You’ve tried the deep breaths. You’ve done the journaling. You’ve even downloaded three different meditation apps (and used each of them exactly twice). You know the things you’re supposed to do. And still — your body feels like it’s running a program you didn’t install.
You’re not doing it wrong, but I know sometimes it feels like it. It’s discouraging.
There’s a piece of the wellness puzzle that most of us weren’t taught about — the nervous system. More specifically, what happens when the nervous system gets stuck — and how hands-on, body-based work like Craniosacral Therapy gently, and profoundly help it find its way back.
Let’s talk about it.
First, What Is Craniosacral Therapy?
Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, non-invasive form of bodywork that works with the soft tissue and membranes surrounding the central nervous system — from your cranium (skull) all the way down to your sacrum (the base of your spine).
Developed by osteopath Dr. John Upledger in the 1970s, CST uses a touch so light — often described as the weight of a nickel — that many people are surprised anything is actually happening. And yet, what is happening is profound: the practitioner is listening to, and gently influencing, the rhythm of the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes your brain and spinal cord. By releasing restrictions in this system, the goal is to support your central nervous system in doing what it’s always been trying to do — regulate, restore, and heal.
The Upledger Institute describes it as a way to “release restrictions in the craniosacral system to improve the functioning of the central nervous system.” And for women navigating stress, anxiety, chronic tension, hormonal shifts, and the invisible weight of simply holding it all together — that is not a small thing.
Your Nervous System Is Not the Enemy
Here’s something I want you to sit with for a moment: your nervous system is not working against you. It’s working for you — based on every experience, every stress, every moment of overwhelm or threat it has ever been asked to process.
The problem is that our nervous systems are exquisitely designed for short-term survival — not long-term, chronic stress. When life gets hard (and for most of us, it does, and often), the body activates its fight-or-flight response. Heart rate rises. Muscles brace. Digestion slows. The body prepares to protect you.
But what happens when the threat is not a single event — but your calendar, your relationships, your to-do list, your history? The nervous system can get locked into that activated state. And when it does, you feel it — even when you can’t name it.
Sleep that doesn’t restore you. A jaw that’s been clenched since 2015. The sensation that you’re always bracing for something. Mood swings that don’t match your circumstances. A libido that seems to have quietly packed its bags and left.
Sound familiar?
The Vagus Nerve Connection
This is where things get really interesting — and where Craniosacral Therapy does some of its most meaningful work.
Dr. Stephen Porges, a neuroscientist whose Polyvagal Theory has genuinely changed how we understand human healing, describes how the vagus nerve — the longest nerve in the autonomic nervous system — is central to our ability to feel safe. It regulates our social engagement, our digestion, our heart rate, and our capacity to rest.
The vagus nerve originates in the brainstem and travels all the way to the colon, touching nearly every major organ along the way. Over 80 percent of its nerve fibers are sensory, relaying information from your body to your brain. It is, in many ways, the nerve of connection — between your body and your brain, between you and the world around you.
When the vagus nerve isn’t functioning well — often due to chronic stress or unresolved trauma — everything downstream is affected. Digestion. Sleep. Mood. Immunity. The ability to feel genuinely calm.
CST works directly in the territory of the vagus nerve. During a session, practitioners often address areas closely related to vagal pathways — supporting what’s called vagal tone, which is essentially your nervous system’s ability to move fluidly between activated and settled states.
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, psychiatrist and author of The Body Keeps the Score, has specifically recommended Craniosacral Therapy as a bodywork that supports trauma recovery — recognizing that healing often requires working with the body, not just talking about what the mind holds.
What Does Somatic Healing Actually Mean?
The word somatic simply means “of the body.” Somatic healing acknowledges something that researchers like Dr. van der Kolk have increasingly validated: that our experiences — especially our stressful or difficult ones — are not stored only in our thoughts or memories. They are stored in our tissues, our breath patterns, our posture, our nervous system responses.
As van der Kolk writes, trauma is stored in somatic memory and expressed as changes in the biological stress response. In other words: your body remembers things your mind may have moved past. And sometimes, your body needs more than words to release them.
This is why bodywork like CST can reach places that talk therapy alone sometimes can’t. The gentle, attuned touch of a CST session creates conditions for the nervous system to settle — to begin to trust that it is safe to let go. Harvard Health describes somatic therapy as working with the understanding that “our body holds and expresses experiences and emotions, and traumatic events or unresolved emotional issues can become ‘trapped’ inside.”
Craniosacral Therapy is, at its heart, a somatic practice. It is a conversation with your body. And your body — given the right conditions — knows exactly how to begin to heal.
What Can CST Support?
While the research base for CST is still growing (as is true for many complementary therapies), clients frequently report meaningful improvement in:
- Anxiety and stress — The parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest and digest” state) is gently activated during a session, helping you drop out of the fight-or-flight response.
- Sleep quality — When the nervous system begins to regulate, sleep often follows.
- Chronic tension and pain — CST can address musculoskeletal tightness held in the head, neck, and back. A 2021 prospective cohort study published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice found that patients, the majority of whom were female, reported meaningful improvement in symptom intensity and quality of life following CST.
- Headaches and migraines — Among the conditions with the most consistent positive response to CST in the literature.
- Hormonal and emotional regulation — When the nervous system is more regulated, hormone communication improves throughout the body.
- Emotional processing — Many clients experience what’s called a somato-emotional release during or after a session — a gentle unwinding of stored emotion from the body’s tissues.
A note on nuance, because I believe in being honest with you: the formal research on CST is still limited, and some studies have had mixed findings. As with many holistic therapies, the research hasn’t fully caught up with the clinical and lived experience. What I can tell you is that within the safe, attuned container of a session, many women find something they’ve been searching for — a real, embodied sense of settling. Of coming home to themselves. And I feel so privaledged to have been able to hold space for this happening with so many of my clients.
What to Expect in a CST Session
If you’ve never had a Craniosacral Therapy session, here’s what you can expect:
You’ll lie fully clothed on a comfortable table. My hands will rest gently on your head, neck, sacrum, or other areas — always over your clothing, always with your comfort as the priority. You might feel warmth, a sense of deep release, or simply profound relaxation. Some women feel emotions rise and pass. Others simply drift into a restorative rest.
A session typically lasts 70 minutes. Some clients experience subtle shifts; others notice significant changes in the days following. Like most things worth having, the benefits often deepen over time and with consistent sessions.
You Don’t Have to White-Knuckle Your Way to Calm
Here’s what I want to leave you with: there is nothing wrong with you because your nervous system is dysregulated. It learned to be exactly the way it is because of what you’ve lived. The question isn’t whether you should be calmer or more regulated — the question is: what does your nervous system need to feel safe enough to soften?
Sometimes the answer is breath work. Sometimes it’s movement. And sometimes — beautifully, tenderly — it’s the simple, powerful experience of safe, attuned touch.
Craniosacral Therapy is an invitation. One for your body to remember what it already knows: how to rest, how to restore, and how to feel like yourself again.
Ready to experience it for yourself? I’d love to support you. Book a session here. Or if you’re curious and want to learn more, sign up for my newsletter — every week I share practices, insights, and gentle guidance for women who are ready to tend to themselves in a deeper way.
What’s one place in your body where you tend to hold stress — and did you know that before someone pointed it out, or did your body have to get louder first? Drop it in the comments – I read every one!
Sources & Further Reading
- Upledger Institute International: upledger.com
- Haller, H. et al. (2021). “The use and benefits of Craniosacral Therapy in primary health care: A prospective cohort study.” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.
- Porges, S. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. Norton.
- van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.
- Baker, A. (2023). “What is somatic therapy?” Harvard Health Publishing.
- Rosenberg, S. (2017). Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve. North Atlantic Books.
- Schwartz, A. (2024). “The Vagus Nerve in Trauma Recovery.” drarielleschwartz.com
Serenity is a licensed massage therapist, certified wellness coach, and the founder of RELEASE Embodied Wellness in Lincoln, Nebraska. She specializes in Craniosacral Therapy, Mayan Abdominal Therapy, and holistic support for women’s hormones and nervous system health.
