Craniosacral Therapy And Hemi-Sync®: A Case Study

Craniosacral Therapy And Hemi-Sync®: A Case Study
by Robert S. Siciliano
Winter 1991

Robert Siciliano is co-owner and co-director of the Rainbowbridge Institute near Heidelberg, Germany, where he provides seminars, programs, therapies, and counseling for “new ways of life.” Among the body therapies available at the Rainbowbridge Institute is cranio-sacral therapy, the gentle manipulation of specific cranial bones. Mr. Siciliano has been a member of the Professional Division since May 1990, and is an accredited GATEWAY OUTREACH Facilitator.

Craniosacral therapy is administered as the client lies on a massage table, fully clothed and as relaxed as possible. Following diagnosis, the therapist administers treatment by using the hands to palpate and encourage the movement of certain cranial bones. These bones are attached to membranes within the cranial cavity and very directly affect the environment of the brain and spinal cord. This process is accomplished while using the client’s craniosacral pulse, or rhythm, as a monitor. The intensity and amplitude of the pulse or rhythm indicates to the therapist the presence of inhibitors or restrictions within that system that are affecting the client’s health and well-being. Encouraging the movement of those bones which are attached to intracranial membranes causes a series of events that trigger the system’s self-correcting capabilities, thereby releasing inhibitors or restrictions.

It is common during a session for the client to relax very deeply and enter an alpha state. It seems this state is an environment the body and nervous system are able to use for balance and restoration. It is also common for a client to experience long-forgotten memories and related emotions, or emotional charges. Craniosacral therapy is a very powerful tool for releasing emotional restrictions.
The following case study is of the first client with whom I have used Hemi-Sync while administering craniosacral therapy.

CASE STUDY

CLIENT: female, thirty-nine years old, married seventeen years, mother of one son, housewife. The client is of average or above-average intelligence, mentally and emotionally stable, and has no serious medical problems. At the time she came to me for craniosacral therapy sessions in the Dr. Upledger technique, she was bored with her role as wife, mother, and human being. She wanted more from life and had begun investigating alternative “New Age” concepts. She was reasonably healthy except for some aches and pains resulting from accumulated habit patterns.

We had one session per week for four weeks. She responded very well to the sessions and accompanying counseling. During the sessions she experienced deep states of rest and many old memories surfaced. She reported that in her daily life she was experiencing increased feelings of self-worth, personal power, independence, and much more freedom in “feeling,” both physically and emotionally. Overall, she felt wonderful and was quite happy with her direction. It became obvious that she was experiencing a personal transformation.

At the fifth session, I had her listen to a thirty-minute Hemi-Sync tape called Metamusic® Cloudscapes. I began the craniosacral therapy after the tape ended. During the one-and-one-half-hour session, she experienced the usual deep states of rest, alternating with old thought patterns and drifting.

We met for the sixth craniosacral therapy session (the second craniosacral/Hemi-Sync combination session) two weeks later. I was curious to hear of her post-Hemi-Sync experiences. She seemed a little frightened, hesitant, and apprehensive about using the Hemi-Sync again. She described her previous two weeks as containing periods of confusion, anger, fear, depression, and disappointment. These feelings diminished after about seven days, followed by an increased sensitivity to life she had only had fleeting experiences of previously. We discussed Hemi-Sync at length. She recognized that her distress may have resulted from the shifting and dissolution of old, limited mental constructs triggered by the high-energy state of hemispheric synchronization. Because she could relate to this dynamic on some level, she expressed openness to proceeding with the Hemi-Sync tape. We again began the session with Cloudscapes followed by one and one-half hours of craniosacral therapy.

I did not hear from this client for seven and one-half weeks due to her vacation and holidays. Finally, we connected and spoke at length about her life experiences since our last combination session. She reported that experiences of confusion, fear, anger, depression, and disappointment with her life intensified after our last meeting. At times the anger had been incredibly strong, and she became physically ill with a head cold and stomach problems. However, during the entire experience she was able to maintain an objective awareness that a release was taking place. Without getting lost in the experience, she “allowed” her body and emotions to express themselves. After some weeks of ebbing and flowing, the distress seemed to clear.

She describes her present experience as one of incredible clarity and sensitivity, lightness and joy, and feelings of personal power. She reports that her connection with her husband is wonderful. She acknowledges a strong connection with her inner energy, and perceives that it is responsible for her external reality.

My determination is that in this case craniosacral therapy provided an opportunity for restrictions to be normalized in the nervous system and the physiology, and that Hemi-Sync enhanced that process considerably. Hemi-Sync appeared to provide the high-energy coherent state that enabled the client to maintain a great degree of self-awareness, even while in the throes of releasing old thought forms and habits.