Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy in Nelson, BC
How gentle touch can help foster relational safety, assist with rewiring the nervous system, and access the body’s innate vitality
Gentle touch for deep nervous system healing
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) offers a unique approach to healing through gentle, therapeutic touch. As a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST®) in Nelson BC, I help your nervous system return to its natural state of balance and vitality.
Similarly to my counselling work, my craniosacral therapy sessions incorporate elements of Somatic Experiencing® to create a deeply integrative bodywork practice.
Please Note: Craniosacral therapy is a self-pay service not typically covered by extended health benefits.
A different kind of bodywork
BCST is unlike most other forms of hands-on therapy. Using extremely light touch, I listen to the subtle rhythms of your system and support it in finding greater balance.
Rather than manipulating or adjusting, I offer my regulated nervous system as a resource for yours. Through this gentle contact, your body can:
Release deeply held tension and trauma
Shift out of chronic stress patterns
Access its natural healing wisdom
Remember states of deep rest and vitality
The experience often feels like meditation with supportive touch – profoundly restful yet dynamically healing.
How craniosacral therapy works
When different nervous systems are in proximity, they naturally begin to synchronize – a process called co-regulation. You've likely experienced this when your breathing naturally matches someone else's rhythm, or when your heart rate settles in the presence of someone calm.
Through my hands, I sense where your system holds restriction or overwhelm. By bringing gentle awareness to these areas, your body's innate intelligence can reorganize toward greater health.
Many clients report feeling a profound sense of peace, as if they've come home to themselves.
While many craniosacral therapists work mostly in silence, I collaborate with clients to find a balance of silence and dialogue that works for each person. I find that incorporating Somatic Experiencing® techniques, such as tracking sensations together, can be helpful for counteracting dissociation and deepening presence.
What craniosacral therapy supports
BCST works on multiple levels simultaneously:
Physical Healing Chronic pain, headaches, TMJ tension, injuries, concussion recovery, digestive issues, and sleep difficulties often improve as your nervous system finds balance.
Emotional Integration Trauma, anxiety, and overwhelm held in the body can gently release without needing to be verbally processed. Your system knows how to heal when given the right conditions.
Nervous System Regulation If you feel stuck in fight, flight, or freeze, craniosacral therapy helps your system remember its full range of responses – from healthy alertness to deep rest.
Spiritual Connection Many experience a sense of wholeness, presence, or connection to something larger. This enhanced perception is simply the recognition of our embeddedness in a larger matrix – an ability to sense our interconnectedness with the ecosystem we're part of.
Who this approach serves best
Craniosacral therapy particularly resonates with those who:
Prefer non-verbal processing – letting the body speak without overly depending on words
Have "tried everything" for chronic conditions without lasting relief
Feel overwhelmed by talk therapy but know healing is needed
Are highly sensitive and need the gentlest approach possible
Trust the body's wisdom but need support accessing it
Seek nervous system regulation without medication
If you're drawn to subtle work with profound effects, this may be good medicine for you.
The biodynamic approach
What makes Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy unique is its trust in your system's inherent health. Rather than imposing change from outside, I support what your body is already trying to do.
Your body holds its own treatment plan. My role is to listen deeply and create optimal conditions for your system's healing intelligence to emerge. I offer presence, attunement, and a regulated nervous system as resources. Through my training and experience, I can sense subtle restrictions and support your system in finding new pathways toward health.
Integration with counselling
Many clients find that combining craniosacral therapy with counselling creates deeper, more lasting change. While I offer therapeutic touch in both session types, there are differences:
Counselling sessions use conversation, somatic awareness, and movement to explore mental/emotional/physical patterns and support integration. A combination of chair work and table work may be used (table work and other forms of touch are completely optional). It is recommended to book at least a 70-minute counselling session if you are interested in table work, to allow time for transitions.
Craniosacral sessions are entirely on the table; periods of verbal communication alternate with periods of deepening into stillness. Clients who prefer minimal conversation may select this session type and inform me of their preferences.
Either session type offers an integrative healing experience, often incorporating elements of Somatic Experiencing®.
Both approaches help your nervous system integrate and reorganize. The difference is in the method – one works primarily through verbal processing and embodied awareness, the other primarily through hands-on nervous system support.
We can explore whether this integrated treatment approach might serve you in a free consultation.
Ready to experience this work?
If you're seeking a gentle yet profound approach to healing that works directly with your nervous system, craniosacral therapy may be exactly what you need.
Whether addressing physical pain, emotional overwhelm, or simply seeking deeper rest, this work offers a unique path to wholeness.
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“Vanessa is such a gifted practitioner; she has such a calm, non-judgmental and professional presence. It’s amazing that such a light touch approach can have such profound effects on the body. I always look forward to my treatments, and cannot recommend Vanessa enough.”