Having got to a point where I felt I was ‘on the edge’, I decided it was time I found some support. But where do you look for that support when it feels like everyone is looking to you to be strong? With everyday life and stresses pulling me in different directions – combined with a feeling that everything was out of balance – I realised I was neglecting myself. I’m not one for visiting the doctor very often and, preferring to explore other routes before taking a prescription, I turned to cranio sacral therapy. No, I didn’t know what it was, either,but as it was recommended to me by a good friend, who even booked it for me, I turned up to see Priti, open-minded and without any pre-conceived ideas about what would happen.
Priti welcomed me and explained what the therapy actually was; a holistic gentle way of working with the body using light touch. She explained that she would be placing her hands lightly on me in order to listen to my body and that the positive healing through this approach would work on the central nervous system, relieving stress. The therapy would re-balance me by tapping into my nervous central system, which is connected to all of my craniosacral system. Still not really knowing what to expect, I climbed on to the massage couch with intrigue. Priti lit a scent and waved it across my body explaining that she was getting rid of any negativity in my body. She asked that I should let myself be as I needed to be, and explained that there would be no judgement, no right and no wrong. My response took me by surprise; it was as if a tap had been turned on and tears streamed down my face. All the emotion, years of hurt and disappointment, as well as grief for the recent loss of my mother, came flooding out. Priti made me feel still and calm and allowed my body a chance to heal itself. Never having met Priti before, she didn’t know me or anything about my life, yet she spoke gently about things that there was no way she could have known. She tapped into a side of me that no one knows and was able to explain my inner thoughts without me even speaking. She knew what my personal demons were and the effect of the treatment was profound.
I can honestly say I left feeling emotionally-drained, but for the first time in my life, I felt like someone totally understood me and could help me take control of all these different aspects of my life. I felt like I had been listened to and understood in the truest sense of the word, without me actually having said anything. Her therapy and words in this one session have given me the strength to deal with my feelings and to heal myself. I have since been back for more therapy and will definitely continue with this. It’s something I never in a million years thought I would take time out of my busy life to do, but it’s possibly the most important, positive decision I have ever made.
Unless you have experienced Priti’s healing first-hand, it’s really hard to explain; there are no words that can tell you how it is, but what I can say is if you are stressed, if there is something playing on your mind, if there is something niggling away at you, then spending that hour with her will be the best thing you ever did!
Jenny Cross, Company Director - Cross Productions
http://www.nichemagazine.co.uk/
I found my sessions with Priti deeply relaxing – something I really need in a busy life. Taking time to focus on myself and my body’s needs has been a great help. After a session, I can experience profound feelings of peace and calm. And since we started, everything in my personal and professional life has gone from good to amazing! Never felt such love all around me. I cannot thank Priti enough.
James Hempsall OBE , http://harrimanandco.com/
For many years, I have suffered with workplace stress and I was a very aggressive boss in the office. My own life although hectic was very stressful.
Derek Smith,
I have known Priti for many years and was aware of her special gift of listening and being able to calm one down.
When she said she was doing a course in crania sacral therapy and needed a volunteer who had stress-related issues, I thought this would be perfect for me and having faith in Priti meant this could be good for both of us.
I had my first therapy with Priti and the results were unbelievable. Although exhausting, I had an amazing positive feeling and my office staff noticed an immediate change in me after one session.
I have continued with Priti after being her ‘guinea pig’ and every time I benefit so much from her treatment and calming effect.
I would recommend this treatment to people in my situation, where they have struggled to cope with the stress in their own way. I can assure you Priti has an almost-immediate effect.
One of the greatest privileges of writing about health-related things is being asked to try things out and to write about them.
And thanks to a little help from the timing of the Universe, one such offer came my way, right when I needed it most.
I’m talking cranio-sacral therapy, administered by the most natural and prolific healer I know: my friend and body waxer extraordinaire, Priti Coles.
Priti has been practising this up and coming therapy since 2012, and I remember having a treatment when she first qualified. It was pretty awesome then. But ever since, Priti’s natural aptitude has grown and blossomed beyond all recognition.
Post-session, I can safely say that I have never had a treatment which has left me feeling the way I did on Monday afternoon. And believe me, I’ve experienced more than my fair share in the line of journalistic duty.
So, what is it, exactly?
Not an easy one to describe, actually. Particularly if a few of you are already channelling your best Doubting Thomas.
If you want a straight-up clinical definition, I refer you to the words of Wikipedia:“a form of bodywork or alternative therapy focused primarily on the concept of “primary respiration” and regulating the flow of cerebrospinal fluid by using therapeutic touch to manipulate the synarthrodial joints of the cranium. To do this, a practitioner will apply light touches to a patient’s skull, face, spine and pelvis.”
Any clearer? No, me neither. But as an aside, it’s pretty popular with new mothers and their offspring in the wake of a traumatic birth too.
As with so many treatments of this nature, depending on the therapist carrying it out, the experience can be as spiritual and emotional as it is physical.
Given how shattered I was feeling on Monday, it was more than fine by me that I didn’t have to do anything other than lay there and relax. And all without having to remove a stitch of clothing.
But for Priti, there was so much more going on than that. The spiritual definition of cranio-sacral therapy explains that the therapist’s hands are actually listening to your body, mind and spirit, much as a counsellor listens to your words.“You’re very depleted, physically, mentally and emotionally”, she explained.
Nothing particularly outstanding about that, you might think, if that wasn’t fpr the fact that she had used the very same word I had been using to describe myself in my thoughts for the last month or two. And it’s not a word I use very often.
George Dryden, Copywriter
Usually, I could talk the hind legs off the entire Blackpool donkey population, not least when I am having some kind of treatment. But at this point, I just shut down and let go.I have no idea where I went. I cried a bit. But then, who knows? I wasn’t asleep. I wasn’t awake. But I certainly wasn’t compiling my next shopping list in my head or making a mental note to remember to put the rubbish out.
Within minutes, I knew I wouldn’t be going to my usual two hours of tennis afterwards.
It’s one of those things that you just have to try for yourself. But apart from feeling even more exhausted at the end of it all, I felt a sensation of surrender and calm engulfing me.
That night, as I sat there watching TV, I felt more at peace with myself than I have done in eons, followed by the kind of slumber that perhaps only Rip Van Winkle could empathise with.
Slowly but surely, my mojo is stirring. It’s in no way back with a vengeance, but I cannot tell you how much further on that session has brought me.
So I’ve decided to add one session of cranio-sacral therapy to my monthly “look-after-me” repertoire from now on.
