Brain candy

SQUEEZE PLAY After a romantic disappointment sent Michael Renehan’s life off-kilter, he found relief with a craniosacral massage.

Negative Energy

The stress case At Northwestern University, where Michael Renehan, 25, works as a communications specialist, the end of the year has been crunch time and the workload has been piling up. He’s also been taking on more responsibilities, with more and more coworkers putting demands on his time. “Trying to get things done somewhere in the neighborhood of their deadlines has been stressful,” Renehan says. He’s also been mending a broken heart after a summer fling recently withered. “It was a long-distance thing and then it ended, so it was a big disappointment.” As a result, Mr. Crankypants has been snapping at friends and coworkers, neglecting his beloved pooch, Audry, and hiding out in bed.

The holistic treatment Renehan hopes to get back on track at Dr. Vesna Skul’s Center For Well-Being, where therapist and registered nurse Timothy Flesch performed craniosacral bodywork on him. According to Flesch, “craniosacral therapy is a light-touch method of evaluating and enhancing the function of the craniosacral system.” In English: You lie down on a massage table while a therapist applies pressure to points on your body that affect the membranes and fluids that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. “It decreases the level of stress by enhancing the body’s own self-correcting abilities” and opening up nerve pathways, Flesch says. If all goes well, you’ll fall into an almost dreamlike state and wake up refreshed.

The result For Renehan—who had never received therapy like this—it worked wonders, though he admits being skeptical at first. “I went in expecting an experience that would be pleasant and relaxing, but maybe not all that impactful. That wasn’t the case.” Renehan says he was surprised that Flesch’s light touch had such a powerful result. “I was amazed at how gentle he was and how very real the responses were,” he says. “He’d maybe tap my eye and I’d feel a tingling sensation all over my legs.” Renehan adds he’s now one of the converted. “He finished and I was lying there with my eyes shut,” he says. “I really just wanted to stay in that place. I felt peaceful.” 100 E Walton St, suite 400, 708-829-8958. $125–$160 for 45–60 minutes.

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