I very much value knowledge, this is where a majority of my money goes after all! The "right" knowledge can be hard to find and is expensive in terms of value but priceless in the long run. It takes me a long time to decide which courses are right for me and being a movement professional means being a lifelong student.
I've been revisiting anatomy a lot of late and find myself going down the Anatomy Trains rabbit hole. Anatomy Trains are your Myofascial meridian lines found throughout your body. These 'train tracks' are a relatively recent discovery as in dissections previously, they used to cut away the fascial connective tissue and throw it in the bin! Think of the sticky white stuff on your chicken breast. Anatomists would focus on your muscles and to determine them would use the scalpel to slice them up in terms of actions and lines of pull. Although this is not regarded as wrong, there is another way. We now know that fascia has more nerve endings in it than muscles, is made up of collagen and water and is plastic, meaning it has great adaptability. The body is made up of connective tissues with pockets for the muscles to sit in. It binds everything, including your organs. Did you know that your kidneys actually facially bind with the top of your hip flexors (psoas muscle)? Thomas Myers, creator of Anatomy Trains, turned his scalpel blade the other way and started to see myofascial tracks throughout the body, there are 12 identified. These fascial 'train tracks' are at varying depths around your body and say a lot about your personality and what you spend a lot of time doing.
Now a little bit further up I said fascia is plastic. If you have ever been for a Myofascial massage (I know an excellent person if you need a number) they will read your body posture and you'll get up at the end of the session feeling completely different, balanced, aligned, centred with postural ease. Nothing like beauty or sports massages, Myofascial practitioners are working with your nervous system and making at times quite subtle changes that make a big difference. We can also affect these changes with consistent movement. After all, it was consistent movement patterns that re-aligned your posture to perhaps a less than ideal in the first place! So that means that you can very feasibly reverse this with positive movement patterns.
I'm starting my Art of Motion Slings Training in January using a mixture of movement forms that will lead me on an exciting journey that will know doubt challenge my grey matter to improve your fascial systems. Now, the best thing about this, is that I will be sharing all of this with you. I believe knowledge is empowering for change, mindful movement is important and health is wealth.
Vicci xx
Fascia, now there is something else for us to think about! A very interesting blog. There is always more for us to learn every day. Thanks for the introduction Vicci.