How Myofascial Release Became the Next Step on my Journey of Healing and Self Discovery
Meditation and yoga were once the most powerful transformative practices in my tool box, but now it's myofascial release. Here's why ...
There was a time in my life when meditation was the most profoundly healing and transformative practice I had ever encountered. It changed me like nothing else ever had. Over years of 10-day silent retreats, long-term service at meditation centers, and daily practice, I slowly tapped into areas of myself I didn’t know existed. I tapped into my strengths and faced my fears. I confronted my erroneous beliefs and my false images of the world and myself. I became more calm and peaceful, more level-headed and better able to function under all types of pressure. I was able to free myself from so many “patterns of being” that were keeping me from living a contented and joyful life.
My ashtanga yoga practice was pretty cool too. I was “good at it” … which, at that time in my life, meant my body was able to do most everything I asked of it (although now I know better!) I felt great while I was doing my practice, and there’s no question that it was beneficial for my body, spirit and mind.
It worked for a while, but deep down I knew something was missing. These practices, as beneficial as they are, only took me so far.
But when I started experiencing myofascial release, it was another story altogether! My other practices had never touched me so deeply … what was going on??? Had I been missing something all this time???
I found myseIf entering another dimension of transformation and healing, a place of deep and authentic feeling. I realized that in the past, I had trained to myself to sit still for hours on end observing my inner landscape, but I was just an outside observer. I felt everything in (sometimes excruciating) detail, and yet I was not really feeling. I was training my mind and body to be what I thought was best. I was controlling and regulating myself from the outside in, meticulously following the meditation techniques and yoga sequences I had learned.
But I was not honoring my authentic self. I was not truly inhabiting my own body from the inside out, or experiencing the depth of my humanity in the way myofascial release has helped me experience. This was the difference for me.
Myofascial release helped me feel and
come alive … to dive into the feeling, no matter how uncomfortable, with all my heart and soul, and come out the other side a resounding YES!
Now I know that I am not just a peaceful soul. I am a survivor. I have tasted my own strength, and the power deep within my being. My heart and soul expand daily. It has been a personal revolution
that has changed my relationships, both to myself and others. I feel connected and inspired. And I haven’t lost any of the things I gained from my former practices; in fact, myofascial release has only deepened and broadened those skills. And I am more alive today than ever before!
