Designed to release pain and trauma as well as support the body’s healing through a gentle, hands-on approach, Craniosacral Therapy (CST) has become an increasingly popular modality. In Cranio-Sacral-SELF-Waves, CST expert Olaf Korpiun expands on William Sutherland’s famous theory of the “breath of life,” an unexplained power that generates corrections from within our bodies without the influence of external forces applied by the therapist. This new theory, drawing also on physics, anatomy, physiology, embryology, and osteopathy, finds scientific evidence that the original source of craniosacral movement is a resonant movement from an energy field in the universe: it is the oscillating waves of rhythm in the universe, he argues, that control all biological rhythms within all living beings. Dr. Korpiun presents his method of working with patterns of motion in the body, including extremely slow frequencies of movement which he calls “Cranio-Sacral-SELF-Waves (“SELF” standing for “Super-Extreme-Low-Frequency”). By following his approach, says the author, bodyworkers and other health practitioners can work in a more focused and productive way, utilizing practical techniques for treating the widespread rhythmic imbalances that lead to physical and psychological problems.

Harmonizing Your Craniosacral System: Self-Treatments fo Improving Your Health offers exercises developed to promote healing, body awareness, and relaxation. The book’s techniques are based on the principles of craniosacral therapy, a hands-on approach that works gently with the spine, skull, sacrum, and connective tissue in the body to release pain and tension. Simple to perform, the exercises can be done either sitting or lying down, and each can be completed separately or as a unit. The book is unique because it is the only one that features selftreatment for craniosacral therapy. The book begins with a description of the craniosacral system and its relationship to other body systems. Awareness and perception exercises cover breathing techniques and methods for sensing the parts of the body and its craniosacral rhythm. The quality of touch and exact finger and hand positions are discussed, and detailed instructions are provided for each self-treatment involving the sacrum, iliosacral joints, connective tissue, head, and facial bones. Illustrated with 105 full-color photographs and 9 black-andwhite anatomical drawings, the book concludes with helpful information about professional craniosacral therapy treatments, terms and definitions, and an alphabetized summary of self-treatments.

With the troubling side effects and surging costs of medications and surgery, Americans are increasingly turning to CranioSacral Therapy as an effective, drug-free, and non-invasive therapy. A gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the function of the craniosacral system — the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord — CST boosts the body’s natural healing processes and has proven efficacious for a wide range of medical problems from migraines, learning disabilities, and post-traumatic stress disorder to fibromyalgia, chronic neck and back pain, and TMJ. This book provides a broad introduction to this therapy by way of short pieces written by a number of well-known practitioners or experts. In addition to pioneer John E. Upledger, contributors include Richard Grossinger (Planet Medicine), Don Ash (Lessons from the Sessions), Don Cohen (An Introduction to Craniosacral Therapy), and Bill Gottlieb (Alternative Cures). Each selection covers a different aspect of CST: what it is, what it does, how it heals, what the practitioner does during a CST session, CST’s relationship to cranial osteopathy and other healing therapies, as well as other topics of interest to the beginner.

In CranioSacral Therapy: Touchstone for Natural Healing, John E. Upledger, DO, OMM, recounts his development of CranioSacral Therapy. He shares poignant case studies of restored health: a five-year-old autistic boy, a man with Erb’s palsy, a woman with a fifteen year history of severe headaches, and numerous others. And he offers simple CranioSacral Therapy techniques you can perform at home on yourself or loved ones.

With its low-impact, nurturing approach to working with the spine, the skull, the diaphragm, and the fascia to release pain in the body, Craniosacral Therapy has become an increasingly popular healing method. Rhythm and Touch explains in detail how it works. Divided into two parts, the book follows a simple, step-by-step instructional model. Part one guides the practitioner in discovering the craniosacral rhythm and learning how to interpret and respond to its cues. Following the line of the spine from pelvis to neck and head, this section develops a protocol for a basic session. It details how to touch the body and support the inner healing process. Part two offers a thorough review of the brain’s protective and nourishing environment, the cranium. It introduces new means of assessing and easing restriction in the relationship of cranial bones. Moving outward from the cranium, this section describes the bones of the mouth and face, their interrelationship and motions, and how to assess and release the results of injury. The final chapter offers reflections and recommendations for using this vast array of knowledge effectively.

Craniosacral therapy and Chi Kung practices to harmonize emotions, release chronic tensions, and optimize the flow of energy • Provides illustrated instructions for movement exercises, breathwork, self-massage, and emotional intelligence meditations to free the flow of energy in the body • Reveals clear parallels between the craniosacral rhythm and the flow of chi • Explains how to release energetic blockages and emotional and physiological knots, activate the energetic pumps of the 3 tan tiens, and tap in to the Cosmic Flow Exploring the connections between Western craniosacral therapy and Chi Kung, Taoist master Mantak Chia and craniosacral instructor Joyce Thom detail movement exercises, breathwork practices, self-massage techniques, and focused meditations from Taoist and other wisdom traditions to release and harmonize the flow of energy in the body and optimize our potential for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The authors link the craniosacral rhythm--the gentle flow of cerebrospinal fluid from the head (cranium) to the tailbone (sacrum)--and the flow of chi throughout the body, circulated by the pumps of the three tan tiens. They explain how these subtle energetic flows indicate the harmony or disharmony of the whole person and are greatly affected by physical traumas, chronic tensions, and unresolved emotions. For example, the psoas muscle, known in Taoism as the muscle of the Soul, connects the spine to the legs and is the first muscle to contract when anger or fear triggers our fight-or-flight response. Often a storehouse of subconscious stressors, this muscle’s sensitivity is connected to many common ailments like back pain. Providing step-by-step illustrated exercise instructions, the authors explain how to identify and unwind energetic blockages and emotional and physiological knots. They explore emotional intelligence exercises for tuning in to our hearts so we can listen to our bodies’ messages and learn to relieve related emotional burdens. They also reveal how to activate the cranial, respiratory/cardiac, and sacral pumps of the three tan tiens to optimize the body’s energetic flow and explain how, when our energy is flowing freely, we can enter the Cosmic Flow--a state of calm well-being and extraordinary creativity where we find ourselves truly at one with the universe.

Charles Ridley is known for having refined a version of biodynamic craniosacral work that is nonmedical and nonmechanical. In Stillness, he clarifies the three fundamental types of this work — biomechanical, functional, and biodynamic. He explains the requirements and pitfalls of each model, and how to discern the differences and similarities between them. He guides the practitioner experientially to explore what he is describing, and offers exercises drawn from his own practice to help therapists access directly the whole felt-body sense that connects each individual with the Breath of Life.

Accumulations of life stresses—physical injuries, emotional and psychological stresses, birth traumas, and toxicity—can become imprinted in the tissues, acting like a videotape that is replayed whenever stimulated. Biodynamic craniosacral therapy aims to resolve the trapped forces that underlie and drive these trauma-based patterns of disease and suffering in body and mind. Wisdom in the Body teaches practitioners to develop the finely tuned skills of hands-on palpation and perception to sense the body’s subtle rhythms and patterns of inertia or congestion, with the goal of ending trauma and facilitating the expression of the breath of life. A comprehensive introduction to this practice, the book draws on the insights of pioneers like Drs. W. G. Sutherland and Franklyn Sills to explain the key principles about the body’s natural intention to heal and how this capability can be encouraged. A valuable resource for students, practitioners, and the lay reader, the book also includes a foreword by Dr. Franklyn Sills.

Developed by the author, SomatoEmotional Release is a technique for bringing psychotherapeutic elements into CranioSacral therapy. It helps rid the mind and body of the residual effects of trauma by anatomically freeing the central channel of the body. John E. Upledger presents the history, theory, and practice of this subtle form of healing. A result of meaningful, intentioned touch, SomatoEmotional Release allows for identification and removal of energy cysts along with their associated emotions.

Learn to mobilize latent energy in your body and direct it to energize and awaken your higher brain • Provides a simplified step-by-step guided process to the higher-brain activation techniques of Source Code Meditation • Explains how to shift energy out of the lower “survive” brain into the higher “thrive” brain to bring confidence, clarity, and empowerment for transformative change in all areas of life • Reveals how the “brain first” techniques of SCM tune the brain to receive meditation, enabling access to deep flow states, transcendent states of consciousness, and higher brain potential The human brain is like a flowing river of potential. Until now, that river has been blocked, barricaded, and diverted by the primitive lower brain. The lower brain hijacks our ability to experience deeper flow and higher transcendent states of consciousness. It also guards against the full expression of the passionate human heart. Source Code Meditation (SCM), with its nine summits of transformation, effortlessly re-routes that lower brain diversion, allowing you to activate latent energy in your body, awaken your higher brain, enlighten your mind, and set your heart on fire to create a new world. With traditional meditation techniques, it often takes decades of practice for hours each day to confer significant changes in the mind and the higher brain. Few of us make it to these rarified states of mind, due to the amount of time and the intensity of focus needed. With “brain first” SCM techniques, you mobilize latent energy in the body and direct it to energize and awaken the higher brain before meditation begins. With the higher brain prepped and tuned, meditation is efficiently received, leading to quantum breakthroughs in higher consciousness without years of practice as well as access to deep flow states, transcendent states of consciousness, and higher brain potential. Providing a simplified step-by-step guided process to SCM, Dr. Michael Cotton explains how to shift energy out of the lower “survive” brain into the higher “thrive” brain to bring confidence, clarity, and empowerment for transformative change in all areas of life. Distilled from the world’s most comprehensive philosophy, Integral Metatheory, SCM offers not only a way to create the brain state necessary to change the mind, but the crystal clarity needed to use these advanced meditative states to actualize your potential and live your destiny to the fullest.