The SOMA Somatics difference! part 2

What is SOMA Somatics? The Fascia connection.

So we have this neuromuscular system that controls all of our functioning. Another system of great importance is called the fascial system. It is also called connective tissue. It is important because it connects our living body from the top to the bottom from side to side and from inside to outside. It is like a liquid web, it surrounds everything in our body. It houses our nervous system where it has three layers of fascia that help protect it and provide nourishment.

Every system in our body is important however the reason these two - neuromuscular and fascial systems- are so important is they connect, control and communicate with every other system. Every organ in our body is surrounded by connective tissue. Every joint in our body is surrounded and supported by fascia. It wraps around muscle and every blood vessel every vein and every nerve. It encompasses every muscle fibre and tendon, right down to the cellular level. Fascia wraps around every cell providing support, protection, space and communication throughout our living body.

It is like the air that we breathe. We don't think about the oxygen because it is always there for us, we are surrounded by it. Recent research has shown how important connective tissue and fascia are how it is dynamic always adapting to the positions, stresses, repetitive movements, injuries and trauma that we have experienced. It can be adversely by many events all the way back to the beginning of your life. It is adversely affected right from birth. Difficult or traumatic births can create fascial restrictions that impede our development and show up in unexplained pain and dysfunction later in life. It has been proven how much holding power it has, up to 2000 lbs per square inch. This can be like having the weight of a horse putting pressure and holding in one section or many sections of your muscles, joints, limbs, cranium and spine.

They have discovered fascia and connective tissue is a tension and compression system. Rather than our bones stacking on top of each other like the game Jenga or like blocks, as the traditional mechanistic view point. Our bones work like levers and the fascia is like guy wires supporting our living body in gravity. If you have ever looked at a geodesic dome you can see this idea in a stable but stationary structure. It kind of throws out the old bio-mechanical model of how our body works and moves.

The fascial system is designed to be fluid and adaptable. In some areas it is super thin and tiny and other areas there are many layers of tougher and thicker fascia to provide more support and strength. Our living bodies adapt to where the stresses and forces are put on it. Where there is trauma, injury, holding, chronic tension, mis-alignment and lack of movement the fascia system adapts and gets into holding patterns that will restrict the movement of that area but also restrict or effect body parts far away from the source. If you have ever caught a part of a wool sweater on something you can see how it pulls on the rest of the connected fibres. Similarly to getting a run in a stocking.

Because of this distant holding and pulling combined with the lack of focus and knowledge on the fascial system, many unexplained pain patterns and ailments have been missed or mis-diagnosed. Studies have shown that holding and restrictions in the neck and upper chest can create pain in the upper back, neck, chest, arm, wrist and hand. It has shown how the muscles of the butt, specifically the smallest gluteals muscles can create pain patterns similar to sciatica. There are specific methods for working with and helping release and rebalance the fascial system. Hands-on approaches are usually the fastest when you have a skilled practitioner but you can also help it yourself through a combination of slow, focused stretching, rolling and ball work.

Soma Somatics is oriented around the principles, tools and approaches that give you the most “bang for the buck” and “benefit for your time”. We use the systems that leverage the gains possible. We speak a language that you can understand and help you discover not just; what to do, but also; why your doing and how to do it. We help you become your own best expert in the science and art of your soma, your living body. Most disciplines in health and medicine are set up where someone is the expert that you are dependent on. Someone else always fixing you. They also have a tendency of getting over complicated, using a language that is foreign to you, making it difficult to understand and leaving you feeling more dis-connected from your own body. In addition many get very focused on fixing symptoms not recognizing how our body is connected physically but also how our history can continue to haunt us. They treat our bodies as separate parts, without connecting the whole or the causes.

In Soma Somatics we help simplify it, help you find the true causes, giving you practical tools and uncovering your own wisdom. It’s a principle based holistic system that you can apply in any and all parts of your life to get benefit in any position or pursuit you choose. It will help you immediately and in the long term. What you take away will help you age proof your body and mind and help you become more self-healing but also self balancing, self calming, self improving and self fulfilling.

Soma Somatics works with your body and your brain. It works with your mind, your movement, your emotions and muscles. It is great for recovering from pain and helping you speed up healing from injury or surgery. It is also focused on helping you in releasing your life performance and you finding a calm joy of living. A journey of self discovery that you lead, not focused on doing more and making your life even more stressed but by doing less, but doing it well. About releasing what’s holding you back. Releasing the pain as well as releasing your comfort, your resilience, your wisdom, fulfillment, joy and potential.