Fascia - Where Healing & Ease Can Begin
If you have attended yoga classes here or worked with me privately in Therapeutic Yoga or Bowenwork, then you have heard me talk about fascia. For hundreds of years, until very recently this tissue was literally tossed into the garbage as mere “packing material” when medical students studied the human body. Fascia does not show up on MRI’s or X-rays. We can so easily pretend its not there.
But it IS there!
Fascia facts: (sources include the 2 videos linked below)
It is the medium through which our muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones talk to each other; fascia allows us to run, reach for a chocolate – all movement!
Every cell in our body is connected to fascia – that’s how a cell knows its place and performs its function. If fascia impedes it, a cell can’t do its job properly.
Fascia has 6-10x MORE nerve sensory nodes than does muscle tissue.
Chronic pain therefore might not be just a musculoskeletal issue.
Since fascia does not show up on MRI’s and x-rays, we are making big health decisions while missing significant data!
Surprised?
You can read on – or for a visual – skip down and watch the 12 min video linked below!
Our body is an example of “tensegrity” – a term coined by Buckminster Fuller decades ago in the context of architecture. Yet what is the human body other than an amazingly strong and resilient architectural structure? Tensegrity refers to a system in balance between elements of compression and tension. In a building think, steel beams and tension cables which are never in direct contact with each other, but rather floating in a net of tension members. In a human, think bones and connective tissue (ie fascia). Similarly, our bones “float” in a network of connective tissues (fascia).
The human body is one integrated system of parts in relationship with each other via the fascial network.
This cohesive system is continually dynamically working to restore balance so that our eyes remain level to the horizon (for example of one criteria). This begins to explain why “where the pain is, is usually not where the problem is! For example, we might treat areas of the back for shoulder pain or the feet for neck pain – if we want lasting resolution vs only a temporary relief.
My Yoga Therapy training was based in this awareness of the body as a dynamic system, which is why I watch movement and patterns instead of “fixing” and “strengthening” per say. Though my clients’ limitations and pain decrease or go away and they get to enjoy more of what they love to do!
Bowenwork also addresses the fascial system. All the major systems of the body are influenced during a Bowen treatment: nervous, fascial and skeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, immune, lymphatic – supporting muscle coordination, postural alignment, and overall structural and functional integrity.
Want a visual demonstration of the fascial system and how it works in the body? The following 12 min video provides a great, clear discussion of fascia AND a wonderful demonstration on a living human body.
Fascia & The Mystery of Chronic Pain | Dana Sterling | LIFE TALK 007
(12 min, for lay people – simple – stark demonstration)
The Mysterious World Under the Skin
(42 min video, fascinating, but more technically oriented)
Watch at least the short one and tell me what you think??
Contact me for a Bowenwork or Therapeutic Yoga appointment or for more information!