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Writer's pictureKate Mackinnon

Whole with CranioSacral Therapy

Poetry can so often depict the sensory experience so much more effectively than prose. CranioSacral Therapy can be described and written about – I should know – I wrote a whole book about it! But it cannot really be fully understood until we get to feel it in our own bodies and receive a CranioSacral Therapy session.


I felt that a poem about CST would be a great way to begin my book in order to convey the sensorial aspect of the work. I will often begin my talks on CST by inviting everybody to close their eyes and listen to this poem paying attention to what sensations they feel in their bodies.


My friend and fellow HayHouse author and poet Nancy Levin accepted my invitation to write a poem about her experiences of receiving CST titled, “whole”.  Thank you, Nancy, for sharing your heart and soul about CranioSacral Therapy!


After you read this poem, I’d love to know about your experience of CST.


Kate xx


whole by Nancy Levin

while her hands navigate

the map my body makes,

it's the radiating rhythm 

of vibration and stillness 

that now allows me 

to receive what it hides

and translate all it has to tell.


this journey to knowing,

deep in my essence,

that i am loved.

no matter what i do or don’t do,

even if i don’t do anything i will be loved. 


but to believe, i needed courage.

i found it in my body.


my body,

a treasure chest,

its cellular secrets under lock and key 

until the moment they were ready to be freed.


in the body

love first develops as hunger.

these walls have cellular memory.

there is a haunting here.


tight fitting skin,

barely wrapping bones

in dehydrated desert conditions

are infused with vitality

fleshed out and expanded

nourished and recalibrated

buoyant.


sensation returning and there, 

my breath still held, 

i felt full for the first time.


my power is very confusing.

and although my legs just want to run

i can feel my feet begin to find their roots, 

sourcing safety for my strength.


i found my grounding 

and what feeds me

in asking for help

from an intuitive hand.


my body,

once a fortress,

now begs for entry

and re-entry.


the thaw begins like this,

after being frozen in place

for so long, 

waves of flame and prayer 

release me,

finally locating the passage

from my heart,

revealing the way to healing. 


and so in the softening, 

i learn that love 

presents in many forms:

in flames on candles carried 

in kisses and wishes of peace 

in snow surrounding a mountain waterfall.


my body melts

outside its lines.


my thoughts, 

my own 

for the first time.


and as pieces of me 

return or arrive,

desire alone senses

the rise and fall

of what’s alive

inside.


and now, 

stripped of all 

i once defined 

myself by,

it takes only a moment 

to notice 

i have always been

whole.

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