College of Cranio-Sacral Therapy Reviews 36

Training at the College of Cranio-Sacral Therapy has been a truly life-changing journey for me. From the very first weekend, I felt a deep sense of belonging and purpose. The teaching is not only thorough and professional, but also heartfelt, with a real emphasis on presence, sensitivity, and connection. I was immediately drawn to the way CCST combines classical cranial osteopathy with a more biodynamic and holistic approach, honouring the body’s innate wisdom and inner healing potential.



A significant part of what makes the College so unique and inspiring is the values of its founder, Thomas Atlee. His work and deep dedication to the field have laid the foundation for a training programme that goes far beyond teaching technique. Thomas has instilled in his team a profound respect for the subtle intelligence of the body, a commitment to deep listening, and a belief in the importance of presence and therapeutic support. These values are reflected in every aspect of the teaching and held by each tutor with integrity and care.



What I particularly respect about Thomas is his ability to bring together a team of tutors who not only have a wealth of knowledge and experience but who also embody the principles they teach. Their approach is grounded, humble, and compassionate, qualities that create a safe, respectful, and deeply nourishing learning environment. They meet each student where they are, supporting both personal and professional growth with patience and insight.



Throughout the course, I have grown not just in skill and confidence but also as a person. I’ve learned to listen more deeply, trust my intuition, and be fully present with others in a way that feels both natural and profound. This journey has awakened a new level of awareness in me, not only as a practitioner but as a human being. I’m so grateful for everything I’ve received from the college, from the knowledge shared, to the heartfelt support offered along the way. I carry with me a deep appreciation for the ethos that Thomas Attlee has cultivated at CCST, and I feel excited and honoured to carry this work forward into my own practice. Thank you again, Heather

I have found the CCST cranio-sacral therapy training amazing. I have learned more about functional neuroscience on this course than in 8 years studying it to PhD level. I love how there is no gatekeeping, we were encouraged to try the practical aspect straight away and understand that it is possible for anyone to develop these skills with practice and awareness. I feel like I have been able to embody the learnings through the strong practical aspect of the in-person course, plus the requirement for regularly practising with friends/family and course mates, through teaching clinics, and through receiving professional treatments. I have found it a powerful transformation, something that a lot of courses promise and do not deliver.

I am certainly a different person to the one who began training in the autumn of 2023. I am more sensitive in general, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and all of the ways. I pay attention to my well being more closely, as I feel the need to be the best version of myself to carry out this life-changing work. The training is quite genius the way it is structured. I would get to a point where I thought I could not go on, I did not have enough knowledge or confidence, and I considered deferring the training at one point. Then, without fail, the next module would entice me back in with all of the beautiful reasons that I want to complete the training so that my life will be one where CST is who I am, and it is a central part of my being. Some of the journey to get here has been delightful, and other parts have been more challenging. The nature of this work stirs things up and life will never be the same again. Not only for myself, but it has a ripple effect on those around me. Always for the greater good, even though sometimes you have to just keep the faith. It really is magic! Thomas and the wonderful tutors have really held space for all of us students and been our cheerleaders at all times. The training course is very thorough and I love how any and all questions and opinions are welcome. Sometimes leading to very interesting conversations! It is such a special environment at the college, like being in a very sacred, safe space. The training has been life changing in all of the best ways!
Thank you.

I was a theatre artist before I came to the UK, working as a performer, director, researcher, and trainer. Since arriving in the UK, I have been working for the Hong Kong community, supporting Hong Kong migrants to integrate into their new environment.



My Craniosacral Therapy training has been a deeply transformative journey, combining rigorous theoretical and practical training, powerful professional treatments given by tutors, and profound inner reflection and personal development. Through intensive lessons in the 6 stages, multi-hand and individual teaching clinics, online and in-person tutorials, professional treatment sessions, home study and regular practices with classmates, I gained immense new understanding about the human body and the matrix within which it exists. I also developed the sensitivity and ability to listen deeply to the body’s subtle rhythms, motions, qualities, asymmetry and emotional expressions which are truly amazing. I never imagined I would be able to do that! In the beginning of the training, I thought Thomas and the tutors simply had super power, and I could not imagine how it would be possible for me to become capable of treating people craniosacrally after one year. But the truth is I am indeed able to treat people craniosacrally, and my clients have experienced very positive results.



Through the training I have learned that in order to be a good craniosacral therapist, I need to find my own inner safety, calm quiet presence, groundedness and spaciousness. I practised hard but initially I was not satisfied with my progress, so I decided to have more regular professional treatments with my tutors to clear my own system. Then I began to feel the difference. My tutor Shelly helped me heal my personal trauma which supported me tremendously to find my inner safety and to hold respectful and safe space for my clients’ healing processes.



One of the most valuable lessons in Craniosacral Therapy training was learning to stay grounded in my practitioner’s fulcrum, and maintaining my spaciousness even when clients express strong emotions that resonate with my own personal traumas or violent physical responses that seem too intense for my physical body to hold. I managed to maintain my calm quiet presence in these scenarios and I naturally found safe and gentle way to support these clients. I witnessed how powerful gentleness is, and how it could bring significant shifts not only in physical symptoms but also in long-held trauma and emotional pain. The training helped me understand the interconnectedness of the body, mind, emotions, our ancestors, the energy field, the matrix, time, and the universe. The training has not only equipped me with therapeutic skills, but also fostered deep personal growth, emotional awareness, more spacious perspective about life, and a renewed sense of compassion - both for others and for myself. I feel privileged to have received this training. I am grateful that I am able to support and witness clients’ deep and empowering healing processes.

Thank you again

Yin Krissy Lam

As a midwife, I have found the course to be all immersing in all areas of my life. The fundamental changes that have occurred during the training have been transformative and with that my practice has changed and progressed. I found challenges and insight into these along the way, but I have loved learning again and developing a new skill that I am passionate about.

The teaching through the year has been exceptional, complex topics taught with such clarity and structure it made learning easier. The support of the tutors and college throughout the year also ensured that I felt supported and had a good structure to hold my learning. I particularly appreciated attending the stages in six-day sections, allowing you to immerse yourself in learning, and with this it allows a bond and safety within the group.

Every aspect of this intense learning has been intricately designed to support and enhance the learning and practical aspect of the course. I am sad to end the course, but have valued every part of it and will take it forward with me. A year I will never forget. Thank you from me to all the team, it is a wonderful and such a holistic way to learn.

The CCST training has been the most transformative year of my life. I honestly don’t have the words to do it justice.

Having spent most of my life fighting with myself, talk therapy helped, yet, for a long time I still didn’t understand what therapists meant when they spoke about truly knowing oneself. I thought I was aware, but I was still full of angst and tension. I never felt fully relaxed.

Through Craniosacral Therapy, I’ve been able to feel my emotions on such deep levels, in a space where I felt completely safe, supported, and held by fellow students and tutors. That safety allowed me to truly go ‘there’, and in doing so, I found that the things I feared weren’t so scary after all. That’s where the transformation began. There’s a new calmness in me. Boundaries now come with ease and not through resistance, but from a deeper self-respect.

Throughout this training, I’ve learned that what I thought would happen is rarely what actually does and that’s the beauty of it. Life isn’t in our control, and learning to love that truth is powerful. When I began this training in March 2024, I had no idea how deeply it would change me, even if I never became a therapist. There were moments when I felt that even if I didn’t finish or qualify, the journey would still have been worth it, because I’d already received more than I ever expected.

One of the most valuable things I’ve learned this year is that not all the pain is mine. So much of the anxiety, self-doubt, and fear I carry is ancestral. Knowing this doesn’t excuse or erase the weight, but it offers clarity. It gives me a choice. I can meet those patterns, love them, and choose a new path.

Thank you so much for everything.

I feel deeply grateful to have encountered the CCST Cranio-Sacral Therapy course on multiple levels. On a professional level, Cranio-Sacral Therapy has brought my understanding of “being with” to a much deeper level. It offered me the experience of being fully present with a patient using minimal words.



Having arrived in the UK from Hong Kong, this experience has enriched my professional practice as a psychotherapist, and will continue to do so. I am now more aware not only of my tone of voice and the pace of my speech, but also of how to expand my awareness of all my senses and the energetic space I hold for the client. I have learned to observe clients’ breathing patterns and sense their energetic field - deepening my understanding of their inner experience through subtle cues.



Furthermore, what I have gained from this course is an integrated perspective, treating physical symptoms and emotional factors as interconnected and mutually influential. This approach addresses the individual while also recognising the broader social and environmental contexts we live in.



On a personal level, the learning has deepened my own journey of growth. Having previously engaged in psychotherapy, I had already developed a habit of self-reflection to release tension, restrictions, and blind spots. Cranio-Sacral Therapy supported this further by helping me understand how daily struggles are stored in the body, often outside our awareness.



Through receiving treatments, I was able to release deeply rooted emotional patterns and tensions. This process was deeply cathartic. I became more attuned to my body. These emotions were no longer stuck. I also experienced how physical injuries stored in tissues could be healed together with the emotions intertwined with them. Both could be acknowledged, seen, and released simultaneously.



I noticed immediate and lasting changes, especially in my relationships with my family. I became more aware of bodily sensations and emotions emerging. I now have more tools to regulate these moments: noticing what’s happening, connecting with my breath, and grounding myself. These were tools I had known intellectually before, but through the course - its emphasis on practice and the powerful treatments I received - they became lived experiences. I feel more connected to my body. Rather than reacting impulsively, I now have more capacity to pause and respond.



Regarding the learning process, the teachers and tutors are not only highly knowledgeable, but also genuinely gifted educators. They explain abstract concepts in clear and encouraging ways. The step-by-step structure of the course builds understanding progressively - from simple, manageable foundations to more sophisticated applications. This thoughtful design helped me to form a comprehensive picture of the therapeutic approach. Whenever challenges arose, the tutors were approachable and supportive.



The textbook is also incredibly rich. Each time I revisit it, I discover new insights. The clinical practice sessions offered valuable opportunities to work with real patients - starting with observation and gradually progressing to handling cases independently. These experiences reflected the course’s careful, well-considered structure.



Learning alongside people from different parts of the world and from diverse professional backgrounds was also a gift. We learned from one another and expanded our awareness of the world we live in, as well as the wide variety of patients we may encounter.



Overall, this learning journey has been deeply positive and unexpectedly transformative for me - both personally and professionally.

Thank you so much

Kar Po Cheung

When I booked this course, I did not know a lot about Cranio-Sacral therapy, and I did not know what to expect from the course. The past 2 years have at times been very challenging. I never expected to learn so much, to go through so much, and to change so much. To me Cranio-Sacral therapy feels like it removes the pain that has been stuck in our system from traumas for years and years.

I feel that this course is so well planned, and it takes you back all the way where all started. It helps you to deal with your demons, traumas, and anything else you need to so you could become a therapist and be able to help others. The course is life changing. I am so grateful to Thomas and to all the tutors and other members of the college as I could see how much my life has changed. I could see how much I changed. So much pain has been released, so many of my traumas I feel that they are lighter now and do not affect me as before. My nervous system is stronger, and I act differently. In my opinion everyone should have Cranio-Sacral therapy.

To say thank you is not enough to describe my gratitude to Thomas and everyone else. With their support, understanding and kindness, they helped me to become the real me, to understand patterns, to become aware of things I don’t like and do not serve me, to see myself with compassion and start loving me for who I am. A big thank you for showing me that I deserve the best and I am worthy. The healing process never stops, but I see me and life and others with different eyes now, with love and understanding and not fear and anger. Thank you, thank you, thank you to my Cranio-Sacral family for helping me change my life. With lots of love and gratitude, Christina

The 1 Year CCST Training has been life changing. The skills I have learned here have not only provided me with a new, fulfilling way to make a living but with a new outlook on life. Through the process of getting to know myself better, I feel I better understand other people. Through the in person stages, the teaching clinics, private treatments with tutors, practice sessions with fellow students and studying, I really have seen such significant changes in myself. I feel I have more access to stillness, acceptance, confidence and joy. I am using my creativity in new ways and making meaning from the traumas of my past. I have more awareness and understanding of how to care for myself and I have learned new ways to receive care from others. The tutors on this course are kind, encouraging and nurturing. They lead by example and, among many things, have taught me how to be compassionate without taking on other people’s emotions. I have seen first hand what collective healing can be and I have learned so much from my fellow students. I have a much clearer connection to the structures of the human body and learning this through the lens of Craniosacral Therapy has been a holistic process that has facilitated a lot of healing. I feel more grounded, like I’ve learned how to come home to myself. Thank you to Thomas, the tutors, my fellow students and everyone that makes this course possible.

Having been completely burnt-out by a long, intensive, corporate career, I started to look at options that would allow me to reduce the demands on my body and offer me a new direction.

I decided to start the 1 Year Diploma Course at CCST and genuinely thought I would just be learning a new skill that could potentially become a new career, I had absolutely no idea how that decision would totally change every aspect of my life.

Having come from a corporate world and never having done any type of bodywork or been particularly spiritual, it’s hard to put into words the impact the course has had on my health, my mindset and my future. I also hadn’t realised that empowering myself would ‘filter down’ and have such a positive effect on my friends and family.

From the very beginning, Thomas and his excellent tutors, created a space of learning, safety and nurture, not only teaching all the necessary anatomy and theory that the course requires, but the much deeper, spiritual side of genuine healing, love and support.

Although I knew I had been through lots of trauma in my life, I had no appreciation of how much damage it had done to my mind and body. Slowly and safely, layer-by-layer, my own traumas were released and I began to feel like a completely different person.

As someone with no clinical experience, or previous training in trauma management, the gift of real-life, hands-on experience, both with other students and latterly at the Teaching Clinics, has been priceless. As I approach my final exams, I feel a level of confidence in my abilities that I never really felt during my whole corporate career.

Have I had a solid grounding in cranio-sacral therapy? Absolutely.

Is there more to learn? Without a doubt, probably for the rest of my life, but I’m good with that.

Was it tough? Definitely.

Was it worth it? Completely.

Would I do it all again? In a heartbeat.

I give my heartfelt gratitude to Thomas, Shelly, Miranda, Michael, Magda, Guy and Andrea for their generosity of time, knowledge, support and care over the past year. You have changed my life and I will be forever grateful, thank you.

This course with CCST was completely life changing for me and I can't recommend it enough. After qualifying in 2019 and also navigating the pandemic, I was able to set up a a very successful full Cranio-Sacral Therapy practice and gave up my former career in PR by the end of 2020. I now run a very busy full time clinic alongside a dedicated children's clinic too and enjoy a deeply fulfilling career where I get to help people navigate their way through emotional and physical trauma, overcome anxiety and generally live happier and healthier lives. Cranio-Sacral Therapy is a profound and transformative therapy and I feel so lucky to have found my life's purpose. If you re considering training- do it! You won't regret it.

I approached my Craniosacral Integration training as a therapist, determined to understand and learn to use and benefit from the strange feelings I experienced in my body and in my fingertips when giving body treatment... And I learnt a magical way of healing body, mind and spirit. More than that, I started my metamorphosis into someone I love to be, someone well rooted on Earth and well connected to living being. More than an incredible training, it is a transformative journey.

My training with CCST has been one of the best experiences I have ever gifted myself.

Over the one year training, my journey on this course has run on two parallel paths - to learn, grow and evolve with a desire to become a competent and capable Cranio-Sacral Therapist - and to take a deep dive into my own personal journey of self discovery and healing. The latter was unexpected, but essential to becoming a practitioner and working with clients as ultimately we can only meet a person as deeply as we have met ourselves. On a professional level, as I gained knowledge of Cranio-Sacral anatomy, theory and practices, at the same time, on a personal level, I released unprocessed emotional layers of my life experiences in the treatments that I received.

This work has been so healing, so powerful - a beautiful journey from the head to the heart. I am deeply grateful to Thomas and all the tutors (Michael, Shelly, Miranda, Guy, Magda and Andrea) for their kind compassionate presence, immense patience and dedication, and their timely words of wisdom that planted the seeds of inner transformation within me. It has been a deeply enriching and liberating experience not only professionally but personally too. The whole experience has felt like a deep embrace from Grace and I look forward to continuing my journey with CCST through their post graduate training.

When I joined this course I wasn't 100% sure what I will get out of it but something inside of me said, try it!!! So I did, and I never looked back.

I feel this course and the way it all unfolded means so much to me, more than words can describe but I will try my best.

It has amplified my healing journey, it helped me move through blocks that I was aware of faster than I was doing by myself, it brought a very strong sense of grounding in me, a deeper connection with my soul and a great amount of knowledge of anatomy.

I really love the way it is structured, the way spirituality and anatomy combine so beautifully. I love the depth of it, the energetical initiation with each stage, and how it helped so much in all our journeys of accessing the grounded presence of our heart and our soul and not being afraid anymore to show up as I am, on the contrary, feeling empowered to do so.

I feel it has helped honour parts of me that were in pain, taught me a deeper level of welcoming them in acceptance and in healing. I was doing this before to the level that I could, and now it is definitely deeper and stronger.

I love the gentleness in which it was held and at the same time a very clear structure that allowed it to unfold in such a beautiful way.

I appreciate a lot the teaching clinics too, a lot of them were really amazing! I felt really inspired by some of the tutors and the way they hold that healing space from their heart, and the way they set the energy structure of the room for the day. Really beautiful to be reminded of the sanctity of healing spaces and the importance of setting that structure.

Also, the treatments I have received during the training were also amazing and helped me so much. Again, inspiring and showing me to what extent and beyond I can go with myself and facilitating treatments for others. It was also the best way I learned about different types of containment and how different therapists bring to the surface different things in me.

I feel that what I have said here is still only a small part of it, and for sure there is much more to it, but overall, I love it! I enjoyed also the energy field created in the space between us, students and the tutors. And for sure I experienced a lot of its potency of healing.

I thank you for holding this space, for reminding people of their true power, and I am honoured and grateful that I joined. May there be many more courses and many more people to be supported in awakening from pain to their true divine essence.

Thank you!
Aurora

The CCST 1 Year Training has been the most incredible journey, which I know will continue long after its completion. It has been a life-changer for me, enabling me to become aware of, and then embody, the gifts inside me that I only had a vague sense of. Thomas, the tutors, and all my fellow students have been such a loving, supportive container to allow me to grow both practically as a practitioner and as a human being on all levels. In many ways, I feel very different than a year ago - more vulnerable, more centred, more aware, more sensitive, brighter, clearer, more expansive, softer, stronger, emptier and fuller. The training has been the perfect mix of informational and practical learning, and delivered in such a way that builds our skills and confidence subtly yet powerfully. This has been a turning point in my life, and I now feel as though I have purpose and am ready to embrace my gifts and bring them into the world. I intend to continue with further study and exploration at the College in future and will be sure to recommend the training to anyone looking for a life of deeper meaning and fulfilment.

Cranio-sacral awareness is profoundly deep and transcendental for me. I do understand the importance of physiological awareness and the technical aspect of it. Of course it is extremely useful. Yet cranio-sacral integration is beyond that.

My love for the energy field is of a spiritual quality, a free dive into an expansive ocean of awareness, loving-kindness, unconditional love and positive regard. In-depth and cathartic learnings, sharing, laughing, crying, feeling, all the unmet unheard parts and it continues. As all is welcomed in the field.

A chance and a possibility of constantly evolving and healing. Getting into holistic states of dynamic stillness and homeostasis. Touching that nerve of a subtle meditative gentleness. The soft, wide spaciousness.

Knowing that there’s a higher collective relational field outside, which is a reflective state of our deep consciousness inside. The love to embrace the vitality of a healing process without giving it a label or meaning, and extending the hand of compassion to others.

If anyone is looking for such a way of experiencing the self and beyond, the CCST course is for them.

Aimen Tariq
Riyadh (Saudia Arabia)

This is a really special course. It was one of the best decisions to take this course of my life. It combines both presentation, demonstrations and practices. Full on, intense days focusing on being present, subtle sensations and observations at the whole person level, and allowing gentle self-healing of the body. The tutors were very knowledgable and thorough, delivering the course at the highest standard. The participants were also amazing, supportive and kind. Great dynamics and interactions on the course. Highly recommend.

I have just finished the one year course at CCST and I can honestly say (with no bribes!) that it has been one of the best experiences of my life. I have found in cranio sacral therapy all that I have been looking for, and have nothing but praise for Thomas and the tutor team at CCST. They have held us all the way as we traversed the stormy seas of our past experiences and encouraged our personal development throughout the year with love and humour.
The tuition is great and of a high standard, it is academically rigorous in terms of the anatomy and physiology requirements, which I feel is as it should be. Students are well supported with the hands on teaching in a safe and caring environment and the student clinics are such an integral part of our progression, and very enjoyable.
As a midwife I have found this course has opened so many doors to my understanding of birth trauma and how vital CST is for supporting a healthy transition into the world, for babies and those that birth them.
I would urge any midwives/birth workers to do this course as it will change and enrich every interaction you have with mothers and babies for the better. I never knew quite to what extent it would change my practice.
Safe to say I thoroughly endorse and highly recommend training at CCST.
Not only is the course amazing, I have made deep connections and friends for life and had so much fun along the way!
Thank you Thomas and team, it's been quite a journey!

I can't recommend this course more highly. As a physician wanting to add another dimension of healing to my practice, I could not have been more pleased with how it was managed. The pace was terrific, the ongoing support was ever present and professional. I was pleased with the tutor group and found them accessible and caring. Lastly, there are no words for how knowledgable and caring Thomas is - a gifted educator as well as a seasoned cranial sacral therapist.