by Aureal Williams, BSN, RN, LMT

Craniosacral work is a gentle, hands-on modality, along the lines of massage. While massage deals with the skin, muscles, tendons and ligaments, craniosacral work deals with the central nervous system, specifically, the parasympathetic branch, our body's "rest and digest" function. Effects of massage include stimulation and relaxation and effects of craniosacral work include deep relaxation, to the central core of the body.

Babies benefit from craniosacral work because this deep relaxation helps them recover their delicate systems from the over-stimulating, often traumatic effects of the birth event. Cutting the umbilicus too quickly - which hospitals do for liability purposes - inducement of labor, forceps deliveries, not enough bonding time with Mom or Dad immediately after birth, being abruptly pulled from the womb in cesarean deliveries are all traumatic events for the newborn. Such events break the bonds of respect, trust and safety that are foundational experiences for happy, healthy living. While these experiences may seem subtle and not noteworthy, countless adults suffer the consequences of these birth event effects well into their senior years, with the source of the wounding still unconscious and unresolved.

The works of researchers and leaders in the field of birth psychology -- Joseph Chilton Pearce, David Chamberlain and Wendy Anne McCarty, among others, speak about the effects these birth traumas have on the life and healthy development of the child. An excellent DVD, What Babies Want, gives us an example. A six-year old girl had no bonding time with her parents immediately after her birth. Due to emergent conditions of her delivery, she was whisked away to an intensive care unit immediately after birth. At age six she is in psychotherapy and during one session, she chooses a box of medical toys to play with and ends up reenacting her delivery. In her reenactment, she places the toy infant on the toy mother's belly, who is lying on a stretcher, and puts the toy father where her own father stood during the delivery, on the right side of the Mom, at the head of the bed, behind the IV pole. What relief for this little girl, to release a deep hurt, with behavioral ramifications, as she finally expresses that she knew the original scenario and wanted the disconnect remedied? While the medical intervention at the time of her birth probably saved her life, the lack of bonding with her parents disrupted her soul.

Craniosacral work is one approach to healing these primal wounds. This hands-on modality helps by gently holding the body in deep stillness and neutrality until the infant's system comes into stillpoint - a place of safety within the body-- and then recalibrates itself out of the experience of chronically held trauma. Claudia Mooter, LMT, a Hyde Park resident, is a practitioner of craniosacral work for adults. As she holds her hands on a client, she describes the craniosacral work as being "directed by the client's body. A natural unwinding starts to happen, like a stiff neck will release, and that unwinding allows for release of old patterns."

The same unwinding process occurs with infants. Before any physical contact is made, the therapist asks the infant for permission to touch. Infants state their choice with definitive responses of yes or no. Even saying "no" to treatment can be a healthy choice, providing the highly capable infant with an experience of autonomous choosing. In cases where the infant says, no, the craniosacral work can be done on the Mom or the Dad, as surrogate for the infant, with excellent effect.

Many cases of birth trauma involve life or death risk and certainly, saving the life of the infant takes priority. However, cutting the cord too quickly to minimize hospital liability, timing a birth for parent or physician convenience, rather than allowing the infant's innate sense of timing to initiate delivery, unnecessarily rough, perhaps unconscious, handling during cesarean deliveries are examples of where the infant's sense of respect, safety, trust are violated. Craniosacral work, with heavy parental involvement, helps clear the imprint of early wounding and restore these three essential factors, respect, safety and trust to the life experience of the newborn.

Next month, Part 2 of this series explores Craniosacral Work for Children,
followed by Craniosacral Work for Teens in the third and final part of this series.

© 2007 Aureal Williams.

This article was published in the September, 2007 issues of Hyde Park Living and Sycamore Living, in Cincinnati, Ohio.