Craniosacral answers the question, “How long until I get better”.

Every person has the capacity to heal.  Sometimes physically, and sometimes not.  But there is always room to a find more deep connection, peace and a sense of faith of Self.

This is the way I approach helping my clients to heal.  The modality I primarily use is the Craniosacral System.  That is because it is closely tied with the nervous system and is such a great way to help bring the mind back into balance internally.  When the mind and body are in harmony, it’s easier to access the Inner Wisdom necessary for health and wellbeing.

Some people have a strong sense of qi or essence that helps one to turn around a disease process easily.  Other people, by the time they reach me, their systems are fading.  This does not mean that they won’t get better, but it does usually take more of a concerted effort to get back onto the path of  wellness.

Craniosacral Therapy, from my perspective supports self-nourishment using Upledger techniques to help the body be at its best.  What a therapist can do is share what we sensing and feeling if you are curious.  But no person can tell you if you will heal in a certain way.  It’s truly up to how you as a “Whole”person address your journey and Inner Resources.

I often suggest doing about 5 sessions to evalueate is the Craniosacral Therapy is right for you.  It’s almost always helpful, with very few contraindications.  And often enough I have witnesssed many people learn, grow, and feel better with just a few visits.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

 

craniosacral therapy

Embracing Wholeness and Wellness

Craniosacral

Knots

This morning, I woke up. Dreaming about my early childhood. I was bathing in that quiet serene place where I felt connected to my father’s side of the family. Memories of cousins, and second cousins. aunts, and uncles. The family coming together. One big family. An extended family. Close. I was a crumb, that made up a cake, and I felt safe in the bosom of my family. I felt happy. I felt even more deeply content at my Grandmother’s house when everyone was there. She came from a large family, and the web was thick.

Next, I dreamt about my mother’s family. Seeing my grandfathers cousins at his funeral, and my Grandmother Mary’s family from Pennsylvania. Back then people easily traveled in for a funeral to pay respects. Soothing to the soul to have a sacredly held transition. Even though my grandfather was adopted, people who knew him from decades past gathered.

I felt farther beyond in the thread where even in absence of knowing, the line continued back generations earlier. My Pa came from somewhere unfamiliar to me, but the person who bore him, and the one before her, they all make up a chain that never can be broken. No matter the circumstances, the love, the hate, the good and bad decisions, the lines are made, and the order never does break. What is born is not unborn.

I was lucky to have been brought up in the refuge of this large family as a very young girl. It is something that gave me a taste of happiness. Even if it was later going to fall apart.

Today, in my 60’s though, I have fine memories that help me remember that I come from two long lines that individualized into very different families, different cultures, and different religions. These ancestors of mine moved across different parts of the earth, each living a life worth living. Because of course, all of life is worth living. They all faced good times and hard times, but somehow made it through and lived enough to continue the line on. They all add up to nourish me through their time and experiences here, and now my children too.

In that state between waking up and getting out of bed, I also felt how if I traveled back even farther, that the two threads would eventually come together as One. Realizing again in my life that although we have different experiences, and different beliefs, that we all come from the same lacework. All of us our interconnected, and the Life Force that blesses us to be human beings is the same. It is powerful, and the more we stand together, we remember this.

Quite often these days, there is an emphasis to live in the NOW. Perhaps because scientifically, that’s all there really IS. But as human beings, we do live in space and time. We do have this web, of which we all are a part. We have all struggled and suffered to some degree. If we are fortunate, we have also found miracles and love too. We feel. We sense. We get to experience this beautiful world. These moments are so valuable. It feels to me like it’s important to not rush towards enlightenment or heaven so quickly, but instead to savor what we are and have now. We will meet all the parts, and know ourselves as it all unfolds.

This Sunday morning, I write to remind every soul, that we are a knot of individuality in the web of life that crosses time and space. And we are also born from the One Source. If we want to find peace & joy, and if we are to stop creating violence and hate so strongly, we must remember that we all come from the same place. We are sand on the beach, a pebble in the creek. We are Creations of God, or Source, or the Universe’s Creative ability. Whatever we believe, we are One and the Same.

Maybe it’s important to remember this. Perhaps some might want to find a new quality meaning in life. Maybe this is a good reminder that without each other, we are nothing. Do you feel like you are living a life worth living. Do you do things which uplift others? Especially someone you don’t know or care for? Even the smallest changes count.

What if, when you wake up in the mornings, you connect to your Higher Self, and set your intention to make a positive change by facing your Lower Self with love? Start within to wake up to what is real. It will change you. And when you treat others well, especially those who seem different than you, when you give them an opportunity, you give this to yourself as well.

We are a tapestry that dances across all the universes. Every act touches the Whole. All the threads, and all the knots, we all have value, just by Being.

Sunday Morning Dreaming
Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Bring Back Your Neck

Bring Back Your Neck

Young people and older people are getting forward neck posture. All the computers and the cell phones contribute greatly. But also all the sitting Americans do. It’s not good. If I had to do it again, I’d start squatting and learn yoga or pilates early on. I’d make them a life practice. But life being what it is in our culture- our postures are often misaligned as we get older. But there are things we can do to have more freedom of motion.

In my opinion, massage can help. But someone who specializes in fascia is the best bet. The fascia wraps around and through everything in the body superficially to the deep. From macro to micro and reversed. It’s a living tissue that contains and keeps us alive and in motion. When we nourish the fascia and help it remember its ability to be vital, pain can disappear.

I have clients in their 50’s and on up. They can hardly move their necks when they first come in. They are told it is arthritis. Well, they may have arthritis, but it’s the tissues that restrict or allow motion. It’s the fluids dancing with the structure that makes the change. If things can start to soften, spread and move, the bones can be adjusted or perhaps move back on their own. It’s like a wrapping. If it’s tight and stiff- how does life nourish or relinquish what it no longer needs?

Of course there are minerals, vitamins, PT and other things which can help (all part of the HELP team), but the fascia is key. People, whose doctors tell them it’s arthritis often don’t talk about the benefits of fascial work. I think this is a big mistake not including it in health protocols. In addition, learning Feldenkrais, Continuum and other movement exercises that are gentle can be essential and really help too. People don’t have to stay stuck or frozen internally. At any age, we can make choices that will help us. It may not correct the issue 100%, but it can make a huge difference.

Friends, move yourself in different ways. Be proactive with your health. We all have habits that aren’t easy to break, and when this happens- there is always someone out there with skill and experience who is willing to help. It may take time and patience. Take care-no matter which route you take.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
7035091792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Gentle Touch Relief

Gentle Touch Relief

Why Craniosacral Therapy Works

I could get into the whole Craniosacral System (CS), but that may or may not bore you. Not all people are physiological geeks like I am. But I will say, that by Listening well to this CS rhythmic motion that has a deep inter-relationship with the Nervous system, an experienced therapist can help you way more than you ever imagined.

Just today, I had two clients with so much pain. Unlike massage therapy (which I also do appreciate) I didn’t have to go after muscles or do anything heavy handed. Believe me too when I say many people (who are in pain) who call thinking I do massage, ask for very Deep Massage. I used to ask for and do the same thing with Structural Integration too until I learned better. I stopped doing that because, for me, I found a better way. I am not interested in a strong handed approach. I know there is a way to let go of dysfunctional patterns and to help the body integrate longer term without forcing anything.

Some Massage Therapists are excellent at learning to layer, and to help the body to release myofascially. I have my favorite people who are awesome with this. Full of gratitude for their work. However, from my most profound experience, often the best work is done by listening to the CS rhythm and allowing both the fascia and the CSR to lead to long-term change. Why? Because when gentle hands-on listening follows the body’s own inherent self-correcting direction, there is no need for the body to fight aggressive hands massaging. It focuses on the the fascial system that holds everything together, promoting health and motion. No need for defending when the pain feels to raw or too much. The fascia and CS start to unravel old patterns that are no longer needed organically. No more sessions needed feeling very sore and overstimulated.

Just today, my first client seemed astounded how great she felt after the session. Not really my doing, but my support helped. Her body’s ability to relax and let go when reminded how to did the trick! I reminded her, this is the way you feel when you are not holding tension. This is more the real you, interconnected within yourself with fluidity and healthy structure.

My second client was surprised that her arm pain disappeared when It may not have felt like a lot was happening during the session. Although, I could tell she was deeply relaxed:) Pain does not necessarily go away by forcing one to feel pain that is not ready to let go. Pain may show up even in a gentle session, but only because it feels supported enough to slip away. I wonder sometimes if we want to feel our pain pushed because it’s all we know? But I am here to say there is a new way. Also, sometimes what feels like arthritic pain, is actually fascial restriction. This can change and it can heal. Gentle nourishment may be what is needed for neck and back pain to disappear.

Yes, there is still more to align most of the time, and old patterns need to shift cause life happens, but when someone has vitality and it is tapped into with the CSS, it’s amazing how much a body can heal. We can change our posture, and make choices which help us. Sometimes it takes a long time, but each session brings a new awareness of the “essential self” and that does know how to live in ease. Trusting your own body’s “knowing” is so important. Listening to it and allowing others to listen to it with supportive touch shifts the world inside.

So next time, you are thinking you want deep massage that hurts, ask yourself if you really need that? Or might it be better to learn to live with more gentle interactions that show the body what peace feels like.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Vertigo

Vertigo

From a manual approach, Vertigo can be helped if it is stemming from a structural issue. I have had clients come in with this issue, and when It began after a physical accident, we have had much success.

Recently, with one client, we figured out that most likely it originated with a childhood accident, and then the heavy lifting consistently at the job also contributed to dizziness. I don’t diagnose, but this is the story the client shared as the pieces came together during our time together.

What I felt during my listening palpation was that there was a lot of motion from side to side, mostly in the neck, but also in the head, and down in the body. One Side of the body was much more muscled than the other. The lateral motion was occurring from the brain all the ways down.

Easy session. All we had to do was find the primary areas to work and to help the body self-correct and self-regulate. The key issue here was in the hyoid bone. Once that released, the whole body began to open up. But its also important that a therapist knows how to work the rest of the anterior neck and the thoracic area as well. I used Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation techniques to help toward resolution.

It’s not always the case that CST will help with Vertigo. But sometimes it is. A good question to always ask, is. “when did the symptoms begin”. If there is a correlation, it may be structural indeed! I also recommend people see a Vestibular Therapist too who has lots of experience, if the challenges come from somewhere else.
Putting a thumbs up for helping people with this uncomfortable condition. Vertigo is not fun.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com