Craniosacral therapy involves gentle touch, pressure, and manipulation that restores balance to the nervous system and surrounding structures. Research shows it can significantly reduce pain, headaches, and anxiety. Here’s more information.

Craniosacral Therapy for Stress & Anxiety Video

Craniosacral Therapy Key Take-Away Points

What is craniosacral therapy?

Craniosacral therapy is a gentle form of therapeutic touch that uses light pressure to manipulate the joints in the skull, spine, and pelvis. It can help restore balance to the nervous system and surrounding structures.

My Experience with Craniosacral Therapy:

I find the sessions deeply relaxing and restorative. I’ve seen a decrease in the frequency and intensity of headaches, pain in neck and shoulders, and anxiety since receiving craniosacral therapy regularly.

My craniosacral therapist, Sari Lewis, explains it as a way to calm the nervous system and tone the vagus nerve.

  • Her patients report a reduction in pain, anxiety, and depression.
  • This approach encourages healing from the inside out, something we all have the capacity to do.
  • If you don’t have access to a craniosacral therapist, you can reap some of the same benefits by humming, gargling, or icing your wrists, all of which help with toning the vagus nerve.

Research on Craniosacral Therapy:

Although there’s a need for more research in the area of craniosacral therapy, there have been some promising studies published.

One study showed craniosacral therapy was an effective treatment for headaches and migraines, neck and back pain, depression and anxiety, and colicky babies.[1]

  • 74% of patients experienced a valuable improvement in the primary problem for which they sought treatment.
  • 67% reported a valuable improvement in their wellbeing and/or secondary problems.
  • 70% decreased or discontinued medications they were taking to treat the primary problem.

In a separate randomized study, patients were randomly assigned to a 20-week craniosacral therapy treatment group or a placebo control group. Results revealed craniosacral therapy was effective in significantly reducing pain in fibromyalgia patients at both 2-month and 1-year follow-up appointments.[2]

Q & A With Sari Lewis, My Craniosacral Therapist:

Many people have never heard the term craniosacral therapy. How would you describe what you do?

The simple explanation would be that craniosacral therapy is a gentle hands-on therapy that encourages and facilitates healing through the flow of the fluid that nourishes our brains and spinal cords (cerebrospinal fluid or CSF).

There are different styles and branches of craniosacral therapy, where practitioners are taught to learn the protocols and then make the therapy their own. My training is in biodynamic and biomechanical craniosacral therapy. 

What are the benefits of craniosacral therapy?

Craniosacral therapy is deeply relaxing and restorative and encourages healing from the inside out. CST encourages downshifting of the nervous system, slowing, and stillness. Many people experience relief from pain, anxiety, and depression with CST sessions. 

How does craniosacral therapy help those with stress and anxiety specifically? Do you have any examples you can share?

Craniosacral therapy encourages calming of the nervous system and toning of the vagus nerve, #10 of the 12 cranial nerves. 

For example, very tight muscles in front of the neck from the back of the ear to the collarbone are in a sheath that includes the SCM muscle, carotid artery and vagus nerve. If that area is very tight, the vagus nerve will be restricted from having good tone (not to mention pressure on the carotid artery).

By creating a safe environment, and caring touch, healing is invited from the inside out. This differs from massage, chiropractic care and traditional physical therapy which are external to internal modalities where something is done from the outside to change something in the inside.

For those who haven’t found a craniosacral therapist, are there techniques they can use at home to bring relief?

There are a lot of things we can do to help tone our vagus nerve, which improves our overall sense of wellbeing. Humming, gargling, putting ice on your wrists are all tools for improving the tone in the vagus nerve. Getting in touch with your heartbeat by taking your pulse may also be calming. 

For more information on the vagus nerve, see Sari’s discussion here!

Is there anything else you’d like Working On Calm readers to know about craniosacral therapy and resilience-building?

Everyone has health and healing within them. Craniosacral therapy facilitates bringing that health and wholeness to the surface. You can find more information on locating a practitioner here.

Small Changes, Big Transformation

Craniosacral therapy is one small change we can make to prioritize our health and build resilience. Wellness doesn’t have to feel so overwhelming. Give this practice a try this week and let me know how it goes!

Like this content?

Sign up for Take Five, my newsletter focused on simple, science-based solutions for a calmer, healthier life.

Subscribers receive my free guide “5 Ways to Decrease Stress & Build Resilience in 5-Minutes or Less.”

[1] Harrison, R. E., & Page, J. S. (2011). Multipractitioner upledger craniosacral therapy: descriptive outcome study 2007–2008. The journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 17(1), 13-17.

[2] Castro-Sanchez, A. M., Mataran-Penarrocha, G. A., Sánchez-Labraca, N., Quesada-Rubio, J. M., Granero-Molina, J., & Moreno-Lorenzo, C. (2011). A randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of craniosacral therapy on pain and heart rate variability in fibromyalgia patients. Clinical rehabilitation, 25(1), 25-35.