A Somatic Approach to Healing Trauma, Pain, and Disconnection | Columbus, OH
By Sharon Hartnett, LMT, CST-D — with Hakomi and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy training
I never expected to become a craniosacral therapist. Like many people, I started with a desire to help others feel better — but I hadn’t yet discovered the kind of work that would change me, and support others from the inside out.
In the early days I briefly began with massage therapy. It taught me the importance of touch, but something felt missing; it didn’t move me in a way that felt meaningful. So I moved into Structural Integration, a bold and powerful way to realign the body. I learned to see and feel the fascia and understand the interconnection within. The results were visible, but the work was very assertive, and over time it wore on my own body. I needed something more sustainable, more nourishing. Bodyworkers need to listen to their own bodies with care, so they can do the same for others.
What I found was craniosacral therapy. Or maybe it found me.
The Gentle Work That Goes Deep
When I first encountered CST in 2003, I was skeptical. I practiced mostly Barbara Brennan’s energy work and deep fascial work in an embodied, somatic way, and I didn’t yet understand the brain and spinal anatomy of the craniosacral system. I hadn’t heard much about it until I received it myself from a craniosacral therapist in McLean, Virginia, named Suzanne. She was something else. I felt deeply nourished, and my internal environment began to shift in a new way. I wondered: could something this gentle really create meaningful change?
As I trained, practiced, and received sessions myself, I saw just how powerful CST was — especially paired with somatic awareness. It supported not just the body but the whole person. I watched people soften, unwind, and remember who they were beneath my hands as we worked with the pain, the anxiety, the disconnection.
This work changed me too. It taught me the power of the feminine in healing — how to listen rather than fix, to support rather than push, to witness rather than direct. I’ve come to trust that real healing happens when we make space for what’s already inside someone to emerge. It’s the balance between empty listening and emerging movement that creates powerful change. It’s the blend.
After a session, people often say: “I didn’t know I could feel this relaxed.”
That deep nervous-system settling is more than a nice feeling. It’s a gateway. In that stillness the body begins to unwind old trauma. Emotions surface and release. Thoughts become clearer. Pain softens.
But it’s not always instant. Believe it or not, some people are so unfamiliar with peace and deep relaxation that it takes a few days — or a few sessions — for the benefits to truly land. That’s understandable in the stressful lives we live. Healing isn’t linear, and it’s never one-size-fits-all. It’s a relationship between your body, your story, and the presence of someone who knows how to listen. Everyone shifts at their own pace. Usually it takes about five sessions to feel the work making a big impact.
Healing Is Personal: Stories From the Table
One woman came to me after surviving abuse. For the first ten sessions I didn’t touch her. I sat a few feet away — listening, witnessing, letting her body begin to feel safe again. Slowly, her system began to tremble, release, and open. We weren’t just releasing trauma; we were helping her relationship with her own body heal. It was beautiful and full of grace. Eventually we were able to do minimal hands-on craniosacral work.
Another client came in with serious concussion symptoms she’d been living with for two years. Her thinking was foggy, her balance off, and she was highly sensitive to light. After ten sessions, her clarity returned. A few months later she enrolled in yoga teacher training — and today she’s a craniosacral therapist herself. An amazing one, honestly.
There was also a woman in hospice care with a terminal cancer diagnosis. I saw her weekly for six months, using only the lightest touch. The doctors had given her six months to live. Months later she was still alive, and eventually the doctors told her children the cancer had gone. I don’t claim to know what happened. But I do know that something in her body responded to being met with gentleness — and to her own inner wisdom. Something in her chose to live, with all the help around her.
These stories aren’t about miracles. They’re about what happens when someone finally feels safe, seen, and supported on every level. There are so many possible outcomes.
Why Somatic Presence Matters
Craniosacral therapy works deeply with the nervous system, fascia, and energetic body. Combined with somatic therapy — the Hakomi method, Upledger dialogue, and trauma-informed techniques — it becomes even more powerful.
In my sessions I guide people to sense what’s happening inside: not just the symptoms, but the felt sense beneath them. I ask gentle questions. I reflect what I see. I stay in curiosity, letting each person’s own inner wisdom lead the way.
This isn’t about fixing. It’s about remembering and reconnecting. It’s a powerful process of self-discovery.
But… Does It Really Work?
People sometimes ask, “Can such a light touch actually do anything?”
It’s a fair question, especially in a culture that prizes doing, pushing, and proving. But the body doesn’t need to be forced to heal. It needs to be listened to. Its inner wisdom needs to be ignited to do the powerful work it’s capable of. I explain the mechanics in What Does Craniosacral Therapy Do?
There’s science behind CST, yes — but more importantly, there’s your own experience. I always say: try four to six sessions and see how you feel. The proof is in your body, not in statistics.
An Invitation to Come Home to Yourself
Whether you’re carrying trauma, living with chronic pain, struggling to sleep, or just feeling off — there is hope. And you don’t have to go through it alone.
In my Columbus-area practice, I offer craniosacral therapy informed by decades of somatic training and real-life experience. I’ve worked with women, men, teens, and children. Sensitive people. Stressed-out people. People trying to heal from what they’ve never been able to name.
If you’re ready to feel more like yourself again — more relaxed, more present, more whole — I invite you to come in. Not for a fix. For a beginning.
Because healing isn’t about becoming someone new.
It’s about remembering who you are.
Ready to feel better? I’m Sharon Hartnett, a Diplomate-Certified Craniosacral Therapist (CST-D) through the Upledger Institute, with about 30 years of experience listening to the body and helping it heal. My office is in Worthington, Ohio, and I serve the greater Columbus area.
If you’re curious whether this gentle work is right for you, I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation. Call or text me at (614) 653-8111.
Learn more about craniosacral therapy in Columbus, read answers to common questions about craniosacral therapy, or find out how to choose the best craniosacral therapist for you.
