Fascia in Motion

The feeling of being buttoned into a jacket a size too small. Stiffness that stretching or massage won't shift, or only for a moment. Moving takes more effort than it used to, or something hurts. Often the cause lies not only in your muscles but in your connective tissue, your fascia, which tightens and sticks together through prolonged stress, for instance, or old injuries, surgical scars or years spent in the same posture.

Your connective tissue glides as you move

Here you reach out while making small, subtle movements, each time from a slightly different angle or in a slightly different direction, so that the layers of fascia beneath your skin begin to glide over one another, work together and let go. More often than not these are movements you make every day: reaching, turning, getting up. Only slower, and with more attention than you'd usually give them.

A roller or ball helps here. It holds one layer in place while the layer beside or beneath it lengthens or contracts, much as you'd hold on to your jumper while pulling your arm out of the sleeve.

We often begin with the feet. A roller under your calf while you move your foot in every direction, and then, once you're standing again, noticing what has changed. Does your foot have more spring in it? Does your knee bend more easily? Your foundation is a good place to start.

It's easier inside your comfort zone

We're often told that to change anything you have to step out of your comfort zone. And so a twinge here and a twinge there becomes part of the deal; we wave it away and carry on. With me, you don't have to step out of it. Your comfort zone is allowed to grow. Stretch to the limit or push past the pain threshold and there's little room left to explore; a body that has to defend itself struggles to settle.

What is your body grumbling about? The first step is discovering where that zone lies, and "just pain" is too vague for the purpose. Pain is a sensation you draw back from, but what kind of pain is it: nagging, sharp, stabbing? When is it there, and when isn't it? And where is there no pain, only a sense of stretch or movement, and where does that tip over? Without added stress, your body changes most easily, and with more pleasure.

That relaxed exploration is the class. Every exercise is a self-assessment, and every assessment is the exercise itself. You're not copying a shape; you're discovering how your body moves and how you can help it move more easily.

I'm experiencing exactly what I was looking for: better posture, suppleness, and more awareness of my posture and of my body.