what the heck is craniosacral, anyway?

Welcome back, curious humans! Today we're diving into one of the most misunderstood, underestimated, and quietly powerful modalities in the bodywork world: craniosacral therapy (CST). It also happens to be one of my favorite ways to facilitate healing, so as my client you’ve probably already experienced it to some degree.

If you've never experienced it, craniosacral work can seem... confusing. The touch is so light it barely registers. The practitioner might have their hands under your sacrum for ten minutes without seemingly "doing" anything. You might wonder if anything is actually happening—and then you stand up feeling like you just woke from the most restorative sleep of your life, or suddenly remember something important, or notice that tension you've carried for months has simply... released.

So what IS this mysterious work? Let's explore the science, the history, and the art of craniosacral therapy—from its roots in osteopathic medicine to the shamanic and intuitive dimensions that some of us (hi, that's me) are exploring today.

Nuts ‘N Bolts: History

The story of craniosacral therapy begins in the early 1900s with William Sutherland, an osteopathic physician who had a wild idea: what if the bones of the skull aren't actually fused solid in adults? What if they maintain subtle mobility throughout life?

This was heretical thinking at the time. Medical consensus held that cranial sutures (the joints between skull bones) fused completely after childhood, leaving the skull as one immobile unit. But Sutherland was obsessed. He spent years studying skulls, and eventually—in true mad scientist fashion—built a helmet contraption to apply pressure to different parts of his own head, carefully documenting the effects. (Don't try this at home, folks.)

What he discovered was revolutionary: there IS movement in the cranial bones (albeit tiny!!), and this movement is connected to the rhythm of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as it circulates around the brain and spinal cord. He called this the "primary respiratory mechanism"—not because it's about breathing air, but because it's a fundamental rhythm that underlies all other body rhythms.

Fast forward to the 1970s, when Dr. John Upledger, an osteopathic physician and surgeon, had his own pivotal moment. During a spinal surgery, he was asked to hold the membrane surrounding the spinal cord (the dura mater) steady while the surgeon worked. But the membrane wouldn't stay still—it pulsed rhythmically, moving in a way he couldn't control. No one could explain it.

This experience sent Upledger down a research rabbit hole. He led a team of scientists at Michigan State University studying the craniosacral system, and eventually developed what we now know as CranioSacral Therapy—a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the function of the craniosacral system.

Upledger's approach was beautifully pragmatic: he created reproducible techniques, taught them systematically, and grounded the work in anatomy and physiology that Western medicine could understand. This is the foundation I learned, and it's still the backbone of how I work.

What Am I Working With??

Let's get nerdy for a minute. The craniosacral system consists of:

The membranes: The dura mater is the tough, outermost membrane surrounding your brain and spinal cord. It's continuous from your skull down to your sacrum (that triangular bone at the base of your spine), creating a closed hydraulic system.

The fluid: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is produced in ventricles deep in your brain, circulates around your brain and spinal cord, and is reabsorbed back into the bloodstream. This fluid cushions your central nervous system, delivers nutrients, and removes waste. It also has its own rhythm—producing and reabsorbing in a cycle that creates subtle pressure changes throughout the system.

The bones: Your skull isn't one solid bone—it's 22 bones connected by sutures that retain micro-mobility throughout life. At the other end, your sacrum sits between your pelvic bones, connected by the sacroiliac joints. This whole system—cranium to sacrum—moves together in a subtle, rhythmic motion.

The rhythm: This is the craniosacral rhythm (also called the cranial rhythmic impulse), a subtle expansion and contraction that happens about 6-12 cycles per minute. It's distinct from your heartbeat or breathing, though it's influenced by both.

When this system is flowing freely, your central nervous system is happy. But restrictions in the membranes, bones, or fascia can impede CSF flow and create tension patterns that affect everything from headaches to digestive issues to emotional regulation.

What Does a Session Actually Look Like?

Here's what makes craniosacral therapy unique: the touch is incredibly light—about the weight of a nickel (5 grams of pressure). We're not pushing, manipulating, or forcing anything. Instead, we're listening.

A typical session has you lying fully clothed on a massage table while I place my hands in various positions—under your sacrum, at the base of your skull, along your spine, cradling your head. I'm feeling for the craniosacral rhythm, meditating on the subtlest movements of your connective tissue, noticing where it's fluid and where it's restricted, and following your body's inherent wisdom about what needs to release.

The work operates on a simple principle: your body knows how to heal itself. My job isn't to "fix" you—it's to create conditions where your system can unwind the patterns it's been holding.

Sometimes this looks like a fascial release—a slow, organic unwinding of tissue restriction. Sometimes it's a "still point," where the rhythm pauses and the whole system recalibrates. Sometimes it's a spontaneous emotional release as the body lets go of stored trauma or stress.

The beauty of CST is that it works directly with your nervous system and fascia—the same systems we've been exploring in previous posts about the vagus nerve and dysautonomia. When we release restrictions in the craniosacral system, we're quite literally taking pressure off the central nervous system, allowing it to shift out of fight-or-flight and into rest-and-restore.

Science and Mysticism in Harmony

Here's where things get interesting—and where some practitioners might part ways with me, and that's okay.

The Upledger approach is anatomically grounded, evidence-based, and reproducible. It's brilliant, and it works. But in my years of practice, I've noticed something else happening during sessions—something harder to measure, but impossible to ignore.

Sometimes my hands are guided to places I wasn't planning to work. Sometimes I sense energetic patterns or blockages that don't have a clear anatomical correlate. Sometimes the session becomes less about cranial bones and CSF flow, and more about witnessing someone's nervous system find its way back to safety, or helping release something that's been stored in the tissue for years.

This is where my training in Visionary Craniosacral Work comes in—an approach that honors the anatomical foundation while also acknowledging the shamanic, energetic, and deeply intuitive dimensions of this work. It's craniosacral therapy that makes space for the mystery.

In Visionary work, we recognize that the body holds not just physical restrictions, but also stories, emotions, ancestral patterns, and what some might call spiritual or energetic imprints. We work with these layers not by abandoning anatomy, but by expanding our perception to include what's happening beyond the purely physical.

I'm still learning this approach, still integrating it with my Upledger foundation, still figuring out how to talk about it in a way that honors both the science and the sacred. What I can tell you is this: the work becomes richer when we allow for both. When we can track the fascia AND sense the energetic field. When we can palpate the craniosacral rhythm AND trust our intuition about what wants to emerge.

Why Your Brain Wants CST (Especially Now)

We're living in a time of chronic nervous system dysregulation. Most of us are operating in some degree of sympathetic overdrive or dorsal shutdown (remember our polyvagal friends?). Our bodies are holding stress, trauma, and tension in layers that talk therapy alone can't always reach.

Craniosacral therapy offers something unique: profound nervous system regulation through the gentlest possible intervention. It's bodywork for people who are touch-averse, too activated for deep tissue, or so exhausted that the thought of more "doing" feels impossible.

For my clients with hEDS, autoimmune conditions, chronic pain, or trauma histories—this work is medicine. It creates space for the nervous system to downregulate without force, for fascia to unwind without pain, for the body to remember what safety feels like.

And because the touch is so light and non-invasive, it bypasses a lot of the protective mechanisms that can make other bodywork challenging. Your nervous system doesn't perceive it as a threat, so it can actually let go.

What does downregulation feel like? Like taking off a tight shoe.

What to Expect (and What Not to Expect)

If you're curious about trying craniosacral therapy, here's what I want you to know:

It might feel like nothing is happening. That's okay. The work is subtle. You might feel warmth, tingling, pulsing, or deep relaxation. You might fall asleep. You might have emotions come up. Or you might just lie there wondering what the heck I'm doing. All of this is normal.

The effects often unfold over time. You might not feel dramatically different immediately after, but notice over the next few days that your sleep improves, your pain decreases, or you feel more grounded in your body.

It's not a magic bullet. Craniosacral therapy is one tool in the toolkit—powerful, yes, but most effective when combined with other supports (movement, breathwork, therapy, medical care, community).

Its effects compound with repetition. Kinda like acupuncture, I find CST follows a “reverse tolerance” principle – the more your body experiences this type of touch, the more readily it responds and the more deeply it works.

It requires presence. Unlike massage where you can zone out and let someone work on you, CST works best when you stay present and curious about what you're feeling. You're an active participant in your own unwinding.

The Invitation

Craniosacral therapy sits at this beautiful intersection of science and art, technique and intuition, doing and being. It's grounded enough for the skeptics and spacious enough for the mystics. It's work that honors the body's wisdom while supporting its natural healing capacity.

Whether you're dealing with chronic pain, recovering from trauma, managing a complex chronic illness, or just feeling generally disconnected from your body—this work offers a way back home. Gently. Slowly. At the pace your nervous system can actually integrate.

I'm honored to practice this work, and I'm excited to keep learning and evolving how I offer it. The foundation remains solid—anatomy, physiology, reproducible technique. But the invitation is to let the work be more than just technique. To let it be presence, witness, and partnership in your body's journey back to itself.

✨ Stay well, stay curious, and stay connected. ✨