Does it Hurt?
Myofascial release has a reputation for being painful. Is it true that "NO PAIN, NO GAIN "applies in the process of Structural Integration?
Only in very rare instances.
Pain is the result of many factors. The degree of pain that a client feels in the lengthening of myofascial sheaths, or release of myofascial bands that are rotated, adhered, or"stuck" together, is the result of the approach that the practitioner takes to the tissue in combination with the clients response to the sensation.
These factors can be worked with, so that the experience of pain is either minimized ,or absent. Many people feel wonderful while myofascia is lengthening.
The amount of successful change in tissue is not dependent on the amount of pain experienced during the change, in fact pain can be counterproductive. Pain is stressful. The anticipation of pain causes many people to tighten their muscles, hold their breath, and to grip their joints. This creates the counterproductive situation in which the client and practitioner are wrestling each other to get the client's body to "let go".
Structural Integration Practitioner's work with the pace, location, angle, depth and degree of pressure that they make contact with a client's tissue. They may engage the nerve's, muscle, myofascial, and cranial response in a tight area in different proportions in order to address where the holding is coming from. All of these levels of effect minimize and balance the experience of change as pain.
Your practitioner may ask you to breath, to feel, or to move your body, when there is pain in an area. You will also be asked to inform your practitioner as to what your experience of pain is. Your practitioner will educate you on what the actual tissue change is, so that you can feel the release and expect the lessoning of both discomfort and pain that comes with lengthened and hydrated myofascial layers.
Do not be afraid that your practitioner will not go "deep enough" to create the change you are looking for. Pain and depth of change are not equivalent! The Ten Series is a layered and balancing process. The deepest layers of the body, and any binding that is buried there, gets uncovered and released when there is enough space in the surface layers to accommodate the change from the inside to the outside. This also makes the deep changes "stay".
You may proceed without fear of pain in this process.
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