NEW ORGAN? Not news for some...

It has been 40+ years that John F Barnes has been educating other therapists on fascia and its qualities, breaking all rules and going against the healthcare paradigm that's been in place for over 100 years.  He knew he was onto something, the missing link in how we treat our clients and patients, and never once let anyone tell him differently.  He always said, "I may not have proof, but I have results" and that's all that mattered to him.  It seems as though science has finally caught up and those that needed proof to understand now have it.  This is an exciting time for all of us.  

After the news broke John was interviewed by former FOX NEWS anchor, Jenna Lee, offering this quote, “It is refreshing to see science is finally catching up to what I’ve been teaching in my Myofascial Release seminars for the last 40 years.  The fascial system is one of the most important structures of our body and is significantly tightened from physical or emotional trauma which produces crushing pressure on pain sensitive structures.  It produces symptoms of pain, headaches, fibromyalgia and a myriad of women’s pain and health problems.  The fascinating fascia is a liquid crystal three dimensional web.  In the space of the web, which is actually not space, but a fluid/viscous substance called the ground substance of the fascia which tends to solidify due to trauma and is the main transport medium of our body.  This means that whatever nutrition we ingest, the fluid we drink, the air we breathe, all the biochemistry hormones and information/energy that every one of the trillion of cells needs to thrive must go through the fluidity of the fascia.  I would highly recommend purchasing Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau’s book, Architecture of Human Living Fascia. He is a French hand surgeon and he represents over 20 years of research on the fascial system. If you go to page 163, I have provided a more detailed explanation of the fascial system and Myofascial Release.”-John F. Barnes

From the National Geographic website, they wrote, “It looks like a mesh.  The interstitium is a layer of fluid-filled compartments strung together in a web of collagen and a flexible protein called elastin (sound familiar? ‘Fascia is a tough connective tissue that spreads throughout the body in a three-dimensional fluid web from head to toe with no end and no beginning’-taken from my blog, 'What is this Myofascial Release thing?').  Previously, scientists thought the layer was simply dense connective tissue.  The organ has seemingly been hidden in plain sight, and scientists say they missed it because of the way tissue is studied. Before being placed under a microscope, samples are thinly sliced and treated with chemicals that allow researchers to identify key components more easily.  While the process is helpful for more easily spotting details, it drains fluid from the sample.”  The fluid component that the medical field has missed this entire time is what JFB Myofascial Release Approach is hugely based on.  From a structural stand point, when healthy, fascia is fluid and it slides smoothly along structures, but when a restriction forms the fluid dehydrates and becomes sticky, adhering to the surrounding structures and causing strain patterns throughout the body creating pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, and decreased range of motion. 

This fluid is also a transport medium of oxygen, nutrients, chemicals, hormones, toxins, energy and information throughout our entire being, almost instantaneously (4x faster than our nervous system!).  Restrictions in the fascial system disrupt this transport of vital nutrients and information causing disease, miscommunication and lack of nutrient/supplement/medicine absorption.

The fact that information travels through this fluid, the fascial system, means that what we once thought, everything happened in the brain, is outdated as well.  Our fascial system is an extension of our mind, or consciousness, connecting every part of our body together, forming the mind-body connection.  What does this mean?  Your thoughts, emotions, and memories flow throughout your body just like nutrients and oxygen and when you push down your feelings, don’t speak up, and bury your memories restrictions form within the fascial system just like a physical trauma would manifesting as pain, headaches, etc.  The majority of patients that have received JFB Myofascial Release after the medical field let them down time after time found relief from their symptoms because Myofascial therapists empower them to feel and let go of the emotional as well as the physical stress we put on ourselves.

For many years John has been talking about the missing link in the healthcare industry, the fact that doctors and physicians see the body as separate parts that work independently of each other not as puzzle pieces that fit together and without one piece the picture isn’t whole.  Myofascial Release therapists have known this ‘new organ’, fascia, surrounds, protects, and links EVERY aspect of the body from the single cell to the skin, mind to body and have hence looked at and treated the body as a whole.  This is why MFR therapists get the results they do.  This is why our patients, after trying everything else, come to us and finally find relief.

I am grateful to have John as my teacher and to be able to offer this amazing technique to my clients. 

*This information is based on John F Barnes Myofascial Release Approach*