What is Craniosacral Massage?

What is Craniosacral Massage?

What is Craniosacral Massage?

Many people call me asking for Craniosacral Massage. The first thing I do is listen to why a person wants to come in.

People speak about their health issues, and often state that they have heard about Craniosacral Massage. Yet they don’t really know what it is. It’s important to me to take the time to explain the foundational basics,  and then to make sure they question and understand if this work is a good match for what they are looking for.

So I do want to start by clarifying that Craniosacral Therapy is not actually “Massage”. Instead, it is a light touch manual therapy with a very different focus. It’s based on the Craniosacral System and how it relates primarily to the Nervous System. Just to name a few, it’s great for people dealing with:

 

  1. Chronic Pain
  2. Headaches/Migraines/Concussions
  3. Fibromyalgia
  4. People looking for Body Centered Help with Trauma Release
  5. Scoliosis
  6. TMJ
  7. Anxiety

You can find out more on the Cleveland Clinic site:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/17677-craniosacral-therapy

or through the Upledger Institute.

Also, there is a big difference between practitioners and therapists. Practitioners may have taken a class, whereas therapists going through a rigorous process to get certified through the Upledger Institute are much more thorough and deep into the work.

While the touch of Craniosacral Therapy is very light and simple in a way, there is actually alot of complex anatomy and techniques to learn, as well as taking the time to gain experience in order to become a professional and  helpful therapist.  So if you are looking for a qualified person to meet your needs, ask them about their backgrounds and specilties.

I love Craniosacral Therapy because it can help almost everyone. Craniosacral Therapy is also attentive and gentle-yet profound.  It nudges the body into self-healing and deeper awareness. There are a few contraindications, but for the most part everyone can appreicate a healthier nervous system, more balance and fluidity through their bodies.

If you would like to find out more about Craniosacral Therapy, not craniosacral massage, please contact me and I offere free 10 minute phone consults.

Warmly,

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Serving the Columbus Ohio Area

6797 N. High St. #333

Worthington, Ohio 43085

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craniosacral massage
Neck and Back Pain Specialist Found!

Neck and Back Pain Specialist Found!

healing neck pain

Releasing Neck and Back Pain

Pain along the spine can arise from many different reasons. Some of these triggers can be serious and some can be helped tremendously with manual therapy. If you are experiencing, for example, problems with your bladder, infection, inflammation, or severe acute pain, go see your physician of course.

Quite often pain can come from misalignment, muscle tension, torsion in the fascial patterning, or overdoing a certain activity which creates tension. If the problem is structural, Craniosacral Therapy can be super helpful.

Craniosacral Therapy is much more of a listening therapy than a deeply aggressive type of bodywork. Have you ever gone for a massage and the pressure hurt and the tissues did not soften?  Did you find yourself sore afterwards?

What’s great about Craniosacral Therapy is that, we as therapists. listen to the body tissues and allow them to show us the way into the dysfunctional patterns. There is no forcing, so the body doesn’t have to fight back. It’s much easier to access the tissues in the neck and spine this way for relief.

If you are struggling with neck and/or back pain, check out www.upledger.com.  Usually, there is a way to free up the neck and back for more mobility and health. Give yourself an opportunity to move into health with gentle support.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

 

 

 

Build a Quality Life Worth Living

Build a Quality Life Worth Living

Choosing Quality

Pain usually gets a bad wrap.  However, have you ever considered that Pain is the body’s ally when it comes to telling you something needs to change?  

As a Craniosacral Therapist, I often touch a person with light or medium pressure, and they’ll surprisingly tell me that they were not aware of a pain in a certain part of their body.  When I used to do deeper Structural Integration Work, people would make faces as they realized how much hurt they were living with inside on a daily basis. The body is quite wise and can usually manage simple healing well. However, what I am talking about is the embedded chronic isolated pain some of us experience, and not ever knowing how to move it through its natural cycle of completion. 

When we get stuck in pain, the body shouts “pay attention”. Yet we may not know how to heal.  Often parents or friends after time will say,  “get over it” or they lack sympathy because they don’t understand the suffering that can accompany chronic pain.  However, we didn’t necessarily ever learn or know how to deal the pain. Instead-we did our best and eventually learned to ignore these precious signals in our body telling our brain something is missing.  But the sensations are still buried there, even when we go numb. The wound festers.

Somatic Emotional Release Work helps us to understand that there are pathways to feeling better.  Working with people for close to 30 years, All the time, I see people rising to find their well of deep resources to heal. Their own mindfullnes and body awareness allows them to travel deep within and to gently lean into the soft pain and release it. In very basic terms, changing our mindset to how we approach healing our pain and feeling it can transform it completely.

Being human, we meet pain many times in our lifetimes. But that doesn’t mean that we have to continue to carry it with us forever.  Whether it emotional or a physical disturbance, meet your pain and find an easier way to move through life.  Many people who look toward body centered work find deep release and feel better in their bodies.

You are Worth Living a Quality Life

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com 

 

Young people and older people are getting forward neck posture. All the computers and the cell phones contribute greatly. But also all the sitting Americans do. It’s not good. If I had to do it again, I’d start squatting and learn yoga or pilates early on. I’d make them a life practice. But life being what it is in our culture- our postures are often misaligned as we get older. But there are things we can do to have more freedom of motion.

In my opinion, massage can help. But someone who specializes in fascia is the best bet. The fascia wraps around and through everything in the body superficially to the deep. From macro to micro and reversed. It’s a living tissue that contains and keeps us alive and in motion. When we nourish the fascia and help it remember its ability to be vital, pain can disappear.

I have clients in their 50’s and on up. They can hardly move their necks when they first come in. They are told it is arthritis. Well, they may have arthritis, but it’s the tissues that restrict or allow motion. It’s the fluids dancing with the structure that makes the change. If things can start to soften, spread and move, the bones can be adjusted or perhaps move back on their own. It’s like a wrapping. If it’s tight and stiff- how does life nourish or relinquish what it no longer needs?

Of course there are minerals, vitamins, PT and other things which can help (all part of the HELP team), but the fascia is key. People, whose doctors tell them it’s arthritis often don’t talk about the benefits of fascial work. I think this is a big mistake not including it in health protocols. In addition, learning Feldenkrais, Continuum and other movement exercises that are gentle can be essential and really help too. People don’t have to stay stuck or frozen internally. At any age, we can make choices that will help us. It may not correct the issue 100%, but it can make a huge difference.

Friends, move yourself in different ways. Be proactive with your health. We all have habits that aren’t easy to break, and when this happens- there is always someone out there with skill and experience who is willing to help. It may take time and patience. Take care-no matter which route you take.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
7035091792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

The Importance of Feeling Understood.

The Importance of Feeling Understood.

Understood

What’s it like to be understood? Our names are a lable that identify us. I am not usually one who likes to be labeled. But there is something so vital about being witnessed, understood and heard that feels so important to our human nature. With Craniosacral Therapy, touch is also about melding and blending while listening to a person’s Central Nervous System. When the person is met, something alive and deeper awakens. It’s that place where we long to be recognized and finally are in a very sensory way understood.

Human beings are meant to be touched and understood. Craniosacral Therapy is such a great system to reflect this back. It’s so gentle and compassionate. One reason I switched my main focus into Craniosacral Therapy was because it brought so much more peace to my system.

I see this all the time with my clients as well. It may take one session to feel understood by others and ourselves. Or it may be many depending on the life circumstances. But it is oh so helpful in helping the body to deeply relax.

To find out more about Craniosacral Therapy, and SomatoEmotional Work, check out the Upledger Institute.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Serving Columbus Ohio area

 

CST and Energy Healing Blog

Give Yourself the Best: Why Not?

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,What is the Best Life You Can Live? First, in your best life,  you would have to know what you want, and what you deserve. I am not necessarily speaking about material things, although those can be part of the equation. But those things are the afterthought. What...

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