Your fascia is the rigid and supportive portion of your connective tissue that holds you together. It is not your bones that keep you upright when you stand, but the fascia that holds you together, aligning you vertically through tensegrity! It scaffolds and supports your nerves, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and cells. The fascia within and around your muscles is called myofascia.
Myofascia can become rigid due to posture or how you move your body. Physical trauma can also harden or thicken your fascia, which can limit motion, cause pain, and restrict blood vessels, nerves, and lymphatic ducts. Because your fascia is a fully connected web of fibers from your head to your toes, fascial restrictions from physical trauma can cross muscle groups and follow any geometry related to the moment of injury. People who experience emotional trauma during injury could also retain that trauma inside fascial restrictions. Injuries we forget about could remain in our bodies, locked in fascial restrictions, and continue to compound as we accrue more bodily wear over the years.
It takes time and multiple myofascial release sessions to undo the fascial restrictions accumulated in the body. Forty years of trauma may take time to release and heal, depending on your goals; this is the adventure of learning how to care for yourself and reach new heights with yourself. How much physical trauma is sitting in your body that you have forgotten about?
Your connective tissue is the toughest part of your body because of the collagenous portion, which is your fascia. We cannot force the fascial system to let go of restrictions because it's so tough. The only "weakness" of the fascial system is that it was not designed for sustained traction over long hold times.
Our treatments work with the physics and viscoelastic nature of the fascial system, waiting for a transition from the solid-to-gel state. We work to open your fascia, getting your cells to hydrate, deliver nutrients, allow better nerve signaling, increase open blood flow, and properly functioning lymphatic ducts by sustaining a minimum of 3-minute holds for the transition of solid-to-gel state. Every part of your body can improve by releasing fascial restrictions that impede performance.
We don't use lotion or lubricants; we simply use the therapist's hands on your skin to elongate your fascia and wait for a release. Many clients wear unrestrictive workout clothes for the sessions. Slow breathing is suggested to neurologically activate your parasympathetic nervous system for neurological relaxation of your muscles; remaining tension in your tissues is due to fascial restrictions. If we find the "sweet spot of relaxation" for you during myofascial release holds, then you will experience the "vacation in your body that we're always looking for"; it is so very relaxing to let go of it all. Some clients feel immediate results from myofascial release sessions, and others feel benefits the following day. Some clients have sustained benefits lasting weeks, months, or years.
Your lymphatic system purifies the liquid surrounding your cells in your entire body. Any pain or dysfunction in your body may arise from a compromised lymphatic system where tissues and cells are surrounded by a toxic environment, resulting in pain or inflammation.
As cells make proteins, use proteins, multiply to build tissues and utilize energy, they also create waste that enters the surrounding liquid. Your lymphatic system removes that cellular waste and distributes it to lymph nodes to be expelled from your body. Your lymphatic system also helps your immune system eliminate bacterial infections, viral infections (like COVID-19), fungal infections, and cells growing out of control (as in cancerous tissues). Your lymphatic system also absorbs protein, fat, and fat-soluble vitamins with lymph vessels around the intestines.
If one portion of your lymphatic system is blocked or backed up, the fluid dynamics of the entire system can suffer, causing fatigue, tiredness, and a lack of energy. If you have chronic inflammation, puffiness, or swelling anywhere in your body, you may need your lymphatic system checked and maintained. If your lymphatic system is flourishing, your cells can happily bathe in nutrition, your liver can function better, your circulatory system can improve, your digestion and food sensitivity can improve, and your tissues can begin healing themselves from the inside.
In our sessions, we'll discuss your symptoms and how lymphatic work can help, assessing your sensitivity and pain at the 30 central lymph node locations throughout the entire body, from your head to your ankles. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, we may avoid working your intestinal lymph until a 2nd session, but opening the intestinal lymph flow is typically essential for a thriving lymphatic system.
Two sessions are usually required to ensure the lymphatic cleansing progress occurs smoothly, but three sessions are ideal. As the sessions progress, we'll monitor your detoxification symptoms, collecting objective data on your lymph system. We can easily work in myofascial release or massage in a single session to complement the lymphatic work.
There is no lubrication for lymphatic cleansing. We only need contact with your skin to perform the work. Many clients wear a loose-fitting shirt to enable work on the infraclavicular, pectoral, axillary, intercostal, and intestinal lymph node locations on the torso. We use a combination of eastern and western methods to improve your lymphatic function. The eastern method focuses on percussion with the therapists' hands to break up thick lymph at the 30 central lymph node locations. The Western method focuses on gently coaxing interstitial fluid into the lymphagions that send the lymph fluid to the lymph nodes. Both methods have their benefits and shortfalls. We may use a combination of the two methods to ensure your lymphatic system improves to enable the healing of your tissues.
We believe energy is essential to a positive human experience and creates an optimal quality of life. "Energy" is used for all of your body's chemical reactions, tissue healing, cellular interaction, endocrine balance, and homeostasis maintenance.
Initiating the "rest-and-relaxation" response is essential to combat our chaotic modern lives. Healing Touch Energy Therapy uses light, or near-body touch, to clear, balance, and energize the human energy system, promoting health, healing, and relaxation.
If you have anxiety, restlessness, chronic fatigue, or a "fight-or-flight" lifestyle, then Energy Therapy will serve you best. Some clients experience a consistent sense of peace, calm, or grounding lasting two weeks or longer after therapy sessions. Energy Therapy is an excellent method for trauma release and emotional release where a client can process life experiences in a safe environment.
Energy Therapy and Healing Touch are reliable tools for the best client results. Entire sessions can be performed without physical touch for clients with a history of profound trauma; however, we've found the most valuable results start with light physical touch during the first half of the energy session.
We work from the feet to the head, moving energy and clearing any congested pathways based on your personal energy system. During the second half of the session, we work with energy fields 1 inch to 3 feet out from the physical body, removing congestion and recharging energy so that you can feel calm and grounded when you return to your life. You will reach a state between sleep and wakefulness that is very calming and relaxing. You may feel buzzed, fuzzy, energized, and much more present in your body and with yourself.
We reserve Reiki for our "self-care at home" routines and as a lifestyle of love and beauty.
Clients can be fully clothed for the entire session. Light touch will be discussed as an option before the session begins. You may experience significant memories that you've forgotten, which may need further processing during the session for you to feel comfortable and grounded in your regular life. You may also drift into a space between sleep and awake and feel rested and relaxed.