How to Perform the First Porital Lift Technique in Cranial Massage

Gentle enough for even infants and the elderly, cranial sacral release therapy is a form of massage that works to stimulate and balance the fluid circulating through the skull, the spine and the sacrum. Often used to treat ailments such as back pain, insomnia, allergies, migraines and earaches, cranial sacral therapy applies a series of holding techniques, including the first porital lift.

Instructions

1. Begin with your client face up on the massage table. Sit in a chair above your client's head and place yourself a comfortable working distance from the head. You will get best results by performing cranial sacral release at the end of a more traditional massage session if you are combining two therapies.

2. Place your hands on your client's skull so that your fingertips are together and resting just above the tops of the ears. Apply gentle pressure to the skull with your entire hand, from fingertip to heel. Allow your thumb to relax out to the side where they will naturally lay along one of the cranial sutures at the top of the forehead.

3. Apply and hold a very subtle lifting pressure with your hands in order to massage the cranial sutures and stimulate the flow of cranial sacral fluids. While you and your client should sense the lifting motion, it should not be so accentuated that it can be seen by the eye. If you notice movement in the scalp when you begin to apply pressure, you are lifting too much.

4. Hold the first porital lift for a minimum of one minute and up to 10 minutes to relieve sinus pressure, migraines, insomnia and soothe allergies.