Fascia Awareness
Fascia is a thin layer of connective tissue that holds and surrounds every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fiber, and muscle in place. The tissue does more than provide internal structure; fascia has nerves that make it almost as sensitive as skin. When stressed, it tightens up.
Role of Fascia
Fascia is made of elastin and collagen layered around skin and muscles. It helps the body move efficiently. It also thickens and hardens according to body condition.
Three Different Types of Fascia
Superficial Fascia
It fills unoccupied space and is nearly present throughout the body. It binds the skin to the deeper fascial layers and stores water and fats. It moves blood and provides a cushion to the skin. It is found around the neck. Superficial Fascia also helps to shape the body. It surrounds glands and organs. It enables the nerves and blood vessels and moves around lymph. Superficial Fascia is also found in the eyelid, genitals, and ears.
Visceral Fascia
Visceral fascia is a double-layered type around the organs. It suspends organs in their cavities and protects them. It is not as loose as superficial fascia, so it can hold and protect organs.
Deep Fascia
It surrounds individual muscles and divides groups of muscles into compartments. It has a higher density of elastin and has more sensory receptors.
Causes Unhealthy Fascia
Trauma
Anything emotionally or physically harmful to the body
Inflammation
Poor posture
Anything that causes the body to lose its physiological adaptive capacity
How to Improve Your Fascia
Stretch for 10 minutes a day
Try a mobility program ( Ability Move well)
Roll out your tight spots
Visit the Sauna After gym
Apply cold therapy
Get your cardio on
Try yoga
Keep you and your fascia hydrated
Benefits of Keeping Fascia Healthy
Improved body symmetry and alignment
Increased blood flow, which means faster exercise recovery
Reduced appearance of stretch marks and cellulite
Scar tissue breakdown
Reduced risk of injury
Less day-to-day pain
Improved sports performance
Benefits of Yin Yoga
Without a practice like a yin yoga, your deep fascia can become dehydrated, stiff, and less elastic. As this occurs, fibers in the deep fascia begin to stick to each other, creating adhesions that decrease mobility and increase fatigue and bodily pain.
To make matters worse, toxins and waste products get stuck where the adhesions occur, and harmful bacteria can rapidly multiply in these areas. Cellular communication becomes impaired, and the toxins create abnormal electromagnetic impulses that are disruptive to the body's natural intelligence.
Maintaining a regular power and yin yoga practice will support your fascia to be strong, supple, and healthy, allowing you to continue doing those simple things in life that are often taken for granted — things like bending down to tie your shoes, picking your kids up, and moving through life pain-free.
Having a healthy fascia will also increase athletic performance. I know many people who practice yoga just so they can play tennis, go running, lift weights, and do the things they enjoy well into their senior years. So, unless you want to look and move like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, I suggest getting on your yoga mat today.
Yin Yoga Poses for Ligaments and Tendons
Focusing on muscles and strength is necessary, especially as we age. Being strong and improving flexibility in tendons and ligaments have become more critical.
I am working on improving my tendons and ligaments through yoga. I am very much a beginner and still have so much to learn.
Here are three positions I find particularly beneficial for improving flexibility with tendons and ligaments.
Butterfly pose where you sit on your yoga mat with the bottoms of the feet touching each other. I’m working on zippering my toes together. I’m in the beginning stage of this. The tendons and ligaments in my toes are very tight.
Optional blocks to rest your forehead on or a strap around your waist and outside of the knife edge of your feet.
Upward Facing Dog or Cobra poses with your feet, legs, and hips on the mat with the arms supporting your front. Keep elbows bent and support the spine. It is difficult to relax the tendons that attach the hips to the abdomen, lengthening the front. I am still working on the sphinx and baby cobra, but I will eventually work on the cobra and facing dogs where the legs and knees are off the matte and elbows are straight.
Alternative to Cobra pose is sphinx or seal pose. Utilize a bolster under the forearms if you wish to have gentle support in sphinx.
Bridge pose where you lay on your back with knees bent. Raise your hips. This is easy for the first 30 seconds, but the prop allows the body to relax if held longer.
A passive bridge requires a block placed under the lower back for support enabling a practitioner to sit in the pose for a few minutes.
Yin Yoga is not about the flowing type of yoga that people often think about. It is more about getting into a position and holding it for tension release. For 45 seconds or two minutes allows other parts of your body to release. It’s difficult to relax enough to get your tendons and ligaments to let go. In some positions, being supported with a block, bolster or foam roller allows me to rest for up to 5 minutes in a pose more easily.