Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST)
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is a gentle, non-invasive touch therapy that supports the body’s natural healing. Rooted in osteopathy, it integrates neuroscience, trauma resolution, and early developmental insights to help relieve stress, overwhelm, and injury.
What is Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?
Biodynamic craniosacral therapy (BCST) is a gentle, light-touch, non-invasive therapy that helps restore and maintain health in the human body. While not a manipulative therapy, it has its roots in osteopathy and has evolved to include advances in neuroscience, human development, pre and perinatal psychology, and trauma resolution. Practitioners are trained to facilitate the resolution of conditions resulting from stress, overwhelm, and injury.
What is a Session Like?
The length of your session may vary, but is usually between 45 and 90 minutes. During a session, you rest fully clothed on a comfortable table. The practitioner aims to create a calm and supportive environment.
The guiding principle for a session is that your body is always moving toward health. Through a light touch, your practitioner will listen for any compensatory patterns that may be present, and assist your body in accessing its own healing capacities.
What is the Craniosacral System?
The physical craniosacral system extends from the cranium (skull) down to the sacrum (tailbone). It encompasses the brain and spinal cord, which governs the health of the nervous system and affects every other system in the body.
Our biodynamic approach to the craniosacral system is a wholistic one, so no part of you is left unattended. The breadth of our craniosacral work includes the physical body as well as its fluid and energy systems,
all of which naturally support our mental/emotional well-being.
Origins of Craniosacral Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy was founded by Dr. William Garner Sutherland, an osteopath and student of Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. Being an osteopath, Sutherland began to describe the subtle inherent motions and pulsations that he felt in a biomechanical language. He used motion testing to explore patterns and created various techniques to release what was experienced as resistance in the cranial structures.
In 1945, however, he had an extraordinary experience that transformed his understanding of his approach to healing work and the language he used. He was called to the bed of a dying patient who was in great pain. As Sutherland held the man’s system, a depth of stillness arose as the man peacefully passed from this life. Sutherland had a direct experience of what he came to call the “Breath of Life”.
Information has been adapted from the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America, “History of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy” (n.d.), www.craniosacraltherapy.org.
What Conditions Can Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Help?
BCST addresses the underlying conditions that can inhibit the expression of health in your body. The source of our particular discomforts are commonly trauma-based or symptoms of overactivation from stress.
Your therapist will facilitate a favorable environment so your body can return to a natural state of ease. BCST helps bring forward your body’s expression of wholeness and wellness. It supports your body in remembering, reorienting to, and renewing the health that is never lost.
"BCST is gentle and safe, making it effective for people of all ages."
Part of what differentiates our work is we do not see you as a list of symptoms or as a disease. The underlying principles of BCST highlight the health and innate healing wisdom that exists in your body. We see you as a whole individual and work with you to create the right conditions to allow your body’s health to express itself.​
BCST is gentle and safe, making it effective for people of all ages. Many clients find it supports the relief of symptoms associated with a wide variety of health conditions. Because BCST promotes expression of health in all the body’s systems, it fosters well-being in all aspects of your life.
What is the Value of BCST?
Health means physical vitality, emotional well-being, a sense of purpose, and a capacity to enjoy life. The demands of daily life can often lead to tension, tightness or other discomforts being held in the body, affecting any of these aspects of whole health. The strength of BCST lies in its ability to access your natural vitality, which helps to restore health in all dimensions of your overall well-being.
"EVERY DROP KNOWS THE TIDE"
- Dr. William G. Sutherland DO
​A key focus of BCST is the nervous system, which plays a major role in how you heal from injury, illness, or other life challenges. A balanced nervous system can aid the healing of tissues, reduce inflammation, and lower stress levels. By supporting the nervous system in returning to a more regulated state, BCST also supports the immune system to function more efficiently and intelligently.
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Individual response to the work varies and the greatest benefits are achieved after several sessions.
“Every drop knows the tide” means that even the smallest part of a system carries an innate awareness of the whole. In the context of healing or biodynamic craniosacral therapy, it reflects the idea that every cell, tissue, or subtle motion in the body is in relationship with larger rhythms.
There is an inherent intelligence at work that each part of the body responds to and is informed by the greater organizing field, often referred to as the Breath of Life. This phrase points to a deep interconnectedness, where healing arises not from control, but from tuning into the natural rhythms already present within.
Majority of the information on this page has been adapted from the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America, “History of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy” (n.d.), www.craniosacraltherapy.org, much of which is drawn directly from the member brochure provided for client education.