The Beauty of Breathing

Balancing the Body: Exploring Craniosacral Therapy with Hilary Bilkis

April 16, 2024 Renata Nehme, RDH, BSDH, COM® Season 1 Episode 2
Balancing the Body: Exploring Craniosacral Therapy with Hilary Bilkis
The Beauty of Breathing
More Info
The Beauty of Breathing
Balancing the Body: Exploring Craniosacral Therapy with Hilary Bilkis
Apr 16, 2024 Season 1 Episode 2
Renata Nehme, RDH, BSDH, COM®

In this conversation, Renata Nehme and Hilary Bilkis discuss craniosacral therapy and its benefits. Hilary explains that craniosacral therapy is a gentle hands-on technique that helps balance the bones, membranes, and fluids in the skull, spinal cord, and connective tissue system of the body. 

The training for craniosacral therapy is usually a series of four-day workshops, and practitioners often have a background in massage therapy or other touch-based professions. The therapy can be beneficial for people of all ages, from babies to adults, and can help with a variety of issues such as breastfeeding difficulties, torticollis, anxiety, unregulated emotions, and chronic pain. 

The therapy works by quieting and regulating the nervous system, releasing tension in the body, and promoting overall well-being. It is not a massage and is performed with the client fully clothed. The frequency of sessions varies but is typically weekly for a few weeks, followed by less frequent sessions.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Hilary D. Bilkis, LMT, MS  is a Gifted Healer and Intuitive, with 25 years experience. She is the owner of  Awakening Wellness, a light touch, hands on healing practice located in Savannah, GA. She works with you in a way that is gentle, compassionate and supportive.
https://awakening4wellness.com/

To find a CST Practioner go to: 
www.IAHP.com
or to find many airway practioners go to:
www.airwaycircle.com/directory

_________________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT OUR HOST:

Renata Nehme RDH, BSDH, COM® has been a Registered Dental Hygienist since 2010. In 2016, when she was introduced to the world of "Myofunctional Therapy" she immediately knew that was her calling, especially when she learned that it encapsulated many of her passions- breastfeeding, the import of early childhood development, and airway health.

In 2021 Renata founded Airway Circle with the intention of creating a collaborative and multidisciplinary group of like-minded health professionals who share the same passion for learning and giving in the dental health and airway space.

Myo Moves - Become a Patient: www.myo-moves.com

Airway Circle - Become a Member:
www.airwaycircle.com



Show Notes Transcript

In this conversation, Renata Nehme and Hilary Bilkis discuss craniosacral therapy and its benefits. Hilary explains that craniosacral therapy is a gentle hands-on technique that helps balance the bones, membranes, and fluids in the skull, spinal cord, and connective tissue system of the body. 

The training for craniosacral therapy is usually a series of four-day workshops, and practitioners often have a background in massage therapy or other touch-based professions. The therapy can be beneficial for people of all ages, from babies to adults, and can help with a variety of issues such as breastfeeding difficulties, torticollis, anxiety, unregulated emotions, and chronic pain. 

The therapy works by quieting and regulating the nervous system, releasing tension in the body, and promoting overall well-being. It is not a massage and is performed with the client fully clothed. The frequency of sessions varies but is typically weekly for a few weeks, followed by less frequent sessions.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Hilary D. Bilkis, LMT, MS  is a Gifted Healer and Intuitive, with 25 years experience. She is the owner of  Awakening Wellness, a light touch, hands on healing practice located in Savannah, GA. She works with you in a way that is gentle, compassionate and supportive.
https://awakening4wellness.com/

To find a CST Practioner go to: 
www.IAHP.com
or to find many airway practioners go to:
www.airwaycircle.com/directory

_________________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT OUR HOST:

Renata Nehme RDH, BSDH, COM® has been a Registered Dental Hygienist since 2010. In 2016, when she was introduced to the world of "Myofunctional Therapy" she immediately knew that was her calling, especially when she learned that it encapsulated many of her passions- breastfeeding, the import of early childhood development, and airway health.

In 2021 Renata founded Airway Circle with the intention of creating a collaborative and multidisciplinary group of like-minded health professionals who share the same passion for learning and giving in the dental health and airway space.

Myo Moves - Become a Patient: www.myo-moves.com

Airway Circle - Become a Member:
www.airwaycircle.com



Renata Nehme (00:00.779)
Let's see if it's going to show.

Renata Nehme (00:05.034)
All right, hello, hello. We are making sure that we can go live everywhere. Go live.

Renata Nehme (00:18.926)
Let's see, YouTube.

Hilary Bilkis (00:19.669)
I see something that says uploading in the corner of my screen. And I see it says record. And the upper left. No, it's 35% uploading 26.

Renata Nehme (00:24.538)
Okay. Okay, perfect. So we're not live yet. Okay. Oh, okay. We are live on Instagram, but it's showing us half and half of our screen. It's not, it's at least it's showing you, but it's half and half of our screens for some reason.

Hilary Bilkis (00:45.877)
It just, it's going from 99 to 84 to 99% uploading.

Renata Nehme (00:51.614)
Okay, and it's working on stream setup. It's going on YouTube. Sending your video to streaming software to go live. Connector, okay. I'm waiting for YouTube to go, and now let's see over here. Complete Positail stream.

Renata Nehme (01:18.542)
Almost there guys hello everybody on instagram hanging there for a second

Hilary Bilkis (01:24.177)
They're experiencing technical difficulties.

Renata Nehme (01:27.418)
It's always like that. Okay. I don't see anything else in here.

Renata Nehme (01:37.566)
Okay, advanced settings.

Okay, I think, I don't know why it's not going either.

Renata Nehme (01:50.986)
I don't know what they want me to do. Connection software I have.

Renata Nehme (01:59.33)
Save settings, let's see. I don't think it's gonna go live either. This should be a lot easier than it is. We've been trying, this is the second week in a row.

Renata Nehme (02:17.695)
I have everything right.

Renata Nehme (02:24.682)
Okay. All right, well, at least we are on Instagram, but it's half of us. Oh, we already, so it's showing like literally this much of me and this much of you because it's not doing it long. So I already know what I'm gonna have to do everybody. We're gonna have to go like really close to the middle. So people can see us. So it'd be half of my face and half of yours.

Hilary Bilkis (02:28.357)
What do you mean it's half of us?

Hilary Bilkis (02:34.951)
Oh

Hilary Bilkis (02:40.913)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

Hilary Bilkis (02:44.433)
Like, like, sit, like, do that.

Hilary Bilkis (02:52.47)
Are we cuddling now? So you want me to sit closer to the middle of the...

Renata Nehme (02:55.387)
Yes. So.

Renata Nehme (02:59.998)
Can you bring your camera out a little bit more? And like they're going to be able to see us. Yes. Okay, I'm watching to see if you are. I think it's actually the other. It's the other end for you. So you got to be on the other end of this. Yeah. That's it. That is all right. Everybody can see us.

Hilary Bilkis (03:05.777)
How's that? Better?

Hilary Bilkis (03:17.753)
like that's this side here.

Is that better?

Okay.

Renata Nehme (03:29.546)
Let me put my camera further out so like that you can see my whole face.

Hilary Bilkis (03:32.278)
That's so funny. So what I'm seeing, there's like a, there's like a big gap over here for me.

Renata Nehme (03:34.974)
Ah, yes, they can see us both, good. I know. It's all good. It's perfect. All right, everybody. Let's see, you guys can see half and half of us. Yes, I'm just gonna have to use a different stream software because this is what it looks like on Instagram for some reason. All right, perfect. So here we go. We're about to start. Let me see where the comments are.

Hilary Bilkis (03:42.914)
Okay.

Renata Nehme (04:04.031)
event log.

Renata Nehme (04:07.578)
Alright, welcome everybody to the beauty of breathing. I have an incredible practitioner with us today. Her name is Hilary Bilkes and she is going to tell us a little bit about her and what she does. Hey, Hilary.

Hilary Bilkis (04:21.521)
Sure. Thank you so much, Renata. I'm really happy to be here. My name is Hilary Bilkis. I'm a licensed massage therapist. I have been practicing for over 20 years. I started off doing regular massage, but then I fell in love with cranial sacral therapy, which is a very gentle hands-on technique that helps to balance the bones of the skull, the membranes, the fluids in the skull, the membranes and fluids in the spinal cord.

and then essentially the connective tissue system of the body. My very first class, I felt it all where other people were struggling and I felt like the universe opened up into my hands and God was saying, this is what you're meant to be doing. And then over the years, I've taken additional cranial sacral classes as well as some visceral mobilization and myofascial.

release and I uniquely combine all of them to give my clients the best possible treatment suitable for whatever is going on in their body. That's like...

Renata Nehme (05:28.086)
So how does it work exactly if somebody wants to become a craniosacral therapist? What are the backgrounds, educational wise, that are allowed to go into this?

Hilary Bilkis (05:39.621)
So most people that come to the classes are usually a massage therapist, occupational therapists, physical therapists, chiropractors, speech language pathologists. There are some doctors, there are some dentists. So you usually have to have some kind of background or license to touch to be able to take these classes.

Renata Nehme (06:03.758)
Mmmm

Hilary Bilkis (06:06.969)
I've done all of my training through the Upleger Institute. Dr. John Upleger was a doctor of osteopathy, and he's the one that discovered that this, our nervous system, the dural tube, actually moves. Like he was at a surgery and assisting, and all he had to do was hold it still, and he couldn't hold it still. And, you know, things just started progressing from there with, you know, research and...

coming up with how to be able to treat people.

Renata Nehme (06:38.87)
And what is the training like?

Hilary Bilkis (06:43.117)
So it's usually like four day classes that happen a Thursday through Sunday, all around the country, all around the world there's different levels of classwork. There's cranial sacral level one and two, then there's something called emotional release which is really important because we store memories emotion and trauma in our connective tissues in our body. So we learn how to help people release that.

There are classes for pediatrics and so much more, you know, for the immune response for, you know, those classes just regarding the brain. But it's always like a four day weekend workshop. And then you bring it back to your practice and you practice the more of hands you get your body, the more bodies you get your hands on, the more proficient you can become as a practitioner.

Renata Nehme (07:31.423)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (07:40.682)
So is the somatic portion of it part of craniosacral? Should every craniosacral therapist know a little bit of that?

Hilary Bilkis (07:52.937)
I don't like shoulds. Some people take level one and two, and that's all they want. I feel like the somatoemotional release, certain people are not comfortable doing it, they have trouble holding the space for it, they have trouble with the dialoguing. For me, I kind of feel like that's one of my zones of genius, really being able to hold the space for that and tune in and connect.

Renata Nehme (07:55.212)
Okay.

Hilary Bilkis (08:21.489)
to people and where they are and what they're feeling and what's being held in their tissues.

Renata Nehme (08:28.822)
You know, I have had a couple different people do craniosacral therapy on me and I remember that the first time I walked away and I'm like, I didn't feel anything. And I know some of you guys listening have had those experiences before and then I went to Hillary. And after the first session, I'm like, oh, this is what it's supposed to be like. So how do we know if we're going to somebody who's really good?

Hilary Bilkis (08:54.873)
That's a really good question. I know my own personal experience is that practitioners who are more intuitive, I feel like do a better job than the people that are very clinical. I don't go into sessions with any agenda. Like you don't tell me what's going on. And I'm like, well, there's, I have a formula and I do this, this and this. No, that's not the way I work. I listen to your body.

Renata Nehme (09:06.675)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (09:24.225)
I listen to your innate body wisdom. It knows what's going on. It shows me where I need to start. And you can come in with right shoulder pain and your body might want me working in your left hip because your body knows where that pain started. The places where we're hurting aren't always the places where the injury came from or what needs to be treated, so to speak.

Renata Nehme (09:24.814)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (09:51.678)
Very good. So we have some questions coming in from our audience and everybody on Instagram. You guys are welcome to send us more questions right here in the comments. When to refer for craniosacral therapy?

Hilary Bilkis (10:06.129)
So when should who refer to cranial sacral therapy? Do you know who sent that question? Is it like a myofunctional therapist or?

Renata Nehme (10:14.543)
Um, it could be a myofunctional therapist.

Hilary Bilkis (10:19.021)
Well, I feel like that's more of a question for you, don't you?

Renata Nehme (10:24.058)
When should I refer? So if I have a patient, what are some symptoms that I'm looking for that I might say, hmm, I think the craniosacral therapy will help this patient.

Hilary Bilkis (10:34.122)
Um.

Yeah, so they could be doing all the exercises, they could have gotten the release, the release is done. And they're still having and they're still having trouble. You may notice a torticollis you know what the head has a preference to one side. There may be some plagiocephaly there may be the baby may be hyper toned where they're like you know really rigid and they're always arching backwards discomfort in the body poor sleep.

Renata Nehme (10:39.887)
Mm-hmm. Okay.

Renata Nehme (10:48.502)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (11:05.937)
core bowel movements, those are all signs that their little bodies are struggling.

Renata Nehme (11:08.093)
Mmmm

Renata Nehme (11:13.063)
So you're saying that craniosacral therapy is good for babies all the way to adults?

Hilary Bilkis (11:17.749)
Oh, yes, it's good for like from birth till you're ready to leave the planet. Yeah.

Renata Nehme (11:22.786)
So let's say that I have a baby and the baby's having a really difficult time breastfeeding. You know, what I think a lot of people don't realize is that babies were inside the womb for nine months, all crunched up in there, you know, the muscles are tense, the muscles are tight, and then they come out and they're supposed to move and to, you know, to be able to nurse really well. And sometimes they just can't. And you just mentioned torticollis.

What are some other things that I'm watching on a baby that I might say, yes, let's do some craniosacral?

Hilary Bilkis (11:57.566)
Definitely, you know, problems turning the head, there are babies that don't like to be laid on their back, right? Babies that don't like the like tummy time. If you see like tightness, you know, tightness in their face, tightness in their shoulders. Because yeah, people forget they're in there for a long time and those last three months, they can be really scrunched up, and they can be in one position and not moving.

Renata Nehme (12:01.05)
Okay. Hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (12:26.253)
you know, if we're in a car for 14 hours and we never get out of the car to pee, right, and we're always sitting in one position by the time we get out, whatever side we're crunched up into is going to be tight and it's going to hurt. And unfortunately, everybody's swaddling their babies really tightly, which then means that they can't move themselves like babies will want to move to be able to work some of that.

Renata Nehme (12:46.35)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (12:55.889)
tension out themselves.

Renata Nehme (12:58.027)
And since we mentioned a little bit about tongue ties, I have a question over here that says, my daughter had tongue and lip tie release at two months. She is nine months now. Is it too late for craniosacral therapy?

Hilary Bilkis (13:12.461)
No, it's never too late. It's never too late because her tissues still want to go back into a state of balance. And the craniosacral therapy is a gentle way to assist her body to release. Because what we're seeing under the tongue and in the upper lip is just a visible, I need some myofunctional therapy. It's just a visible sign of deeper tensions in the body. I worked on a little one.

Renata Nehme (13:34.54)
Hahaha!

Hilary Bilkis (13:42.065)
two weeks ago, and she preferred to just turn to the right. And that tension went all the way down to her hip, all the way down. And as it relaxed, she was very still and her eyebrows just went like this. And then she smiled at me. It was like, she's like, what's that? I didn't know that could go away eight weeks old, eight weeks old. That was her pattern. She was used to that discomfort.

Renata Nehme (13:50.828)
Wow.

Renata Nehme (14:01.206)
Aaaaaaahhh!

Hilary Bilkis (14:11.617)
and then it melted and she looked at, I almost started crying. I mean, she looked at me with like such gratitude and then she turned her head to the left and she fell asleep.

Renata Nehme (14:24.226)
Oh, how adorable. I am going to ask you something. Do you mind pushing your camera further out so I can see you better on Instagram? I know everybody wants to see your face. The same place, but really to the corner. Yes. Yes, and then push it way out so you're like as little as me. Let's see what you look like now. And then way to the corner. Yes.

Hilary Bilkis (14:24.877)
Yeah, good stuff.

Hilary Bilkis (14:35.481)
Which way do you want me to go? Close.

Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait.

Hilary Bilkis (14:50.387)
Oh my cords, is that good? Okay.

Renata Nehme (14:51.55)
Yes, there he goes. Now they're going to be able to see your face perfect. Yay. I just wanted to make sure everybody can see you. All right. I know.

Hilary Bilkis (14:57.681)
Thank you. I feel like we're so far away. Actually, there's like this big gap here for me.

Renata Nehme (15:05.942)
I know, but on Instagram it's perfect, they can see us great. All right. Could craniosacrotherapy correct facial asymmetry in a teenager?

Hilary Bilkis (15:08.278)
Okay.

Hilary Bilkis (15:19.929)
Yes, and it may take some treatments. I remember hearing a story of a senior citizen who had consistent cranial work, and it changed the shape of her face. Medical doctors in this country are taught that the bones of the skull fuse in adolescence. They don't fuse, they move. It's very gentle, but there's an expansion and a contraction.

Renata Nehme (15:43.446)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (15:49.837)
We've got joints here. We've got joints around the ears. There's a whole bunch of joints all around here. And sometimes they can get hitched up. And when they get hitched up, then they're not moving as well and that can create some distortion. So if we can get the bones to move the way God intended them to move, the body can help reshape and restructure itself. It's not a quick fix.

Renata Nehme (16:17.592)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (16:17.689)
Like I wouldn't say, Oh, you just need two sessions. They may need some, you know, a series of sessions. But the body self corrects even with like the little kids with the with the flat head. I had a little boy that I worked on. And the mom sent pictures of before cranial sacral and like after two sessions, right. So he's little he's much more malleable malleable. He has a lot less tension in his body.

Renata Nehme (16:31.587)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (16:43.502)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (16:47.173)
But just those two sessions and him being able to go through full range of movement, be able to push himself up, be able to turn, started shifting the shape of his skull.

Renata Nehme (16:52.45)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (17:01.438)
So there are some physical things and mechanical things that could kind of lock our body in place. Could emotional trauma or emotional issues do the same?

Hilary Bilkis (17:15.541)
150%.

Renata Nehme (17:18.962)
I don't think we talk about it enough. Can you brighten our minds?

Hilary Bilkis (17:21.609)
No, we don't talk about it enough. We store memory, emotion, trauma in the body. And trauma could be somebody making fun of your sneakers or your lunch when you're five years old. Trauma doesn't have to be gunpoint or physical abuse or anything like that. We store it in the body. The body essentially walls it off. It encapsulates it and it gets held in places and we work around it. We compensate.

Renata Nehme (17:33.951)
Hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (17:51.265)
And then over time, our bodies like, I'm tired, I've had enough. And then suddenly we have we have pain, right. So the work that I do, this somato emotional release can help get that stored trauma and tension out of the body in a way that's very gentle in a way where we don't have to keep talking about it over and over again. Sometimes the body just needs to know, hey, it's not 1980 anymore.

you're not six years old anymore. You know, it's 2024. You're a grown up, you survived, like, it's okay to let this go. And then there'll be heat and pulsing. And sometimes people get hot. Sometimes people get cold. Like all these sorts of things happen as the body releases. And people often get up at the end of the session, they'll be like, Oh,

Renata Nehme (18:23.362)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (18:32.046)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (18:40.118)
Thank you.

Hilary Bilkis (18:48.977)
Like I feel a little wobbly. I feel 10 pounds lighter. Like people have said, I feel 10 pounds lighter just by getting rid of this emotional stuff that they've been carrying.

Renata Nehme (18:53.187)
Yes.

Renata Nehme (18:58.806)
Mm-hmm. And I will share a little bit of a session that I had with you. Hillary was working right on my chest. And before she said anything, and it's funny, actually, before she goes to an area, I feel where she's already going to go. And I always tell her, you're going to go there. But whenever she was on my chest, I felt as if I had a steel armor.

Hilary Bilkis (19:17.351)
Ha ha.

Renata Nehme (19:25.834)
And before she mentioned that, that's exactly what I felt. And then as I'm sitting there, I'm realizing that as a child, because of the way that my father spoke to me, and I love my dad, but the way that he was very strict and very, you know, he never said, I love you. And he was just, anyway, he's very strong. And, but the way that he spoke to me, I created this steel armor around my chest. What's right in your chest? It is your heart.

So I've been protecting my heart for the longest time, not letting anybody in, not letting anything get to it. And whenever she was working on that, I just felt, honey, I just felt all of a sudden this armor going away and she is telling me to release all of this and I just busted out crying. So this happened a couple of times already when I'm doing sessions with her that I just start crying, but it's such a good release. I'm sorry if you guys can hear Benny, he's here with me.

Let's see what other questions we have. Oh, and I do, I would like to add something. A friend of mine sent me on Instagram, Tamara sent me on Instagram this post of a girl and he helped me so much. And it's about emotional trauma whenever you're young. You know, oh my goodness, I'm gonna have to stop this. Can you guys hear Benny?

Hilary Bilkis (20:50.486)
Speaking of emotional trauma...

Oh yeah.

Renata Nehme (20:55.714)
Buddy, what is it? Come here.

Renata Nehme (21:00.894)
All right, we're gonna have to pause the podcast here whenever we're transferring this over. All right, what is it, Bubba? It's not working? Oh, okay. Where do you want to go? I will help you. This is what work from home is everybody. You don't want this one anymore? Okay, what do you want? We're almost there but I want to share with you guys this post on Instagram that changed the way that I feel so much.

but I want to make sure it's going to be recorded properly so you don't have to cut a bunch of places. All right, can you see me on there? All right, it's gonna restart and then you can pick whatever you want, okay? All right, back to it. So this Instagram post said, when you realize that you had to become the adult that your child needed.

because that to me just blew my mind. For example, I think that the post said something about pretend you're walking into a room and you see yourself as a kid, you know, in this room staring at a window. And think about all the things that you would say to yourself as a six, seven year old girl. And I just, again, I cry a lot, y'all, I'm a cancer. I just busted out crying because that's when it just, it was a turnkey moment for me because

Hilary Bilkis (22:21.399)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (22:28.466)
A lot of times after we've been through emotional trauma, we keep thinking that like, my parents should have done better or my whoever should have, you know, we were always in that place of a victim, but they should have treated me differently. They should have been better to me until I realized that I had to go through that. I had to heal to become the adult that can go back and give my inner child, you know, my young self, all the love and all the care that I needed.

Oh my goodness, I get goosebumps everywhere when I think about this.

Hilary Bilkis (22:56.933)
I know. And you know, and also the other side of that is what kind of trauma did our parents have that was never talked about and they did that the, you know, the best they knew how to do, right, without the resources that we have available to us now, which I think can give us a lot more compassion for our parents and our younger self.

Renata Nehme (23:04.643)
Oh, yeah.

Renata Nehme (23:11.531)
Yes.

Renata Nehme (23:22.61)
A hundred percent. Oh, my goodness. They did the best they could, first of all. You know, they are in a position where they are bigger than us. They came here first. It's the only relationship on earth, y'all, that we did not enter the relationship at the same time. So whenever you meet a friend, whenever you meet a partner, you always enter the relationship at the same time. So you're always in the same level. This is a little bit of family consolations for those who know this.

but your parents are the only ones that relationship it's never going to be equal because they gave you something that you're never going to be able to repay and that was life. So it doesn't matter if they dropped you off on the side of the road. It doesn't matter if they could not raise you, whatever it was that they, how they treated you. Like Hillary said, we have to remember that we are all flawed individuals and we are just over here full of trauma but we're doing our best, you know, but it's up to us.

to go find healing and stop the generational trauma right here. Somebody asked, but what does the screen of sacral therapy actually look like? Is it a massage?

Hilary Bilkis (24:33.721)
No, it's not a massage. You're fully dressed, you're laying on a massage table, and it's often just gentle holding, let me get my hands up, gentle holding top and bottom of the body, connecting with the tissues with a light touch until the body draws me in a little bit deeper. And then it's literally listening and following with my hands on the body. On the head, it's a little bit different.

Still, you know, it's a gentle touch in different places, working to create more space, like decompress the skull.

Renata Nehme (25:12.53)
It is fantastic. It doesn't look like they're doing much, but whenever you're in there and you're in tune, there's so much changing in your body. There's so much movement. It is absolutely incredible.

Hilary Bilkis (25:22.253)
Yeah, yeah, there's a lot there's a lot of internal changes. It's sort of like watching paint dry, you don't really see much happening. But there's so much that goes on inside the body.

Renata Nehme (25:34.774)
Can osteopaths do CST?

Hilary Bilkis (25:38.621)
I'm sure they can, you know, it depends on what kind of training, what kind of training they've had a lot of DOS aren't really DOS anymore. They're more like family doctors. So, you know, do they do as he is suggesting that would be a question you would have to ask.

Renata Nehme (25:56.79)
Perfect. Somebody asked, I had a feeling done and after my face just drooped and I guess on one side keep getting headaches on that side also. Is my bite under or overfilled? My dentist doesn't know. I'm not sure.

Hilary Bilkis (26:14.686)
I don't know but if she's drooping they could have nicked a facial nerve.

Renata Nehme (26:18.958)
Mm-hmm, that sounds right. Can corneal sacral therapy help with that? Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (26:23.105)
It might, you know, it can't, it certainly can't hurt.

Renata Nehme (26:27.669)
Mm-hmm.

CSC, where does she practice? Can you tell us a little bit about where you practice and where do you see patients?

Hilary Bilkis (26:37.089)
Oh, sure. I'm in Savannah, Georgia, in the Medical Arts District. I'm not really gonna put out my address over here. The name of my practice though is awakening wellness healing services. So you can easily Google that.

Renata Nehme (26:45.697)
Yes.

Renata Nehme (26:54.018)
Perfect. If anybody's trying to find a craniosacral therapist around them, go to www.airwaycircle.com slash directory. We have a global directory of professionals. Over there you're going to find my functional therapist, dentist, orthodontist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, chiropractors, and everybody that's on there, you know, they have Airway as their focus.

and they're always trying to find the root cause of the issue. So go over to our directory and look for somebody. And as I'm here talking about the directory, I do have to thank the area circle members. There are several professionals who are actually paid for a membership on area circle, and they are the ones who allow the directory to be out there for you guys. So thank you for every area circle member.

Hilary Bilkis (27:46.817)
There is one other website because before I met you, I had no idea about airway circle. There's another website that lists craniosacral practitioners, people that do visceral work, etc. It's I like as an ice cream, A as an apple, H as in happy, P as in peter.com, IAHP.com, and you can search for practitioners there by your zip code.

Renata Nehme (27:49.728)
Yes.

Renata Nehme (28:17.454)
Perfect, thank you for that and we're gonna put everything also on the show notes guys. Somebody asked, how can this therapy help kids, specifically kids with anxiety and unregulated emotions?

Hilary Bilkis (28:32.005)
That's a really great question. It helps to craniosacral therapy can help to quiet and regulate your nervous system. So if we have a lot of tension in the nervous system, it's gonna put more tension into our physical body, into our emotional body. And so as we go to unwind the tension that's in the body, very often just people wind up feeling less anxious. The other piece of that,

is a lot of people that have anxiety are also chest breathers, and they're really restricted in their diaphragm. So the visceral work that I do can help free up the diaphragm so they can actually take a full breath, which gets all the tension out of the chest because when we're chest breathing, we're using secondary breathing muscles, which creates more tension, and then that just creates anxiety.

And also with anxiety, there's usually compression up in the skull. There's compression at the base of the skull and there's compression at the end of the spinal cord at the top of the sacrum, the triangular bone that's in the back. There's like compression here. So when we can release all those areas of compression, that can also help with anxiety and even depression too.

Renata Nehme (29:56.402)
Wow, that's incredible. What does it look like if I find a craniosacral therapist and I start treatment? How often usually should I be seen?

Hilary Bilkis (30:08.821)
I think that may vary by practitioners, but usually we like to see people weekly for about three or four weeks. So remember, we're peeling away layers. And sometimes our, you know, even though our body wants to move towards balance, it may take a step back. So we want to be consistent for a few weeks to make sure we're in a good stable place and then we can space them out. Some people come once a month.

Renata Nehme (30:21.395)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (30:28.444)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (30:37.977)
some people have a little more time in between.

Renata Nehme (30:41.39)
Fantastic. And then I wanted to touch a little bit on the supplements that you talk about, the one with the glutathione. Somebody sent a question about those supplements that you recommend.

Hilary Bilkis (30:56.737)
Oh, yes, I know who did that. So it's not a supplement. It's actually a cellular activator. It's a blend of five herbs in a very special ratio and formula, all sub therapeutic, the combination that they're in actually turns on a cellular protein pathway in the body to help your body make more of three master antioxidants.

Renata Nehme (31:03.105)
Okay.

Renata Nehme (31:21.059)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (31:27.077)
glutathione, something called SOD, superoxide, superoxide dismutase. Once again, I need some myofunctional therapy. And, and catalase. So these three master antioxidants help your body reduce oxidative stress. Another word for that is inflammation. So it helps your body make it instead of taking.

Glutathione. Not everybody can process glutathione and I've heard it can taste really bad too.

Renata Nehme (31:59.422)
good to know. So let's do a quick recap.

Hilary Bilkis (32:03.779)
Yes.

Renata Nehme (32:05.906)
What is this therapy like? One, just quickly.

Hilary Bilkis (32:10.121)
What is it like? It's very gentle. It's deeply relaxing. Like those are like the two big things I would say is it's gentle, it's gentle enough for babies, it's gentle enough for elderly. And if nothing else, people come out of the session feeling deeply, deeply relaxed, often more grounded and centered and calm.

Renata Nehme (32:35.862)
Perfect. Second, who is this therapy for?

Hilary Bilkis (32:39.614)
everybody.

Renata Nehme (32:42.307)
And, perfect. Number three, what are the benefits of craniosacral therapy?

Hilary Bilkis (32:47.781)
What are the benefits?

Hilary Bilkis (32:52.009)
more relaxed nervous system, better sleep, less body pain, helps your gut work better, less anxiety, fewer headaches, I see a lot of people for chronic headaches. And I think just in general, an overall sense of well being.

Renata Nehme (32:56.959)
Mm-hmm.

Renata Nehme (33:14.762)
That is perfect. I think we got several of our questions answered today. Thank you, Hillary, so much for joining us and hanging out with us this afternoon on The Beauty of Breathing. This episode should be released soon. Hillary's information is going to be on the show notes. And would you share with everybody who is listening over here live on Instagram also, what is your...

Hilary Bilkis (33:22.629)
Thank you, Renata.

Renata Nehme (33:42.823)
Instagram handle so they can run and follow you.

Hilary Bilkis (33:46.065)
Sure, it's at seraphina rising, S-E-

Renata Nehme (33:53.542)
Any last words they would like people to know?

Hilary Bilkis (33:57.009)
If you've never tried cranial sacral therapy, go find a practitioner. It's really a wonderful gentle modality that is very light but very powerful and works deeply and often if you've been having some sort of chronic pain that massage or chiropractic or acupuncture is just not sustaining like it's just you know, it's just not The relief is not sustained

Renata Nehme (34:25.986)
Mm-hmm.

Hilary Bilkis (34:26.005)
I think you need to look deeper and it's probably a connective tissue nervous system or emotional thing that you have trapped in your tissue that needs support.

Renata Nehme (34:37.13)
Well, thank you, thank you, thank you, everybody. Have a wonderful day and we'll see you all next week. Bye-bye.

Hilary Bilkis (34:41.541)
Thank you so much. Bye.


Podcasts we love