Maia Lily Bodywork

09/15/2025

How well do you know pain? Perhaps it's like a Jack in the box, popping up sporadically in the most unpleasant fashion. Or perhaps it's always there, a constant that you live with-- you resent it, but have learned to navigate your life with that weight.

I got into this work to help free people from pain, whether it's intermittent or constant. I believe pain is a communicator, an important message from our bodies, but I don't believe we should have to live in it once the message has been received. It's time to hang up the phone!

09/11/2025

08/28/2025

This is the first published clinical research on Fascial Counterstrain! Definitely a milestone for FCS, I truly believe this will be a modality everyone knows about perhaps 10 years from now-- the effects are tremendous!

AbstractIntroduction. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and elevated levels of

08/21/2025

I'm so grateful for my clients! As my summer schedule wraps up and I go back to just doing Counterstrain on the side, I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have kept me going and growing. ❤

08/12/2025

As the school year approaches, my availability is unfortunately about to get more limited again! I'll be down to just six slots a week, so whether you're an existing client or you've been thinking about scheduling your first session, I recommend booking in advance to ensure a spot! https://www.maialilybodywork.com/services

08/05/2025

What did I tell you? So much impact! From anxiety to nausea to erectile dysfunction, these nervous system techniques are heavy hitters!

07/31/2025

The nervous system has so much impact that I couldn't fit everything on one list! This is only the list of 'from the neck up' problems that I can help with using techniques learned last weekend. Some great techniques for kids with speech and language difficulties or anyone with problems with the senses.

07/23/2025

I'm headed down to Maryland for my next class, FCS Nerve 1: Cranial & Autonomic Nerves. This class is likely to have the most impact yet for my patients! Our autonomic nervous system includes the fight/flight (sympathetic) and rest & digest (parasympathetic). Balancing these two systems and engaging them when they are needed is crucial for our health and survival. When the autonomic nervous system gets out of whack, it can affect practically everything in the body from blood pressure to temperature control to organ function.

This diagram shows Polyvagal Theory, how the different parts of the autonomic nervous system control different thoughts and emotions. I often think about how anxiety can be caused by dysfunction at the sympathetic nervous system, but what I find most interesting about this theory is that being stuck in the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest) can actually put us in the 'freeze' state, associated with disassociation or depression. So problems in any part of the autonomic nervous system can be associated with mental health struggles.

With anxiety, depression and stress on the climb, have you ever wondered how you can understand your reactions to life’s challenges and stressors? Or maybe you wondered how you can become more resilient? Did you know that you can map your own nervous system? This is such a powerful tool that can h...

07/17/2025

How can FCS help with sickness and infection?

Well first of all, if you have an active infection you should be treated by a doctor before coming for a session. Whether that means getting on antibiotics, antifungals or in the case of many viral infections, waiting it out. But FCS can play a major role in helping to recover from the long term symptoms caused by infections. Covid, Lyme, shingles, and so many other diseases take a major toll on the body and can leave lasting damage in their wake.

So how does it all go down? Well, in response to invaders, our immune systems send pro-inflammatory cytokines. These cytokines cause three important things:
1. The surrounding vessels constrict
2. Fascia tissue contracts
3. The lymphatic pumps shut down so lymph no longer moves

These are important mechanisms when you’re fighting infection in order to keep it isolated, but once the infection clears, we need our systems to bounce back. These three things cause what the FCS world calls Interstitial Inflammatory Stasis (IIS). The premise behind Counterstrain is it releases this trapped inflammation (IIS) through highly specific manual therapy. Your body did what it had to do when it was presented with infection, but sometimes it has a hard time rebounding because of this thorough response. So that’s where FCS comes in. It’s all about helping the body to finish healing itself, not hijacking or forcing anything, but by gently allowing this trapped fluid to be released so you can recover from the trauma that infection inflicts on the body.

07/14/2025

Oh what a joyous occasion to share— my husband and I are expecting a baby boy at the end of the year!

The truth is, it hasn’t been an easy road for us, as is the case for many. For nearly four years we’ve dealt with the disappointment and frustration of trying to conceive. Not to mention the onset of chronic pain likely due to fertility intervention. And so, this is everything to us, not just the anticipation of this addition to our family, but also to know it’s possible.

I can’t say for certain what made it possible in the end, but physiologically I give a lot of credit to the fertility nutritionist (shout out to Sarah Shapiro!) as well as the naturopaths I worked with to balance my hormones. And mechanically, I truly believe my FCS practitioner played a huge role through the work he’s done releasing adhesions around my pelvic organs.

Holding onto hope and continuing to try is ultimately what made this possible. A lesson I believe we can all relate to.

07/09/2025

Charli continues to take her role as greeter very seriously!