Re-storing, re-forming and re-setting the Fascia
- Fascia is the sheath of connective tissue that covers everything in our bodies–from our organs to our muscles. In the picture above, the white areas that are visible attaching to muscles are dense collections of fascia.
Did you know that there are 10 x more sensory nerve endings in your fascia than in your muscles? That the fascia is our system of stability (Thomas Myers 2012),our greatest sensory organ (Robert Schleip) and our biomechanical regulator?
Through the design of the Pilates Method, a consistent inner myofascial contact before and during movement is made; bringing awareness of your fascia’s connectivity. From this connectivity you are able to renegotiate to restore the elasticity and continuous connectivity of its fibres, and thus the health and functionality of the mechanical regulation of the body.
Re-storing, the ‘give and take’ in the elasticity of the tissues to re-pattern movements, renews mechanical functionality and maximizes stability to support the structure – quite literally, ‘shape shifting’ the skeletal architecture.
Using Thomas Myer’s revolutionary Anatomy Trains map, we are able to see and learn the direction of force and connectivity along the fiber. We are able to recognize and influence compensatory patterns that have derailed transmission, loosing mechanical information along its pathways, thus creating functional disorder; the fascial patterns that lead to our symptoms.
Learnt through the insight and awareness of the Anatomy Trains map in the Pilates Method repertoire, this practical and tangible application is ‘sense felt’ , empowering you to change the state of tension and continuity along the learnt tracks.
The integrity of tension throughout the body’s fascia gives ‘space’ for the health and efficiency of its inter communication of mechanical information to fully cooperate. It determines our shape and form, compression or space, stagnation or flow, malfunction or function, strain or ease.
The fascia is a system. It envelopes every cell in our body, it slips and slides around and through every nook and cranny, surrounding and embedding the bones, muscles and organs; storing our entire consciousness and sub conscious in its fabric. It is able to regulate and interconnect the body on all levels.
Drawn from the Study of the origins of Joseph Pilates’ vocabulary and his visionary intent, the Method implies an innate understanding of the neuro-myofascial system. The spring function of the apparatus giving resonance for renewed elasticity and demanding the recoil, pre-tension state requisite for stored energy function, now scientifically recognised in the fascia. His specific instruction and vocabulary directly addresses the fascia, progressively reconnecting, stretching and integrating the fibres; thus creating an entrainment for ‘whole body movement’ and ‘whole health’ fundamental to the methodology. The organisation of the fascia is the means for achieving the ‘uniformly developed body’ that is the legacy of his work.
Has this newly found biological system given us the terminology for what Pilates was inherently doing? He was as we know 50 years ahead of his time…
Reference and article exclusively written by :
Karin Locher (2012)
Founder and Director of Contrology Pilates Method (CPM)
http://www.contrology-pilates-method.com/
- Karin Locher Founder & Director of The Contrology Pilates Method Studio & Training School (U.K.)
Karin Locher is the founder and director of Contrology Pilates Method (CPM): A Comprehensive Teacher Training School, Continuing Education Centre and Contrology Studio. It attracts clients, students and teachers to learn from the wisdom of the body, the genius of the Pilates legacy and from the phenomenal potential and implications of the fascial system.
Certified through Pilates International and the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), Karin claims she only acquired her true Pilates education whilst studying individually with the First Generation Pilates Elders. An associate teacher for Anatomy Trains, Kenises, and Certified Fasiail Fit-ness trainer, Karin takes the revolutionary works of Thomas Myers’, Anatomy Trains and the latest research on fascial ‘fit-ness’ to the Pilates community around the world. (We thank Karin for taking the time to dedicate an article for our UAE Pilates community!)
