I follow a lot of blogs and Facebook pages and one of my favorite pages is MindBodyGreen.  This blog post inspired me to write a similar one.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5262/5-Ways-Yoga-Helped-Me-Beat-Anorexia.html


I’ve been pretty sick most of my life.  I had a difficult childhood that left me with PTSD and the anxiety from it overwhelmed my body so much that I developed several autoimmune disorders and severe chronic pain.  I had no idea how to deal with life until a good friend of mine, who had taken a few massage courses, introduced me to Yoga, Meditation, and Massage.  For the first time, I felt like I had control in my life.  When my friend and I drifted apart in life, I decided to go back to school and learn about Massage and Holistic Health.  Massage healed me in so many ways.  Both giving and receiving massage has changed my life in a postive way.  Here are 5 ways giving and receiving massage has made me be a better person:


1) Giving massage gave me an opportunity to focus and be centered and have a calm place to be for an hour.

Part of having severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress is that my mind is in a million places at once.  I simply can’t concentrate and focus.  For me, I couldn’t focus because I was literally scared of everything and everyone, including myself.  Having an hour (or a few!) every day to just be with the person on my table and focused on them and not my issues, in a safe and relaxing, therapeutic environment was like having mini-vacations every day.  


2) Being a Massage Therapist made me feel obligated to be the best person I can be and a leader by example for my clients.

One of two of my concentrations at massage school was in Mind-Body Body Psychology and much of what I know about the body in this regard is from applying the principles of Body Psychology to my own recovery process from PTSD.  Healing myself gave me tools to help heal others.  


3) Being a Massage Therapist reminds me constantly of the things I need to do to take care of myself whenever I recommend those same things to my clients.

I have learned a lot by healing myself and its difficult to remember them all, all of the time.  When I recommend tips and tricks to my clients, its a great reminder for myself as well!


4) I now consider myself an expert in dealing with extreme stress and the conditions that stress causes.

I always laugh to myself when someone takes a bad picture of me (at least what I think is bad) and my friends say that I look like my normal Zen self.  Looking back at myself from before I began my massage journey feels like looking back at someone that I totally don’t recognize.  I no longer have PTSD or even daily pain or anxiety anymore and my autoimmune problems no longer control me.   I consider massage to be one of the major reasons why.  I use the same principles that I learned each day with my clients and many report similar experiences, which I think is just amazing!


5) I was able to let go of the past.

Anyone who has received a considerable amount of bodywork knows that massage helps you process past emotions and events.  There is a saying- “The issues are in the tissues”.  Massage Therapy has pushed me to find myself.  No matter what happens, I will always have myself and will never loose that again.  Some terrible things happened to me, but massage opened several doors for me to help me move on and reach for a better life; a life full of helping others and being the best person I can be.

There are four ways to loose weight:

1) Exercise yourself into the ground

2) Reduce your calories (and feel like you are starving)

3) Change the composition of what you are eating (ie: carbs vs proteins vs fats)

4) Maximize and optimize your metabolism


Most people who have tried to loose weight have tried the first two and usually find it very difficult.  I'll admit.... it does make good drama for TV though.  The other two are a bit easier, and make exercise and calorie reduction much easier and effective.  

First of all, carbohydrates are what turn into fat, not fat.  Your body is made of water, fat, and protein and your body uses sugars and carbs for fuel like a car uses gasoline.  Too much fuel (ie: carbs and sugar) will be converted into fat for storage to be used for fuel at a later time.  So, if you want to loose weight you have to decrease the amount of carbohydrates you are eating because you are over-fueling your body each day and your gas tank is too full.  

The best way to cut down on your carbs intake is to replace some of the carbs with protein and non-starchy vegetables (think green).  The idea is to cut down your carb intake so you have the optimal amount of fuel.  You can also force your body to break down protein for fuel too.  Since protein has the same amount of calories per gram as carbohydrates but uses more calories to digest it into smaller pieces to build and repair your body with, you feel full on the same amount of food but are actually getting less calories overall.  This can be good temporarily, but not in the long term.  You have to feed your body carbohydrates for fuel.  Not giving yourself the right fuel is like giving your car diesel when you are supposed to use regular unleaded. On the other hand, you could probably eat a whole garden of vegetables but you would still be hungry.  Increasing your protein intake and your vegetable intake will allow you to balance your fuel intake and feel satiated.  You will have the right amount of fuel and as a bonus, will also give yourself extra building blocks to make/build a better you!

Once you are getting the proper fuel and building materials to make a healthy you, it is important to make sure you are actually absorbing and using what you are eating.  Have you ever noticed when you take a multivitamin that your pee turns neon yellow?  Well.... that is because you are not absorbing all of your B vitamins and you are peeing them all out!  There are also micro-nutrients and micro-chemical substances that are not vitamins and minerals that your body needs to run.  Some of them your body can make, others you get from food and herbs (once upon a time on the savanna we ate herbs in our food everyday as extra flavor in cooked foods and as tea and as extra bulk in salad).  When your body gets all the things it needs to run right, then your body can heal itself.  Your body will gain weight as a reaction to not giving your body what it needs.  

Getting these micro-nutrients and micro-chemicals will boost your metabolism and help it run better.  Having a more efficient metabolism will burn more of your fat stores and even out your energy throughout the day.  You will also sleep better, gain muscle easier, and feel much better overall.  In fact, many digestive, skin, hair, and nail conditions are actually caused by your body not metabolizing as well as it can.

So where can you get these micro-nutrients and micro-chemicals?  Whole and unprocessed foods that are colorful, sunlight, clean water, clean air, and herbs. And we aren't talking crazy superfoods from China or herbs like ephedra.  Substances like reservatrol in your red wine or herbs like dandelions leaves and green tea will do wonders. Especially taking a good formula that contains concentrated amounts (so you don't have to be drunk everyday in the name of weight loss!) will get you jump started and help you get more for your money's worth on your multivitamins and foods.  


Interested in more?  Schedule a wellness assessment with me today! 

This past week has been a hard week for many Americans.  As some of you know, my primary interest as a Massage Therapist is to work with Post-Traumatic Stress and PTSD.  This is what led me to go to massage school and specialize in massage in Integrative Health settings and to study Body Psychology.   After the events in Boston last Monday, my first thought was to reach out to help. So, I have teamed up with Massage Without Boarders, a non-profit founded in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, to set up a program to provide massage therapy for those affected.  A lot of Massage Therapists across the country with training to work with PTSD are now stepping up to help out.  Its been amazing to see!  

It makes me feel so good to see people interested in how to help those who have experienced traumatic events.  Just two years ago I wrote a Continuing Education Course for Massage Therapists on how to work with PTSD with a website outlining much of the material.  Since Monday, my website page has gone viral!  If you want to read it too.... check it out here.... http://www.squidoo.com/massage-for-trauma-survivors-ptsd

I have a lot of stress in my life, like most people I run into.  I am also a creature of habit and I tend to sit and stand in the same position and walk in all the same places.  I even had lines in my carpet in my old apartment because I took the same exact path from the front door to the kitchen by going around the coffee table and then between the sofa and lazy boy.  When I sit in my desk chair, I slouch.  When I go for a long walk I always twist my torso a bit around the stitch in my side.  I know that I always get knots in the same place and so do my clients.  So, why does the knots always come back?


The definition of a Knot is (paraphrased from memory from my school notes):


An area of muscle fibers and nerves and connective tissue bound up together preventing oxygen and nutrients from reaching the muscle.  



As a massage therapist, I know I can work out a knot and sometimes it will go away and sometimes it comes back.  Usually, however, they come back when what is causing them in the first place hasn’t been addressed.  Muscles are a little like ropes.  If you pull on a rope too much, it will start to fray.  If you want to reinforce a rope, you have to knot it.  Hence, if you have a muscle that is being pulled too long, it will knot up.   All muscles in the body have an opposing muscle (or sometimes a few) that pull in the opposite direction.  A good example would be the biceps and triceps in your upper arms.  Chances are, if you have a knot in your back, there is a muscle in the front of your body that is too contracted and is pulling the ones in the back too long.  


Most people get knots in the back of their bodies.  If you come see me for a massage, I most likely will work on the front of your body first before working on your back.  Unfortunately, if you have poor posture, even if I get all your opposing muscles in a relaxed, normal position, once you return to your habits of slouching or whatever you do, you will get over-elongated muscles and knots.  Old knots that are no longer fighting to prevent an injury in your muscles (ie: getting pulled too long and start “fraying”) will release and won’t come back.  


Knots that are still fighting will keep coming back.  


So, that knot behind your shoulder that keeps coming back?  Its fighting.  And that is a good thing if you don’t want your shoulder muscles to get hurt.  You want it to go away?  Visit your local, friendly massage therapist!  He/she will massage it out, but I can’t guarantee it won’t go away without a little work on your part too.