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Writer's pictureLinda@CranioSacralBoulder

The patient is the teacher

Updated: Sep 19, 2023


Regional Tissue Release in CST, therapist follows patient's unwinding patterns.

One compelling aspect of practicing CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is the perspective shift it encourages for many related to the relationship of therapist and patient.


The very nature of this approach upends the hierarchy found in many of our healthcare relationships whether in traditional or alternative care.


It is reshuffled to a leveled exchange with the patient empowered to lead and the therapist focused as a neutral facilitator and follower. I've shared a separate entry about following here.


CST is a practice recognizing that your system leads and is one respecting that your system knows best what it needs. Much of the therapists' foundational work in addition to technique, anatomy, and the system's physiology is about this aspect of big T, "Trust".


In simplest language, this is not a “doing to” therapy, this is a “listening to” therapy.


That this is a therapy focused on the therapist developing open and neutral listening skills is an important distinction in the fundamental approach of CranioSacral.


Do you recognize the difference in the placement of leadership/action/empowerment?


It rests not with the therapist but with you, the patient.


Dr. John Upledger, DO, OMM (1932-2012), developer of CranioSacral Therapy and founder of Upledger Institute, explained it in the simplest phrase,

“The patient is the teacher.”


It's why at the end of a session when you ask me what I felt, I often ask you what you felt as well. Part of my work is to help you connect to your own experience in your own body because it is equally if not more important than my own experience of listening.


I remind myself of Dr. Upledger's guiding words almost daily. It is a framework I invite you to explore with me in session and in the days following as change continues to unfold for you.


Thank you for joining me here and in session.



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