🌹Body Building After 30: 'How to Loosen Your Body to Make Every Day Feel Lighter' ~The Truth About Fascial Release~💖

As a trainer, I interact with many people, and there is one thing I constantly feel.

That is,

“The harder people work, the more they tend to put their own body care on the back burner.”

・Those who are busy moving around for work
・Those who work hard at housework and childcare
・Those who push their bodies to the limit with training or sports

Everyone is truly hardworking, serious, and diligent.
However, after all that effort, very few people take the time to care for their bodies.

“I’m tired, but I’m still okay.”
“I don’t have time, so I’ll do it later.”

But while your body is a hard worker, it is also very “honest.”

When you keep pushing yourself,

“I feel kind of heavy.”
“I don’t feel refreshed even after waking up in the morning.”
“I don’t have any motivation.”
It starts sending out small signs like these.

Especially for bodies after 30, they are completely different from bodies in your teens or 20s.
As you turn 30, 40, 50, and 60, what becomes important for body building is,

Body maintenance!!

Your body wants you to notice it.

It’s saying, “Please take care of me properly” and “Please let me rest a little.”

Listening to that small voice is what it truly means to cherish yourself.🌸

🍗What is fascia in the first place?

Here, I’d like to talk a little about today’s main character: “fascia.”
Fascia is a soft membrane that wraps around everything in the body, including muscles, bones, internal organs, nerves, and blood vessels.

To make it easier to imagine, it’s like the thin white membrane you see when cooking chicken thighs or breasts.
That is fascia.

That smooth sensation that slides between the skin and the meat,

that is the state of healthy fascia.
It supports the muscles so they can move smoothly.

Every time I cook chicken, I want my own body to be in that same soft state (I’m a weirdo).

In other words, fascia is like a “body suit” that connects the whole body into one.
Every time we move our muscles, we are coordinating our entire body through this membrane.💫

Fascia is very delicate and is a tissue easily affected by lifestyle.
If these things continue, its condition changes immediately👇

・Long hours of desk work
・Lack of exercise
・Mental stress and tension
・Coldness and poor circulation
・Lack of sleep and unbalanced nutrition

When these pile up, the moisture in the fascia decreases, and it becomes less slippery.

As a result, muscles get pulled, movements become sluggish, and

“Shoulders feel tight,” “Lower back feels heavy,” “Body feels sluggish”

You become more likely to feel ailments like these.

And above all, stiffness in the fascia also affects the mind.

Because there are many sensory nerves running through the fascia, physical tension is deeply connected to mental tension.

Therefore,

“When the body loosens, the mind also feels lighter.”
“When stress accumulates, the body also becomes stiff.”

This is a reaction that is actually happening through the fascia.

💫Misconceptions about the term “fascial release”

Recently, the term “fascial release” has become widely known.
You may have heard expressions like “loosening the fascia” or “peeling off adhesions” using stretch poles or foam rollers.

But in reality, you cannot peel off fascia.
The reason lies in the strength of the fascia.

Then, why does the body feel lighter when you do fascial release?
There is a natural change happening inside the body.🌸

What actually happens during fascial release is
not a structural separation, but the following physiological changes.

1. Fluid within the fascia moves

Between the layers of fascia flows 'interstitial fluid containing hyaluronic acid'.
When you apply gentle pressure with a foam roller or through stretching, that fluid is temporarily pushed out, improving circulation.

This makes the sliding between the fascia and muscles smoother, which is why you feel like 'my body has become lighter' or 'it's easier to move'.

2. Nerves relax

Fascia contains many sensory nerves.
By applying gentle stimulation, a reflex that relaxes muscle tension is triggered, and the entire nervous system begins to calm down.

This reaction helps soothe the sensation of pain and allows for deeper breathing.

3. The parasympathetic nervous system becomes dominant

Pressure that feels 'painfully pleasant' stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, switching the body into relaxation mode.
This has the same effect as a massage or deep breathing.

Your heart rate drops, blood flow improves, and your body is tuned into a 'state of ease'🌿

🧘‍♀️Fascial care I do in my daily life

I use several items for fascial care during my morning warm-ups, evening cool-downs, after training, and even on my days off🌷

💗 Items I use often

・Stretch Pole (to align posture and breathing)
I use a half-round one at home. Long ones are hard to find a place for, but this one can be tucked away in a gap💖

・Foam Roller (to roll out the back and thighs slowly)
I use one I bought at Daiso (a 100-yen shop).
It's also important not to spend too much money on self-care💰

・Massage Gun (to approach deep muscles)
I use it with the sensation of shaking the muscles to loosen them, rather than kneading them.

・Lacrosse Ball (for detailed areas like shoulder blades and soles of the feet)
I always carry this with me.

・Compression Band (to apply light pressure and promote blood flow)
I use it before training, for sports warm-ups, and for post-care. Since they come in various strengths, lengths, and thicknesses, please choose one that suits your purpose.

・Self-Head Massager (EMS is the best)
Recommended by my hairdresser. You can use it while in the bath to loosen not just your head, but your whole body. The EMS is quite strong.

None of these are meant to apply strong stimulation to the body; they are tools to help you feel your own body.

'Where is it stiff?' 'What kind of movement feels good?'

If you use them as if you are having a dialogue like that, your body will respond very honestly💓

🎹Changes in a pianist

Among the clients who come to see me, there is a professional pianist.

That person plays the piano for many hours every day and was suffering from lower back pain, stiff shoulders, and arm pain. Surprisingly, they were not doing any care after playing.

Many musicians often don't have the awareness to care for their own bodies, even though they are overworking them.

I taught them self-fascial care using a foam roller and a lacrosse ball. It's a method to gently loosen the area around the shoulder blades, forearms, and lower back.

Even though they were skeptical at first, after continuing it for about a month, they seemed to see surprising changes.

'My arms feel lighter and the pain has decreased'
'The tension in my back is gone and it's easier to breathe'
'The resonance of the piano sound has become deeper than before'

They said that by tuning their body, there was more space created in the sound.

It was an event that made me realize once again that the softness of the body leads to the softness of expression🌸

🌱Self-care is not just for athletes

Many people think that 'body care is something only people who exercise do.' But in reality, office workers, homemakers, and students are all participating in the sport of daily life.
・Sitting for hours at a desk job

・Repeatedly carrying children or doing housework
・Putting strain on your legs from standing work
All of these put as much strain on your body as the daily training athletes undergo.

That is why care time is necessary for everyone, not just professional athletes.🌿
Some of you might think, 'I don't have time for that.'

But even just 5 or 10 minutes is enough.

・Gently swaying on a stretch pole in the morning
・Rolling your legs with a roller after a bath at night

・Rolling a lacrosse ball under your feet while at your desk
Even just doing that, your body will respond well.
The time to feel 'the you who is here right now.' That is the first step to regaining peace of mind.🌸

🌸Summary: To condition your body is to love yourself

Fascial release is not a technique to peel away adhesions, but a habit to condition your body and mind.

Even if you cannot change fascia by pressing on it, you can condition your hydration, nerves, breathing, and sensations. This creates circulation, making your body feel lighter and your mind calmer.

・Feel gently rather than pressing hard
・'Painfully pleasant' is the best level of stimulation
・By continuing, you will be able to hear your body's voice

Time spent treating yourself with care is the ultimate self-maintenance.

To condition your body is to love yourself.

The accumulation of those 5 minutes will surely change the quality of your life.🌿💖

📚References
• Findley T. (2012). Fascia research and implications for manual therapy.
• Schleip R. & Müller D. (2013). Training principles for fascial connective tissues.
• Junker D, Stöggl T. (2015). Foam rolling and hamstring flexibility.
• Wiewelhove T. et al. (2021). Chronic effects of foam rolling on flexibility and performance.

🌸The YUKI-style Beautiful Mind Body Method
values 'conditioning the mind through the body.'

Fascial release is nothing special.
It is an act of saying 'thank you for your hard work' to the you of today.

Please, try touching your own body with a little bit of kindness.
From there, your 'beautiful mind' will begin to move.✨

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