I believe Yoga to be about unity and consciousness via the body and a new approach to anatomy is about recognising unified systems within the body, especially the fascial system.
Yoga is a fantastic fascial remodelling technique.
My aim is to provide an alternative view of anatomy, describe fascia, and share some of Tom Myers Anatomy Trains theories in relation to Yoga Asanas.
Our anatomical knowledge of the body is based on dissection and mechanics, The word anatomy means 'to cut up' In early anatomical research the connective tissue was removed to get to muscles, bones, veins, and nerves, and then discarded.
As muscles are wrapped in bags of fascia, which taper off at the end into tendons, it was easier from a reductionist approach to cut each muscle and remove it as a bicep, triceps etc, when in reality really there is one muscle in 600 fascial pockets. Neurologically there doesn't appear to be a representation of a bicep in the brain, and when we move we don’t ‘think’ about contracting muscles individually.
Another limited approach to movement of the body is looking at the skeletal system as a crane, and the muscles as cables that move the crane around. This is a continuous compression structure ie brick on top of brick, we look at our bodies as bones stacked up on top of bones, and that the bones determine where the muscles lie.
The body is more dynamic and works more like a tensegrity structure based on geometry, this idea is inclusive of and sheds light on the role of fascia. A new view is that our bones float in a sea of connective tissue, and it is the balance between the muscles and the connective tissue that influences where the bones are.
Another exciting new image of the body is that along with the nervous system and the circulatory systems, which are seen as whole systems that are present throughout the body inside and out, the fascial system is now being recognised as the third whole body system. It begins just under your skin, continues to the bone, wraps around every organ, and every nerve. Fascia is what is holding you together.
The fascia not only creates bags, separates, and holds everything together, (otherwise the fluid of our bodies would end up pooled at our feet) it is also another whole body communication system. It is currently, like the muscles, viewed as individual components, having been dissected into separate pieces of fascia, the IT band, the Thoracolumbar fascia, the Plantar fascia, etc. However the fascia is a continuous system.
The fascia can be regarded as a fluid crystal, that can be adjusted from sol to gel, watery, gelatinous, dense, elastic, and hard as stone. Collagen is piezoelectric and generates spontaneous electricity when distorted by pressure. Fascia is an electric generator producing fields of current wherever pressure or movement is taking place. Fascia is also a semi conductor of these currents it generates.
Biophysicist Mae Wan Ho describes fascia as a liquid crystalline material creating quantum coherence of a vibratory continuum for rapid energy flow and communication throughout the whole system.
3 whole body communicating systems -
The nervous system communicates signals around the body in seconds. What’s going on and where? At 160-170 mph.
The circulatory system communicates the fluid flow of chemicals around the body. Chemical information.
The fascia communicates mechanical information around the body, tension and compression, force and stability. At 750 mph - the speed of sound through water !!!.
If you picked something up the tension would be communicated up the arm, across the shoulder, down the opposite side of the spine, and across to the opposite hip, all via the fascial webbing. Normally we would attribute this all to the musculoskeletal system, without recognising the role of the fascia as the communicator of the tension, as it runs throughout the skeleton and muscles.
Your nervous system is constantly listening to your fascial system, more than it is listening to your muscles !
Fascia is made up of collagen, a pliable strong protein, stronger than steel. Each molecule looks like a three stranded rope. These collagen ropes are woven together in various levels of tightness depending on the area, to accommodate for different forces in the body. There are 10 sensory nerve endings in the fascia for every 1 nerve ending in the muscles.
The fascia doesn't actively contract there are no motor nerve endings in it, it is a slower reacting system but is plastic one. Fascia has the ability to contract in intramuscular fascia. Very slow and not sufficient to move a limb.
Fascia is involved in the process of bone repair, and soft tissue tears, which can take months to heal. Cell biologists believe fascial cells alter gene expression in response to force
Biomechanics detail how interaction between fascial cells and the extracellular matrix contribute to the whole body mobility.
The fascia responds over time to patterns of use throughout the body, adjusting to lines of stress placed onto your system through attitudes, repetitive use and response to injury. However fascia can be remodelled through bodywork and yoga.
Anatomically fascia has been broken down into separate pieces and named, but within the body this isn't the case. There are no defined edges; it blends into joint tissue, muscle tissue, and ligaments. There is no beginning or end to fascia, it is all one net. This is why when a problem occurs in one area, such as the knee, the problem is more likely to have originated at the ankle and/or hips. Problems with the shoulders relate to the position of the head and/or the dropping back of the rib cage down or back, leading to a collapse of the upper ribcage (head is forward due to anxiety, to see what’s coming next, the heart is falling back)
The fascial system is a communicating system, so if you turn your ankle, this information is relayed throughout the whole system,
Yoga is a fascial remodelling technique, normally we focus on the stretching of the muscles during yoga, but the fascia is ten times more innervated than the muscles and our ‘awareness’ is mainly due to our fascia.
There are two types of fascia genetically distinct -
Viking fascia - dense less elastic and creates a lot of friction and heat, theorised suited to northern climates.
Temple dancer fascia loose and elastic, linked to warm weather climates.
One person might benefit from the lengthening approach of yoga, another might require yoga with a more joint stablising approach such as in the case of hypermobility.
The fascial connective tissue network provides for a state of structural and functional continuity between all of the body’s hard and soft tissues, it supports, separates, connects, divides, wraps, and is cohesive.
There is no local dysfunction existing in isolation. Visualise a symbiotical complex, interrelated assortment of tissues. Skin, muscles, ligaments, tendons, bone, neural structures of blood and lymph channels; all owe their shape and function to fascia.
Healthy fascia forms a gliding interface, when fascia is excessively mechanically stressed inflamed or immobile, collagen and matrix deposition becomes disorganised. Resulting in fibrosis, adhesions, and fascial thickening. This leads to distortion of Myofascial relationship altering propreoception and muscle balance. Binding occurs between layers that normally stretch glide and/or shift on each other.
Stretching can be applied to stuck layer problems and length problems. Stretches need to be held for approximately 5 minutes for the fascia to respond.
Tom Myers developed the ‘anatomy of connection’ known as Anatomy Trains looking at the fascia and myofascia throughout the body and creating 12 myofascial meridians, maps that are a way as a way of studying and recording changes in the fascial system and how your body regulates its biomechanics.
Here we take a look at the Deep Front Line, how it affects your body and what you can do with these lines of fascia using yoga.
Deep Front Line DFL creates the body’s Myofascial core. This line begins on the underside of the foot, passes behind the bones of the lower leg, behind the knee to the inside of the thigh, in front of the hip joint, pelvis, and lumbar spine. It continues up around and through the thoracic viscera, ending on the underside of both the neuro and visero cranium. This line occupies space within the body and relates the motion of breathing with the rhythm of walking.
The Deep Front Line -
Lifts the inner arch
Stabilises each segment of the leg
Supports the lumbar spine from the front
Stabilises the chest whilst allowing for easy breathing
Balances the head/neck
A short DFL equals TIGHT HIP FLEXORS leading to
Anterior pelvic Tilt
Tight rectus femoris quads
Tight lumbar erectors
Weak gluteus maximus
Stuck long - Hamstrings
Weak Rectus abdominus, external obliques transverse abdominals.
So with this in mind you would be looking for yoga poses that lengthen the hip flexors and stretch the psoas such as Virabhadrasana I II, strengthening the core with Chataranga Dandasana and strengthening the glutes with Setu Bandhasana Bridge Pose. Dhanurasana Bow Pose for stretching quads. For hamstrings that are locked long the best approach is to get them to contract and strengthen rather than stretch them, reverse plank is good for this, add in the action of drawing the heels towards your glutes without actually bending your knees.
Becoming aware of the body wide importance and relevance that carries on through to all of the Asana once you begin to see the intricacies of how the body functions as a whole makes for an even deeper appreciation of the intelligence of our design, as we open ourselves up to the knowledge of our own physical unity we can be awakened to the interdependancy at play between all sentient life including The Earth and each other.
Elizabeth Large.
references
Fascial Plasticity - A New Neurobiological Explanation Part 1 & 2 Robert Schleip
Job’s Body Dean Juhan
What Binds Us Together Leon Chaitow
Anatomy Trains Tom Myers.
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