I learned about Cranio Sacral Therapy (CST) many years ago, from a faery woman named Anya. She told me it was the most powerful bodywork she had ever done, that it stirred up memories and made them real to the mind. After doing several CST sessions, Anya had a dream about one of her ex-boyfriends. The very next month he (Damien) came back into her life -- after a ten-year absence their love affair didn’t work out the first time, or the second time around. Yet I was so transfixed by Anya’s story, I never forgot about CST.

Cranio Sacral Therapy is performed on a massage table while the patient is lying down on his or her back, and it can be done fully clothed. The practitioner works on the head (cranium), lower neck, lower back (sacrum), stomach, heart, throat, and third eye meridians. There are also several effective positions that can enhance the natural beauty of facial structure. It’s a subtle manipulation of the fascia -- the semi fluidic substance that sits between bones and muscles. CST is gentle, with only 5 grams of pressure applied to these areas.

In my experience, Cranio Sacral Therapy is also a deep caress of the nervous system which affects the brain stem, and brings up memories in the most profound way. Old issues in life might resurface, people whom the person has lost contact with may resurface, or it can even be a doorway into past lives. Not only are the bones gently slid back into normal positioning, it’s as if the treatment (on a regular basis) allows the mind to burp, breathe, and renew itself.

My direct experience with Cranio Sacral Therapy began in 2007. Between 2003-2007 I was plagued by lower back problems, mainly from too many hours on the computer. I tried massage, chiropractic, swimming, pills, strength training, and more. Nothing seemed to work. My sacral chakra was messed up and I was horribly disconnected from my heart in those days. I felt that something was missing from my life. One day in February of 2007, after a huge emotional upset with a member of my family, I urgently sought out one of the best Cranio Sacral Therapists in Asheville, NC. Her name is Nanette Domingos. She saved my life by putting my body back in order and healing my lower back and hip problems.

My charkas came back into balance. I could feel my heart again.

Nanette worked on me for about six months. By August, my sacrum slid back into its natural position at the center of my lower back. I had no idea how empowered and different I would feel. I began to walk differently, and I felt like a million bucks. My sexual energies soared. Nanette was so pleased that I was feeling better. Around the beginning of September that year, she healed the constriction between L4 and L5 in my lower back. My feet changed. I could no longer wear some of the shoes I wore when my back was bad. I threw them out and bought new shoes.

I began to feel like having a relationship again. I was feeling my heart in all of its fullness and its former yearnings, before my back went out. I began to have love affairs. I felt all of my emotions in their former fullness: joy, elation, sorrow, terror, fear, deep sadness and love multiplied a thousand fold. The full breadth of my emotional life returned. I can only describe it as resurfacing. It was a slow and positive movement forward. I was thankful to once again experience my heart’s connection to my sexuality.

After a 4-5 year absence, I began to write poetry again, and I was pleased with the outcome. These new ballads seemed to emerge from somewhere in my distant past – of lives I had lived on another continent. Just writing them down made me weep, but in a happy way. I have always believed devoutly in rebirth. After the CST healing and the writing of these ballads, I actually have evidence I have lived before.

I began to realize the deep relationship the sacrum can have to the heart. Cranio Sacral Therapy works the charkas and regular CST work can repair, cleanse, and open these areas for greater emotional balance.

In our culture, we are taught from an early age to hide and suppress our emotions. It is not uncommon for our heart charkas to be blocked or operating at a low ebb. It takes a great deal of work to unlock this secret power source again. Cranio Sacral Therapy is one way of doing this.

So what if it is socially unseemly to express our emotions fully in public and even sometimes (sadly) with those you love? I began to practice brutal honesty in my life. I lost a lot of friends this way, but the new ones I gained seemed so much more authentic. I live differently now. My life is richer, and my relationships are expansive, rather than restrictive. And I’m learning to listen to my heart, and learning to live by its instructions now. Heart knowing is so much different than intellectual knowledge. Both are connected -- and equally as powerful.

I got so fired up by my experience with Cranio Sacral Therapy, that I wanted to learn how to do it. So I took a Level 1 Course with Gayle Sovignee, who studied under John Upledger, the doctor who founded the methods. I purchased a massage table and I sometimes treat my friends or family members. Though I am not a professional practitioner, it does bring me a great deal of joy to help others in this way.

Whenever possible, I bring my Cranio Sacral Therapy work into healing circles and offer it to friends who are in need of emotional or bodily healing. It’s a wonderful way to express love, and I always work on the heart chakra area intensely. I also balance all of the charkas at the end of each short treatment.

Cranio Sacral Therapy has changed my life and my mind. It has helped me to heal my body and the disconnect between my sacral and heart charkas.