Lulu.

Lulu is 9 years old. She is severely autistic with very limited verbal skills. When I first met Lulu around a year ago she was a highly agitated and anxious child. Lulu wasn’t sleeping through the night and was self-harming in school due to her high levels of anxiety.

In her first session, I picked up on a high degree of nervous system de-regulation and over-stimulation in Lulu’s system, alongside significant compression in her occipital area. I worked with Lulu over several months and she was initially quite resistant to being treated due to her high levels of sensitivity.

However as she began to improve and feel better, Lulu began to ask even her Mum when she was going to see ‘Cake’ which is her name for me. Lulu’s improvement has been significant and life changing for her family. In her mum Jenni’s own words…

“We reached out to Kate at a time when Lulu’s anxiety had reached crisis point. She would also be awake 3 to 4 nights a week and be constantly sensory seeking. Lulu was highly anxious at school and wasn’t able to stay in class without reaching high levels of anxiety, her coping strategy would be to strip, scream loudly and attempt to self harm by running into walls and banging her head. Lulu’s behaviours were giving us all a great deal of concern and were heartbreaking to hear about. Her anxiety was stopping her from moving on emotionally & academically.

We had been told by various professionals that for Lulu to be able to move on and get the best out of the interventions on offer her anxiety and sensory issues would need to be managed, she needed to be in a calm state for learning. This link had been missing for so long and years seemed to be passing by with no change. Since CST and some additional support at school, I can honestly say that we are finally taking some comfort in the fact we are doing everything in our power to help her move forward. For so long we didn’t have the answer and felt powerless as parents. CST seems to be the link Lulu had been missing.

The first change we noticed after beginning CST was Lulu’s sleeping pattern. I would say after the 2nd or 3rd session she started sleeping through every night. This was life changing for us as a family. Lulu still has the odd night up, but they are few and far between. Also, if she does wake in the night she is more likely to settle herself back to sleep again. No more singing, dancing or jumping. No turning lights on or playing with toys in the middle of the night.

I had tried putting wellies on Lulu a number of times over the years. After a few weeks of CST I thought I’d give it another go. Previously, just the sight of them would have her kicking and shouting, but she put them on without really noticing and with some Peppa Pig muddy puddle encouragement she kept them on & really enjoying exploring the puddles. This was a really special moment for me. Just to see her enjoying something so simple and looking like a “normal” child really brought a tear to my eye.

Lulu now has less of a reliance on her phone. The battery running out is usually a big trigger point for anxiety and she will be truly devastated and might attempt to self harm or will run around screaming. The behaviour has reduced. She has suddenly become interested in puzzles and books and will spend time focusing on these while the phone is charging. Her attention span and tolerance of other activities has definitely increased.

Lulu is especially sensitive to hair brushing. I had previously tried to put her hair in a pony tail, but she could only tolerate it for a maximum of 10 seconds and would pull it out. I tried this again recently and she did keep it in and even wore it into school! I was even more amazed when she came out with it still in and her teacher told me she had even let her redo it. That’s definitely a sensory improvement.

New shoes and clothes can be problematic. Lulu will not wear trousers or leggings, but only loose fitting dresses. Sometimes, even the dresses will offend her and she will continue to take them off and throw them on the floor. We usually save new clothes or shoes to the weekend when my husband and I can work together to encourage her to keep these on. It can be challenging. I recently bought her new school shoes and thought I’d take a chance on a Monday morning. She allowed me to put them on and went to school without any fuss, it was the smartest she’d ever looked going to school.

If we could turn back time to when Lulu first received her diagnosis CST would have been the first therapy we would have chosen. CST has given her the steady core and grounding to help her receive the full benefits from all other interventions on offer. Lulu’s problems are still her problems and will always be so, but the subtle changes have really improved our quality of life.”

David.

A pensioner in his seventies, David is paralysed on one side of his body due to an aneurism. He has been struggling to sleep for more than a few hours each night, suffered from high levels of anxiety (nervous fluttery tummy) and had recently begun to experience Tinnitus. ⁣

David was also on a range of medication for digestive and bladder issues. His daughter initially booked him a course of 6 Cranio-Sacral Therapy sessions with me to see if I could help with his persistent tinnitus, constant nausea and his nervous stomach.

When I first tuned into David’s system, I could feel incredibly high levels of sympathetic nervous system over-stimulation particularly being held around his celiac plexus area, his adrenal glands were also fatigued and stretched to their limit. David’s temporal bones in his cranium felt totally stuck and he was carrying a huge amount of tension in his lower jaw.

David’s sleep resolved within the first two sessions and his tinnitus improvement was so good he booked another 6 sessions after his initial six weekly sessions. By the time we entered lockdown his nervous tummy had disappeared, he had also stopped taking all his digestive and bladder medications and he had even begun to find it easier to walk on his paralysed side. ⁣
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One of the highlights of working with David is hearing him often say how much happier and content having Cranio - Sacral Therapy therapy had made him feel. David continues to have regular monthly sessions.

In David’s own words…

“I commenced the above therapies after a long period of NHS treatment trying to identify the cause of feeling nauseous, 'nervous' stomach and disorientation. I was also given advice on managing the tinnitus (no known remedy) that had commenced early in this period. No physical problem could be identified but stress was thought to be the most likely cause.

There seemed to be very little more progress to be made in the NHS so on my daughters recommendation I started a course of Cranio-Sacral Therapy. The sessions were carried out at my home thus removing hospital related stress- parking, waiting times and crowds.

Explanations of the how the therapy works and how it would be carried out were explained in plain english ,no jargon . Appointments of an hour once a week in batches of 6 were arranged directly with Kate with no beaurocracy to deal with and flexibility on timings available if required.

The sessions would start with chat about how I felt since the last time with particular interest in sleep patterns. Kate’s technique of 'getting into' centres of stress whilst I was lying on a table and breathing deeply in a controlled manner, brought about an uncluttered state of mind which enabled me to think of good memories and even address issues from the past. Together all this brought about a really relaxed body and mind, the level of which gradually improved from session to session although if between session real life stress had occurred, the improvement was not so marked.

The sessions would finish with conversations about how I was feeling both mentally and physically. Usually I found it quite draining physically but always felt very relaxed mentally and even after the first session had a feeling of contentment. I have definitely moved on since the start of the therapy. The symptoms have largely gone and the tinnitus has reduced in volume with really loud noise levels occurring less often .Also I feel more positive and motivated about everyday things.”

Lisa.

Lisa is a high profile DJ with a demanding job often involving lots of travel and very late nights. She initially approached me as she had suffered a series of challenging life events and was experiencing incredible high levels of anxiety as a result. She was depressed, barely sleeping and was suffering physically with back and neck pain.

On initial assessment, Lisa’s entire system felt frozen with shock. There was very little Cranio-Sacral Rhythm and her sympathetic nervous system felt hyper- stimulated especially around her cardiac plexus. Lisa’s entire thoracic cage (upper spine) was immobile and her pericardium (heart muscle) felt tightly contracted.

After her first session, Lisa reported sleeping through the night and reported back higher than usual levels of fatigue for 3/4 days following her session. Experiencing fatigue post a Cranio-Sacral Session is very common and is usually as a result of the nervous system trying to re-balance and heal. Lisa continued to see me for 10 weekly sessions and each week she reported back feeling calmer, happier and her back pain also resolved.

In Lisa’s own words….

“I arrived at Kate Stuarts practice a completely broken woman.

After suffering a series of trauma’s in succession I was suffering with horrendous anxiety, was barely sleeping, full of fear, in constant pain in my back and neck and lacked any trust to see any way forward.

After only ten sessions of Cranio- Sacral Therapy, each of which brought benefits and much needed calm my anxiety became manageable. I began to sleep again and somehow started to believe in some self worth.

The change for me mentally allowed me to focus on the future for the first time in a long while.

My back pain and body structure has also benefited enormously!

I can’t recommend Kates incredible insight and magic hands enough.

Given the crazy world that 20/20 has presented and that we are now allowed to see therapists and have treatments I look forward to going back to increase my strength and inner peace to stay on track of this years rocky road.

Thanks again Kate and see you soon.”