Fascial Health: Somatic Learning for Everyday Living
- Julia Bonadei
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
By Alan Sieler and Julia Bonadei
Somatic Learning
You may be aware that that ontological approach to personal development, coaching and leadership emphasises the critical importance of the domain of the body, or physiology, as a significant area of learning and change. This is because when change is genuine transformation, a small but indispensable shift in the body occurs.
You may also be aware that “soma” is the Greek word for the body. Somatic learning is therefore learning that occurs within and by the body. Probably the best way to appreciate somatic learning is the expression “muscle memory”, in which our physiology has learned to function in a certain way to get things done. For example, ride a bike, drive a car. This is embodied learning.
Indeed, all learning is somatic because learning is fundamentally a biological activity in which new neural connections within the nervous system are created, resulting in perceptual and behavioural change. And embodied learning is essential for sustainable change.
The nervous system, which is throughout the body, is that part of our biology that is responsible for our perception and behaviour. Consisting of 34 billion neurons, the human nervous system contains seemingly endless possibilities for new neural connections to develop and hence for perceptual and behavioural transformation. And because the nervous system is throughout the body, learning does not only occur in the brain – the whole body is involved.
One significant aspect of the biological and somatic basis of change, that seems little appreciated in traditional approaches to change, is a that part of the body known as the fascia (typically pronounced “fasha”).
Fascia
Where fascia comes into the picture is that it contains neurons. Therefore, we cannot exclude fascia from playing an indispensable role in how we transform our Being, transcending or going beyond a habitual Way of Being that no longer serves us, to open up new possibilities for living and creating the future we desire for ourselves and others.
Essentially, fascia is the connective tissue of the body, probably best imagined as a soft and strong mesh, or web, that holds the body together. It wraps around and supports every structure in your body, supporting muscles, tendons, ligaments, tissues, organs, nerves, joints and bones. When your fascia is healthy, it’s flexible and stretches with you. When your fascia tightens up, it can restrict movement and cause painful health conditions.
I was introduced to the importance and power of fascia by Yasmin Lambat, who invited me to bring Ontological Coaching to South Africa in 2011. I personally benefitted from her wisdom by learning how crucial taking care of my fascia was if I wanted to continue running and other forms of physical activity that are important aspects of my overall mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
A little appreciated and vital part of our physical wellbeing is fascial health. Yasmin has developed a practice she calls Somasensing (a fascia-informed somatic practice) to facilitate the development of fascial health. She emphasises that fascia isn’t just connective tissue — it is a sensory organ. “Your fascia has more nerve endings going to your brain's feeling centres than to its movement centres. Your body is literally designed to feel first, move second.” Fascia is best regarded as a living web that remembers stress, holds tension, and responds not only to movement, but to emotion, thought, and trauma.
We can significantly enhance the overall quality of our existence by learning to nurture and nourish fascia and what Yasmin delightfully expresses as “coming home to our body”.
In our 18 month Certified Ontological Coaching and Leadership Program we continually, encourage participants to not only bring attention to their physiology as a domain of learning and change and a way of coaching others, but also to focus on the fascia and as integral part of this learning. We primarily do this through regular engagement with a practice called Zentao, which is a combination of the wisdom practices of Ayuverdic Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Julia’s fascial learning
I am grateful and delighted that my ontological colleague Julia Bonadei has provided permission to share her own extraordinary experience fascial of learning. As an avid ontological learner, which especially includes learning about the power of the body for personal improvement, coaching and leadership, Julia has built a thriving practice and excellent reputation as a corporate facilitator and coach in leadership development, team improvement and culture change. She also leads Ontological Coaching Institute’s foundations three-day workshop (Ontological Coaching and Leadership in Action) in Johannesburg with Michelle Edwards.
I will now hand over to Julia to share a significant personal experience of the power of fascial learning and fascial health.
Last year, I had mouth surgery.
A seemingly isolated event.
But two days later, I began to feel debilitating pain and stiffness - in my left knee!
Puzzling, until I stepped into a Nia workshop on “fascinating fascia”,
the body’s connective tissue,
and its quiet, intelligence.
Fascia links everything in the body:
muscles to bones to nerves to organs.
It’s not linear; it spirals, wraps, and responds.
It remembers.
When one part of the body is impacted,
the ripple can be felt elsewhere.
Turns out that my jaw and knee were speaking to each other
through this mysterious web of connection.
I retook the Fascinating Fascia workshop with Ann Christiansen and gained three valuable insights.
These insights continue to move me as a metaphor for leading:
It doesn’t operate in straight lines, just like human systems.
Change in one area always affects another.
Wholeness is not about fixing isolated parts, but tending to the whole.
It stores experience.
When we move - really move with fluidity - we release what’s been held, often unconsciously.
That knee pain? Not just physical … it tells a story, just like teams do.
It thrives on spiral, organic movement - not reps.
It’s a perfect metaphor for navigating complexity:
agility comes from responding, adapting, not forcing.
As a coach and facilitator, this lands deeply.
The body is not a machine - it’s an organism, wise and adaptive.
It moves!
It lives!
Just like a team, just like a culture.
When we learn to listen to its language, its story, we unlock a new kind of leadership: responsive, relational, resilient.
Because everything is connected. Always.
Julia Bonadei is the founder and director of Wide Open Spaces, a full-service coaching and leadership development company based in Johannesburg. Julia partners with leaders and their teams in South Africa and internationally to catalyse positive systemic shifts that make for more collaborative and conscious team and organisational cultures. Julia’s clients describe working with her as transformational. Julia can be contacted at julia@wideopenspaces.co.za