Welcome to The Craniosacral Podcast!
Do you love cranial work? If so, you’ve come to the right place! It is my goal to help you integrate craniosacral therapy into your professional life in an authentic and meaningful way.
This podcast ran continuously from 2015-2021, largely featuring interviews with prominent practitioners and teachers in the field. Also included are live classroom recordings and a few meditations. Much of the content elaborates on timeless principles, so jump right in and I hope you find it useful!
-Ryan Hallford
Heather Smith and Anni Jorgensen have been involved in the expansion of craniosacral therapy in Denmark for several decades. In this episode they talk about the current professional climate in the Danish craniosacral scene, along with their approach to training and clinical practice. Pediatric care is an area of interest for them, so we spend some time discussing working with children.
Cherionna Menzam-Sills, Ph.D. is certified as a teacher of craniosacral biodynamics with the Biodynamic Craniosacral Association of North America and as a supervisor by the Craniosacral Association of the UK. She has also been authorized as a Continuum teacher by Continuum founder Emilie Conrad. Cherionna incorporates 40 years of experience teaching and practicing various therapies, mindfulness practices, somatic movement, bodywork, psychotherapy and prenatal and birth psychology in her writing and classroom teaching.
Michael Dunning contributes to the podcast again with this lecture on heart ignition. Michael brings in some interesting perspective on the matter by including some esoteric spirituality and lesser-known viewpoints of the role of the heart in human life.
Brian Tierney has been one of the most active tutors for Body Intelligence biodynamic trainings. He also recently completed his Ph.D. degree in somatic psychology. In this episode Brian talks about his graduate work in psychology and its marriage to biodynamic craniosacral therapy.
Robyn Scherr is a diplomat-certified CranioSacral Therapist through the Upledger Institute, certified massage therapist in California, and listener favorite here on The Craniosacral Podcast. In today's episode she discusses the importance of dropping our personal agendas when working with clients, emphasizing the fact that the therapeutic interaction is primarily about the client's experience … and not our theories or personal preferences.
Michelle Emanuel has 20 years experience as a Neonatal/Pediatric Occupational Therapist, with specific focus on posture, movement and connection for the newborn to precrawling baby. She has a background in neonatal intensive care, pediatric intensive care, cardiac intensive care, as well as craniosacral therapy. In this interview she talks about some of the challenges facing pre-crawling babies and how craniosacral therapy and other approaches may help.
Cloe Couturier has been working at the Upledger Institute Clinic since 1995, having been invited directly by Dr. John Upledger to practice there. Her personal and professional path through the healing arts have included Osteopathic training in France, Craniosacral therapy with the Upledger Institute and Bernard Darraillians, and Medical Qigong. In this episode she tells the story of how her desire to heal her son's muscular dystrophy led her down a path of discovery of the many possibilities of manual therapy and energetic healing.
For decades Mike Boxhall has been conducting workshops that combine the practice of stillness with physical contact and deep trust in the movement of creative intelligence. At the request of his students he wrote down some of his ideas about the interface of spiritual practice, craniosacral therapy, and everyday life. “The Empty Chair: the Teaching not the T-shirt” is the result of that effort. This book is a classic in the field of craniosacral therapy. It is a distillation of insight gained from over forty years of exploration into the depth of the human condition, offering us hope and guidance for allowing the emergence of health into our present-time awareness.
Were Christian monastics such as Saint John of the Cross, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Thomas Merton having a “biodynamic” experience? In this classroom lecture Ryan Hallford looks more carefully at the embodied sensory experience of some important Christian mystics to find the commonalities between this rich religious tradition and foundational phenomena of biodynamic craniosacral therapy like the Long Tide and Dynamic Stillness.
Scott Zamurut has been an instrumental figure in the unfolding of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy in North America since its earliest introduction by Franklyn Sills. In this episode Scott lectures about the origins of pre- and perinatal healing as developed by William Emerson, Karlton Terry, and Franklyn Sills. He also discusses the nature of shock as applicable to the human system, describing four distinct categories; and finally gives a brief overview of the four stages of birth recognized by the pre- and perinatal healing community.
