Depression is an all-too-common struggle for people all over the globe. According to the World Health Organization, it’s estimated that 350 million people suffer from depression. While there are many treatment options, one you may not have thought of is massage therapy. Massage can decrease muscle tension and ease some of the daily physical stress you may put on your body, but it can also go beyond just making you feel good.
At some point in your life you’ve probably had muscle cramps; when a muscle that normally only does what you tell it to do, suddenly gets a mind of its own and decides to contract, even when you tell it to calm down. They can hit during a workout or just when you move a certain way, or they may even wake you up in the middle of the night.
Muscle cramps are very common, and while usually harmless, they can be extremely painful, and can signal that something else is wrong within your body. While cramping an occur in any muscle, the lower legs and feet tend to be the most common.
So if you’re suffering with muscle cramps, check out these 4 common causes and how to remedy the situation.
Let’s face it, getting a massage takes a lot of vulnerability. You are letting your therapist see parts of your body that you don’t allow most people to see. Your stretch marks, scars, cellulite, and birthmarks are exposed and you’re trusting us to respect your boundaries and treat you with the utmost honor and respect.
While some people have an unlimited supply of self-confidence that allows them to feel comfortable in most any situation, some put themselves under a microscope critiquing every inch of their body. We often forget that each mark is a memory or a lesson. Your stretch marks may mark an incredible journey of the time you welcomed a child into the world, the time you chose a healthier lifestyle and released extra pounds you had, or the time that you decided to enjoy life and be happy with who you were instead of obsessively counting calories or limiting yourself. Your scars may be from an accident that taught you how precious life was, or the time you refused to listen to your mom when you were 5 and learned a valuable life lesson. Your cellulite shows that your skin isn’t absolutely perfect, just like all those people using photo shop and filters to fool the world. Your birthmarks show you live, that you are uniquely made and there is no other like you. But there’s another common concern a lot of clients have, particularly women.
We’ve all been breathing since the moment of our birth, but did you know that we’re often doing it wrong? While the way you typically breath will keep you alive, it’s often not as efficient at keeping you at peak performance. That’s because we all leave it up to our unconscious brain to keep up this basic function without thought, which is fine for the most part. However, if you take the time to think through your breathing and practice new ways to breathe, you can often alter how your brain and body work.
Depending on what you’re doing, or attempting to do, you may need to alter your breathing in order to achieve it. Try one of these techniques the next time you need to be more alert or you need to calm down.
When it comes to a new baby, whether you have previous children or not, many people have the same fears. Nurturing another human being whose life depends on you is a big deal, and regardless of how much preparation you attempt, you will always feel a little bit of fear in your capabilities. We have so much information at our fingertips to help us prepare for any situation in life, but the problem with the information we are given is that it is often conflicting with other information. One practice that has been gaining popularity over the past several years is skin-to-skin contact between newborns and their parents and it’s gaining popularity for good reason. Skin-to-skin contact is when a baby or newborn is held naked against their mom or dad’s skin mimicking the experience and security that they had in their mom’s womb. This is something that is vital directly after birth when possible and the need and benefits continue far beyond the hospital.
Every year during the holiday season, we get a serious urge to start working on our New Year’s resolutions. Everyone is deciding what it is they would like to change in the upcoming year in order to better themselves and that involves making new changes. For some this breeds anxiety and sometimes even sets them up for failure when thinking that their resolutions must match those of others. Be careful not to fall into that trap. Make a resolution that speaks to you! Only you know where you’re at in your life, the things you struggle with, and the things you could work on. What means a lot to you may not mean a lot to others. What will be a massive change for you, may be a minor change for others and vice versa.
Along with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that is upon us, this time of year brings the pressure to create resolutions for the new year that’s right around the corner. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” While many are content with their place in life, there are many people who feel they haven’t met their true potential or made it to the goals they have set. Life is inevitably changing around us daily and with that we must adapt to our environment. While you don’t necessarily have to have the usual or common resolutions, making a resolution that fits your goals and needs is the best way to grow for yourself and your loved ones.
When you’re relaxing on a massage table, it’s easy to see massage as a gift. Whether you’re there to reduce pain, to ease anxiety, to help you recover from the physical and mental stresses work or athletic training or parenting or simply being alive, massage is a moment of freedom in an occasionally crushing world. If you’re thinking of sharing the gift of massage with someone else for a special occasion or “just because,” you are almost certainly doing so from a place of love and generosity.
Obviously, I’m a big fan of giving massage as a gift! But just as with choosing to visit a massage therapist yourself, there are some considerations when offering this kind of gift.
Every year around the holidays we’re reminded that it’s a time for us to put others before ourselves. But many of us tend to take that to an extreme and often put even our most basic needs, like exercise and sleep, to the side for the season. While it is important to always think of others’ needs as well as our own, we can’t forget that we aren’t able to fulfill anyone else’s needs if we ourselves are empty inside. It’s important to give and do these good deeds from a place of happiness. Doing for others and giving to others really does make you happy. However, if I have neglected my needs so much that I am running on empty, the place where I begin to give to others shifts from a place of happiness, to a place that may breed resentment. This doesn’t mean that those that I am giving to have done anything wrong; but rather that I can equate myself giving them something that I’m not giving to myself, almost as if I’m not worthy or my needs don’t matter.
Your health and happiness should always be a priority, even during a busy season in your life, whether that’s the holidays or any other busy time in your year. Remember, it doesn’t take hours that you feel you don’t have to keep yourself happy and healthy. For me that happiness may come from sitting down with a good book or sitting on the beach and listening to the waves, just to get away from the craziness of life. Happiness may be listening to your favorite music while driving to visit relatives or taking yourself on a date to your favorite coffee shop or restaurant. Taking just 5-10 minutes scattered throughout your day can make a massive difference in your mood and mindset. Whether it be 5-10 minutes of meditation, silence, stillness, or fun, take that time for yourself to regroup so that you can continue throughout your day healthy and happy. Our bodies and minds speak to us if we listen. When you feel yourself needing time to refuel ask yourself what you need in that moment. You will be surprised at the answers your body will give you when you take the time to ask it a question. Small shifts make for major changes.
In a world that sells dissatisfaction, it’s almost heretical to feel happy about your body. And on the rare occasion when body satisfaction is socially acceptable, it’s usually in the context of “Dang, I look amazing in my wedding dress/tailored business suit/perm/bathing suit/whatever I just spent a lot of money on in order to make me feel this way for a couple of hours.” For all the sunshiny Facebook messages telling you “You’re beautiful!” there’s not much to make us feel legitimately joyful to be in our own skins.
It’s that time of year again. A time of celebration, family gatherings, holiday parties, gifting, traveling, and most of all, excitement. While many of us are thrilled and looking forward to the holiday season, that excitement is generally accompanied by STRESS. Stress to pick out the perfect dish, give the perfect gift, maintain a spotless house, show up to every party, and decorate our homes like Martha Stewart. So here’s a few tips to help you keep your holiday stress under control, so you can enjoy what the holidays are truly about.
It’s a common question that massage therapists hear all the time; “Can I talk during the massage?” Some clients are worried about talking too much or too little. They want to be friendly but not ruin the whole experience. But what do massage therapists say?
It’s up to you!
If you want to talk, go for it. If you want to be completely silent, go for it. If you want to talk a little, but not the entire time, that’s fine too. What a lot of clients tend to forget, is it’s your time. Whether you’re getting a 15 minute chair massage or a two hour full body massage, how much conversation there is, is completely up to you.
Many clients find it comforting to talk for the first few minutes of a massage, especially their first few sessions as we’re getting to know each other and build the trust that is really important to a great therapeutic relationship. Then as they get more comfortable, the conversations get shorter and shorter, and sometimes go away completely. For some clients, a large part of the relief they get from their massages is the ability to vent and get everything off their chest to someone they can trust, so they spend the entire massage chatting.
What you need to understand, is that as your massage therapist, my job is to facilitate your healing, in whatever way you need me to, within my skillset of course. For some that means silence, for others it means talking, and others are anywhere in between.
Go for it, but please be aware, that sometimes you may not get the full benefits of your massage if you’re talking the entire time. What I mean by this, is that calm breathing and a calm state of mind greatly emphasizes the benefits of the massage. So even if you prefer to talk, I may, at times, ask you to take some deep breaths to calm your body so it can better receive the work I’m doing.
Please understand that I may occasionally check in about my pressure, certain areas of concern, and things like that. I’ll do my best to keep quiet and not disturb your experience in any way, but I also want to ensure you get the most of your massage; and that means checking that everything I’m doing is what your body needs and you’re comfortable with it. Even though you may like to stay quiet, don’t hesitate to speak up and let me know if anything is uncomfortable. While your tissues and your body language may give clues as to a pain response, I’m still in the dark as to what exactly you’re feeling, so please let me know if I need to lighten my pressure, increase it, move to a different area, or anything else you feel is necessary. This is your massage and I want it to be perfect for you. The only way that can happen is if there is at least a little bit of communication throughout the session; more so if you prefer clinical or therapeutic techniques.
No matter how much or how little you prefer to talk during your massage, it is completely up to you. Please don’t ever feel obligated to talk unless I’m asking you a question, and don’t be afraid to speak up either.
For a healthy sleep cycle, it is crucial to have a nightly routine that signifies to your body that it’s time to shut down for the night. The hard part about my last statement is life is stressful and it is so difficult to turn your brain off at the end of a long day, especially if you haven’t checked everything off your to-do list, have unfinished projects, or are unclear of the next day’s plans. Here are some ways that you can release stress before bedtime to improve your quality of sleep in under half an hour.
You’ve been doing Olympic lifting for a while. Or stocking tall shelves. Or cheerleading, throwing your partners overhead. Everything was great! Until suddenly, it wasn’t. Ice and ibuprofen didn’t quite do the trick, so you visited the doctor. And lo and behold, you’ve got a rotator cuff injury and two questions:
How the heck did this happen?
and
What on earth do I do now?
