YogaJournalSingapore-February092018

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february / march 2018

yogajournal.com.sg

barrier that will slow or stop capillary-sourced

food from reaching your cells. You’ll get enough

to survive, but function will slow down. In

addition to a thicker barrier of fascial-tissue fibers,

the mucus that completes your fluid fascial

network will also become thicker and more

turgid, which contributes to stopping the flow to

your cells.

And because the exchange of goods from

capillaries to cells is a two-way street, with cells

delivering messenger molecules and CO2 and

other waste products back into the bloodstream,

a hardened fascial network can trap unprocessed

cell products (toxins or metabolites) like a stream

eddy traps leaves.

The fix: deep strengthening and stretching

squeezes your fascial network the way you

would squeeze a sponge. Those metabolites that

were trapped in the mucousy bits rush in hoards

to the capillaries and your bloodstream. Many

of us may feel out of sorts after we release deeply

held tension-—that’s your liver dealing with the

metabolites you squeezed from the tissues. Try

an Epsom salts bath, or go back for more

movement to keep the process going.

Over yoga time, fascial fibers will slowly

thin out and unadhere over weeks, sometimes

months, but the mucus can change to a more

liquid state in as quickly as a minute, allowing

more sliding, less pain, more feeling, and less

resistance. Use your yoga—it’s a great tool to get

fluids and information flowing to their maximum

sensitivity and adaptability.

Feel your fascia

continued from page 20...

The benefits of thinking of the body as a whole organism, instead of in parts, are profound.

When we truly comprehend and feel this in our own bodies and see it in our students, we can

move and teach with more integrity. That said, as yoga becomes physiotherapized, or made

into a practice resembling physical therapy that helps people restore movement and function

(a necessary and positive process in general), asana are often reduced to which muscles are

stretched—think “Downward Dog is good for your hamstrings.” In reality, while tight hamstrings

may be a common experience, your edge in this pose may be deep in your calves or butt, or

along the fronts of your shoulders. It depends on your patterns—the way you were grown and

what you took on.

Try this exercise to help you feel that your anatomy is more like a plant than a machine, and to

help you move away from separating yourself into parts:

ADHO MUKHA SVANASANADownward-Facing Dog Pose

Move into Down Dog. It is easy to feel your back body in this pose as you lift your hips, drop

your heels from the middle of your legs, and lengthen your spine. But take time to spread your

awareness and attention throughout your entire body in order to find points that lack awareness

and are unique to your experience of this pose. Here are some points to ponder:

»Track the front of your spine in this pose, as if you were rolling a warm red ball up the front

of your spine from your tailbone, up the front of your sacrum and the lumbar and thoracic

vertebrae, then behind your guts and heart.

»Relax your voice box, then your tongue, then your jaw. Let your head dangle. Let yourself be

sillyfor a moment, then re-establish the length in your cervical spine without the tension.

»Move your breath into the back of your ribs, which can be frozen in your early work in this

pose. Can you feel the ribs moving under your shoulder blades? Are you moving your lower

ribs behind your kidneys?

»Move your weight around your feet while in the pose. This can be subtle but powerful. If your

heelsare off the ground, move slowly, medially then laterally, on the balls of your feet. Feel

how that changes the way you feel t e res o r y If you heel re ow m e low y

all around your feet like a cloc

»Because the deep lateral rot

pose,can you let the area be

Try rotating your knees inwar

your limitation, and keep wo

Remember, you are whole. S

describe you as a machine, b

scientific truth—wholeness i

MODEL: CYNTHIA SING; STYLIST: JESSICA JEANNE EATON; HAIR/MAKEUP: BETH WALKER; TOP: TITIKA; BOTTOMS: KIRA GRACE

Writer Tom Myers is the author of Anatomy Trains and the co-author of Fascial Release for Structural Balance. He has also produced more

than 35 DVDs and numerous webinars on visual assessment, Fascial Release Technique, and the applications of fascial research. Myers, an

integrative manual therapist with 40 years of experience, is a member of the International Association of Structural Integrators and the Health

Advisory Board for Equinox. Learn more at anatomytrains.com.

Feel Your Fascia