Laurie Holmes, LMT
Cranial Sacral Therapy (CST) is a holistic modality that is fascinating to discuss and experience for yourself.
I am a Licensed Massage Therapist and began giving massages over 40 years ago while living in Alabama. Currently, I work locally at Celadon on Lady’s Island. My specialties include deep therapeutic work and energy work. Energy, like electricity, cannot be seen, but it can be felt. At around ten years old, I found that out the hard way when I was dared to touch a live electric fence. It threw me backward onto the ground. The pain was so bad; I remember getting angry at the boys who dared me and all they did was laugh. I never did that again.
When I first felt energy inside me, it felt like a wave of electricity, only very mild compared to the intensity I felt while touching the live wire. A more accurate description might be that it undulated or pulsed, and I could feel it throughout my body. At first, I didn’t like it. As time went by, I was able to be with it more comfortably.
When I began to study different types of energy work, as it relates to massage therapy, I discovered I had an innate ability to palpate and experience the energy flowing in my client’s bodies. Not only could I feel their energy, but I could pick up “messages” as well that came across my mind as words or pictures. When I relayed the information I picked up on to my clients, it always meant something to them.
In 2004 I decided to take a 40-hour course from the Upledger Institute for Cranial Sacral Therapy that was being held in San Francisco near where my son and his wife lived. I remember how incredibly relaxing it was to experience CST for myself, much like an 8-hour nap. I woke up rejuvenated and refreshed. You don’t go to sleep, but you do go deep inside yourself. Everyone I have worked with experiences something different. Some have visions, some see colors, and some go to sleep.
In layman’s terms, it’s a non-invasive and non-intrusive touch that supports the body’s ability to heal itself, via the central nervous system. The cranial sacral system has a powerful rhythm that is unlike anything else in the body and can be palpated anywhere in the body. Everything is connected within this system.
I had two powerful experiences while giving CST to my clients. They did not experience the same thing I did.
During a session, I place my hands under my client’s head, with my palms resting on the ridge of their skull. I gently press into the occipital ridge and the rhythm I mentioned stops briefly for a few seconds, then starts up again. During this phase, known as still point, the following experiences happened.
My first divergent experience with energy behaving unusually was during a session with a client, where it flowed through my right hand, up my right arm, over my head, and back down my left arm and into my left hand, then back into my client’s body. The energy looped ten times before it diminished. It was the first time I experienced “energy” inside my client; this time I felt it run through me. I was clear-headed after that for days.
In the second experience, I had a spiritual encounter with energy. I don’t know how else to describe it. I had placed my hands on the occipital ridge and waited for the moment of still point. A grapefruit-sized ball of energy dropped through my physical hands and into my non-physical hands. It was as if I was in two places at the same time. I could feel the energy as if it had substance. I could also see it as a pulsing living entity and was blown away by it. I remember asking my client if she noticed anything, and she said no. Again, I was clear-headed for days afterwards. That has never happened again.
I continue to be fascinated by things I don’t completely understand and am open to having new experiences that often cannot be fully explained. I know I will keep doing what I do and share my extraordinary adventures with all of you.
Laurie Holmes, LMT, Author, Certified Mental Health and Wellbeing Coach. Laurie treats the whole person, mind, body, and soul. As a massage therapist, she’s interested in seeing what’s creating her client’s physical discomfort. She uses many modalities to address their specific needs. As a coach and mentor, she’s interested in understanding where their thoughts and feelings are producing their mental distress. By pointing them in the direction of their innate wholeness and mental health, Laurie helps them discover that they have all they need to thrive and flourish. Her first published book, “Becoming Human; The Story of You and Me and How We Came to Be,” explores our spirituality and opens the door to accepting the truth of who we all are: whole, complete, loving human beings.
