http://goop.com/fascia-the-secret-organ/
Fascia: The Secret Organ
And How To Make Your Legs Longer and Leaner
A visit to structural integrative specialist Lauren Roxburgh begins with a photo session in front of a gridded wall at her Santa Monica studio. She instructs you to stand in your natural posture—in a sports bra and tights—feet aligned against two marks on the floor. 90 or so minutes later, she sets you up in front of the same grid, and then shows you the infomercial-esque results. If she didn’t have you hop off the bed mid-session to hobble around for a few minutes—feeling how strange it is when one of your legs is longer than the other—you wouldn’t believe what you’re seeing. Which is that Lauren has in fact made you taller—and as a result of the heightened alignment, leaner. Your head hits the grid inches higher.
Lauren is an alignment and body mechanics specialist who focuses on the fascia—i.e., the connective tissue in our bodies that doctors are now considering to be the organ of structure or posture. At its best, the fascia is a thin membrane that covers all of our muscles. At its worst, it bonds together to create knots, pain, tension, and thickness, impeding our body’s ability to exercise its full range of motion, and then enforcing the body’s tendencies to restrict itself and shorten. Through a combination of her hands and a foam roller, Lauren can re-align the body, eliminating thicknesses, bloating, toxins, and imbalances. Her work is profound, in large part because fascia is malleable, and it’s inclined to do what it’s told, which is why she counts many pro athletes—and orthopedic surgeons—amongst her clientele. While a session on her table is inarguably invaluable, Lauren believes that you can get about 80% of the results by doing it yourself with one simple tool. Here, she demonstrates exactly what you need to do to bring your hips into alignment, and eliminate thickness, pain, and tension through the upper thighs, butt, and hips. Her book (Ballantine) is due out in January, 2016.
Q
So what is it exactly that you do?
A
At the most basic level, I do body work—but it’s much deeper than that, as the way we move our bodies says a lot about our lives. On the surface, I address physical issues, and all the stresses that injuries, stress, tension, and daily life place upon us. But at a deeper level, I’m helping people make the connection between their emotions, their movement, and the way that they feel.
What do I mean by that? I help people see that when they hold stress from overwork, physical and emotional behavior patterns, repetitive strain, and even trauma, it is transmitted to the body. You can see it, whether it’s a compressed diaphragm, hunched and sloping shoulders, or thickness through the upper thighs. When I help clients release those stresses, I can empower them to heal the deeper issues that manifest themselves as physical symptoms.
I’ve studied many modalities, from nutrition to yoga to structural integration and meditation, but perhaps the one thing that makes me different is my focus on fascia. Our bodies store the trauma of our lives in our fascia, which can lead to muscular and structural rigidity. When we release the tension in our fascia and align ourselves with gravity we take a new stance, and not just in our bodies.
for the whole article and the how to pictures and descriptions click on the link below
http://goop.com/fascia-the-secret-organ/
Undo the Day: Decompress the Neck & Lengthen the Back
Do you find yourself slumping forward with more and more frequency, unable to stand up straight for more than a few mindful minutes? Is your upper back tight and consistently sore? Are your shoulders perpetually hunched? If so, you’re in the company of pretty much everyone else. “Modern life for a 21st-century woman is a jumble of multitasking phone calls, emails, work, working out, grocery shopping, driving, being a mama, cooking, and myriad other demands,” explains fascia and alignment specialist, Lauren Roxburgh. “We forget how to breathe, and we move through our days feeling like the ‘weight of the world’ literally sits on our shoulders.” Undoing the day, though, requires a bit more than just kicking back with a glass of wine. “Far be it for me to deprive you of your daily dose of resveratrol,” she adds, “but before you stumble onto the couch with that Cabernet, take 10 minutes for the exercises below.” As she explains, “Too often we end up slumping our head forward as we peer at the computer screen, or our phones which can cause muscle strains, tension, stiffness, a shortening and thickening of the neck, disc herniations, spinal compression, and even pinched nerves. And on an aesthetic level this can also compress the beautiful and elegant natural curve of your neck and the rest of your spine to make you look and feel slumpy, dumpy, and depressed.” But there’s hope for us all below. (For more from Lauren, see her longer legs sequence, and her moves for a slimmer waist.)
Q
Most of us spend an inordinate amount of our time sitting at our desks—and then at the couch at home. We know it’s not awesome, but just how bad is it?
A
Sitting for extended periods of time reduces circulation and the supply of oxygenated blood in the body and tightens us up. According to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, not only has inactivity like sitting at a desk for long periods of the day been linked with diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, it can also increase the risk of certain cancers.
So evidence is in: Basically, sitting is the new smoking. We were designed to move, stretch, and breath, not to sit or be stuck in one position all day. Sitting for long periods slows down all of our systems and decreases energy, metabolism, and even creativity.
Depressingly it gets worse. Not only is it unsightly when we are hunched over at our desks, but it can also mean that the connective tissue becomes “glued” into a slumped position that actually damages and compresses your entire body even further. Too often we end up slumping our head forward as we peer at the computer screen, or our phones which can cause muscle strains, tension, stiffness, a shortening and thickening of the neck, disc herniations, spinal compression and even pinched nerves. And on an aesthetic level this can also compress the beautiful and elegant natural curve of your neck and the rest of your spine to make you look and feel slumpy, dumpy, and depressed. But while it can be a recipe for disaster, there are things we can do.
for the whole article and the how to pictures and descriptions click on the link below
http://goop.com/undo-the-day-decompress-the-neck-lengthen-the-back/