The cold, slow start to Spring has been a blessing in disguise! When you think of movement, what do you see, feel, do? I’m a mover by nature, and very active on the outside. One of the main reasons I fell in love with Pilates is that it teaches me to be aware of my inner body, my inner self, the movement within. There is a LOT more going on inside than we realize, if we only take a few moments to become aware of it.
This isn’t to say that we have to meditate or stop moving on the outside, but keenly tune-in to our insides. Breath is movement, laying on the MELT Roller after a brief MELT Foot treatment, moving on the mat without the Reformer really gets us honest, moving with the apparatus here at the Pilates studio adds a different inner dimension, pausing in movement like we do in our Yoga practice here, or even when I’m out swimming or roller blading – really reaching forward or back through my toes…. these add that sixth dimension, if you will.
The recent article that defined one of these inner layers as “interstitium” really floored the Pilates community. (read article)2018, Anatomist Gil Hedley (“Fuzz Speach”) 2009, and Jean-Claude Guimberteau (“strolling under the skin”), 2014 and Sue Hitzman of Melt Method (studying this for 10 years), and Eric Franklin of Franklin Method (teaching this 30+ years) have all been educating us about this movement within just beneath our skin, between that and the muscles and bones. We are a living, breathing, moving organisms with multi-faceted layers. Not only that, but these tissues take on our emotional and physical lives in a way that seems somewhat mysterious. What I love most about teaching Pilates is that I share, observe, and work with people, friends, and neighbors to empower them to feel more on the inside. I’m not talking JUST their muscles. Like Gil says, “we can take more responsibilities for our “FUZZ.” It’s really representative of TIME.
Life is stressful enough, so why not learn to tap into the reservoir of release and deepen your awareness of how you move in your life. Oh, we can go pump it up, run, jump, lift, climb, all we want, but are we totally aware of how we are doing it? I was particularly distracted recently by loud music playing, as if that was going to encourage me to “workout harder.” However, it does the opposite for me personally. Music is the song of the soul, so perhaps it just needed to match the inner workout better, it felt in conflict. My best workouts are done in the QUIET.
On this grey, rainy and snowy start to April, I encourage you to check ” inside.” How are you feeling? Need to get MOVING? Probably? I do and I move every day. Mostly, I need to go inside and feel. That is the WHOLE reason we named our studio “TriPilates” – for a balanced body, mind, and spirit. For SURE over time, Pilates is the tried and true best for a healthy, long life! Find what’s inside – what is at the ROOT of your desires, your goals, your heart. That is where we move from, THAT is what makes all the difference. Need help connecting to that? That’s what we do best. Come in soon.
April Showers Bring May Flowers – there’s a lot of truth to that. Go deep to grow strong on the outside!
P.S. Here is Gil Hedley’s response to the article by Scientific American. He’s one of the most brilliant, dynamic speakers on the planet, poet, writer, anatomist.
So many folks are asking about the “newly discovered organ being called the interstitium.” I am happy to fan the flames of excitement, and to know that our medical establishment is coming to terms with these structures that have eluded the methods of regional anatomy and microscopic studies for so long.
As a novice “integral anatomist,” dissecting from a whole body, layered approach, I ran into this “organ” from the very start. I immediately puzzled over it because indeed, it wasn’t in the books! When desiccated/dried out through the embalming process and pulled apart, the fiber structure is revealed to be chaotic and “fuzzy” like cotton candy, so I called it “fuzz.” I wasn’t so sure it belonged there! But after running into it 100% of the time, all over the body, I soon realized it certainly did belong there! Once I began working with unfixed bodies and seeing this “fuzz” in its “wet” state, I started calling it “filmy fascia” and recognized it to be the very anatomy of movement!
Wherever there is movement in the musculoskeletal system (excepting within the joints), this superhydrated, slippery, distortable membranous filmy interface both connects the elements which are moving relative to each other and simultaneously permits their movement. Stasis, dehydration and inflammation will alter this tissue’s condition, resulting in it loosing slipperyness and becoming more “gummy,” adherent, and even brittle, thus limiting it’s function as a movement facilitator.
I now call the tissue “perifascia,” because I am able to dissect it with my knife into a fascia again and again, all over the body, as demonstrated in the video posted yesterday, and because it is found “peri,” that is, around or near, the deep fascia, among other places.
As for all of you movement people, touch therapists, and otherwise embodied folk, I hope knowing more about this helps you to inspire others and enjoy your amazing bodies in movement and in life! It is easy enough to overcome stasis, dehydration, and inflammation: explore movement that feels good, so your tissues call in the fluids you drink, and you keep the fluid reservoir of perifascial membranes all over your body slippery and happy! Enjoy 🙂 Gil