William Garner Sutherland D.O. (1873-1954). His 54 year epic journey began when, through Divine Providence, he noticed, that the cranial sutures of the temporal bones were “beveled like the gills of a fish” indicating the ability for movement with the parietal bones, allowing for expansion and contraction. He was an Osteopathic physician and the founder of Cranial Sacral therapy. Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of the first Osteopathic school in America, was the inspiration for Dr. Sutherland’s epic journey. Both doctors believed, that the bones of the skull could move. It was controversial within the medical community then, as it is controversial today. Dr. Sutherland was a deeply spiritual man and later described the origins of the breath of life , a term we revere in this work ,from the Book of Genesis 2:7. This later became the foundational believe of Cranial Osteopathy

Dr. William Garner first began investigating this semi-closed hydraulic cranial sacral system in 1901. The three systems of cranial work are called mechanical, the functional and biodynamic model. They are comprised of the spine, the skull, its cranial sutures, diaphragms, and the fascia of the body. The cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) moves through the spinal cord and body.The Mechanical model is the most dramatic. The functional moves on to less intervention. And the biodynamic is the least amount of intervention. My own studies began with motion testing of the Mechanical model and then moved on to the biodynamic model.

Dr. Sutherland’s work at first, was largely rejected by the mainstream osteopathic profession. He began to teach this work to other osteopaths from about the 1930s until his death in 1954. Craniosacral therapy comes under attack even today because it lacks supposed authenticity and offers no scientific support. I find this laughable, Dr. Rollin Becker, DO, was Dr. Sutherland’s most accomplished protege, who quit his normal practice of osteopathy after 20 years, to spend the last 35 years of his practice performing nothing but craniosacral osteopathy. His work was founded on its efficacy to deal with a myriad of painful issues. He would have been out of business if it didn’t work!

The same naysayers of this work who are searching for scientific validation, can only throw drugs at many of the problems that are presented to us in our practices. And those drugs have failed to address the underlying issues. And often the side effects of the prescribed drugs are impossible to live with. Again, I am not asking anyone to “throw out the baby with the bath water” and give up medical treatment, I am only suggesting that one find out for themselves, if alternative and complimentary approaches to health and healing prove valuable. I can assure you of this, I have made a wonderful living, without the benefit of third party insurance because it definitely works. Science doesn’t totally understand the mechanisms of homeostatic response. There was a time when scientist believed the Earth was flat. Shamans have been using unsubstantiated methods for thousands of years. Just think Copernicus and Galileo and the ridicule they suffered at the hands of the scientists!

After 54 years, toward the end of his life, Dr. Sutherland began to sense a power which generated homeostatic responses deep within the patient’s body.This power worked without any influence of the therapist. This discovery changed the entire focus of his work. It now became a journey of spiritual reverence and subtle touch. To be still and know was Jesus’s teaching, and this concept of stillness became the essence of his work. It is know called the biodynamic craniosacral therapy approach.

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