Light-Touch Bodywork · Waimea & Kona
Craniosacral Therapy
Most of us know about the heart, blood, lungs, and breath. Fewer people know the body has another fluid system: the clear fluid that surrounds and cushions the brain and spinal cord, held inside a membrane that runs from the skull to the tailbone.
Craniosacral therapy is gentle, hands-on work with that system. With a touch about the weight of a nickel, it seeks to ease tension where this membrane anchors, at the base of the skull and at the sacrum.
Many people report a deep sense of calm during the treatment and wake feeling refreshed and clear, surprised at how good they can feel from such gentle pressure and light traction.
The Anatomy
The Craniosacral System
The name comes from the two ends of the system: the cranium, or skull, and the sacrum, the bone at the base of the spine.
The Fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid is a clear fluid made deep inside the brain. There is about two-thirds of a cup of it at any moment, and the body replaces it three to four times a day. It cushions the brain and spinal cord, brings nutrients, and carries away waste.
The Container
The fluid is held inside a tough, watertight membrane called the dura. Around the spinal cord it forms a long sleeve, the dural tube. The tube anchors firmly to bone at the top, at the base of the skull, and at the bottom, at the sacrum.
The Movement
The fluid is never still. MRI studies show it moves in pulses with each heartbeat and each breath, and a deep breath moves it more. As they work, craniosacral practitioners aim to listen with their hands for this gentle movement.
- 1 Brain
- 2 Cerebrospinal fluid
- 3 Spinal cord
- 4 Dural tube
- 5 Where the tube anchors: base of the skull and sacrum
- 6 Sacrum
How It Begins
There From the First Weeks
This system is one of the first things the body builds. In the fourth week after conception, a sheet of cells rolls up into a tube that will become the brain and spinal cord. As the tube closes, it traps fluid inside. That is the first cerebrospinal fluid.
Research suggests this early fluid does real work. Its gentle pressure helps the young brain expand, and it carries signals that help guide the growing nerve cells.
The heart starts beating in that same week, and the two systems grow up side by side. Later they are joined by the vagus nerve, which runs from the base of the brain to the heart and slows it when we feel safe.
Craniosacral therapy is built on a simple idea: when this system has room to move freely, the body is better able to keep itself in balance.
How Jason Works
Freeing the Dural Tube
The history
This work began with Dr. William Sutherland, an osteopathic physician. In the early 1900s he proposed that the bones of the skull, the membranes beneath them, and the fluid around the brain and spinal cord move together as one system. He called his work cranial osteopathy and taught it to fellow osteopaths.
In the 1970s Dr. John Upledger, also an osteopathic physician, brought his own understanding to it. He organized the work into a step-by-step method, named it CranioSacral Therapy, and opened the training to licensed practitioners outside the osteopathic field.
The idea
Dr. Sutherland proposed that these membranes act as one connected unit, so tension in one place can pull on the whole system. He called the dural tube the "core link" between the skull and the sacrum. Dr. Upledger made freeing it a central part of his method: tension in the membranes and connective tissue can pull on the tube and restrict it, a little like a twist in a sleeve. The aim of treatment is to find those areas of restriction and help them let go.
Very light touch
The pressure is about five grams, the weight of a nickel. With a touch this light, held patiently over one area, the body begins to relax and unwind on its own.
One of the clearest examples is a very gentle traction while holding the feet and the base of the skull. A firm pull is something the body tends to brace and guard against. A traction this light is closer to waiting and intending. After a while, Jason often feels a slight give, a gentle lengthening under his hands, and many people notice it too. A common question at that moment is, “Wow, are you making me taller?”
The two ends
Because the dural tube anchors at the base of the skull and at the sacrum, these are the two key places Jason works. Gentle traction at each end aims to ease tension along the whole length of the tube.
Looking for health
Rather than looking only for what's wrong, this work looks for the health that is already there. When the body drops into a deep, calm state, it often finds its own way back toward balance. Jason's job is to help create the conditions for that to happen.
Research on craniosacral therapy for specific health conditions is still limited. Jason offers it for the deep calm many people feel, alongside, not in place of, medical care.
What Jason Sees
Why People Come In
People find their way to craniosacral therapy for many reasons. These are the ones Jason sees most.
Low Back & Sciatic Pain
Tension in the low back and pelvis, sometimes with pain running down the leg. Jason begins at the sacrum, the base of the spine, where much of this tension seems to gather.
How we treat back pain & sciatica with acupuncture →Neck & Shoulders
Tight shoulders, a stiff neck, and tension headaches. When Jason works through the upper chest and shoulders, people often describe a melting feeling as the muscles let go.
How we treat neck & shoulder tension with acupuncture →Stress & the Nervous System
Feeling wired, anxious, or unable to switch off. For many people, this is where craniosacral work helps most: the body settles, breathing slows, and the mind gets quiet.
How we treat stress, anxiety & sleep with acupuncture →- Tension headaches
- Jaw tension (TMJ)
- Trouble sleeping
- Racing thoughts
- Recovery after injury
- Recovery after stressful periods
What to Expect
A 60-Minute Session
Jason works through the body in a steady order, from the pelvis up to the head, and finishes at the feet.
The Sacrum
He begins with gentle holds under the pelvis and the sacrum, the lower anchor of the dural tube, where tension in the low back and hips often gathers.
The Breathing Diaphragm
Light contact at the belly and lower ribs helps the main breathing muscle soften, and breathing often slows and deepens here.
The Top of the Chest
A light hold where the chest meets the neck, an area where many people carry tension. Breathing often opens up here.
The Base of the Skull
Gentle holds where the neck meets the head, the upper anchor of the dural tube and one of the most common places to hold stress. The vagus nerve, the main nerve of rest and digestion, leaves the skull close by.
Upper Chest & Shoulders
A gentle stretch through the upper chest, then the trapezius muscles across the shoulders. Many people describe a melting feeling as they let go.
The Cranial Rhythm
Quiet listening at the head for the slow rhythm of the fluid around the brain and spinal cord.
Bringing It Together
He finishes with a gentle stretch through the legs from the feet, to help the whole body take in the work.
The Experience
Like a Very Restful Nap
That's how many people describe it afterward. The body shifts into its rest-and-repair mode, the side of the nervous system that slows the heart and breathing and lets digestion and healing take over.
What Jason sees is consistent: people get up from the table calmer, looser, and often surprised that something so gentle reached so deep.
Something to Try at Home
From Analyzing to Sensing
Notice how much of the day goes to analyzing: yourself, other people, the day, the past, the future. These thoughts are good and needed. But it helps to leave some time to shift from analyzing to perceiving.
When we perceive, we use our senses. Feel the space your body occupies. Listen to the sounds around you. Things begin to shift inside. Brainwaves tend to move from busy beta toward calmer alpha, time can seem to slow, and we enter a state of simply being aware.
Start with the breath
The breath is one of the easiest ways in. Follow a few slow breaths, feeling the air move in and out. Slow, deep breathing is also one of the things known to move the fluid around the brain and spinal cord, and breathing often slows and deepens by itself during a session.
Once a day
We think this is a healthy state to visit at least once a day. It gives the nervous system a chance to reset. Acupuncture and craniosacral therapy both help the body find it, and with a little practice you can find it on your own too.
Two Ways to Receive It
On Its Own or With Acupuncture
A full craniosacral session
A dedicated 60-minute visit of craniosacral work, with no needles. A good choice if you want to focus on calming the nervous system, or if needles aren't for you.
As part of acupuncture
Jason's acupuncture visits often finish with about 15 minutes of craniosacral work, to help the body settle and take in the treatment. He usually introduces it after the first two or three visits, once he has a sense of how your body responds.
Jason's training
Jason trained through the Upledger Institute (CranioSacral Therapy Levels 1 and 2, SomatoEmotional Release 1, and Pediatrics 1), completing that training in 2000, and has used craniosacral work in practice ever since.
Session Details
Getting Started
Fully clothed, on a padded table
Per session
Then spacing out toward monthly
Find Your Calm
Take the Next Step
Craniosacral therapy is offered by Jason. He books by phone or text so he can hear a little about what's going on first.
New patient? Download the intake forms (PDF)
Print them and bring them to your first visit.