Positive Health Online

I have been practising and teaching Ashtanga yoga for several years now. I have dipped in to other styles of yoga, but have always returned to the Ashtanga programme. I was very interested to read Fascial Fitness through Yoga, as I was keen to see what Fascial release exercises could add to a practice that I feel is already thorough and complete.

The book has a very clear and interesting introduction, explaining what fascia is and the benefits of relaxing the fascia with a roller or a ball.  There is also a section that explains yoga - outlining what yoga is and the benefits of doing a regular practice. I soon realized that a fascia roller is crucial to gaining full benefit from this book. So, I dutifully purchased said roller and diligently practised the catalogue of exercises from Chapter 4. 

I have now been routinely doing these fascial stretches after my Ashtanga practise every day for a fortnight and  I am really noticing how it seems to roll out any areas of residual tension in the body. 

I have also tried rolling before my yoga  practice and the abbreviated catalogue of exercises was helpful here to ensure that the entire body is warmed up when you don't have time to roll the whole body. I love this section because the instructions are clear and well-illustrated with lovely photos that you don't have to scrutinise too hard to understand what is going on!

Further to this , chapter 5 and 6  suggest a catalogue of fascial stretching exercises for stretching and centring. These exercises are all poses that I have done in the past or that I do as part of my daily practice. I enjoyed reading the fascial benefits for each pose  - some of this information is new to me and the idea of a 'fascial chain' is a revelation!

Bouncing and jumping and the  'catapult effect'  whilst doing yoga added an element of fun and I enjoyed this chapter. Taking poses that are usually static and adding movement made me feel energised and certainly brought out the inner child!

I did find that there was a lot of information and I was relieved to discover that the final chapter shows you how to put together a basic fascia sequence. After trying  the 'Fascia salutation' for experienced yogis,  I  felt invigorated and thoroughly warm. The sequence had a lovely flow to it and had the perfect balance of dynamic energising poses, poses to strengthen the core and finished with some fascia rolling and some restorative slow, relaxed breathing. 

In summary, I will continue with my regular Ashtanga practice but will definitely add elements of the fascia training  to it. The whole idea of fascia is new to me and  totally fascinating. The idea that we have to feed our fascia with a wide array of movements makes complete sense and this book will inspire you to do exactly that. 

This is a superb book for all levels of practice and I would sincerely recommend it for the novice and the more experienced yogi alike.

Further Information

Available from Lotus Publishing and Amazon

www.amazon.co.uk/Fascial-Fitness-through-Katharina-Brinkmann/dp/190536783X

http://lotuspublishing.co.uk/books/health-fitness/yoga-fascia-training/