History of the Craniosacral Approach

The craniosacral approach of working with the body has its roots in the experiments and experience of William Garner Sutherland (1873-1954), an american doctor and osteopath. He practiced osteopathy in the first half of the 20th century and developed the new field of cranial osteopathy. He himself studied with the originator of osteopathy, Andrew Taylor Still. Sutherland developed a theory of how the core system between the cranium and the sacrum and its fluid movements affect the human being, and he ultimately developed a model for this.

Sutherland's Early Experiments

While a student of osteopathy in the early 1900's, Sutherland was examining the sutures of a disarticulated skull when he was struck by how it appeared to be “bevelled like the gills of a fish, indicating a respiratory mechanism.” He could not get the idea that the skull was not solid out of his mind, and he remained haunted by the notion that the bones of the skull were designed for some kind of movement in relation to each other. He performed experiments on himself using helmet-like devices which put varying degrees of pressure on different parts of his head. As a result, his wife described witnessing significant and irritating personality changes. He also experienced head pains and problems with coordination in response to different applications of pressure.

The Primary Respiratory Mechanism

Sutherland developed a system of examination and treatment for what he called the Primary Respiratory Mechanism (PRM). The discipline involved working with the inherent fluctuation of the cerebrospinal fluid, the motility of the brain and spinal cord, the mobility and motility of the reciprocal tension membrane, the articular mobility of the cranial bones (at their joints, the sutures) and the involuntary movement of the sacrum between the illia of the pelvis.

Sutherland found he was successful in treating patients with all kind of disorders and often had good results in cases where other doctors had failed. Because little was known at that time of how it really worked, and because the results with patients seemed at times to be miraculous, Sutherland's system was looked at as having spiritual overtones.

Teaching

In the last ten years of his life he started to teach his work with the fluid system. Students needed time to work their way into the system, so he had them start with the outermost layer, the bones. Then, when they had an appreciation for their mobility and motility, they moved on to sensing the membrane system and then he had them working with the fluids, and ultimately with the forces at the core of it all: those forces which move the potencies, fluids and tissues.

Carrying the Work Forward

Sutherland failed to get the recognition he deserved in his lifetime and it was left to his students to help cranial osteopathy gain more recognition. Amongst them were H.I. Magoun and Rollin E. Becker (1910-1996). It was Rollin Becker who continued the tradition of enquiry into the fluid system and the Breath of Life concept, and contributed much to our contemporary understanding of the inherent Health within.

Scientific Study and Broader Application

In the 1970’s and 1980’s John Upledger and Zvi Karni continued the studies of the craniosacral system with more scientific means, so they could actually prove that the cranial bones move in rhythm with the tide of the cerebrospinal fluid. These two also did a highly successful field study on hyperactive and autistic children and children with learning difficulties, and from that experience Upledger began training the teachers, parents and caretakers of these children. Many people who studied his personal approach and practised over decades gained new insights that were shared by everyone who came after them.