In my last blog, I spoke about electromagnetism, energetic polarity and why pain patterns and imbalances present on left vs right sides of the body. This blog builds upon that basis of energetic anatomy with a deeper dive into how and why emotions, thought patterns, traumas and early conditionings (unseen energetic aspects) get stored and processed in the body. It all takes place in your body’s myofascial network, the layers and bands of electrically conducive soft tissue that encompasses your entire physical being and acts as a bridge between your physical and energetic anatomy.
“Everything is connected” is a phrase you have most likely heard from a bodyworker or other holistic practitioner. The truth of this statement becomes much more apparent once fascia, its role and function, is clearly understood. In order to perceive how the body/mind/soul functions as a whole unit, how it is all connected, which is the basis for ‘holistic’ healing, we must look at the fascia and learn how it operates and functions as a physical bridge to your energetic anatomy. Doing so opens up a whole new world of understanding how your subtle anatomy (chakras, subtle/electromagnetic field, meridians etc) interfaces and co-creates with your physical body which totally influences the quality of your health and wellbeing.
According to the work of Thomas Myers, author of Anatomy Trains and leading expert in America in the field of fascia research and manual therapist technique development, there are 12 main “myofascial meridians”, which are bands of fascia that connect parts of the body seamlessly, encompassing all the muscle groups, organs and other bodily systems in their path. These myofascial bands are “lines of pull” which distribute strain, transmit force and affect the structure and function of the body. Imagine a rubber band that stretches around your neck, criss-crosses through your pelvis to the bottoms of your feet. With this visualization in mind, it is much easier to grasp how an issue in one of your hips could be physiologically connected or impacted by something going on in your foot, and how the organs and systems in its path can also be impacted by strain, tension and misalignment in this line of pull. This is also how pelvic misalignment can show up as neck and jaw pain. While these lines of pull are specific ways your fascia interweaves to physically connect certain parts of the body, impacting posture, alignment and range of motion, in its broadest sense, fascia is the biological fabric that holds your body together. Fascia encompasses and comprises everything in your body, all muscles, body systems, organs, veins, arteries, nerves, and bones, influencing their form and function.
Yet, fascia is much more than just a woven net of tissue that holds your physical being together. If you’ve ever had an emotional release from a bodywork session or from doing a certain yoga posture or moving your body in a certain way, this is because fascia is also responsible for how emotional energy gets stored in the body. Fascia holds space for the intersection of the nervous system and energetic anatomy which is influenced greatly by your thought and emotion patterns, upbringing, experiences, and past traumas that have not been fully resolved. Fascia is the web of connection, a hub of interconnectivity, between the physical and energetic aspects of the body mostly due to the fact that it conducts electricity, “the most conductive light-matrix is the connective tissue, the largest organ in the body […] The collagen molecules are also interesting in that they are semiconductors, able to convey electricity and information. The connective tissue can therefore process information just like the semiconductor chips in your computer” (Dale 50). Fascia is comprised mostly of collagen and layers of fascia are sandwiched by a liquid called ‘hyaluronan’.
This re-emerging truth of the ‘electric body’ is bubbling into the awareness of the holistic health community more and more. It is the basis for why sound and frequency/vibrational healing is effective, why the body is affected by harmful environmental emfs, why your heart can be rebooted with a defibrillator, how MRIs and ultrasounds work. Your nerves fire electrical impulses and your body emits light. This electrical activity produces magnetic fields which become the basis for the body’s subtle bodies, ‘aura’, or ‘biofield’. Your electrical circuitry, namely the nervous system, is totally interwoven in the hydro-collagen rich electrically conductive fascial network; your fascia is more innervated than the brain. Your subtle body - the chakras, meridians and electromagnetic field etc. - communicates to your physical body through the nervous system housed in the fascia, “the connective tissue is therefore considered one of the primary participants in the subtle energy anatomy, interlinking the bio photon and quantum, or subtle, with the physical” (Dale 50). Your energetic and physical bodies are in constant communication, informed and influenced by your thoughts and emotions.
Your nerves, as interwoven in the fabric of fascia throughout your body, come together at certain ‘plexus’ points. These nerve plexus points are often where acupuncturists place their needles to stimulate and regulate energy flow within a muscle, organ or body system, although the meridians themselves are separate from the nerves. Yet, the Traditional Chinese Medicine meridian system is also housed within your fascia. Meridians are superhighways of what some researchers call ‘interstitial microscopic fluid channels’. Your chakras also interface with the nervous system through major nerve plexuses at the spinal column. Where there is greater electrical/nervous system activity, greater light is generated, and ‘Chakra' literally means ‘spinning wheel of light’. They are electromagnetic frequencies and colors that correspond to developmental stages, emotions, qualities of experience, consciousness exploration, and body systems/glands. Chakras are sources of subtle energy for the body, informants to the body and its systems, as well as energetic transmuters/filters. When an experience, thought or emotion isn’t brought through a full somatic release, integration or ‘healing’, then that information can lay ‘dormant’ in your energy field, operating as a background frequency or ‘program’ that subtly informs your body and colors your life experiences over time. The particular thought/emotion/past experience will be filtered through its corresponding chakra, relayed to the nerve plexus, and manifested in the fascia, held as "charge" until that charge is neutralized, dispersed, released and resolved. Because the fascia encompasses all organs/systems/glands, the particular body system and/or gland in that area may be affected. For your reference and self inquiry, at the end of this blog is a simple chart of the main chakras and the emotion(s), life stage, areas of body, gland and body system(s) each are correlated with.
So, when you work with your own myofascial system through yoga, self massage, dance or see a professional for body work or somatic therapy, know that you are doing so much more for yourself than simple physical maintenance. The fabric of your being, of where you’ve been, who you are, how you perceive and what you believe about yourself and your life circumstances, what you’ve released and transmuted into wisdom, is all evident and made manifest in the hyper intelligent, energetically sensitive, electrically conducive, soft tissue system that holds space and presence for it all - your fascia.
Tips for building and maintaining healthy fascia:
-collagen rich foods/supplements
-adequate intake and balance of trace minerals
-hydration!
-stretching, yoga, pilates, functional movement + strengthening
-epsom salt baths/floatation therapy
-myofascial release, massage + related manual therapies
-craniosacral therapy + somatic release
-acupuncture/acupressure
-pulse electromagnetic therapy
-sauna, cold plunge
-adequate relaxation/down time
-spend time in nature
-circadian rhythm regulation + brain wave entrainment
-PEMF therapy (pulse electromagnetic therapy)
-fully feeling your emotions when they arise, bringing them to ‘resolution’ so the charge isn't stored in your fascia.
**A big example of fascial response to nervous system stimuli is stress. If you have ever been scared, acutely or chronically stressed - mentally/emotionally - you may notice that your fascia and therefore muscles tense up, withdrawing and storing energy and charge for a flight or fight scenario. If you are nervous, you may feel your belly tense up and you get stomach aches. Chronic tension and stored stress can lead to anxiety, depression, gastrointestinal issues and more. These are all signs you are caught in a cycle of nervous system imbalance as your body is responding to the constant activation and conditioning of your sympathetic nervous system. This keeps your fascia in a 'wound and bound' position.
Chakra + Physical Body Correspondence Chart
Root:
Emotions: Fear, belonging, safety, unsettled, survival, uncertainty, groundedness
Life stage: Earliest upbringing, birth
Areas of body: legs, feet, knees, tailbone, lower pelvis, low back
Gland, organs, Body system: adrenal glands, urinary/bladder, kidneys, large intestine, sciatic nerves and nervous system
Sacral:
Emotions: rigidity, porous boundaries, frustration, disappointment, worry, numb or detached, intimacy, pleasure, playfulness, receptivity
Life Stage: Toddler, Childhood
Areas of body: hips, lower abdomen, pelvis, mid-low back, sacrum,
Gland, organs, systems: Ovaries/testes, reproductive, lymphatic
Solar Plexus:
Emotions: Anger, resentment, will power, self belief, self worth, personal fortitude, productivity, Excitement, nervousness, instinct
Life Stage: teenage years
Areas of body: abdomen, mid-back,
Gland, organs, systems: pancreas, digestive process, liver/gallbladder/appendix/ stomach
Heart:
Emotions: Grief, sadness, joy, connection, union and communion, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, contentment, unconditional love, peace
Life Stage: Early adulthood
Areas of Body: Chest, mid-upper back, shoulder blades, arms and hands
Gland, Organs, systems: Thymus, heart, circulatory system
Throat:
Emotions: self expression, purpose, individuality, authenticity, speaking your truth, power of your words and tone, self esteem
Life Stage: Later adulthood
Areas of Body: Jaw, throat, cervical spine, top of shoulders, teeth, ears
Gland, organs, systems: Thyroid, larynx, respiratory system
Third Eye:
Emotions: clarity, confusion, doubt, hindsight, foresight, stability, focus, dissociation, concentration, alertness, intuition, insight, perception + beliefs, self reflection
Life Stage: eldership
Area of body: Head, cranial sutures, atlas/axis, eyes
Gland, organ, system: Pineal, circadian rhythms,
Crown:
Emotions: Interconnectedness to the earth and all of life, heightened awareness, gratitude, acceptance, devotion, inspiration, higher thought, mystical connection
Life Stage: consciousness expansion and connection to all there is, transitionary stages - birth/death
Area of body: top of head
Gland, Organ, System: Pituitary gland, master gland, brain wave patterns.