How does yoga work on the fasciae?

Fascia are membranes that cover and connect muscles, organs and bones. They are essential for optimal performance and overall health. The practice of yoga is an ideal exercise to work this important part of the body.

The fasciae could be interpreted as a fabric that separates the different parts of the body. They are from your head to the tips of your toes and are composed of collagen fibers and elastic fibers suspended in ground substance (a viscous liquid).

Collagen is tough, and elastic fibers are flexible, so fasciae are in turn a tough and flexible connective tissue, generally dynamic.

Fasciae: what are they and how do they affect you?

The fasciae are divided into three, superficial, deep and visceral.

Superficial: the deepest layer of the skin, called the hypodermis, contains many fat cells that help maintain the body's temperature, protecting it from the cold.
Deep: is a thin, translucent membrane that envelops and separates the muscles and organs from each other. They allow muscles to stretch and contract without friction due to their liquid and slippery consistency.
Visceral: the deep fascia that lines the internal organs.
Fascia can be injured in two ways: adhesions and scarring.

The former refers to when two different structures are joined together, sticking to each other and resulting in adhesion. This happens when there is little movement or repetitive movements that generate shortening of muscle mobility or stiffness.

Scars, on the other hand, are generated as a consequence of a strong injury of the fascia tissue, producing an excess of collagen to repair the injury generating the scar; affecting in the long term the organic mobility of the affected area.

How the myofascial chain behaves

The myofascial chain is a tension line formed by the connective tissue that generates the structural force required to carry out the movement.

They are also known as tensegrity lines, and refers to the fact that they give the quality that some structures maintain their integrity thanks to the balance of continuous tension forces present in them, implying that integrity rests on the balance of tension.

Following this line, muscular pains are not isolated conditions that are worked on the specific affected area, but on any part of the fascia.

Therefore, just as a hip pain can be the result of a sprained foot or a scar in the knee, the myofascial chain connects the physical body and emotional conditions.

No ailment is only local, when maintained over time it becomes a problem that affects your entire system: your posture, the one you maintain when you are relaxed or when you exercise, directly and indirectly affects your muscles, your bones, your organs, your circulation, your immune system, your emotions and in general your well-being.

Yoga as a tool to take care of your fasciae

The hurried world of the 21st century keeps your body intoxicated in many ways, affecting in turn, your fasciae or connective muscle tissue.

The intoxication is usually generated by pesticides, chemicals and a high concentration of cortisol in the blood (a lot of stress), causing the fascia to lose elasticity and hydration.

The tensions accumulated in the body produce patterns adapted to your personality. In other words, they take into account your own characteristics and are reflected at the visceral level.

If the tensions remain constant and over a long period of time, they generate postural habits that spread to your muscles and finally to the fasciae.

The fasciae record in their "files" your emotional and mental impressions. Therefore, yoga has the ability to modify or improve your body alignment, readjusting the fascia-brain relationship.

In other words, yoga allows you to modify or re-educate your own biomechanics through the fasciae.

Through postures sustained for a period of time (isometric exercise) or in movement (isodynamic) you could modify your postural parameters improving your biomechanics.

Yoga keeps your fasciae healthy because you perform varied movements and special stretches that allow you to release the tensions of the connective tissue, giving it back the flexibility and fluidity it needs.

Complementary tools to work the fasciae

The practice of yoga offers you different tools to care for and keep your connective tissue healthy, among them are:

• Myofascial release.
• Slow and conscious movements within a sequence.
• Understanding the weight of the body on the muscles.
• Passive stretches held for a long time to relax the entire muscle (yin yoga).
• Activation of the muscles while stretching at the same time.
• Eccentric concentrations in which the muscle lengthens and contracts at the same time.
• Jumps and tensions that favor pressure changes.

A combination of these activities, in conjunction with other types of exercise such as breathing, cardio or strength training, will give you better results in keeping your fasciae healthy.

1. Practice breathing

Consciously breathing (or re-learning to breathe) oxygenates fascia tissue.

Vary your movement

Repetitive movements hurt your fasciae! It is also advisable to vary your movements and make them diverse, otherwise, your tissues get used to the same routine and begin to weaken, being more prone to injury.

3. Always stretch before exercising

Stretch, but don't do it all at once. When you don't stretch, your fasciae stiffen and stiffen, limiting the movement and flexibility of your muscles. Start integrating stretching into your routines little by little to take care of your connective tissue.

4. Nutrition and hydration are fundamental

Although it sounds like a broken record: eat healthy and hydrate. Include enough water in your diet to keep your fasciae hydrated like a sponge.

5. Don't underestimate the power of rest

Rest helps your connective tissue rebuild favorably. If you don't maintain the habit of resting, you interrupt your process.

In general, practicing yoga (and in particular yin yoga) allows you to maintain proper postures for long periods of time, giving you greater mobility and healthier fasciae. This contributes to restoring and/or maintaining their flexibility and fluidity.

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