I don’t know about you, but I have been really stressed lately. I find myself either working, getting kids ready for their next move, making food, cleaning, grocery shopping, cleaning (again) or thinking about what I need to do next in this big long list of things.
But luckily, doing what I do for a living, I realize that I am stressed and know the importance of carving out moments in the day where I can have some time for myself. Even if it is not everyday, I still carve of at least an hour of time, especially on my days off where I can enjoy me. No kids, no cleaning, no work. Just me.
I know what activities, or lack of activites, help me to relax and recharge. But some of my clients have a harder time pin pointing what things help them to relax. Here are some of the most common things we can do to help reach a level of calm. Practice one of these each day, or every other day so that you can find that inner calm.
Physical activity. Regular exercise -- whether it's walking, dancing or playing with the kids -- strengthens your cardiovascular system, heart, muscles, bones and mind. It also stimulates the release of endorphins, lowers cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, lowers cortisol and other stress hormones.
Yoga, pilates, and stretching. The slow movements and controlled postures of yoga and pilates improve muscle strength, flexibility, balance, circulation, mental focus, and calmness. These activites also help you to become more aware of your body and posture, which may help you understand where you hold your stress.
Laughter and humor. There is truth to the saying that laughter is the best medicine. Laughing reduces stress hormones like adrenaline (epinephrine) and cortisol and benefits the immune system.
High nutrient diet. Eat foods rich in antioxidants (strawberries, spinach, artichokes), omega-3 fatty acids (walnuts, salmon, avacado), and folate (dark green, leafy vegetables). Antioxidants neutralize molecules that can cause heart disease, cancer, and premature aging. Omega-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular-enhancing, and immune-regulating properties. Folate prevents age-related cognitive decline, ensures DNA integrity (important during
pregnancy), and promotes healthy red blood cells.
Music. Listening to your favorite music is a great method of reducing stress and relieving anxiety. Listen to your favorite music while while walking the dog or going for a jog. You’ll acomlish two relaxing things at a time!
Sleep. Sound sleep has a profound impact on stress levels, immune function, and disease resistance. Your body and immune system do most of their repairs during sleep, so strive to get in seven to eight hours each night.
Positive thinking. Optimism can counteract the negative impact stress, tension, and anxiety have on your immune system and well-being. Often it is how you perceive things that determine if you get overwhelmed, both mentally and physically. Even if you are in a rough state, fake positivity. Studies show that smiling, even when you are not happy, helps to boost your mood.
Tea. Regularly drinking green and black teas throughout the day can help strengthen your immune system and your body's ability to fight off germs and infections. Green tea is also known to help metabolize fats.
Hydrotherapy. Relaxing in a hot bath relieves sore muscles and joints, reduces stress and tension, and promotes sleep. Add music, soft lighting, and scented oils to create a spa experience in the privacy of your own home.
Spring Cleaning by Jennifer Moody, L.M.T. Spring is here! It's a good time of year to clear out the junk that has been accumulating around the house, and it's also an excellent time to get rid of the "internal junk" we've been holding on to. Flowers are starting to pop up and the trees are starting to bud. With all the natural beauty around us, it's hard not to think positive and take a good look at our internal climate. Reassessing our attitudes, perspective and goals for the coming months is a great idea. Here are some tips to get you started: http://www.positivelivingtv.com/inner-voice/emotional-detox-spring-cleaning-for-the-soul
We have relaunched our Detox Massage package and are really excited about the results and feedback we are getting! It is a 45 minute invigorating massage that incorporates specific techniques and essential oils to help your body cleanse and detoxify on a cellular level. Perfect adjunct to doing a food or diet cleanse as described by Christine in the previous blog, or done alone with a healthy eating and exercise plan. The massage oil we use is a proprietary blend of Young Living's brand of organic blend with several essential oils such as grapefruit, juniper and cypress have unique qualities to help detoxify, cleanse, help reduce water retention, improve lymphatic drainage (your body’s natural of detoxification system) and may help reduce cellulite! Along with this blend of therapeutic and aromatically delicious oils, we will use massage techniques that are proven to help improve blood and lymph circulation, and a specific technique designed to target to diminish the cellulite areas! Give it a try! We offer it in packages of 3 or 5. You can call your therapist for details on pricing or go to our “Contact” page to send an email inquiry.
This past February I did a cleanse. It was just three days, but I felt those those three changed the way I think about what goes into my body. There are a lot of cleanses out there. Some long, some short, some you eat and some you don’t. Some cleanses you buy everything over the counter and do it on your own and others are guided or mentored by a nutritionist. There are so many ways to “cleanse” and all pretty much acheive the same results, or at least have the same goal in mind. I wanted to cleanse because, well, my friends were doing it. They felt great and had great results. But mostly I wanted to cleanse becasue I felt I was in a rut. I was bloated, gaining weight and I felt like I constantly wanted more and more food. Bad food too. All the holiday yummies were becoming a way of life and I wanted a divorce from them. So I got in contact with a nutritionist in my town that designs cleanses for individuals. She has a degree in holistic nutrition and is full of information. The forms she had me fill out were so detailed. I knew I would be well taken care of. ( Lisa Kristofek, Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Fresh Squeeze Holistic Nutrition Glen Ellyn, IL 60137 www.freshsqueezenutrition.com 630.222.3853 You may be wondering by now, “what does cleansing do?” Well, it does a whole lot of good. Everyday our bodies are infested with toxins that our liver, gall blatter and intestines need to clear out. The toxins come from the food we eat, the beverages we drink, the cosmetic products we use, the air we breath. You name it. Our digestive, circulartory, pulmonary, lymphatic, etc systems take care of all the bad stuff. Think of a cleanse like a break for our bodies. It gives the cells a chance to heal and focus on the job they are supposed to do - nourish and support our bodies, rather than defend. And, in addition to all this goodness to our bodies, cleansing just makes you feel really good. I have to admit I was nervous. I was afraid I would be really hungry and afraid I would cave in, open a bottle of wine and forget it! But I was determined to get through and feel the results. Here is what the cleanse intailed: Monday Breakfast: carrot and ginger juice Lunch: green smoothie with kale as base green Snack: quinoa salad with dried tart cherries, toasted pine nuts, arugula and flat leaf parsely Dinner: as much organic greens my belly could handle (I ate steamed kale and red pepper) Tuesday Breakfast: cucumber and mint juice Lunch: green smoothie with spinach as base green Snack: spinach salad with egg, chickpeas/hummus and celery with honey mustard viniagrette Dinner: as much organic greens my belly could handle (I ate steamed kale and red pepper) Wednesday Breakfast: red pepper and orange with lime juice Lunch: green smoothie with swiss chard as base green (+mango and coconut milk) Snack: millet salad with cilantro, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers Dinner: big baby spinach salad with red pepper, olive oil and lemon As you can see there is not that much food here. Basically it was about 1000 (calories) per day, which is not a lot. In addition to the food we ate, we had to drink a lot of water - and I mean about 120 oz - in addition to 90 oz of green tea. All the fuilds were great and my saviour. They keep me feeling full and gave me the sense that something was in my mouth. The first day was hard, mostly becasue I did not know what to expect. I was crabby, hungry and losing confidence I could complete the task. In the evening instead of wallowing in how hungry I was, I just want to bed! That night I sweated like crazy. I had to change my pajamas in the middle of the night. How is that for detox? The nutritionist said that was my body’s reaction to the detox. Wonderful! The second day I woke up and felt full of energy, even after all the sweating. I felt almost buzzed, and was a little dizzy. I kept drinking the water and tea, which helped the dizziness quite a bit. By about 3:00 on Tuesday afternoon I had a pretty deep, tiring headache. Also a sign of the detox. I kept on though and went to bed early again, pretty much right after dinner. Wednesday... last day! I woke up feeling fabulous! This was the easiest day. I was stffed after the lunch shake and had an amazing amount of energy that night. No need to go to bed early. By Thursday morning I was really wanting some solid food, but so great. I felt light, airy, and lost 5 pounds to boot. I cannot wait to cleanse again. I think I’ll do it every 3 months just to reset my system. And if you didn’t know, Therapeutic Connections is offering a special on Detox Massage. We offer a full body circulartory aromatherapy massage utilizing myofacial techniques to enhance circulation, reduce water retention, inflammation and may help diminish cellulite. Ask your therapist for more information!
A must for those that are on the computer all day long!
This is an exercise that seems simple but can be quite difficult when you try to do it depending on how tight you are. I recommend it to my clients very often, and although we have a print out on our forms page I thought it would be good to show an example of it as well. I would recommend starting with doing 8-12 reps for 3 bouts to start off with. It's very common to not be able to have your upper arms or wrists flat against the wall due to the tightness, but keep it up and you will get better with patience and practice and feel better in your neck and upper back!
Sorry about the jumpyness of the film taking! But it was technically the best example I could find. I will just have to make my own someday!)
 (The black "X" marks are where the trigger point is and the red shows where you would typically feel the pain when it acts up or is compressed.)
Many clients often ask what exactly is a knot, and why do the happen? The reason they usually form is that a particular muscle is a constant or perpetual state of contraction or spasm without any release therefore not allowing blood and oxygen to get in and waste products to get out. After a while the muscle overloads and forms the tightened, hardened nodules or large knots. There are even specific types of knots called Trigger Points. These are hypersensitive painful nodules in a taut band of muscle fibers in the muscle or connective tissue and when the nodule is compressed, or in some cases actively fire on their own, they will send referred pain to other specific parts of the body. It is believed that up to 75% of people’s pain they feel in their bodies can be attributed to trigger points. They certainly can make daily activities such as turning your head to look over your shoulder for driving uncomfortable. Luckily, they can go away if you know what to do! Here are some tips: 1: Stretch daily. Keeping the muscle fibers loose and limber can prevent the knots from forming in the first place. 2: Drink more water. Your body needs eight 8oz glasses of water per day to stay healthy. Drinking caffeine is a dehydrator, so you have to take that into consideration. Water will help with flushing out any toxins that might have built up in your muscles. 3. Eat a banana. Some knots and muscle cramping can be caused by low potassium levels. Bananas are loaded with potassium. 4. Spread a natural topical analgesic such as Sombra Painrelieving Gel or a Young Living’s Deep Relief roll-on. They both have naturally occurring chemicals such as peppermint that is a vasodilator and will help bring more blood and oxygen to the knots as well as provide an “icy-hot” effect to provide relief. 5. Use Ice & Heat Contrast Therapy. Get out your ice and heat packs and apply them in a ratio of 3 minutes ice, 1 minute heat for up to about 10 minutes. Always end with ice and do this throughout the day until you feel some relief. Contact Julie for more info: julie@therapeuticconnections.com. 6. Visit your professional massage therapist (At Therapeutic Connections of course!) Trigger Point Therapy is a massage therapy technique that releases the trigger points and can relieve the pain by softening the nodule and restoring good blood and oxygen flow. We are trained in trigger point therapy and can work to release the trigger points and soften the knots and can give you pointers on how to do some massage treatment at home too!
We do it tens of thousands of times a day. Breathing. It's essential to life. But how many of us actually do it properly? Or slowly? It's instinctual, and yet our hectic lifestyles, ill-fighting clothing and other factors often keep us from breathing like we should. I heard a Qi Gong teacher once say that animals who breathe the slowest live the longest. The tortoise, for example, breathes about 2-3 times a minute, and can live well past 200 years. By comparison, dogs and cats breathe very rapidly, and don't have very long life spans. While we certainly don't know for sure whether their breathing habits alone contribute to their longevity, it does give us some food for thought! Diaphragmatic breathing (where your belly goes out when you inhale, rather than in) is how we should breathe, but most adults don't. Just look at the rise and fall of a baby's stomach for a quick lesson in proper breathing. There are many different ways to practice slowing down our breathing, like 4-7-8 breathing (breathe in for 4 seconds...hold for 7...breath out for 8). Even just stopping for a minute during your day and taking a few, deep, conscious breaths can help you feel more energetic, focused and calm. Sometimes it's the simple things in life that make the biggest difference in our health and well-being!
So you decided on a massage! It is a time for YOU. Set your goals, yes, YOUR goals, and tell your professional Therapeutic Massage therapist what you would like during YOUR time. Is there an area of concentration preferred? Are there injured areas needing specific attention? How much pressure is right for you? Not sure? Have a conversation with your knowledgeable massage therapist before getting comfortable, take a few deep breaths, and let your body relax. Listen to the music, talk or don’t talk, ask about home exercises, ask for a demonstration of various pressure levels, mention what you feel, or maybe get the unexpected cat nap.
Over the years, I have had massages from those needing hours to complete their certification through professionals at fancy spas. The glass of juice and the walk down the hallway are a thing of the past for me as I found Julie (and Therapeutic Connections). She has helped my body on several occasions: working out over stressed muscles, providing pressure points on my painful back areas, increasing my overall circulation, and decreasing damaged scar tissue. In addition, Julie had me demonstrate an exercise to determine my physical limitations which was the same exercise my physical therapist also had me perform. I have found Julie knowledgeable, caring, and willing to assist – what a treasure and conveniently located near the Glenbard East High School on South Main Street. - Joann
Last fall while I was training for Grand Rapids Marathon, I had some calf and ankle pain that took me off my feet for several days. I had to reconstruct my training for about 10 days. And anyone who runs, knows this is above frustrating. One running friend suggested I try compression socks to help with the recovery between runs, massage and other therapy.
I was slightly skepitcal, but thought, sure why not? Anything to get me back on track. I don’t know if the sales guy at the running store convinced me and it was more in my head, but I do know that my legs felt fantastic. Fresh, fluid and ready to take on my long runs again. My calf and ankle pain quickly and magically wnet away.
The makers of the expensive products tout the performance benefits of compression technology, but in terms of science, compression calf sleeves are kind of like ice baths. The people who use them swear by them. The people who study their effectiveness? Not so much.
At first glance, they appear to be a statement of retro style. But a closer look reveals the knee-high tube socks many elite distance runners race in are anything but rekindled 1970s apparel.
They're graduated compression socks -- snug-fitting, over-the-calf socks (some of which start at the ankle). They are designed to provide some firmness to the underlying tissue without resticting movement. Lycra or spandex is the primary material used in compression garments. Proponents of compression believe they can enhance proprioception and reduce muscle oscillation as well as enhance lactate removal, optimize blood flow, reduce blood pooling and reduce swelling. (Proprioception is the sense of position and movement of the limbs and the sense of muscular tension.)
But do they work? Compression socks and wraps have been widely accepted in clinical and post-surgical settings for the treatment of edema, lymph edema, phlebitis, varicose veins, spider veins and deep vein thrombosis. Most theories about how the socks can improve running performance focus on the physiological and biomechanical support of the lower extremities.
A study presented at the 2007 American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans suggested there were no statistically significant differences in maximal oxygen consumption, heart rate or minute ventilation between treadmill runners who wore compression socks and those who did not. According to the study, conducted at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, subjects did, however, show a faster lactate recovery rate after exercise when wearing the compression socks, suggesting that compression socks might speed recovery after a strenuous workout or a race.
So wear them in a race if it suits you, but definitely wear them after the race.
*source - Running Times, May 2008.
As posted on the natural physician's website, Dr. Weil, dark chocolate is still being praised for the good for you treat that just feels sinful! He states "It can improve mood and pleasure by boosting serotonin and endorphin levels in the brain." Now just combine that with a Swedish massage, which has the same effects (only minus the calories ;) and your mood will be bomb proof! Click here to go to Dr. Weil's website to get the full article.
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