Marcin Kus - Inner Bodywork

Many people come for a session because of pain - back pain, tight neck and shoulders, restricted movement, stiffness that keeps coming back despite stretching, exercise or massage.

But very often, the problem doesn’t start where the pain is.

The body works as one connected system. Restrictions and tension in one area can affect movement and create strain elsewhere. On top of that, the nervous system can keep the body in a constant state of protection after long periods of stress, pressure or overload.

Muscles and fascia often stay tight not because something is damaged, but because the body has learned that tension is necessary.
That’s why I don’t focus only on the area that hurts.

My work combines myofascial bodywork with nervous system regulation, helping the body gradually move away from long-held tension patterns.
The goal is not to fight the tension.
The goal is to create the conditions for the body to feel safe enough to let go of what it no longer needs.

As tension begins to reduce, people often notice:

- less pain and discomfort
- easier movement
- improved mobility
- deeper breathing
- better sleep
- feeling lighter in their body
- more energy and a greater sense of calm

Nervous system regulation is not really the goal.

For most people, it simply means less pain, less tension, better sleep, easier movement and feeling better in everyday life.

Sessions available Monday to Saturday

College Business Centre
Uttoxeter New Road
Derby DE22 3WZ
Room 26

Mobile sessions also available around Derby and nearby areas.

WhatsApp / SMS
Inner Bodywork: +44 7363 061556
Marcin Kus: +44 7933 287982

Messenger: Marcin Kus – Inner Bodywork
Email: [email protected]

If you've been dealing with pain, tension or stiffness for a long time and feel like your body never fully switches off, send me a message and let's see if this work could be a good fit for you.

Breathing has a huge impact on tension in the body and on how tissues respond during myofascial work.

During manual therapy, it is often very noticeable that the body responds differently to pressure, touch and tissue release depending on how a person is breathing.

And it’s not just about “taking a deep breath.”

The way we breathe affects muscle and fascial tension, diaphragm function, rib cage mobility, nervous system activation, and even how deeply tissues are able to release during treatment.

Chronic stress very often changes breathing patterns. Breathing becomes shallower, faster, and stays mainly in the upper chest. The diaphragm stops functioning properly, while the neck, shoulders and accessory breathing muscles begin taking over more of the work.

Over time, this creates a cycle:
stress increases tension, tension restricts breathing, and restricted breathing keeps the body in a constant state of alertness.

That’s one of the reasons why breathing is so important during myofascial bodywork.

The diaphragm is deeply connected to the fascial system and influences not only breathing itself, but also the spine, rib cage, abdomen, hips, neck and even tension patterns running through the back of the body.

This is why during sessions I often guide people toward slower breathing and longer exhales.

The exhale helps reduce nervous system activation. And very often, this is when tissues begin responding differently to the work.

I notice this myself when receiving treatment from someone else. When there is stronger pressure and I allow a deeper breath and slower exhale, the tissues begin softening naturally. The body stops resisting the pressure or bracing against it. The tissues begin letting go on their own instead of being mechanically forced to release.

And that’s why slower, more attentive work with the tissues often creates deeper and longer-lasting changes than aggressive pressure or forcing the body.

More and more research is also showing how strongly breathing, fascia and the nervous system are connected. The body does not function in separate parts. It works as one system constantly responding to stress, tension and the feeling of safety.

I also encourage people to explore breathing practices on their own. When used correctly, breathing can help calm the nervous system, reduce tension and improve connection with the body. But it can also help energise the body and increase vitality when we feel exhausted or depleted.

Sessions focused on bodywork, chronic tension and nervous system regulation available Monday to Saturday

College Business Centre
Uttoxeter New Road
Derby DE22 3WZ
Room 26

Mobile sessions also available around Derby and nearby areas.

WhatsApp / SMS:
Inner Bodywork +44 7363 061556
Marcin Kus +44 7933 287982

[email protected]

Messenger: Marcin Kus – Inner Bodywork

If you have questions about chronic tension, pain or how your body may respond to this type of work, feel free to send me a message 🙂

Breathing has a huge impact on tension in the body and on how fascia responds during bodywork.

And it’s not just about taking a deep breath...

The way we breathe affects muscle and fascial tension, diaphragm function, rib cage mobility, nervous system activation, and even how the body responds to touch and manual therapy.

Chronic stress very often changes breathing patterns. Breathing becomes shallower, faster, and stays more in the upper chest. The diaphragm stops moving properly, while the neck, shoulders and accessory breathing muscles start doing more of the work.

Over time, this creates a cycle - stress increases tension, tension restricts breathing, and restricted breathing keeps the body in a constant state of alertness.
That’s one of the reasons breath is so important during bodywork.

The diaphragm is deeply connected to the fascial system and influences not only breathing itself, but also the spine, rib cage, abdomen, hips, neck and even tension patterns through the back of the body.

This is why during sessions I often guide people toward slower breathing and longer exhales.

The exhale helps reduce nervous system activation. And very often, that’s when the body starts responding differently to the work.

I notice this myself when receiving treatment from someone else. When there’s stronger pressure and I allow a deeper breath and a slow exhale, the tissues begin to soften naturally. The body stops fighting the pressure or bracing against it. The tissues start letting go on their own instead of being mechanically forced to release.

More and more research is also showing how strongly breathing, fascia and the nervous system are connected. The body does not work in separate parts. It functions as one system constantly responding to stress, tension and the feeling of safety.

I also encourage people to explore breathing practices on their own. There are many good techniques and guided exercises available online, including on YouTube.

Breathing can help regulate the nervous system during stressful situations, calm the body and reduce tension. But when used differently, it can also help energise the body and increase vitality when we feel exhausted or depleted.

Sessions available Monday to Saturday

College Business Centre
Uttoxeter New Road
Derby DE22 3WZ
Room 26

Mobile sessions also available around Derby and nearby areas.

WhatsApp / SMS:
Inner Bodywork +44 7363 061556
Marcin Kus +44 7933 287982

Messenger: Marcin Kus – Inner Bodywork
Email: [email protected]

Safe touch.

Difficult experiences stay with us. Sometimes from childhood, sometimes from later in life, when we found ourselves in situations where there was no sense of safety. Someone may have behaved aggressively, attacked us physically, or simply made the body feel threatened.

What happened inside you then?

Collapsing into yourself? Tension appearing instantly? Freezing and being unable to react? Shaking hands, tightness in the stomach, holding the breath?

The danger passes. We push it deeper and try to move on. But the body remembers the way it had to respond.
If situations like this happened repeatedly, over time a pattern begins to form. Later, it may only take a certain tone of voice, a look, a type of touch, or tension in someone’s presence for the same reaction to appear automatically. Often outside of awareness.

More and more often during sessions I observe how the body responds to touch. How at certain moments tension, control and difficulty letting go can appear. Because even if the client notices it, the reaction is not coming from the mind, but from learned responses and patterns of how the system learned to react to different situations.

That’s why I don’t rush and I don’t force tension to release. Tension in the tissues is often only a symptom of how the nervous system is responding. The body needs time to recognise that there is no danger and it no longer has to protect itself.

And slowly the body begins to drop, soften, the breath becomes deeper and the exhale longer. A sign that the whole system has recognised that it can begin moving into a state of rest. That there is space for a different response than before.

It’s a process. A process that may take a moment or many moments more. And there is no better or worse way through it. Every person is different and every person has their own path.

And I’m grateful that I can accompany people through this process. What I sometimes see later in people’s eyes after a session often touches me more deeply than words.

Contact (WhatsApp/SMS):
Inner Bodywork +44 7363 061556
Email: [email protected]
Messenger: Marcin Kus - Inner Bodywork
Marcin Kus +44 7933 287982

Myofascial bodywork is most often associated with pain, tension and restricted movement.
And it does work very well with chronic tension, stiffness, shoulder, neck and back pain, hip restrictions and limited mobility.

But reading clients’ reviews, something else appears more and more often.

People describe not only less pain and more freedom of movement, but also:
a calmer mind
deeper breathing
a greater sense of safety in the body
more energy
emotional relief and an easier ability to relax.

There is also something that can be difficult to describe with words - a stronger sense of feeling themselves again.
A deeper connection with their body, emotions and breath.

Some people describe it as if they had been disconnected from themselves for a long time.
Almost like functioning behind glass or slightly outside themselves.
And after sessions, there is more presence, more awareness and more connection with themselves.

This is also connected to the nervous system and interoception - the ability to sense and feel signals coming from within the body.

Chronic tension is often not only about muscles.
It can also be the body’s response to long-term stress, overload, difficult experiences or living in constant mobilisation and readiness.

That is why calm, attentive bodywork - without forcing tissues or aggressively attacking tight areas - affects not only movement, but also the state of the nervous system.

When the body begins lowering its level of tension and internal alertness, it is not only movement that changes.
Often the way we experience ourselves changes too.

✨️

Sessions available Monday to Saturday

College Business Centre
Uttoxeter New Road
Derby DE22 3WZ
Room 26
Parking available

Mobile sessions also possible in Derby and surrounding areas

Kontakt (WhatsApp/SMS):
Inner Bodywork — +44 7363 061556
Marcin Kus — +44 7933 287982

✨️

If you have questions or would like to book a session, send me a message 🙂

Z ogromną radością mogę powiedzieć, że od dziś sesje będą dostępne również w ciągu tygodnia - od poniedziałku do soboty - w nowym gabinecie w Derby.

To ważny krok i coś, o co pytało mnie naprawdę wiele osób przez ostatnie miesiące.
Wielu klientom trudno było znaleźć czas tylko na soboty, dlatego bardzo się cieszę, że mogę w końcu wyjść naprzeciw tym potrzebom i zwiększyć dostępność sesji.

Nowy pokój zabiegowy znajduje się w:

The College Business Centre
Uttoxeter New Road
Derby DE22 3WZ
Room 26

Na miejscu dostępny jest również parking.

To przestrzeń, w której będę dalej rozwijał pracę z ciałem opartą na regulacji układu nerwowego, pracy z powięzią, napięciami chronicznymi, bólem oraz ograniczeniami ruchu.

Nadal dostępna będzie również możliwość sesji mobilnych w Derby i okolicach

Dziękuję wszystkim, którzy wspierają mnie w tej drodze, wracają na kolejne sesje i polecają mnie innym.
Naprawdę dużo to dla mnie znaczy🙌

Jeśli chcesz zapytać o dostępność terminów albo umówić sesję, napisz wiadomość 🙂

Kontakt (WhatsApp/SMS):
Inner Bodywork +44 7363 061556 lub
Marcin Kus +44 7933287982
lub messenger: Marcin Kus - Inner Bodywork

What I have been trying to communicate since I started this path of working with the body and with another human being - and what I continue to observe, read and experience - namely calm touch, slower pace of work, safety, not forcing tissues and the self-regulation of the person working with someone during a session, is becoming more and more supported by research related to the nervous system, co-regulation and the therapeutic relationship.

Research shows that the level of activation and the state of the therapist’s nervous system have a direct effect on the client, because both nervous systems influence each other.

The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for mobilisation of the body.
It is what activates the fight or flight response.
It increases heart rate, muscle tension, raises the level of activation and prepares the body for action, defence or quick reaction. In other words, whenever the nervous system, through the senses, detects a lack of safety.

The parasympathetic nervous system works in the opposite way.
It is responsible for recovery, rest, digestion and returning the body to balance. This happens when we observe and perceive a safe environment.

It is thanks to the parasympathetic system that breathing slows down, the heart starts beating more calmly, the body releases tension and the organism can regenerate.

One of the main nerves connected to the parasympathetic nervous system is the vagus nerve, which I wrote about here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CJctWKiMv/

More and more research also points to the fact that the client’s nervous system responds not only to the technique itself, but also to the state of the person providing the therapy.

The pace of movement, tone of voice, quality of touch, presence, predictability of contact and the therapist’s level of activation all influence how the other person’s body perceives the situation.

The nervous system is constantly scanning the environment for signals of safety or threat.

If the therapist is calm, stable and does not work aggressively, the client’s body can gradually lower its level of activation.

Breathing begins to deepen, muscles stop maintaining such a high level of tension and the body starts lowering its state of readiness and protective tension.

Research is also increasingly referring to HRV, meaning heart rate variability.

This is one of the more important indicators showing how flexibly the nervous system can shift between activation and recovery.

Higher HRV is generally associated with a better ability to regulate, adapt and return to balance after stress.

That is why in bodywork it is not only the technique itself that matters.

Equally important are the pace of the work, the quality of contact and whether the body receives signals that it no longer needs to defend itself.

Work performed aggressively, mechanically and with forceful pressure on tissues often increases the body’s defensive response.

The body may perceive this as another stress stimulus.

That is why calm, precise work and gradually entering tense areas instead of “attacking” them with force is so important.

This is when the body is more likely to begin releasing tension naturally rather than through pressure.

And more and more evidence suggests that it is not only about the tissues themselves, but also about the state of the nervous system and the sense of safety the body experiences during contact.

—

Sessions available in Derby from Monday to Saturday

College Business Centre
Uttoxeter New Road
Derby DE22 3WZ
Room 26

If you have any questions or would like to book a session, feel free to send me a message.

Rest is the foundation of wellbeing.

In today’s world, we live in a constant rush.
Action, responsibilities, ongoing projects at home and at work.
On top of that, there is the constant presence of social media, which pulls our attention away from ourselves.
Mass media, through news, often directs it towards events that trigger fear, tension or frustration - both global and local.
This has a strong impact on our mental state.

And the mental state affects the whole body...

It puts us into a state of threat through hormonal responses and changes in body chemistry.
The nervous system reacts by shifting into a "fight or flight" mode.
In this state, there is a higher level of activation, linked to hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.
The body stays ready for action.
Readiness means muscle tension - preparation to respond, move, defend or escape.
The nervous system does not clearly distinguish between a real threat, like a tiger hiding in the bushes, and everyday stress.
The physiological response is very similar.
If this state continues for a long time and there is no space to return to a lower level of activation, a state where the body can recover, it begins to feel normal.
It becomes a new baseline.

That is why it is so important to allow yourself to pause, rest and recover.
Even something simple like a daily walk, stepping away from stimulation, or taking time to relax.
And to learn how to respond to situations that create tension.

Working with the body can support this process. But if there is no space for rest in daily life,sooner or later the tension will return.

Because we return to the same conditions and the same patterns of response.

Każda sesja daje mi nowe obserwacje i doświadczenia. Uczy i wzbudza szacunek do ludzkiego ciała. Bo pokazuje historie zapisane w ciele.
Obserwuję, jak ciało odpuszcza a układ nerwowy zmienia stare wzorce i buduje nowe.
Często widzę to w trakcie pracy.
Gdy zatrzymuję się w miejscu i pod skórą coś się porusza, zmienia, tkanki się przemieszczają wracając do stanu, ktory powinien być naturalny, już nie w stanie ochrony, napięcia, trybie walki. Ciało jakby głębiej opadało na stół, w rozluźnieniu, z wydechem które rozluźnia i puszcza.
Czasem pokazują się łzy...
Bo stan walki, ucieczki, zagrożenia - choć już dawno minął - w ciele był latami nie pozwalając poczuć odprężenie i uczucie spokoju, bezpieczeństwa. Uczę się po każdej takiej sesji.
I dziękuję wszystkim którzy mi zaufali i pozwolili sobie na zmianę tego.

A case of a client dealing with shoulder pain.

There was a significant restriction in arm movement.
Lifting the arm caused pain and was only possible up to head level.
This also created noticeable stress, as it affected daily comfort and made work difficult.
No clear injury, and the pain appeared after a gym session.
During the one-hour session, the work was not focused only on the arm, but also on the back and chest.
The arm does not function in isolation.
It is connected to the shoulder blade, which works together with the spine, ribs and chest.
These areas are linked through tissues that transfer tension and influence movement and range.
If there is restriction in any of these areas, the shoulder often takes on that load.
After that session, the pain was gone.
The arm regained almost full range of motion and could be lifted nearly the same as the other side.
A follow-up session was done a week later to stabilise the result.

This shows how effective myofascial work can be and that the body does not function as separate parts.
It works as a connected system.

This applies to everything.
Knee pain can be linked to the foot, hip or tension along the back of the body.
Lower back issues often connect with the hips and chest.
Neck tension can relate to the position of the shoulders, chest and even the pelvis.
The body works as one system.

Clinic: Old Surgery, Derby, Mackworth- Saturdays 9:00–19:00
Mobile sessions during the week
From mid-May, sessions will also be available during the week in a new treatment room.

If this sounds familiar, send me a message