The Art Of Craniosacral Therapy
William Garner Sutherland D.O. (1873-1954). His 54 year epic journey began when, through Divine Providence, he noticed, that the cranial sutures of the temporal bones were “beveled like the gills of a fish” indicating the ability for movement with the parietal bones, allowing for expansion and contraction. He was an Osteopathic physician and the founder of Cranial Sacral therapy. Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of the first Osteopathic school in America, was the inspiration for Dr. Sutherland’s epic journey. Both doctors believed, that the bones of the skull could move. It was controversial within the medical community then, as it is controversial today. Dr. Sutherland was a deeply spiritual man and later described the origins of the breath of life , a term we revere in this work ,from the Book of Genesis 2:7. This later became the foundational believe of Cranial Osteopathy
Dr. William Garner first began investigating this semi-closed hydraulic cranial sacral system in 1901. The three systems of cranial work are called mechanical, the functional and biodynamic model. They are comprised of the spine, the skull, its cranial sutures, diaphragms, and the fascia of the body. The cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) moves through the spinal cord and body.The Mechanical model is the most dramatic. The functional moves on to less intervention. And the biodynamic is the least amount of intervention. My own studies began with motion testing of the Mechanical model and then moved on to the biodynamic model.
Dr. Sutherland’s work at first, was largely rejected by the mainstream osteopathic profession. He began to teach this work to other osteopaths from about the 1930s until his death in 1954. Craniosacral therapy comes under attack even today because it lacks supposed authenticity and offers no scientific support. I find this laughable, Dr. Rollin Becker, DO, was Dr. Sutherland’s most accomplished protege, who quit his normal practice of osteopathy after 20 years, to spend the last 35 years of his practice performing nothing but craniosacral osteopathy. His work was founded on its efficacy to deal with a myriad of painful issues. He would have been out of business if it didn’t work!
Remember when people said the earth was flat. Shamans have used methods that were unsubstantiated for thousands of years. Just think about Copernicus and Galileo, look what happened to them. Disbelievers are always looking for some reason to disbelieve. I have made a wonderful living without the benefit of third party insurance I can assure you that it’s happened only because of the efficacy of the work. I am not one of these alternative therapists who believe it’s important to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I do believe that all strong spokes make up the most efficient wheel and there are too many wonderful benefits of modern medicine to throw it out. Only an idiot holds that doctrine. Conversely, the modern medical system needs to pay more attention to alternative medicine that works beautifully for so many chronic pain issues and complaints.
Towards the end of his life, Dr. Sutherland began to sense a “power” which generated homeostatic responses within the clients’ bodies without any influence from his hands. This discovery changed his entire treatment focus to one of spiritual reverence and subtle touch. He told his students to touch without touching. To be still and know. This spiritual approach to the work is now know as both ‘biodynamic’ craniosacral therapy and ‘biodynamic’ osteopathy, and has had great influence from practitioners such as Rollin Becker, James Jealous (biodynamic osteopathy), and Franklyn Sills (biodynamic craniosacral therapy) who I studied with in the UK for two years.
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