Excerpt from Anthony P. Arnold, PhD, Rhythm and Touch, the Fundamentals of Craniosacral Therapy, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2009.

Therapeutic Release

Release is simply the easing of constriction in muscle and connective tissue. Release of constriction allows the body to reestablish a more natural balance among its parts. It results in an easing of pressure on joints. Release allows a healthy flow of nerve impulse, fluid, and energy between regions of the body.

A therapeutic release occurs when tissue that has held the imprint of a past injury or affliction releases that imprint, freeing itself for a fuller and more ordinary range of functioning. Tissue memory is a term that has been devised to explain a set of experiences and suppositions by therapists. Certain injuries recur even after they appear to have healed; common examples are injuries to the back, neck, or jaw. Certain illnesses tend to recur—some people have colds more than others, some have headaches, others are prone to stomach ailments. Both injuries and illnesses tend to occur more frequently during periods of life stress. Physical exhaustion also seems to trigger chronic patterns of constriction or illness. The affliction is not random but specific to the individual.

Emotions are often associated with the lingering effects of illness or injury. Individuals differ in whether they feel calm or agitated, hopeless or hopeful when ill or in pain. During bodywork, as a pattern of pain or dysfunction eases, individuals sometimes experience a memory or strong emotion similar to that experienced when the injury or illness first occurred. Being touched in a specific place, such as the neck or leg, or finding the body in a certain position can trigger the memory and emotion.

Here is an example. While rotating among fellow students at a craniosacral training, I found myself working with a woman, holding her sacrum in one hand and the back of her head in the other. She began to feel upset and then to vividly recall an auto accident a year or more in the past. She was puzzled, because she had healed well from head and face injuries and apparently had left it all behind her. Nevertheless, as she experienced the emotions of the accident again a forgotten aspect emerged. At the moment of impact, her child screamed. As the woman was propelled forward and injured, she felt helpless and extremely worried for her child. As it turned out, her child was not injured, and during recovery that part of her own experience was forgotten. This brief intervention during a training session allowed her to go back to that moment and release a feeling of anxiety and helplessness that somehow had lingered below the level of conscious awareness.

How does the tissue hold the imprint of past experience? Although this is not fully understood, there are many mechanisms by which the body "learns" or adapts, based on experience. One is the operation of the immune system. When a foreign substance invades body tissue, a complex set of changes occurs in the blood, endocrine, and lymph systems. Specific substances are modified to neutralize the effect of the foreign substance. In addition, the body produces other substances that will be held in waiting so that the body can react more rapidly if a similar threat appears in the future.

Another mechanism acts at the nerve endings. When a particular set of stimuli are affecting a nerve ending, chemical substances are produced that will prepare the nerve to react more quickly when similar conditions recur.

These examples do not fully explain the complicated experience of tissue memory. Nevertheless, they are indications of the capacity of the body to learn from experience and store complex information at the cellular and tissue level.

Indications of the Release Process

The body’s protective holding reaches muscles, ligaments, fascia, and all forms of connective tissue. It may be experienced as pain, limitation of motion, or restricted organ function. Both constriction and release occur at many levels. Memories, images, and emotions are often connected with physiological holding. The limitation or discomfort that we feel in one specific area is part of a broader picture of the body’s protective adaptation to trauma or stress.

As we work with the client, we learn to recognize signs of change in the tissue and in the pattern of flow or congestion manifested by the body. When we touch with respect and support, muscles and connective tissue release and rebalance accumulated energy. There are many signals that the body is engaged in an inner process of release.