The text is excellent. I ordered it because it is required material to learn as part of obtaining a certification in Craniosacral Therapy. I just completed CST I and look forward to CST II in Sept.

This book was purchased to help learn the basics. It has helped calm the behavior of a child who loves the pressure and responds with a thank you.

This book is very difficult to read, but it is full of amazing information. I read it to prepare for a 4-day workshop on CranioSacral Therapy from The Upledger Institute. I had to read the book before the class, and again after the class. It made much more sense the second time.

I was a little skeptical at first, but I decided to give the therapy a try. I'm very glad I did, too. My son had been diagnosed with PDD (autism) and bipolar disorder before I took the class. After a couple of years of using CranioSacral Therapy (and a few other things), he now has ADD. He no longer takes the bipolar medication, and people who know him would never suspect PDD.

It has been A LOT of work, but it's worth every minute of it!

I am currently a massage therapy student, and we have energy-based modalities this term. Cranial Sacral Therapy was one of the modalities covered. This book, co-authored by the founder of the Cranial Sacral Therapy system, really helped clear things up for me, and I got a 96 on my final.

I've long had this book on my bookshelf. It was the first book of the kind ever written with easy to understand hand-drawn illustrations. I encountered this book when I was first exploring the healing art of CranioSacral Therapy.

The anatomy is excellent--there are absolutely no mistakes in the anatomy here and I challenge anyone to comment on this review to contrary.

The territory this book covers is mind blowing.

Warning: Approach with an open mind AND in the spirit of scientific inquiry.

This is not a book for the Casual Reader. This is a book for the serious student of both Cranial Osteopathy and CranioSacral Therapy. (Speaking of which, has the student ever tried to crack open one of Dr. William Garner Sutherland's early tomes?)

I'm grateful this book existed when I had questions that nobody else could answer.

Bravo, Dr. John Upledger! Well done!


James Nemec LMT, CST-D
Author of,
TOUCH THE OCEAN: THE POWER OF OUR COLLECTIVE EMOTIONS

I've long had this book on my bookshelf. It was the first book of the kind ever written with easy to understand hand-drawn illustrations. I encountered this book when I was first exploring the healing art of CranioSacral Therapy.

The anatomy is excellent--there are absolutely no mistakes in the anatomy here and I challenge anyone to comment on this review to contrary.

The territory this book covers is mind blowing.

Warning: Approach with an open mind AND in the spirit of scientific inquiry.

This is not a book for the Casual Reader. This is a book for the serious student of both Cranial Osteopathy and CranioSacral Therapy. (Speaking of which, has the student ever tried to crack open one of Dr. William Garner Sutherland's early tomes?)

I'm grateful this book existed when I had questions that nobody else could answer.

Bravo, Dr. John Upledger! Well done!


James Nemec LMT, CST-D
Author of,
TOUCH THE OCEAN: THE POWER OF OUR COLLECTIVE EMOTIONS

I don't know, myself, exactly what I think of craniosacral therapy. But I've made a point of searching out the most sceptical material I could find on the subject, and I have read the ENTIRE BCC meta-study on it that was released a few years ago, not just Stephen Barett's opinions on it (which is all that some commenters have read, I think!) This "study of studies" was basically for the purposes of trying to decide if craniosacral therapy should be covered by third-party payers, and it reviewed all studies to date. It basically came up with three conclusions:
1.) The type of studies needed to determine clinical efficacy of craniosacral therapy really don't exist.
2.) The cranial bones are not fused in adults, and they really do move.
3.)A "cranial rhythm" does exist.

Please remember that this study was extremely sceptical and held absolutely no brief for this therapy! It didn't, in fact, ultimately recommend that insurance should cover it, because with the kind of studies that had been done, there was no way to prove that it either worked or didn't work.

As I said, *I* don't know if it works. But if you're wondering, you need to examine ALL the material about it sceptically, including Upledger's AND the researchers who don't like it. You just cannot argue, for example, that the cranial bones are fused in adults, because studies from the past thirty years show that they're not. Now, there's a big difference between saying that they move and saying that a practitioner can move them with manual manipulation. But misrepresenting evidence doesn't help anyone's argument.

Au contraire Mr. Deveno, everyone knows the cranial rhythmic impulse, like the pulse rate and blood pressure, varies from time to time and from person to person and from measurer to measurer. But this is an aside. A recent article in the respected Journal of Pediatrics, showed that osteopathic manipulation (which included CST) helped in cases of otitis media (i.e. ear infections). What makes CST controversial is the theory that the cranial sutures are being moved and that cerebrospinal fluid motion is being influenced. This is the theory behind CST. For all we know the working mechanism of CST could be completely different. Upledger's book is well written and gives practical advice on the treatment of patients, as well as the current working theory behind CST. He includes not only his variation of the vault maneuvers, but also the classical vault maneuvers developed by Sutherland.By the way it should be noted that Upledger taught CST at MSU-College of Osteopathic Medicine which is consistently ranked as a top 50 medical school by US News and World Report.

Au contraire Mr. Deveno, everyone knows the cranial rhythmic impulse, like the pulse rate and blood pressure, varies from time to time and from person to person and from measurer to measurer. But this is an aside. A recent article in the respected Journal of Pediatrics, showed that osteopathic manipulation (which included CST) helped in cases of otitis media (i.e. ear infections). What makes CST controversial is the theory that the cranial sutures are being moved and that cerebrospinal fluid motion is being influenced. This is the theory behind CST. For all we know the working mechanism of CST could be completely different. Upledger's book is well written and gives practical advice on the treatment of patients, as well as the current working theory behind CST. He includes not only his variation of the vault maneuvers, but also the classical vault maneuvers developed by Sutherland.By the way it should be noted that Upledger taught CST at MSU-College of Osteopathic Medicine which is consistently ranked as a top 50 medical school by US News and World Report.

In various studies of craniosacral therapy, when multiple practioners are asked to determine the craniosacral pulse rate of a common set of patients they quite consistently fail to agree on rates. But this is an aside, the fact of the matter is that bones of the skull really are fused after a certain age of childhood. Craniosacral therapy has been objectively studied ... and found wanting. This is the primary reason why most respectable osteopathic teaching schools have decided to leave craniosacral therapy off the curriculum.

As a student at a massage school which highly values craniosacral therapy I have been learning this therapy in class and recently attended the first course from Upledger Institute (CS1) For anyone interested in taking CS courses from the institute this is required reading for the class (first 6 chapters). After attending the class and using these techniques in clinic I am thrilled by this hands on, educational and technique perfecting book.

This is not meant for people just wondering what Craniosacral therapy is (try 'Inner Physician and You' or "Touchstone for Health" if you want an easy, interesting intro of case studies and experiences) but more for a therapist (liscensed or not, anyone who is actually interested in PERFORMING the work) to use as a text book. It is absolutely written as such, but for someone like me who had learned it at school, and sometimes struggled with the theory and study and knowledge behind it. it is an amzing read. You will learn hand positions, suture release techniques, 10 step protocol, direction of energy, and so much more. If you think this may be a therapy you are adding to your practice then I recommend this book highly. It is presented with the assumption of the reader fluent in anatomical terms and familiar with CS history.