Our Body Image can Affect our Attitude

Isn’t it crazy just how critical we can be of our bodies? How many of us realise that the way that we feel about our bodies can affect our attitude towards ourselves which in turn will resonate out into the world. Below, Yolande shares with us, a very personal experience.

Don’t underestimate the damage surgery does – the tiniest of cuts still causes much damage under the surface, your fascia is adversely affected, which affects your whole body.

I was privileged to attend a three day Fascia and Trauma Release training session with Liza Kimble (Touch for TRE – www.lizakimble.com) recently, and what an eye-opener it was for me (as well as a body opener!). Although I’ve been a TREÒ Provider for a while now, I’ve a fascination for the fascia and it’s connections, and feel that fascia release and TREÒ complement each other very well.

The one aspect that we focused on was scars, whether injury or surgery, and their impact on the body as a whole.

I have a nasty appendicectomy scar, what should have been a straight, inch-long line turned into a twisted 3 inch one with much adhesion and twisting. I had the op when I was 16, the surgeon had not prescribed antibiotics and the wound turned septic – which we only realised on the tenth day when the stitches were removed. I woke up the following day with a bed full of blood and pus and the wound had split open.

I never gave this much thought after the fact, however, placing in a “past events” category and thinking my body had moved on. The truth is, it hadn’t. Liza showed me, once we had got to grips, literally, with this eyesore, how deep it runs, how much of my body it has affected and what I could do to change it.

While feeling around and tugging gently from all sides of the scar we found that it affects my fascial spiral, anterior and functional lines. When you pull on the bottom section on the scar, I can feel the tightness and tugging on my ribs on the opposite side. The other end of scar, when pulled, affects as low down as my pubic tubercle and I could feel the tugging in my upper left thigh.

Checking my legs, we found that the tightness in my fascial lines showed in one leg seeming shorter than the other, which I now realise has affected my ankles as well (many sprained and rolled ankles over the years).

She then set to work on it, releasing it bit by bit, and after a 15 minute (more or less) session, we could see some lifting and smoothness in the tissue underneath. Just to pause here to point out an important aspect of fascia release – it doesn’t have to hurt! Apart from some pulling and pushing sensations, there was no discomfort or pain.

Apart from the physical release I received, I then tremored (TRE or neurogenic tremors) on the plinth for a while, with an incredible fascial release happening to my front line – I arched backward, with my whole chest and neck lifting off the table and opening up. This release brought so many resolutions to past events (but that’s another discussion). Physically, I felt my breath suddenly had more integrity on the in and well as out-breath.

The following day’s photograph revealed that there was a definite improvement – the whole scar had lifted and was much smoother, from underneath, where it’s important. My abdomen was quite achy for most of the day after the fascia release, but by the end of the afternoon the achiness had completely gone.

I will now continue to work on loosening and smoothing the scar and connected fascia bit by bit, every two days, until I feel that I’ve have corrected most (or hopefully all) the damage. This photo shows the scar before treatment, straight after, and one day later (in sequence).

I’ve always been fascinated by the human body and its complex workings, and was a Tui Na (Chinese therapeutic massage with acupressure, and bonesetting) practitioner for many years.

Having been through a traumatic life (from the age of 4 to early teens and then later in adulthood), I’d been holding a lot of my own trauma that started taking its toll. It was through my own TRE® journey that I realised just how profound a release could be and what it took to get there.

I’ve worked as a writer and PR consultant for the last 15 years, and decided a little while ago to get back to where my soul is fed – through helping others. I’ll continue to write and consult, but will spend more time on building a TRE® practice.

I am currently working on how to connect what I know from my Traditional Chinese Medicine experience and TRE®, to help those who need fascia release as well as TRE® sessions, and hope that the combination will be as beneficial to others as it has been to me. I have put together a series of self-help fascial release techniques using the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine and am excited to bring those to as many people as would be interested.

I work from Hout Bay and will run group and individual sessions here as well as the immediate surrounding areas if needed.

Will travel for groups of 4 or more.

Contact: Yolande Hung
084 2066 493
[email protected]
Facebook page: TRE for Change