Craniosacral biodynamic therapy is based on the fine listening of internal rhythms known as “tides”. This approach supports nervous system regulation and fosters deep and lasting transformations.
Entering into Relationship with Movement
It is not uncommon for someone lying on the treatment table to ask me what I perceive with my hands. What do I feel in this shared silence? What unfolds there is both sensory listening and a wordless dialogue. Far from being a mechanical technique, craniosacral biodynamic therapy is, for me, a practice of attention, observation, and presence.
This approach is inherited from the work of William Garner Sutherland, an American osteopath in the early 20th century. When he placed his hands on the skulls of his patients, he observed autonomous and rhythmic micro-movements which he called the “primary respiratory movement”. It would be a fundamental rhythm of the living body, linked to embryological development, which can be felt throughout the organism.
My perceptions are structured in layers, like successive sheets. In this field of listening, the body’s internal rhythms become perceptible. These rhythms are called tides. Just as the ocean breathes with the Earth, the living body expresses flows, ebbs, slowness and impulses. Each tide grants access to a different depth of being.
The Small Tide: On the Surface of the Living Body
The first tide could be compared to the coming and going of waves on the shore. It is tangible, sensory, immediate. In this layer, I perceive fluctuations of cerebrospinal fluid, the tingling of the nervous system, the movements of circulatory warmth, or barely perceptible tissue tensions. This level of listening engages a relationship with the physical body, its dynamics, its imbalances.
It is within this tide that the first pieces of information emerge: a particular density in a joint, an emptiness in a limb, increased activity in a protective zone. The body then speaks its own language, made of subtle movements, silences, and adaptations. My treatment does not seek to correct but to meet these expressions.
The Mid Tide: Moving Away from the Shore
Gradually, another quality of rhythm emerges. Slower, vaster, it evokes the broad movements of underwater currents. The person settles more deeply into the table; their nervous system ceases to scan for danger. There is no further need for vigilance. The tissues organise themselves on another scale.
In this tide, local tensions find a global echo: a compression in the rib cage can be linked to an emptiness in the pelvis. The body thinks of itself as a whole. Time seems to expand. The organism enters into a dynamic of equilibrium, as if each wave gently readjusted the course of the current.
The Long Tide: Far from the Body
Sometimes a third rhythm appears, rare and deep, comparable to the slow and regular oscillation of the ocean tides. This is the long tide. At this stage, the body is no longer perceived as a succession of systems or segments. It becomes a whole, carried by a vast, coherent, silent movement.
This tide cannot be measured. It is felt as a field of presence, stable, all-encompassing. I perceive fewer manifestations than qualities: density, unity, depth. Time becomes relative. Silence takes up space. It is less a matter of physiology than a state of being.
Some describe here a sense of unity, of embodied awareness of the connection to oneself, to others, to the living world. A kind of effortless grounding, where everyone’s place is self-evident. There is no longer any need to justify oneself or to struggle to exist.
The Tides of Care: An Ecology of Relationship
These different tides do not appear by chance. They depend on the quality of my listening, but above all on the safety the person can feel. Just as the ocean calms when the wind subsides, the body unfolds when it senses there is nothing to fear. The more the environment is stable, respectful, and free of expectations, the more the deeper layers can emerge.
This safe frame is an essential condition. The therapeutic relationship then becomes a place of regulation, where the nervous system can reorganise, where tissues can release old tensions, where the individual can feel they have their place without having to negotiate their existence.
What People Report
Many beneficiaries describe a marked sense of calm after the first sessions. The release of tensions can also bring forth sensations or emotions that have long remained contained. These emergences are considered normal in a process of bodily reorganisation.
Some report a gradual return of vitality, a feeling of lightness, or greater emotional stability. Others notice more subtle changes: deeper sleep, freer breathing, or an increased capacity to respond to daily events.
Each person follows their own rhythm. The treatment does not cause immediate transformation; it simply supports the conditions for it. In many cases, effects continue in the following days, through discrete internal adjustments, sometimes imperceptible, yet profoundly structuring.
Touch, Presence, and Safety
Touch is the first mode of relationship of the living. From intrauterine life, it shapes the perception of oneself and the world. In my therapeutic approach, it is not simply about placing my hands but about being present to what is there. This kind of slow, respectful, non-directive touch supports the circuits of safety and trust in the nervous system (Porges, 2017).
Craniosacral biodynamic therapy thus offers a space where the body can feel welcomed, heard, and regulated. I do not seek to repair. I listen. And in this listening, tides rise and fall, inviting a return to what is essential.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it does not matter what I perceive in my hands. What matters most is the therapeutic journey that unfolds on the table. This path enables each person to meet themselves, to feel fully alive, and to occupy their place without compromise. Perhaps this is the very essence of craniosacral therapy: “When I perceive myself, I define myself and I know who I am. Even if the world collapses, I remain free in my choices and in my relationship with others.”
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