Fascia, Hydration & Feeling Again: The Tissues That Hold the Key to Your Aliveness
- Resh Gupta
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
We tend to think of our body in parts - muscles, joints, bones, nerves - each one doing its job in isolation. But the truth is, your body isn’t built like that. It’s not a stack of parts. It’s a web. A whole.
And that web? It’s called fascia.
You've probably heard the word fascia- maybe whispered reverently in a yoga class, or dropped casually in a wellness post. But fascia isn't just a buzzword- its your body's inner web of intelligence, a light and airy network that holds you together.
And when its dry, tangled or neglected... so are you.
Lets start with a polite introduction:
On the left, we have Hydrated Fascia- translucent, elastic, alive.
On the right, we have Dehydrated Fascia- dense, fibrotic, and fatigued.
This here is more than simply a biological structure, its a metaphor for how we live.
So many of us are walking around with bodies that are parched- both physically and emotionally.
We've been taught to carry our tension, to brace ourselves against life.
And your fascia tells the truth.
What Is Fascia
Fascia is a form of connective tissue made primarily of collagen, elastin, and something called the extracellular matrix (ECM). It wraps around every organ, nerve, muscle fiber, and bone, forming a continuous, body-wide network that maintains structural integrity and is like the middle (wo)man in communication across systems.
The ECM is the jelly-like fluid that lives between the fibers- its what keeps your fascia stretchy, hydrated and responsive. It can be thought of as the part of fascia that allows our tissues to move, glide and communicate.
“Fascia is both separation and connection.” Dr. Robert Schleip
Fascia is innervated, contractile, and sensory. It contains mechanoreceptors, proprioceptors, and nociceptors- meaning it not only senses movement and pressure, but can also adapt tension in response.
It’s responsive to:
Physical forces (like contraction, stretch or load)
Temperature and hydration
Emotional states and stress levels
Breathing patterns and nervous system tone
In other words, fascia feels what you feel.
And when it becomes restricted, dehydrated, or inflamed- you don’t just lose flexibility.
You lose communication.
You lose your felt sense of self.
Fascia holds your form, but it also holds your story.
When it is nourished and hydrated your fascia supports freedom and allows the inner communication to flow outward without interference. This same matrix is deeply connected to another in built inner intelligence, the gut-heart-mind connection.
When it's stuck, dry or inflamed, it can bind you in patterns of physical tension, mental fatigue and emotional stagnation.
Its a memory keeper for stress and fear.
Hydrated Fascia = Flow, Energy & Feeling
Fascia is composed largely of water- not just for lubrication, but as a conduit for electrical and biochemical signalling.
When hydrated and healthy, fascia:
Supports smooth gliding between tissue layers
Conducts bioelectric signals across muscle groups
Facilitates nutrient delivery and metabolic waste removal
Regulates tension to support posture and movement
Integrates sensory feedback (proprioception and interoception)
“Hydration gives fascia its spring, its glide, its ‘alive’ quality. Without it, the system stalls.” Thomas Myers, Anatomy Trains
On a felt level, this looks like:
Lightness and ease in movement
Stronger and safer end-range flexibility
Greater emotional regulation (via vagal tone)
Better recovery from training or trauma
A deeper sense of connection to the body
Dehydrated Fascia = Disconnection
Fascia dries out due to:
Chronic physical tension
High stress / sympathetic dominance
Sedentary lifestyle or overtraining without recovery
Poor hydration and inflammatory diets
Unprocessed trauma or dissociation
When this happens, the extracellular matrix (ECM) becomes sticky or dense.
You develop:
Restricted range of motion
Myofascial pain and trigger points
Sluggish lymphatic drainage
Numbness or loss of body awareness
Low-grade inflammation and fatigue
Neurologist and researcher Dr. Helene Langevin of the NCCIH, established that restricted fascia disrupts intercellular signalling, which can influence pain perception, immune function, and even visceral regulation.
“Fascia that can’t move becomes fascia that can’t communicate. And a body that can’t communicate is a body that can’t feel safe.” Dr Helene Langevin
I began looking deeply into fascia and how to rehydrate it as a result of my own journey through trauma and healing. What I found, is that its not about forcing change. It begins by listening to what your body is asking for and gently responding to the whispers.
Fascia responds best to slow, sustained, non-linear movement, hydration, and nervous system safety.
Here’s how to create the internal environment for fascial restoration:
1.Hydration and Minerals
Fascia needs fluid + electrolytes (not just plain water). The ECM, binds water yes, but only when minerals are present.
Pacing drinking water with electrolytes through the day as well as ordinary water aided my overall mineral balance.
Spending a lot of time in the hot room tempted me to just chug it before class but the fact that I was approaching hydration from a fascia friendly point of view meant that the electrolyte release was more useful if I released it consistently and mindfully throughout the day.
2.Fascia-friendly movement
From my experience and research after trauma therapy, fascia LOVES non linear, fluid movements mixed with linear movement.
Non Linear movement includes yoga styles such as Vinyasa and Yin yoga, and Linear movement styles include my beloved Bikram Yoga.
To be totally frank, when I first began my journey to fascial healing, I stopped practicing Bikram Yoga all together and used a few months in only Vinyasa Flow classes at Bikram Yoga Oslo.
I also discovered Francesca Golfetto and her intuitive, fluid flexibility movement style.
3.Somatic Awareness
Putting my attention on the "inner terrain" of my physical body was actually the gateway to my research into the deeper workings of fascia.
One of the ways that my body processes trauma is through disassociation. It manifested in a strange almost constant out of body state where I was physically present but with the light bulb dimmed.
Vinyasa yoga and meditation began opening up a field of inner awareness as the starting point, and once my Bikram practice resumed, that same awareness allowed me to move peacefully.
Prior to this journey while I was still stuck in a state of trauma, I practiced seemingly at ease but it was an external ease caused by restricting emotion. Somatic awareness directed me inwards- into breathing into sensation and allowing emotions to rise before they fell away.
4.Nervous System Support
Stress dehydrates the body at a cellular level.
Once my Somatic Awareness began improving, I had the starting point to supporting my nervous system.
One particular breathing exercise that I used to begin supporting my nervous system is the 4:6 breathing technique which is simply a 4 second inhalation followed by a 6 second Bhramari exhalation.
Put simply, the Bhramari technique is to exhale (by the nose) while making a deep controlled humming sound- almost like a bee buzzing. This technique from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika stimulates the vagus nerve which in turn helps support the nervous system.
How Hot Yoga Helps You Melt
Your fascia holds, what your mind represses.
You are not broken, your just thirsty- for minerals, flow, and for release of your feelings.
Your fascia is the bridge.
And from my personal first hand experience, when fascia becomes hydrated, your body can become a conductor- not a container.
One of the reasons I've stayed devoted to this style of yoga, and why. I teach it as. I do, is because of what it does to the fascia.
Hot yoga doesn't just make you sweat, it makes you soften.
In the heat, fascia becomes more pliable and responsive allowing aligned movement to move deeper. And in the heat, stored emotional trauma becomes available for release.
The structured Bikram series also supports hydration through compression and release which stimulates circulation, lymphatic movement and fascial glide.
The 26&2 sequence, practiced consistently, works like a fascial pulsing system.
The repetitive postures with stillness between acts as dynamic loading (because of held muscular contraction) + unloading, which research shows is critical for ECM hydration and structural adaptation.
Inner Intelligence & Interoception
Anyone who has ever been to my lectures or workshops has seen my eyes light up when talking about Proprioception, and maybe its residue from my long term trauma that the concept of Interoception is something that I'm gradually beginning to love.
Interoception is the internal awareness of sensations like hunger, breath, tension, or intuition.
Fascia plays a major role in interoception.
When fascia is hydrated and responsive, your gut-brain-heart axis becomes clearer- a concept I explore more in this blog post.
Clear fascia = clear feedback = clearer choices.
Fascia is the web that holds your story and the tissue of transformation.
When you hydrate, nourish, and move with awareness, you begin to restore communication between your body’s systems.
And from there, everything changes.
When fascia becomes hydrated, your body becomes a conductor- not a container.
This is where healing lives: not in force, but in flow.
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