Fascia can be seen as the soft tissue skeleton of your body; that which simultaneously provides stability and flexibility to your body structure, on a micro level and as a whole. It separates everything into parts and is, at the same time, the whole. The name connective tissue reasonably covers the essence. It encompasses, penetrates, and buffers other tissue ecosystems and organisms in the body such as nerves, muscles, organs, and blood.
Fascia is a function of relationships, facilitating movement, structure, and stability. Think of it as an architectural building block of tensegrity; the pliant-elastic field of opposing forces that remains under tension and can stretch, forming sliding surfaces with just enough resistance to provide both smoothness and firmness.
It also has other functions: stabilizing, hydrating. It metabolizes, transports fluids and nutrients. It forms a conduit: it receives and transmits stimuli. It thus provides cohesion and communication between different layers. The better the hydration, the more resilient the tissue. The more adherent, the more susceptible to referred pain symptoms, injuries and fractures.
There are more nerve endings emerging in fascia than in the skin, which explains why you may experience pain or wellbeing internally. It also is the medium that ensures awareness of your movements (proprioception).
Fascia enables substance to lift against gravity, and in humans, it is more moist in form compared to, for example, trees, allowing us to move through space. In comparison to animals, humans have more adipose tissue, possessing more qualities related to feeling and inner life.
In the documentary of Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau below they manage to give a fantastic impression of living fascia in all its shapes and functions.
Fascia is a function of relationships, facilitating movement, structure, and stability. Think of it as an architectural building block of tensegrity; the pliant-elastic field of opposing forces that remains under tension and can stretch, forming sliding surfaces with just enough resistance to provide both smoothness and firmness.
It also has other functions: stabilizing, hydrating. It metabolizes, transports fluids and nutrients. It forms a conduit: it receives and transmits stimuli. It thus provides cohesion and communication between different layers. The better the hydration, the more resilient the tissue. The more adherent, the more susceptible to referred pain symptoms, injuries and fractures.
There are more nerve endings emerging in fascia than in the skin, which explains why you may experience pain or wellbeing internally. It also is the medium that ensures awareness of your movements (proprioception).
Fascia enables substance to lift against gravity, and in humans, it is more moist in form compared to, for example, trees, allowing us to move through space. In comparison to animals, humans have more adipose tissue, possessing more qualities related to feeling and inner life.
In the documentary of Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau below they manage to give a fantastic impression of living fascia in all its shapes and functions.
Cranio Sacral system
A proper function of our nervous system is invaluable for effective and efficient exchange of nutrients, nerve function throughout the body, circulation, cellular communication. The physiological system that is responsible for carrying out this role is.... drumroll.... the craniosacral system!
Imagine it as a semi-hydraulic system that envelopes the brain and spinal cord. It helps create, absorb and regulate the flow of cerebrospinal fluid; a clear, colourless liquid that serves as a shock absorber for the central nervous system. It circulates nutrients and chemicals filtered from the blood and removes waste products from the brain.
Imagine it as a semi-hydraulic system that envelopes the brain and spinal cord. It helps create, absorb and regulate the flow of cerebrospinal fluid; a clear, colourless liquid that serves as a shock absorber for the central nervous system. It circulates nutrients and chemicals filtered from the blood and removes waste products from the brain.
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About the sessionA craniosacral session can feel like plunging like a deep sea diver into your own system.
When made contact with the tissues properly - tissues that are alive and have consciousness! - the body starts to unwind naturally. The cranial sacral therapist examines movements of fascial & bone structures, and gives tiny impulses (directions of movement). The body fluids respond to this with hypersensitivity. It causes ripple effects throughout the entire body, as well as very deep relaxation. |
A proper function of our nervous system is invaluable for effective and efficient exchange of nutrients, nerve function throughout the body, circulation, cellular communication. The physiological system that is responsible for carrying out this role is.... drumroll.... the craniosacral system!
Imagine it as a semi-hydraulic system that envelopes the brain and spinal cord. It helps create, absorb and regulate the flow of cerebrospinal fluid; a clear, colourless liquid that serves as a shock absorber for the central nervous system. It circulates nutrients and chemicals filtered from the blood and removes waste products from the brain.
A healthy body self-regulates, and can autonomously come back to homeostasis and deal with any problems skillfully.
After long periods of physical, emotional or mental stress, there might be a build-up of symptoms, causing the bucket called self-regulation to spill. Then this self-correcting ability is suspended, and a little help can come in handy.
Craniosacral therapy, the super non-invasive 'handy' method, can be seen as the opposite approach to ‘fixing’. Rather: the condition is set for allowing for the body can re-find its own balance. When you find yourself under a good pair of facilitative hands, your body knows. It just goes 'aaaaahhhhhhh'.
While experiencing craniosacral session your senses may open up to consciously experience levels of your physiology, and what your body communicates on a frequency level. Thoughts and stories peel off and you experience what your body actually feels like. The body has its own stories to tell!
Sometimes during the work on the base of the skull, which frees up the atlas, the first cervical vertebrae, clients tell that they get visuals.
Or they fall into a lucid sleep or delta brainwave states: the nervous system relaxes, and this in its turn relaxes fascia and muscles. It is the kind of relaxation that comes from the inside-out, from surrendering to the deep ebb and flow of the nervous system. Landing into the gravity.
Imagine it as a semi-hydraulic system that envelopes the brain and spinal cord. It helps create, absorb and regulate the flow of cerebrospinal fluid; a clear, colourless liquid that serves as a shock absorber for the central nervous system. It circulates nutrients and chemicals filtered from the blood and removes waste products from the brain.
A healthy body self-regulates, and can autonomously come back to homeostasis and deal with any problems skillfully.
After long periods of physical, emotional or mental stress, there might be a build-up of symptoms, causing the bucket called self-regulation to spill. Then this self-correcting ability is suspended, and a little help can come in handy.
Craniosacral therapy, the super non-invasive 'handy' method, can be seen as the opposite approach to ‘fixing’. Rather: the condition is set for allowing for the body can re-find its own balance. When you find yourself under a good pair of facilitative hands, your body knows. It just goes 'aaaaahhhhhhh'.
While experiencing craniosacral session your senses may open up to consciously experience levels of your physiology, and what your body communicates on a frequency level. Thoughts and stories peel off and you experience what your body actually feels like. The body has its own stories to tell!
Sometimes during the work on the base of the skull, which frees up the atlas, the first cervical vertebrae, clients tell that they get visuals.
Or they fall into a lucid sleep or delta brainwave states: the nervous system relaxes, and this in its turn relaxes fascia and muscles. It is the kind of relaxation that comes from the inside-out, from surrendering to the deep ebb and flow of the nervous system. Landing into the gravity.
Cerebral Spinal Fluid - The Great River of Life
Andrew Taylor Still, MD, the father of Osteopathy, called the cerebrospinal fluid “The Great River of Life in the Body” and describes it as a highest known element in the human body. An abundant flow of this fluid must be guaranteed, in order for our bodies to stay healthy and fully functional. There is about 125 ml. of cerebral spinal fluid at any time, and about 500 ml is generated every day. So it replenishes itself, and produces 4 times its content.
This fluid is surrounded by a membrane called the dura mater, all the way down into the spinal column. The craniosacral fluid moves the dura mater, and indirectly all interconnected tissues, in a rhythm, slower than the breath. This rhythm can be detected throughout the entire body. It varies in pulse, speed, amplitude, and therewith gives the therapist information about what is 'hiding' in parts of the body.
The CranioSacral System was first described by osteopath John Upldedger. He discovered an ebb and flow movement of the dura mater during a brain surgery where he had the task to keep the dura mater still, but didn’t manage to. He started studying the system thoroughly.
This fluid is surrounded by a membrane called the dura mater, all the way down into the spinal column. The craniosacral fluid moves the dura mater, and indirectly all interconnected tissues, in a rhythm, slower than the breath. This rhythm can be detected throughout the entire body. It varies in pulse, speed, amplitude, and therewith gives the therapist information about what is 'hiding' in parts of the body.
The CranioSacral System was first described by osteopath John Upldedger. He discovered an ebb and flow movement of the dura mater during a brain surgery where he had the task to keep the dura mater still, but didn’t manage to. He started studying the system thoroughly.
CONTRA-INDICATIONS cranial sacral therapy
- Recent concussion.
- Cerebral swelling
- Brain aneurysm
- Blood clots
- Any disorder that causes instability of cerebral fluid pressure, flow or build-up
- Inflammations in nose, ear or throat