Thousandfold Lotus

Pilates, Pelvic Floor & Women's Health

Fascia

Fascial Lines

by

You’ve probably heard me talk about the fascial lines or say the name of a line while I’m teaching, such as “lengthening the front line” and “strengthening the back line.” Let’s dive into what these “lines” I speak of actually are. (P.S. if you’re feeling clueless about fascia, no worries, I give you more detail right here).

First of all, it’s important to clear up the use of similar vocabulary. I often say “fascial lines,” however the terms “fascial meridians,” “myofascial lines,” or “meridians of the body,” are also interchangeable for what we are talking about here.

While our facial tissue is the all encompassing “net” within our bodies, there are some specific “lines” of tension that can help us navigate nagging injuries, misalignment, health issues in specific organs or help us utilize the energy transfer for greater power.

Since the body transfers tension along these lines during movement, repetitive habits, exercise or sports may leave you with more tension or shortening along a specific line. I’ve put together a bundle of fascial tissue release techniques that you can grab here to release tension along some of the lines in your body.

There are some amazing humans who study the fascial tissue that have provided us with some consistent “lines” within the body and given them names. My go to researcher is Thomas Myers who wrote the book Anatomy Trains. Below I’ll how you some of the major lines within the body that he depicts, then we’ll talk about how they impact the body:

Superficial Front Fascial Line

Superficial Back Fascial Line

Lateral Fascial Line

Spiral Fascial Line Back View

Spiral Fascial Line Front View

Spiral Fascial Line Side View

Arm Lines

 

 

Deep Front Fascial Line

Aren’t the lines so cool!!! I call them “fascia-nating!” 😂Here’s a general break down of how these lines have been used for bodyworkers, their importance for athletes, how they impact postural alignment and why full body movement is so important. Don’t forget to get my fascial bundle so you can see how to address these lines in your own body.

Lines used by acupuncturists and massage therapists.

These meridians and lines have been utilized for years in acupuncture, acupressure & massage therapy. For example, you may show up at your massage therapists with a problem in your left hip and they start massaging your right shoulder… you’re thinking “did you hear me say right shoulder?” .. but before you know it, your left hip is feeling better. These professionals are addressing issues along the same fascial line which, will free up the the tissue at your area of comlaint. 

Similarly, your acupuncturist is helping you with a stomach problem and sticking needles into your foot…. what? However, you still find yourself having relief… hmm.

Varying line tension for athletes:

Let’s look at how the lines vary in different sports.

  • Baseball pitchers are going to utilize lines in the chest and arm that they pitch with, along with the front spiral line on the trunk as they rotate to “follow through.”
  • Soccer players will utilize the front line of the dominant leg they use to strike with along with the front spiral line the pelvis rotates to follows through with.
  • Golfers will utilize spiral lines following the trunk rotation in which they continually drive with.

How does this impact human posture?

From the very start of human life, the body develops in “fetal position,” curled up in ball. The front fascial line ends up constricted and the back fascial line lengthened. As we develop, the back line may need more attention to reverse this initial position as our body requires the balance for being upright. For new moms, this is why “tummy time” for babies is so helpful in development.

Always keep in mind, the bones of the body go where the fascia pulls them. Over time, postural deviations happen, especially in athletes when specific lines have repetitive tensioning.

Postural assessments can be particularly helpful for movement professionals and body workers. I give you the low down on my process for that right here. Additionally, I almost always include fascial release techniques using foam rollers and resistance bands to assist the correction process of misalignment in my clients. Grab my fascial bundle here to see a few different ways I address the fascial tissue.

Importance of full body movements.

Fitness professionals encourage multi joint movements that will work the body from one end of the line to the other. This could be the difference between doing a seated leg extension, verses, a lunge with rotation which incorporates the entire body. Yoga and Pilates are fabulous modalities to accomplish full body movements and many instructors will try to hit every major fascial line during class to leave your body feeling great.

We also use fascial tissue release techniques to increase flexibility and find greater ranges of motion to perform athletic endeavors better. Whether you’re a golf pro improving your game or a person who feels stiff just sitting in “indian-style,” addressing the fascial tissue is the way to go.

For the fitness lovers of the world, next time you decide to do the “same old thing” for cardio in the gym, try to switch it up so you don’t wear out the same fascial lines. Dance infused classes will really get the body moving in all directions.

Thanks Researchers!

It’s no secret these lines have been in the human body for as long as we’ve existed, but it’s become more accessible through research, publishing and education and has made a huge impact on the way we train bodies now. I’m full of so much gratitude for the researchers who give us this information so we can intelligently address each body.

How Watching 50 Shades of Grey Took My Yoga Practice to the Next Level

by

How Watching 50 Shades of Grey Took My Yoga Practice to the Next Level.

Last night, my hubby went to bed early and it was the opportune moment to finally watch a Rom Com.

It’s been years since I read 50 Shades of Grey and saw the movie. There it was, at the top of the DVR menu, begging me to watch it again. So I went ahead and pressed play.

Rather quickly, one particular scene really struck a chord with me.

It was a message that I’ve been told many times, that I often teach, but I still find myself having to work on it.

Christian takes Ana into his “red room of pain” for the first time. In that moment she’s scared shitless while facing away from him. He tells her to hold out her hand and smacks it with a crop.

He asks “Did that hurt?” and she responds with a “No.”

He proceeds with “Most of the fear is in your head.”

My ears perked up. This is a lesson I teach ALL. OF. THE. TIME.

He continues to tell her something along the lines of “Letting go of control leads to pleasure.”

THAT also struck a chord. In the moment that he’s talking about getting freaky-deaky, I’m thinking…this is a lesson that I know well and that I’ve continued to work on.

I’ve been telling myself mantra after mantra on this very same topic for years now:

  • Let go.
  • Balance effort with ease.
  • Just surrender.
  • A flower doesn’t try to bloom, it just blooms.
  • Play, have fun – what’s the worst that can happen?

All of these mantras have been provided by great thought leaders and can be summed up to “let go of the control silly human.”  

When we let go of the mental chains of control, our body can move freely and be in its most natural state. This is true whether we are having sex* or working on handstands.

Christian encourages Ana to be submissive and completely let go of her control because, in doing so, she will find the highest level of pleasure her body is capable of. If she continues to try to control what is happening, her natural senses will be dulled by mental distraction. For example, she wouldn’t feel the full sensation of the feather he runs along her skin if she isn’t fully present in that moment. In order to get the highest sensations, she has to trust and let go.

If you can image what a feather would feel like along your skin in your most relaxed state, you can probably imagine the climax that would be achieved in such a state… maybe why this book was a bestseller. (Pssst, you can also improve that climax by strengthen your pelvic floor, click here to read up ladies). 

The similar concept in body movement is called “flow state” by sports physiologists and “movement meditation” by the yogis. Whatever you want to call it, if the athlete is trying so hard to control a situation or way they move their body, the natural state of the body will be restricted.

If we observe our own bodies close enough, we can read our body language to understand what our brain is doing. For example, while I’m practicing yoga, I’ll catch myself clenching my jaw 85% of the time. This body language is an indicator that my brain is trying really hard to control the situation. I’ll also sometimes feel like cannot fully relax a muscle in savasanna, another indicator of my mind not fully letting go.

As it turns out, like Christian was suggesting, I’m limiting my body’s capabilities by trying to have some level of control.

We already know that our flexibility is contingent on our fascial issue. If you haven’t heard about fascial tissue, you can brush up on it here. A large degree of our flexibility is tied into the mind. The fascial tissue has ten times more sensory nerve endings than muscles. Therefore, If the mind is worried, stressed or trying too hard, it appears in the body. I see this all the time in my own clients.

This was confirmed at the last conference I attended. A study was done by evaluating the differences between one group that did only stretching and one that did only meditation for a period of time. It turns out the meditation group was more flexible in the end.

With these “letting go of control” connections swirling in my head… and Christian getting busy on my TV… I started to re-evaluate my yoga practice.

I think back to last month when I was forward folding over one leg and the yoga instructor gave me a beautiful assist. While my nose is usually about a foot from my knee, she somehow folded me almost in half. So why does my body not usually find itself there, but it does when she assists me? Could I actually go there if I let go and trust that I can?

Then, I remember another yoga class I was in last week when a student asked the teacher for any tips to “jump” from down dog into crow pose. I was super stoked to hear what she had to say because I love a great teacher tip. The teacher’s response: your mind.

Most people would think, what the f* kind of a cop-out answer is that, give me a real tip lady. But I happen to know this teacher has been in the game for a loooong time. She’s kind of a big deal Pilates instructor and an insane yogi.  She knew the student was strong enough to “float” her feet to her hands. Therefore, she knew the only thing limiting the student was the fear. The mind creating the fear. The same thing Christian says in the movie.

While the movie kept running, my mind was off on this tangent of how I must be holding some kind of control subconsciously in my mind while I’m practicing. I start thinking that maybe I need to trust my body more, let go of any fear and control I may be trying to have over my body and just let it flow.

Let’s fast forward to my practice this morning. While the teacher cues us to set our intention for the day, all I can think about is 50 Shades of Grey and the scene where he tells her to let go of control.

While I usually choose one of the kinder mantras for an intention, I instead said to myself, “Ok Adrianne, stop being a control freak!”

How’s that for a mantra? Doesn’t roll off the tongue as sweetly as the others but, guess what, it worked!

In class I hit about eight out of ten handstands in my flow without using the wall for assist. I also found myself kissing my knees in my forward fold. Yes, that’s right, I practically folded in half without the assist.

I mentioned before, my forward fold was less than impressive. Up until today, the handstands I’ve been working on for what seems like forever have always required at least a toe on the wall to make it happen. Not only did I find success but found it about eight times!

Every time I felt my jaw clench or my muscles overly tighten, I reminded myself of my mantra, Stop being a control freak. Stop trying to control this practice, let go and see what happens.

My body demonstrated the lessons I’ve heard over and over right before my eyes. Such as, “a flower doesn’t try to bloom, it just blooms.” Demanding that a flower control when it blooms is ridiculous and unnatural. Additionally, that a rigid mind results in rigid fascial tissue, thus limited mobility.

Isn’t it funny how an intention can be a game changer? Who would have thought 50 Shades would get me to another level in yoga? After years of handstanding and forward folding, then poof- there it is.

While the seeds are continuously planted, sometimes we just hit the perfect moment to truly experience the blossom. Or in this case, we let go to experience the blossom.

Probably in Ana’s case as well 😉 

 

*Sex that is ALWAYS encompassed with consent of both partners, trust, safety, and respect of each other’s boundaries.

**While this film has been surrounded by debate, I’m sharing how it unlocked a “lesson” in my yoga journey and not any personal opinion on the nature of the film. 

 

Overview on Fascia and Why it Changes the Way You Workout

by

The term, Fascia, has been a buzz word used among fitness professionals and therapists for the past 15 years, but still has yet to saturate the general health-guru population. 

I’d like to change that. It’s your body after all, and it lays a foundation for understanding the proper way to train your body. Knowledge is power, right?

Keep in mind, the research on Fascia is ever changing and I do my best to always give you the latest and greatest info on it, so be sure to subscribe to this blog now so you will always been in the loop.

What is Fascia?

First off, everything is fascia.  To some degree, we could consider all material in the body to be some kind of fascia: skin, bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles, etc. Which makes everything a bit more confusing.  However, in fitness, we are talking about a specific couple of layers of fascia in the body. Let me give you some imagery so you can wrap your head around what fascia is in the context of the way fitness professionals are referring.

You can think of the fascial tissue in the body in the same way you observe an orange being peeled. 

When peeling an orange:

  1. Peel the thick outside layer off.
  2. Start to see a thick, white layer, that is clearly not the outside skin, but the orange is still in a sphere, maintaining it’s shape.
  3. Once the large sphere is broken apart, there is another layer that encompasses the sections of the orange.
  4. Beyond the sections, there are little pouches that encompass the small juicy bits of the orange in each section. 

This is exactly how the fascia appears in the body.

  1. Take the skin off the body (a cadaver).
  2. See a thick white fibrous layer holding the body in exactly the same shape- this is a layer of fascia.
  3. Once that is cut through, there are larger muscles and organs encased- another layer of fascia.
  4. Later, if a muscle is cut through there are even smaller divisions of the muscles that are encompassed by thin fascial layers. 

The facia layers have varying qualities throughout the body based on their role, similar to the orange. Would the thin skin holding the tiny juicy bits in the orange work to hold the large sphere together? Probably not, which is the same within the body.

Now that you have a visual of the fascia the fitness pros talk about, lets get more into detail:

It’s clear the fascia is completely connected through the body, until we break it apart.  Breaking happens, in live humans, when we cut it open for surgery, tear it during an injury or other body trauma.  Eeeek. 

This fascial tissue also encompasses specific sections such as organs or muscles while maintaining full body integration.

In the past when doing muscular research on cadavers the fascia layer was simply cut off and put to the side.  Since the muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons were the only tissues studied for movement; fitness exercises and equipment were designed to train muscles in a way that creates isolated joint movements.  For example, you’d walk in the gym, sit in a seat and do an “adductor” exercise. When do we do this in real life? Bingo, never!

Facial Tissue Properties

The fascial tissue is greasy and looks like an intricate spider web that ebbs and flows through and around the muscles in a “net-like” fashion. 

One important detail about this net is that it is an interconnected web and remains continuous throughout the entire body.  If you are having a hard time wrapping your head around this, here is imagery those with a strong stomach:  When dealing with fresh, full-body cadaver, the fascial tissue can be pulled from the area of the big toe and “bob” the brain, similar to a bobber on a fishing line.  So when I say interconnected, I mean interconnected…head to toe...all-encompassing. 

You have one big spider web that wraps around everything in your body and is completely connected. Am I bringing that point home? That’s why to get relief for your IT band tightness, the key is actually rolling the muscles attached to the IT band, I show you in this video.

Now, we have learned the fascial tissue has 10 times more sensory nerve endings than muscles.  When the brain tells the body to move the arm overhead, it is most likely communicating this message to the facial tissue instead of the actual deltoid, which is one shoulder muscle.  Thus, full body exercises, also known as “functional” exercises have been making a breakthrough for the past 15 years.

How this changes your workout: 

Fascial research teaches us a number of things when it comes to training and conditioning the human body.  We know that the fascia starts to tighten up with age which may be the biggest contributor to flexibility issues aside from the previous thought muscular tightness.  

Therefore, full body movements such as functional strength training, yoga and Pilates are great forms of exercise to address the fascial tissue.  I created a quick 18 minute Yogalates workout for you to get a combo of both with is great for the fascia.

Massage, fascial hydrators, and foam rolling techniques also help to loosen up the fascial tissue for improved mobility, and most likely, function.  You have probably seen instructors using foam rollers, tennis balls, and other massage tools to loosen fascial tissue as a quicker, cheaper alternative to setting up a massage on a daily basis. I have bundled up a handful of fascial release techniques I use with clients that you can explore for yourself, grab them right here.

Using a technique to “loosen” fascial tissue before a workout does not change the performance output. We know static stretching does negatively impact explosive movements if done before the workout or athletic event.  Therefore, if you have a hard time performing a functional movement, go ahead and roll out before proceeding for improved range of motion, but skip the static stretching.

Tensegrity of Fascia:

Fascial findings help us to understand the kinesthetic system better than before.  For example, it has been discovered that tendons and muscles are more elastic than previously thought, and most injuries that occur are fascial not muscular.

Building elasticity and resilience into the fascial system will help prevent injury. Accomplishing this includes adding dynamic and resisted stretching, jumping and bounding.  Research suggests that fascial elasticity rebounds very quickly which plays a large role in quick repetitive movements such as running, jumping rope, and agility movements.

Lastly, findings suggest that variation is most important for the fascial tissue.  Loading the fascial tissue repetitively will cause weakness that may result in injury in the long run. Be sure to check out my fascial bundle so you can use these techniques to address your own fascial tissue.

Therefore, mix it up!

Fascial Lines:

Researchers have taught us about a number of “fascial lines” that connect throughout the body.  As we discussed all fascia is connected; however, there are “lines” throughout the body that seem to be even more integrated.  The fascial lines transfer tension in a consistent pattern through the full body.  For example, the deep front line includes the sole of the foot, lower legs, adductors, pelvic floor, and transversus abdominis.  This chain can be fired up or “released.” Read up on my post about the fascial lines here.

As a take away, keep it dynamic and continue to spice things up in your workouts. Speaking of keeping it spicy, if you want to put your foam roller to even more good use, check out my foam roller exercises!