The idea that the body, and not just the mind, modulates our emotions is not new or even controversial.

In 2014, psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk published The Body Keeps the Score, a book about how the body processes trauma. It went on to spend 141 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.

My decades of practice and observations lead me to agree with van der Kolk’s premise. The body indeed influences our emotions, and bodywork helps patients become much more emotionally balanced.

What’s largely missing in this conversation of the body, mind, and emotions is the fascia. Its role in emotional health is often overlooked, to the detriment of millions of individuals who can benefit from its healing capabilities.

To fill this gap, let’s dive into emotional regulation, how the fascia influences our emotions, and how you can restore your fascial health in conjunction with your emotional health.

Connecting Our Bodies with Our Emotions

Our understanding of emotions has shifted along with scientific breakthroughs. Opinions on this topic fluctuate within a continuum that is mind-oriented on the one end and body-oriented on the other.

The former reasons that cognitive processes are responsible for forming our emotions, while the latter argues that bodily sensations inform our emotions.

Early emotion science, coming from an evolutionary perspective, leaned towards the body explanation. Popular opinion shifted in the early 20th century with the emergence of cognitive therapy.

As scientists discovered more about this field, they realized that both perspectives are necessary for a nuanced understanding of emotions. In particular, new insights about interoception, muscle armoring, and the parasympathetic nervous system have brought the body back into our conception of emotions.

How the Fascia Influences Interoception

Interoception is the process by which sensory receptors send information about the state of the body to cognitive centers in the brain.

Interoceptors alert us to different sensations within the body that are crucial for survival:

• hunger, thirst, pain, temperature (bodily integrity)
• affection, intimacy, positive touch (social integration)
• fear, anger, aggression (physical safety)

Having an acute awareness of these cues gives us a distinct advantage when it comes to regulating our emotions. When we can accurately detect a feeling in our body, we can process and interpret them, and then react appropriately.

For example, crankiness is a symptom of hunger, which eating will relieve. Misinterpreting the feeling of crankiness incorrectly can lead you to self-soothe differently (and in a potentially harmful way), leading to emotional dysregulation.

Unsurprisingly, researchers have linked impaired interoception with mood, eating, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

What may surprise you is that unhealthy fascia is also associated with those conditions. A recent study has found that individuals with Major Depressive Disorder have thicker and less elastic fascia than controls.

That’s because the fascia is home to hundreds of millions of interoceptors.

Damage to the fascia, in the form of thickening or scarring due to dehydration, immobility, or stress, can also lead to dysfunction in the interoceptors.

How the Fascia Facilitates Emotional Flow

Survivors of abuse and trauma often have the common complaint of constant muscle tightness. In body psychotherapy, this phenomenon is referred to as muscle armoring. This term is a bit of a misnomer, however, because it is not the muscles tightening per se but the fascia around it.

The fascia is made up of fibroblasts, a special type of cell that can migrate anywhere in the body and produce fibers responsive to the needs of that body part. Under trauma, whether physical or emotional, fibroblasts are created around muscles to help them resist stress.

Chronic muscle armoring alters the form of the fascia, making it thick, densified, and dehydrated. This alteration interrupts energy flow, as the fascia is a continuous matrix serving as a superhighway of energy within the body.

Even just a 20% decrease in collagen hydration in the fascia can slow down this flow by 5000 fold.

The good news is the fascia is pliable and can be remodeled back to its supple state, enabling optimal energy and emotional flow. This improvement is a common experience among Rev6 practitioners.

After practicing with us for some time, they become more able to flow with the challenges of everyday life. Some even become capable of entering the flow state, otherwise known as “the zone.”

How the Fascia Modulates the Parasympathetic Nervous System

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) oversees a diverse number of functions within the body, including:

• sleep,
• digestion,
• heart rate,
• respiratory rate,
• immune function, and most importantly,
• control of mood.

It is the “rest and digest” to the sympathetic nervous system’s “fight or flight.” The more time we spend in this relaxed state, the healthier we are physically and emotionally.

The vagus nerve plays a principal role in the PNS. It wanders from the brain to the neck, chest, and abdomen, transmitting crucial information about the state of our organs.

Evidence suggests that stimulating the vagus nerve has a positive effect on mood and anxiety. The FDA approved vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment method for various conditions in 2005. It has since been proven to be effective in alleviating depression and bipolar disorder.

Like all other nerves in the body, the vagus is enveloped by fascia. Densifications in the fascia can impact the communication between the vagus nerve and the brain, potentially hampering parasympathetic nervous function.

The fascia also contains nociceptors, sensory receptors that detect pressure, stretch, and tension. When irritated, the nociceptors send signals to the brain that trigger sympathetic nervous activity and shut off the PNS.

Thus, fascial health is important for parasympathetic activation. Rev6 exercises target the small muscles of the spine, as well as the fascia around the spine and pelvic floor. Doing so stimulates the vagus nerve and results in less anxiety and stabilized mood.                        

Fascial Health is Emotional Health

Emotional regulation requires the mind and body to work harmoniously to mount appropriate responses to life’s challenges.

It’s heartening to see the importance of the body being emphasized more in this conversation. But we must pay particular attention to a specific body part—the fascia. Whether through enhanced interoception, flow, or vagal tone, it’s undeniable that the fascia is key to solving the puzzle of emotional health.

Fortunately, there are a lot of small habits you can start now to improve the health of your fascia. Staying hydrated and moving more are some of the simplest changes you can make. But if you want a lasting, potent fascial upgrade, Rev6 is the way to go. The best place to start is our free foundations class.