Services - Myofascial Release
Fascia
Fascia is more than connective tissue, it is constitutive tissue which means your entire body is made of it. One of the main characteristics of fascia is it contracts when exposed to stress whether mental, physical and/or emotional. When fascia contracts, it pulls the slack out of your system, from anywhere in the body that is available, to converge on a point of vulnerability. Your body does this in order to heal. Once healed however, fascia forms scar tissue which restricts movement and causes pain, and if not addressed, causing additional pain in other areas of the body. Fascia can also communicate faster than our nerves can detect sensation. This is evident when we are in a crisis or in fight or flight mode. Arguably many of us live in this mode due to the amount of stress our body perceives as fatal.
Stress
Stress is when you prevent your body from completing a naturally occurring function or process. Physical, emotional and/or mental stress affects your body equally. When your body does not get the movement, nutrition/hydration and rest it needs, it will malfunction. Physical traumas prevent the body from functioning normally, as well as creating tension in areas the body feels vulnerable. Emotions are felt in the body not the mind. When you suppress/repress your emotions you create tension in your body due to physically restraining yourself from expression. Many times this creates harmful postural habits and chronic pain due to daily stress. Mental stress occurs when your body and mind are at odds. Your body is telling you what it needs to be healthy and the mind, dictated by cultural and societal norms, ignores the body’s needs in order to complete tasks to which we give more importance.
The Technique
The technique involves sustained pressure or traction, to fascially restricted areas, meeting the body at the tension point. Too much pressure or traction can cause more tissue damage and too light of a touch may not be enough. Myofascial Release is about supporting the body and what it needs to feel safe. It takes a lot of energy to exact up to 2000 lbs of pressure per square inch of tissue due to stress. This is why many of us feel tired when we are under stress. Your body is using all its energy to restrict vulnerable areas leaving little to no energy for anything else. After 3 to 5 minutes the body registers the support and responds by discharging some of the energy it was using to hold the tension. Sufficiently supported, the body will react by relaxing because it no longer has to hold the tension by itself. Once the body feels safe enough to relax, it will remain so because the pain and tension are gone. The body will realize it actually feels good to let go and will want to remain relaxed permanently.