The Joanne Avison Podcast

What if continuity is even more fundamental than tensegrity?

In this special episode of Sacred Geometry, Joanne is joined in person by clinical anatomist and exercise physiologist John Sharkey for a wide-ranging conversation about fascia, tensegrity and the living architecture of the human body.

You might prefer to watch this episode on YouTube as there are a couple of brief references to a visual model (the 'Skwish') held up by Joanne and John.

Together, they revisit the ideas explored throughout Series 2 - from Leonardo da Vinci and Kenneth Snelson to Buckminster Fuller, Tom Flemons and Donald Ingber - and ask where those discoveries take us now…

John explores why fascia may be better understood as something that transcends the body's individual systems, how living geometry continually adapts through movement and time, and how no two bodies ever express that architecture in quite the same way. This fascinating conversation also covers fasciategrity, stochasticity, force transmission, the spiral architecture of the heart (!) and what decades of anatomical dissection continue to reveal about human form.

It’s a conversation about continuity, curiosity and the questions still waiting to be asked, with plenty of stories from Joanne and John's years of working and teaching together.

Subscribe to continue the journey. There’s one final episode of Series 2 still to come, and Joanne has something special waiting for you there.

Links to some of John Sharkey's most recent papers:
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/12/1924
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42458875/ 

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What if tensegrity isn't simply a theory, but something already at work inside every living cell?

In this episode of Sacred Geometry, Joanne Avison explores the groundbreaking work of Donald Ingber, the Harvard scientist whose research brought tensegrity into the laboratory and helped establish the field of mechanobiology.

Following the thread from Leonardo da Vinci, Kenneth Snelson, Buckminster Fuller and Tom Flemons, we arrive at the living cell itself, where Ingber demonstrates how tension, structure and force are communicated throughout the whole.

You'll discover:

• How sculpture inspired Ingber's scientific curiosity
• The experiment that demonstrated tensegrity in living cells
• Why cells respond to force as whole structures
• What mechanobiology reveals about movement, fascia and healing
• How geometry connects architecture, biology and the living human body

From geodesic domes to a single cell under a microscope, this episode takes us deeper into the science of tensegrity and the extraordinary living architecture already at work within you…

👉 Read Donald Ingber's paper:
Joanne mentions Donald Ingber's landmark 1998 Scientific American article, “The Architecture of Life,” in this episode. 
If you'd like to explore the research and ideas behind the conversation for yourself, you can find it here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-architecture-of-life/
(Vol. 278, Jan 1998, pp. 48–57).

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What if the model we've used to explain the human body could never stand up on its own?

In this episode of Sacred Geometry, Joanne explores the remarkable work of Tom Flemons, whose human tensegrity models challenged centuries of conventional biomechanics. Inspired by Kenneth Snelson and Buckminster Fuller, Flemons spent decades building physical demonstrations of the body's living architecture, revealing a model based on continuity rather than isolated parts.

You'll discover:

• Why a classroom skeleton cannot stand on its own
• How Tom Flemons built the first human tensegrity models
• Why the body is not simply a system of levers and joints
• What embryology reveals about living architecture
• How fascia creates continuity throughout the body

This episode brings Sacred Geometry directly into the human body and lays the foundation for the next chapter of the series, where Joanne explores Donald Ingber's groundbreaking research into tensegrity at the level of the living cell.

If these ideas resonate with you, Joanne Avison and Paul Thornley teach you about fascia, movement, anatomy and Sacred Geometry in depth through the Myofascial Magic in Action programme. Find out more here.

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What happens when someone gives a name to something that has always existed?

Buckminster Fuller didn't invent tensegrity, but by naming it, he gave the world a new way of seeing. In this episode of the Sacred Geometry series, Joanne explores how Fuller's remarkable work connected architecture, engineering, biology and the living human body through one universal principle…

From geodesic domes and “Spaceship Earth” to carbon molecules, fascia and human movement, this episode reveals why Fuller's ideas continue to reshape our understanding of living architecture today.

You'll discover:

• Why Buckminster Fuller coined the term tensegrity
• How geodesic domes reveal nature's principles of force distribution
• Why the same geometric patterns appear from carbon molecules to the cosmos
• What synergetics and whole-system thinking can teach us about the human body
• How these ideas are transforming our understanding of fascia, movement and anatomy

This episode continues the journey from Leonardo da Vinci and Kenneth Snelson, exploring how a single word - tensegrity - helped reveal one of nature's most profound organising principles. It also lays the foundation for the next episode, where Joanne introduces Tom Flemons and his groundbreaking work applying these ideas directly to the human body.

If this way of understanding the body resonates with you, Joanne Avison and Paul Thornley teach these principles through their online programme, Myofascial Magic in Action. This in-depth course brings together fascia, movement, anatomy, and Sacred Geometry to help practitioners, movers, and curious learners experience the living body in an entirely new way.

FIND OUT MORE HERE:

🌟 https://www.myofascialmagic.com/mmia-programme-info

----------------------------------------

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What if the missing piece in understanding the human body was discovered by a sculptor?

In this episode Joanne explores the extraordinary life and work of Kenneth Snelson, the artist whose remarkable discovery of floating compression transformed the way we understand structure, movement, and the living body.

Working from curiosity rather than convention, Snelson built a simple sculpture that revealed a profound truth: living forms are not held together by stacked parts, but by a continuous relationship between tension and compression. His insight became the missing piece that helped shape modern ideas of tensegrity, fascia, and living architecture.

You'll discover:

• Why Kenneth Snelson's X-Piece changed everything
• The difference between floating compression and tensegrity
• How living bodies organise themselves differently from buildings
• Why weaving offers a powerful model for understanding fascia
• How the principles of living architecture appear throughout nature
• What Snelson's work reveals about movement, resilience, and human form
• Why the patterns of physical forces matter more than isolated parts

More than the story of a sculptor, this is an invitation to see yourself differently. Kenneth Snelson's work reminds us that the human body is not a machine assembled from separate pieces, but a living, self-organising architecture whose intelligence has been quietly present all along.

If this way of understanding the body resonates with you, and you'd like to explore it in depth, Joanne Avison and Paul Thornley teach these principles through their online programme, Myofascial Magic in Action (MMIA). This in-depth course brings together fascia, movement, anatomy, and Sacred Geometry to help practitioners, movers, and curious learners experience the living body in an entirely new way.

🌟  FIND OUT MORE HERE 🌟 

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What did Leonardo da Vinci see that the rest of the world missed?

In the second episode of this new Sacred Geometry series, Joanne explores the extraordinary quality of attention that allowed Leonardo da Vinci to perceive the human body in a way that science would not begin to explain for another 500 years.

Long before the language of fascia, tensegrity, or living architecture existed, Leonardo was asking different questions. Through meticulous observation, fearless curiosity, and an unwavering commitment to direct experience, he revealed patterns of proportion, movement, and organisation that continue to shape our understanding of the living body today.

You'll discover:

• Why Leonardo began with seeing rather than theory
• The hidden geometric significance of the Vitruvian Man
• How the body expresses multiple centres of organisation
• Why sacred geometry is woven throughout living anatomy
• The relationship between Leonardo's observations and modern fascia research
• How reductionist anatomy lost sight of the body's living architecture
• Why genuine discovery begins with the courage to look differently

More than a historical figure, Leonardo becomes an invitation: to observe with fresh eyes, to question inherited assumptions, and to rediscover the remarkable intelligence already present within the living human body.

This episode continues Joanne's exploration of the remarkable people whose insights have helped illuminate the living fascial matrix, the hidden geometry of nature, and what it truly means to live in a human body.

Would you like to learn with me? Info here:
🌟 www.myofascialmagic.com/mmia-programme-info

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What if the geometry of the cosmos is also written within you?

Following the extraordinary response to the first Sacred Geometry series, Joanne Avison returns to go deeper. This time, the journey is about the remarkable people who saw what others missed: the hidden patterns, living intelligence, and sacred architecture of the human body.

From Leonardo da Vinci to Kenneth Snelson, Buckminster Fuller, Donald Ingber, Tom Flemons, and John Sharkey, this series follows the artists, visionaries, scientists, and anatomists whose insights help illuminate the living fascial matrix and the extraordinary geometry we each embody.

You’ll discover:

• Why the body cannot truly be understood as a machine
• How sacred geometry appears throughout living form
• The deeper relationship between fascia, tensegrity, and human movement
• Why Leonardo saw living architecture centuries ahead of his time
• How extraordinary minds revealed patterns that were always there
• Why you are not separate from the code, but a living expression of it
  
  

Series 1 explored the shapes. Series 2 follows the people who learned to see them.

This is the next revolution of the spiral. A journey into the inner constellation, the sacred nature of the living body, and the remarkable architecture of you.

Welcome to Sacred Geometry: The Living Architecture of You.

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What if the work you're doing today actually began long before you knew its name?

In this concluding episode of Thank You For Having Me, Joanne reflects on the hidden threads that shaped her life's work. From a childhood spent surrounded by fabrics and fashion design, to years learning alongside artisan chocolatiers, to a lifetime devoted to fascia and human movement, she explores how seemingly unrelated experiences became part of one continuous education.

At the heart of the episode is a simple realisation: everything was preparing her.

You'll hear:

• What Joanne means by the body as a "liquid crystal matrix"
• How craftsmanship shaped her understanding of fascia long before science gave it language
• The surprising connections between fabric, chocolate, and living tissue
• Why our earliest experiences often become the foundation of our life's work
• How families transmit far more than knowledge
• Why love, service, and attention can become a living inheritance

Part memoir, part reflection, and part exploration of the living body, this episode brings the Thank You For Having Me series to a close by revealing the invisible architecture behind Joanne's work and the extraordinary people who helped shape it.

Next week, we'll begin a brand new Sacred Geometry series. Following the beautiful response to the first series, Joanne will introduce you to the remarkable people whose work has most profoundly shaped her own understanding of fascia, sacred geometry, and the living intelligence of the human body. We hope you'll join us for the journey. 

As always, thank you for having me.

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What does it mean to carry on when life doesn't go to plan?

In this deeply personal episode of Thank You For Having Me, Joanne reflects on a formative period of family life shaped by illness, uncertainty, service, and unwavering love. Through the story of her father's struggles, and her mother's extraordinary determination to keep the family moving forward, Joanne explores the quieter forms of courage that rarely make headlines but shape lives nonetheless.

Along the way, she shares memories of family traditions, the purple rose that stayed with her for decades, and the lessons that emerged from growing up inside a household that refused to be defined by difficulty.

You'll hear about:

• The difference between heroic courage and everyday endurance
• How family values shape who we become
• The role of service, responsibility, and loyalty in difficult times
• Why adversity can become a source of wisdom and compassion
• The connection between lived experience, embodiment, and personal growth
• How the people who raise us continue to influence our lives
• Why what is held in the heart is often reflected in the body

Part memoir, part reflection, and part exploration of human resilience, this episode follows the threads of family, love, service, and healing that ran through Joanne's childhood and helped shape the practitioner, teacher, and human being she would later become.

As always, thank you for having me.

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman

What if the magic of childhood never really leaves us?

In this deeply personal episode of Thank You For Having Me, Joanne reflects on the childhood experiences, family traditions, and acts of everyday wonder that shaped her life. From rainy day boxes and upside-down days to family rituals, beloved grandparents, and a mother with an extraordinary gift for transforming the ordinary into something magical, this is a story about the environments we grow up inside and how they continue to live within us.

Along the way, Joanne explores a powerful early childhood experience that would later influence her understanding of the body, memory, fascia, and the enduring imprint of our earliest years.

You'll hear:

• How childhood experiences continue to shape us throughout life
• The family traditions that created a sense of belonging and wonder
• Why seemingly small moments can leave lasting impressions
• How early experiences may be carried within the body
• The connection between memory, emotion, and embodied experience
• Why magic is often found in the ordinary
• How love, resilience, and imagination become part of who we are

Blending personal storytelling with reflections on embodiment, family, memory, and human development, this episode explores the weave of experiences that become the architecture of a life.

Part memoir, part reflection, and part exploration of the living body, The Magic We Grow Up Inside is an invitation to reconnect with the child you once were and the stories that continue to shape who you are today.

As always, thank you for having me.

SIGN UP TO THE JOANNE AVISON NEWSLETTER

Simply scroll down to ‘Stay Connected’ and pop in your details. We DON’T spam and we DO respect privacy!


FOLLOWING ON YOUTUBE?
Do join us! Start here


MORE:
My website - https://www.joanneavison.com/
My course - https://myofascialmagic.com/
My book:  - https://amzn.to/3zF3SAS
Instagram -  joanneavison


Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman