Jo Cullen is a registered Craniosacral Therapist having trained at the Karuna Institute in Devon.  She originally qualified as a counsellor and holds a Diploma in Counselling.  As a counsellor she has worked in a variety of different settings including youth and student counselling, bereavement counselling and general private practice.

In 1999 Jo changed her therapeutic orientation to Craniosacral Therapist with counselling skills. This change was facilitated by her personal experience of Craniosacral Therapy and her deepening belief that our body’s own health and resources need to be ‘engaged’ for deeper healing and to facilitate change.

In her current practice Jo works with a wide variety of emotional issues and physical conditions using a combination of Craniosacral Therapy and counselling skills.

Her clients span all ages, from babies and the very young, to the elderly.

Her practice is informed by her own belief in Buddhist concepts and her personal experience.

The following is an except from the Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK website:

Craniosacral therapy is a subtle and profound healing form which assists the body's natural capacity for self-repair.

In a typical craniosacral session, you will usually lie (or sometimes sit) fully-clothed on a treatment couch. The therapist will make contact by placing their hands lightly on your body and tuning in to what is happening by ‘listening’ with their hands. Contact is made carefully so that you will feel at ease with what is happening.

The first thing you will probably notice is a sense of deep relaxation, which will generally last throughout the session. With subsequent treatments this release of tension often extends into everyday life. The work can address physical aches and pains, acute and chronic disease, emotional or psychological disturbances, or simply help to develop well-being, health and vitality.

Craniosacral therapy is so gentle that it is suitable for babies, children, and the elderly, as well as adults and people in fragile or acutely painful conditions. Treatment can aid almost any condition, raising vitality and improving the body's capacity for self-repair.

Sometimes the benefits are not immediately noticeable but become obvious on returning to a familiar environment. The work can involve resolution of past events and is often profoundly relaxing, deeply moving and exhilarating.

Craniosacral therapy developed from the work of an American osteopath, Dr William Sutherland in the early 1900s. He discovered intrinsic movements of the bones in the head and his further research revealed different rhythms in the body. As a result of detailed clinical observation it has become clear that these movements, which can be measured with delicate scientific instruments, are a direct expression of health and offer a way of working with the physical as well as the more subtle aspects of life.

Further observation showed that these movements are also inextricably linked with mental and emotional health. Restriction of movement corresponds to a reduction of the natural capacity to self-heal. Using the hands to feel these movements allows craniosacral therapists to facilitate change in areas of restriction. A limitation or absence of the movements implies a reduction in the expression of health which may result in, for example, numbness, a sense of something missing or disease.

Craniosacral therapy has developed from clinical experience, which shows that health is something active and not just an absence of disease. It is the expression of life, responsible for the organisation of the millions of things that are constantly happening in the body. Craniosacral therapy supports health in the body. It helps increase physical vitality and well-being not only effecting structural change but also having much wider implications, emotionally and spiritually. The resulting increased sense of well-being can help with many aspects of life life from strengthening the immune system to improving interpersonal relationships.

© CSTA. images by kind permission of Keven Ericksson, © Keven Ericksson/CSTA 2004.