Well the New York Times must have heard about the Mind-Body Connection workshop that Ashley Dirks and I are doing next week (May 21st 2026 at 6pm) because they wrote about the fascia and interstitium this week!
You can read the whole article here. I sum it up below and explain how it relates to our workshop. And even if you can’t make our workshop, you’ll wanna read about this.
One of the researchers who is credited with the discovery of the interstititum is Dr. Neil Theise, a liver pathologist from Beth Israel Hospital.
He was also interviewed on The Telepathy Tapes podcast where I guess he felt a little more free to share what might seem a bit too woo-woo to alot of NYT readers. I’ll include some of what he said in that podcast interview here too.
Here we go…
A few years ago Neil and a few others discovered a system in our bodies that they dubbed the interstitium. It’s a network of fluid filled gaps between cells and interwoven through every organ and tissue! They describe it as a communication network highway. It’s a big deal discovery!
They think it may explain how energy healing works - “the physical basis for meridians, chakras, and the subtle systems described by healers for thousands of years.” THAT excites me!
He laughed at himself in telling how he shared this amazing discovery with a leading MD in China, who also practices Traditional Chinese Medicine. That doctor said - DUH (in my version of the conversation he said duh) “We’ve known that for thousands of years.”
The article also mentions the fascia- a connective tissue that wraps around and runs within and between ALL of the internal structures - organs, nerves, bone, muscle, blood vessels.
The fascia and the interstitium have been described as “structural networks in the body that facilitate an energetic intelligence connecting the body’s systems.”
Dr Theise also says that the interstitium may carry not only fluid but information! Which he postulates could explain energy healing and the mind-body connection. He says that with this discovery “the boundary between mind and body becomes more permeable than we imagined.” And by “we”, he meant him. Because duh, I already knew it was permeable. That’s my life’s work. And I bet you knew that too. But good for science! Bravo!
Ok I could go on and on. But that’s enough to make my point today…
What does that science have to do with our Mind-Body workshop?
Glad you asked.
Allow me to make the mind-body connection of which Dr Theise references, as I see it …
We know that a thought - which exists only in the mind - like: This is too much. I can’t handle it. It’s too overwhelming.
Creates an emotion, a feeling: overwhelm, anxiety, fear.
Those feelings create a physical response in your body: grinding your teeth at night, tight shoulders, a headache, a churning tummy.
We have all experienced this right?
That’s the Mind-Body connection.
Like when I developed IBS in grad school and lost 20 pounds in 3 months and had to run to the bathroom immediately after eating anything and then broke up with my boyfriend who I knew was bad for me and was suddenly healed….you know, like that! Mind-body connection.
So a thought (which is not “real”, it’s just in the mind) creates an emotion (simply a vibration, not physical), which creates a physical situation in your body.
That’s the work I’ve been doing for 30+ years.
Now let’s connect that to what my workshop co-host Ashley Dirks does, along with these discoveries about the fascia and interstitium…
One doctor explained that the tighter and more tense you get, the harder it is for your body to communicate through the fascia and interstitium systems. The energy, information, fluid, doesn’t flow.
And this creates a situation.
Our THOUGHTS - the ones that make us tight and tense - create blockages in our body, which can create pain, physical illness, and disease because we have blocked the flow of the system.
THAT is what we’re gonna get into in our workshop next week.
Ashley teaches MyoFascial Release (MFR) classes that help you find the spots in your body where those thoughts and emotions are causing blockages and unblock them! This fascial release in the physical body also allows emotions and stinkin thinkin to release. Because as science is proving, which we already knew from experience, is that the mind, body, and emotions are all connected.
So what can you do about it? Here are some options:
Come join our workshop in Indy Thursday May 21st (2026) as we look at the thoughts and stories that are causing us angsty emotions and get on the mat to physically release them.
Schedule a coaching session or a pranic healing session with me to dig into how your thoughts & emotions are impacting your physical health. I do those in-person in Indy or on Zoom.
Go to an MFR class - for sure Ashley’s if you’re in Indy. If not, I bet there is one in your city.