Innate Wisdom Craniosacral Therapy

03/02/2026

At the heart of this Craniosacral Therapy lies the art of presence and deep listening.
Through compassionate touch and attuned awareness, the therapist creates a safe, supportive space in which clients can explore their inner landscape—where memories, emotions, and tensions may quietly reside.

With gentle guidance, individuals are supported in releasing what no longer serves them and reconnecting with a sense of inner peace and alignment.

The transformative effects of Craniosacral Therapy often extend well beyond the treatment room, subtly influencing one’s relationship with oneself, others, and the wider world.

By fostering deep healing and self-awareness, this modality can nurture greater compassion, clarity, and empowerment, allowing its benefits to ripple naturally into everyday life.

02/02/2026

In the landscape of the healing arts, Craniosacral Therapy emerges as a gentle yet profound modality, attuned to the rhythmic pulsations of the body’s cerebrospinal fluid.

This therapeutic approach works with the delicate movements of the cranial bones, sacrum, and spinal cord, facilitating a quiet symphony of healing that supports the body’s innate intelligence and capacity for balance.

Originating in the early 20th century, Craniosacral Therapy finds its roots in the visionary work of osteopath Dr. William Sutherland.
Through careful observation and exploration, Dr. Sutherland discovered that the cranial bones possess subtle, inherent motion and that this movement plays a vital role in overall health and well-being.
His groundbreaking insights laid the foundation for a therapeutic approach that honours the body’s wisdom and its natural ability to self-regulate and heal.

At the core of Craniosacral Therapy lies the craniosacral system—an intricate network of cranial bones, the spinal cord, surrounding membranes, and cerebrospinal fluid.

This system expresses a gentle rhythmic motion, often referred to as the craniosacral rhythm, which reflects the body’s vitality and state of balance.
With skilled, attentive hands, the therapist listens to these subtle rhythms, supporting the body’s natural tendency toward harmony and integration.
The therapeutic touch of Craniosacral Therapy extends beyond physical structure, engaging the emotional and energetic dimensions of healing.

By recognising the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit, practitioners create a safe and supportive space in which stored tension, trauma, and emotions may gently release.
This process often fosters a deep sense of relaxation, peace, and inner coherence.

Much like the tides of the sea, Craniosacral Therapy navigates the unseen currents within the body, softening restrictions and restoring the natural flow of life force. In this way, the therapeutic process invites individuals to explore their inner depths and emerge renewed and rebalanced.

22/01/2026

The maxilla forms the center of the face —
paired bones, midline suture,
shaping the upper palate,
the floor of the orbit &
the walls of the nasal cavity

It is not a single function.
It is a meeting place.

The maxilla holds the upper teeth,
yet remains porous.
Sinuses hollow its body,
lightening the skull,
allowing resonance,
space for breath and voice.

It articulates with many —
zygoma, palatine, nasal, lacrimal,
ethmoid, frontal.
Connection is its form and function.

Fascia and mucosa line its surfaces.
The maxilla responds to pressure,
to swallowing,
to tongue posture,
to the slow forces of breath and gravity.

In extension maxilla narrows,
the palate lifts and Nasal airflow diminishes.
The eye orbit narrows
The face lengthens

When the maxilla goes into flexion
the midface softens.
The sinuses aerate.
The orbits feel supported from below.
Breath finds volume again.

This is not cosmetic —
this is orientation.

The maxilla is the bridge
between nourishment and perception.
What we take in
shapes how we see.
What we cannot receive
hardens into structure.

20/01/2026

Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is renowned for its gentle approach to healing and its deep, moving effects. It is a great tool to have at your disposal throughout pregnancy, during birth and beyond! The same light, healing touch that is used on adults can also be used on babies.

Many times pregnant mums come for CST after the first trimester presenting with lower back pain, aching legs and feet and a sense of discomfort. Other complaints often include water retention, constipation and occasional headaches or dizziness. These physical ailments can be addressed using CST.

The holistic approach of CST can be extremely powerful in connecting with the body’s innate ability to relieve imbalances, tensions, compressions and patterns of stress. During a session mums feel their bodies relax: they can now let go and sink into a deeper and more fluidic sense of being. Many times this experience can feel so moving that it helps mums to spontaneously connect with the baby within them. This can foster a new awareness of the connection and relation between mother and baby.

Craniosacral therapists are skilled at tuning into the connective tissue of the body. This can relax intrauterine pressures, making more space for the growing baby to get into an optimal position for birth. It can also help to release tensions on the spine while supporting the Central Nervous System (CNS) and letting the very important cranial nerves flow at ease. This is of great significance as soft muscle and tissue tone is essential for a smooth pregnancy and easy birth. A soft and connected CNS will help mum and baby to feel spacious, connected, nourished and essentially relaxed.

Once the CNS reaches its crucial state of ease, connection and flow, homeostasis can be aimed for. Homeostasis is the condition where the internal environment is perfectly balanced and still. At this point a balance of hormones, PH, temperature and other vital body systems can begin to be reached starting from within each cell and integrating all the major organs and systems of the body.
After a course of CST sessions mums to be often feel more in tune with their bodies and better prepared for the process of giving birth. The healing experience of CST sets them on the path for a calm, centred and relaxed approach to the birthing process. In this state of mind, the body is relaxed, in optimum health and full of energy and vitality.

Once the baby is born, follow up sessions are highly recommended, as the gentle approach of CST is ideal during this sensitive and emotional time.

After a difficult birth babies can present signs of stress, which of course will translate onto their mum’s sense of ease and wellness. In these cases the healing journey during sessions would be a three person process: mum, baby and therapist. Healing takes place at a soft and nurturing pace, letting mums and babies come back to a state of ease, stillness, rediscovering the original nurturing healthy relationship between the baby and its mum.

By Alfredo Hunter

06/01/2026

In the practice of Craniosacral Biodynamics we rely on our ritual of contact to provide a safe holding space for our clients. We use words to negotiate each step. But words are not always necessary, they can get in the way of our hands. Touch is a language of its own. We understand touch long before we understand words. So trust hands to negotiate touch with touch rather than depending on the cognitive faculties behind spoken language.
Bee - 072 1530 930

31/12/2025

09/12/2025

Craniosacral Therapy: Natural Medicine’s Antidote to Anxiety & Stress
Posted on August 26, 2016
Racing heart. Constricted breathing. Tense shoulders. Shaking hands. Churning stomach. Pounding head.

Anxiety and stress put your mind and body through the wringer. Originally evolved to help us respond to danger, the stress response has become a danger itself when we constantly react to environmental factors that our bodies perceive as threats.

“In our world we are surrounded by chronic stressors,” says osteopathic physician John Upledger, a pioneer of craniosacral therapy as a technique for releasing disruptive energy from the nervous system. “Many [of these stressors] have to do with vibrational frequencies: sounds, lights, colors, aromas, magnetic fields, electrical fields, barometric pressure changes and so on.”

Because we aren’t actually in danger, the stress hormones produced in anticipation of the fight-or-flight response are left swimming in our bloodstream with nowhere to go. As a result, stress becomes trapped inside our bodies. Anxiety, a pathological reaction to chronic or traumatic stress, may set in.

“When people experience anxiety it is an emotional response to various triggers often based in long-rooted beliefs,” says psychotherapist Lynn Louise Wonders. “When we have emotional responses to anxiety-provoking experiences and this emotion cannot be expressed in a way that is healthy, this emotion is remembered or stored in the tissues of the body, the muscles, bones and organs.”

When stress or anxiety lingers in your body, it blazes a path of silent devastation. Cortisol suppresses your immune system, compromising your ability to fight disease. It also increases the rate of tissue damage your body sustains, as all of your available resources are being siphoned off to support the fight-or-flight mechanism. Research suggests stress is responsible for 60 percent of all human disease, and three in four doctor visits are for stress-related problems.

Other health conditions related to stress or anxiety include:

High blood pressure
Heart disease
Increased weight gain
Reduced bone density
Chronic pain
Digestive problems
Depression and mental illness
“Ironically, our own biology—which was designed to insure our survival as hunters and gatherers—is sabotaging our bodies and minds in a sedentary digital age,” says Psychology Today. “What can we do to defuse this time-bomb?”

How Craniosacral Therapy Releases Stored Emotion
MassageTherapyCraniosacralKanaOne of the ways to release stored emotion from your muscles and tissues is to seek bodywork. If you reside in the Portland-metro or surrounding areas, we welcome you to visit our natural medicine clinic. Massage releases muscle tension, which is one of the most common results of stored emotion.

Craniosacral therapy is another type of bodywork that can bring profound healing from stress and anxiety. Your craniosacral system is responsible for circulating the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds your brain and spinal cord. This crucial fluid bathes your brain in nurturing glucose and helps keep your central nervous system fed, clean and stable.

It also transports hormones, neurotransmitters and releasing factors that help govern your body’s reaction to its environment. “The crazier your environment, the harder it has to work,” says craniosacral instructor Paul Brown.

The flow of cerebrospinal fluid has its own subtle tidal rhythm that’s separate from—but influenced by—your heartbeat and breathing. When this tide becomes impeded, often because of physical or emotional trauma, the fluid can stagnate, leading to even more emotional stuckness. Stress, for example, can reduce the production of cerebrospinal fluid by as much as 30 percent.

By gently manipulating the cranium and sacrum (head and pelvis), our Portland natural medicine practitioners can stimulate the flow of fluid and help release blockages that keep emotions trapped in the body. This practice, known as craniosacral therapy, stems from osteopathy, or the ancient art of bone setting. Practitioners are taught to “listen with their hands” for the subtle rhythm and apply gentle manual techniques that increase mobility and circulation within the craniosacral system.

Craniosacral therapy is an important part of natural medical care. Our Portland patients often find it induces a deep state of relaxation in which healing from stress and anxiety can occur. By reducing the body’s stress response, it also helps rebalance the nervous system and optimize the production of precious cerebrospinal fluid.

“When people experience craniosacral therapy, the body relaxes, the brain activities slow down and the ego with its defense mechanisms gets out of the way,” Wonder says. “The stored emotions often will surface for the purpose of release and healing.”

Patients may also experience sensations such as:

Pain relief
Sense of peace
Feeling of expansion in mind or body
Sleepiness or a sleep-like state
Involuntary twitches
Altered state of being
What You Can Do to Release Stress and Anxiety
MassageTherapyCraniosacralIf you’re suffering from chronic stress or anxiety, there are a variety of bodywork techniques you can do at home to interrupt the cycle. One involves inducing the “still point,” a technique taught by our Portland natural medicine practitioners.

By temporarily restricting the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, known as the still point, you can cause a buildup that, when released, gently flushes out the system as the fluid starts to flow again. You can self-induce the still point using two tennis balls packed tightly into an athletic sock that’s knotted on the open end—or buy a specialized device online.

Place the still point inducer under your head, in line with your ears, and relax, letting the full weight of your head settle on the device for 10 to 20 minutes. Most people can use this technique up to four times a day. It’s perfectly safe except in cases of internal bleeding in the head, acute stroke, acute head trauma or a brain stem tumor.

For additional help managing stress and anxiety in your life, visit Heart Spring Health’s Portland natural medicine clinic for a craniosacral therapy appointment. Your visit will begin with a brief face-to-face conversation about what’s ailing you. Then you’ll lie on a massage table, either fully or lightly clothed, while your provider performs manual massage techniques primarily on your head, pelvis and chest.

If strong emotions or memories surface during the bodywork, it means the therapy is working on a deep level. Telling your practitioner what you’re experiencing during treatment can help support the process. Our massage therapists are trained to hold a safe space for you to explore what’s being released as you journey toward long-term healing.

PortlandMassageTherapistTalula Kana, LMT

08/12/2025

The subtle power of fascia seems to finally be getting the media attention it deserves! Our skilled therapists will be able to feel and feedback on your body's 'holding patterns', helping you release aches and pains, even from injuries received decades earlier.

'Fascia, the connective tissue that holds together the body’s internal structure, really hasn’t spent all that long in the limelight. Anatomists have known about its existence since before the Hippocratic oath was a thing, but until the 1980s it was routinely tossed in the bin during human dissections, regarded as little more than the wrapping that gets in the way of studying everything else. - Physically, it’s made up of collagen, though 70% of it is actually water – and it hydrates through compressive movement, which pumps fluid through the fascial layers, keeping them supple and gliding smoothly. It also contains nerve endings that allow it to sense movement, pressure and temperature – and can influence posture, movement and proprioception. “It’s constantly talking to the brain about what the body feels,” says Kilian. “It’s not a thin layer – it’s a massive, functional sensory organ system that holds us together.”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/nov/24/secrets-of-the-body-what-is-fascia-health-foam-roller