Cultivating Safety in our Bodies with Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
Meet Rosalba Garibay, our new therapist now offering Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.
We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Rosalba to our growing team.
In this Q&A, we explored Rosalba’s life experience as a queer Xican@, the restorative power of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, and book recommendations for the summer.
Book Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy with Rosalba today with the button below.
Tell us about yourself!
I identify as a queer Xican@ and use ella/elle pronouns. I was born on these lands on the southeast side of the city, yet home has been many places for me throughout this life and has taken on different forms as I've traversed around the last couple of decades away from Chicago.
I particularly feel very at home amongst mountains and canyons, listening to the wind dance around aspen trees, noticing the rippling of flowing rivers, being embraced by the warmth of burning firewood and sharing stories in community with others. I aspire to incorporate Indigenous worldviews into my daily life as well as other decolonial, non-patriarchal perspectives.
When not doing sessions, you can catch me in the neighborhood practicing danza, participating in communal work, or scouting out the city in search of a gluten-free pan dulce (a femme can dream!).
What life experience inspired you to become a bodyworker?
I spent four years in the mental health field. I had daily conversations and built relationships with youth and adults who were working through heavy trauma or coming to terms with diagnoses that deemed them "unfit" or "dysfunctional" for society. I also often had conversations with therapists, listened in on treatment team meetings, and found myself wondering about other possible alternatives outside of the medical or psychiatric models that didn't place such high focus on labeling behavioral conditions. Labeling was important for insurance and legal purposes, and it usually led to feelings of deficiency, stigma, otherness and lacking appropriate skills deemed fit for societal standards amongst those in treatment.
During that time, I was also embarking on my own therapeutic journey and came to a point where talk therapy/psychotherapy was no longer supporting my healing with intergenerational trauma. So I pivoted towards somatic therapy and received my first biodynamic craniosacral therapy session from a queer, mixed race practitioner. This practitioner (who is now a dear friend) allowed me to really dive into my own healing without ever having to focus on any sort of deficiencies or diagnoses I walked in with. I knew this was what I had been looking for. Soon after, I began my journey in becoming a practitioner myself in biodynamic craniosacral therapy.
What is biodynamic craniosacral therapy? How does it work and how does it differ from other bodywork modalities?
Biodynamic craniosacral therapy (BCST) is a bodywork and healing modality that works with the brain and nervous system to orient one's body back to original health (life in the womb + birth) before imprint (social conditioning + life experiences). Through light contact and an initiation of 'the relational field' by the practitioner, it works to reverse trauma conditions, patterns or responses that were subconsciously absorbed or stored away in the body while under immense stress and overwhelm.
BCST has roots in Indigenous & Native American healing and bone-setting, learned by settler-colonialists from healers of the Shawnee and Cherokee peoples before they were displaced onto reservations, then modified over time through osteopathy, psychology and trauma resolution.
It is unique in the sense that it looks to support nervous system dysregulation and trauma, and can also alleviate or reduce acute or chronic pain and autoimmune disorders. Biodynamic craniosacral therapy offers an internal restoration and reorganization process that is completely guided by the energetic field of the client and their body's needs, rather than what the practitioner decides to heal or work on.
What can clients expect to experience in a session with you?
During a session, one may note a ‘felt-sense’ experience of: the body slowing down, meditative stillness, deep relaxation, wide or floating expansion, memory downloads, emotional releases, temperature changes, tingling or buzzing, bodily relief or release, and the untangling of trauma responses.
After several sessions, one may begin to notice or experience: a renewed sense of energy, restored feelings of embodiment, enhanced self-awareness, clarity & reduced mental blocks, improved quality of sleep, greater sense of calm & peace, diminished sense of fear/rage/sadness/grief, deepened access towards personal sacred practices, powerful reflections, and intergenerational healing. Generally speaking, the more you receive biodynamic craniosacral therapy, the more you will notice these sensations or experiences long term.
Who could benefit from these services?
Those with acute/chronic pain (injuries, surgeries, inflammation of the body, headaches, migraines, backaches, structural misalignment), autoimmune disorders (arthritis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic conditions or ailments pertaining to the organs), and nervous system dysregulation (PTSD, anxiety, depression, stress, difficulty sleeping, crying spells, panic attacks, susto, disembodiment). Anyone who recently underwent anesthesia and still feels residual fog or cognitive effects. Biodynamic craniosacral therapy is also a lovely supporter for prenatal and postpartum pregnancies, both for the baby and the parent having the baby.
Anything else you'd like to share!
I have recently been enjoying book recommendations, so here are two that I am currently reading: Restoring the Kinship Worldview by Wahinkpe Tope (Four Arrows) and Darcia Navaraez as well as Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerman!