Fascia, or myofascia (so called when it comprises a muscle, whose Latin word is “mio”) is part of the connective tissue that surrounds all our bones, organs, tendons, ligaments and muscles.
Under a microscope, fascia resembles a spider's web – it stretches throughout the body, a holistic system with no beginning and no end. It is called “movement tissue”, which gives shape to our body, integrating all parts and where the largest number of sensitive cells are found.
In a healthy state, fascia is relaxed and flexible. It has the ability to stretch and move without restrictions, allowing us to perform different types of movement without pain. When it is too contracted, whether due to stress, trauma, emotional difficulties, postural patterns, it can cause a series of problems such as headaches, muscle pain, spasms, chronic pain in the spine, neck, sciatica, etc.
Energetic Myofascial Release (MER) acts on the cause of pain, the contracted tissue, with a deep and sensitive touch. As we release these tensions, aided by breathing, the tissue receives nourishment again, and energy flows. The work, with depth and at the same time softness, helps the body to remember its internal spaces, awakening our capacity for self-healing. In the long run, bodily and emotional patterns change; body, mind and soul reintegrate in a state of deep relaxation.
In English the term deep bodywork refers to this type of work, which is not just a massage, because the client has an active role during the session. In energetic myofascial release, the therapist gives instructions on breathing, asks questions so that the client awakens body awareness and also works with movement, spontaneously and freely, and the expression of emotions. Both therapist and client enter a meditative state of presence in the here and now.
In this way, deep bodywork is science, art and meditation. The first contact I had with this type of work was when I received a session, around 2007, if memory serves me right. And the experience was extraordinary: I had never felt so good inside myself! In 2015 I learned about energetic myofascial release, in a training with the creator of the technique, Satyarthi Deva, in France. And then a whole world opened up to me.
Learning the technique and receiving sessions from my companions, I realized that everything was in the body – the answers I was looking for were there, inside me; the physical body also encompassed the emotional and spiritual body, universes where I, shaman of myself, could come and go. Everything we seek is already in us and we can have this perception when we are really present, alive in the here and now. And in that moment I glimpsed what freedom was for me. To feel that the body is our home, to feel complete, with deep roots that embrace the earth and great wings to fly, as Master Osho says. All this in an effortless atmosphere and with pleasure, support, joy and, above all, love.
Over the years, I have often witnessed the same sensations in the words of clients after a session – coming home, inhabiting it, returning to the heart, to a state of relaxation and presence from where, I believe, we can build our best actions and being. in the world. In the end, this is the main objective of this work.
