Experience various levels of stillness during and after the sessions as your body, mind, and spirit release, relax, and rejuvenate.
Craniosacral Therapy relieves tension, pain, and harmonizing your nervous system, leaving you in a state of healing and overall wellness.
This powerful modality brings you into balance, giving you a state of natural connectedness and well-being.
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy takes a whole-person approach to healing and the inter-connections of mind, body and spirit are deeply acknowledged. It is an effective form of treatment for a wide range of illnesses helping to create the optimal conditions for health, encouraging vitality and facilitating a sense of well-being. It is suitable for people of all ages including babies, children and the elderly, and can be effective in acute or chronic cases.
Our inherent life force produces rhythmic impulses that subtly move throughout the body’s tissues and “breathe” the motion of life. These rhythms are the essential ordering principles of our body and mind—a blueprint for health.
Sensitive hands can detect these impulses by palpation—sensing the Breath of Life.
This Breath of Life is the body’s innate wisdom to heal from trauma, stress, and disease. The body knows how to bring itself back into balance if given the opportunity to do so with a conscious intention to heal. As the body sinks into this healing state, a process of unwinding begins allowing the release of long-held stress patterns. Over time, this can bring the body back into balance and optimal health.
At a deep level of our physiological functioning all healthy, living tissues subtly "breathe" with the motion of life - a phenomenon that produces rhythmic impulses which can be palpated by sensitive hands. The presence of these subtle rhythms in the body was discovered by osteopath Dr William Sutherland over 100 years ago, after he had a remarkable insight while examining the specialized articulations of cranial bones. Contrary to popular belief Dr Sutherland realized that cranial sutures were, in fact, designed to express small degrees of motion. He undertook many years of research during which he demonstrated the existence of this motion and eventually concluded it is essentially produced by the body's inherent life force, which he referred to as the "Breath of Life." Furthermore, Dr Sutherland discovered that the motion of cranial bones he first discovered is closely connected to subtle movements that involve a network of interrelated tissues and fluids at the core of the body; including cerebrospinal fluid (the 'sap in the tree'), the central nervous system, the membranes that surround the central nervous system and the sacrum.
The Breath of Life produces a series of subtle rhythms that may be palpated in the body and which make up an integrated physiological system. At least three subtle rhythms have been identified in this "primary respiratory system", each having a different rate and producing rhythms within rhythms. These three "tides" are referred to as:
In the biodynamic approach of craniosacral work the subtle rhythms produced by the Breath of Life are regarded as expressions of health that carry an essential ordering principle for both body and mind. Dr Sutherland realized the important role played by the fluids in the body (particularly cerebrospinal fluid) in helping to disseminate these ordering forces throughout the body.
The essential ordering principle carried in the rhythms of the Breath of Life acts as a blueprint for health which is present from the time of our early embryological development and is the fundamental factor that maintains balance in our form and function. Thus, the ability of cells and tissues to express their primary respiratory motion is a critical factor in determining our state of health - when these rhythms are expressed in fullness and balance, health and well-being naturally follow.
During the course of our lives our bodies become patterned, shaped and conditioned according to how we¹re able to deal with any stresses or traumas. If stresses or traumas are overwhelming, they become locked in the body as sites of inertia - until such a time as we are able to access resources that allow them to be processed and released. These sites of inertia effect the natural rhythmical movements of the Breath of Life and so hinder the ability of our essential blueprint for health to manifest at a cellular level.
Common causes of inertia are physical injuries, emotional and psychological stresses, birth trauma and toxicity. Due to an accumulation of these stresses, tissues can become imprinted with the memory of unresolved experiences and so act like video tape which may keep replaying whenever stimulated.
The emphasis in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is to help resolve the trapped forces that underlie and govern patterns of disease and fragmentation in both body and mind. This involves the practitioner "listening through the hands" to the body's subtle rhythms and any patterns of inertia or congestion. Through the development of subtle palpatory skills the practitioner can read the story of the body, identify places where issues are held and then follow the natural priorities for healing as directed by the patient¹s own physiology.
The intention of treatment is to facilitate the expression of the Breath of Life and so enhance the body's own self-healing and self-regulating capabilities. This is done in a non-invasive way as the practitioner subtly and gently encourages the conditions that allow for the reemergence of primary respiratory motion. Furthermore, the practitioner's deep and clear quality of presence can become a reflective mirror for the patient and an invaluable cue for their potential for change.
Garret has a very special presence and touch. When I have a session with him, it feels like I’ve been taken to another dimension. This work has helped me to relax my being and my body and particularly to lessen my teeth grinding and TMJ problems. I’ll continue to go back!
The process Garret facilitated for me seemed to clear away all the static in my life at the time. This however allowed me to get in-touch with my highest self.
Garret Sanford is a truly amazing person as well as the best cranial-sacral therapist I have ever encountered. The level of spiritual and emotional advancement I have experienced as a result of working with Garret has opened doors in my psyche to parts of me I had not known before.
Cecile
Mill Valley, CA
Transcendental bodywork.
Submerge yourself in an energetic paradise. The sensations and visuals one can experience with Garret is like an impressionistic painting of soft hues and healing lights. His gifted hands are able to run the appropriate energy where your body needs it. He is one of the few that genuinely knows how to hold a supportive space for you. The space is filled with inner wisdom and it becomes your greatest gift. One is left with a deep stillness and inner peace—A quiet place that one should visit often to find themselves again.
I have been a Craniosacral Therapist since 2009. My approach to healing is simple: your thoughts affect your emotions, and your emotions directly affect your physical health — the science of Psychoneuroimmunology supports this as the foundation of good health and well-being. If the human body is placed in an environment which evokes peace and calm, and is allowed to settle into a still state, it will intrinsically activate its internal healing process — easing or eliminating past traumas, as it begins to integrate all its systems, and comes into a state of balance — a unified field of coherence. Everyone is capable of having this experience if they give themselves the opportunity to do so.
I studied CST at the McKinnnon Institute, and have taken courses from Charles Ridley, the Milne Institute, and Benjamin Shield. Additionally, I have been deeply inspired by the work of Franklyn Sills. I am a graduate of The Academy of Intuition Medicine® with a certification in Intuition Medicine®. I am certified by the California Massage Therapy Council and a member of Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals.
To book an appointment please call: 415.343.7833
We are located in: Diamond Heights, San Francisco, CA 94131
