Rethinking Anatomy
and why it's time for a new map of the Human Body
Most of us grew up with the classic anatomy picture: muscles with very weird names (tensor fasciae latae still sounds more like a cocktail than a muscle to me…), bones stacked like Lego, and then some organs in their assigned spots. According to that map, the body is tidy and clear. But real bodies aren’t tidy. They’re responsive. They change shape (our muscles tighten when we are under pressure. They soften when we relax).
The more I listen to podcasts about health and wellbeing, the more it feels as if a new map of our anatomy is being drawn. It doesn’t mean that the old one was wrong, just that there is more to capture.
Fascia: Another Layer To Include
One of the most fascinating topics I’ve been exploring is fascia. Fascia is web of connective tissue that wraps into, around, and through pretty much everything in our body.
To visualise it, we can think of the inside of an orange: all the delicate segments held together by a whitish fibrous layer. (And by the way, our oranges at home in the Algarve are absolutely delicious right now!) That layer is fascia. But it’s far more than just a wrapping.
Fascia is alive. It’s packed with receptors and nerve endings, and it constantly communicates with the rest of the body. It listens and responds, sending information about tension, pressure, movement, and even subtle changes we’re barely aware of. It’s an active, intelligent network that helps coordinate how we move, how we feel, and how we experience the world from the inside out.
What I love about it (yes, I realise how nerdy that sounds) is that it invites us to see the body as a living intelligent network rather than a collection of parts. And once you notice this, you start seeing it everywhere.
For example, when your shoulder tension ‘mysteriously’ disappears after a deep breath. When your mood lifts after a walk. When an old emotional memory suddenly comes up during a stretch…
When we see the body as an intelligent network, with fascia being a key part of it, these moments start making sense.
The Body’s Inner Sensing
I love exploring how the body senses itself, not just balance or movement, but internal feelings like calm, anxiety, heaviness, spaciousness.
These aren’t abstract ideas. They’re real signals from your body. They’re carried through tissues (like fascia) that are always paying attention to what’s going on inside you.
When people say they feel “disconnected,” it’s because they cannot ‘read’ these signals anymore, for ne reason or another… But when they start noticing them again, things change. They feel more grounded, more…. connected.
Why This All Matters (At Least to Me)
The more I understand the body as an intelligent connected web, the kinder I become toward my own experience.
Everything makes more sense: the aches, the moods, the habits (especially postural), but also the healing. And it feels really good when things start to make sense!
So if you have the time now, or tomorrow, take a moment to pause and notice one tiny thing about your body. It could be the way you breathe right now, the sensations in your shoulders, your jaw, your feet on the floor. Just to feel it. Just to sense. I truly believe that small check-ins like this can be the beginning of a very different relationship with the body… and a path towards healing. (I’ll be exploring much more in the book I’m working on for 2026. For now, though, I just wanted to share a few glimpses…)
Wishing you a wonderful weekend
With love,
Véronique
Love how this reframes fascia from just 'wrapping' to an active inteligent system. The orange metaphor really clicked for me. I've been exploring body awareness through movement lately and the way fascial tension can hold memories or emotions is wild when you actually feel it happening. The shift from seeing the body as parts to seeing it as a network changes everything.
Thank you for the suggestion to just notice something on my miraculous body. The more MS became prominent in my body, the more miraculous my body has become to me. It has always spoken, but I haven’t always listened to it. The orange metaphor also really helped me think of how fascia works.