Awareness Through Movement #497

Sack standing - I'm calling it Knee to Floor - BALANCE

I asked Grok about fascial softening - it’s a term I made up and I wanted to hear if it understood what I was meaning… it seems the answer is YES!!

first, get a sense of what it looks like - it’s in EVERYthing - muscles, bones, organs, our skin, ligaments, tendons, AND, scientists have discovered our fascia has greater proprioception than the skin! I think it’s what we call the “sixth” sense.

What is Fascia and Fascial Softening?

Fascia is a web-like matrix of collagen and elastin fibers embedded in a gel-like ground substance. It forms continuous layers that envelop muscles, connects muscle to bone via tendons, and stabilises joints. It also contains nerves, making it a key player in proprioception and movement coordination.

Fascial Softening occurs when the fascia becomes less rigid or "stuck," allowing for greater flexibility, reduced resistance, and smoother movement. Softening happens through gentle, repetitive movements that hydrate the fascia’s ground substance, reduce cross-linking of fibers, and release stored tension, particularly near bones and joints.

This Lesson promotes fascial softening through specific movement patterns, emphasizing slowness, awareness, and non-forcing actions. Anatomically it allows the fascia, particularly around the hips, knees, and spine, to gradually release tension. Slow movements prevent the fascia from stiffening in response to sudden strain, encouraging the gel-like ground substance to become more fluid, which enhances tissue glide.

Extending the leg and lifting the knee while maintaining awareness of breathing and body sensations stimulates mechanoreceptors in the fascia. This sensory feedback signals the nervous system to relax tight fascial layers, particularly in areas like the deep fascia near the pelvic bones or knee joints, improving mobility.

Shifting weight between kneeling, extending a leg, and lowering the body applies gentle, dynamic pressure to the fascia. This stimulates the production of hyaluronic acid in the fascial ground substance, reducing viscosity and allowing fascial layers to slide more freely over muscles and bones, especially in the torso and hips.

The lesson emphasizes the torso’s large muscles… the gluteals, obliques, erector spinae - those long muscles near the spine at the back, through the pelvis… to stabilize and drive movement. By reducing compensatory tension in smaller limb muscles, the fascia around the arms and legs experiences less strain, promoting softening and enabling finer sensory tasks like feeling the floor or reaching.

If you’re still asking, how does this provide a benefit for me??? As fascia softens, it releases its grip on muscles, allowing the large torso muscles to work efficiently without over-recruiting limb muscles. This frees the arms and legs for delicate tasks, such as sensing the environment or precise movements. Softened fascia also improves the sensitivity of fascial mechanoreceptors, sharpening the body’s ability to sense position and movement. This supports the lesson’s aim of enabling limbs to focus on sensory exploration.

In this lesson, fascial softening ensures that the torso’s large muscles and bones handle the primary work to stabilise and move, reducing unnecessary effort in the limbs. For instance, softened fascia around the hips and spine allows the pelvis and spine to act as a strong, flexible base. This frees the arms and legs to perform finer tasks, such as hugging our friends, dancing, carrying things, touching, communicating, lifting, lowering….

FEEEELING….

the floor’s texture, enhancing sensory awareness and engaging with our environment.

By promoting fascial softening, Feldenkrais movements enhance movement efficiency, reduce strain, and support the nervous system’s ability to reorganize movement patterns, resulting in a more integrated, adaptable body capable of fluid, purposeful action…

out of our habitual, robotic ways
and in to new, fresh territory.

Enjoy learning more with, for and about your Self in tonight’s lesson :)