Book Review: Guimberteau - Architecture of Human Living Fascia

Book Review: Architecture of Human Living Fascia

I have recently devoured the new book from Handspring Publishing by Jean-Claude Guimberteau and Colin Armstrong on the Architecture of Human Living Fascia.

Jean-Claude Guimberteau has become famous in the bodywork world because of a number of DVDs starting with Strolling Under the Skin that he released in 2005. These were incredible because he was using an endoscope to film the structures of a living human body whilst the patient was undergoing surgery. These films showed the wonderful and beautiful moving fibrillar network of collagen, elastin and extracellular matrix that is present in all of us.  I, for one, now can not hear the Blue Danube Waltz without thinking of fascia.

This book shares more information about the network of fibres that extends throughout the living human body from the epidermis down into the cells from which we are formed. This book looks at the level of the mesoscopic, which is the scale between the macroscopic (whole body) and the cellular microscopic. This mesoscopic is a level of the body's structure that some people feel has arguably been overlooked in anatomical study.  It is here, with the use of an endoscope during routine surgery, that Guimberteau and Armstrong find and examine the fibrillar network of collagen fibres, the micro-vacuoles that contain the extracellular matrix. Here the authors show how this network surround, permeates and shapes the different structures of the body from the tendons to the bones to the muscles to the organs.  This book is not just very clear about what is being discussed but it shows you  with incredible pictures and videos (more about that later) so you can see what is being discussed with your own eyes.

The authors structure the book in such a way that there is a logical progression from what this structure is, how it develops and adapts to our daily lives, how important this is for our efficient usage, what happens when there is injury and how manual therapy can have an impact. There are wonderfully insightful comments from a number of leading authors, scientist and therapists in response to the information shared in this book.  There is a great section about how the body responds to incisions of surgery, and also the exposure of the moist interior of the body to air. There is a great detailed description of scarring and the creation of interruptions the fibrillar network that reduce its ability to function smoothly.

What really sets this book apart from many of the others looking at the fascia are the sumptuous images and photographs in this book. They are clear and well described so you know what you are looking at (and where in the body) and through a wonderful use of QR codes (those square bar codes you can scan with a smartphone) you can get to watch new videos showing what is being discussed in the book. There is a DVD enclosed as well for when you can't get internet access, or do not have a smart phone.  These videos are locked with a code that you get with your copy of the book, and are well worth getting access to.

Overall I would say that if you like fascia then this book is well worth having. The videos and images really bring the body and fibrillar network to life and show how wonderfully chaotic and logical the whole thing is.  There is so much information packed into this book that I feel it deserves multiple readings (and viewings) to really get to grips with what has been so wonderfully shared.

Book available directly from Handspring Publishing here.

About me:
I am a Bodyworker based in the UK specialising in Myofascial Release and based in London (Clerkenwell and Stanmore). I have successfully completed the UK's first Advanced Clinical Diploma in Myofascial Therapy run by Myofascial Release UK. I have become completely fascinated by the fascia and attended the inaugural British Fascia Symposium. There is more information about me, where I work and the approaches I use on my website RelaxReleaseRenew.co.uk

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On starting a Scaravelli Yoga Course

You may or may not realise that I've just started a Yoga Teacher Training Course, and that this is going to take me until October 2017 to complete.  This week was the first time that my eighteen fellow students and I met,together we've and embarked on this rather wonderful course. 

The first weekend has been quite a challenge in some respects as there have been a lot of administrative discussions to have been had: being introduced to the online resources that will help us through the course; the homework assignments and deadline dates (and fines for late submission); the plagiarism policy; the ethics policy; the group behaviour policy and more.

This was quite daunting and I have felt slightly overwhelmed with the amount of learning I've committed to, and how much additional information I am going to have to digest.  I was thinking that I might have to spend today (my first day off for a number of weeks) getting myself organised as I was feeling a little panicked by it all. 

So on waking up, my plan was to spend time sorting things out, but first to check my social media. I was then taken by the following message that I saw on my facebook timeline from  Doreen Virtue:

The angels want you to know that they are watching over you, and they will guide you step-by-step as you release the old and welcome the new.Focus upon excitement about your new intentions, instead of fear about what may happen.Excitement energy will fuel your motivation and courage to make this important positive change.Hanging onto the old, for fear of what might happen, is not serving anyone. 

I'm not really into "angels" and things like that, but this caught my eye. I then laughed to myself because this is perfectly timed to remind me that I have started worrying over how much work I need to do, will I be able to fit it in with my current workload, and lots of other things that I do not need to let control me.

So with this insight and message, I decided to change my focus and enjoy the fact that:

1. I am embarking on a course that will let me learn more about myself, my body and push myself outside of my comfort zone.
2. I am going to make friends with the wide range of people that are also on the course with me.
3. I am going to learn from some amazing teachers about the wonderful style of yoga that has been inspired by Vanda Scaravelli and Mary Stewart.
4. I am going to have the opportunity to get over some fears and concerns that have had a hold on my life (like not talking clearly and standing up in front of people and telling them what to do)
5. I am going to become a yoga teacher.
6. I am going to enjoy the process and have a great time,
7. This is going to be so much fun.

So there are likely to be ups and downs in the time ahead, but I need to remember that this will ultimately be fun. I also need to remember that when things get tough that the thing to do is to get on my mat and do some yoga, talk to friends and remember it will all work out right in the end.

I just need to keep everything in perspective.

Stanmore Fridays and my yoga course (2015 - 2017)

I'm a course junkie, I admit it.  Next up is becoming a Yoga Teacher.

At the beginning of October 2015 I'm finishing the Advanced Clinical Diploma in Myofascial Release run by Myofascial Release UK  This has been something I'm working on for three years, with a lot of research and coursework this year and I'll be sharing the information about myofascial release and the fascia in general will be coming very shortly. Two weeks later I'm starting a two year course in Teaching Scaravelli Yoga with the LYTTG.

The Yoga Teacher Training course runs once per month on a Friday and Saturday from October 2015 until October 2017. The Friday will, unfortunately,  clash with my clinic at Stanmore Chiropractic Clinic. So my clients in Stanmore don't miss out, I have arranged that I will be running a replacement clinic for Myofascial Release, Sports Massage, Reiki etc, on a Tuesday afternoon (1:30pm - 7pm).

The list of affected Fridays and the replacement Tuesdays are below, but the clinic have all the dates and can help you book in for a treatment.

Call 0289548311 to book your appointment.

Friday's I'm not working (10am-7pm)	Replacement Tuesday (1:30pm - 7pm)
2015
16th October	13th October
20th November	17th November
11th December	8th December
2016
15th January	12th January
19th February	16th February
11th March	8th March
15th April	12th April
13th May	10th May
10th June	7th June
8th July	5th July
16th September	13th September
14th October	11th October
11th November	8th November
9th December	6th December
2017
13th January	10th January
10th February	7th February
10th March	7th March
8th April	5th April
12th May	9th May
9th June	6th June
14th July	11th July
15 Septemberr	12th September
13th October	10th October

Reiki and Relaxation: An explanation

Reiki and Relaxation

An Explanation of why and how it works!

What Reiki has become best known for, and most spoken about is its ability to provide deep

relaxation naturally, and without any side effects, impairments or contraindications. While most know Reiki to do this, few understand how Reiki achieves it, and fewer still have language to explain it.  This is because today Reiki is most commonly spoken about within the scope and context of spirituality and/or mediation. The problem with this however is that when you speak or teach Reiki within the context of spirituality or mediation, the practice of Reiki becomes a mystery, and when we accept and promote that, we continue to keep what was once known and understood about Reiki lost. The way then to regain the lost knowledge of Reiki, so that it can be used to better the lives of humans everywhere is to speak about, and teach Reiki for what it is, a form of Energy Medicine.

Everything starts and ends as energy. As such, the human form is made up of more than the physical body it also has a corresponding energy system. The most commonly known of the human energy systems is the aura, or as referred to by science as the bio-field. As people interact with the world they are a part of, they cannot help but be influenced by the many energies they come into contact with daily. As a result of our daily interactions, each of us will accumulate a sort of energy debris within our energy system. This debris, which often becomes stuck in our own energy field, creates imbalance. Simple imbalances within the energy field create the experience we commonly call tension. Our minds then, which have no choice but to respond to this tension, will create explanations for why we feel tense or out of balance. Reiki helps by naturally restoring balance where imbalance has occurred. In doing this, Reiki, in a sense resets our energy system. Relaxation then comes as a result of this rebalancing, and this rebalancing occurs both within the aura and in physical body.

When our bodies are in a state of relative balance, we can relax naturally and on demand. When our bodies are in a state of imbalance, we require outside influences to help us relax. This form of artificial relaxation comes in many forms including food, drink, recreational and prescription drugs, sex, excessive exercise, and many other known forms, which may simulate a sense of relaxation, but comes at a price to the individual as it only compounds the state of imbalance by introducing more imbalance that the individual has to find ways to compensate for.

For this reason, natural relaxation will always be preferable to the human form than artificial relaxation, for one is working within the natural ebb and flow of our biology and energy while the other is working against it. One of the easiest and most effective ways to relax naturally, and with little effort or time, is through a self-care regime that includes giving yourself Reiki, even if it is for only 10-15 minutes each day. Additionally the benefits of using Reiki is cumulative meaning the more you use it the more responsive your energy system becomes to it and so greater ease is found and the toll daily tension takes on you in your life becomes naturally less and easier to manage.

If you are attuned to Reiki, you can start right now by placing a cupped Reiki hand anywhere on your body. I suggest starting where you hand naturally wants to be placed. If you are not attuned to channel Reiki energy yourself, you have options: You can become attuned by receiving a Reiki attunement from a Reiki Master Teacher, or you can receive regular Reiki treatments from a local Reiki professional in your area.

You can read more on understanding Reiki as a form of Energy Medicine, in Understanding Reiki: FromSelf-Care to Energy Medicine by Chyna Honey.

Written 18th January 2015 by Chyna Honey, Reiki Master and Author

Let it Go! Let it Go! (Nothing to do with Frozen)

"Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go"

Lyrics from Disney's Frozen*

Unwinding is one of the three core techniques to the John F Barnes style of Myofascial Release along with Cross Hands Releases and Rebounding.  It seems to be the body releasing stored traumatic events and can appear incredibly freaky to the unaware.  It can seem to be like someone is possessed (like in the Exorcist) with heads spinning (apparently) uncontrollably, arms flailing and legs windmilling all over the place.

I first experienced someone unwind on me on my first morning of my first Myofascial Release Course in 2012.  Gently pulling someone's leg and the next thing I know I'm barely holding on and then they're going up into a shoulder stand (on a narrow massage couch in the middle of the room).  The capable teach brought that episode under control and I suddenly realised that all the other students were staring at me and the person on the couch as if we were completely mad.  It felt perfectly natural as I was working on, with just me trying to work out where I needed to be and what the patient needed to allow this to go on.  Some of my fellow students looked like they had just witnessed something from another planet and seemed to be quite horrified and scared of the process, whilst others were just jealous.

As a closed mouth, emotionally repressed Englishman, I always thought it would be a struggle to be able to actually unwind, and that it was very unlikely to happen to me and certainly not in some acrobatic scene-stealing way that would make me the centre of attention.  The first crack appeared on the Breast Health workshop, when my shoulder and arm started windmilling around.  It was a most incredible sensation I was in control, but not in control of my body, I knew it wasn't the therapist working on me doing the movements, she was merely assisting.  I felt great afterwards and quite happy that that is what was going to happen for me with unwinding: small, gentle movements, nothing dramatic. I was wrong.

At the most recent MFRUK course I suddenly found my body unwinding.  I had said at lunchtime (in response to someone who said that unwinding freaked the out) that "I don't unwind and most unlikely at this course"; my body disagreed.  This was just the right place and time for an unwind.

So what happened during my unwind?  Well it started off normally, but then I just had to roll over onto my front (with a bit of an uppity moment when my arms were in the way) then the exorcist moment happened: my legs moved upwards towards vertical like a contortionist from Cirque De Soleil (being face down and in the zone I don't know exactly how far they actually went), this happened a couple of times and then my pelvis was held in position by the therapist working on me and my legs went beserk and into a full lotus position, and then the unwind completed.

How did it happen? I am not certain and it does not happen with everyone and in every session.  It occurs when the client's body is in the right place and time, and the mind is in a focussed and calm zone.  It then happens, and like the song there is no other option other than to let it go, you really can't hold it back any more.  Not being able to hold it back? That's not exactly true as you can engage the mind to stop and come out of the unwind if it felt more than the client and/or the therapist can handle or if the situation is wrong (which is what happened on my first experience.)



I will say that it definitely felt like someone had hold of my legs, and they were in control of what they were doing, but I knew it was me.  I could also see memories from an incident when I was at university that was being relived.  I used to be flexible enough that one of my party pieces was going into full lotus position, walking on my knees in it or haning from a chin up bar.  The incident that I was reliving was one time when I was hanging upside-down from the chin up bar in lotus position and my grip went.  Panic set in as I was unable to release my legs, I think I ended up hanging by one arm as I managed to get out of it but that is what I released.

Afterwards I felt hot, exhausted and absolutely fantastic. It truly felt like a burden had been lifted, and I had been doing the lifting, but there was a complete freedom from something that I couldn't have named before.. There was, and still is, an amazing looseness to my hips that has been missing for years.  Full Lotus still escapes me, but I feel like I am much closer and less fearful working towards it in a sensible way (rather than in bad way I did with the exuberabnce of youth)

So now I'm really looking foward to the two day Unwinding Course I'm doing with Myofascial Release UK in November 2014.

*Sorry to all of those sufferers who are now singing the song in their heads. But this line really does feel right for this posting. At least I've not asked you to build a snowman...

A matter of life and breath

Try this little experiment (and don't force it): You'll need to have a clock handy with a second hand to count how long you hold your breath.  Start by breathing normally for a minute or so, don't try to change anything just trying to be calm. Then breathe out and don't breathe in until you feel like you really need to (this is the bit you should not force) and time how long between the end of the exhalation and the inhalation.

The reason I'm suggesting you do this is inspired by a talk I went to on Breathing Pattern Disorders by Leon Chaitow (an Osteopath that has written the textbooks on virtually all techniques used by bodyworkers) and there were some real eye openers on how common this could be.

How long did you manage? 10 seconds? 20 seconds? 30 seconds? more? Apparently we should be able to hold our breaths for approximately 30 seconds with ease, however most of us find this difficult.  My own score this morning was 20 seconds. This means that we are breathing too much so we could be suffering from Hyperventilation Syndrome (HVS) and this is a problem as we are expelling too much Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from our bodies.

Most of us know that we breathe in oxygen (O2) and breathe out CO2 as a waste product, but the level of CO2 in our blood plays an important role in our systems as it helps to keep our body at a particular pH balance between acid/alkali (within a very specific range).  If this pH balance becomes took alkali then the haemoglobin in the Red blood cells struggle to let go of the O2 that our body needs to function properly. Symptoms can range from headaches, lethagy, neck ache, back ache, and anxiety amongst many others.

Some of the other things that were interesting from the talk were that this mostly affects type 1 personalities, it is more common in women (and progesterone raises women's breathing rate during their menstrual cycle), that this can have far reaching consequences on the quality of our life.

What happens is that we breathe into the top of our chests rather than using the diaphragm to fill the whole lung cavity.  This then has a knock on impact on the stability of the low back (through the "core" muscles of the obliques, transversus abdominus and pelvic floor) and through fascial connections to the limbs as well because we are not using things properly.
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Our bodies become habituated to the level of O2 and alkali in the blood so any changes to this can induce feelings of anxiety (which will then negatively feed back to more hyperventilation) and so trying to retrain needs to be a long slow approach: 5 minutes each morning and night as a focussed effort but forgetting about it and getting on with your life the rest of the time.

In his talk Leon Chaitow showed us a video of retraining (The Nutri Centre filmed the whole talk and it is available in its entirity on their YouTube Channel) but the first part is to focus on the out breath for short periods. This is done by using the pursed lips exhalation.  You put your lips together and blow a thin stream of air our, gently as if you were blowing out a candle about 1 foot away (put your finger there to feel it) and you empty the lungs as fully as you can.  Close your mouth and count for 1 second before you breathe in through your nose.  Do this for 20 cycles of breathing morning and night for a week and then try holding your breathe to see if there is a difference.

You can find the video on The Nutri Centre website here.

An object lesson in the Myofascial Web

One of the key ideas about the myofascial network is that it is a continuous web that surrounds, envelops and defines the elements (muscles, bones, organs) of the body and that what happens in one part of it has an effect on every other part of the body.  It is something that I discuss with my clients all the time and they are amazed when they feel that this is the case.  Over the last couple of weeks I've been painfully shown how interconnected the body's connective tissue is.

I arrived at my Stanmore clinic one morning limping because of a sharp pain in my left knee, every step was agony.  Adam (one of the chiropractor's) checked it and put some tape on it to provide some stability whilst I got on with my clinic. Later, when I had more time, I got another Chiropractor (Owain at Clerkenwell Chiropractic) to check it fully, with no apparent structural problems, thankfully.  I am now working with Owain to rehab the knee to finally resolve the instability, however I really need to work on myself to clear out the myofascial restrictions that will have formed both this time and in the build up to this crisis.

This particular knee issue has been happening for many, many years.  Over a decade ago my best friend got married, for the stag do we went paint-balling. All was going well until at the start of one game I was sprinting for cover, my left ankle gave way and I fell forwards.  Apparently, though I do not remember, it was a spectacular dive and roll into cover that my friends thought was really impressive; I didn't care as I was screaming in agony.  I had to be helped off game area and that was the end of my day paint-balling.  Unfortunately I was the driver, and it was a manual car.  I had to drive home in rush hour through London in a manual car using my injured foot on the clutch.  That night I put a compression bandage and elevated it, putting cold towels on it and that was really all the rehab I did at the time (this was a long time before I was a body worker).  Oh, and there's going to be an emotional element to it as it caused me a lot of grief at work because I took a week off work as I couldn't drive, but that's a different story.

So the reason I'm writing this is that the cause of a lot of my issues come from an ankle that was badly hurt over 10 years ago that I did nothing about.  This time it was the knee that has been hurting, and this has flared up periodically over the last 10 years.  I've usually popped pills and the pain goes after a couple of days, so that means it had gotten better or that is what I thought was the case.

This time I noticed something: I could feel the whole of the left side of my body tighten up.  Having seen a number of Chiropractors and Osteopaths over the years I am aware that I have a functionally short left leg, which means that my pelvis is twisted that causes low back pain, that then travels up into my neck, head and then my jaw and then to my sinus and the dreaded pain that that causes me.

This time I could feel that there had been a preceding tightness in my lower leg running up from the outer side of my ankle, the knee was then being pulled out of place because of that.  This then causes the hip to tighten, pulling inwards causing tension across the pelvic muscles, causing the Sacro-iliac joint to grumble.  The left side of my ribs then collapse down and a muscle in my back threatens to spasm.  I can then feel that the left shoulder is pulled out of place, which I ignore as it's always a bit sore but that's only because of my job, it then hits the base of the skull and over to my jaw, which causes the sinus to become incredibly painful.

So this time I'm going to do something about it.  I've already had a couple of very productive rehab sessions with Owain (thelondonchiro.com) who I'm lucky enough to work with at Clerkenwell Chiropractic and he has been putting me through my paces (and introducing me to the torture device that is a red bouncy hemisphere [pictured]) and I'm really glad to have been doing it.  Yoga has definitely helped, as it has all the way through, and the wonderful Bridget (bridgeyoga.co.uk) is really good at making sure I do not hurt myself.  I've been working on myself with some Myofascial stretches as well, but think I really need to find someone local to me to help out more.  In the meantime I've been having more massages, which are always very nice. In combination all of these approaches have been really helping me.