In the world of yoga, where movement meets awareness, there's a hidden conductor orchestrating an emotional symphony within us, - the fascia.
In this article, we’ll dive into what fascia is, and learn how unexpressed-emotions find a dwelling place in our bodies. Then we’ll explore how targeted fascial work in some yoga practices can facilitate emotional release, offering a pathway towards healing trauma.
What Is Fascia?
In the glorious tapestry of the human body, new scientific understandings of fascia have unveiled a crucial chapter in the story of well-being.
Fascia is an intricate, three-dimensional web of connective tissue inside our bodies.
Like the endocannabinoid system, fascia connects and fosters communication with every organ and tissue.
Our new understanding of fascia creates a paradigm in which we see the whole-body as an organism, instead of a system of body parts. We used to hold the reductionist view that each part of the body was separate, but fascia shows us that we aren’t separate parts. The knee bone really is connected to the thigh bone, as the childhood song goes.
For this reason alone, fascia is amazing. It allows movement, stability, mobility, structure, and interconnection. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. As we learn about how fascia hold emotions, and the endocannabinoid receptors that lay along our fascia lines, the potential for healing through our long-held poses in Ganja Yoga becomes even more apparent.
Fascia And Emotions
Beyond its physical role in supporting and connecting tissues, fascia is a silent keeper of all of our emotional imprints.
Hippie New Age talk about “the issues being in the tissues” is starting to be recognized by western science. The pioneering work of Dr. Candace Pert in the late 20th century highlighted the presence of neuropeptides, the biochemical messengers of emotion, in the fascia. Many of us have experienced feeling vulnerable or raw after a deep massage or yoga class, perhaps in touch with anger or sadness, or other emotions, without an apparent reason.
We now understand that long-held stretches and compressions on the body are dislodging emotions that never had the opportunity to be expressed. As we remove these old emotions from our fascia we experience them, even if the cause is years or even decades old. This has huge implications for trauma recovery.
Why We Store Emotions
Unlike other animals, where emotional tension gets “released” immediately after a conflict (think of ducks that flap their wings a few times to “brush off” the tension after a squabble), modern human animals are conditioned to ignore stressors at the conscious level.
For the most part, we don’t even experience stressful emotions, let alone release them constructively. As such, these daily stresses that are unconscious to our minds are registered by the body. Without expression, the emotions get stored in the fascia.
Targeted practices such as myofascial release (compression with tennis balls), and long-held yoga poses (like Yin and Ganja Yoga), can facilitate the unwinding of these emotional imprints.
Through this process, individuals often experience a heightened sense of emotional release.
This is a good thing.
Things are finally being allowed to flow.
If you need support after the class (beyond journaling and tapping), it might be wise to reach out to a trusted friend, integration circle, or therapist.
The Endocannabinoid System & Fascia
What adds a layer of significance to the role of fascia and emotional release is the intriguing connection between fascia and the endocannabinoid system (ECS).
Recent studies suggest that endocannabinoid receptors are present throughout the various layers of fascia, hinting at an interplay between the ECS and the emotional imprints stored in these tissues.
This is because the ECS is a key player in the regulation of mood and stress, influencing neurotransmitter release and modulating the body's response to emotional stimuli.
While studies into this haven’t happened yet, it would be interesting to see how fascia stores unexpressed emotions in people with more or less cannabinoid-tone. (Anyone else love nerding out to things like this?)
Healthy Fascia
This initial exploration of fascia, emotion, and the ECS opens avenues for a more integrated approach to well-being and trauma-release. While more studies need to be done on the exact role of the endocannabinoid system on fascia and emotion, we do know that fascia stores tension, so keeping it healthy is key to dislodging things we no longer need to be holding.
Beyond its many physical functions, fascia influences emotional well-being, serving as a repository for tension and stress. By nurturing and preserving the elasticity and flexibility of fascia through practices like long-held yoga poses, myofascial release with tennis and golf balls, lots of natural movements, and plenty of water, yogis can enhance our fascia, which can improve our overall physical health, our emotional resilience, and our healing from previous traumatic stresses.
A supple and resilient fascial system contributes to a sense of vitality, reduces the risk of injury, and fosters a more integrated and balanced emotional state. It could be that supplementing with cannabis takes this even further, that remains to be seen, but I’m thinking this will be shown to be the case in time.
Conclusion: Smoke & Stretch
The exploration of fascia, emotions, and the endocannabinoid system (ECS) underscores a profound interconnectedness between the realms of physical and emotional well-being.
Fascia serves as both a physical and emotional repository, intricately linked with the regulatory role of the ECS in mood, emotional release, and stress-reduction.
As we continue to learn more, yogis are encouraged to embark on their own journey of self-discovery within your practice, delving into the connections between fascia, emotions, and the ECS. Notice if you get more emotional release with a little CBD or cannabis. Notice which poses lead to which emotions. Notice how if we “flap it off” like our duck-friends, we don’t have to carry and store the stressful emotions in the first place. I’ve been working to avoid conflict less and speaking my truth more, so I don’t have to have so much emotion stuck in my fascia. What an amazing path to healing and reclaiming the body!
Until next time, may you be happy and well-rested, this holiday season and beyond. Enjoy those long-held stretches, deep exhales, and good weed.
Much love from everyone at Ganja Yoga.
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