Clearing the Cobwebs (aka “Clean Your Damn Room!”)

Here's a scenario;

You are sitting at home on an unusually un-busy day, and on a whim you decide to move all the furniture around in your house and do a little "spring-cleaning". As you begin the process, you might notice those deep impressions in the carpet or couch cushions, intimating things that haven't moved in a while. You spend time cleaning and rearranging; between the cushions, under the bed, behind all those pictures and trinkets that haven't moved on the shelf for years, or maybe you even start to dig into those old piles of crap and unworn clothing deep in the back of your messy closet.

While doing this, you're likely to find dust, cobwebs and the collected detritus of years of life in these neglected places. You may also find the remnants of old memories; a photo or an object you haven't seen in a while that reminds you of the past, of a happy time or of a sad time, or maybe something you have been meaning to get rid of, but somehow haven't been able to bring yourself to do.

Clearing and releasing these old things can sometimes be an emotional process. Bringing back memories from things that you either forgot about, or things you chose to ignore for one reason or another. Sometimes it is a joyful process, sometimes it is a painful one, and more often than not, it is a combination of the two.

If you have ever done this yourself, you can probably relate to the experience of "refreshing" and clearing the space, of breathing new life into it. At the end of the day, after you've dug up all the old crap, refreshed the carpet, cleaned the closet, and swept the floors, you enter back into your room or home. You do so with a rewarding, renewed, and refreshed sense of your personal space. It FEELS BETTER.

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We have all heard the old expression "A cluttered room reflects a cluttered mind", and I am relating this brief story of cleaning house because it can intrinsically relate to the process of clearing, re-arranging, and "un-sticking" different parts of your physical body.

With the type of fascial manipulation and manual therapy that I practice, there is a very real aspect to this idea of "clearing the cobwebs".

Just as dust can build up in untouched corners, and rust can corrode a metal joint - rendering it unmovable without assistance - so to can the body's fascial system create a kind of "glue" that builds up in areas that are stuck, injured or left untouched for various reasons. In the process of freeing up muscles, joints, nerves and fascia in the body, we can sometimes uncover and expose old emotions and sensations that we didn't know we still had in our system.

For example, in the process of moving through and recovering from a past issue or injury, there can be a period when we all too vividly remember what it felt like to be hurt. We can "re-awaken" an old memory that the physical body held on to, but that the mind put in the back of the closet in order to carry on with life.

It's like finding a love letter from an old ex-lover, or a momento from a time you wished you had forgotten, and you remember a time of great pain. Why have you been holding on to it for so long?

The answer could be that maybe you simply weren’t ready to let go, or you were afraid, or you just needed the right person, the right moment or the right motivation to get moving again. It's not all going to get done at once, and it is almost never as immediately gratifying as we would like it to be.

This is a very common occurrence in my field of therapy and bodywork, and my various trainings and experience over the years both in Functional Anatomy and Mental Health have allowed me to access many tools that I love to share with my clients. This process of “cleaning house” is essential for a productive and healthy lifestyle. It can sometimes be a daunting task to approach, but through a series of bodywork sessions with me, we can start with small, easily approachable tools and therapies for getting rid of the clutter and clearing the cobwebs that build up in the body’s fascial system and prevent us from operating at our best.

As you tackle and actively engage with the process of working through old injuries, emotional trauma, or other bodymind issues, you are engaging in a process of self-respect and self-care that ripples out to your external environment. When you FEEL BETTER, everything else in your life is better. You are taking ownership of your self and honoring the body God gave you, which can lead to positive impacts throughout your life.

So take care of those cobwebs and crowded closets, and take responsibility for the physical and spiritual sanctuary that is your body and home. To paraphrase the esteemed and infamous social psychologist Jordan B. Peterson; before you can even begin to think about solving anyone else’s problems or issues, you first have to “Clean your own damn room!”.

-Brian Romanelli, LMT