Bodywork

The hands-on bodywork I offer is primarily Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. In it, I blend other modalities I have learned – Lymphatic Drainage, Jin Shin Do acupressure, Visceral Manipulation, Zero Balancing, Healing Touch, Reiki and others. This is a light-touch therapy that you receive fully-clothed, most often lying on your back on a massage table.

The easiest way to describe it is to say it is treatment for injuries. These injuries can be anything from any time in your life, starting from a difficult birth, through childhood accidents and illnesses, right up to the present time.

After more than 36 years, starting with my training in Massage Therapy, I am still in awe of the body’s ability to heal and accommodate an enormous amount of change that happens in a life. We are constantly growing and adapting, getting knocked off balance by injury, illness, just life really, then coming back into some kind of new normal.

There are usually traces left behind of what has happened to us, a kind of body road map of our life. Sometimes we are aware of them – the lingering sore knee from the skiing accident when you were 12, the neck pain from an old car accident, nagging low back pain from helping a friend move, a tooth that never really settled down after some dental work, the aftermath of a surgery that just doesn’t feel right.

Often we have no sense of these ‘leftovers’ and then something happens – your dog jumps up just as you are bending down and their head smacks you right on the nose. It hurts like crazy, but it also activates the 2 other times you have been hit on the head, and you find yourself dealing with concussion symptoms. Or you are doing something strenuous like opening the fridge door and suddenly your back seizes up and you can’t move. The examples of this kind of thing are endless.

Our life’s experiences are layered, in a fascinating and complex way, in our tissues through the fascia (connective tissue) and the nervous system.

It is very hard for your body to heal when it is stressed, either by pain or life circumstances.

The bodywork I offer first helps your body to calm down by settling the overamping of your nervous system. Once things have settled down a bit, I can look for the places where healthy flow is impeded. That can be anywhere, in any tissue or system – craniosacral, muscles, bones, blood vessels, lymph, nerves, internal organs.

By connecting in with those areas I help the body to reconnect with its own ability to heal itself. There is usually a change in state when this happens. The body will shift from a dense, held place to one with more flow. Often people describe a sense of fluidity as things start to change.

Another part of holding a lot of history in the body is that areas tend to get compartmentalized. It feels like different parts aren’t talking to each other.

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy facilitates the shift from being held in separateness to a more fluid field where everything is connected. In that state, healing and coming back into balance can most easily happen. People often describe feeling sensations and changes in parts of the body other than where I have my hands.

This is not a ‘quick fix’ but more of getting back in touch with parts of your body that have been frozen in the past, helping them thaw and release the trauma they are holding. In this way, we come back into wholeness.

What a Session Looks Like

• I take your medical history in person at the beginning of the session. In particular I am interested in anything that might be contributing to what you are coming to see me for.
• The treatment is done with you lying on a massage table, wearing loose, comfortable clothing.
• I start the session standing at your feet, with my hands on your ankles. My assessment involves looking at your alignment and feeling for the subtle rhythmic motions in your body. This helps me identify patterns of holding and accommodations in your body and shows me where to start treating you.
• For the rest of the session I move from one area to the next, following the trail of that road map I mentioned earlier.
• I am usually seated and have both hands on your body, holding different places – your neck or hip or shoulder or wherever the body is indicating it is ready to work.
• The work is very gentle. There is no poking, stretching, manipulation, nothing sudden or uncomfortable.
• I can narrate what I am noticing and doing, if you like, and encourage feedback around what you are feeling.
• The sessions have a natural ebb and flow and last up to an hour.
• The results of the treatment can be felt immediately and will continue to unfold over the next few days. People always report feeling very relaxed.

My in-person practice is currently closed to new people.

You may want to consider a Distance Healing session. It has all the same elements as the in person Bodywork, except for the touch, and may be received anywhere in the world. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to explore this further.

“My life has been fundamentally transformed by receiving craniosacral therapy from Sarah. She brings a wealth of diverse experience and a grounded authenticity to her work – I feel safe with her. She possesses a special gift of knowing where my body needs support. Her work facilitates a sense of trust in my body’s own ability to heal, and in a precise, wise and intuitive way, offers gentle invitations for healing. I have experienced a reduction of symptoms and much improved function in my daily life, including a successful return to work. After working with Sarah I have a profound sense of hope, of wholeness and sleep much better. I am grateful for the treatments with Sarah and highly recommend working with her.” ~ Michelle, Victoria BC