Myofascial Release: Self Care + Rebalancing

Myofascial Release changed the way I think about my body + wellness. A couple of weeks ago, I went through a physical crisis. As per usual, around 7am, Zoe woke up and called me out of my sleep. I went to her crib, picked her up and shuffled back to our room. As I leaned over to lay her down on our bed, I felt an acute pain shoot up and down from my neck to my shoulder blades. I fell onto the bed in such a huge amount of pain. I simply couldn’t move. Not wanting to scare little Zoe, I told her “mommy has a booboo” and to not worry. I couldn’t move my head in any direction the rest of the day. The rest of the week. And for weeks after, my body just felt broken, out of place, unbalanced and shattered. I began to slowly realize that almost 3 years (all of pregnancy and Zoe’s now 2 years!) of minimal care, attention and nurturing of my body and spirit had taken it’s serious toll. It was time to stop neglecting myself. Time to stop breastfeeding (because let’s face it, there ain’t nothin’ in there for her anyways except soothing). Time to come back to myself fully. Time for a lot of things. I reached out to my community online and asked who knew of anyone that could help me heal my body and bring things back into balance. Pain killers weren’t the answer and they weren’t doing anything to solve the issue long-term. A good friend of mine referred me to her friend Margot J. Leviton who happened to be in LA on vacation. I reached out to Margot to see if she’d do a session on me. We got talking about her work and I learned she wanted to educate the public about Myofascial Release. It was a perfect fit. Here is my account of the deep healing and education of the wonderful world of Myofascial Release and Craniosacral Therapy with Margot J. Leviton.

Despite Myofascial Release having its roots in osteopathy, it is actually a much more encompassing and integral therapy to address the release of tension, inflammation and trauma in the body. Fascia is the connective tissue that surrounds everything in our body – as Margot so eloquently describes “we are human sausages and I work with the casing”. It’s a very simple concept to grasp. If the “casing” (officially, Fascia) surrounding our muscles, organs, bones, nerves etc is stuck or restricted in the same position, then logically, the things within it cannot function to their full extent or purpose. Margot’s focus is on posture, alignment, scar tissue, concussions and tail bone falls. This is not your typical muscular massage therapy. Myofascial Release is much more long lasting (20,000x longer) because fascia has plasticity, so it can retain it’s new shape. Muscles only have elasticity which means they stretch and simply recoil right back to where they were with no long lasting difference in the body healing. Margot’s touch is gentle and very specific to the area being treated – I’m still blown away by how little pressure there is in this therapy yet such huge changes to the body result. The technique Margot has developed is unique to her (as for every therapist) and extraordinarily refined.

In my particular case, I have some bad posture issues to address. Life has been hectic and physically demanding. Think giant pregnant belly, hunched over with breastfeeding, carrying around a tiny-baby-turned-into-big-toddler, traveling through airports, on planes to see family, lugging around heavy car seats + strollers… you get the idea. Super fun for twisting up your fascia for years in about 0.2 seconds. First of all, Margot gently addressed the fact that my hips were not in alignment. We moved to the rib cage (where we spent most of the session) where she slowly and very meticulously set my ribs back into place ONE BY ONE. It’s gently coaxing the fascia to release and respond to her visceral touch. We attended to the fascia surrounding my chest which was really affecting my posture and shoulders.

There comes a point during the therapy where you begin to feel as though your healer is sliding their hand across you as if to “smoothen” out the muscle, but in reality, their hands are still as can be. That MAGICAL sensation is your fascia, sliding back into it’s rightful home, opening out to give space to all the bones, muscles, nerves and organs within. There is no oil used, just the very visceral and intuitive application of a gentle downward force, heat and torsion, to affect the fascial tissue. After seeing Margot and undergoing this wonderfully restorative physical process, my body began to heal. I am much more confident that I can heal from the trapped muscular problems created by these taxing years of motherhood. I’m also more aware of my body and staying on track with hydration, breathing and will 100% continue to grab an hour with Margot whenever I can! Our lifestyle is moving evermore towards a natural, toxin-free existence. I truly believe physical interaction such as this can resolve so much more for our bodies than taking tons of drugs to disguise the problem. I’m learning to appreciate this whole world and I’m so thankful that I’m finally taking the time to restore my body and mind. That’s all it really takes to become a better person, mother, wife and boss-chick!

Hope you all enjoyed this account of Myofascial Release: Self Care + Rebalancing. If you want to hear + learn more from Margot in her own words, you can catch her interview on the JAMCast podcast here. There is lots more education out there about it and definitely do more reading – it’s fascinating! Catch you all over on the ‘Gram for more adventures!