1. What is Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?
2. What is the difference between the biomechanical and biodynamic approaches?

What is Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?

Craniosacral Therapy

A Description of the Biodynamic Model

The Primary Respiratory System was discovered around the turn of the last century by an American Osteopath named William Garner Sutherland. Studying the sutures of the cranium (the joints where the bones of the skull connect to each other), he could not escape the conclusion that they were designed to accommodate movement, even though conventional anatomy stated that the sutures of the cranium were immovable. Yet, conventional physiology recognized no movement that would account for the engineering of the sutures in this fashion. Further investigation revealed that underlying the more obvious body rhythms such as respiration, intestinal peristalsis and the beating of the heart, lay a more subtle pulsation. This pulsation was expressed by certain structures and processes as the core of our being, which functioned coherently in such a way as to warrant being defined as a system in their own right.

Biologically, the Primary Respiratory System consists of the structured living water that makes up 70% of the adult body and nearly 98% when we were an embryo. The Primary Respiratory System seems to work basically as an ordering and self-correcting principle within the body, underlying the integrity of all the other systems of the body. Restrictions, either within the Primary Respiratory System itself or elsewhere in the body, disturb the motion of its fluid drive and tidal movements, diminishing our sense of well being and eventually leading to ill health. Dr. Sutherland saw the Primary Respiratory System as containing our fundamental life force, which he called the potency of ‘Breath of Life’. The fluctuation of the fluids within and around the brain and spinal cord, takes up the potency of the Breath of Life, distributing it throughout the rest of the body as a type of respiratory movement. As such, the Primary Respiratory System represents a bridge between conventional anatomy and physiology and its seemingly intelligent design. We are not normally aware of the motion of Primary Respiration, as it is subtle, but during treatment, clients sometimes become aware of it for the first time as they become more and more relaxed and still.

A common misconception is that Craniosacral Therapists work only with the head. In fact, treatment usually includes working with the whole the body. By detecting disturbances in the various motions of the Primary Respiratory System, the trained therapist is able to form an image of underlying trauma patterns and facilitate a therapeutic resolution. This is all done using a gentle touch, which does not so much manipulate or massage the body, as invite into action our inherent expression of health contained within the fluids.

The therapist acknowledges and reflects the client’s patterns of restriction or interference with their heart and their hands. This is rather like a counselor bringing awareness to their client by verbally reflecting behavioral or emotional patterns. The process of transforming these patterns may be accompanied by the expression of associated sensations, feelings and emotions. Feeling tones connected with the original trauma or injury are held in the fluids. The fluids may spontaneously decompress or decompensate as the stress dissipates throughout the body and its physiological systems. This allows the kinetic and emotional energy of the event, which has become inert or stuck in the fluids, to be contained and then transformed by the whole body when held in stillness by the therapist. Great care is taken to create a reasonable pacing and safe and secure therapeutic environment so that the process of resolution does not become stressful to the nervous system or the body. Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy encourages the body/mind to tell its own story through the fluids, rather than focusing on that day’s symptom presentation with a pre-ordained treatment regime or protocol.

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy has its roots in Osteopathy, but, in the past twenty years or so, has developed into a unique modality in its own right. The emphasis, in that time, has shifted from correcting structural problems, to include energetic, spiritual and emotional dimensions that give Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy an important role to play in the emerging paradigm of mind/body medicine. Using Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, we may approach the problem of etiology (causes) in a different way from conventional medicine. We can approach the living fluid process directly and, respecting its wisdom, listen for the answers we seek and witness the expression of our inherent health more fully.

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This article was adapted from “Listening to the Living Process” (2000) by Matthew Appleton, a Craniosacral Therapist living in England. It was edited by Michael J. Shea, PhD.

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References
Adapted from The Biodynamic Model of Osteopathy in the Cranial Field by John McPartland, DO, and Evelyn Skinner, DO, in EXPLORE, January 2005
(1, 1). pp 21-32

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