#2 September 5th, 2023 - Fascia

September 05, 2023 by Charles B. Stephens

Today I’ll write about something that’s been on my mind for the last year or so – the fascia. A not-so-often talked about but all-so-important membrane that permeates every organ and muscle within our bodies. It keeps everything held together. Do you ever wonder how everything in your body stays in place? Why we’re not just a big soppy sack of meat and blood? It’s because of this gelatinous fabric that extends from head to toe, weaving around our bones that our bodies have a coherent structure.

I learned about the fascia last year when speaking with a functional medicine doctor about the tightness I was experiencing in my jaw. She suggested I do some stretches to open up my hip – that the fascia in the hip is directly connected to the fascia in the face, and that some lower body work could release the pressure I was experiencing in my head. All of these seemingly disparate parts in the body are actually held in relationship through tension formed by this fascial membrane, and therefore pain caused in one place may be the byproduct of tightness on the complete opposite side of the body.

There is a developing science that studies the different patterns of the fascia and how it weaves throughout our body (see Anatomy Trains for courses and books on the subject). Just like the study of any other body system, analyzing the anatomical structure of fascia is very intricate. I started to read the Anatomy Trains book the other day and am finding it incredibly dense. However, mindful practices like yoga and Qigong are great for developing a first-hand experience and awareness of the fascia.

There is so much more to write about regarding the fascia. Learning about the ways that tightness originates and manifests within the body has been fascinating, and an incredibly healing process for myself. To learn that the pain I experience in my body is not happening in isolation, that it is often if not always connected with hidden tightness and traumas in unexpected places has been a humbling experience. Rather than try to fix or numb the pain here, it may be worth exploring and giving attention and care to that which is tight, there.

#1 September 4th, 2023 - Picking back up

September 04, 2023 by Charles B. Stephens

This will be my first blog post in some time here. I’ve written one-off articles in the past, but I’m thinking about writing more regularly here now. What to write about? That is the grand question.

There are so many things I’d like to write about, from so many different realms of thought. Perhaps what they all boil down to though, is a sense of connection that I’d like to explore. The connection between the mind and body, humans and nature, our planet and the stars, and people amongst each other.

A sense of connection that we have in many ways lost sight of, but are forever in the process of rediscovering. A journey into the heart of our being is what I am really after, and it’s along the path where the different topics will come to light. They may include philosophy, psychology, biology, ecology, astrology, anatomy, you name it.

Rather than fully discuss each subject, my goal is to survey the invisible landscape in which each of these fascinating fields finds its fertilizer. And in doing so to create a reference guide, a map, or a lifeline that one can refer to when navigating the realms of life. My intention is to share thoughts and experiences that have been useful or healing in my own life, as well as concepts and questions that I’m currently examining. And in this way, this blog might be a place where we can collectively explore the nature of being, together.

As new ideas emerge and connections are reestablished, may we weave a story that not only sheds light on the fabric of our reality, but also illuminates our relationship with and our place within the intricate web of life itself.

Gratitude: The Small Practice At The Root Of Big Things

May 22, 2020 by Charles B. Stephens

Seeing and appreciating things for what they really are, not in the material sense, but in the value they bring — in the life giving, creative, and energetic principle that they exhibit day in and day out — I’m starting to understand, is a really powerful way to connect with health, happiness, and even eternity.

When Life Shakes You Up, Shake It Up

May 15, 2020 by Charles B. Stephens

Now is an opportunity to re-evaluate our situations. What we’ve been doing with our lives, where we’ve been taking our lives, how we’ve been treating our lives and what meaning we’ve been giving to our lives.

COVID-19: A Call to Connect

May 13, 2020 by Charles B. Stephens

With COVID-19 we are going through something practically no living soul has ever experienced. It may be forging new realities, and could place us at the edge of a big change —politically, economically, culturally, and spiritually. What this will look like nobody really knows, but there are some things we can glean about the emerging future.

Interview with Charles Stephens | Voyage LA

February 20, 2020 by Charles B. Stephens

I’ve grown a lot on this trip. I learned things about myself, about others, and about the world that I never imagined. I experienced a new realm of possibilities that exist within me. And I set out on a new mission to keep on making greater connections – ones that evolve our world, our communities, and our lovely human beings.

The Challenge of the Digital City

January 20, 2020 by Charles B. Stephens

Lying somewhere between the digital and the physical is a potential substrata, which is neither completely digital or physical, conceptual or concrete, yet it ties us all together. We can think of it as a shared human essence, a collective understanding of what it means to be alive, and what it means to be with others.