Self-Massage Myofascial Release Techniques

Hey friends, welcome to this video. Today is going to be a little bit different than most of the videos that you've been following on our channel because today you're going to need a ball, either a lacrosse ball, a tennis ball, a myofascial release, muscle therapy ball, and with the ball we're basically going to be doing a self-massage and a form and a technique called myofascial release. So I'll be guiding you through a few different exercises that we'll be doing today with the ball. So feel free to pause the video, go grab a ball somewhere in your house. Hopefully you have one. Steal a tennis ball from your dog. I don't know. Someone also said that they used an orange at one point for myofascial release. Do not recommend that. So get something that's hard like an actual ball. If you don't have a ball lying around your house, then you can check the description below. We put a link to this exact ball that we have been using for a couple of years. So you can order it. and then come back to this video in a few days once it arrives. So now that you have the ball, welcome. And I'll be guiding you through a few different exercises and we will start with the ball under our feet. So begin standing, grab the ball, place it under your foot. Let's just start with the right foot so that we can stay consistent. So you're going to start to put the weight onto the ball as you begin to roll the foot. Over the ball Might take a little bit to get used to as you balance on it Oftentimes when Flo and I teach our myofascial release workshop The balls are literally rolling all over the room. So it's fine if the ball slides out and rolls across the room just grab it and come right back. Myofascia comes from a Latin term so myo means muscle and fascia means band so it's muscle band but a better way to describe myofascia in the body is basically an interconnected system of tissue. So myofascia is sort of in the fourth phase of water so it's like a gelatin sort of substance and it runs throughout your entire body so it stabilizes your organs it creates connectedness in your muscles you can kind of think of it as When you go to peel an orange and you take the first layer of the orange off and then the orange is still together as a whole it doesn't like fall apart into orange juice in your hand and then from there you can peel open the orange and then Maybe you have 10 different orange slices. And again, they're sort of held together by this connective tissue on the orange. And then maybe as a kid, you even peeled those orange slices into the tiny little droplets. And again, they're kind of held by this connective tissue around that orange juice droplet. And so that's sort of the same concept of what's happening in your body. So between all of your muscles, you have those layers and layers of fascia. And what happens is the muscles, the more they get worked, the tighter your fascia becomes. And so oftentimes it's not just that you are stretching the muscle and then that's making it harder for you to get the muscles to work. you more flexible it's that you're breaking up the adhesions in your fascial lines which makes your muscles move a little bit more fluidly. So I'll explain more about myofascia as we keep going. So now what I'd like you to focus on with the foot as you're continuing to give yourself a little foot massage is you can sort of imagine let's start with the ball underneath the toes and then start to roll it back towards the heel Move nice and slow here, so there's nothing rushed or fast. You're just moving really slowly. And then once the ball comes back up towards the toes, then you can bring the ball over to the other opposite knuckle, either your pinky or your pointer toe. Is that what it's called? Your big toe, I guess. And then bring it back towards the heels. So you're sort of making this shape of a tree. triangle on your foot from your heel up to your pinky toe joint, over to your big toe, and then back to the heel. So in this triangle, we're sort of following our plantar fascia, which is the fascial line that runs on the bottom of the foot. and then slowly lift that foot up off the ball and then just stand there on both feet and just maybe shift the weight see if you notice any difference in how the feet feel maybe you do maybe you don't and then step onto the ball with the left foot and again start to put a little bit more weight on Come to the ball as you begin to massage your foot. And you might come across a little... Points of pressure or what we call good pain. So you don't want anything that's causing any sharp pain or tingling or numbness. You always want to avoid that when you're doing myofascial release, especially if it turns into any bruising. It just means that you're pushing too hard on the ball. So this is just a nice light movement. When you get to those spots where it feels like it's that good pain, where you're like, oh, like a massage where it feels really good, but it kind of hurts, but you know it's good for you, that's the pain that we're actually looking for is that good pain. And when you get to that spot in your foot where you feel that good pain, then just pause for maybe 10 seconds, hold it there, put a little bit more weight on, and continue to breathe. take ten more seconds here on this side continue to roll out the ball to even it out and then gently step your foot back off the ball and make your way into a seat grab the ball as you go there Then we're going to massage out our piriformis muscle, which is one of the major muscles that runs from the base of your spine to the top of your femur. And it's just about an inch long, an inch wide. you'll be able to target it. You'll feel it when you're there. I'll guide you through it. So let's grab the ball. Let's start under that left hip first. And then what you're going to do is just bring the ball basically to the top of your butt cheek and then start to put the weight back onto the ball. And then you're going to cross your left ankle on top of your right thigh. keep that right foot flexed to protect or the left foot flexed so you can protect the left knee and then you'll just start to roll around put a little bit more weight onto the ball slowly rolling forward and back just starting to explore how that feels in the glute and if you've never done myofascial release especially here on the piriformis it can be pretty intense so if you get to those points where it feels like that good pain then just pause there for a moment relax the muscles in the face slow down the breath maybe even close the eyes and then come back to that movement you can start to tip the left knee over to the left so you sort of roll on to more of the outside of the left hip now if you're already here and you're already doing this and you don't feel much like it feels good but it's nothing too crazy then you can add a little bit more weight onto the hips or the glutes by lowering down onto the shoulders or one shoulder at least and then you can target that weight a little bit easier into the glute So now opposite, if you are already here and this is way too intense for you and you can barely relax at all, then I would like it if you could just lay down all the way onto your back and then bring that ball underneath the left hip. There's a few different levels of pressure. You can sort of explore and try each. Slowly come off the ball and let's switch it over to the right hip. So cross the right ankle on top of the left thigh. Bring the ball underneath the right hip or the glute. And then again, find the height that feels best. for the shoulders and then slowly begin to roll up and down on the ball. So it's really important to Everything in the body is connected. So when you have everything in the body is connected, of course, it's all one unit. But it's always surprising to find out that sometimes one part of the body can have such a huge influence over another part. So for example, you could have... headache and it might actually be because your plantar fascia in your feet are really tight so if you have sore feet at the end of the day and you also are prone to getting headaches then it could possibly be because the fascia in your feet are too tight so we want to release this fascia and do these self massages because it helps relieve pain because it helps alleviate pain in other parts of the body. So for example, in the piriformis muscle, even though it's in the glute, it's a common problem when your piriformis is too tight that you have low back pain. So it happens more often in... women than it does men but it still happens for everyone where your sciatic nerve runs in the middle of your piriformis muscle and so when that muscle gets too tight and when the fascia is locked up and it's not liquid and movable, then you can start to have that nerve be squished by the muscle because the muscle's too tight. So it starts to constrict that nerve, and it can cause sciatica or low back pain. So this is a really good self-massage to do, especially if you have low back pain, is to massage out the glutes. Release that. tension in the fascia let's take ten more seconds here maybe change the level of the shoulders if you want to explore that and slowly come off the ball And then keep the ball in the right hand as you come all the way onto your back. And then we're going to take the ball and we're going to place it. basically the top of the left shoulder so the trapezius muscle is what we're targeting here first so for the ladies this is where your bra strap is basically and for guys you can just imagine where that is so you're going to keep the ball there at the top of the shoulder and then you can start to reach your arm up over your head maybe bring it out to the side and you're just moving super slow so there's nothing wrong nice and easy maybe reach your left arm across your chest and back over your head so you're kind of moving your arm like hands of a clock and then start to use your heels to lift your hips up and then move that ball along the shoulder blade so you have the muscles between your two shoulder blades called your rhomboids and you're just sort of following the blade of the shoulder as the ball comes down the back so the ball now is between the spine and the shoulder blades so you don't want the ball directly on the spine you're just massaging the muscles between the two so continue to sort of wiggle your hips up to move that ball around and again the invitation to start moving your left arm in some circles I know it's easy to want to rush through this and move fast so you can get done quicker, but that really sort of is short-cutting or cheating on this exercise. It's way more beneficial if you move slower. because it gives the muscle an opportunity to sort of change its shape over the surface area of the ball. So the faster that you move with the muscle over the ball, you're not getting as deep into the tissue. So try to move slow here. Slowly come off the ball. Grab the ball with the right hand. And just lay here on your back for a moment. Take a couple deep breaths. Notice any differences from the left to the right. and then take the ball in the left hand and bring it over to the right shoulder so again you'll start with the ball up near the top of the shoulder the trapezius muscle then as you start to introduce a little bit more weight onto the shoulder you have the option to reach the arm up over the head Maybe start bringing that arm in the circle. The same goes for all movement of the body. So remember that you're always in control. You can always stop whenever you want. Nobody knows your body better than you do. But it's good to increase that awareness and that connection to your body. Especially in these slower movements, the slower transitions, not only with myofascial release but also with yoga. It really helps you develop that proprioception of where you are in space, what your limitations are in your body. reduces your injury of reduces your risk of injury continue to roll that ball down the shoulder blade more into the rhomboid and again if you find that spot or that good pain then just stay there for a moment compress onto that spot on the ball and just breathe you can also grab a pillow and place it under your head we're here for just about 30 more seconds Great. Slowly come off the ball. Place it on your side. You can either stay on your back, just take a few breaths, or come back up to a seat. So myofascial release can be done. In just about everywhere you are, Flo and I actually bring this ball with us when we travel. So we bring it on airplanes with us. When we're sitting in the seat, we'll still do self-massage or we'll bring the ball behind our back when we're in the seat. the chair and we'll just do a massage while we're reading a book we'll even bring it to the back of the plane and we'll do some self-massage like put it up against the wall and lean onto the wall and massage out different parts of the body and Usually we get some very strange looks from other people that are flying or from the flight attendants themselves. They're very confused about what we're doing. But it feels great for us, especially when we're on a flight for like more than 10 hours. It's a really good form of self-massage and keeping the body feeling good when you're in a flight. We also do it when we're brushing our teeth in the morning. So since we're standing there anyways, we'll just be brushing our teeth and then we'll have the ball. ball underneath our feet and massage out the feet. It's also good if you're folding laundry or doing the dishes. You might be chasing the ball around the kitchen a little bit if it rolls out from the feet, but it's a really easy way to sort of integrate it into your life. If you're on a conference call or you're just standing or sitting there anyways, then you can just grab the ball and go up against the wall and do a little back massage on the wall as well. and it doesn't take long to feel the effects of myofascial release hopefully even just after this short video you already notice a little bit of a difference in your body relief of tension in your muscles and it's great once you have the ball it's like a free massage so it just takes the the time to actually sit down and do it thank you so much for joining me for this self-massage exercise today this myofascial release and i hope that you find ways to integrate it into your life into your practice So if you are stepping on the mat, if you are practicing yoga, then just bring your ball with you. And then after you're done practicing or even throughout, you can grab the ball and you can do a little bit of self massage. So it's a great way to just feel better in your body and have a little bit less tension. Thank you so much for joining me today and I will see you in the next video. Namaste.

Steal a tennis ball from your dog. I don't know. Someone also said that they used an orange at one point for myofascial release. Do not recommend that.

So get something that's hard like an actual ball. If you don't have a ball lying around your house, then you can check the description below. We put a link to this exact ball that we have been using for a couple of years.

So you can order it. and then come back to this video in a few days once it arrives. So now that you have the ball, welcome. And I'll be guiding you through a few different exercises and we will start with the ball under our feet. So begin standing, grab the ball, place it under your foot.

Let's just start with the right foot so that we can stay consistent. So you're going to start to put the weight onto the ball as you begin to roll the foot. Over the ball Might take a little bit to get used to as you balance on it Oftentimes when Flo and I teach our myofascial release workshop The balls are literally rolling all over the room.

So it's fine if the ball slides out and rolls across the room just grab it and come right back. Myofascia comes from a Latin term so myo means muscle and fascia means band so it's muscle band but a better way to describe myofascia in the body is basically an interconnected system of tissue. So myofascia is sort of in the fourth phase of water so it's like a gelatin sort of substance and it runs throughout your entire body so it stabilizes your organs it creates connectedness in your muscles you can kind of think of it as When you go to peel an orange and you take the first layer of the orange off and then the orange is still together as a whole it doesn't like fall apart into orange juice in your hand and then from there you can peel open the orange and then Maybe you have 10 different orange slices.

And again, they're sort of held together by this connective tissue on the orange. And then maybe as a kid, you even peeled those orange slices into the tiny little droplets. And again, they're kind of held by this connective tissue around that orange juice droplet.

And so that's sort of the same concept of what's happening in your body. So between all of your muscles, you have those layers and layers of fascia. And what happens is the muscles, the more they get worked, the tighter your fascia becomes.

And so oftentimes it's not just that you are stretching the muscle and then that's making it harder for you to get the muscles to work. you more flexible it's that you're breaking up the adhesions in your fascial lines which makes your muscles move a little bit more fluidly. So I'll explain more about myofascia as we keep going.

So now what I'd like you to focus on with the foot as you're continuing to give yourself a little foot massage is you can sort of imagine let's start with the ball underneath the toes and then start to roll it back towards the heel Move nice and slow here, so there's nothing rushed or fast. You're just moving really slowly. And then once the ball comes back up towards the toes, then you can bring the ball over to the other opposite knuckle, either your pinky or your pointer toe. Is that what it's called? Your big toe, I guess.

And then bring it back towards the heels. So you're sort of making this shape of a tree. triangle on your foot from your heel up to your pinky toe joint, over to your big toe, and then back to the heel.

So in this triangle, we're sort of following our plantar fascia, which is the fascial line that runs on the bottom of the foot. and then slowly lift that foot up off the ball and then just stand there on both feet and just maybe shift the weight see if you notice any difference in how the feet feel maybe you do maybe you don't and then step onto the ball with the left foot and again start to put a little bit more weight on Come to the ball as you begin to massage your foot. And you might come across a little... Points of pressure or what we call good pain.

So you don't want anything that's causing any sharp pain or tingling or numbness. You always want to avoid that when you're doing myofascial release, especially if it turns into any bruising. It just means that you're pushing too hard on the ball.

So this is just a nice light movement. When you get to those spots where it feels like it's that good pain, where you're like, oh, like a massage where it feels really good, but it kind of hurts, but you know it's good for you, that's the pain that we're actually looking for is that good pain. And when you get to that spot in your foot where you feel that good pain, then just pause for maybe 10 seconds, hold it there, put a little bit more weight on, and continue to breathe. take ten more seconds here on this side continue to roll out the ball to even it out and then gently step your foot back off the ball and make your way into a seat grab the ball as you go there Then we're going to massage out our piriformis muscle, which is one of the major muscles that runs from the base of your spine to the top of your femur. And it's just about an inch long, an inch wide.

you'll be able to target it. You'll feel it when you're there. I'll guide you through it.

So let's grab the ball. Let's start under that left hip first. And then what you're going to do is just bring the ball basically to the top of your butt cheek and then start to put the weight back onto the ball.

And then you're going to cross your left ankle on top of your right thigh. keep that right foot flexed to protect or the left foot flexed so you can protect the left knee and then you'll just start to roll around put a little bit more weight onto the ball slowly rolling forward and back just starting to explore how that feels in the glute and if you've never done myofascial release especially here on the piriformis it can be pretty intense so if you get to those points where it feels like that good pain then just pause there for a moment relax the muscles in the face slow down the breath maybe even close the eyes and then come back to that movement you can start to tip the left knee over to the left so you sort of roll on to more of the outside of the left hip now if you're already here and you're already doing this and you don't feel much like it feels good but it's nothing too crazy then you can add a little bit more weight onto the hips or the glutes by lowering down onto the shoulders or one shoulder at least and then you can target that weight a little bit easier into the glute So now opposite, if you are already here and this is way too intense for you and you can barely relax at all, then I would like it if you could just lay down all the way onto your back and then bring that ball underneath the left hip. There's a few different levels of pressure.

You can sort of explore and try each. Slowly come off the ball and let's switch it over to the right hip. So cross the right ankle on top of the left thigh. Bring the ball underneath the right hip or the glute. And then again, find the height that feels best.

for the shoulders and then slowly begin to roll up and down on the ball. So it's really important to Everything in the body is connected. So when you have everything in the body is connected, of course, it's all one unit. But it's always surprising to find out that sometimes one part of the body can have such a huge influence over another part. So for example, you could have...

headache and it might actually be because your plantar fascia in your feet are really tight so if you have sore feet at the end of the day and you also are prone to getting headaches then it could possibly be because the fascia in your feet are too tight so we want to release this fascia and do these self massages because it helps relieve pain because it helps alleviate pain in other parts of the body. So for example, in the piriformis muscle, even though it's in the glute, it's a common problem when your piriformis is too tight that you have low back pain. So it happens more often in... women than it does men but it still happens for everyone where your sciatic nerve runs in the middle of your piriformis muscle and so when that muscle gets too tight and when the fascia is locked up and it's not liquid and movable, then you can start to have that nerve be squished by the muscle because the muscle's too tight. So it starts to constrict that nerve, and it can cause sciatica or low back pain.

So this is a really good self-massage to do, especially if you have low back pain, is to massage out the glutes. Release that. tension in the fascia let's take ten more seconds here maybe change the level of the shoulders if you want to explore that and slowly come off the ball And then keep the ball in the right hand as you come all the way onto your back. And then we're going to take the ball and we're going to place it. basically the top of the left shoulder so the trapezius muscle is what we're targeting here first so for the ladies this is where your bra strap is basically and for guys you can just imagine where that is so you're going to keep the ball there at the top of the shoulder and then you can start to reach your arm up over your head maybe bring it out to the side and you're just moving super slow so there's nothing wrong nice and easy maybe reach your left arm across your chest and back over your head so you're kind of moving your arm like hands of a clock and then start to use your heels to lift your hips up and then move that ball along the shoulder blade so you have the muscles between your two shoulder blades called your rhomboids and you're just sort of following the blade of the shoulder as the ball comes down the back so the ball now is between the spine and the shoulder blades so you don't want the ball directly on the spine you're just massaging the muscles between the two so continue to sort of wiggle your hips up to move that ball around and again the invitation to start moving your left arm in some circles I know it's easy to want to rush through this and move fast so you can get done quicker, but that really sort of is short-cutting or cheating on this exercise.

It's way more beneficial if you move slower. because it gives the muscle an opportunity to sort of change its shape over the surface area of the ball. So the faster that you move with the muscle over the ball, you're not getting as deep into the tissue. So try to move slow here.

Slowly come off the ball. Grab the ball with the right hand. And just lay here on your back for a moment. Take a couple deep breaths.

Notice any differences from the left to the right. and then take the ball in the left hand and bring it over to the right shoulder so again you'll start with the ball up near the top of the shoulder the trapezius muscle then as you start to introduce a little bit more weight onto the shoulder you have the option to reach the arm up over the head Maybe start bringing that arm in the circle. The same goes for all movement of the body.

So remember that you're always in control. You can always stop whenever you want. Nobody knows your body better than you do.

But it's good to increase that awareness and that connection to your body. Especially in these slower movements, the slower transitions, not only with myofascial release but also with yoga. It really helps you develop that proprioception of where you are in space, what your limitations are in your body. reduces your injury of reduces your risk of injury continue to roll that ball down the shoulder blade more into the rhomboid and again if you find that spot or that good pain then just stay there for a moment compress onto that spot on the ball and just breathe you can also grab a pillow and place it under your head we're here for just about 30 more seconds Great. Slowly come off the ball.

Place it on your side. You can either stay on your back, just take a few breaths, or come back up to a seat. So myofascial release can be done. In just about everywhere you are, Flo and I actually bring this ball with us when we travel.

So we bring it on airplanes with us. When we're sitting in the seat, we'll still do self-massage or we'll bring the ball behind our back when we're in the seat. the chair and we'll just do a massage while we're reading a book we'll even bring it to the back of the plane and we'll do some self-massage like put it up against the wall and lean onto the wall and massage out different parts of the body and Usually we get some very strange looks from other people that are flying or from the flight attendants themselves.

They're very confused about what we're doing. But it feels great for us, especially when we're on a flight for like more than 10 hours. It's a really good form of self-massage and keeping the body feeling good when you're in a flight.

We also do it when we're brushing our teeth in the morning. So since we're standing there anyways, we'll just be brushing our teeth and then we'll have the ball. ball underneath our feet and massage out the feet.

It's also good if you're folding laundry or doing the dishes. You might be chasing the ball around the kitchen a little bit if it rolls out from the feet, but it's a really easy way to sort of integrate it into your life. If you're on a conference call or you're just standing or sitting there anyways, then you can just grab the ball and go up against the wall and do a little back massage on the wall as well.

and it doesn't take long to feel the effects of myofascial release hopefully even just after this short video you already notice a little bit of a difference in your body relief of tension in your muscles and it's great once you have the ball it's like a free massage so it just takes the the time to actually sit down and do it thank you so much for joining me for this self-massage exercise today this myofascial release and i hope that you find ways to integrate it into your life into your practice So if you are stepping on the mat, if you are practicing yoga, then just bring your ball with you. And then after you're done practicing or even throughout, you can grab the ball and you can do a little bit of self massage. So it's a great way to just feel better in your body and have a little bit less tension. Thank you so much for joining me today and I will see you in the next video. Namaste.

Transcript for:Self-Massage Myofascial Release Techniques

Transcript for:
Self-Massage Myofascial Release Techniques