You Don't Have to Fall Apart for It to Work
By now, a lot of you have probably seen the video of LeAnn Rimes getting fascial work done at Human Garage. If you haven't, it's been making the rounds, especially in circles like mine. The short version: she's getting work done inside her mouth, specifically on her pterygoid muscle. Anyone who's had work there knows it can be a lot. She has a big emotional release on the table, and the suggestion is that she's letting go of something that's been stored there for a long time.
That video gets sent to me more than just about anything else. Human Garage content in general probably lands in my inbox more than anything.
I want to say first: I think the work they do matters. I actually started studying with them a few years back, but I was in too stressful a place to fully commit and ended up stepping away. I eventually went a different direction and trained in the John Barnes method, which is where my practice is rooted now. But the through-line is the same. This work goes to the root of what we're trying to let go of.
Here's where I want to slow down, though.
As much as I think it's valuable to show what a big release can look like, I sometimes wince at the idea of people watching that video and thinking that's what this always looks like. That it has to be dramatic to count. It doesn't.
I've had huge releases myself, and honestly it's part of why I got into this work in the first place. I'll share that story in full someday, but the short version is that I spent several days trembling after a series of sessions. I was in what you might call a thaw. It was unsettling. And then it passed, and I felt like I had set down the weight of a thousand lives. That kind of release is real, and it can be profound.
But so is the quieter kind.
And this is where I want to be honest about something that doesn't get talked about enough.
There is a difference between a release and a pain response. Tears on the table do not automatically mean something is moving through. Sometimes they mean someone is hurting and white-knuckling their way through a session because they feel like they're supposed to. That is not release. That is the body bracing, and bracing harder than it was before you got on the table.
For people who carry trauma in their bodies, and that is most of us in one way or another, that experience can do more harm than good. When the nervous system doesn't feel safe, it doesn't let go. It grips. And if we keep pushing past that signal, we're not doing deep work. We're just adding another layer of "I have to endure this to get better" onto a body that may have been running on that story for a long time.
This is why I take a trauma-informed approach in every session. It means I'm watching and listening to your body as much as I'm listening to you. It means the pressure is never something I decide for you. It means we go at the pace your nervous system actually allows, not the pace that looks the most impressive on video.
The goal is never to make you cry. The goal is to help you feel safe enough that whatever has been held there finally has room to move.
What release can actually look like in a session:
Trembling or shaking -- the nervous system unwinding, not something going wrong
Crying -- sometimes with a clear reason, sometimes with none at all
Laughing -- genuinely, sometimes uncontrollably, and often at nothing obvious
Old memories or questions surfacing -- things you haven't thought about in years suddenly there in your mind
A deep breath you didn't know you were holding
A feeling of warmth, heaviness, or tingling moving through part of your body
Stillness -- just going quiet inside, in a way that feels different from falling asleep
Leaving feeling light -- like something got put down that you'd been carrying so long you forgot it was there
None of these is more valid than another. What matters most to me in a session is that you feel safe, comfortable, and seen. Some of what we do together can take your breath away. Some of it looks like nothing at all from the outside. And both of those can shift something real.
However you show up, whatever comes through, I'm glad you're here.
Ready to experience myofascial release for yourself?
If you're in the Crown Point, Indiana area and want to work together one on one, you can book a private myofascial release session with me at thesubtlebodywellness.com. Every session is tailored to what your body needs that day, at the pace your nervous system actually allows.
If you're not local or you want to learn how to work with your own fascia at home, The Subtle Shift Method is for you. It's a four-week online myofascial release series where I teach you the same techniques I use with my one on one clients, so you can start releasing chronic tension, stored stress, and pain patterns from wherever you are. The series is available at thesubtlebodywellness.com whenever you're ready.
Myofascial release therapy, fascial release for chronic pain, trauma-informed bodywork, somatic release, nervous system regulation -- if any of those brought you here, you're in the right place.
