You might hear me bang on about releasing/melting away the fuzz in your body during my classes and video however, it just occurred to me that I haven’t really fully explained it in the detail of how I understand and why it’s important to understand this so we can prevent stiffness, bad postures, and tightness in our bodies.
So this new buzzword (for me really) was something I learnt from a Somatic Yoga Workshop I attended a couple of years ago from a Christmas gift my sister got me. I had no idea what Somatic Yoga was.
Post the workshop, I understood that it’s a type of yoga based on the freedom of freestyle movement as opposed to the typical static yoga postures. This kind of yoga believes in the methodology of maximising movement all around the body. For example, to fully embrace the spine and mirror the movement of the way a fish will swim (i.e. the way it sways from side to side).
Here’s a clearer definition I pulled from Healthline if you’re interested:
“Somatic exercises involve performing movement for the sake of movement. Throughout the exercise, you focus on your inner experience as you move and expand your internal awareness. Somatics describes any practice that uses the mind-body connection to help you survey your internal self and listen to signals your body sends about areas of pain, discomfort, or imbalance.”
FUZZ – So what exactly is it?
There was one major takeaway for me during this workshop and it wasn’t the somatic movements, but it was the why – the explanation and key reason why injuries, stiffness happens in the bodies?
Ever notice as we get older, you hear things like, bad back, or creaky knees, or stiff shoulders… I hear it all the time. I hear it as excuses to NOT do exercise and instinct might instruct you to do so but hear me out first, before you make your decision.
During this workshop, they played us a short video on YouTube about fascia (called Fuzz) surrounding the body. It reminded me of the gooeyness that you get when you cut raw chicken. That clear sticky substance. It’s always around our joints, surrounding our muscles all over our body.
Every night when we go to sleep, new fuzz forms around our bodies. That’s why we stretch when we wake up. Like the way a cat will stretch. But what happens to the fuzz that’s not stretched, or we’re in a rush and forget to really stretch out/dust off the cobwebs of our bodies. Absolutely nothing. It will stay there until we dust it off or new fuzz forms ON TOP of the existing one. Pretty gross. Then we might find ourselves getting into a bad habit of living with our fuzz, piling on top of each other.
Out with the old and in with the NEW
Ever notice when take a break from exercise for a bit, and we really feel really stiff doing it? Like everything is tight? I certainly do and I’m definitely guilty of not releasing enough fuzz as I used to, (especially during lockdown).
The video explains that it’s not just exercise classes, but it can be something so simple of massages. If you can’t afford one, then massage your facia yourself. Do 5x shoulder rolls. Place your hands on your shoulders and do massive elbow circles and then move your spine from side to side.
As my wonderful teacher always said during my YTT, any movement is better than nothing.
I’m sure you’re dying to see this video. It’s had 4.7M views on YouTube and he’s pretty well known! Allow me to delight of introducing Dr Gil Hedley with his famous, 'Fuzz Speech'.
Dr Gil Hedley explains it much better but I hope this ‘sticks’ with you and it will encourage you to move into a better and healthier lifestyle.
Now you know what I mean when I say ‘Let’s remove the fuzz’ in my classes! :)
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