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april 2018yogajournal.com.auHow...
fascia shapes us
Deepening your anatomical
perspective refines your
kinesthetic sense by helping
you feel into your entire
body—which is greater than
the sum of its anatomical
parts. The connective-tissue
net, known popularly as
fascia, weaves those parts
into one integrated whole.
By Tom Myersyour practice
ANATOMYIF I ASKED YOU what a heart is like,
chances are you’d say it’s like a pump.
The lungs are often described as
“bellows,” the kidneys “a filter,” the
brain “a computer.” We tend to view
the body in mechanical terms because
we live in an industrial age—and
because the body has been described as
a “soft machine” ever since the scientist
René Descartes coined the term in the
early 17th century.
So it comes as no surprise that most
anatomy books show you body parts—
this muscle, that ligament—as if we’re
assembled part by part like a car or an
iPhone. But instead of timing belts and
motherboards, we have hamstrings and
biceps. An anatomy atlas is a helpful tool
for learning, but the error comes when
we start thinking that humans are
actually built that way. What is actually
going on under your skin is so different
from what’s in those pictures.
Your body is much more like a plant
than a machine. We are grown from a
tiny seed—a single cell, or fertilised
ovum, about the size of a pin prick—not
glued together in parts. This seed
contains sufficient instructions (given
the proper nourishment) to create a
helpless, squalling baby, who turns into
an energetic toddler, a feckless teenager,
and then finally a mature adult.
By the time we’re adults, we consist
of approximately 70 trillion cells, all
surrounded by a fluid fascial network—a
kind of sticky yet greasy fabric that both
holds us firmly together, yet constantly
and miraculously adjusts to
accommodate our every movement.
The traditional biomechanical theory
of the musculoskeletal system says that
muscles attach to bones via tendons that
cross the joints and pull bones toward
each other, restricted by other “machine
parts” called ligaments. But all these
anatomical terms, and the separations
they imply, are false. No ligaments existon their own; instead they blend into the
periosteum—vascular connective tissue
that serves as cling-wrap around the
bones—and the surrounding muscles
and fascial sheets. What this means is
that you weren’t assembled in different
places and glued together—rather, all
your parts grew up together within the
glue.
For example, the triceps are wedded
by fascial fabric to their neighbouring
muscles north, south, east, and west, as
well as to the ligaments deep in both the
shoulder and elbow. If you contract the
triceps in Plank Pose, all these other
structures will have an effect and be
affected. Your whole body engages in the
action—not just your triceps, pectoral,
and abdominal muscles.
The takeaway for yoga? When you do
poses, it is useful to put your attention
anywhere and everywhere in your
body—not just the obviously stretched
and singing bits. A release in your foot
can help your hip; a change of your hand
position can ease your neck.Fascial function
The fluid fascial network that lives
between each cell in your body consists
of bungee cord–like fibres made mostly
from collagen, including reticulin, and
elastin. These fibres run everywhere—
denser in certain areas such as tendons
and cartilage, and looser in others
like breasts or the pancreas.
The other half of the fascial
network is a gel-like web of variable
mucopolysaccharides, or mucus.
Basically, your cells are glued together
with snot, which is everywhere, and
is more or less watery (hydrated)
depending on where it is in the body
and what condition it’s in.
All the circulation in your body has to
pass through these fibrous and mucousy
webs. Generally speaking, the denser thecontinued on page 76 PHOTOS: RICK CUMMINGS; BODY ILLUSTRATION: MICHELE GRAHAM; INSET ILLUSTRATION: PROF. P. MOTTA/DEPT. OF ANATOMY/UNIVERSITY “LA SAPIENZA”, ROME/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY