|
CranioSacral Therapy: An Ideal Complement to the Traditional Oriental Healthcare Practice and Protocol Of Licensed Acupuncturists (#)
by: The Upledger Institute
, 03/22/2004
CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a very gentle hands-on method of releasing soft-tissue restrictions at various points on the body as a therapeutic measure to enhance health and well-being and bolster resistance to disease. It focuses on strengthening the performance of a core physiological system called the craniosacral system through the use of palpation - a long-standing evaluative and therapeutic technique used in Oriental healthcare practices.
Pioneered by osteopathic physician John E. Upledger in the 1970s, CST is a contemporary healthcare approach incorporating a traditional Eastern philosophy: that the human body has the innate intelligence to heal itself when obstacles are removed and energies are allowed to flow freely through the various points and meridians of the body.
Fundamental to the concepts of Oriental medicine is the principle that the free flow of Qi (or chi), blood and body fluids throughout the meridians is essential to keeping organs and tissues healthy and stress-free. Chinese medicine theory explains that body fluid is an important part of blood and that Qi, blood and body fluid are all physiologically closely interrelated. Based on the same principle of circulation, CST highlights the release of restrictions in connective tissue, allowing for more efficient fluid exchange throughout the body.
The craniosacral system consists of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. It extends from the skull, face and mouth down to the sacrum and coccyx. Generally using about 5 grams of pressure - approximately the weight of a nickel - the CST practitioner uses his or her hands to delicately evaluate the system by palpating various locations on the body to test for the ease of motion and rhythm of cerebrospinal fluid pulsing within the membranes, as well as the movement of fascial planes. Specific noninvasive manual techniques are then used to release restrictions in fascia, membranes and any other tissues influencing the craniosacral system.
Acupuncture and CranioSacral Therapy overlap in that they are both closed systems with rhythmic movements that affect one another. When viewing the body as an ocean of Qi, the cranial rhythm represents the waves and the meridians represent the currents in the ocean. When the cranial rhythm stops or reaches a still point, the meridians flow more easily and harmoniously. While an "energy cyst" could obstruct Qi flow along a meridian, CST can be used effectively to remove such blockages.
CranioSacral Therapy is performed on a client lying supine and fully clothed on a massage table. The techniques are closely allied with Oriental methods of massage in that hand contact and pressure is applied in a more passive manner at predetermined points of the body rather than by the sweeping broad strokes of Western or Swedish massage.
While CST is practiced throughout the world by a wide spectrum of healthcare professionals ranging from physicians to massage therapists, licensed acupuncturists have proven especially adept at practicing it effectively since they are already academically trained - from courses in Body Surface Anatomy, Points Locations and the like - to understand and use the same anatomical landmarks used in CranioSacral Therapy.
Since both acupuncture and CranioSacral Therapy deal with all levels of the human being, the practice of either or both together can invigorate a deep constitutional rebalancing that goes to the core of the Eastern philosophy of well-being. All this combined makes CranioSacral Therapy an ideal complement to the practice and protocol of licensed acupuncturists.
|
