Purposeful Living for Abundant Health

Using Aromatherapy

 

When first starting out with essential oils I recommend keeping your blends to 2 or 3 scents at first.  There are really two reasons for this, 1) essential oils are very powerful and a little can go a long way and produce a big effect, 2) you will be able to learn how different oils combine and which oils are very powerful with just a few drops and which oils might need a greater presence to be noticed in your combinations. 

 

One way I started to combine oils was to open the bottles I was interested in combining and sniff them at the same time to see if there was a harmony between the two.  Another method I used was looking at the effect I wanted to produce, like uplifting to take away depression, then I picked oils with that property and finally did the sniff test to see if they would combine well.

This is a sample of two essential oils and information that I compiled when I was first starting out with aromatherapy.  It is by no means exhaustive, but it is a sampling of some of the basics about those two oils and how they can be used and combines.  You should do your own research about these and other essential oils available to be certain you are not using them in a way that could be potentially harmful. 

 

Anise:

Ã?·  Properties: Estrogenic, calming, anti-epileptic, anti-hysteric, anti-rheumatic, antiseptic, anti-spasmodic, aperient, carminative, decongestant, digestive, expectorant, insecticide, sedative, stimulant and verifuge.

Ã?·      Medicinal uses: Reduces coughing, heals chapped lips, aids digestion, eases menopause symptoms, eases bronchitis, colds and flu, promotes production of breast milk and stimulates menstruation, colic, flatulence, pectoral affections.

Ã?·      Blends with: Orange, cedarwood, neroli, chamomile, lavender, spearmint and patchouli.

Bergamot:

�· Properties: Analgesic, anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, digestive, sedative and uplifting.

�· Medicinal Uses: Loss of appetite, colic, depression, stress, agitation, infection, inflammation, insomnia, intestinal parasites, rheumatism and vaginal candida.

Ã?·      Aromatic Influence: helps to relieve anxiety, stress and tension.

Ã?·   Blends with: Chamomile, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Jasmine, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Palmarosa, Patchouly and YlangYlang.

An injury occurs when tissue has been damaged.  There are 2 main types of tissue damage I am concerned with as a massage therapist, muscle and joint injuries.  First I will define the difference between a muscle and joint injury, giving examples of each, and then I will talk about first aid for these types of injury.

A muscle injury occurs when there is a sudden change in movement.  A common muscle injury is Whiplash or Cervical Acceleration-Deceleration (CAD).  This is when the tissue of the neck experience a sudden change in movement and usually involves the head being jerked forward and back very quickly.  We are most familiar with this type of injury from an automobile accident, but it could also occur while skiing or snowboarding.   Torticollis or Wry Neck is when muscle tissue becomes chronically shortened and usually develops from untreated accidents or injuries.

A joint injury is a physical problem that arises from sports participation and over use or failure of the muscles to limit range of motion during movement.  Two common joint injuries are sprains and strains.  A sprain is the result of a traumatic injury to a muscle or tendon, and a strain is an injury to a ligament.  Repeated injury to joints, such as sprains and strains, can result in traumatic arthritic which requires ongoing exercise and stretching to maintain range of motion.

Immediately after an injury, or as soon as possible, it is very important to employ the R.I.C.E. method of first aid. 
Rest to reduce any further stress and strain to the body and mind.  Ice to reduce swelling and bleeding.  Compression, by wrapping the injury, to keep swelling down and give extra support to the injured tissues.  Elevation to slow the flow of blood to the area and keep swelling down.  Within the first 24 hours of your injury, you should see a Doctor to make sure there is no other serious damage that will require other treatment.  For the first 24-72 hours ice should be used for 20 minutes every 2 hours to keep both swelling and pain down.  After 72 hours, you can start to use moist heat every 2 hours for 20-30 minutes to increase circulation to the injury.

Massage can be used 48-72 hours after an injury to help relieve muscle tension and tightness and also to stimulate circulation to speed healing of the injury.

The MyoKinesthetic (MYK) System was developed, by Dr. Mike Uriarte, D.C. as a treatment that massage therapists could use in his clinic after receiving a chiropractic adjustment.  His original intension was to give the therapists a technique that complimented and was more specific to the chiropractic adjustment, could be done in a shorter time frame and gave clients good results faster. 

What exactly is a MYK treatment?   Very simply, it is a series of movements done passively and actively while stimulating specific muscles along a single nerve pathway.  For example, if a client has a shoulder problem, a chiropractor might do an adjustment to the C5 bone because that is the nerve that goes into the shoulder joint and surrounding muscles.  With the MyoKinesthetic treatment, your therapist will stretch and stimulate only muscles innervated by the C5 nerve, which sends new information to the central nervous system allowing compensations to be cleared and healing to begin.

Why Postural Analysis Matters

 

What is Posture?  The term posture describes the relationship among various parts of the body, their anatomical arrangement and how well they do or do not fit together.  Our body has many tools to help us control our upright posture, but many of these tools are a function of our subconscious mind, leaving us vulnerable to developing poor habits that compromise our posture, alignment and balance.

 

The Importance of Postural Assessment   Just as doctors use X-rays, CAT scans and MRIs to evaluate, educate, design customized treatment plans and document progress, a body worker or massage therapist should include postural analysis when doing a client intake.  By doing a postural assessment with a new or existing client, you will be able to create a personalized treatment plan based on physical evidence that reveals imbalances in the body.  You will also be able to review your findings after a series of treatments to see where progress has been made and where adjustments to treatment may be necessary.

 

As a client of bodywork, this should be just as important to you as it is to the provider.  With this kind of postural assessment you gain awareness of areas that have become weaker over time and can now start moving and exercising with intention to strengthen those areas.  Awareness of your imbalances will help you to change bad habits and learn new ways of moving that will cause less pain and stress, especially as we age. 

 

Another reason, and perhaps the most important, is to save you time and money.  When your therapist does a postural assessment, they know exactly where your imbalances are and have the ability to recommend a specific treatment plan and exercises to alleviate your pain and discomfort.  You also have more awareness of your body, which will help you make healthier choices.  After a prescribed time period, a follow-up assessment should be done to evaluate progress and make necessary adjustments to the treatment plan to reach your health goals.

 

Advantages of Postural Alignment   As we age, our posture becomes more and more important.  What starts out as tightness in the pectorals and chest area, will eventually lead to rounding of the upper back and the stooped position that we see in many elderly women.  There could be many factors contributing to this particular imbalance in the body, a couple being your work environment or injury.   Another possibility is self-image.  I had a female friend who was over 6 feet and had always been taller than her other classmates growing up.   She had adopted a hunched posture to appear less tall than she actually is.  In the long run, a postural imbalance like this will continue to weaken back muscles and tighten neck muscles causing the curvature of the spine to become exaggerated and compromised, leading to pain, discomfort and the possibility of arthritis and other degenerative diseases.

 

Get a Postural Assessment Now   Everyone seeking to improve their health, so that they can stay active well into their old age, should be asking â??how can I prevent this from happening to me?â?  The answer, get a postural assessment.  Have your therapist document with pictures and on paper, so there is a record of the findings and they can explain them to you.  Decide on a treatment plan together.   Both self-care, including specific exercises, and treatments with your body worker or massage therapist will be of benefit.   Then re-assess your postural alignment in 2-4 months to see what progress has been made and where strengthening and adjustments to your treatment plan are still required.

How many people do you know who get stressed out during the Holiday Season?
Are there people on your giving list that don't need more stuff to clutter their house?
Do you know someone who's hard to shop for?
Maybe you just don't have time to go shopping and need one simple solution.

Well, gift cards seem to be the gift of our current times, because you can get them from every store, restaurant, or service provider.  They are great!  I have to admit to using them a number of times for all of the reasons above, plus then they could redeem them anywhere in the country or on the internet. 

My gift certificates aren't quite as versatile as that because you have to redeem them here in Benicia, CA, but they do cover a lot of the other giving dilemmas. 

First and foremost, buying gift certificates for treatments at Shen Jing Holistic will save you all kinds of time.  There are a variety of relaxing treatments available for face, feet and the whole body.  All you have to do is call and give me all the details, a dollar limit, receiver's name, your name and schedule a time to pick up your certificates.  Or I can mail them if you're not local. 

It is not another trinket that is going to clutter the house or get thrown in a box or closet somewhere.  You are giving them an experience, something they will remember and benefit from for more than a moment or two.  This is your opportunity to give that family member or friend who always seems a bit frazzled around the holidays a 1/2hr. or longer of relaxation and stress reduction.  Plus, they get the benefits of boosting their immune system at the same time.

If by chance a gift certificate doesn't fit the bill for your gift giving needs, I also have hand made Herbal Oils, Custom Scented Soft Soaps and Deodorizing Room Sprays for sale.  All under $10, plus tax, each.  Pick out a few items and I can put together a gift bag or basket.

Whatever your Holidays bring this year, I encourage you to support local businesses and artists with your purchases.

Merry Christmas!
Susan

For centuries the human race has treated sickness and disease with herbs that grow wild in our surroundings, but with the advent of modern medicine most people don't know the first thing about using herbs for better health.  I would like to share a few simple things that can be done to help keep colds, the fl and other sickness away this winter, or at least decrease their severity.

Number one is prevention!  Don't wait until you are sick to start using herbs.  Start now with herbs to fumigate and disinfect your home and office.  At home you can take herbs such as Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Redwood leaves and Sage put them in a pot of water on the stove and boil, letting the steam go throughout the house to freshen and disinfect air.  If someone is already sick, take the steaming herb pot into their room as an extra precaution to keep germs from spreading and helping to open sinuses.
If you don't have a stove at your office you can mix up to 30 drops of essential oils with 1.5oz of water and .5oz of alcohol in a sprayer to refresh rooms.  I recommend mixing 2 or 3 essential oils and using herbs like the ones above with the addition of citrus.

Wash your hands frequently, especially before preparing or eating food.  Remember, you're not just trying to keep yourself healthy this winter, but also those around you.  When you sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a cloth or sneeze into your arm.  If you can avoid touching your eyes, ears and nose when around sick people you will minimize your chances of getting sick through physical contact.

Drink lots of fluids!  We don't get as thirsty during the colder months of the year, but it is still very crucial to stay hydrated so our bodies can eliminate toxins and all our body systems perform optimally.  I recommend drinking lots of herbal teas, but you need water too; we are, after all, 90% water based beings.  I also recommend drinking juices for vitamin C, but remember, juice does not take the place of water.

When you do feel yourself getting sick, take a few steps back from your busy schedule and take care of yourself.  You are no good to anyone if you are sick and now is the time to try to prevent a full blown cold or at least decrease the severity.  Get plenty of rest, call in sick and get yourself some natural remedies at your local health store.  I recommend Echinacea tincture, Elderberry syrup and EmergenC, but this will vary with each person's symptoms, so ask the clerk for recommendations.

I hope these few tips help you stay well this season!

Visit www.earthlynutrition.com in Benicia, CA for all your natural health care needs!

I had two people tell me last week that Muscle Relaxers and Pain Medication don't work.  Naturally, I was a little curious as to why they would say this, so I started asking questions.  First, what did they not do for you?  And the answer I got was cure my stiff and tight muscles.  Second, what do you mean they didn't cure your muscle tension problems?  Well, I went to an emergency care Doctor because I was in so much pain and could hardly move and he gave me these two medications to take.  I felt better while I was taking them, but now that I'm not taking them anymore my pain is back and it's spreading.

So now I had the whole story, it isn't that the pain medications and muscle relaxers didn't work, they just didn't cure the problem.
I hate to break it to you, but that isn't what muscle relaxers and pain medications are designed to do.  They did exactly what they were supposed to while these two people were taking them, mask the pain and give them relief from the symptoms they were experiencing.  What they did not address is the problem that has caused the pain to begin with. 

It maddens me when I here stories like this because these two people went to a medical professional seeking help and advise, but all they got were drugs.  I'm not saying the drugs were not appropriately prescribed or that they shouldn't be, just that our medical professionals should be taking a more active role in helping people achieve real progress in their health.  People need to be educated when they see a doctor so they understand what is going on with their body and why a certain medication is being prescribed to them.  Doctors need to make it clear that drugs and medications only treat symptoms and not the root problem.

In one of these cases the person had taken matters into his own hands and after a period of suffering with the pain, finally had been able to relax his body and mind so that the problem healed itself naturally.  The other person has continued to suffer and is now experiencing pain and nerve problems in other areas.  Out of frustration she contacted me to see what other kinds of treatments would give me some relief and heal the problem.  We are currently working on a treatment plan to deal with pain that has been ongoing for years, and I believe to be the root source of her current problems, using massage, herbs, ice and exercise.
Unfortunately, there is not a quick fix, but with time I have seen past clients come to a place where they experience pain less frequently and enjoy greater mobility when they receive massages regularly.

It has been an unusual year for California.  We had the coldest Summer on record in something like 48 years and now that Fall is officially here we are having a record heat-wave.  I am rather enjoying this bit of hot temperatures, and it has allowed my tomatoes - which I had pretty much given up on - to ripen and yield a pretty good harvest.  For a couple of months I really didn't expect them to come to anything and had almost ripped them out of the ground, but something gave me hope there was still time for my tomatoes. 
Long before I was a massage therapist, I spent summers working for a family that ran a vegetable farm and greenhouse nursery.  The first year I was there, I was what they fondly called a field hand.  I spent 8 hours a day, sometimes more, planting, weeding, tending and finally harvesting.  It was hard work; I found muscles I didn't even know existed, but I also got to spend my days outdoors with all of nature and we had amazing food to eat!  The next year I did a mixture of work in the fields and in the nursery and greenhouses.  I started to learn about the more decorative perennials and annuals and how to care for them, as well as spending a lot of time planting, weeding and harvesting.  By the third year, I spent more time caring for the perennials and annuals and helping customers than I did in the fields, but everyone helps when harvest comes.
The harvest is important.  It is the reward for our hard work and the care we have given to the plants and people around us. 
As I was grieving my tomatoes, before our Indian Summer, I realized that I had put all my energy and care into my herb gardens this year and left my vegetables to fend for themselves.  I got what I deserved too;  an adequate harvest of winter squash, a few potatoes and some yellow squash.  My harvest of herbs has been abundant and continues even now.  Only by circumstance am I now harvesting tomatoes.
I see a lot of different clients with many different complaints, but over and over again, the one's that benefit the most are the one's that make the commitment to massage as a way to reach tier health goals.  Most people treat massage as a luxury or a treatment that doesn't have long term effects, but the people who can see the possibilities and make the commitment will receive the harvest.  They will see the chronic shoulder tension diminish and no longer have regular headaches.  It is a sacrifice of time and an investment, but it's better than the alternative.

In Health,
Susan Lucas, CMT

Have you ever had an injury that prevented you from enjoying summer activities like cycling, water skiing, hiking and other sports?  Or maybe it's not so much a sport you've missed out on, but just being able to enjoy the activities of summer that you like without being in pain.  What ever the cause of your pain, a sporting activity or gardening, there is a way to heal that pain quickly without drugs and stay on your feet for more summer fun.

Homeopath, Myra Nissen, and I have teamed up to offer you a "Naturally Pain Free" package to maximize summer fun.  If you're unfamiliar with homeopathy this is a great way to get your feet wet and try it out.  When you schedule your appointment for this natural pain treatment, you will receive a private consultation with Myra in which she will suggest a homeopathic remedy for your particular injury or pain, then you will get 2 follow-up phone consultations with Myra later.  I will also be scheduling 4 massage appointments with you, lasting 30, 45, or 60 minutes each.  Starting at $200, we are offering this package through August 31, 2010.

As you may know, massage has many benefits in treating injuries, the most basic being increased circulation of blood to the area affected.  Other benefits include, reduced muscle tension, calming the nervous system to relieve anxiety and stress, and helping to relieve swelling.

The best benefit of Homeopathy compared to traditional pain treatments is that it is all natural.  To quote Myra, "If you're not using Homeopathy, you're doing drugs." 

I hope that you are having a safe and fun Summer, but in the event that you do get injured there is treatment available.

In Health,
Susan Lucas, CMT