Fascia and Conscious Breath

The word “facia” was first introduced to me 12 years after my paralyzing stroke.

It was in my 200 hour yoga teacher training watching the teachings of a renowned yoga anatomy expert, Gil Hedley showing this interesting network of netting called fascia in an autopsy.

I would imagine he chose this style of teaching to emphasize the dramatic intricate/ delicate nature of this deep layer of our beings. It was ignored for like 100 years in autopsy until someone decided to look a bit closer at this previously discarded fluff.

I was shocked by what I was seeing.

A whole level of some very interesting layer as what appeared to me to be some kind of connective tissue that runs through the entire body?

I had spent a significant amount of time in and out of what were called renowned stroke rehabilitation centers spanning 3 states and I had never heard an utterance of this word.

I asked a ton of questions in my rehab process, like a lot. and I heard words thrown around like neuro, neuro-muscular, neurological and neuro-muscular retraining, etc. etc. and I would always ask my PTs are we sure this is neuro-muscular because it feels like tissue is tight and it potentially blocking the nerves getting to there muscles.

I always always asked for massage and heat before we moved, but I was ALWAYS told no, there is no research suggesting that helps.

Do we call this neuron muscular (a word thrown around like crazy in my opinion) or more of a….

neuro tissue relaxation process?

Now I know the language a bit better and am still learning, but I couldn’t help but think to these 20 something PTs and OTs guiding me on my rehab. like they had a clue?

Are there not more educated people on this topic in the rehabilitation industry? or is it all kept a secret?

What the actual Fuck? My therapy never made any sense, never.

And from what I hear from, folks still out there, stroke rehabilitation sucks really bad.

The gateway to proper stroke rehabilitation is and can ONLY BE VIA RELAXATION.

RELAXATION.

relaxation is literally healing, do we not know this yet?

not reps, not stretching, not machines, not braces, not shots, relaxation,

breath

stillness, allowing your body to find the way back home.

If you get a paper cut you don’t have to think heal, it just heals with time, well on a much larger scale the brain is tissue, inside the tissue lives DNA coding meant to maintain homeostasis.

Yes this language is not talked about nearly enough, you are basically on your own discovering the truth about your body, nobody listens, nobody cares, and nobody really knows what they are doing.

You must find your own way, carve your own path.

I see lots of determined stroke survivors finding this path on their own similarly to me. I am certainly not the only one disgusted by what I see.

I think the accessibility to these modalities need to spread much much wider and farther than it does now.

And I’m sure ther’re a few and far between stuck in the medical world that can admit to this huge issue and are trying to give out solid info.

It’s so infuriating to me and gives more fuel to spread these messages

Joanne Sarah Alison wrote the most beautiful book called Yoga: Anatomy, Fascia and Movement and in it she speaks about this sort of shock I experienced learning about fascia.

“We will discover that the increasing knowledge about the fascia is creating a sea of change, transforming our understanding of anything to do with the body”

“The scale of this effect os big enough to describe as a paradigm shift.”

Fascia does change everything and educating stroke survivors about this can seriously reshape their recovery process. BIG TIME!

Although we have evidence in ancient drawings from our Greek ancestors of this intricate system within, our modern medical system acknowledged this only in the 19th century and even more recently as early 2000s things like the Fascia Research society, Fascia congress and Fascia symposium are gathering some of the smartest yoga, anatomy and medical professionals together to investigate this new discovery. All neccessary.

Well why now?

I think it has become practically impossible to ignore this system today. too many are suffering from not knowing, we have a prescription drug problem. it is undeniable at this point.

If you google fascia you will most likely see something to do with gutters and siding.

That’s not the fascia i’m talking about but kinda similar because fascia is a layer, sheath or sheet.

Thomas Myers has put together the most brilliant books on Myofascial Meridians, called Anatomy Trains and with so many lovely visuals it makes it easy to start to see how and why this network…

“of any other dissectible aggregations of connective tissue that forms beneath the skin to attach, enclose and operate muscles and other internal organs.”

The fascial research congress definition found in Anatomy Trains Fourth Edition page 249.

As a stroke survivor I am just continually shocked at the information they choose to tell us in our recovery.

I speak to other stroke survivors and hear a similar frustration. explaining this network to some of them or trying to , I heard “Oh its like sausage casing?”

They totally get it, because a stroke survivor feels fascia unlike any other person!!!

I said, yes! great analogy! but imagine if that sausage casing had senses.

Joanne Sarah Avison describes Fascia in terms of 4 point in her book on page 8.

“1.) It is alive and anything but passive

2.) It is a sensory organ

3.) It is literally everyewhere

4.) It is continuous throughout our form on every scale, joining and relating everything to everything else.”

She continues to say,

“The growing understanding of the fascial matrix as the foundation of our movement apparatus makes much more sense of the foundations of yoga and what actually happens in a yoga class, whatever style you practice.”

Fascia makes a lot of other stuff make sense.

yes, yes.

Unfortunately stroke survivors don’t often hear positive feedback, we are told things like

“a billion muscle repetitions will build new neurons in the brain”

“botox is your only option for relieving spasticity”

“just take an anti depressant, you don’t want to be depressed”

“and another pill to help that anti depressant work better”

“here’s a pill for sleep, and another one for anxiety”

Instead of explaining the intricacies below the surface.

Fascia, relaxation, nerve flossing, sacral cranial link, yoga, breath,

These are all things that are free to access. I can’t help but reference one of my favorite books, Yoga of the subtle body by Tias Little states right away in his introduction on page 3

”Thus my research includes how divisive psychological and emotional states become embedded in the tissues of the body; buried under the skin, held in the pelvis, stuck in the diaphragm or locked in the jaw”

A possible explanation for tightness stuck in a stroke survivors arm, hand, pelvis or jaw, do we not consider states of fear, worry and defense or do we just medicate to avoid dealing?

Our modern medical system is always looking for that pill that will make them the most money off of us.

I had a stroke survivor tell me, it’s because the drug companies pay for the research Rachel. They aren’t going to fund research that won’t make them money.

Is this our America?

Is this a reality I must accept?

Im not sure.

Stroke survivors represent the largest disabled population in the U.S.

Let’s call us what we are…the biggest money machine for big Pharma.