For years, fascia was something we barely thought about, often described as the connective tissue that wrapped around everything or the body’s internal packaging, but fascia is far more interesting than that.
Increasingly, researchers are discovering that fascia isn’t simply structural tissue holding us together. It is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels and contains a remarkable number of sensory receptors. It can detect mechanical changes and communicate information to the nervous system so appears to play a much bigger role than just the body’s scaffolding. I listened to a podcast the other day where it was called the body’s communication network (or at least one of them) – I like that description 😃
So, what exactly is fascia?
Fascia is a continuous network of connective tissue that surrounds and connects structures throughout the body. It wraps around muscles and organs, travels through and between muscles, and connects different regions of the body. This matters because the body doesn’t really behave like a collection of isolated parts. For example, when you move your shoulder, you’re not only moving your shoulder, you’re changing tension and pressure through tissues that connect with your upper back, ribs, neck and arm.
And fascia isn’t simply transmitting forces, it’s also sensing them. Fascial tissues contain sensory receptors involved in proprioception — our awareness of where our body is in space — and interoception, our awareness of what’s happening inside our body. The information being gathered is communicated to the nervous system.
Why is this interesting for Yin?
Yin gives us something particularly useful when we’re thinking about fascia: time. Rather than repeatedly moving in and out of postures, we settle into a relatively passive position and stay there for several minutes. This creates a sustained sensory experience. Our nervous system is receiving information about pressure, position, tension and movement, while we have time to actually notice it.
There is still much we don’t know about exactly what happens to fascia during a Yin posture, so I think it’s important not to overstate the science. What we can say though is that gentle mechanical loading provides sensory information to the body, and fascia is one of the tissues involved in detecting and transmitting that information, and Yin gives us time to listen.
Fascia and the nervous system
Fascial tissue is closely connected with the nervous system, and researchers are increasingly interested in its relationship with the autonomic nervous system and our responses to stress. That doesn’t mean we can say that a particular Yin posture “activates the parasympathetic nervous system” or “releases stress from your fascia”. The body is much more complicated than that.
But it does suggest that the mechanical and sensory information coming from our tissues is part of a much bigger conversation between the body and the nervous system. Yin creates an environment where we can pay attention to that conversation – we slow down, breathe, become still and notice sensation without immediately reacting to it.
And what about hormones?
This is another fascinating area of emerging research. Fascial tissue contains receptors for various hormones and neurotransmitters, and researchers are investigating how fascia interacts with the nervous, endocrine and immune systems. The endocrine system is essentially the body’s hormone communication system. Hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, oestrogen, insulin and thyroid hormones carry messages around the body through the bloodstream.
We can’t say a particular Yin posture causes fascia to release a particular hormone — the research doesn’t support that. What’s more interesting is the possibility that fascia is one of the tissues involved in the communication between mechanical signals, the nervous system, hormones and other systems of the body. So that humble connective tissue we once thought of as packaging may be much more active than we realised.
Why you might feel different after Yin
Have you ever finished a Yin class and felt as though your whole body has changed? Perhaps your hips feel more spacious, your back feels different or your shoulders suddenly feel less tense. Or perhaps nothing feels particularly different physically, but your whole body feels quieter.
It’s tempting to put all of this down to “releasing fascia”, but there probably isn’t one single explanation. Changes in muscle tone, joint position, circulation, sensory input, breathing, attention and nervous system activity may all contribute, with fascia likely being part of that picture.
This is why I liked the phrase in the podcast about thinking of fascia as a communication network rather than simply something we need to stretch or compress.
Your body isn’t a collection of separate pieces
One of the most useful things fascia teaches us is to think differently about the body. A sensation in your hamstring doesn’t necessarily mean that your hamstring is the problem – I know this from personal experience when I had hamstring pain for about 3 years but not a single scan (of the area or surrounding areas) showed there was anything wrong with it.
A tight shoulder doesn’t necessarily exist in isolation from your ribs, spine, breathing or the way you use the rest of your body. The tissues of the body are connected, although some of the popular “fascial line” theories have stronger evidence behind them than others. Researchers are still investigating exactly how these connections function in a living, moving body.
But the bigger principle remains: the body is interconnected and Yin gives us an opportunity not just to learn about that interconnected-ness (if that’s a word), but to experience it.
So, what does Yin actually do for fascia?
There is promising research around fascia, mechanical loading, sensory receptors, pain, proprioception, interoception and the interaction between connective tissue and the nervous system. What Yin does give us is an opportunity to gently load the tissues, explore different ranges of movement, notice changes in sensation and develop greater body awareness. Most importantly, it gives us time to become curious about what we’re feeling rather than immediately trying to change it.
So the next time you’re in a Yin posture, instead of thinking just about the area you’re stretching perhaps ask “what information is my body giving me?” because maybe fascia isn’t simply holding us together, maybe it’s helping us communicate with ourselves.
See you soon in the cabin!
Michelle
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