Health is a deep and abiding part of each person’s essential nature, and is never lost. This Inherent Health is within each of us. It is always available, and can be palpated (felt) as slow, steady rhythmic sensation, and as periods of deep resting, referred to as stillness. Connecting to this Inherent Health, we are able to slowly resolve our most painful and unyielding wounds and traumas.
The STAR Institute’s Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Foundation Training is based on the “Breath of Life” perspective of craniosacral therapy by the founder of the work, Dr. William Garner Sutherland, and the continuation of the work by Franklyn Sills (author of Craniosacral Biodynamics).
You’ll learn to experience the ever-present health within yourself and others in this revolutionary approach to healthcare. In gentle, non-invasive interactions between practitioner and client, you’ll experience how the Inherent Health of each client comes to the foreground and expresses its vitality. In this dynamic process, the client’s patterns of pain, stress and trauma also begin to surface, interact with the Inherent Health, and resolve.
This training occurs in a series of 18 class modules over a period of about three years. All the modules are 3-day classes, and the topics of each module are described below. You can become a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST) upon satisfactory completion of this training, including attendance at all of the required classes and completion of out-of-class requirements.
Location, Times, Tuition Costs & Other Fees
This training will be held at our Petaluma location, and class is held from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm each day.
Tuition is $540 for each 3-day module. Students bringing a massage table get a $5 per day fee reduction ($15 for 3 days). Tuition is due on or before the first day of each module. There is also a $300 course application fee, which gets applied as a partial pre-payment for the final class (Module 18). Other fees include required books (which may be purchased new or used online) and required sessions you must receive from a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST®).
About the Presenter
Gary Peterson is a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST®) and approved Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy teacher who has been teaching and practicing energy therapies for over 40 years. He teaches Craniosacral Therapy trainings, Polarity Therapy trainings, Settling® trainings and Working with Babies classes at various locations around the United States, as well as birth surround workshops and other therapeutic work for the nervous system.
His teaching and private practice are inspired by his strong desire to understand and alleviate the deep causes of suffering found with stress and trauma to the nervous system. He is especially motivated to help babies, moms and their families to resolve the crippling effects of traumas and stresses that happen during gestation, birth and early neonatal life.
Gary studied Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy with Franklyn Sills, a pioneer in the field of Craniosacral Biodynamics and author of several books in the field. Gary also studied Prenatal and Birth Therapy with Ray Castellino, himself a pioneer in the field of resolving birth traumas and imprints for babies and their families.
Gary’s first book, Settling: Simple Ways to Calm Your Nervous System, will be published soon. This self-help manual gives you a set of vital skills for regulating your nervous system in order to experience greater health, balance and relaxation.
Gary and his wife Bonnie have 3 grown children and two grandchildren, and live in Sebastopol, CA.
Questions? Feel free to contact Gary Peterson
Schedule of Classes (Note: classes are Thursday thru Saturday)
2026 Pre-Training Introductory Event
June 25-27 (3 days): Petaluma Location: Introduction to Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. (You can take this Intro with no obligation to take the 3-year training.)
2026 Classes
Module 1: September 17-19, in Petaluma: Skills of Stillness, Being and Relationship
Module 2: November 19-21, in Petaluma: Energy Fields and Their Subtle Motions
2027 Classes
Module 3: January 14-16, in Petaluma: Inherent Health: From Stillness to Form
Module 4: April 8-10, in Petaluma: States of Balance and Stillness
Module 5: June 24-26, in Petaluma: Inertia, Shapes & Augmentation Skills
Module 6: September 9-11, in Petaluma: The Nervous System: Bodywide Intelligence
Module 7: November 4-6, in Petaluma: Working with Trauma and Chronic Stress
2028 Classes
Module 8: January 27-29, in Petaluma: The Sentient Little One: Aware in the Womb
Module 9: April 6-8, in Petaluma: The Midline: From Primitive Streak to Spine
Module 10: June 8-10, in Petaluma: The Pelvis and its Mysterious Sacrum
Module 11: August 10-12, in Petaluma: The Occipital Triad: As Above, So Below
Module 12: October 12-14, in Petaluma: The Cranial Base: Reflecting the Whole
Module 13: December 7-9, in Petaluma: The Face & its Origins in Implantation
2029 Classes
Module 14: March 15-17, in Petaluma: The TMJ & Hyoid Bone: Mirror to the Pelvis
Module 15: May 24-26, in Petaluma: Visceral Explorations
Module 16: August 2-4, in Petaluma: The Sentient Little One: Challenges of Birth
Module 17: October 4-6, in Petaluma: Ignitions: Lighting the Journey into Form
Module 18: December 6-8, in Petaluma: Completions, Reviews, Commencement
Register Here for Each Module
$540 per 3-day module, without table • $525 per 3-day module, with massage table discount