Cranial Sacral Therapy- The visit

My appointment finally comes around.   The office is located on a trendy street in North Asheville not far from the Grove Park Inn, a famous resort.  The massage therapist’s office is in an older single story cottage.  I am met at the door by the therapist, a middle aged woman with a warm smile.  After exchanging pleasantries, she escorts me into the outer vestibule.  Here, I take a seat and fill out the requisite forms - who am I, what is my profession, next of kin, how did I hear of them, and what am I here for today.  Throughout my exploration of alternative medicine, I often waffle on how to answer this second question - what is my profession?  I don’t like to lie, but I also don’t want to be too truthful.  Perhaps if they know I am a medical doctor, they treat me differently and cheat me out of some of the alternative experience.  I signify that I am a “writer” hoping this will not lead to a host of difficult questions:  “what have you authored?”  “Have I read any of your works?”  Fortunately, when reading the form, she says “a writer, hmm . . . you must be hunched over a computer quite a lot,” to which I say, “yes.”  And then, she moves on to other things.  My alias is not blown.  I tell her about my headaches and back pain, and she smiles and tells me that CST should be just the thing to help me feel better.

Next, the therapist leads me into an octagonal room with a massage table in the center.  It smells of incense (the calling card of alternative practitioners).  The room has carpeted floors and dark wood walls.  There is a lava lamp - yes, they still do exist - sitting on a side table.  There is a framed illustration of a man and a woman with their muscles and skeleton exposed.  Also included on the diagram are labeled acupoints and lines of meridian - another commonality that spans several alternative disciplines including massage, crystal therapy, and acupuncture.   Soothing music plays in the background; it sounds like a didgeridoo from Australia.  I succumb to the moment.  Let the healing begin.

I remain fully dressed and lie face up on the massage table.  The therapist’s hands meticulously feel along my scalp, apparently palpating the suture lines between my cranial bones.  I wonder if she can feel subtle movements of my cranial bones or perhaps even deeper movements in my brain.  She then places her hands at the base of my skull in the back of my neck where I imagine she is feeling for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pulsations.  She jams her thumbs into this area at the base of my skull while encouraging me to relax my head back.  It is not the most relaxing position, but I try to channel my inner Buddha.  After a few minutes, she moves to the foot of the table and pulls gently on my feet and applies pressure with her hands over my knees, thighs, pelvis, chest, and shoulders.  She then returns to the base of my skull for a while.  During the course of the visit, she spends time pressing gently along my skull, ears and face.  Fortunately, she does not enter my nose - I have had enough of the inner nose manipulation by my Rolfer.  Periodically, she reassesses the rhythm of my CSF by probing the base of my skull.  I close my eyes throughout most of the session.  The combination of her warm hands on my scalp, the background music, and the dim light put me in a near comatose state.  It would be even better if she were massaging my scalp, but just having someone manipulate and probe your scalp is pretty soothing in its own right.  I lose track of time. I am surprised when she turns up the light and announces that the session is complete.  Where did the hour go?  I tell her how relaxing the session was, and that I normally have a hard time letting go – in line with my Type A personality.  My admission of being Type A surprises her, probably because I am wearing my most hippie appearing clothes, I am unshaven, and I claim to be an author.  She comments that when she first was feeling my CSF pulsations, they were very frenetic and irregular, but now at the end of the session, they are nice and rhythmic.

Next Post: Do my rhythmic CSF pulsations translate into results?