Energy Unwinding: Myofascial Release and Movement Therapies
Energy Unwinding is committed to supporting you to live your best life through the interplay of body+mind+spirit. We have in the past had times in our lives when we felt good in our bodies. Over time though, the wear and tear of life, trauma, injury, surgery create more restrictions in our body making it feel heavier, tighter, and then tips us into pain patterns. We begin to lose energy, vitality. Through Myofascial release, you regain the ability to unwind through hands-on work and a facilitation that will allow you to shift from trying to fix ourselves, to allowing our bodies to show us what it needs for us to move through to reorganize at a higher level.
We utilize the Myofascial Release Approach (MFR) by founder and therapist John F. Barnes, PT LMT NCBTMB. Barnes has taught over 100,000 therapist over the past 55+ years. He is a contributor to the 2015 released text Architecture of Human Living Fascia: The Extracellular matrix and cells revealed through endoscopy by Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau, as well as to Massage Magazine.
What is Myofascial Release (MFR)?
Myofascial release (MFR) is a gentle and effective form of bodywork that re-balances the structure of the body, the fascia. Myo in Latin means muscle - muscles can be thought of as bundles of multi-fiber fascia. Fascia is the strong but flexible connective tissue found under our skin that encases the entire body, but, it is much more than that. Fascia encases the entire body, encases muscles and organs, and threads through these structures like a three-dimensional, fiber-optic web. Through this fascial web weave other sensitive structures such as blood vessels and nerves.
Our myofascial structure has amazing intelligence and memory and allows us to enjoy vitality and movement when healthy. When our fascia is healthy, it supports and stabilizes us to enjoy movement and to function efficiently as a glide system. Fascia also exists to protect us from harm whether from the micro-trauma from exercise endeavors to accidents, trauma, surgery to name a few.
Our body is incredibly connected, and because fascia connects into every part and system of our body, stress can become a micro-trauma. Fascia is also a shock absorber, which means that sometimes, we do not have to have gone through accidents, trauma, micro-trauma, surgery for the system of fascia to brace. Stress and residual experiences can remain as post-trauma and suddenly our whole body, spirit, mind is caught up in pain patterns that we push and force ourselves through till they become more chronic and then suddenly acute. When pain reaches an acute state, our body finally has our attention.
Therefore, when fascia is in dysfunction, it acts like strait-jackets on different parts of our bodies and sometimes more globally. We find ourselves then starting to think more about diagnoses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, Myofascial pain syndrome, and fibromyalgia. The sooner we are able to listen to these signs and symptoms and begin to receive treatment, the sooner we are on the road that redirects towards health and away from further and longer years and sometimes decades of pain.
The following youtube.com video (Myofascial Release Video) has been provided here to give you a more visual understanding of fascia. As you watch, you may experience "aha" moments - moments when the information shared resonates with what you are experiencing.
How often should I receive MFR? And how long will it last?
Each person is unique in when they find this modality, how dense their system of fascia is, what experiences have cause their system to seize up, brace, hold. Some clients will know right away that this is what they want to incorporate as part of their overall health and wellness program while others can get attached to expectations of miracles from just one treatment.
We invite you to let go of miracles and expectations and simply be in the process of unwinding stress, trauma, scars whether physical or psychological, accidents, even postural imbalances you may have had from your early adolescent years, and postural imbalances that you may have accrued from the ways you have used your body+mind+spirit. When you let go of expectations, it allows for more possibilities to appear.
When we meet, we will assess and begin to soften the armoring, the bracing, and the holding that has been put in place over time. Each treatment session is different because your body will undergo change. Here are some guidelines:
When first working with a new client, we ask that you book 3 weekly appointments so that should we need the time, it is there to give your system momentum that gets lost when there is too much time between appointments initially. Each session, your therapist will check in to see how your system is holding on to the re-balancing, and where restrictions in other areas may be pulling you back in to dysfunction. We will offer self-care treatment to practice between treatments which will change over time as your system changes.
If a client has been experiencing chronic, debilitating pain for years and perhaps decades, the recommendation would be for weekly treatments for up to 10 weeks. Many clients will notice that something has changed from the first 3 sessions. Others will need up to 10 sessions, and sometimes more, to get a sense of change.
Depending on the client’s goals and how they are progressing, the client works with the therapist to adjust frequency to every other week, then every 3rd week until a monthly maintenance is reached.
Eventually, we support you to feel for a frequency that helps you enjoy how you want to move and live in your body!
How can a client maintain the work done through treatment?
Once a client, you can schedule a private Myofascial restorative yoga session. This time will be used to identify tools to support your fascia to maintain freedom and to practice this new way of self-care for your body.