I'm not a mechanic.  The nuts and bolts of your physiology and anatomy is not what I'm concerned with during a massage therapy session.  What I'm in tune with is your energy.

Where is the energy stuck in your body?

When I suggest that you take a deep breath, where do you start breathing?  At your diaphragm?  Your gut?  Is the breath/energy stuck in your throat? 

Your body is only the messenger of the information that I receive about you.  No matter what your words are telling me, your emotional brain (limbic system) and your body's responses, tell me the truth.  Your body doesn't lie.

So when you come to me with a sore shoulder, tense hip, stiff neck, those symptoms are only the clues to what is going on with you energetically. 

Sore shoulder?  What are you hanging on to that you obviously should let go of?

Stiff neck?  Are being open minded about a difficult situation in your life or are you in conflict?

Hip issues?  Where are you out of balance in your life?  Are you refusing to move down a new path?

So if you want someone to talk with you about your hip flexors, adductors, or rotator cuff, and methodically massage away your pain, I can do that.  You would just be missing out on the best experience.  On the other hand if you want to know, understand, and learn how your thoughts and feelings create the dis-stress you feel in your body; if you want to take control of your health and well being . . . then I'm the one for you.

Thirteen years ago today in 2004, I was standing  in the den of a home in Lancaster, Ohio.  The man sitting on the hearth had his head against my chest.  Slowly I ran my hand along the middle of his back.

With a slight tone of arrogance he said, "Do I do that to you?"

"What?," I asked.

"Your heart rate is fast."  I guess he should know.  He was a doctor.

"That's nothing.  Watch this."  With focused intention, I drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, rearranged my energy, and dropped my heart rate to a slow, steady beat.

The man jumped away from me as if he were burned, "Oh my God! What was that?"

The words M-A-S-S-A-G-E  T-H-E-R-A-P-Y scrolled across my mind like a banner behind a plane.

"WHAT?  YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?" I asked silently.

Within a month I was enrolled in school, 2 years later I was licensed in the State of Ohio, and. . . . well you know the rest of the story.

Have you ever wished you could find the OFF SWITCH for stress and anxiety?  Recent medical articles suggest that stimulating the vagus nerve turns off the fight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system and switches on the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the rest & digest and feed & breed activities of the body.

Stimulating the vagus nerve can:

• decrease pain and inflammation
• help with memory
• effect breathing
• control your heart rate
• initiate relaxation response

How do you stimulate the vagus nerve.  Medically you can have an electrical implant placed in your chest or you could learn the simpler, more economic ways to stimulate your vagus nerve.

• humming - chanting OM
• conscious breathing - a technique I teach my clients
• valsalva maneuver - exhaling against a closed mouth and pinched nose
• splashing your face with cold water to initiate the diving reflex

When I work with you on coping with stress or anxiety, one of the first things we do is breathe in a manner that can reduce your heart rate, lessen the feeling of pressure in your chest, and normalize your feelings.  That combined with massage therapy and life coaching gives you the control you need to cope with life's challenges big or small.
_________________________
Sources
The vagus nerve and the inflammatory reflex - linking immunity and metabolism, Nat Rev Endocrinol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 Jul 4.
Natural vagus nerve stimulaton - Dr. Arielle Schwartz, 7/192015,
9 nervy facts about the vagus nerve, 7/2//2015
Hacking the nervous system, 5/30//2015
Vagus Nerve Stimulation, retrieved 12/15/2015

Everyone wants to fall in love.  Books are written.  Classes taken.  Every article, quote, hocus pocus magic spell about falling in love is eagerly lapped up by the every increasing members of the Lonely Heart Club.  But what if you simply fell in love?  How would that change your life?

More than once over the past few years, I have felt the physical feeling of falling love sweep through my being just at the sight of something beautiful.  In both instances the feeling made me declare my love out loud.

The first time was in Malibu Bluffs Park as I was driving from Twenty-nine Palms, California to Seattle.  My dog needed out so I pulled into the nearest park.  We walked up to the top of the bluff into the park where the entire Malibu coastline burst into view.  The sun was shining and I felt my heart open up with that feeling of love. 

Out loud I said, "Oh my god, I'm falling in love."

I stayed an extra day in Malibu.  For a few months after I returned home, I toyed with the idea of moving there.  Sometimes I still do.

The last time I fell in love with my life was a month of so ago.  I drove south on the I-5 in Seattle late at night only to find a traffic jam at the 90 bridge.  I simply turned around and made the short trek north to take the 520 bridge across the lake to home.  Little did I know that a full moon would be hanging over the water in all its majesty.  Again I cried out loud, "I am so in love with my life."

All good things can come to she who lives life with an open heart.  Little did I know that every time I fell in love with life itself that my heart expanded to make room for more love and goodness from an abundant Universe.  And just when I think there's no more room, my heart expands just a little bit more . . .

Marianne Williamson's quote about "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure . . . " popped up on my Facebook page today.  This quote was my beacon of light decades ago when I started changing from playing small to stepping into the shoes that fit and just being myself.

Maybe it's because I'm the last of the Baby Boomer generation or because it's still an unspoken archetype of the past but I was given beliefs like "girls can't do math", "men don't like strong, smart women", "don't be a pushy broad" . . . When you're spoon fed garbage like that as a small child it goets lodged somewhere in your subconscious where it later rises up and causes conflict.

In my 20s, I played small all the time to be attractive and not threaten men or other women.  I couldn't do higher math until my 30s because in my teens I was told "girls can't do math" and I was too distracted by booze boys and drugs focus on algebra.  I also learned that a graduate school degree of any kind - J.D. or M.D. - did not automatically make a man smarter than I.   In my 40s, after thousands of dollars worth of psychotherapy, I stopped rejecting and just accepted the fact that I was intelligent. 

And, in my 50s I stopped hiding it.

I think the most important part of the Marianne Williamson's quote is this:

" . . . as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Life is simple really.  We were put here to love each other and help each other.  When we stop playing small, find our voice, find our purpose then DO IT, we encourage others to do the same.  We lead by example.  It is not our words or philosophies that change the world. It is our actions.

Love & light,

Pixie

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

• A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles", Ch. 7, Section 3 (1992), p. 190.

This morning I had breakfast at the Portage Bay Cafe on Terry Ave. in Seattle.  It's tagline is "Eat Like You Give a Damn" and "Local.  Organic.  Sustainable."  I loved this place, not because I ate something incredibly healthy - scrambled eggs, spinach, chicken sausage, potatoes and a thick piece of toasted whole wheat bread; it's that tagline that gets me.

Although there are times when my job or soccer have totally depleted me and I'm standing at my kitchen counter stuffing calories into me as fast as I can, most of the time I have an awareness of the food that I'm eating.  More importantly, I have an awareness of the energy of the food that I'm eating and the energy of the cook who has prepared it.

Did you know that food absorbs the energy of the cook?  That's my one big hang-up about eating out.  I want the cook to care about me or care about the food.  Either way, I'm going to benefit from those good vibes.

Most imporant is my awareness and attitude toward food.  Is it my enemy or my friend?  Am I living to eat or eating to live?  Am I more worried about how I look or about how I feel?  Is this energy efficient food or comforting, make me sleep food?  Am I eating with a sense of joy and appeciation or am I filled with guilt?

You cannot feed your body a local, organic, sustainable diet, and fuel your mind with toxic, negative thoughts and feelings.  So eating like you give a damn is more than the food you put into your mouth; it's what you think and feel about it too.

You know I like to share new things I've learned or tried.  One of my new favorite things is kinesiology tape.

Any one who follows me on Facebook knows that I was injured in the last soccer game I played.  An opposing player missed the ball and kicked me directly in the muscle that runs along the outside of your shin bone.  I went down like a felled tree and couldn't play the rest of the game.

The next day, I limped into the office. Dr. Cho peeked around the corner just to say "hi".  He saw me limping and immediately had me lay on a table so he could apply some RockTape (kinesiology tape) on the injury.  Dr. Cho knew exactly what happened, and even knew how it felt since he plays soccer as avidly as I do.  He's usually the one limping!

The kinesiology tape instantly made my leg feel better.  It wasn't perfect but the pain decreased.  At Dr. Cho's advice, I took two days off to let it heal.  His parting words to me were, "I always wear shin guards even when it's just a scrimmage because there's a lot of donkeys out there!"  Dr. Cho is my second new favorite thing.  It is a huge advantage to know a health care practitioner who plays the same sport.

Kinesiology tape has been around for years.  I was skeptical about it until this experience.  It can be used for compression or decompression of a specific area; for muscle strain/sprain, tendonitis, and a variety of other ailments.  If you're a runner, use it to support your IT band.  If you play tennis, use it to support your shoulder, elbow, or wrist.

Target sells a brand of kinesiology tape called KT Tape but it was out of stock.  Fortunately I purchased a roll of Rocktape from Dr. Cho's office.

Disclaimer: I am not an employee of Chosen Chiropractic nor a spokes person for kinesiology tape. Everything contained in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as medical diagnosis or advice.

NEW PACKAGES & PRICES

After almost a decade of practicing massage, my prices have changed slightly; mostly so I an offer better discounts and packages.  Please visit the Massage Therapy - Packages & Deals page for more information.

FUEL FOOD, GOOD FOOD, MOOD FOOD . . .

Here's one of my all time favorite recipes for a high protein, low calories vegetarian soup - Chopra Center Vegetable Barley Soup.  It's healing to have hot soup, lovingly prepared.

Ingredients

Cook and prep times does not include chicken option.  A traditional barley soup is usually made with beef.  For added flavor without the additional fat, add 3/4 cups diced uncooked chicken.

Per 1 1/2 - cup serving

1/2 t. ghee or olive oil

1/2 t. musard seeds, yellow or bornw.

pinch red chili flakes

1/2 t. black pepper

1/2 c. chopped leeks or onions

Read more . . .

MY FAVORITE FACEBOOK POST

Life is simple really:  decide what's important and act like it.

That was the simple message that came to me this morning as I was scanning airfare to spend Thanksgiving with family. 

If you asked me what my priorities are, family would be in the top three.  Money would be way down the list somewhere.  So why was I thinking more about money than family when I was looking at airfare?  Things may happen in the future that will require extra cash.  Can I afford it?  Can I not?

Too many times I ask my client what their priorities are and they usually put family as No. 1.  But in really their actions are all around job, career, bills, money, lifestyle . . . Even health falls way down on the list.  

If you evern wonder what your priorities are, look at your actions, watch your thoughts.  Are they what you thought they are?  Are they what you want them to be?

This morning I talked with a friend who said he had a "bone to pick" with "massage therapists". 

He had a  $25, "chop chop" foot massage that included a back massage.  Apparently, whoever worked on him "pummeled" him and "worked him over pretty good" to the point that his back was "thrown out" and he ended up at the doctor's office.

There's a few lessons in this story.

1) You get what you pay for.

2)  Make sure whoever is working on you is a licensed massage therapist.

3)  Deep tissue is not for every body.

I'm not a fan of deep tissue massage.  It is a myth that the massage must be deep and painful to do any good.  There are clients who have had better results simply by my laying a hand on their back rather than grinding an elbow into their tissue bone deep.

What I've found over the years is that much of the result is up to the client/patient. 

What do you believe?  Do you believe that you have to be hurt to heal?  Do you believe that the only good massage is a deep massage?  Do you want to give up your pain?

Do you have a pain in the butt?  It could be piriformis syndrome.

The piriformis muscle is a flat, band-like muscle located in the buttock near the top of the hip.  It's involved in almost every motion of the leg and hip.  Although Web MD says it's uncommon, I see it frequently.  When the piriformis muscle gets tight it presses against the sciatic nerve and can cause pain in the buttocks and down into the leg.  I've had piriformis syndrome.  I was in pain for about two years while sitting whether in a chair or driving in a car.  Driving was the worst.  It was so painful that I would sit on something to numb the nerve and make it bearable.

Massage does help by releasing trigger points in the area of the piriformis.  My technique involves massaging the hamstrings and glutes and then applying pressure to the piriformis and moving the leg to ask the muscle to release.  One of my clients laughs and says, "My physical therapist charges extra for this and you do it for free!"  I also discuss some self-help techniques such as rotating the foot and upper leg inward, sitting up straight with tightened abs . . .

As for the mind/body reason for piriformis, I knew that I developed it because I hated the driving.  I would make a 2 hour round-trip drive 1-3 times a day.   I had to give up that resistance.  At other times, it's that old cliche - someone is a "pain in the butt".   You'd be surprised how many times I've asked a client, "Is something or somebody a 'pain in the butt'?" And the client immediately responds with a resounding "yes!" which opens the door to new perceptions of that relationship and freedom from pain.