Self-Massage

It’s cold outside. It’s almost winter. Did we even have fall? I can’t really feel it. When the weather gets cold, there are many things to worry about. Snow, rising cost for heating and so on. But the one that I used to worry a lot was my body. Why? Because I usually get stiff neck when the winter comes around. For those of you who suffered from it know how painful it is and how it can affect your entire day! As the temperature suddenly drops my body gets really stiff and it affects my entire day. One effective way to deal with this was to see a chiropractor but the problem with this was the cost. Once I ran out of the number of visits allowed by the insurance, the cost goes up ridiculously! The chiropractor’s office made a plan for me. The plan was something like this. To visit 3 times a week for 2 months and 2 times for another 2 months and 1 time for a month. Each visit costs me around $100 without my insurance coverage. Yay!! This is over $4000. (Don’t get me wrong. I believe there are chiropractors who charge less than this. This was just my case) Well…I can wait until the next year’s insurance kicks in but I am in pain now! I don’t want to wait.

I needed to find an alternative and much more cost effective way and the one I found to be very effective was self-massage. I did research and read some self-healing massage books. I applied what I learnt from the books and research to myself and it was amazing! Here are some tips for self-massage.

For Shoulder

Place your right hand on your left shoulder and left hand on your right shoulder.

Press the trigger point, knots or tensed muscle area using your middle and index fingers for about a minute. While you are pressing them, close your eyes and breathe deeply.

For Hand

Spread your right hand and grab the muscle between your thumb and index finger with your left thumb and index finger.

Start to massage that area for a minute. And Switch. Massage your left hand the same way.

Close your eyes and breathe deeply while massaging your hands.

For Feet

Sit down and grab your sole of your right foot with both of your thumbs.

Start to massage your sole with firm pressure.

Press firmly the point slightly above the center of the sole for 10 seconds.(About 1/3 of the foot below the tip of your index toe)

Do it to the other foot.

Also for those of you who don’t have a strong finger to massage yourself, there are a ton of self massage tools you can use. You can purchase them online like Amazon at a very reasonable price.

Also check this video. It shows you how to effectively massage your feet (It also shows you the point on your sole I mentioned above)  

http://www.changeyourenergy.com/change-tv/158/Two-Minute-Tip-Rejuvenate-with-Reflexology

Are you ready for this winter? I am!

Acupressure? What is it?

You may heard of acupressure massage. It is one of the most popular massage techniques but what is exactly acupressure?

It is an ancient healing method. This mostly uses our fingers to press some points on our body to promote the body's self-healing mechanism. It shares the same points as acupuncture. When these points get stimulated, they open up the blockage in the passage along which the body energy flows, release muscular tension and promote the blood circulation.

While acupuncture uses needles and nowadays, even electricity to stimulate those trigger points, acupressure utilize our hand to give firm but gentle pressure to those points. Acupuncture, since it directly inserts a needle to stimulate the point, is believed to be more effective in treating certain conditions. However, acupressure is still a good choice for those who don't want any needle in their body or seek a safer treatment. The great thing about acupressure is that you can do on yourself. If you research, you will find many of those acupressure points that you can press using your own fingers. I will also share some of those points in the following post.

Then, what are the kinds of health conditions that can be improved when treated with acupressure?

1. Allergies
2. Ankle and foot problems
3. Constipation
4. Cramps and spasms
5. Migraines
6. Isomnia
7. Knee pain
8. Neck Tension and Pain
9. Indigestion/Heartburn
10. Sinus/HayFever
11. Wrist Pain

also, it is effective in treading emotional health conditions such as
1. Depression
2. Frustration
3. Memory/Concentration

There are many other health benefits you can get by doing acupressure on yourself. But if you want to completely relax and get acupressure healing, going to see your massage therapist to get acupressure massage is also a great way. Especially, you feel your body deserve it.

Massage Therapy with Tracey Obenauer

1^st Massage

CGI Member $49 (+ tax)   /   Non-Member $59 (+ tax)

6 Month Massage Membership (1 massage per month)

CGI Member $59/month (+ tax)   /   Non-Member $69/month (+ tax)

Achieve optimum health by experiencing a massage session with our qualified massage therapist Tracey Obenauer.  Tracey will not only help you improve your muscular health, but encourage and teach the basics necessary to stay on the path for better health.

Benefits of Massage Therapy:
Relaxation
Increases level of oxygen in the blood
Decreases muscle toxins
Improves circulation
Improves flexibility while easing tension
Reduce stress hormone levels and heart rate while boosting your mood

Offer valid through Sunday, October 20, 2013
Click Here to Register!

Tracey Obenauer, LMT, RM is a licensed massage therapist and a graduate of Cortiva Institute in Hoboken, NJ. She is trained in multiple modalities including deep tissue, myofascial, sports, trigger point and orthopedic massage. In addition, Tracey is also a Certified Reiki Master.  Prior to obtaining her degree in massage therapy, Tracey worked in Financial Services for 15 years as a project manager. After being diagnosed with cancer, Tracey was introduced to massage as a means of recovery from the side effects of her treatments. It was then that she realized that she wanted to bring the benefits of massage to others. Working closely with each client, she will customize a treatment plan that will help you achieve your wellness goals.

Click Here to Register!

Do You Have Happy Feet?

Feet are the lowest parts of the body. They connect a body to the earth. They certainly have a important role, yet people do not pay much attention to them, but I recently found out that I need to check how they feel and that keeping ‘happy feet’ is very important for the health of the rest of body.

A friend of mine complained about a discomfort in his right foot for a while.  Many of his friends including myself told him to see a doctor, yet he delayed to treat the problem. It was because the pain wasn’t that severe and also just like everyone else he was always too busy to see a doctor for a foot problem.

He recently had a surgery in his lower back and has to do another one after recovering from the surgery. He went to see a doctor for a pain in his lower back and found that he needed few surgeries in his back and later his right foot and that his back pain was due to neglecting to treat the pain in his right foot.

Feet bear our body weight almost all day long. They deserve some special treatments and people should pay close attention to how they feel. As more people become active exercising and playing sports, the number of people who come to see a podiatrist is increasing. Doctors say many serious health issues are linked to our feet and many of them are correctable if addressed as early as when the patient notices a symptom in his feet. 

In the Eastern medicine, it is believed that each part of the feet are also linked to each organ in the body and that there are a ton of acupressure points in the feet. So if you go to see an acupuncturist, you will likely get some needles in your feet and he/she may even recommend you to get foot reflexology massage to get optimal result of the treatment. 

Now more people are aware of the importance of taking good care of their feet and I now see a lot of podiatrist’s offices and event those foot reflexology places. It’s just sad to see my friend still limping and waiting for his next surgery.   

Benefits of Massage

Many have probably heard that massage helps relieve muscle pain, boost energy and strengthen immune system or at least that it helps those who suffer from lower back pain or neck pain. 

As many studies being conducted to see the effect of massage therapy, many interesting results are being reported. While scientific evidence on this therapeutic approach is not limited, many case researches show those who received massage therapy have improved their health. Particularly massage therapy is believed to relieve back pain more effectively than other medical treatments. But the interesting part you might not know about is that massage therapy may help those who suffer from illnesses that are hard to be treated even with conventional medicine. These include Autism, Atopic dermatitis, ADHD, Cystic fibrosis, Diabetes, Rheumatoid arthritis. As many health issues stem from mental health and stress, the good feeling you experience during a massage session will probably give you more than just good feeling. 

There are a ton of articles and reviews about benefits of massage therapy. You can find them online and see what others who suffer from a similar type of health issue you may have say about their massage therapy experience, how it helped them or didn’t help and so on. I suggest to do some research to see which therapy might be the most effective to treat your health condition before you decide to receive any of those alternative treatments. Good thing about massage is that it also is relatively less expensive than other therapeutic methods. So if you have tried other treatment for your condition and didn’t see many results, you may want to consider massage therapy. Please note that many health care providers and experts say massage therapy should not replace scientific medical treatment as there are limited scientific evidences on its effect.  

Meditation Circle - Energy Meditation (FREE CLASSES)

 Every Sunday - 5:30 PM

 

Meditation Circle - Energy Meditation

 

We will explore and experience Energy Meditation.

- Gentle opening exercises.

- Breathing and energy sensitization practice.

- Self and collaborative healing.

 

Class is open to the public, anyone can join.

Massage! It feels good! But What else?

What benefits does a massage bring besides making us feel good and relaxed? Many know that a massage relaxes our highly stressed body and brings a good feeling but not many know what kind of health benefit it really has. I would like to share some interesting points about massage therapy I came to know by reading related articles and through personal experience.

You may already know that most illnesses people suffer from are actually stress related. Therefore, removing stress or relieving the intensity of stress stored in our body does bring positive results in our physical health. As massage helps us completely relax and forget our worries and relieves our anxiety, it activates our natural healing mechanism and starts to bring positive effects. Then what are the common benefits of massage? First, it improves blood circulation and joint flexibility. The benefit is huge. Blood circulation itself has a lot of positive effects on our body because the blood carries all the substances that our body uses to repair itself and delivers them to each place in the body that needs to be repaired. Therefore, the better the blood circulates in the body, the faster the body heals. Another benefit is that it softens muscles that are stiff and overly used causing the release of endorphins, which you know is a natural painkiller to alleviate pain. Frequently I suffered from a stiff neck. When this happens, I cannot move my neck and shoulder. I go to see my friend who is a massage therapist. As he starts to massage my neck and shoulder, I can begin to move my neck around and the pain slowly but surely fades away.

Now the interesting point is that a massage can be more powerful in preventing you from getting ill than directly treating the illness. There are some studies that show having a massage therapy on a regular basis can greatly improve overall health conditions and boosts your immune system to prevent you from getting ill. Many people are constantly dealing with stress from their work, school or even home, relaxing our body to reduce the intensity of stress can definitely help improve our health overall and massage therapy may be the best choice we can make.

So if you often feel fatigue, muscle, neck, or lower back pain and have not received any massage therapy, you might want to give it a try!