I have recently returned from a “dream-come-true” trip to New Orleans for the Fascia Research Congress, thanks to a grant from the Michigan Fitness Association. As a movement practitioner who has taught fascia wellness via The MELT Method since 2012, I have seen and experienced the importance of this system of our body many, many times. You wouldn’t think I’d be this excited about all that I learned – seriously, if I could go back in time and attend again, I would do it in a heartbeat!
Do you know about fascia? Think of it as a flexible scaffolding or multi-dimensional fabric that holds us in our shape. It kind of looks like a living spider web, only more 3-D. The spaces are filled with a gooey substance called ground substance, and within the goo lives 250 million nerve endings…
- Fascia is the largest sensory organ in the body;
- All nerves are embedded within the fascial matrix;
- Mechanical and proprioceptors and interoceptors live in fascia;
- Myo-fascia (fascia that surrounds and embeds in muscle) helps fire muscles (yes, fascia contracts).
I attended 19 sessions in 3 jam-packed days of learning, with wide-ranging topics like fascia and the lymphatic system, canine and human myo-fascial kinetic lines, fascial unwinding and fascia therapy with vibration.
I met and learned from the leading fascia researchers and experts, including Carla Stecco, Werner Klingler, Gil Hedley, Keith Baar and Mark Driscoll. I am better able to teach fascia in the movement studio because I spent more time learning from Sue Hitzmann (MELT Method) and Jill Miller (Yoga TuneUp).
I am elevated as a teacher because of my time with Dr Carol M Davis, PT, DPT, EdD, FAPTA. Carol taught us about the energetic connection that can happen between a teacher and client, (or clinician and patient). If healing requires a calm fight/flight response, then my energy and your energy must be quiet and stress-free.
As Dr Davis teaches “Use yourself as a therapeutic tool.”
I have always seen my work at The Aware Lab as a great collaboration between myself and my clients. I see now that the 3rd partner in all this is our fascia-may we learn to listen to what the fascia is telling us.
