Tibetan Cranial Therapy - CranioSacral Therapy

Tibetan Cranial® Practitioners employ a unique system of pulse reading that involves disciplined technique and attuned intuition. Practitioners learn to feel pulsations that reflect imbalances in the body. This pulse-reading is objective in that multiple Practitioners working with the same recipient feel the same pulsations. In deciding how to respond to the pulses, Practitioners apply their training and intuition developed from their experience in doing this work on hundreds of recipients. The method of applying touch to the bones of the skull (including the palate) in response to the pulses likewise is unique. Tibetan Cranial therapy has methods for working with imbalances in the neck and jaw not found in any other healing method. Moreover, Tibetan Cranial therapy involves working only from the neck up. The recipient lies on a special table that enables the work to affect to the rest of the body. For example, even though the Tibetan Cranial Practitioner never touches the sacrum, observers of a session often will see a physical movement of the hips, reflecting the body’s own adjustment of the sacrum in response to the work being performed at the head or neck. 

Tibetan Cranial therapy involves physical work through gentle pressure applied to the neck and bones of the skull. It also involves energetic work. The pulses reflect the flow of energy through the recipient, as well as the physical state of the body and the flow of fluids. Tibetan Cranial therapy works with other aspects of the Being, too. As the recipient lies on the table, the Practitioner kneels at the recipient’s head, creating a connection between the Practitioner’s heart chakra and the recipient’s crown chakra. Both the Practitioner and recipient engage in silent mantra, the repetition of a phrase, affirmation, prayer, or sound, generally of a spiritual nature. Because Tibetan Cranial work is physical, energetic, and spiritual, it can affect the body, mind, emotions, and spirit.

Tibetan Cranial therapy assists the body in correcting its own imbalances. Practitioners listen to what the recipient’s body is saying through the pulses and provide support for the recipient’s body to shift toward balance, health, and equanimity. The fundamental beauty of this work is its ability to support the body in its ongoing efforts to heal itself.

Because Tibetan Cranial work aids the recipient’s own healing abilities, the effects of the work can continue to develop even after the session ends. The results of even one session can continue long after it has been completed. People commonly experience further benefit from multiple sessions. Traditionally, people received sessions for seven consecutive days. Although that traditional commitment is more than many are inclined to make or to fit into their schedule, multiple sessions can be helpful even when spread out. Like peeling layers from an onion, multiple sessions can allow the work to penetrate to deeper levels of the body, mind, and spirit. Depending on a person’s circumstances, periodic “tune-ups” also may be helpful. 

Tibetan Cranial Therapy and Craniosacral Therapy 

People often ask if Tibetan Cranial therapy is like Craniosacral Therapy. Tibetan Cranial work and Craniosacral Therapy have some commonalities. Both believe that they affect the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, view all levels of the body as interrelated, and can be very helpful. Beyond that, however, the two therapies are quite different. CST practitioners use their hands on various areas of the body to examine the movement of fluids in and around the central nervous system. They focus on using their hands, with a specific pressure, to release restrictions in the soft tissue, influencing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. 

Tibetan Cranial Practitioners, in contrast, work only above the collar bones, using their fingertips to read pulses and to touch, with a pressure different from that used in CST, specific points on the neck and the bones of the skull until the pulses indicate a return to balance. Although Tibetan Cranial Practitioners believe that their work affects the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, the focus and intent is on returning to balance via the system of reading pulses and touching points on the bones of the skull. Tibetan Cranial work also has its unique techniques for addressing imbalances of the neck and jaw, as well as an energetic impact through pulse reading, the heart-crown connection of Practitioner and recipient, and the spiritual richness from the practice of silent mantra, all enveloped in a thousands-of-years-old sacred tradition.