Juicy Fascia = Happy Fascia = Happy Body
/Fascia and Yoga Blog Series #2
WHY DOES INJURY AND PAIN HAPPEN?
Are you interested in reducing pain or increasing your flexibility and strength? How about improving circulation, stabilizing blood pressure and improving your mood? Well- irrigate your fascia.
Most injuries are fascial, resulting from dehydrated tissue. This doesn’t just have to do with drinking water (although that’s very helpful), it has to do with texture of the fascia. Juicy fascia is happy fascia.
Think of the fascia as a sponge, when it dries out, it gets brittle and can be more easily torn, when wet it is resilient, you can twist and bend it and it remains springy and resilient. In a healthy state, the fascia is relaxed. It has the ability to stretch without restriction.
When force is applied to juicy fascia, the force is transmitted through the entire tensional network of the body evenly. If you fall on your hip, your juicy fascia will transmit the force throughout the body, making injury less likely. If your fascia is thirsty and you fall, well, thirsty fascia leads to injury sooner or later and you never know where it will show up.
Balanced, hydrated fascia makes life in your body happier. Remember Everything is Connected? Unbalanced fascia invites a domino effect of compensatory patterns affecting all systems of your body, including your nervous system, your cardiovascular system, your immune system and on and on.
When one experiences physical trauma, emotional trauma, scarring, or inflammation, fascia begins to lose its pliability, becoming restricted and exerting tension on the entire body. Trauma ranging from car accidents to habitual poor posture and repetitive stress has cumulative effects on the body, affecting our ability to function comfortably. Fascial restriction may result in pain, headaches or restriction of movement as well as weaker muscles, decreased circulation of fluids leading to high blood pressure, lower immune function and hormone imbalance, affecting our ability to withstand stress and perform daily activities.
Irrigate your fascia so it’s more elastic, so it can communicate more effectively with itself and all systems of your body can work together in a more integrated way.
The diversity of movements we practice in yoga asana is incredibly hydrating to our tissues, especially if we are continually varying the poses we practice.
Want to know how to juice up your fascial system through your yoga practice? Read 10 Ways to Recieve the Benefits of Bodywork From Your Yoga Practice
Or check out these resources:
Gil Headly's Famous "Fuzz Speech" that put Fascia on the Cultural (Body) Map
Brooke Thomas on How the Keyboard is Setting you up for a Shoulder Injury
