Natural forces within us are the true healers. ~ Hippocrates
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is a gentle-touch healthcare method provided by Healing Presence, LLC, is based on the discovery 100 years ago of a previously undetected, subtle, cyclic micro-movement in the body. Decades of research by osteopathic physicians have demonstrated that when this movement is fully expressed in its natural state, many conditions tend to improve. BCST seeks to optimize this movement via light touch and other supportive strategies. The therapist’s intention is to create a supportive environment so that the client’s system generates therapeutic change from within, encouraging and enhancing the body’s own self-healing process.
This work is the art of deep listening to the subtle rhythms of the body, sensing and understanding that language, then appropriately responding to the body’s wisdom. It does not diagnose or challenge illness; rather it offers a non-invasive and gentle approach for direct experience of the inner self and the possibility for transmutation of old patterns of dis-ease.
The inter-connections of mind, body, and spirit are deeply acknowledged, as well as how the body reflects experiences and retains the memory of stress or trauma. (Most traumas leave memory in the body which can create pain, discomfort, and habitual behaviors.) BCST reduces the stress of the nervous system by accessing a deeper connection with your inner and outer resources. Your body spends energy maintaining these patterns which once served the system well, but may no longer be healthy. These patterns, physical or emotional, contain tremendous life force that can be integrated and utilized in a more beneficial way. When these habitual patterns that run our lives are interrupted, doors open to the hidden resources that reveal more creative options for living life. Stillness and silence lie at the heart of this experience. In stillness, we remember and reunite with more of who we really are. From a place of non-doing, the possibility of self-regulation and integration occurs.
BCST views the whole body as one fluid continuum. Awareness of your personal process is an integral part of the experience. It is an experiential exploration of felt sense — mental processes, feelings, emotions and physical sensations — and radical inclusion, the respect and reverence for all parts of the whole. In this approach, we, as human beings, are seen to be an expression of the wholeness of Life itself. Life is experienced as undivided and the human system is perceived to be an expression of this whole.
Learn more about the history of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.
For more in-depth understanding, please reference “An Overview of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy” by John Chitty, BCST, RPP.
*Used with permission of the authors, John and Anna Chitty, and freely available at www.energyschool.com.
** Thank you to Ruth Hill, BCST, LMBT, and John Chitty, BCST, RPP, who helped with portions of this content.