Let’s start our exploration of consciousness through CranioSacral Therapy.

What distinguishes CranioSacral Therapy from many other therapies is the training. Hundreds of hours are spent on instruction and on placing hands on people to learn how to listen in a deeper way to movement and cranial rhythm, and to listen to one’s own response to this movement. It can take a long time to be able to trust that what one feels in another can be felt in oneself. The student learns to “arc”—to sense through touch and through mirror sensation where intense energy swirls are blocking the normal flow of energy. This can feel like a hurricane force with a magnetic quality that draws into itself and is disconnected from the rest of the body. Therapists sense this energy and are drawn to hold the area and provide support. The body responds most often by releasing this stuck energy and by restoring pathways that connect to the rest of the body and mind. It may be that the body-mind senses a new flow of support into the system and relaxes its death grip of protection, which may have insured survival at one time.

This is where the quest for consciousness comes in. As more and more life force makes its way into the circuits of the body, trust begins to replace fear, mostly fear of the unknown, because now the body-mind is not cut off from itself. One opens up to a new sense of self: Oh, this is my body, this is me in my body, or this is me out of my body. One becomes more aware of the boundaries of the self, not only of wanted or unwanted touch, but of wanted or unwanted emotional or energetic intrusion. This new consciousness ensures protection based on knowing oneself and a wise giving of oneself without losing oneself. This is true self-love. This is the value of CranioSacral Therapy.