150: Listener Favorite: Fascia, Fitness, and Feeling (with Robert Schleip)

Rebroadcast: One of our most popular episodes (Ep 45), shared again in honor of the upcoming Fascia Research Congress.

🎙In this lively and far-reaching conversation, fascia researcher and manual therapy pioneer Robert Schleip returns to talk with Til Luchau and Whitney Lowe about the newly expanded second edition of Fascia in Sport and Movement. They explore what’s new in fascia science, how manual therapy and movement are evolving, and how fascia functions as a sensory and fluid-regulating organ. Along the way, Schleip shares stories, research, and a few surprises.

🔍 Key Topics:

•0:00 — Til’s choice to publish with Handspring (and Robert’s role in that decision)

•2:02 — Introducing Robert Schleip: Rolfing, Feldenkrais, and fascia science

•5:46 — Relevance of Fascia in Sport and Movement for manual therapists

•8:36 — From bodywork to movement: integrating motor learning and fascia fitness

•12:47 — Fascia fitness origins and the shift toward bounce, play, and variety

•18:15 — Fascia as a sensory organ: 250 million sensory nerve endings

•22:10 — Surprising differences in innervation between skin and fascia

•26:58 — Free nerve endings, pain perception, and autonomic connections

•29:41 — Sympathetic regulation and its role in fluid dynamics and recovery

•35:25 — Balancing sympathetic and parasympathetic input through varied movement

•40:18 — Resilience, trauma, and adaptation (with nods to Porges and Levine)

•45:19 — Can we really change fascia? Revisiting IT bands and foam rolling

•50:34 — Hyaluronan, hydration, and viscosity: another mechanism for change

•57:36 — A story of facial nerve recovery, social engagement, and baby therapy

•1:01:31 — Touching water: fascia, sponginess, and inspiring clients to move

•1:06:54 — Elegant stair dancing and everyday movement integration

•1:10:30 — Resources, shoutouts, and where to learn more from Robert

📚 Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Book: Fascia in Sport & Movement at Handspring (Get 15% off with coupon code TTP) 
• fasciaresearch.de
• somatics.de
• Fascia Research Society 

Sponsor Offers: 

• Books of Discovery: save 15% by entering "thinking" at checkout on booksofdiscovery.com. 
• ABMP: save $24 on new membership at abmp.com/thinking. 
• Advanced-Trainings: try a month of the amazing A-T Subscription free by entering “thinking” at checkout at a-t.tv/subscriptions/,.
• Academy of Clinical Massage: Grab Whitney's valuable Assessment Cheat Sheet for free at: academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet
• Fascia Research Congress: save $100 when you use the coupon code "THINKING" at https://www.frscongress.org/ 

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🎁 Get the full transcript at Til or Whitney's sites! 

• Whitney Lowe’s site: AcademyOfClinicalMassage.com 
• Til Luchau’s site: Advanced-Trainings.com  

About Whitney Lowe  | About Til Luchau  |  Email Us: info@thethinkingpractitioner.com

(The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies: bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, chiropractic, myofascial and myotherapy, orthopedic, sports massage, physical therapy, osteopathy, yoga, strength and conditioning, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice.)