flow with julia

Fascia is a sort of matrix or netting that pervades the body, surrounding all of the parts like tendons, organs and bones. In yin yoga the plastic tissues of the body respond to the practice, fascia being one type of plastic tissues. Fascia doesnt stretch as such, rather, under the gentle stress of those long-held shapes, the fascia has space and time to remodel itself, rehydrate and remould to the shape that the body is taking. Fascia will model itself to your movements, so if on the daily you only move your ankle a particular way, then the fascia will shape itself around that, and IF you are not using that ankle regularly to its full joint mobility capacity then that fascia having moulded to the restricted movement will be sticky, restricted and not particularly hydrated. Healthy fascia surrounding a mobile joint will be hydrated and more responsive to movement. Fascia has other functions too, it is a major means of sensing (contains sensory receptors) and communication, and it distributes the shock of impact, say when you jump, throughout the body. Fascia is fascinating enough physically but energetically it’s even more so, and in the yoga system we practice with the energetic body too, whether you are aware of that or not. Energetically, that impact distribution is also applicable to every sensation of touch, movement and breath – that fascia is clocking all of that and with long-term repetition the fascia also ‘holds on’ and remembers. For example, regarding its sensory functions – the fascia is a part of our survival pathways. Say I am a child and the environment I am growing up in is threatening. Resultantly I hunch my shoulders to protect my heart, I have my head down, I tip toe around – my fascia perceives the threats, let’s the brain know, the body moves in those particular ways to protect me and my fascia further helps to protect me by shaping itself to those movement and protection patterns. As an adult, I’ve addressed this all in my mind, with talk therapy for example, yet I remain hunched over – the fascia still remembers, the body still remembers so although my mind has let go, the body continues to remind the mind or act like I am still in that state. Which is why yin yoga can be one approach to this – itcan be a gentle way to let the fascia reshape to what reality is now, to protect us in different ways, to open us up in new ways.

How we work with fascia in yoga and yin yoga –

Fascia loves spiral type movement through the body, like moving through the spine like snake and any movement that is spiral like

Cross body movement like thread the needle pose

yin yoga targets Different lines in the body like the superficial back line of fascia, that runs from the soles of our feet to the top of our head

we can used blocks and tennis/hard balls to ‘roll’ the fascia out

note, working with fascia to unwind what it is holding needs to be safe, met with patience and with proper breath. No forcing the fascia!