CranioSacral Therapy

 

I had my first Cranio-Sacral Therapy session with my new naturopath on Monday. 

    I feel very stressed out all the time; my naturopath thinks this uncontrolled stress and anxiety is putting my body in a constant state of fight or flight mode, leading to nervous system dysregulation, which can cause a lot of the health issues I'm currently experiencing. In order to help myself get back to my natural state of rest, I'm supposed to do hour-long Cranio-Sacral therapy sessions with her each week. 

    I wasn't quite sure what to expect from my first session; maybe a targeted massage? After discussing my physical and emotional flare-ups for the week, my naturopath had me lay face up on the massage table. She gave me a weighted, lavender scented eye pillow, and this was surprisingly one of the most memorable parts. I was wearing a KN95 mask so the lavender smell seeped into my mask and it made me think about Miasma theory and the plague doctors with their sweet smelling herbs in their masks to avoid getting sick from the horrid smells labeled 'Miasma' at the time. It felt oddly spiritual to be in a space where I am trying my best to get healthy in this way, and to be drawing the parallel between the Miasma theory of health as I was laying there on my back with lavender on my face; like I was time traveling in a way. 

    The session really began with a massage on my neck and upper shoulder area. I started to feel a little dizzy as we continued the session, which is not unusual for me. It felt like having the spins and trying to sleep when you drink too much, or like I just was on a spinning amusement ride and I closed my eyes. I thought about asking her to pause so that I could take a nausea medication or something, but then I thought about what my body might be telling me. I let my mind spin and spin and spin and I was a little uncomfortable for several minutes but eventually, I wasn't spinning anymore, I was just relaxing. I was picturing myself as Ashitaka in the pool of the Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke; I almost felt like I was floating on moving water at many points during the session. 

    I think it was important to let my brain and body have a few moments of spinning-panic mode while I'm doing everything in my power to relax to the max. I don't think I'm used to doing absolutely nothing and it was really hard for my brain and body to get to that point. It kind of felt like when a snow globe is shaken up and then set down and everything inside is trying to settle down, but my body is the snow globe and I'm constantly shaking. So when I finally get a moment where all of my pieces are trying to settle it feels unusual and off and like it's not supposed to be happening. But it is so important that we let our pieces settle, that we get ourselves back to that state of rest where we can recover from shaking ourselves and being shaken by the world. 

    My provider also used a tuning fork during this session. This is a healing practice that I had never thought about or considered but it was one of my favorite parts of the session. How I understand it, the sound from the tuning fork helps the vibrational energy fields in my body stay harmonious, and this will help keep my nervous system in a more regular state. 

    I love the absolutely ancient concept that when the human body is unwell, that means it is "out of tune". Humoral Theory of medicine worked on a similar concept and, although we've abandoned Humoral Theory as a whole, I do believe that our minds and bodies do require balance of many things. Western medicine has kind of abandoned this concept and focuses instead on each individual 'problem', instead of on the whole human. 

Don't get me wrong: I am a man of science; but I am also a man of history. I love that my treatment is including historical holistic practices and I am hopeful that my health will begin to improve with my focus on the whole health and my interest in holistic healing.