Self Care: How to prolong the positive effects of massage

Don't we all wish that the fuzzy, good feelings that we receive after a good massage could linger just a little bit longer? Well, with a little bit of homework and good self care, you can! Remember to refer to these important guidelines in the days/weeks following your massage:

Massage Frequency: Check-in with how you feel before the massage and then afterwards, pay attention to your body’s signals and get massage when your body reminds you that it needs it.

Be consistent with getting massage: Don’t go long periods without receiving massage if you can help it, your body and mind deserve the attention at regular intervals.

Drink Water!: Common guidelines state that we need 64oz. a day to help our body eliminate toxins and cleanse the circulatory system.

Stretch, Stretch, Stretch!: Another helpful habit is stretching between massages to maintain joint mobility, prevent muscles from tightening up again, and keeping the life energy flowing.

Exercise: Working out can also help maintain the benefits of massage, and this habit should be continually cultivated.

Body Awareness: After a massage, respect how your body feels. If your body seems to ask for rest, give in to that demand. After a massage, take a hot bath when you get home, you are reminding your body of the therapy you just received and you will further improve your sleep patterns.

Diet: Finally, since you've just rid the body of toxins, support the body's renewed state by adhering to a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, which will continue the detoxification process. Lay off the espresso and all adrenaline-challenges for a time -- which would short-circuit relaxation anyway -- and enjoy the calm.

If having good health is a necessity, then a massage is not a luxury, it's a necessity!

Take time for yourself, take time for your health.

Angela Lind.LMT

www.therapeutic-hands.com

Breathing relaxation exercise

Breathing will cost you nothing. It does not require time. You can breathe while watching television, lying in bed, travelling to work, absolutely anywhere and anytime.The only place I do not recommend deep breathing is in a steam filled environment, not in the bath or shower as water often has chlorine and other chemicals in it.

Regular deep breathing minimizes stress.Deep breathing also relaxes muscles.The immune system needs oxygen to function effectively.Correct breathing helps to prevent premature aging and degenerative diseases.The best beauty treatment available is breathing.Deep breathing reduces pain. Anyone who has experienced childbirth can vouch for that.Deep breathing greatly influences emotions and general well-being. With deep breathing, we can calm ourselves when in a state of anxiety or fear.

I am highly recommending that you try deep, long, slow breathing as a daily exercise to improve health and well-being, release stress, and re-energize your mind and body. Hope you like this video and experience the benefits.

Angela Lind. LMT.
www.therapeutic-hands.com

Relax and lose weight

Thousands of years ago, stress was our friend and it serves us well. When we were confronted with danger, (like a predator that wanted to eat us), stress chemicals will quickly flood the body, enhancing our ability to either fight or flee.As soon as the danger dissipated, the stress-chemical levels would quickly-drop, and so would the feelings of stress.

Today, however, we're under constant stress. We're bombarded by inputs of the media,cell phones, pagers, computers, e-mail, voicemail, faxes, etc. We're inundated with bad news, bad relationships, stressful jobs and difficult living environments. Even worse, just thinking about negative things (wether they're real or not), can trigger the stress response. So understanding stress and how you can reduce it is critical to living a healthy and happy life.

Stress is fatiguing. Fatigue is demoralizing. And demoralization may lead us to seek quick highs from sugar, caffeine, alcohol and other drugs. So, what happen to your body when you are stressed?

The body responds to stress by releasing hormones, including one called cortisol. Cortisol levels are suposed to go up and down quickly. But when you're under chronic stress, cortisol continues to pump out. And it triggers a cascade of events. For example, cortisol causes fat to be stored around your middle. That belly fat causes most of the "silent inflammation" that leads to diabetes, heart disease, and virtually all other chronic conditions that humans suffer from. Cortisol is the principal hormone of stress, so when you are under stress, the brain starts responding chemically by slowing down your metabolism and everything gets slower, the body stores more fat, the blood sugar levels increases and you start suffering of acid reflux and constipation. So yes, stress makes you fat! being stressed won't help you to lose weight properly even if you are on a diet or doing exercise. So, in conclusion: being stressed makes you fat, being relaxed help you to lose weight!

Reducing stress requires ACTIVE relaxation. Most of us think relaxation is a passive "nonactivity" that requires a couch, a beer, and a Tv. But stress reduction requires profound, deep relaxation, which is not something that happens automatically.You have to ACTIVELY relax.And yes, the best way to relax is by getting a Massage! Doing deep breathing, meditation and yoga can help you to relax too.

By decreasing mental stress and noticing the profound benefits to your nervous system, sleep habits, and digestion, you will learn about the subtle but powerful connection between psychological, spiritual and physical toxins. When your nervous system is balanced,when your digestion is working properly, when you are relaxed and rested and when you are healthier inside and out, you may find you have much more energy and happiness for your everyday life.

Start rewarding and taking care of your body now! Getting a massage is not longer a luxury, it's a necessity, it's one of the keys for a healthier life.

Visit my website for my contact information,

http://www.therapeutic-hands.com/

Angela Lind. LMT

Source: "The Ultrasimple Diet" by Mark Hyman.

The Breath Therapy

A correct breathing improves body-awareness as well as improvement in postural control and low-back pain.But when the breath is incorrect, It can be a perpetuating factor for a number of pain syndromes, as well part and parcel of many stress-related disorders. It`s incorrect breathing reaising the chest and pulling in of the abdomen. So it`s very important that this type of breathing should be corrected. The following exercise can help retrain breathing patterns:

• Take a slow breath, allowing the musculature of the stomach and abdomen to expand somewaht with the breath. Breath in this way for a few moments, allowing the breath to move down into the lower portions of the thorax. As constrictions of abdominal and/or thoracic musculature are felt, intentionally relax the area. If the chest or shoulders rise up, return to the focus of dropping the breath into the lower areas of the body.


• Now inhale deeply. Allow the musculature of the thorax to relax. As the musculature relaxes the chest will expand slightly in an anterior direction, in a lateral direction and in a posterior direction. This will happen naturally in the relaxed body. Sense that a container is being filled: first the lower portion fills, then the upper portion.


• Now exhale, emptying the upper portion first and then the lower portion. Allow the body to deflate as a balloon deflates. It will do so evenly-anteriorly, posteriorly and laterally.


• Relax the breath and continue to breath fully and completely, paying attention to the pitfalls: the shoulders may want to rise up, the abdominal muscles may tighten. Keep them relaxed.

Try to practice in front of a mirror.
Remember: a correct breathing is part of your relaxation and healing process.

Take care!

Angela Lind. LMT

www.therapeutic-hands.com

Ambiance vs. Health

I have been working at the Red Door Spas, a great and nice place to be and get relaxed. Nice relaxation room, nice hallways, nice customer service, nice massage rooms, nice music, a large etcetera that converges in two words: great ambiance. I have seen how lots of people spends lot of money wanting to get relaxed, and they decide going to this kind of spas. They get relaxed for an hour or so with the massage, and then, have to step out the room,step out the spa, take the car and drive. Their relaxation state is almost completely gone, because have to be very alert to drive back again. The reflexes after the massage are not good because the body it`s been laying down on the table with the increasing of blood circulation. That`s why is highly recommended to drink plenty of water for not fainting or feeling dizzy. Are kind of the same symptoms when someone is under alcohol`s influence or when the person is very sleepy. Very dangerous for a person when is driving, but in this case, the person just drink water, and break the relaxation state voluntarily, and easily get alert and ready to drive back. So, why the people spend so much money for ambiance and to get relaxed just a short time?What I think, it`s much better receiving a massage at home. After the massage, I don`t have to worry about driving. After the massage, I jump to my shower, then jump to my bed, go to sleep, or just watch tv. But the relaxation state remains longer. I think that the best place to get relaxed is in my own house, my own shower, my own bed. This is how the money spent for massage has more value.It`s wonderful going to nice resorts with great ambiances and luxurious atmospheres, but that not happens all the time. You don`t live at these resorts the 365 days of the year. Health, is an every day matter.

Receiving a massage in a regular basis is part of your good health.Stress unfortunately is part of our lives, gravity that pull bones and muscles in a constant force that causes misalignments and therefore stiffness, pain and discomfort. Massage reduce stress, stiffness and pain.

If having good health is a necessity, then getting a massage is not a luxury, it`s a necessity.If you want to participate more in your own care rather than paying exorbitant amounts for ambiance, call me.I really look forward to giving you the opportunity to help with your healing and health improvement for now, tomorrow and the future.

Best wishes,

Angela Lind. LMT
www.therapeutic-hands.com