The bodywork I do pays a lot of attention to the lines of fascia through the body. I had a really great result this morning working on some of my own pains. My left outside hip, hip flexors, and big toe have been giving me grief lately. I know that “where it hurts is where it ain’t,” but I hadn’t been able to unlock the key to these hotspots. So I dug out my Anatomy Trains book and looked up the various lines, and wouldn’t you know, all of my pain points were along one line – in this case, the Spiral Line.
So, instead of stretching the bits that hurt, I used massage balls to stretch and release some points along that line that didn’t hurt. I spent about 10-15 minutes rolling and massaging between my shoulder blades and along my neck, and a few minutes relaxing and breathing while draped over a bolster along my ribcage.
The first things I noticed when I got up was how easy it was to take a huge breath and how tall I felt! Then I moved all the ways that have been bugging me, and I’m almost pain-free. And my flexibility has increased dramatically. Like…I did a forward fold from cobbler pose and touched my forehead to my heels. And I got about 3″ of additional reach in a standing forward fold, with no hamstring stretches. This is not typical for me!!
I guess this is a case of “physician, heal thyself.” I know this stuff works; I help people with it all the time. I just also need to take the time (and a little ingenuity) to do the same work on myself. 🙂