About CranioSacral Therapy
One of the symptoms of today's pressurised society is that work is becoming less and less of a positive experience for many people. Work stress is up, job satisfaction is down and burnout in the work place is increasing. This is not limited to any specific job, but can be seen across the spectrum of all jobs - from production line workers to programmers; from security and emergency personnel to and across the board in the corporate's.
Statistics gathered in Europe and America reflect this growing trend and, although research in South Africa is not as readily available, it would appear that we are following suit, if we are not ahead in some areas. (Trauma due to criminal acts) If work stress is becoming an issue why should companies care or bother to do something about the situation?
Beside the obvious social concern, when work stress is up, job satisfaction down and burnout increasing, there is an economic impact on the organization. Absenteeism from the workplace increases. This can be measured in days away from work or visits to the doctor, as well as be seen in the number of smoke breaks taken, time spent rumour mongering or generally not focused on the tasks at hand. This also includes staff members being prescribed medication to "cope" with stress. In addition, there could be the possibility of creating detrimental effects on the client base, because of the negative way employees respond to clients while suffering from burnout or low job satisfaction. Any negative interaction with a client can be translated into a cost.
How can companies go about changing these costly patterns? In order to survive in the current economic climate, companies need to put pressure on employees to deliver faster, better services or products. Furthermore, huge, costly and time-consuming change management programmers are not an option for most companies. However, change the person and you change the way they see their world and the attitude they have towards their experiences and stress.
At the core of the work stress, job satisfaction and the burnout problem is the individual involved. Each human being is unique. Although we are all beings operating on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level we all respond to similar stimuli in different ways. In other words, how we respond to work stress, the amount of satisfaction that we get from our jobs and the level of burnout we experience is directly linked to where the individual is in his/her life at the current moment.
CST works directly on the nervous system which controls the stress response within the body. CST can undo the maintained stress reaction and thereby reduces raised blood pressure, decreases and balances the hormonal response, relaxes muscle tension, boosts the immune system and facilitates optimum functioning within the digestive system.
CST works on increasing cerebral arterial flow as well as venous drainage. This improves fresh blood flow to the brain while facilitating better removal of toxins and waste product from the brain. This optimizes the brain function and helps relieve symptoms of headaches, migraines etc…
Further group CST activities can be used to bring about a bonding and unity within the corporate. Working at both group and at an individual level, changes made will become permanent leading to a win, win solution.
During therapy a deep sense of physical, mental and emotional relaxation is created, freeing and lightening the "load" of the corporate environment. It allows the individual to enter a space where thoughts, plans and stored emotions can be reviewed and reshuffled which may result in a renewed overview of the work environment including a refreshed understanding of relationships within that atmosphere. The alleviation of life's stresses and the increased sense of vitality, energy and well being that CST can bring are welcome to most people at any time.