How is your Vagus Nerve Tone? After the past two years and the impact of a pandemic on our daily lives, I'm going to guess that its not that good. If the stress of Covid was placed on top of existing stress or physical/emotional trauma, your Vagus Nerve tone is probably struggling. The majority of us have had to modify and adapt our personal and work lives, as well as limit our social engagements. There have been many unknowns as we've tried to safely navigate our lives and keep others safe. The result has been chronic stress at varying levels. (The pandemic has made stress appear to be more prevalent however many people were already dealing with the burden of chronic stress and unresolved trauma prior to Covid.)
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Diabetes is a condition that most are familiar with, whether you are diabetic or pre-diabetic yourself or know someone with Diabetes.
While Massage, Reflexology, Reiki and other forms of holistic therapies are safe for diabetics, there are some things to consider both before and after your sessions. This past week I had the opportunity to participate in 2 workshops for enhancing Craniosacral Therapy outcomes for clients. While there was a lot of fascinating information shared one topic that stood out to me was the role of Craniosacral Therapy in gently releasing muscular restrictions in the body, versus Deep Tissue Massage where that release is forced, through pressure.
Gentle, slow unwinding of Fascia while also opening up any restrictions in the movement of cerebral spinal fluid, are the goals of a Craniosacral Therapy session. I often find that if a muscle is not letting go with traditional Massage Therapy, that a gentle Craniosacral hold to the area will do the trick. Sometimes muscles require a lighter touch to respond. The basis of a holistic approach to health, to life and to change, is acknowledging the mind, body and the spirit connection, and nurturing that connection. What affects the mind has an influence on the body and visa versa. Anything affecting either or both, mind and body, impacts upon our spirit. Let's take stress as an example. When we're feeling stressed about a situation we can feel it in our body. Some feel is as stomach upset, some as shoulder pain from tightened muscles, others experience headaches. Often, and at the same time, stress can cause a loss of hope, thus affecting the spirit.
My connection with Reiki, from when I received my first session, through learning, sharing sessions and also teaching, has been a journey filled with twists and turns and a lot of lessons. Not all of it easy, but I think those experiences have made me a better teacher and practitioner. Reiki is all about being open to allowing and receiving energy that is loving and healing. Deservability can raise it's ugly head in whether we feel we're worthy. That self-judgement is completely dissolved as we feel the vibrations of Reiki's beautiful energy. During 2019 I saw a number of clients in both Calgary and the Fraser Valley for a number of reasons. They brought some similiar issues to the treatment room for us to address.
The main problem being tackled (which displayed itself through symptoms) was a feeling of life being too much, too busy, too much to do, too much to take care of, too many places to get to... Too much was a common theme. Here are the top 5, plus how we worked together to resolve them: The colder weather is definitely upon us and the season has quickly changed from Summer to Fall. Did you know that Massage Therapy can help you to easily transition between the seasons? There are so many benefits to receiving an Autumn Massage, here are just a few... Massage Therapy Helps Relieve Anxiety, Depression and SADMassage is for more than Relaxation Summer is over and it is back to work and school, and after school activities, and raking leaves, or shoveling snow and ... Feeling overwhelmed and stressed? A Massage session can help you to ease through the overwhelm and get you back to feeling energized and de-stressed. Plus ease out the back ache that often accompanies raking and shoveling. Far more important than cleaning the house is cleaning up the hamster wheel of thoughts in your head that no longer serve you. Those disempowering thoughts, feelings and old worn out stories that come along with guilt, fear, anger, shame, regret, etc. that are taking up space and not paying rent to be there. TURN IT AROUND Take a moment to decide how these old thoughts may be serving you in some way. Do they make you feel protected? Do you feel yourself to be lacking because of them? Is the idea of letting go of them scary? Why? Are these thoughts true? You can begin to declutter the space these useless thoughts take up by looking for more positive thoughts to replace them with. Did you learn something from the old story? Is it a lesson that has served you well since? Does that old thought fit with who you are today? GET THEM OUT! Look for ways to get the thoughts out of your head. Put them down on paper with as much detail as possible (you may need some kleenex handy because this can often bring up emotions too. But, that is a good thing). Is everything down? All of it? Now burn that paper and watch those old thoughts disintegrate into ash. (you can type and delete but it is not nearly as powerful) Are there scraps of old thoughts left churning around in your head? Go and do something physical and get out of your head and into your body. Notice how your body feels while you're doing it. Notice your heart beat and the rhythm of your breath. Physical activity can be like a cleansing breeze for the mind, cleaning itself out while your focus is elsewhere. MOVE FORWARD Seek out positive, uplifting people, experiences and activities to create new memories to think about. Get together with good friends and enjoy great conversation, open up a new thought provoking book, create a new adventure for yourself and just try new things. Your mind will have a whole load of new and positive things to occupy itself with. |
Teresa Graham,
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