Taking a salt bath

My mind is blank and my emotions jittery this morning.  I have chosen to sit with them and let them be as I cruise through Facebook notifications and Yahoo news looking for peaceful entries and noteworthy news. 

I have been running “ like crazy” the last couple of days, like a week, and actually have a break today. Other than getting another teens’ driving permit… which makes me pause just to think about it… I have the day free. 

I see myself on a path and yet see another parallel path beside it.  I need to figure out where I need to be.  I am not good at living in two worlds. 

I chalk my antsy-ness up to my empathy and feeling other people’s nerves affecting me.  I often send people energy, or prayer, or non-local energy, sometimes for an extended period to help sustain them through a difficult phase in their life.

Transitions, change, being courageous all take an elevated amount of energy.  Just like intense physical training.  I am satisfied to be able to take a rest day once in a while, even though I am accomplishment driven.  I need grounding once in a while.

There’s lots on my to-do list, but I’m having trouble moving and getting my mind centered today.  So I am letting it be.  I may take a walk in a while, or take a salt bath.

Salt baths are great for clearing your energy, and especially great when you have to work in a toxic environment or around people who drain your energy, especially sick people. 

I use a whole 1 lb. 10 oz. canister of Sea Salt (Hain’s/non iodized) and a small 1 lb. box of baking soda.  Sometimes I’ll add some drops of essential oils like lavender, sweet orange, neroli, frankincense, or whatever I have on hand.  I’ll sit there until I’m bored and my body is warmed through with the heat, about 20 minutes or so before I get out.

Having always had allergies, though they are mostly gone now from what I do to keep my body healthy, I am still reserved when it comes to smells. I have chosen what smells good to me as opposed to what the aromatherapy is supposed to be good for. I just ask myself how much of the different smells smell good on a given day, and how many drops sound good, and use them.

After a lot of energy work sessions, I find the salt bath to be beneficial for getting me back on my feet, and keeping other peoples stuff from bothering me. 

If you are going through a trying time, even standing in a hot shower can soothe your mind and body, refreshing and relaxing you for whatever is next.  Try it. It might help. Let the bad stuff roll over and off your back, and away from you like warm water.  : – )

To your Health!  – Mandy

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“Surviving Weightlessness”

 

This is how I feel right now. 

This concept I picked from up the book “The Surrendered Wife” by Laura Doyle. 

It very aptly describes the emotional vertigo and, therefore, anxiety that many of us face in transitional phases of our lives when we give up control and leap into the unknown. 

Choosing to move from a situation that wasn’t working and now moving on because, instead of staying and trying to unsuccessfully “make it work” (which I have an extensive history of), I am moving on without knowing exactly where I am going. 

This time, I am listening to my intuition… as scary and crazy as it seems, I opted for change having no vision of what to do, but knowing I’m on my right path.  It is freeing and feels “ weightless”.  I don’t know what my bearings are.  I just know “that” wasn’t “it”.

Growing up, I came from a home where the dichotomy between extreme scientific evaluation and intuitive hunches were valued and followed.  This leaves me with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde approach to figuring things out when faced with new personal territory, which I think many people can relate to. 

(It’s the whole “Should I? /Shouldn’t I?” that shows up in life ever so often.)

I find this true in people’s bodies. 

The healthy person responds to stress (change) with adaptability, being able to do things in a different way than has been normal.  The body always follows the emotions, but mentally, the mind choses to be rigid (or “ being right”) in its approach. 

We massage therapists call this “not being in one’s body”.  I feel this is one of the most important values of massage/touch therapy.  The body is holding vital information, but it is being devalued by the mind as “unsafe”. 

So war wages between the mind and body over the way to handle things.  Both the mind and body suffer because there is not communication and unison in their actions and functions. 

Bringing peace, harmony and balance to the whole is how one gets back to some sense of wholeness.  Touch therapy helps you align back up with what makes you, you and to face changes and adapt.   

I will be trying to get in a massage or some kind of personal therapy this week.  How about you?

 : – )

(By the way, check out the book.  Here’s her link:  http://lauradoyle.org/   It has some excellent tips for negotiating all kinds of relationships, whatever they may be.)

The Consequences of Stress

Experts estimate that 80 percent to 90 percent of disease is stress-related. Massage and bodywork is there to combat that frightening number by helping us remember what it means to relax. The physical changes massage brings to your body can have a positive effect in many areas of your life. Besides increasing relaxation and decreasing anxiety, massage lowers your blood pressure, increases circulation, improves recovery from injury, helps you to sleep better and can increase your concentration. It reduces fatigue and gives you more energy to handle stressful situations.

Massage is a perfect elixir for good health, but it can also provide an integration of body and mind. By producing a meditative state or heightened awareness of living in the present moment, massage can provide emotional and spiritual balance, bringing with it true relaxation and peace.

 

The Physical Benefits of Massage

~~Increases circulation, allowing the body to pump more oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs.~~Stimulates the flow of lymph, the body’s natural defense system, against toxic invaders. For example, in breast cancer patients, massage has been shown to increase the cells that fight cancer.

~~Increased circulation of blood and lymph systems improves the condition of the body’s largest organ – the skin.

~~Relaxes and softens injured and overused muscles

~~Reduces spasms and cramping

~~Increases joint flexibility

~~Reduces recovery time, helps prepare for strenuous workouts and eliminates subsequent pains of the athlete at any level.

~~Releases endorphins — the body’s natural painkiller — and is being used in chronic illness, injury and recovery from surgery to control and relieve pain

~~Reduces post-surgery adhesions and edema and can be used to reduce and realign scar tissue after healing has occurred.

~~Improves range-of-motion and decreases discomfort for patients with low back pain.

~~Relieves pain for migraine sufferers and decreases the need for medication

~~Assists with shorter labor for expectant mothers, as well as less need for medication, less depression and anxiety, and shorter hospital stays.

Source: http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php?article_id=468

 

Massage helps with these conditions: 

~~Headaches/ Migraines

~~Back Pain

~~Neck & shoulder issues

~~Carpal Tunnel issues

~~Edema- fluid retention and swelling

~~Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

~~Sciatica

~~Plantar fasciitis

~~Scoliosis

~~Arthritis

~~Premenstrual Syndrome

~~Asthma

~~Insomnia, Anxiety, and Depression

~~High Blood Pressure

~~Pregnancy Discomforts and Recovery

~~Athletic Event Warm Up, Cool Down and Recovery

~~Muscle Injury Rehabilitation

~~Scarring

~~Detoxification…

~~And there are many more reasons to get a massage!

 

Call and schedule a massage today and see how good you can feel!