I first want to begin with a bit about my own personal journey in CST and where I come from. I have always believed that healing comes from within. It is not about what pill to take at what time, a cure for a physical symptom (although some are useful and necessary); it is about the whole person. Their life, spirituality and physical/body are all involved in the process of healing, the body/mind/spirit connection. Healing is also a form of growth as a person from within. Questioning, recognizing, and being aware of situations as a whole. ( Do you have a pain in the neck because the new receptionist at work does not have a handle on things yet? Or is it because you let loose dancing and pulled a muscle? ) 

Healing truly begins with your relationship with yourself and how you relate personally to the world. It extends outwards to everything you encounter. Personally, during my craniosacral journey, I have seen myself change from within and seen how that affects my relationships with others and my place in the universe. I have been on a journey, a spiritual journey, where much of what has happened is not explainable in factual terms of scientific research, but which has been recorded by healers throughout the centuries.( I have clients who have had some incredible transformations as well.) I have gotten in touch with my spirituality as a human being. For me, this is not a particular religious sect, but a feeling of connectedness to everything and everyone and an understanding from within myself. This journey is a spiritual dimension which came forth into everyday life through non-ordinary states of consciousness during a session. The connectedness of all comes into being through these “trance” non-ordinary states of consciousness. We are exploring the present experience of the past from a “sub-conscious” level and can choose to let it go through emotions, movement, or stillness. In Craniosacral therapy, situations are re-experienced in a more pure form. The ego and our subjective reality, purely mental states, do not get in the way in these non-ordinary states. During most of these sessions, I went to a space that was what the truth is really about – not trying to correct it, just trying to understand it. I allowed the experience to manifest the truth, and a union of the body/mind occurred because the spiritual and psychological are truly connected in that dimension. ( as I will explain soon enough) The truth just is. I can just be with it and accept it for face value. Any patterns that have been there to deceive the higher self of the truth of the situation are not present in the pure form. The ego is not present on a mental level, analysis is not occurring. This is true healing in a higher, on-ordinary state of consciousness and why these states are so important to our wholeness and functioning in a higher capacity throughout our everyday lives. 

Like many journeys, for example going to college, it was necessary to let go of many of my attitudes, beliefs, and, particularly judgments created throughout this lifetime, to have greater wholeness. In the process, I am allowed to express and explore those ideas and beliefs I have had my entire life (that are innate to being human), to really step into the wholeness of my being, and become the person I am at this moment. I surrendered to the process of self-emergence, of awareness in a new higher consciousness as an expansion of the self. I can achieve an objective viewpoint because I am aware of my issues as they come up and am able to consciously direct/reprogram what my response will be. It is just fascinating and “neat” to become the observer to your own issues at the same time you are changing the patterns and responses your body and mind have created since childhood. This empowerment and self-responsibility is a direct result of healing issues in non-ordinary states of consciousness. 

I am sure at this point a few of you are asking, “Who is this chick? What is she really talking about? What is this healing from within? What is the mind/body/spirit connection and how does it relate to healing traumas in non-ordinary states of consciousness?”( At the same time, you want to understand because it is innate in all of us that we connect with ourselves and our spirit.) During certain times, we consciously seek out ways to explore these connections between the body/mind/and spirit for our own personal wisdom and for healing we need at this moment. 

Self-healing is an esoteric concept in the western world. We put so much of our healing into the hands of others that many of us are disconnected from OUR PERSONAL TRUTH and our own ability for self-healing. In asking around, I found that many people feel that self-healing is only for the truly saintly, religious, and guru figures, not for everyday people who lead spiritual lives amidst the fast-paced, linear reality called time and space. Leading a spiritual life is getting in touch with your inner-self, your own personal consciousness, your soul, in whatever way works for you. (This could be a massage every week, a yoga class, daily meditation, and craniosacral therapy.) It is connecting the mind with the body to find the spirit within and be aware of all that is happening around you at the same time that your energy body and brain are aware of what is happening emotionally and physically inside of yourself. Cranialsacral therapy is a conscious meditation between the spiritual and the physical. Spirituality is really connecting with energy, the subtle energy of yourself, of humans, and to the human energy field commonly known as the chakras and aura; connecting with its flow, grace, power and beauty. When we connect with our true, higher selves for healing, it is through non-ordinary states of consciousness. It is different than our everyday life existence. 

Subtle energies are also referred to as Chi and Prana, and are associated with sensory interactions between us and the world. (Taste, touch, smell, sound, movement, etc.) “Subtle energies can include emotional, mental, and spiritual qualities, but appear to operate in connection with physically intangible factors that can be called Etheric.”¹ These energies are what create our subjective experience of the world as opposed to a “pure” experience. Recognizing the body/mind connection and change from within, is where trauma begins to heal, thereby creating change outside of ourselves. Science is now beginning to recognize this as being real. 

Since Pythagoras, and for the past 2,000 years, leaders in the scientific and health field have recognized that there is some sort of electro-magnetic field surrounding the human body. Dr. Robert Becker “mapped a complex electrical field on the body that was shaped like the body and the Central Nervous system. He found this field changes shape and strength with physiological and psychological changes.”² In fact, he was one of the first scientists to connect the Human Energy field and subtle energies to the human body and Central Nervous System; the mind/body connection. Scientists have also proved that everything is in constant motion, that everything has a vibration, nothing is static. Most recently, Quantum Physics research is pointing to conclusions that the body/mind connection is indeed a reality. That illness, chronic pain, repression of emotions, and the level of dissociation from the physical that occurs at the time of trauma is all held within the body, sometimes for many years, on a chemical/mental level through repetitive reinforcement of the energetic/electrical body. These repetitive reinforcements are a direct link to the Central Nervous System, the Craniosacral Mechanism, and subjective reality. Dr William Tiller, PhD, is quoted as saying, “Based on a significant amount of experimental evidence emerging from numerous researchers, it appears that the physical domain is interconnected with the ‘subtle energy’ domain. Although not directly measurable in physical terms, the actions of subtle energies produce physical activity that is measurable in physical terms.”³ 

It is at this point, the body/mind/spirit connection, where craniosacral therapy and non-ordinary states of consciousness help in healing traumas. Craniosacral therapy has the ability to allow you to change your own inner “wave”, vibration if you will, thereby effecting the outer wave pattern which includes relationships as well. It operates under the assumption that we are our own best healers assisting in healing trauma on many levels. Craniosacral therapy does not claim to heal physical disease, or to be the only way to inner process work. Although physical healing is the most noticeable, tangible, and verifiable effect of inner healing, There is no physical evidence or research to show a correlation between this particular therapy and psychological healing. There are however, client testimonials and clinical documentation in which people report a range of improvements from the disappearance of chronic physical symptoms to emotional release work that enabled them to move on in their lives. This change comes from the inner process/energetic work. A sense of spirituality is an added dimension. There is a new sense of conscious awareness of energies and energy patterns within your self that often arise within specific situations. Here are a few of the things that CST can do for you on an energetic/healing level: 

*provides the opportunity for a direct experience with one’s higher power: a chance to do inner work in a safe environment through whatever means comes as self-expression (sound, movement, stillness) 
*provides insight, acceptance, and accountability for our personal life and actions 
*provides a time for the release of physical and emotional trauma through a cathartic event by dealing with, and resolving past issues *allows you to get in touch with the body to reconnect what has been dissociated at some point. (the feelings of pleasure, guilt, sadness, physical pain, etc.) 
* provide a sense of empowerment and sense of self 

The healing and process work accomplished in CST is done in non-ordinary states of consciousness. A multi-dimensional state of being begins to happen. It is a direct entrance to the heightened awareness of the inner self in its meditative state. “Because in non-ordinary states of consciousness we may retrieve all the core sensations, thoughts and feelings of the original experience, past trauma can begin to heal deeply and rapidly. It heals because we are completing and integrating the previously unfinished and unfelt event.”⁴ 

I should start with the definition of ordinary states of consciousness. This is our everyday interactions with the world through relationships, phone calls, cooking, driving and exercise to name a few. We live in that space all the time and it is important for our functioning in the world of “matter” and materialism. It is important to be a contributing member of society through certain “standards”, and everyday experiences are important. 

We do also experience non-ordinary states of consciousness throughout our everyday lives as well. These often appear as “day dreaming”, lucid dreaming, deja-vu, childbirth, and premonitions. They are normal and very important in our functioning as humans. Through these non-ordinary states, we focus our attention in a different way. “They are important to our relating and functioning in the world of emotion, energetic phenomena, intuition, and the world of spirit.”⁵ They are less tangible, less scientifically proven, but they increase our sense of self, of who we are while increasing our connections to other people, nature, and the universe because of the depth at which they descend to. “Non-ordinary states give us an opportunity to extend our experience beyond the limitations of cause and effect, the three dimensions, and linear time. They transcend time and space, part and whole, and matter and energy.”⁶ Our healing is determined by our own heart, intuition, and the soul. How deep we choose to go in a session is our choice. We experience what we are ready to handle at this moment when we have the support we need; friends, family, and perhaps a therapist or analyst; and the knowledge we may not have had before. 

“Westerners have assigned the ‘symptoms’ and experiences of non-ordinary states of consciousness to the area of abnormal (pathological) psychology and character disorder.”⁷ We are one of the only cultures to not have a way of accessing this part of ourselves. (Even Star Trek emphasized the importance of dreams and a dream like state as being important for day to day living.) Other cultures’ techniques to induce non-ordinary states are: fasting, ecstatic dance, the sweat lodge, yogic trance states, chanting, and transcendental meditation to name a few. It is at this level of non-ordinary states, when we are deeply in tune with our bodies and “out of tune” with society, that trauma healing occurs. In a craniosacral session this is done though movement, stillness, and/or sound.

Webster’s dictionary defines trauma as “a bodily or mental injury usually caused by an external agent”. Most of us experience trauma at some point that is so painful or inconsistent with our beliefs at that time, that we carry the residue around with us unknowingly. Trauma can be held within the physical body even after we feel that it has been sufficiently released some time ago. This trauma can be small, like when someone says they don’t like your little sister, or large, as in abuse of some sort. Sometimes, there are also traumas and patterns that we carry with us from our parents and even grandparents. These are not only generational, but genetic in nature and usually do not serve us now in this day and age. An example of this genetic pattern would be The Great Depression and all the issues that come along with it. (Hoarding of items we really don’t need, focus on money, fear of getting too much money and then losing it all, being overly frugal…) Many years after psychologically accepting trauma, individuals still find themselves having physiological responses which cause “illogical” energetic and emotional states of fear, anxiety, nervousness and cycles of flight or fright syndrome. The pain, fear, and unconscious associations related to the situation can be carried, undigested, and repressed for our entire lives. We adapt to life, and integrate the situation, as best we can in that moment. The “feeding” of this trauma depends in some sense on our repetitive actions, choices we make and that connection to our subjective reality. . “In the mid-1800’s, Count Von Reichenback showed that with the odic force (his term for Human energy field), like poles attract.”⁸ In other words, what you put out there returns to you. Like attracts like, ( your anger attracts other anger) Other scientists from the 20th century also studied the Human Energy Field and concluded that changes in the Energy field related to both physical and psychological disease. “Countless clinical and experimental observations indicate close connections between consciousness and neurophysiological and pathological conditions such as infections, traumas, intoxications, tumors, or strokes.”⁹ This proves without a doubt that our mental processes are linked to biological processes in our brain, and craniosacral therapy works directly with the CNS and the brain showing that much can be accomplished and worked through with craniosacral therapy and the non-ordinary states of consciousness it works with. Modern science has proven that vibration creates a fluid-like medium which is similar to the craniosacral mechanism and the movement of the cerebrospinal fluid. We can’t see the movement, but it is proven to be there through body chemistry and electromagnetic fields. Within this vibration and fluid like movement, there is a pattern that develops with stored unresolved trauma “trapped” in the physical body. The trauma still exists within the body through chemical memories of the senses. Our brain is no longer remembering the incident, but our body is! In order to keep the vibration/trauma alive, it must be constantly reabsorbing stimuli and radiating that initial energy outwards (to bring the absorption back) at the same time. (like attracts like) This is when we feel “stuck” in our growth process but don’t understand why. Consciously we no longer believe that old feeling or pattern about ourselves but the physical body has not let it go yet; a prime example of an outdated belief or idea caused by an earlier trauma. 

The process looks like this: 

1. Take in a situation through the senses 

2. Storing it in memory, a safe deposit box if you will. Push it down inside, dissociate from it. 

3. Release the trauma when you are ready and feel safe. (With the help of the therapist who is present with empathy, love and compassion, support from family and friends, and an analyst or psychotherapist if you feel it is necessary to resolve issues and move ahead.) 

4. Create a new reality for yourself by letting go of now outdated beliefs that no longer serve you. Become aware of the situation and how its reinforcement affects everything that you do. Consciously change the situation. 

Now that we know how the pattern occurs, what is occurring when the release happens? What happens during a session? To begin, a willingness to feel the trauma again is important. Even if it is experienced as an “onlooker ”, as in movie form, we are consciously reliving the situation in full, pure awareness of the emotions that occurred in that moment. Analysis does not occur, so feelings are not specified and reinforced. It sometimes feels as if you are detached from the situation when issues are gone on an emotional level. Specifically, in scientific terms, what happens is that we are changing our Electrical/chemical current within the body and reprogramming the old issues with the new beliefs and ideas. Setting a “reset” button to change and integrate the information that occurs on both the subtle energy level and the physical level. The start of this non-ordinary state of consciousness occurs in different ways during a cranialsacral session. To begin with; our breathing changes. The breathing becomes deeper during both inhalation and exhalation .Already, a deep change is taking place on a mental level, and physiologically your stomach may be making strange noises as well at this point. (This means that you are beginning internal processing of the session on a physical level.) 

At some point, there may be no difference between breaths, creating an elimination of a pause between them. This also happens in chanting as well. Because focus on the breath has stopped, and you are at a point where the mind/body has become one, there is no difference between the two, you are in the moment. This is where a trancelike state occurs; where non-ordinary consciousness truly begins. You are ready for whatever comes up to be there. This experience is what you need in your life right now. It’s not a place to judge yourself, or compare your experience to another’s’. (One is not better than another.) 

Now, mentally, you know what is happening; but what happens during a session on a physical/body level? Much of the time, physical, real bodily releases occur on many levels. These may be as subtle as a twitch of the hand, or movement of the head to a twisting and writhing around on the table to find the stuck spot and be able to work it out. Limbs may appear to be thrashing and moving out of control, but they are not. This is a technique called unwinding. It is directly affecting the proprioceptors within joints and muscles. The nerve endings are releasing and returning to a “normal state”. Unwinding is movement within the muscle tissue to bring all parts together again in wholeness. It’s like when a phone cord gets tangled up, then as it’s being dangled, it unwinds, spiraling around until it is straightened out. The tangling is our response to stress manifesting in the physical. Sometimes unwinding is subtle, and sometimes it’s quick, even thrashing during a hold. 

All of these forms of release represent changes on a cellular level. It’s as if we are hitting the reset button to reprogram past experiences and emotions that are sometimes not even ours in the first place! Old issues are being reprogrammed, released from our bodies and DNA re-patterning is occurring. (Physically – through the Nervous System, and psychologically – through our beliefs and memories.) The subtle energy field and the five senses that are our subjective, personal, experience of the world and to a specific trauma, have been cleared on a deep spiritual level. 

Through quantum physics and advances coming forth in alternative therapy studies, we as humans have to reassess all our viewpoints about the mind/ body/spirit connection and what it means to trauma healing, and healing in general. You have read about client testimonials, my testimonial, and have heard from leading scientists in different fields about how the mind affects the body, and about healing stored trauma. Now it’s your turn to decide…. 

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1 Subtle Energy Actions and Physical Domain Correlations; Consciousness, Intentionality, and Subtle Energies (Abridged); William Tiller PhD. P.2, lines 26&28-30 

2 The Human Energy Field in relation to Science, Consciousness, and Health; Gloria Alvino, p. 3, lines 47-50 

3 Subtle Energy actions..., Tiller, p.6, lines 24-27 

4 The Breathwork Experience; Exploration and Healing in Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness; Kylea Taylor, p59, lines 35-39 

5 The Breathwork Experience; Taylor, p.14, lines 8-10 

6 The Breathwork Experience, Taylor, p. 17, lines 29-31 

7 The Breathwork Experience, Taylor, p.19, lines 15-16 

8 The Human Energy Field, Alvino, p. 1, lines 33-36 

9 The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How they shape our Lives; Stanislov Grof, P.4

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