Getting help with CranioSacral Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, better known as PTSD.

I wrote a detailed article on what Craniosacral therapy is that appeared in “Natural Awakenings” in June of 2010 and can now be read on my website: bodymassageandbeyond.com. Here is a brief understanding of this amazing hands on manual therapy that I have been blessed to be doing for over twenty years. We understand that the body can hold tissue memory in the form of walled off chaotic energy from a physical and or emotional trauma that can hold the tissue of the body hostage. This can manifest itself as neuromuscular pain in any area of the body, including neck, back, jaw, joints, muscles, and bones as well as disfunction in organs and even brain. We know that the body is made up of a matrix of fascia that covers every nerve, bone, and organ of the body and that we are comprised of one fascial blanket from our head down to our toes. This chaotic energy attaches to the fascia. Therefore, when something happens to the foot, it can create an energetic pulling all the way up into the eye. Crazy!! So we look at PTSD as the body and brain under siege from a traumatic or repeated traumatic events. Because the stress level is high to begin with, it doesn’t take a lot to set it off. Picture that the brain is a ball of clay in your hand and you now start closing your hand and squeezing the ball of clay very tightly. The tighter the fist, the more stress the brain is under. Our goal is to use the bones of the Cranium as handles to access the fascial restrictions and release the grip and energetic holding patterns that are perhaps creating brain fog, difficulty reading, other compromised cognitive functions as well as physical pain and emotional imbalances.

We basically free up the body and brain to allow it to self regulate and heal.

A great clinical example of PTSD was a patient I worked on who had survived the Suri Lanka Tsunami. When he first came in, his eyes were half shut and he was like in a fog. He was sharing a hut on the beach with his girlfriend that was ten feet above sea level. When he woke up that morning, there was water on the matted floor. He thought that maybe the sink had backed up and then he looked out the window. That’s when he saw a terrifying site. The ocean had risen up 10 feet to the floor of the hut and the second wave was about to hit!! The only reason he survived was that he was a strong 6′ 4″ athlete and swimmer. He also saved the life of his girlfriend who was exhausted after 15 minutes of swimming in open water with debris and nothing to hold on to and rest. I’ll never forget the second session we had where I felt this wave of rising and falling in his chest and I asked him to come down with me and feel what I feel. I asked him what did that remind him of. He said that it was from the hours he was holding onto the tops of palm trees to rest between trying to swim to shore. We had 3 sessions together until I was able to fully free up all the trauma that was in his body. His eyes were fully open, he felt lighter and was thinking more clearly.