THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF CRANIOSACRAL WORK
extracts from 'Wisdom In The Body - The Craniosacral Approach To Essential Health'
by Michael Kern, published by Thorsons/HarperCollins

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Sustained by the Breath of Life.

The expression of the Breath of Life at a cellular level is a fundamental necessity for good health. If the rhythmic expressions of the Breath of Life become congested or restricted, then the body’s basic ordering principle is impeded and health is compromised. The main intention of craniosacral work is to encourage these rhythmic expressions of health. This is done by gently facilitating a restoration of primary respiratory motion in places where inertia has developed.

 SPREAD OF THE WORK

"Nature heals, the doctor nurses."
- Paracelcus.

Dr Sutherland developed various therapeutic approaches to harness the intrinsic power of the Breath of Life and help resolve any restrictions to primary respiratory motion. He began to teach this work to other osteopaths from about the 1930s, and tirelessly continued to do so until his death in 1954. Challenging, as it did, some of the closely held beliefs among practitioners of the time, his work was at first largely rejected by the mainstream osteopathic profession. However, his clinical results in a wide range of cases were impressive and he began to attract a small band of osteopathic colleagues who wished to study with him.

In the 1940s the first osteopathic school in America started a post-graduate course called "Osteopathy in the Cranial Field" under the tutelage of Dr Sutherland. Soon after, others followed. This new branch of practice became known as cranial osteopathy. As the reputation of cranial osteopathy began to spread, Dr Sutherland trained more teachers to meet the demand. The most notable of these early teachers were Drs Viola Frymann, Edna Lay, Howard Lippincott, Anne Wales, Chester Handy and Rollin Becker.

However, even today, many osteopathic colleges still do not teach this work on their basic courses and so it is often studied as an option at post-graduate level. Consequently there are many practising osteopaths who do not use this approach. Nevertheless, in the last few years post-graduate training courses for practising osteopaths have become widely available.

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