Two New Skills That Helped Me Escape My Health Hole - Part 2
In part one of this "New Skills" series, I shared how learning more about Applied Polyvagal Theory and actively strengthening the ventral branch of my Vagus Nerve have completely reset my frayed nervous system. If you missed that post, check out my chitty-chat on the blog here.
This week, I am sharing the second tool that helped me escape my health hole.
Fascia Work!
Thank GOD for fascia work. I cannot imagine living life without this anymore. Here’s the scoop:
My body was so bad at eliminating toxins. Epically bad. I run a cleanse/body reset program called RENEWAL each year in the Spring and Fall. My diet gets super fine-tuned, and I spend 6 weeks pouring TLC into my body. No matter what I do, I never lose more than 6 pounds. I have adjusted things 500 ways till Sunday, and nothing. Nada. Zilch.
To put this in perspective, I have a lot of weight to lose - probably about 30 more pounds until I am comfortable, but I am finally on my way down. Despite having the healthiest diet of anyone I know, I had put on 70 pounds in the last 8-9 years. I didn’t even earn those pounds the fun way, gosh dang it! I am basically walking, talking PROOF that it is not Calories In and Calories Out. Sometimes, it’s a biochemical shit show.
I could tell my body was not detoxifying because of how it responded during the RENEWAL seasons. I also became hypersensitive to everything - deodorant, make-up, wind, and frickin’ underwear seams. I kid you not.
Am I painting the rosiest picture of myself EVER, or what? Yes, a fluffy woman in her 40s who couldn't wear make-up or deodorant and was forced to go commando. When I say I was in a health hole, the hole was deep, my friend. Deep. LOL
One day, my hypnotherapist friend, Dawn Pensack, shared that she was blown away by this fascia therapy called Block Therapy. My heart got that little sparky thing it likes to do when something aligned with my soul makes an appearance.
So check this out...
I dove into block therapy and completed my first class, which included some arm moves, and I woke up the next day with an enormous lymph node in my armpit. I am talking HUGE - almost the size of a Cutie mandarin. I couldn’t even put my arm down!
You might be thinking, “Wow, Andrea. That doesn’t sound like something I want to do!” But as the broken record that I am, I will reiterate…
When you hit bumps in the road of healing, they are ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS gifts. They help you figure out how your unique, beautiful body is operating differently than “textbook.” Customizing the way you take care of your body is the only thing that is really ever going to work.
<Steps off soapbox>
This mean-ass lymph node was a huge gift because it made me realize that untethering my fascia is key to my detoxification. Melting away the adhesions in the fascia of my arms cleared up a traffic jam of toxins trapped in my limb!
Guess who’s wearing deodorant and underwear now, people?!? Woot Woot! It’s like I am starring in my own personal version of “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.”
Are you wondering what the heck Fascia is?
Fascia is a cloth-like sheath that covers every muscle, organ, blood vessel, nerve, and cell in the body. It is the literal interconnectedness within that lovely galaxy within your shell.
With inactivity, little dental floss-like adhesions begin forming between two fascia surfaces, effectively tying them together. The two fascia surfaces could be two muscles getting tethered together, creating the inability for the muscles to glide and function independently as designed. The adhesions could tie a blood vessel to an organ and essentially kink the vessel, compromising blood flow and, therefore, oxygen and nutrient delivery. The same can happen with tethering down and essentially blocking lymphatic flow. THAT is what happened when I used Block Therapy on my arm and got the motha’ of all lymph nodes in response.
It turns out that some people are genetically prone to fibrous adhesions more than others. I won the genetic lottery and happen to be one fibrous mofo.
I have the opportunity to practice patience, as I’ve been blocking for a couple of years, and I STILL have to take it easy on my limbs, or I overload my system with the toxin flush. It turns out I have 45 years of fibrosity and blocked nooks and crannies to bust through. Who knew?
I shared a starter blocking class with you a few weeks ago. It is called Unwind the Grind and is designed to untether the two most common places for adhesions in people who sit for work (or sit a lot at home). If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can go get a taste of the DIY-at-home fascia work that I fell in love with! It’s free and you could use more rad health skills, right?
