FASCIAS AND YOGA
🌳 FASCIAS AND YOGA
✔️ When we practise yoga, we will be more mindful if we understand our body’s fascial system. If the fascia loses HYDRATION, it becomes stiff, dry and stagnant; in this case, you should practise a very nourishing style of yoga such as Yin Yoga or Restorative Yoga, or perform a myofascial release technique such as self-massage with balls. With well-hydrated and healthy fascia,In this state, we are more energy-efficient, as our muscles will tire less due to having a greater range of motion. However, in addition to hydration, we must also have an adequate fibre structure (collagen and elastin) that forms a flexible and strong network, thereby providing STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY through more active and toning yoga practices.
✔️ Playing sport and certain forms of yoga – let’s call them “Yang” – promote blood flow to the muscles, toning them and providing warmth and energy, as these practices focus more on the cardiovascular system and the muscles. But this does not mean that we cannot work on the fascial tissue through strength and movement. You just need to know how to do it properly.
✔️ In other words, certain active yoga practices carried out without “fascial awareness”, or some sports, can be counterproductive for the fasciae. But so too is a sedentary lifestyle. Watch out.
✔️ It is said that, as Hatha Yoga practices (in general) influence the fasciae, they have a more profound effect on our psyche than sports in general. This is hardly surprising. When we work with the fasciae, they have 10 times more nerve endings than muscles, so any sporting activity that involves only muscle tissue will not have as great an influence on our emotional and mental state.
✔️ When our body is under stress, there are two ways to relieve it. Either through the chemical release of neuropeptides that alter our mood and affect various parts of the body; or through TENSION PATTERNS that persist over time, creating postural habits which begin with alterations in the nervous system, then spread to the muscles and finally to the fascial system. This final stage means that the fasciae record and store our mental and emotional impressions as if they were a filing cabinet. They record “PATTERNS” that connect the myofascial system with the nervous system and are therefore “imprinted” on our physical and energetic bodies.
✔️ This reminds us of the Sanskrit term “samskaras”, which refers to the impressions that our mind records, shaping our beliefs, attitudes and personality. So, when we perform any kind of action that has a beneficial effect on the fasciae, we begin to change the connective tissue and, ultimately, our emotions and even our limiting beliefs.
✔️ Ultimately, the transformative power of yoga lies in the transformative power of the body’s fascia. And this is what the practice of Myofascial Yoga® aims to achieve: breaking free from your ERRONEOUS TENSION PATTERNS to develop holistic and healthy posture and movement. Is it time for you to find out more?
🙏Text taken from the Myofascial Yoga® Training
Author: Helena Chacón
