way to health is by uncovering the pure, clean diamond
we have inside us which has been progressively obscured
on our journey through life's difficulties."
My approach to Craniosacral Therapy is to enter into a
deeply relaxed state with each patient in which they can
quickly let go of superficial stresses. Within this space,
the 'caked layers of mud' are clearly revealed. They are
the barriers and defensive tensions set up in response to
past, unpleasant, experiences, which we have not been able
to fully let go of. Very often, they re-activate during
times of stress and this can be the cause of a wide range
of symptoms.
Ideally, having experienced a distressing situation, we
would let go of any stress associated with it soon afterwards.
What usually happens however is that we hold a memory, which
can be, stored somewhere in our body. These emotionally
charged memories are held as tensions which compound and
overlay one upon another, gradually restricting the normal
functioning of organs, vessels, nerves and other physical
structures, eventually causing symptoms.
My work is to enable you to release these deeply held patterns
of emotional stress. Once this is achieved your body has
all the resources and knowledge needed to complete the healing
process, just as it has to heal a cut finger or a broken
bone.
Case 1
Name: Jonathan (not his real name)
Male, 9 years old
Diagnosed condition: Mondini's syndrome. (Congenital under
development of cochlea causing partial deafness, in Jonathan's
case hearing reduced to 70% in left ear, 30% in right).
Due to his partial hearing, Jonathan suffered social isolation,
low self-esteem and difficulties keeping up at school. Jonathan
also suffered from poor concentration, short-term memory
loss and an undiagnosed condition, which caused a totally
debilitating cerebral attack at very regular intervals.
The first such attack happened at 10 weeks of age and they
continued every 10 weeks increasing by 1 or 2 days each
time. When Jonathan came to see me the attacks were occurring
every 13.5 weeks. The next was due on the 24th of August.
Although his mum had taken him to many specialists throughout
the UK, no one had offered any explanation and nothing had
had any effect. Both epilepsy and migraine had been ruled
out.
In the run up to an attack, there was a gradual deterioration
in his hearing (or perhaps his attention) over 2-3 days;
then his eyes would go unfocussed and vacant immediately
before the attack. Starting with a headache in the frontal
area, which might grow gradually in intensity or be very
sudden, Jason would have to lie down on his front with no
head movement. After 2 - 3 hours, there was a massive increase
in the intensity of the headache with violent vomiting (sulphurous
yellow bile with mucus). This would continue for between
12 and 24 hours and then stop suddenly. He felt better immediately
afterwards.
To all outward appearances, Jonathan is a normal 9 year
old, he has an open, relaxed face and is very willing to
communicate with people who make the small extra effort
required, i.e. speaking loudly and clearly.
Session 1 - 11th August.
The first session is usually a general assessment / treatment
in which I identify focuses of holding or weakness. The
patient (especially if a child) usually also needs to get
used to me and so often isn't able to completely relax.
Jonathan got a bit fidgety after a short while (normal with
children) and at the end of the session said he didn't feel
anything (also normal). Even so, I felt that we made some
clear progress in releasing the cerebral tensions, which
were apparent.
Session 2 - 25th August. (2 weeks)
Jonathan had had early signs of an attack - unfocussed eyes
with a lesser headache - on the evening of the 14th (2 days
after the last session) and had been given Calpol and put
to bed. He awoke the next morning with a yellow/green and
smelly nasal discharge but had no other unusual symptoms
or further development of an attack. During the treatment
I continued with the release of cerebral patterns especially
at the left lateral ventricle and intra-ventricular channel.
Session 3 - 22nd September. (3 weeks)
Jason pulled off his shoes and jumped onto the couch as
soon as he entered the room, he couldn't wait to get started.
There had been further nasal discharge for a few mornings
following the last session, this time without the headache.
Jonathan's mother noticed a marked improvement in his concentration
after the last session, which lasted for a few days and
then drifted back. The next follow up was to be in a week
to enable me to build on the progress before it reverts.
I continued working on cranial patterns and released the
right temporal bone.
Session 4 - 29th September (1 week)
There was no further discharge and Jonathan had good focus
at school. His cranium was soft and open with no major patterns
but some localised congestion and holding which released
during the treatment.
Session 5 -13th October (2 weeks)
The benefits at school lasted 12 days this time. Jonathan
said he felt lighter after the sessions but the heaviness
gradually came back. We talked about his experience during
a treatment so that he could do some 'homework' between
sessions to maintain the benefits. He was very pleased and
had no resistance to doing it himself.
Session 6 - 27th October (2 weeks).
There was further significant improvement at school. Jason
came home the other day and started telling his mother about
what they'd been doing, reciting facts that he'd learned.
She was very excited and started telling everyone as he'd
never done that before. In this session Jonathan's whole
cranium lightened energetically suggesting a significant
resolution.
Session 7 - 27th November (4 weeks)
Jonathan's improved concentration at school lasted the whole
month helped by the work he'd been doing at home, which
he clearly enjoys and benefits from. He was slightly poorly
yesterday (unfocussed eyes, slight headache) when an attack
would have been due, but went to school anyway and no full
attack developed. He was completely better this morning.
There were two major releases during this treatment allowing
significant expansion of stuck areas. Jonathan slept deeply
throughout and awoke gradually as I talked with his mother.
He went unfocussed momentarily as he was waking but then
seemed very alert and volunteered information in response
to the conversation when he would not previously have been
able to hear it.
I will see Jonathan in a month to ensure that the new cranial
pattern has stabilised and perhaps see him at three-monthly
intervals after that at about the time an attack would be
due.
Case 2
Name: Iris Occupation: Cleaner
Female, 52 years of age
Presenting complaint: Iris was unable to turn her head
to the right following a fall 6 months before in which she
banged her right arm. She was referred to me by her homeopath
who found her so sensitive to remedies that treatment was
difficult.
There had been plenty of physical trauma, she was a breach
birth and, as a child, had had many knocks and injuries
including hitting a car windscreen at age 7, falling off
a horse at age 12, knocking herself out and fracturing her
right clavicle. At age 24, all her wisdom teeth were removed
without a general anaesthetic. More recently she had torn
ligaments and tendons and had a hairline fracture in her
right ankle, which continued to give her pain, and had ongoing
problems with her teeth following root fillings. Osophogeal
reflux, pneumonia and pleurisy had also appeared at sometime.
Iris was currently stressed with a messy divorce and had
very low self esteem following years in an abusive marriage.
She felt a complete failure and said that she sometimes
contemplated suicide but couldn't go through with it because
of guilt for the trauma it would cause whoever found her
(she had once found a suicide). She had recently finished
5 years of clinical psychology for depression but had not
found significant improvement. Iris struck me as an intelligent
woman who had been so mistreated in life that she had virtually
given up.
As is so often the case, Iris's physical symptoms were
inextricably linked to her unresolved emotional traumas.
During the first two treatments, she experienced deep upset
and grief while the physical tensions in her neck and right
shoulder started to release. Improvement in her mobility
was apparent after the first treatment and increased after
each subsequent session.
Iris was very distressed on arrival for her third treatment.
Her raw emotional state had continued all week since the
last session but she had found support through it with homeopathy.
Iris wept and talked for 40 minutes. She related that she
had had a frozen shoulder 7 years previously and had been
suicidal. At the time she hated her husband who had raped
her soon after the birth of their second child. He wanted
to sail every weekend and expected her to as well. She had
to be close to him in the small dinghy with her operating
the jib (lots of work for the shoulder) while suppressing
her emotional trauma. This became locked up in her shoulder
causing it to freeze. It had gradually improved with physiotherapy
regaining most of its function until the combination of
stress in the lead up to the divorce and the blow to the
arm when she fell, brought it all up again. When we started
the treatment, it seemed to me that the priority was to
ground her emotionally and so I worked only from her feet.
Iris was much calmer after the treatment and had experienced
a warm yellow flow rising to the level of her solar plexus.
I felt that with this session we had turned a significant
corner.
When I saw her two weeks later, Iris reported that there
had been a vast improvement in her well being. She had some
upset towards the end of the session but not on the same
scale as before. This time she experienced the warm flow
rising to her neck.
I saw Iris twice more, each time we were able to move further
through the physical patterns now that she had released
some of the emotional resistance. She continued to experience
some physical pain during the treatments but found improvement
subsequently.
There is no doubt in my mind that, for Iris, Craniosacral
Therapy was the right therapy at the right time. She was
dealing with the maintaining cause of the problem (her abusive
marriage) by getting a divorce and so, mainly, just needed
help in letting go of past trauma. This is one area where
Craniosacral Therapy excels, however, if someone is unable
to change their traumatising situation, Craniosacral Therapy
can often help them to find a new approach which enables
them to deal with it better.
Iris still has a lot of hurt and anger, which she recognises,
will need dealing with. She has embarked on a 4-year training
course in a complementary therapy and is now able to face
her future with a positive outlook. Her neck movement is
no longer restricted.
About the Author
ADAM RUBINSTEIN R.C.S.T.
Craniosacral Therapist
122 Highgate
Kendal
Cumbria
Tel 01539 824099
The North Lakes Clinic
Cockermouth
Cumbria
Tel 01900 821122
Having trained with the College of Craniosacral Therapy
(CCST) in London I am now practicing in Kendal and Cockermouth.
I have taken post-graduate courses with Mike Boxall and
Franklin Sills (Karuna Institute), Graham Kennedy (Institute
of Craniosacral Studies), and Andrew Stones.
My long term self development includes Chi Kung and other
energy work, which both inform my practice, and I find that
gardening plays an important balancing role.
I have successfully treated patients with M.E., TMJ problems,
learning difficulties and Attention Deficit Disorder, frozen
shoulder and other physical restrictions, anxiety, sinus
problems, poor sleeping and nightmares, back problems, headaches
and migraines, inexplicable pain and other major undiagnosed
symptoms, and many more. If you have a problem for which
your doctor can find no cause, Craniosacral Therapy, approaching
from a different direction, may be able to help you.
