Craniosacral Therapy has most definitely changed my life. I have been studying various forms of holistic therapy over the  years and love all the work I do, but cranio has really helped break down boundaries for me. I do believe that every therapy has its place and one therapy might not be right for you at a particular time, it's all about what you need and where you are at, at that moment in your life. Craniosacral Therapy came into my life just when I needed it.

I had been battling with my colon for about eight years, had tried anything and everything and still felt the pain, spasm and colon discomfort. I had had a few craniosacral sessions and was doing the training at that time, but during this particular session, something amazing happened.

"Sharon is working on my colon. I see a baby crawling on a cold floor heading towards a carpeted lounge. She is only wearing a nappy and is very distressed. She is cold and anxious. Her colon is hard as a rock. Why is this baby distressed? I go back further. I see the baby. She is very small, looks almost newly born. It's me! I can see my mom's breast but I can't get there! My mom doesn't love me. I feel a great separation, a large wall between us. I am feeling very alone and isolated. I am given food from the bottle but it is poison. I feel myself gagging; I don't want to swallow this. My throat wants to close. My colon feels very hard, like metal, it is dark and cold. The food is like poison going down. I need breast milk. Sharon asks me if I can smell my mom. I can. It is a sweet, warm and loving smell. Sharon asks me to surround myself with the smell of my mom. The tears start streaming. I can feel my mom. My mom does love me. My mom had told me previously that she was unable to breastfeed me as her milk had dried up. I keep telling the baby that her mom does love her, my mom does love me. Sharon has moved my hand under hers to the area next to my umbilicus where the knot lies. We push down together, following the pulsation. The pulsation is very strong. It feels like my heartbeat. I hear this heartbeat in the womb. Sharon's other hand is over my heart chakra. My chest is feeling very sore, as if there is a weight on it. The pulsation or heartbeat is connected to my heart chakra but the heart strings have been severed. I feel the emotion, the separation. The tears really start streaming now. I am holding that baby so tight. I keep on telling the baby that it is OK, your mom does love you, your mom does love you. Swallow the milk, baby, it is not poison. It is good. Your mom loves you. We hold that pulsation until it subsides to a comfortable level. There has been a release.

I have moved onto my right side now, into the foetal position and I am surrounded by love. The baby seems to understand now that our mom loves us. Sharon is holding me. I feel a great sense of relief. I am with the baby, supporting her. The knot and pain in my colon has released. The compression over my chest has disappeared. All I feel is love."

To feel exactly how I felt as a baby was beyond words. The emotions and feelings were so clear - the separation, the pain, the distress. I never would have thought this was the reason for my discomfort, the reason why I had been suffering with my colon and digestion all this time. My wondering and questions had been answered. My colon pain and spasm seemed to have dissolved into thin air.

For those of you who don't know what craniosacral therapy is about, it is an exceptionally gentle yet extremely powerful hands-on technique that relaxes, energises and restores balance to the central nervous system. It works with the flow of the cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF), that which bathes the brain and spinal cord. CSF is constantly being pumped from the ventricles in the brain, flowing up and down the spinal cord and in doing so gives off a rhythm which the practitioner can feel. When there is a traumatic experience, whether physical or emotional, which can be deeply seated right from birth, this can cause the body tissues to contract and thereby cause symptoms. The practitioner is trained to find these areas of contraction, restriction or compression, to reflect back what the body needs thereby facilitating and enabling the tissues to return to proper healthy function, eliminating disease and restoring health.

One area to which craniosacral therapy is particularly connected is birth trauma. Any experience which is perceived as being traumatic can be locked up in the body. Being born, and possibly incidents and / or procedures which happen after the birth can be quite traumatic. In my case, my perceived trauma was linked to not being breastfed, but a lot of babies experience other birth related traumas and grow up with them. Symptoms such as constant ear and throat infections or colic, or even more serious disabilities such as epilepsy or learning difficulties can be as a result of birth trauma.

If we think about what actually happens when a baby is born, it is quite something. Imagine … the baby's head engages, the contractions push the baby downwards, further down the narrow birth canal. His or her head needs to compress to be able to come through the birth canal, but the baby's skull is soft and membranous so this is all normal and very possible. Should the labour be long or should the baby be lying in an awkward position, causing extra pressure on a particular area of the skull, the bones might not re-bound into their correct position. Even when the birth is particularly easy with no major complications, there may be compressions or restrictions. This could possibly prevent proper formation of the skull, possibly affect the development of the brain or impinge on blood vessels or nerves, which feed the rest of the body. Or the baby might perceive part of this process or something afterwards as being traumatic, thereby creating either physical, mental or emotional problems later in life.

What I do want to highlight, is that it is very important that the baby be delivered naturally. As contractions commence, a highly compressed chamber forms in the uterus and in order to allow decompression and to kick-start the baby's system, the baby needs to come through that birth canal. Feedback have shown that a large percentage of caesarean born babies battle to get started, either having a more 'sluggish' bodily system or part of, and / or battling to get going with projects or daily routine in life.

I also feel it is significant to point out that everyone sees and feels things differently. I am quite 'in tune' with my body and I am also very visual so I managed to really connect to my trauma as a baby. Everyone releases their trauma differently. During a craniosacral session the client is completely in charge of his or her process. You are in total control of how much you need and would like to release, if anything at all. You release when you are ready and however which way you need to, be it a sigh, a tear or to laugh or shout.

The thing I absolutely love about craniosacral therapy is that it has its way of diffusing the symptoms to get to the core of the problem. It helped me find direction and assisted me in sifting through all the emotional debris I had collected along the way, which had started affecting my health.

Some of the conditions that can benefit from craniosacral therapy are:

• Behavioural disorders, tantrums
• Colic, feeding difficulties
• TMJ problems
• Headache, migraines
• ENT problems, ear infections
• Back pain, persistent pain anywhere in the body
• Whiplash injuries