Craniosacral Therapy - A brief history of CST
A Thought Strikes Me
At
the turn of the twentieth century, in Kirksville Missouri, a young
osteopathic student named William Garner Sutherland had a revelatory
insight about the human body, while he was studying the bones of
the skull. This revelation was to set him on a course of discovery
and exploration that would last him for the rest of his life.
" Have you ever had a thought strike you? I have told many
times of the thought that struck me before I graduated from the
American School of Osteopathy with the class of 1900. As I looked
at a disarticulated mounted skull that belonged to Dr. Still, the
detail in the articular surfaces of the sphenosquamous sutures caught
my attention. I became impressed with the idea that this suture
was a display of a design for motion."1
From this initial insight, Sutherland concluded that the bones of
the skull were structured in such a way as to allow movement. This
insight flew in the face of medical wisdom at the time (and indeed
today), which states that these bones are fused solid to provide
a strong, locked box to protect the brain.
As a consequence of his initial orthodox training, Dr. Sutherland
spent many years trying to disprove his theory. However, after much
experimentation, he was left with the startling conclusion that
all of the bones of the skull do actually move. He discovered that
this movement was not random or chaotic but actually constituted
a regular, ordered rhythm, which he called the Cranial Rhythmic
Impulse or CRI.
Dr. Sutherland also developed methods for palpating these subtle
movements and for working to resolve restrictions found between
the different bones of the skull. As he developed his research,
Dr. Sutherland discovered that the bones of the skull comprise just
one element of a complete rhythmic interconnected system.
The complete system he described consists of five inter-related
components:
1. The articular mobility of the cranial bones.
2. The fluctuation of the cerebrospinal fluid.
3. The mobility of the meningeal membranes (reciprocal tension membrane
system)
4. The involuntary mobility of the sacrum between the ilea
5. The motility of the central nervous system.
Dr. Suthe rland further developed his palpation skills in order
that he could begin to directly perceive the motion of each part
of this system. He also developed a much wider retinue of mechanical
techniques that would help to resolve lesions and other restrictions
within each of the layers of the system that he called the Primary
Respiratory Mechanism (PRM).
This was the start of what has become known as Biomechanical orientation
to Craniosacral Therapy. Today, there are a large number of Craniosacral
Therapists and Cranial Osteopaths who carry on this Biomechanical
lineage through treating the lesions and restrictions present within
each of the layers of the PRM.
Deepening into Experience
In 1948, at the age of 75, Dr. Sutherland had his second, and arguably
most important, insight into the nature of the human system. He
became aware of deeper forces at work within his patients that he
believed was an expression of the intelligence of life itself, and
which is fundamental to the proper functioning of the body. He named
this intelligence the Breath of Life.
Through his clinical practice, Dr. Sutherland discovered that where
the expression of the Breath of Life was absent, sickness and disorder
occurred. Yet, when it was present, natural health returned to the
body. He concluded that the Breath of Life was the basic organising
and integrating principle of the body, and that it conveyed an inherent
intelligence of unconditional health to all the cells and tissues
of the body.
In his clinical practice, Dr. Sutherland stopped trying to fix problems
through using Osteopathic technique. Instead, he began to listen
for the natural expression of the potency of the Breath of Life
within the fluids and tissues of his patients. His primary focus
was to reconnect the patient to the primary forces of Health that
are naturally inherent within the human system.
He noted that as the potency of the Breath of Life re-established
itself in the body, pain, dysfunction and dis-ease naturally dropped
away, without any real intervention from the practitioner. Thus
the nature of the work stopped being about fixing problems and became
oriented to deeply listening to the expression of the inherent forces
within the human system.
Today, this Breath of Life orientation to the work is known as a
Biodynamic approach to Craniosacral Therapy. There are currently
fewer practitioners working in this way than in a Biomechanical
model. However, there are now a number of excellent trainings in
this approach within the UK, including the Institute
of Craniosacral Studies.
1. Quoted from W.G.Sutherland, Teachings in the Science of Osteopathy,
1990, Rudra Press