April 07, 2010

We're 3D (pt.2)

I have about 10 minutes to post this, actually-less than that. I woke up this morning and washed all my underwear and realized I didn't have any to wear in class this morning in yoga. That's not good when I am now the only man in class. So, I had to do some creative thinking which took blogging time.

But I do have time to briefly wrap up the body and fascia system for you. When we last spoke I was telling you how everything is all connected right, and that there is more to the body than our muscles and that the fascia is the structure that holds us together. Many people think its our bones, but what holds that up? The muscles right, no because our muscles are mostly made up of water. And if we are mostly water and space, and the muscles held us together and upright then we would be falling off our bones.

What holds us together is our fascia. Consider it to be the wrapping paper to taffy. It runs all around our body from foot to skull. There is fascia that runs superficially on the front and back of our bodies, just as there is fascia that runs through the center, called the deep front line, opposed to the superficial front line. We also have fascia that wraps around bone and that weaves diagonally across our bodies.

So, what's this have to do with anything? Well, next time you notice your hamstrings are tight consider stretching the back line of fascia that runs over your posterior thigh. It's connected from the bottom of your foot and runs all the way up your leg, through your pelvis, up your sacrum and back to your occipital skull (base of your skull) and up over the crown of the head to your forehead.

This means that maybe instead of trying to overstretch your hamstrings, which never really seem to work, we should try to work the foot, or the head, or neck. Because that could very well be what's causing that leg of yours to cramp and strain, make sense? More coming later. I'm going to post something that Buckminster Fuller created in the 1960's which will give you a visual of all of this, for now, I'm off to class, Mahalo~

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