Tag Archives: stress

“Just go Home!”

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I haven’t worked in a week, and it wasn’t as if I had planned it.  

At some point in the last week, it was as if life told me “Just go home! You aren’t needed right now. Go home.” So I did…

We decided that I was to stay home with our dogs instead of sending them to a kennel or having someone come watch them for the 24 hours when the family was to travel to an out of town graduation.  It just happened to coincide with Mother’s Day…

As soon as I got everyone off on their trip early in the morning, I went to the grocery store to get food that sounded good… vegetables that no one else likes in my clan…and ended up also with some grocery deli meatloaf and mashed potatoes and southern green beans. As it was early in the morning, it was just prepared and fresh.  I wandered home and sat out on the back porch in the still and perfect temperature, no breeze, sunny day and ate my food in peace.

At first I sat down and started eating slowly and wearily.  About 30 minutes in I noticed that the birds were singing.  How had I not noticed them before? Validation of how exhausted I was, I think… You never realize until there is a stark difference, a contrast to how things are going, that you see how things truly are.  It’s easy to keep going by saying “ I’m O.K. I can handle one more thing. I can push through this.” Never realizing that you have accumulated enough stuff to be carrying a mountain…

The neighbors next door were having their generations visiting to celebrate Mother’s Day.  It just floated past me. And in my heavy meal, perfect sunny day stupor, I fell asleep.  I hadn’t realized how tired I was working, busy getting everyone else ready to go on their trip in typical mother fashion.  During my nap I got enough vitamin D to burn my pale skin, from never getting to go outdoors because I was always working. 

A week since, my burn has faded now. 

I have taken advantage of nobody needing me all week once I got them all off to work and school. I have stuck to standing in the shade while I buried my hands deep in yard work, re-grounding and connecting with myself and breathing the fresh air. 

What a wonderful Mother’s day gift! 

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YUM!!!

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Yum!  That was delicious!  : – D

I have been enjoying a healthy version on pistachio pudding!

Here’s how I figured this out:

A couple months back my husband started using Visalus protein powder supplement that is delivered to your door.  The plan was much like the old Slim-Fast routine:  a shake in the morning, a shake at lunch and reasonable supper of your own choice.  At Christmas, we received a one serve blender set, so, we were off and running!

He also found a smoothie recipe around that time that was supposed to help with sleeping that used soymilk, a banana, frozen tart cherries and peach slices and a touch of vanilla.  ( We have found that if you use enough frozen stuff it will be thick and can supplement that ice cream craving that can be hard to crack.)

I have gotten used to grabbing lots of bananas going through the grocery store to make sure he had his smoothie supplies every morning.

Well, last week, I happened upon a batch of perfectly ripe avocados on sale, and thought voila’!  From my past knowledge of raw foods, I realized I could substitute the avocado for the banana for creaminess!

…Now I haven’t got him to try it yet… probably the green color, but then again, I am usually the more adventurous one in trying foodstuffs, but I’ve sure been enjoying it.  : – ) I am more of an experimental cook… Much to my family’s chagrin.  LOL

I experimented first with using the avocado instead of the banana in our recipe.  It was definitely a smoother texture.  Then I realized I was some cocoa powder and a little more vanilla away from chocolate pudding!!!  (Raw, The Uncook Book, by Juliano Brotman)

So I tried it.  Yep, pretty good!  It took at least a whole mounded teaspoon to cover up the avocado taste, but with PMS and stress – chocolate was good!  … I’m not normally a chocolate person, but I think I am over my need for my chocolate, caffeine rush, for now. 

– Then I realized I had some left over coconut flakes in the freezer from holiday baking, and some raw almonds we hadn’t gotten around to eating, ought to elevate the nutrition quotient!  Subtract the cocoa and add the above ingredients and Blender Pistachio Pudding!!!  YUM!!

I suggest you play with the different amounts of ingredients.  I’ve been using almond/coconut milk instead of soy.  Working on balancing the hormones…

Try it. I’ll bet you’ll like it… and get your “veggies” too! 

“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!