Silence Please!

Silence Please!

by | Mar 7, 2021 | Anxiety, Babies and Young Children, Back, Children, Craniosacral Therapy, Depression, Emotions, Mental health, Neck, Pain, Relaxation, Shoulder, Stress, Stress Relief, Worry

There is often a perception that a Craniosacral Therapy session should be silent! I suppose it comes from the need to move towards stillness. Dynamic stillness is profound and holds many of the answers that we seek. However, stillness is not the goal for everyone and every session.

People and their needs vary hugely, so there are no shoulds when it comes to noise. One session is often very different to the last and requirements can change within moments. Your experience of Craniosacral Therapy is likely to be very different therefore to your friend’s. That is, just because you spend most of your session time in stillness and silence, doesn’t mean that its right or best for your sister/dad/next-door neighbour.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

  1. Sometimes, the system needs to settle into stillness

Of course, a silent environment is usually ideal here. However, is complete silence realistic or always best? I have worked in many clinics and there is always noise of some kind….. buses pulling away or sirens from outside when I worked in a London clinic, noises from the chiropractor clicking and crunching in the room next door or babies crying when I worked in a multi-disciplinary clinic.  It goes with the territory. 

I work from home and I live in a village, so generally speaking it is pretty quiet here (people often comment about this). However, although of course every effort is made to create a peaceful and calm environment and various measures are in place to help ensure, I cannot guarantee absolute silence ever. Sometimes the postman rings on the doorbell or there’s a noise from upstairs for example.

People who are really settled and resourced, will not notice or care about the odd noise. Others who are struggling to settle perhaps or whose nervous system is easily startled, may find them acutely annoying or that it takes them a while to really settle again afterwards.

The truth is, with life, there is noise and observing the way we respond (or not) to outside influences tells us a lot about what is going on inside us.

Interestingly, some guided meditation programs will progress from peace onto an environment with intentional ‘interruptions’ placed here and there. They do this to challenge your nervous system and see how it is for you to stay in the ‘rest and digest’ in spite of the noises. It helps train your nervous system out of fight, flight or freeze essentially, so helps that overall ability to be calm.

2. Is it good to sleep during my session then?

It might be just what your system needs. A lot of releasing can occur in sleep. However, it might also be a way of your system dissociating from what is going on.  If this is the case, I will work with you feel safe enough to stay present (and awake!). Its all about getting the best from your session.

3. When new people come to see me, they often struggle to find safety (either inside or outside of their bodies)

Until safety is established, the nervous system cannot settle and healing cannot occur.  I work with my clients in order for them to find safety wherever they can. Sometimes, taking the client’s attention away from their body feels better (safer) and creates an environment for more progress. In time, we work towards finding safety within their bodies.  There are a lot of different techniques used in order to work towards safety.  This can take time and will involve lots of verbal intervention. Finding safety in the body is always a big deal! And subsequent discussion about what the client can feel in their body can really help things progress. Stillness is further down the line.

4. I find the silence unsettling

I’m used to silence but it can feel weird or scary to some people, especially when they’re in a new environment. Sometimes safety comes in the form of reassurance and conversation. If you are happier talking, then lets do that and see how we go.I often mention things that I can feel happening in the client’s body if I think they will be interested or if I am helping them to engage more with what is going on inside them. 

This can really help the process of connection, presence and embodiment. At times, the client having their attention directly on the process can assist any releasing.

5. Memories (traumatic or otherwise) are coming up for me and I want to tell you

If you want to share what is going on for you, please do.  It can often help.

6. I’ve got a lot going on and I need to talk to you

You are very welcome to tell me about what is troubling you if you would like to.  It can be helpful to your session. I will intervene if feel that it is detrimental to your session.

7. I know my sessions help my back/neck/shoulder/knee pain whether we stay quiet or not, and I quite like our chats!

The most important thing for me is that you get the most from your session. I have a fair few clients who chat for a lot of their session (often about random things) and their systems adjust and release all the while.  That is all good!

8. What about kids?

They are not dissimilar to adults in that they vary a lot! Safety is key here too. Helping your child to feel at home is my main priority. Expecting toddlers to lay still on the treatment table for example is ridiculous, so we use a toy box, books, cuddles with a parent, even a screen can help the settling process.

Summary

Hopefully that gives you a little overview as to how people’s needs vary so much and hence why the approach can vary so much. What’s good for one client, could be unhelpful for another. Your needs may change from one moment to the next. Its not about judgement, my job is to assess your needs as an individual as best I can and guide you accordingly.

If you have questions about any of this, please do ask – Sarah 07956 390419.

What is Craniosacral Therapy and what’s it like?

What is Craniosacral Therapy and what’s it like?

by | Sep 17, 2020 | Anxiety, Babies, Babies and Young Children, Birth, Colic, Craniosacral Therapy, Mental health, Pain, Reflux, Relaxation, Stress, Stress Relief, Uncategorized, Worry

Hi, I’m Sarah.  My first experience of Craniosacral Therapy (CST) was when I took my my newborn baby to get help for her colic and reflux many years ago. It was amazing to watch!  I could ‘see’ the tension build up in her body and then disappear, as if like magic and I knew I needed to know more. After doing some research, I decided to change career and I started the three year training at the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust (CTET) in London.

At the time, I had no idea of the full potential of the therapy.  All I really knew was that it helped newborns, but my eyes were soon opened to the profound and powerful effect it often has on people of all ages.

We all hold unresolved survival energy, or trauma in our bodies. This often has a fundamental effect on our ability to function in a balanced, healthy way and can have far reaching consequences on our physical and mental health. CST was originally developed from osteopathy and therapists are trained to create a listening, neutral, supportive, nurturing, resourced space for their client. Then, using a very gentle hands on approach, they work with the inherent treatment plan of their client’s system in order to facilitate the shifting and ultimately the release of the unresolved trauma / tension held in the body. People often say that having Craniosacral Therapy is like being listened to and held like never before. 

My three year training was transformative for me, although it wasn’t always easy. To see such a powerful therapy working all around me was enthralling, but I soon discovered that I was uncomfortable accessing my own needs.  This was unfamiliar to me, I had spent most of life nursing other people and I was really scared about how ugly / scary / monstrous releasing my ‘unresolved stuff’ would be!  I mean seriously, what if I had a nervous breakdown or I couldn’t stop crying for a month!? I had buried all that stuff away for good reason!

Of course, if I wanted to practice CST authentically (which seemed the only way with a therapy built on such deep trust and safety), I had to be prepared to do the work on myself.

What I then discovered through receiving CST myself was that a qualified and experienced practitioner is practiced at helping the client access their resources and will support them through the process of trauma release, whilst ensuring that it takes place at a pace that feels okay for them. Safety, safety, safety. To allow the system to be overwhelmed would be counter productive. When the client feels safe and held by their therapist, they make great progress.  That is to say, I discovered that even my stuff wasn’t scary when released little by little, with support.

So, I graduated in 2011 and set up Cranio Kent.  I really love every day of my work and I’m proud to say that my practice is now one of the busiest and most well respected in Kent. The core of my practice is my hands on work (clinics are in East Malling village and Kings Hill), but in 2019, I was registered as a supervisor which means that I mentor and support other therapists now also. I have always been a registered member of the Craniosacral Therapy Association (CSTA) and work within their code of ethics and I also spent a number of years working as a tutor at the CTET’s teaching clinic in London. 

Whilst of course I work with physical pain a lot and I love working with babies, I find that I am drawn most to work with anxiety. 

It is my firm belief that as human beings, we all have the natural capacity to recover from overwhelming experiences.  CST encourages the system to do just that.  As your therapist, we are not the wounded and the healed, we are equals. I continue on my journey too, I may just be a little further down the road than you are.

If you’d like to understand more or have chat about whether CST is likely to help you, then please give me a call (07956 390419) / or email me sarah@craniokent.co.uk