What is Fascia

Fascia is an interconnective commutative network system within the whole body that holds, stores, and organizes your organs, muscles, and muscle fibers from your head to your toes. You may have also heard of the term connective tissue which means the same thing.

The fascia also holds memory and emotions from the experiences in your life.

It’s made up of collagen and is very elastic, so once you reach a specific age it's wise to take supplements to continue to support your fascia as it truly is such an important part of the body.

Working with fascia may release emotions, but it’s not the same as emotion release in reiki (energy work). In fascia, the emotion is simply in the physical body. Physical events that are tied to emotion that have settled deep and haven't moved. Fascia can’t be forced to release, which is similar to how energy works so it can get confusing. The thing to remember is that fascia is helped through physical massage, not energy work. The common thread is that neither can be forced. It will move when it's ready, not on your time table.

About a year leading up to my decision to understand fascia, I started to notice that the body's tissues would talk to me even when I wasn’t doing reiki. I was super confused by this because what came through was very similar to what would normally come through with reiki but it was just slightly different. Of course I respect the client's boundaries and do not do reiki if it isn't wanted. But the tissues would give me information and I would relay that to the client. This happened a few times until I started to lean into the study of fascia.

During the last day of my first fascia seminar something happened that was my light bulb moment.

I was working with a classmate and all of a sudden I was being shown things from the tissues and was confused so I asked the body what was going on. I wasn't energetically working on the classmate so I asked some questions.

This is the conversation that I experienced:

Me: “I’m not doing reiki, how am I experiencing this?”

Body: “You're listening.”

Me: “okayyy, what’s up?”

Body: “I’m NOT F&%$#@*&^  ENERGY! I JUST STORE AND ORGANIZE EVERYTHING!”

(Then I was shown an example. I saw images of organized containers and it helped me understand.)

Me: “Oh, yeah that makes so more sense. Thank you. So what now?”

Then the body began to show me areas where trauma was stored. Which I did share with my classmate and it was confirmed.

With that I began to understand my connection with the fascia and what was going on. The pieces to this puzzle found their homes.

I’m learning the John Barns style because he is one of the beginners in understanding how to work with fascia. Many have learned from him and have taken the knowledge and gone on to create their own training. I started my training last year at a seminar in Kansas City where I quickly realized John Barnes is by the book and teaches this way. There isn't a lot of room for exploration and trying your own version of the info. I learn a bit differently than his classes are arranged and I don’t fully agree with all of the theories and philosophies, which is completely okay, but the techniques are useful and good to add to my toolkit.

Fascia work is different then traditional bodywork because it’s lighter in pressure and requires patience and time to get the fascia to release the tension within it. I blend it into sessions and make accommodations specific to each person.

Because it's not energy work and it's actually physical bodywork, pairing it with your massage can be very helpful.