12/19/2025
What might you actually feel in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?
Did I just feel my liver move? Is my skull moving?
Why does it feel like my sacrum is pouring out cold? Why do my legs feel so short? So long?
These are just a few questions that come up often in sessionâ and it opens a much bigger conversation about felt sense and our relationship with our bodies.
In BCST, people often experience very real, very physical sensations. While everyoneâs experience is unique, these sensations generally fall into a two categories (1. How the body moves in health 2. How the body reorganizes/releases/digests held experience/trauma)
This is by no means an exhaustive list but it does begin the conversationđżđżđż
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1. Felt sense of release and reorganization
This is the body processing and letting go of what it has been holding.
These sensations arise when the system finally has enough safety to:
⢠complete unfinished responses
⢠digest experiences that were overwhelming at the time
⢠reorganize patterns that have been held in the tissues
People may feel:
⢠warmth or cold moving out of the body
⢠pressure building and then releasing
⢠softening, unwinding, or shaking
⢠waves of sensation moving through tissues
⢠emotional sensations paired with physical release
This is not something being done to the body â it is the body doing what it has always known how to do, once it has the space and support.
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2. Felt sense of the body moving in health
The other category of sensation is the body expressing how it naturally moves when it is well.
Everything in the body has movement in health:
⢠bones
⢠organs
⢠fascia
⢠diaphragms
⢠membranes and sacs
⢠blood and cellular fluids
Each of these has its own signature movement â the way it moved as we were being formed in utero. When that movement is present, people often feel:
⢠gentle rocking or pulsing
⢠rhythmic motion
⢠fluid-like flow
⢠subtle shifting or settling
⢠a sense of balance or ease
Both practitioners and clients can feel these movements. Clients on the table are often surprised by how clearly they can sense organs moving, bones rocking, or fluids flowing once they slow down and listen.
These sensations are not releases â they are expressions of health and vitality.
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Tidal flows & deeper states of health
In addition to the movement of tissues, organs, bones, and fluids, the body also expresses larger, whole-body movements that we refer to as tidal flows.
These are not localized sensations â they are global, organizing movements that move through the entire system.
⢠Mid Tide
A slower, deeper whole-body rhythm. People often describe feeling wide, spacious, or fluid â sometimes like their body is less solid and more like one connected field. Some clients describe this as feeling âamoeba-like,â very spread out, or larger than their physical shape.
⢠Long Tide
An even slower, deeper rhythm. At this level, people may feel very light, expansive, or as though the edges of the body are less defined â not in a dissociated way, but in a very present, potent, and grounded way. There can be a sense of deep quiet, clarity, and coherence.
These tidal states are often accessed once the body feels resourced and safe enough to do so â though every body is different. For some people, these experiences come early; for others, they emerge over time. The body always decides the pace.
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Stillness (Still Point)
Another profound felt sense in BCST is stillness.
This can feel like:
⢠everything becoming very quiet
⢠movement pausing
⢠a sense of deep rest or gathering
⢠an internal reset
This is not absence â it is dynamic stillness. A highly organized, potent state where the body is resourcing itself for change. In this stillness, the system often reorganizes in powerful ways.
As T.S. Eliot wrote:
âAt the still point, there the dance is.â
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A note on language
Many of these experiences are hard to describe. Even highly trained practitioners often laugh about how difficult it is to find words for felt sense. This is the bodyâs language â experiential, sensory, and intuitive â and it doesnât always translate neatly into linear language.
And yet, these sensations are very real.
They are part of how the body expresses health, coherence, and healing.
Learning to listen
Many of us arenât used to listening to our bodies at this depth. We live in our heads, moving quickly, responding outwardly, often disconnected from the quieter language of our internal world.
BCST invites a different kind of relationship â one where the body is listened to, trusted, and allowed to speak in its own way.
For many people, this becomes profoundly meaningful:
⢠sensing themselves more clearly
⢠feeling more embodied and present
⢠developing trust in their own internal signals
Healing is not only something that happens to us â it is something that is felt.
And sometimes, simply restoring that intimate relationship with the body is a powerful part of the healing itself.
Direct message me if you would like to book a session or have more questions.
In health,
Erin
BCST, Teacher, Somatic Practitioner,
Compassionate Inquiry Counsellor
