Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a form of bodywork that uses light touch (no massage or manipulation) and holds that are anatomically specific. Through understanding the anatomical connections in the body, BCST therapists are trained to feel and know how healthy spinal fluid, fascia, muscles, bones, and organs move and communicate with each other.
As research into pain science continues to show, physical pain is not as straightforward as damaged tissue = pain, repaired tissue = no pain. Pain lingers even when anatomically nothing is ‘wrong’. This can be due to emotional factors or over-sensitized, overprotective nerve signals. In the case of acute injury or chronic pain, light cranial touch can initiate healing at a pace that respects the body’s natural rhythms and gently re-educates a confused or overly alert nervous system.
In geography, they use the term “desire lines” to describe routes that are unplanned but used in preference to an established or dictated path—a path that is created by free will and the wishes of feet. I like to think of cranio sessions as a way of creating space for desire lines to be forged, discovered, and explored in a nervous system that is stuck in pain pathways or patterns of fight or flight.
By approaching touch in a way that is trauma-informed, BCST has also been found very beneficial for individuals living with anxiety, PTSD, burnout, and chronic stress. If the body has become a painful, foreign, scary, or unpleasant place, BCST aims to rebuild a feeling of safety in your physiology, helping you come back into a positive relationship with your own substance, your own flesh, and blood.
“Do that to me, do that to my anatomy”