How Myofascial Release Can Bring More Benefits Than You Ever Thought Possible

Whole.

Healing.

Those two words are pretty much all you really need to know about Elena Gournelos’ Whole Healing Mysofasical Release practice. But let me tell you more anyway. This is a story best consumed whole, so read on …

Elena drove me nuts. It’s true (kinda), but it’s not as bad as it sounds on the surface. What drove me nuts specifically was when she would suggest I wasn’t “in my body” or ask me, “What would it take to bring you back to inhabit your body again?” Uggggggh. This frustrated me somewhat because on the surface, I had no idea what she meant. But on some level deep down, a level I couldn’t quite touch … I knew EXACTLY what she meant. So in reality, I’m the one who drove myself nuts. It’s taken many months after finishing treatment with Elena to finally get it.

If you want to keenly understand what Elena and WHMFR can do for you, read the testimonials on her website. All of them. They are all true. I promise you. These testimonials were THE deciding factor in why I chose to go to WHMFR rather than the MFR place one block down from my apartment. Everything clients say about Elena is 100% correct. She’s kind, skilled, intuitive, compassionate, gifted, intelligent, a true healer, and beyond capable. There’s not much more that I can add to that other than my own story.

What initially brought me to MFR in general was a thought I had after many a yoga class. I often thought that my constantly super tight muscles would really benefit from having someone holding the stretch for me for a longer period of time than what I was getting from the yoga asanas. That thought prompted my search for someone like that, and that lead me to the practice of MFR. MFR seemed something like what I was searching for, but still I was hesitant to make a call to any of the places I was considering.

Then, I developed sciatica on my left side. I was one of the ‘lucky” ones to have developed sciatica on both sides from sports injuries … most people with sciatica only have it on one side. So I resumed my pursuit of finding an MFR practitioner close to home. Interestingly, my initial choice was not Elena and WHMFR. But to make a long story short, it was the testimonials on the WHMFR website that convinced me to make the call to Elena.

But Elena and I didn’t start out on the right foot. I never really told her this, but I guess now she will know. The first conversation with her felt strained. Something was off. The first couple of appointments felt disagreeable. Something was off. But I stuck with it. I don’t know why. I just knew that I was in the right place with the right MFR practitioner. And even as I was experiencing these first few encounters, I knew the “something” that was off, was me. I was chock full of negative energy, very much meshed in my fiber. The moral of this part of the story, though, is that things that are meant to be will always be even when it just doesn’t seem that way. I fancied in the beginning that I landed at WHMFR with Elena by chance, but that’s not the case. In hindsight, there really never was another outcome.

Many months before, my first bout of sciatica I let heal on it’s own. It took six months to finally feel comfortable enough to get back out on the basketball court. My second bout with sciatica, I put in the hands of Elena. It took three sessions in three weeks with Elena to get back out on the football field. But I didn’t stop after three weeks. I kept going because I realized through Elena’s guidance that there was way more than the physical to be healed. I’ve always been a fairly self-aware person. But through the next six months of listening to Elena and being on her table, I learned how truly little self-awareness I had. I also learned a little about how to “listen” without my ears and become even more self-aware than I thought I could be. Through the exploration of the physical limitations my body displays, Elena help me truly connect that to the mental, emotional and spiritual traumas I’ve experienced over a lifetime. I was previously aware of many of the pieces, but not in any significantly connected way. Working with Elena has helped me connect many of the pieces and start down the road of connecting many other pieces on my personal path to healing.

Although the physical healing has been amazing, it’s really just a drop in the bucket of what I’ve taken away from my time with Elena. I have a clearer understanding now how my past traumas have made me and have been trapped in me for all my life. And I’ve used that to supplement the healing work I started on myself so many years ago. In my now decade long attempt to change myself from someone steeped in negativity to someone steeped in positivity, I’ve lost my way on many occasions. I’ve lost my confidence, my self-worth, my balance, my zen, my unwavering belief, my gratitude. And in the past five years or so, I’ve been trying to get that all back.

Ironically, it was the day that I decided to stop treatment that I began gaining some of it back. I didn’t want to stop treatment, but I knew that I had to. I knew, just as Elena knew, the immense benefit that continuing treatment would give me. But, I had to stand up on my own and explore this path to healing on my own. And Elena knew that too. And she encouraged it and supported it. She will never push you to a certain amount of sessions or to continue treatment for a certain amount of time. There’s no pressure with Elena. She’s an enabler. By that, I mean she will always enable you to take control of your own healing and guide you with her expertise as necessary. And with her help in the time I worked with her, I’ve been able to get back my confidence, my self-worth, my balance, my zen, my unwavering belief, and my gratitude. Who knew all of that could be tied up in sciatica? And coming back full circle to the beginning of this story … to some extent, I have been able to inhabit my body once again. I now know what that means even if I don’t stay in my body full time. There is undoubtedly more work to do with my healing, so my story with Elena is not over.

So, are you here looking for a recommendation? I whole-heartedly recommend Elena and WHMFR. She’s played an immense role in helping me positively change my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual life. But I know you. You are not here for a recommendation. You are here because you already know WHMFR is the right choice for you. So pick up the phone, call Elena …