The Short Answer
Craniosacral therapy is practiced along a continuum. At one end is the biomechanical approach, which focuses on the movement of bones and tissues. At the other end is the biodynamic approach, which focuses on the most subtle movements of the unified fluid field of the body, a movement that has supported and expressed life in each of us since we began as an embryo.
Over the past 20 years or so, many craniosacral therapists have come to draw from anywhere along that continuum, depending on the client and the session. I work primarily from the biodynamic end. Here’s why, and what it looks like on the table.
How I Found My Way to Biodynamic
I grew up in a state park forest among redwoods and tall firs. I walked outside every day, learning the rhythms of the weather and the wild animals there. For a long time, that kind of learning went dormant in me. I became very academic, then spent years working with computers in a Bay Area cubicle.
One day I couldn’t turn my neck. That led to my first chiropractor visit and my first massages, and I was impressed by how much they helped. Over ten years later I had studied with some remarkable bodyworkers and lived at Esalen Institute, where I studied massage. My first teachers talked about energy running through the whole body, and they worked with it to reach the whole person, including a person’s emotional experience as well as physical being.
Then I took the Upledger Craniosacral 1 course, and it didn’t fit me well. I knew something else was possible so I kept my eyes and ears open. Through Ray Castellino’s Pre and Peri-natal Birth Trauma work, I learned about a Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy course led by Michael Shea. I took the five-day introduction and fell in love with this work.
What I Appreciate About the Upledger Approach
I want to be clear I value the Upledger approach. Dr. John Upledger, an osteopath, was the first to step away from teaching only to the medically licensed community, opening the door to bodyworkers trained in Rolfing, massage, and other healing-touch arts. He was first to popularize this work so that more people can study it and benefit from it.
For me, though, the Level 1 course I centered on a ten-step protocol repeated over and over, with a mechanical explanation and no time for talking about energy. I already knew there were more subtle foundations for what is going on and that’s what interested me most. I could take the more common Upledger path but I could see it would take me much longer than felt necessary by now. I sensed I could get there sooner with the right teacher.
What a Biodynamic Session Looks Like
Starting with the breath
I ask clients to take three or four deep, full breaths, letting the outbreath simply fall out without forcing it. This starts shifting the nervous system from an active, “in charge” state toward a more receptive one, supporting healing and recovery from stress.
Making space and listening
Next I usually start on the right or left side with one hand under the shoulder and one under the knee. I’m making space with my touch rather than putting anything into the body or directing energy. About 60 to 70 percent of my attention stays with my own body, so the client’s system can feel unforced by anything I do. My touch stays light (though some clients need deeper touch at times and I have more training to support that need if it’s there).
I generally follow a set of steps based on why someone came to see me. But at any point, a different place may start “talking” to me, asking for attention. I listen for signals that are hard to explain here – there may be a lack of movement that draws me somewhere, or a sense of tension – and I move my hands there.
The client stays in charge
I make sure clients know they can stop me if anything doesn’t feel right. This is their session.
The Inherent Treatment Plan
In biodynamic work, we follow what we call the “inherent treatment plan.” We listen to what the client’s body shows us and let that guide where we offer support, rather than assessing and treating the way a doctor would. We are not the experts on our clients’ bodies. We’re consultants offering a particular set of trained skills.
A Client Story: Tom
A few years ago, a man I’ll call Tom came to see me on his doctor’s recommendation. About eight weeks earlier he had been in a serious head-on collision that totaled his car. It wasn’t his fault, but his confidence was rocked. He was used to being physically active, “living life to its fullest” but and now he felt unnerved and unstable.
In sessions, Tom spoke rapidly and a lot, which got in the way of his intention to receive the work in stillness. There was a high, excited energy moving through him that he took as simply who he was. I suspected part of it was discomfort with being in his own skin, a kind of agitation.
As I followed what his body showed me through very light touch, he gradually settled, and I felt a lengthening through his whole body, top to toe. Here’s the best image I have for it. At the ocean’s surface there’s constant wave action. Go down maybe 500 feet and the movement is slower, but more whole and coherent. In most sessions, stillness is the doorway to that deeper, more potent flow. Tom’s quick talking was surface weather, and the sessions let him drop below it.
We met weekly for five weeks, then twice a month, then monthly for the last two months, about six months in all. At his final session, he announced he was ready to go to Mexico again, as he often had before the accident. He no longer felt unnerved or unstable, and he didn’t feel the need to return. He felt complete with his intention for seeing me.
Working Along the Continuum
Biodynamic is my primary orientation because I have an affinity for not intervening in a client’s energetic process. But the whole continuum of craniosacral practice is available to us, and I don’t rule out working in the biomechanical direction in the occasional, rare session when it’s appropriate.
With Gratitude to My Teachers
I’m grateful to the teachers who carry this lineage forward, including Franklyn Sills, Michael Shea, and Michael Kern, whose manuals I’d encourage anyone curious to read.
Curious What a Session Would Feel Like for You?
If you’d like to experience biodynamic craniosacral work, I’d love to hear from you. Sessions are unhurried, your body sets the pace, and you stay in charge the whole time. You’re welcome to book a session or email me a question.
