Metta Massage

12/24/2025

The best time to start was years ago, the next best time is today…
I am not starting the New Year with any resolutions.
I am starting today to take steps in supporting my future self with healthy habits and a lifestyle that gives me the best opportunity for finishing my race well.

12/24/2025

We're not reshaping fascia with our hands or feet. That's not how this works.

What we're doing is activating mechanoreceptors in the tissue - sensory nerve endings that send information to your nervous system.

That sensory input triggers neurophysiological responses.

Your nervous system then makes adjustments: muscle tone changes, inflammation modulates, tissue hydration shifts, viscoelastic properties alter.

These are measurable changes in how your tissue functions and organizes itself.

But they happen through neuroregulatory pathways, not because we're physically molding fascia like clay.

This is why technique matters. Slow, sustained pressure through a broad surface area gives mechanoreceptors time to communicate with your nervous system.

Your body makes the changes - we're just providing the input that allows those changes to happen.

The body is deeply interconnected. When you understand that sensory input drives tissue change through the nervous system, you stop trying to force results and start facilitating them.

~Sarga Bodywork.

12/04/2025

Your fascia is full of tiny sensory nerve endings called Ruffini receptors.
They're basically sensors that pick up information about stretch and pressure in the tissue.

Most mechanoreceptors (like Pacini corpuscles) react to quick pressure changes and then tune out.

Ruffini receptors are the opposite - they stay active under sustained pressure. They need time to do their thing.

Research shows that when you stimulate Ruffini receptors with slow, sustained work, the autonomic nervous system shifts.

Clients move into a more parasympathetic state - which researchers have actually measured through heart rate variability.

This is why rushing through tissue doesn't create the same effect. You're not giving these receptors enough time to respond and send signals to the nervous system.

At Metta Massage it’s not just about how much pressure we're using. It's about learning how to understand what happens in the body when you slow down and sustain contact and pressure long enough for the tissue to actually communicate with the brain.

That's why it works. 🪄

~Sarga Bodywork

11/30/2025

New research is revealing something wild about fascia: it's electrically active. ⚡️

The cells in your fascia (fibroblasts) are constantly creating tiny electrical signals. Not the same way your nerves fire signals to your brain - this is subtler, happening at the cellular level through the movement of charged particles across cell membranes.

Here's the fascinating part: when fascia experiences pressure, stretch, or compression, those cells convert that mechanical force into bioelectrical activity. It's like your fascia has millions of tiny switches that flip on when touched.

This process is called mechanotransduction, and it's how your fascia cells "feel" what's happening and communicate with the rest of your body about it.

These electrical signals influence how cells behave - whether they start repairing tissue, calm down inflammation, or send pain signals.

Research on fibroblasts shows that compression creates one type of electrical response, while stretching creates another. These different signals then tell cells what to do next.

This positions fascia as way more sophisticated than we thought. It's not just holding things in place - it's an electrically responsive communication network converting every touch and movement into signals that coordinate how your body responds.

This is still emerging science. Researchers are mapping out exactly how this fascial "electrical network" affects whole-body function.

But it explains why manual therapy can create effects that ripple far from the treatment area. We're stimulating electrical activity in fascial cells that may influence healing, pain perception, and tissue behavior beyond where we're directly touching.

Your fascia is talking - electrically.
~Sarga Bodywork

11/20/2025

Mechanoreceptors are a remarkable part of the fascial system. They are the microscopic sensory “listening stations” embedded throughout fascia that constantly read pressure, stretch, tension, vibration, and movement. They allow the body to feel itself from the inside. Without mechanoreceptors, movement would be clumsy, uncoordinated, and disconnected. With them, movement becomes fluid, responsive, and intelligent.

Fascia is loaded with various types of mechanoreceptors, each communicating with the nervous system in its own unique way. Ruffini endings respond to slow, sustained pressure and create a parasympathetic calming effect. Pacinian corpuscles respond to vibration and rapid changes in pressure, helping the body coordinate sudden movements. Interstitial receptors monitor subtle stretches, tensions, and internal shifts; they comprise nearly eighty percent of fascial sensory input and directly influence pain perception. Golgi receptors, found near ligaments and tendon insertions, respond to deep stretch and help down-regulate muscular tension.

When a bodyworker touches fascia, these receptors are the very first structures to respond. Slow, sustained contact helps melt hypertonicity because Ruffini endings signal to the nervous system, “It’s safe to soften.” Deep or directional stretch activates Golgi receptors, signaling muscles to lengthen. Gentle vibration or oscillation stimulates Pacinian receptors, enhancing proprioception and enabling joints to move with greater confidence. Even the quietest technique, a still fascial hold, stimulates interstitial receptors, which can modulate pain and reduce sympathetic overdrive.

Altogether, mechanoreceptors weave the sensory intelligence of fascia. They are the reason the body can adapt, coordinate, stabilize, and move with fluid grace rather than mechanical force. They turn every subtle change in tension into information the brain uses to refine posture, balance, and movement patterns.

So when we work with fascia, we’re not just stretching tissue. We’re communicating with an enormous sensory network that shapes how someone moves, feels, and inhabits their body. Mechanoreceptors are part of the reason fascia is both biomechanical and deeply emotional.

~Body Artesians

11/17/2025

I am doing some continuing education. If you are interested in this type of work, comment below, and I will let you know when I offer it in the future. 👣

11/17/2025

11/14/2025

New logo on my business card due to changes the board made this summer that go into effect 12/31/25.

11/05/2025