Megan Runkel’s sessions combine Cranial Sacral Therapy, Structural Rebalancing, Lymph Drainage, Trigger Points & Visceral Manipulation.
This is not your typical massage; she doesn’t do the traditional full body Deep Tissue Massage where you work on every part of the body using oil with flowing strokes, kneading and pressing. Previously that was a part of her sessions, but as of reopening in 2023 after 2 major surgeries Megan’s sessions will NOT include any traditional massage. She is not physically capable of doing deep work anymore, and this change will allow her to continue her career in bodywork and focus upon her true passion, CST.
Megan’s main goal is to discover and explore the patterns that underlie your symptoms, rather than simply making the symptoms go away. She treats your system as a whole, rather than focusing just on where you are experiencing pain and/or discomfort. Please see CST Philosophy section for more details.
Megan’s style is very intuitive, pulling from the many modalities that she has learned to help your body heal itself. Her specific techniques depend upon what your body is asking for on a given day. Often this work is helping to remove any barriers to your own self-healing rather than going in and “fixing” anything.
CST sessions are done fully clothed. Please wear clothes that are comfortable to move around in. She starts with you lying on your back, and do a full body scan using CST techniques to get a clear picture of your whole system and that helps to figure out where to start.
Megan makes light contact with areas of your body to assess what is going on, what is moving or not in the CS rhythm, and does gentle unwinding movements while communicating with your body as to what structure is the one that is holding all the other structures.
These sessions are VERY relaxing, as we are working with your nervous system from the inside out. Many people feel lighter, taller, more grounded, and some people report they feel better but different, and not quite sure how to describe it; that’s because your nervous system has been affected in a way it hasn’t ever been before.
Many times it can feel like there is not much happening because the touch is so subtle. At these times she invites you to connect back into your body in the area she is working on and see if you can feel any of the subtle movements; a huge part of this work is to connect you back into your body at the core level.
Some sessions include dialogue, some do not. When we dialogue, it may be Megan asking you questions about what has happened in the past in an area, or asking what you feel in an area. The goal is to access information in your non-conscious, allowing your body to speak, not your conscious mind. It may be us together dialoguing with a part of you, as a part of you may have something it wants to share; pain and sensation are usually teachers to show us something we are not aware of. Stories are held in the tissues of your body, and sometimes a physical pain has a mental/emotional component; tuning into the tissues while we discuss the underlying issue can help the physical tissues release in a much deeper way than just the physical bodywork.
Structural Rebalancing works with the fascia, aka connective tissue, the thing that holds us all together. By manipulating the fascia surrounding the muscles and organs, we can create more ease of movements of each part and the whole system.
Trigger Point Therapy can use deeper pressure on one specific area, holding static until the spot releases. It involves the brain connection to the muscles and includes the spinal cord innervation.
Visceral Manipulation involves specific anatomy of the visceral organs, checking ligaments and fascia surrounding the organs, making sure everything can move properly in relation to other surrounding structures.
Lymph Drainage works to enhance the flow of the lymphatic system, part of the immune system that moves excess fluid back into circulation. For a variety of reasons, the lymph flow can be backed up, and working with this system gets things flowing again.
The combination of these modalities creates the most benefits, and the most long lasting relief of symptoms.