Winning Hands Massage

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Energy Medicine – Eastern and Western Perspectives

Fascia

But there is still one really big, missing piece of the puzzle and that is the fascial structure in the body. Fascia IS the connective tissue of the body. It can be almost watery and transparent like the covering over the eyes to thick, hard and gristly like the fascial tendons of the lower back, and every degree in between. But whatever the consistency, it is one continuous sheet throughout the entire body. It literally wraps every muscle, organ, bone, vessel and cell. It is not your skeleton that allows you to stand upright – it is your fascial structure. It is one continuous, unbroken sheet that extends throughout the entire body, right down to the cellular level. It links EVERYTHING together. And it is the only structure in the body that does. Most of it runs longitudinally simply because that is the basic structure of the body. There are, however, what are called Transverse Fascial Planes that run horizontally. There is not a 100 percent direct overlap, but there is a very close correspondence between the Transverse Fascial Planes and the seven major Chakras. Six of the planes correspond precisely with the location of primary Chakras: Groin, Sacrum, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat and Third Eye. The 7th plane runs around the head under the jaw line and there is no corresponding fascial plane for the Crown Chakra. I personally do not for one minute believe that it is mere coincidence. Nor do I believe it is coincidental that they also match the body’s physical and psychological “armoring segments” as discussed in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy.

Electron microscope dissections which have been done in Japan have identified very fine filaments embedded in the fascia, right down to the cellular level. It is the belief in Japan (and one which I personally share), that these filaments are in fact the meridians and other energetic pathways. From a western perspective, studies conducted back East have shown a definite correlation of acupoints to specific locations IN THE FASCIA. In other words, the fascial system of the body is also the energetic transport structure. I consider the results I get for such things as fascial release by doing nothing more than holding a couple of acupoints for energetic balance to be very strong evidentiary support for this theory.

If the meridians and charkas in fact (a) do exist and (b) are embedded in the fascia, then the fascia (the connective tissue) becomes the carrier for the body’s energetic information system. There is a growing scientific based belief that the “mind” (whatever the mind actually is) is not in fact located in the brain after all. There has been some recent hard science research that seems to bear this out. In other words, the fascia provides the body’s infrastructure for the body’s energy system as well its structural framework. There are enormous ramifications and implications for just physical dysfunctions with the fascia. And we add energetic components to that?

The belief/position/whatever held by many energetic body-workers is that the mind is in fact a function of the connective tissue. Everything I have read and been taught says that both (a) and (b) are true – and everything I have experienced with my hands and mind the last few months not only supports that belief to my personal satisfaction, it makes me also personally lean very heavily toward a mind-fascia connection.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, there is zero MEANINGFUL instruction in medical schools about the fascial system. From what I have heard, the extent of instruction is simply to acknowledge that there is something called fascia, but nothing about what it really does and the implications of fascial dysfunction.

I am personally absolutely convinced that the fascial system is THE key which will ultimately unlock the door to understanding causes and developing cures for many, many chronic, debilitating conditions, including the autoimmune disorders, for which Western medical science does not as yet have a clue.

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