 Our Body is talking to us ALL the time; it’s our lifelong best friend. It constantly sends us messages about how it’s feeling and through listening to and feeling what it’s telling us, we can make adjustments in what we’re doing to keep it “happy”. With the intention of living a long and happy life with little or no pain, doing all of those things we love to do (like dance well into our 90’s and beyond) it’s worthwhile to take the time to listen to what our body is saying. What it is saying and how it is saying it speaks volumes about some of the adjustments and fine tuning it wants us to make.  Massage Therapy clients are often surprised to discover how the parts of their body are all connected. They often don’t consider that pain in one area of the body may be related to problems in another area. The realization of that connection can often make sense once awareness is created.  Our Spine is one of the key structures in our body, without it we’d be like mushy beanbags on the floor, unable to stand erect and unable to move. This amazing part of us gives protection, support and a base for our muscles and ligaments to attach to so that we have mobility. Honouring the spine’s natural curvatures and giving it the space it needs to move is essential. It’s important to remember that the spine is just a bony structure and that muscles move bones (not the other way around). Keeping our spine healthy means keeping our muscles strong, stretched and flexible. When we tune into all the ways in which our spine and other bones are able to be moved by those amazing muscles we remove a lot of limitations. Massage Therapy, Yoga, stretching and strengthening exercises all give our muscles the support they need for us to move freely with flexibility and without pain. Besides good nutrition muscles need oxygen (our breath work) and water (the Brain is 90% water, Muscles are 75%, Bones are 22% and water protects and moisturizes our joints....it’s a key ingredient to keeping us moving!) In our fast paced way of living we often become unaware of what our body is saying or we suppress (pain killers) or ignore it (gotta get that last thing done) until we have time to listen. Sometimes we become so used to ignoring our body that we don’t notice that we’re moving differently or limiting our movements to avoid the pain they cause...we adjust and limit, adjust and limit and soon don’t realize there are many more ways we could move around if only we were aware.  Taking a few minutes throughout your day, in your normal activities to check in with how your body is feeling will go a long way to make this a natural automatic response and keep you active for many years to come! If you’re not sure book in for a Massage Therapy session and let the therapist help in creating more body awareness.
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With heart health month quickly coming to an end here is a special to reinforce all those good things you've been doing this past month for you! Ease away stress and totally relax...so good for YOU!   One of the most effective sessions that I offer is Spinal Touch and now I am going to teach it to you! Keeping up with home sessions for your family members helps to maintain good posture and less strain on muscles and joints, which means less pain and fewer injuries. During this 3 hour workshop you will learn, hands on: * How to assess someone on a plumbline. The line is pulled straight by gravity making it easier to see just where muscles are pulling the spine out. * Taking what you found on assessment you'll learn easy steps to provide a session to a family member to encourage muscles to relax through very gentle massage technidques and some accupressure. * Re assess after the session to see what changes have been made Hand out notes will make it easier to follow, step by step, how to give a Spinal Touch session, after the workshop. I hope that you'll join me!  Something simple that you can create at home for yourself. An Essential Oil blend to soothe muscles!  The two previous blogs helped with protecting and nurturing those hard working, snow shovelling muscles but you do need to think about some Massage care! Here is a special for you for this week!   So you have practiced great body mechanics, or maybe not (see part one here) and the job is complete (for now). Looking after those hard working muscles needs your full attention, now, to avoid becoming stiff and sore or experiencing muscle spasms later. Nurturing the muscles needs to carry on for a few days and not just the day that you worked them hard. Here are the ideal ways to nurture yours;  1) STRETCH! You may be exhausted but take 15 minutes to STRETCH those muscles after the shoveling workout. Heavy labour and intense exercise causes muscles to bunch and knot which puts an added strain on ligaments, tendons and joints. Gentle stretching encourages muscles to relax and open. Pay particular attention to stretches for your back, sides, neck, shoulders and arms.  2) SOAK - toss a good dose of epsom salts (1 to 2 cups) into a hot bath and soak for at least 15 minutes. Epsom salts give muscles an extra dose of magnesium which is absorbed quickly through the skin. The magnesium combined with warm moist heat from the water is a perfect combination to relax any tightness in the muscles and put heat into the joints.  3) MASSAGE - as soon as you can book in for a session! So many clients will come in a week or two later because they have "twinged"a muscle and they don't know what they did. The heavy work out from moving snow may not feel sore at the time, however, if muscles are not given a full recovery it leaves them susceptible to a knot or spasm from what may seem like a move that was slight. Massage treats all parts of the muscle and encourages it to recover fully and to rest.
 The exertion, cold weather, and slippery surfaces snow shovelers face are a hazardous combination for your muscles. It's an activity we don't often do and it is very labour intensive. Back, neck and shoulders are easily overstrained and that can be painful. Prevention and after care are essential in avoiding injury to your muscles, joints, discs, ligaments and tendons. So take a few minutes...
Not sure about posture and body mechanics? Ask me at your next session! I'm happy to show you some great techniques for protecting your back. Part Two: Nurturing After Care for Muscles
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Teresa Graham,
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