Feeling Stiff? Could Be Your Fascia and Not Your Muscles

Feeling Stiff? Could be Your Fascia and Not Your Muscles

Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey

Have you ever felt so tight you thought you were on the verge of tearing a muscle? I'm pretty sure we can all relate to that experience. What's so interesting is it may not be your muscles at all. We all have something called fascia that is part of our physical makeup. Fascia is a network of connective tissue that pretty much holds us together. It is made up of extra cellular material that resides in intracellular spaces. It has a gel-like substance that holds us firmly together accommodating every movement we make. 

This gel-like material spreads out like a web connecting everything in your body. That's right; everything. The circulation in your body needs to pass through this web-like consistency, but if the fascia is dried out, less circulation can flow through to nourish the body and remove toxins. This is why you may feel tight and stiff in certain areas and think your muscles are to blame. 

Yoga helps to stretch and hydrate this fiber webbing matrix making it more permeable for circulation to move through and do its job. Deep strengthening and stretching squeezes this fascial network similar to ringing out a sponge. That visual should sound pretty familiar to yogis who engage in twisting asanas. The longer you practice yoga, these fascial fibers will thin out and ease any tension in the overall fascial matrix, and that means less pain and resistance for you.

For 18 Amazing Benefits of Yoga According to Science, click here! And for the icing on the cake, 2018 is a perfect year to practice this earth quality practice. Read about the Earth Dog 2018 forecast from my feng shui blog here!

Here's to a free flowing fascia network!

Mary Jane Kasliner

Feng Shui Yoga Girl - www.fengshuiyoganj.com