Self-Myofascial Release (SMFR)
in Noe Valley, San Francisco
Release stress and balance tension on your own terms with a teacher who can show you how and why myofascial release works.
Self-myofascial release (SMFR) is a practice where you apply pressure to your own fascia, the connective tissue that wraps your muscles and links them to your bones and organs. Using therapy balls and yoga props, you pair that pressure with breath and movement, so your nervous system can let go and your body can move with more ease.
What the research suggests SMFR can support:
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Movement and performance: Improved range of motion (ROM), coordination, proprioception, functional performance and strength output
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Pain and recovery: Decreased pain, reduced delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), better circulation, and a faster return to training
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Nervous system and stress: parasympathetic activation, physiological and physical relaxation, interoception, and emotional regulation
Done well, SMFR is a skill you get to keep for a life time. Use it between professional myofascial release, physical therapy, or massage sessions, after workouts or a long day of work day. When you learn to read your own tissues, you become your own "roll model" with empowered self-care. As a biomedical engineer, Rowena teaches the why behind every technique, not just the how.
HSA & FSA Payments Accepted
Use your pre-tax Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account funds toward your yoga sessions. Your wellness practice may be more affordable than you think.
Ways to Learn SMFR with Rowena
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Private SMFR Session (1:1 or 2:1) 50-minute SMFR sessions personalized to your unique needs, stress, embodiment map, and history. You will learn where to place therapy balls and props, how much pressure to use, how long to stay, and how to pair release with breath. You will learn how to observe positive changes in your body with "check and recheck" process. Therapy balls are provided at the studio and available to purchase for home practice. You will leave sessions with personalized alignment, routines and programming to practice at home. Sessions, packages, memberships available. HSA/FSA accepted. Book an SMFR session now.
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Semi-private Yoga Classes Various day-time classes blend yoga asana and a sampling of SMFR. All levels, non-heated. Drop-ins, packages, memberships available. HSA/FSA accepted. Book a class now.
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Group private for your friends or team (3 or more) Bring a few friends, family, or coworking team for a private, group SMFR session at the shala. Inquire about Group Privates here.
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Monthly Workshops. Various weekend dates, see Workshop Calendar for details.
FAQ
How do I prepare for SMFR?
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Wear comfortable clothes, layers if you run cold
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Bring a yoga mat (if you forget, we have some to borrow), water bottle
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Ground floor studio, bathroom, indoor lounge, outdoor deck/patio
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Register ahead, class package available, drop-ins welcome
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Try to eat at least 2 hours before a session and stay hydrated
Do I need to buy my own therapy balls?
No. Balls are provided for studio practice and are available to purchase (optional) for home practice.
Who is SMFR For?
All levels of experience and stages of life. This class is beneficial for,
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People who find foam rolling too painful, difficult, or strenuous
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Desk workers and standing service providers with stiff necks, shoulders, hips and low backs
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Runners, cyclists, lifters and dancers looking for active recovery
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People who want to manage chronic pain or improve mobility
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Anyone who wants to continue care between bodywork sessions, or who prefers to work on themselves rather than be touched
What is the difference between SMFR and myofascial release therapy?
Self-myofascial release (SMFR) and myofascial release (MFR) therapy both work with fascia, the web of connective tissue that wraps around muscle fibers, groups of muscles, and links our muscles, organs, and bones. These approaches complement but do not replace medical care, so it's important to have pain, injuries, symptoms or conditions checked by a healthcare provider.
Myofascial release is the therapeutic practice of applying pressure to the fascial system to support balanced tone, tension, or tensegirty. Tensegrity is the balance of tension and compression that keeps the body stable. Tom Myers of Anatomy Trains describes fascia as connected lines of pull that run from head-to-toe, which is why releasing one area of the body can change how you feel in another part of the body.
The difference between SMFR and MFR is who applies the pressure and how the pressure is applied.
In SMFR, you apply pressure your fascia using tools like therapy balls or yoga props. Jill Miller of Tune Up Fitness, creator of the Roll Model Method, teaches SMFR as a way for people to take part in their own care combining pressure with movement leaning on a wall or laying on a mat on the floor to improve tissue glide, circulation, body awarness, and breath. SMFR can be practiced between sessions with a therapist, or as self-care when a therapist isn't available or touch isn't preferred.
In MFR, a therapist uses their hands and/or therapeutic tools to apply gentle, sustained pressure. In the appraoch developed by John F. Barnes, the therapist waits for the tissue to soften or move, rather than forcing a change. Clients typically rest on a massage table -- supine, prone, side lie, or seated -- in comfortable clothing and don't need to move their bodies.
If you would like hand-on MFR, please see Gregory Harty Myofascial Release Therapy in the Inner Sunset. If you seek a combined active and passive approach to balance, Rowena Mittal, MS, PhD, CYT and Gregory Harty, CMT, MFR offer a coordinated Yoga & MFR Therapy Program. Learn how the program works here.
What's the difference between SMFR and foam rolling?
Foam rollers are great for broad, rhythmic rolling over large muscle groups are parts of the body. SMFR therapy balls are smaller, and more pliable so they offer more targeted, sustained pressure. Combined with breath and movement, SMFR can work smaller areas around bony prominences, pain points or injuries, and bodyparts such as the neck, shoulders, hips, feet and ribs. The pliability of therapy balls is designed to be closer to human tissue, so you can hold steady, sustained pressure without triggering your body’s protective pain response. If foam rolling has ever felt too blunt or painful, rolling with therapy balls may be for you.
Does SMFR hurt?
SMFR may involve tolerable discomfort. In sessions with Rowena, you will learn the difference between productive, tolerable discomfort and unproductive pain (intolerable discomfort). You will learn how to adjust pressure to your own physiology and appropriate duration or frequency of practice. Proprioception up, nociception down.
Do I need yoga or MFR experience?
No, you do not need prior experience with yoga or MFR. All levels are welcome.
More questions?
Text or call 628-400-6592. Alternatively, you may book a 10-min complimentary consultation here.
Class Location
Rowena Mittal Yoga is located at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA 94131 (map). Mobu has served the Noe Valley, Dolores, Mission, Glen Park, Bernal Heights, Miraloma communities and more for 25 years and counting. Located in a historical district at a J Muni train stop that connects to downtown SF, a short walk from the 24, 49, 14 Muni lines, and between the 24th Street and Glen Park Bart stations, it is easy to join a class. Free and metered street parking available.
Located near Martha's Coffee, Mitchell's Ice Cream, Church Produce, Omnivore Books, and many spas, holistic care centers, and restaurants including Chloe's Cafe, Noe Cafe, Front Porch, and La Ciccia -- practicing yoga can be integrated into routine self-care, work, errands, and dates with friends, family, or partners.
Policies
Reservations canceled or rescheduled at least 24 hours in advance will remain available for future use. Late cancellations or no shows forfeit the session in full: sessions are non-transferrable, non-exchangeable, and non-refundable. Separately, unused classes or sessions in recurring memberships do not roll over to the next cycle. Memberships can be canceled at any time.
Keywords: Chronic pain management, yin yoga, restorative yoga, myofascial release therapy, Tune Up Fitness, Roll Model Method, anatomy trains, fascia, rest and digest, qi energy, jing energy, meditation, prana, Women’s health, Men's Health, Bloating, Water retention, Circulation, Stress management, Cortisol, holistic healthcare, spiritual practice, therapy ball class, foam rolling alternative, self-myofascial release
About the Instructor
Rowena Mittal, MS, PhD, CYT
Dr. Rowena Mittal blends her passion for healthcare and her Indian & Chinese heritage with her deep understanding of human physiology and her experience building biotechnology to share the wisdom of yoga in tangible language. To Rowena, yoga is a life practice that changes our lives and the lives that we serve off the mat for the better.
In the 2000s, Rowena used to travel across town to take a roll method class in Noe Valley. It was an hour of just rolling -- head to toes -- and it was incredibly powerful at improving her functional performance and physiological relaxtion. After many yoga studios closed in San Francisco during pandemic, therapeutic classes such as self-myofasical release or roll method disappeared. There was no where to go for recovery practices that manage stress and improve athletic resilience. Rowena heard this loss of midday practice echoed by yoga teachers, therapists, caretakers, and stress managers — a deep desire to recovery body and mind through active practice and agency.
And thus, the self-myofascial release therapy in San Francisco was reborn. Where commercial studios often center practices shaped by obsession with external performance, this modality turns attention inward: cultivating propioception and knowledge for empowered self-care.
Rowena has been teaching yoga since 2014 and self-myofascial release therapy since 2022 across San Francisco through public classes, workshops, private lessons, corporate wellness programs, yoga teacher trainings, and yoga teacher mentorships. While her first exposure to yoga was in the 1990s, Rowena’s regular yoga practice began in 2008 at the suggestion of her physicians and physical therapist amid a struggle with chronic back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, and systemic inflammation.
In 2014, Rowena enrolled in yoga teacher training with long-time teacher Rusty Wells at Urban Flow in San Francisco, CA to demystify the practice while honoring its eastern roots. At this training, she got to study with Jason Crandell, Wah!, Amanda Moran, and more. Rowena completed continuing education with Rusty Wells, Stephanie Snyder, Nichol Chase, Susannah Freedman, and Charisse Balance, DPT, as well as mentorship with Stephanie Snyder and Neil Wadhawan. In 2023, Rowena completed prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher training with renowned yoga teacher and former midwife, doula, and childbirth educator Jane Austin.
Rowena’s 20 years of training, continuing education, and experience includes bhakti flow, vinyasa, ashtanga, Iyengar, hatha, yin, restorative, accessible, chair/seated, and prenatal/postnatal yoga asana; injury prevention, pranayama, meditation, ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, pelvic physical therapy, yoga tune up therapy ball myofascial release, non-violent communication, and the art of physical assisting. Learn more about Rowena's yoga teachers and mentors here. Today, she applies her decades of experience to mentor and coach teachers, corporate leaders, and life-long students of yoga.
In addition to over RYT-500 hours of Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher training, Rowena obtained her BS in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a minor in Biological/Biomedical Engineering and two humanities concentrations in Women & Gender Studies and French Language & Studies. She has her MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Rowena supplements her yoga training with certification in International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT)-accredited anatomy and myofascial release therapy with Tune Up Fitness and education in somatic and mindfulness-based practice for recovery stage of trauma, chronic pain, and stress reduction with the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health.
At MIT, Rowena was a dancer and exec member of the performance group, MIT Dance Troupe. At CMU, she was part of a performance dance group, Dancer's Symposium, where she had the pleasure of dancing with and for professional dancer and choreographer Raymond Ejiofor. In addition to DS, she was a dancer, exec member, and choreographer of a competitive South Asian dance troupe, Tanah, fusing Bharatanatyam and other Indian dance genres with western dance styles.
With over 20 years experience developing products in biotechnology, diagnostics, and medical devices and over 10 years teaching yoga, Rowena's career goals on and off the mat are to address unmet healthcare needs inside and outside the clinic -- closing gaps in health diagnostics, accessibility, lifestyle management, injury management, women's health, menstruation, reproductive health, preconception fertility care, endometriosis, prenatal/postnatal care, perimenopause, menopause, mental health and stress management needs. An author of multiple scientific, peer-reviewed publications and speaker at scientific conferences, you can learn more about Rowena's academic honors and corporate career in healthcare at Linkedin.
Rowena's teachings seamlessly blend physical, meditative, and spiritual practices, delivered in English and Sanskrit (the language of yoga), with a focus on pranayama (breath practice), alignment, meditation, bhakti (devotion), optional hands-on assists, sutra (philosophy) and a step-wise approach to developing mind-body equanimity or building new asanas (postures). Students share that through her class structure, music, and voice, they leave her classes feeling stronger and energized, restored and at ease – empowered with knowledge that extends far beyond the four walls of the studio.
