Every body that comes to me is carrying something.
Sometimes it’s an old injury that never fully healed. Sometimes it’s years of stress held quietly in the shoulders, the jaw, the low back. Often it’s something the person cannot quite name. They only know they feel tight, tired, or stuck, and that the things they have tried have not reached it.
This is the work I love most. Because myofascial release reaches the places other approaches often skim past.
So what is myofascial release?
Myofascial release is a gentle, hands-on therapy that works with your fascia. Fascia is the connective tissue that wraps around every muscle, bone, and organ in your body. It is a continuous web, a soft net that holds you together and connects every part of you to every other part.
When your fascia is healthy, it glides and moves freely. When it tightens from stress, injury, or years of holding, it pulls. And because it’s all connected, that pull travels. Tightness in your hip can show up as pain in your shoulder. Tension in your neck can begin somewhere else entirely.
This is why I never work only on the spot that hurts. I work with the whole web, and I let your body show me where it’s truly holding.
How is myofascial release different from massage?
Massage works with muscles. Myofascial release works with the fascia, the connective tissue surrounding everything, so results tend to hold longer.
How I work
I practice the John F. Barnes approach to myofascial release. It's slow, gentle, and that gentleness is exactly where its power lives.
Instead of forcing tissue to change, I apply soft, sustained pressure and then I wait. I give your body time. Fascia does not respond to force. It responds to patience and safety. As I hold, the tissue begins to soften on its own, gently unwinding patterns it has carried for a long time. Where there was restriction, we create new space in the body. (For more on how fascia responds to pressure, read The Piezoelectric Phenomenon.)
I meet your body exactly where it is, I never rush it, I follow it.
Why I begin with your nervous system
Real release begins with safety.
When your body feels safe, it can finally stop bracing. It can let go of what it has been holding, sometimes for years. This is the heart of how I work, and I think of it as a simple path. Safety, then release, then restore.
First your nervous system settles. Then the tissue softens. Then your body remembers how to find its own balance again. This is how healing reaches far beyond the surface, helping you shift out of stress and into balance.
What myofascial release can help with
Because fascia runs through your whole body, this work can support many kinds of tension and pain, including:
Chronic pain and tightness
Neck, back, and shoulder tension
Headaches
Limited range of motion
Tension held from stress or past injury
A nervous system that has forgotten how to rest
Every body is different. Part of what we do together is discover what yours is ready to release.
"I have struggled with ongoing back issues since high school. After almost a year of PT, I was feeling a bit hopeless on whether I'd ever recover. That was until I met Cristy... after one visit I was able to exercise again and live my daily life without being in constant pain." Bree L.
What a session with me feels like
Our time together is calm and unhurried. You stay comfortable while I work slowly, listening with my hands and following what your body offers. There is no forcing here. There is no rushing.
Your first session is two hours: an intake, then 90 minutes of hands-on work. Follow-up sessions are 60 or 90 minutes.
Most people leave feeling lighter, softer, more like themselves. Because this work reaches deep, held patterns, it is also normal to feel a gentle response in the days that follow as your body continues to settle. I explain all of it in Understanding the Healing Crisis After Myofascial Release, so you always know what to expect.
Ready to begin?
If you have been carrying tension that nothing else has reached, I would love to help. This work is gentle enough for the most sensitive bodies, and deep enough to create lasting change.
When you feel ready, book your first session. I would be honored to meet your body exactly where it is.
About the author:
Cristy Hunter, LMT, JB-MFR, HHP, CMLD, is the owner of Integrative Myofascial Release Therapy in Solana Beach, California. She has over 20 years of experience as a bodywork therapist and holistic health practitioner, and is a California licensed health provider under the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC #5209). About Cristy
The video below is a beautiful introduction to myofascial release and the John F. Barnes approach that guides my work.
