ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

We meet Lulu Ferrand, founder of Tanfield Wellness

hen Lulu Ferrand first experienced CST – Craniosacral Therapy – it changed her life. And now she’s on a mission to bring this unique gentle and non-invasive approach to healing to North Yorkshire.

Last July Lulu opened Tanfield Wellness in her native village of West Tanfield. There she and fellow practitioners offer a range of therapies and interventions, including CST, reiki, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, reflexology and transformation coaching. “I don’t think there’s anything else like it in the Dales,” she says.

CST is a complementary therapy – developed as an offspring of osteopathy in the 1970s – that aims to promote physical, psychological and emotional well-being. Lulu first encountered it at a difficult time in her life, when she was struggling to recover from divorce and breast cancer. Later, in a moment of sudden intuition, she knew that she needed to investigate the therapy further.

In 2013 she graduated from a two-year course in CST from the Craniosacral Therapy Educational Trust in London, subsequently going on to become Chair, and a trustee, of the Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK.

CSTA

HELP YOURSELF

What kinds of issues can CST help with? “A massive range,” says Lulu, “including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, migraines, tension, sleep problems, irritable bowel, back pain, ADHD, autism and post-operative recovery.

“But I want to stress that as a practitioner I don’t help you – I facilitate you to help yourself. Once you get to know your body you’ll find that it has an innate ability to balance, restore and heal itself. So my aim is to give people the tools to look after themselves.”

What happens during a CST treatment? At the initial hour-and-a-half session (subsequent sessions last an hour) Lulu will start by taking a full and detailed case history, from birth to the present day.

The actual treatment takes place with the client lying, fully clothed, on a couch. Lulu uses a very light touch to tune into the energy fields in the body. She looks for blockages and tensions, and encourages the client to listen to their body and allow the blockages to unravel.

CSTA

CSTA

So how does it feel to be on the receiving end of a CST treatment? “It’s different for different people, and your body will unravel in the way it wants,” says Lulu. “Some people feel sensations of heat or cold, others will experience tingling, fizzing or rippling sensations, or a sudden emotional release. The effects may be immediate, but often the body continues releasing over the following days.”

FINE TUNING

“It’s unusual for one session to be enough,” says Lulu. “Usually I see clients for seven or eight sessions. Some come along every now and then for a top-up.”

To help the healing process along, Lulu has posted a range of self-help videos on the Tanfield Wellness website for clients to use between sessions, including guided meditation, breathing exercises and advice on being positive. For some years Lulu has been carrying out treatments at a distance via Zoom or on the telephone, so she has been able to continue working with many of her clients, new and old, during lockdown. “Whilst it’s nothing like a faceto-face session,” she says, “it works surprisingly well most of the time, and some people actually prefer it! You can tune into someone’s energy field like tuning into a radio station.”

Lulu has also completed a post-graduate course in Equine Craniosacral Therapy, and treats horses within a 50-mile radius of West Tanfield. “It works along exactly the same principles. Horses are very like babies, their energy fields are fresh and new. And they have many of the same problems that we do.”

So what are Lulu’s hopes for the future? “CST is becoming much more well known, and it would be wonderful if the medical profession were to embrace it more fully. I would also love to set up a charity, or collaborate with a local charity, to help people who couldn’t otherwise afford it to get access to CST treatments.”

To find out more about CST and Tanfield Wellness visit tanfieldwellness.co.uk or call 07887 506163.