What does it mean to be of high value, and what do you hold valuable in your life?

This means something different to each one of us. Our choices show us how we value ourselves and others, and how we undervalue. What we consume if we continue to take it in, we become influenced by its nature and we on some level become it, or our response to it. I like to think that what we ingest and what we are influenced by can be micro and macro reflected in our very experience.

From the time we were in utero, developing in our immediate environment, the vibration and frequency of our caretakers, their moods, the culture we learned to play in is like what we were stewed in, and then we have our genetics. We learn that we are porous and malleable as children we develop and we become more firm, tones and hardened and overtime our bodies reflect our life experiences. Our core beliefs have been formed by the time we are 7 years old.

So we develop our sense of safety and support, our senses that feel if we’ve been cared for, or if we’ve had to be on guard. Were we hearing sounds of happiness, contentment and peace from our loved ones? Did you develop a sense of safety and ease as a youth, did you learn from the adults around you? Despite how many affirmations we do, sometimes unwinding past trauma means addressing the issues you have in your body. Because the body stores each memory. So getting the treatment you need can be essential to living your best life.

Fascial restrictions often have to do with the way your body, mind or heart stored the impact of these experiences, regardless of the age you were and when it first happened. Chances are that if you have lived through trauma, that you need to remind your body that it doesn’t have to live in that state anymore. I had a client who said his hair turned white overnight. He had a death threat and the perpetrator committed actively threatened his life.

He came so close and near to death. He had discovered something very unlawful and when he did the right thing and reported the person who had committed the crimes he found his life threatened because of it. Much of what he held dear, he had to give up. Suddenly he went from the height of his career to a life he felt was in shambles. He said his life was murdered. He had to relocate and loose most of what he had come to core identify himself with. He was in love with his life one minute and the next he was literally looking over his shoulder at every turn.

He was covered by armed guards for a whole year and many years later still has tension from this experience in his body. During treatment I noticed his body was tight systemically. When I guided him to see if he could identify where these sensations might be living in his body, he didn’t want to feel these feelings from that time. Yet, as he talked about them, his tissues began to unlock, and I could sense his comfort levels rise as I could go deeper into the layers of fascia that were holding the trauma. By letting it out, and by talking about it, expressing the elephant in the room can be a relief to the body.

This is why there are those sayings “get the weight off your chest,” or “watch your back.” Sometimes we get relief by telling the stories we have running in the background. It can be helpful to learn new ways to process these kinds of traumas. When there is tension in the body these traumas come up to deal with and further heal from the experience, which can be more than several times throughout the life. As a man it can be easy to act like he should be over it by now, and yet for him, there is still a threat he anticipates, and this potential danger is something he needs to think about in order to keep himself safe. And as we work together we soften the parts of his body that are in a chronic state of hypertension. As I guide him in an exploration of how to be relaxed alert and waiting, at attention, he can actively settle into a more peaceful state.

He has worn his body in well and been active and into extreme sports. While he was water skiing his skis stretched out his legs in the widened triangle you don’t want, and he stretched and tore his adductors on the inside of his legs near his groin as he did involuntary water ski splits. He’s in his early sixties and is having a hard time with symptoms of sciatica. He is walking with his toes pointed out, classic duck walk and the pain running down the back, sacrum to the backs of his legs is his main concern. His whole back from head to toe is tight, and the tension is pulling him from his hips ribcage and head so that he is leaning forward. His rib cage is pulled down to one side, he has two leans side and forward then the erector spinae the back strap on the same side is twisting the ribcage as his stance is consistent with one  leg forward to the other.

His intellect is sharp and his body feels to me that he is in mild fight stance. As we work to breathe into these areas and consciously relax with meditation and awareness practices his body responds to his mantra of safety, “you are safe now.” Sometimes these parts need to be reminded of that. The anatomy imagined, as the structure is felt and the breath is directed there. Greeting the tissue with reverence and empathy as we remind it that it can soften, lengthen and relax. This client has booked a series and each time he comes in and has a session his body feels better, more free. It is easier to make movements and he is experiencing substantially less pain.

Myofascial Release unwinds the body’s chronic tension patterns by listening to the tissue and helping it find it’s way back home. Tissues migrate, fascia changes shape as we do. And yet it remembers what it is like to be in balance, to be at ease and can find its way back, if given the time, space and the right care. Our fascia is a web of connective tissues, and we organize our bodies to different degrees either consciously or unconsciously, we are creating our posture. When we lock our joints out, slouch over the computer, or do repetitive movements, these unconscious moments matter. When we are doing something consciously that means we are purposefully in our each part of our body.

We want systemic movement and to create a vibe of supple, grace and easeful calmness. Imagine floating in your body of oceanic waters so that your body is feeling connected throughout your parts. When your flow is flowing, your movements are smooth. You don’t lug and heave and heft your weight around, there is a lightness, when you imagine it. When your toes point in the direction you are moving, your body has a sense of direction and you know where you in space and where you are going. When you walk you want your heal to step down first, we call this a heal lead. You want your walk in a cadence that uses the right muscles so your pelvic gate is even and your step is efficiently propelling your body forward. You want your leg to smooth glide so the femur is secure in the socket. The stability of your supporting leg position allows for the moving leg to swing in a pendulum and the ligaments in the hip recalibrate to maintain a positive tension that holds the femur securely, yet not to tightly. Gait is important to address so that these repetitive movement patterns are supporting balance and symmetry and not wearing out the joints by furthering the chronic pain patterns that found us seeking support in the first place.

I support my clients who have chronic debilitating pain to find greater ease and mobility in their movements, to find lasting pain relief and to learn to relax and effectively communicate with their bodies. So they can get back to living their healthy active lives. I work with clients who have scoliosis, herniated discs, pinched nerves, hip, knee, shoulder pain and joint replacements. I achieve superior results because Myofascial Release releases restrictions in the fascial system. I also support my clients to recover from trauma and injury with Presence Centered Awareness Therapy which allows us to be with what has happened and integrate past experiences so we can have both hands free to embrace life, instead of holding onto old baggage. Myofascial Release is the most effective therapy I have found in my over 20 years of practice.

MFR treats symptoms at their source and can reverse a wide range of diagnoses because the fascia wrapping and bathing each cell is influenced by the health of the fascial system that is holding it. The health of fascia is in it’s ability to flex: to lengthen, extend and expand as well as it effectively tighten and contract and become shortened. Establishing and maintaining your
fascial health will help your tissue to have endurance, to rehabilitate after injury and trauma and will increase your bod’s ability, agility, balance and coordination. When fascial is reorganized we find the space and room we need to make our full range possible. Reach your potential with MFR.

Angela Rose works in Grass Valley at Sol Bodyworks. She is an Injury Specialist and practices Myofascial Release. Get out of pain with MFR and back to living your best life. You deserve it!