Putting Fascia at the Forefront of Wellness

While exercising and eating healthy have obvious external benefits, the internal benefits are tenfold — especially as far as the connective tissue (i.e., fascia) is concerned. From the lymphatic to the nervous system, the fascia is integral to the body’s overall physical, emotional, and hormonal health. With stress persistently taxing our bodies, keeping the connective tissue at the forefront of our exercise, diet, and self-care regimens is actually an important part of the future of healthy living. 

Fascia is the connective tissue that wraps around the entire body “like a full-body wetsuit,” explains Lauren Roxburgh, a body alignment specialist and author of The Power Source: The Hidden Key to Ignite Your Core, Empower Your Body, Release Stress and Re-Align Your Life. “It is this living matrix that lies right underneath the skin. It also wraps around each individual muscle and the organs, and it connects our joints as well.” Roxburgh notes that fascia can impact the body’s lymphatic system, nervous system, and energy meridians, too. 

At its healthiest, connective tissue is like a “liquid crystal” that is both fluid and flexible. But, according to Roxburgh, “trauma lives in the tissue,” which can cause the fascia to become thick, dense, rigid, and brittle, resulting in energy blockages, pain, and discomfort throughout the body. “Emotional and physical trauma gets stored in the tissue, and if we don’t emote that energy out, it can get stuck in the hard, dense areas,” she says. This, she explains, is why some deep stretches in yoga might prompt a good cry session. “[This happens when] there’s a memory or some sort of trauma that’s trying to unwind and come out of the body through that movement and breath.” When fascia becomes dense, thick, and brittle, the body might also start to feel “hard, thick, dense, and heavy,” lacking that natural state of “suppleness, fluidity, and grace,” says Roxburgh, adding that it makes our lymphatic system (which is the biological mechanism responsible for detox) and life force energy sluggish, too.

The good news is that it is never too late to give your connective tissue some love. “The beautiful thing about fascia is that it is so malleable so that it can be changed so quickly and so easily,” Roxburgh reassures. From simply having awareness, movement, and eating certain foods, connective tissue can rēlease and rēset back to its flow state.

Roxburgh likens weakened connective tissue to a dry-up sponge that is hard, brittle, and lacks moisture. With hydration, however, it again becomes soft and supple. One of her tried-and-true ways of adding that hydration — and working through the denser parts of the fascia — is foam rolling. “A roller is so amazing because it’s like taking a rolling pin on the dough and smoothing away the density,” she explains. She adds that applying pressure to the dense areas helps release congestion. “As you roll on a foam roller, you put pressure on the tissue and release the tension.” This allows “blood and lymph [to] come through that tissue, which gives it that suppleness and hydration again — it puts the water back into the sponge.”

Roxburgh is also a massive fan of breathwork exercises because of their effect on the diaphragm, an “amazing pump that moves the lymph and the breath” through the body. The diaphragm also plays an essential role in digestion and helps create “more elasticity in the lungs.” “If the diaphragm is really wound up and tight with the fascia gluing it down, then the metabolism will be more sluggish,” she notes. 

In addition to exercise, eating with the connective tissue in mind can also help promote healthy fascia. Roxburgh says one of the most important things to get into your diet for a healthy fascia is fiber, which “helps scrub and clean out the organs from the inside out.” She recommends at least 35 grams of fiber — plus lots of water — per day. Bone broth is another good way to nourish the connective tissue because it contains vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that support a healthy fascia. Collagen is also beneficial for fascia, and one way to support collagen production is by consuming foods high in vitamin C, such as citrus, broccoli, peppers, and kale. Healthy fats such as olive, avocado, and coconut can nourish connective tissue. 

Self-care plays an integral part in connective tissue health, too. Some rituals and practices Roxburgh recommends for releasing tension and nourishing the body and connective tissue are meditation, hot baths with magnesium chloride salts, dry brushing the skin to promote lymphatic drainage, and getting a good night’s sleep — as sleep is the time when the body enters rejuvenation and regeneration mode, and the better we sleep, the better the body can reset. It’s important to remember that caring for your body from the inside out is one of the most impactful reminders to make self-care a lifestyle.