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Massage Therapy Your Wellness Strategy Nora Brunner For many people, and bodywork spiritual guru calls "efforting," it's nice are a critical part of their health and to know that letting go of it all can be wellness strategy--an idea medical just as productive, perhaps even more professionals are increasingly so. embracing. In a recent online survey, massage devotees talked about their Some have come to massage because of commitment to regular massage therapy. injuries and found unexpected blessings These folks find a way to afford it, in their situations. While many regardless of other demands on their first-time massage clients have become resources. acquainted with massage because of referrals from health professionals, Best Life there's no need to wait for an injury to "Getting massage has been part of my prompt you into forming the massage life since I was in my 20s--I'm now in habit. my 50s," says Los Angeles chef Gisele Perez. Once a modern dancer and now "I consider professional massage therapy proprietor of a boutique catering an essential part of my best-life design," company, she considers massage says author and psychologist Mollie Marti, who suffered a whiplash injury

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Raina Beach,C.M.T. #47233 Stone, Massage & Energy Specialist - - By appointment... schudule at: www.RainaBeach.MassageTherapy.com 401 Marina Blvd. suite "c" SSF CA 94080

Massage is an important part of a wellness strategy. In this Issue necessary to the career she loves. She several years ago in a car accident. "It's Massage Therapy finds massage helps resolve problems been worth every penny," she says of the What is Hot Stone Massage? she's grappling with and that solutions work that has improved her range of Massage for Old Injuries arise spontaneously in her thoughts motion and relieved muscle soreness, as while she's on the table. "I think it well as offered deep relaxation, greater maintains my emotional balance," she alertness and clarity, and a heightened says. Many massage clients report sense of well-being. "I feel better and cathartic experiences when they finally am happier and more at peace." allow themselves to fully relax. With so much of our lives devoted to what one Continued on page 2 Continued from page 1 world of emergency services," she says. cable TV ... I rank massage equivalent Professional athletes also use massage "I process my experiences with greater with faith or religion, or maybe as one strategically before events to help them ease," Stump says. "My monthly massage component of my belief system. I have achieve their best. Research also shows is a tremendous reset button." missed massage for as long as three weeks muscles recover more quickly after a just once in 10 years," he says. workout. For weekend warriors, a A Self-Care Experience massage can help recovery, or also serve Author and teacher Charlie Adler of Former ballet dancer Luis Perez of as a reward for sticking with an exercise Washington, D.C., has been getting Miami, Florida, has been getting program. That's doubling the return on regular massage for 10 years, admitting massage twice that long. With 20 years of your investment. that perhaps he enjoys his job a little too twice-weekly massage, he works in health much. Adler is a full-time instructor in and fitness, putting his money where his Research shows the cost of a massage has wine and cooking and can't help but mouth is. "I have given myself remained fairly steady in recent years, enjoy the fruits of his--and his permission to make myself a priority," even as other popular pastimes have students'--labor. Committed to holistic Perez says. become more expensive. "Affording it" medicine, he says: "Massage is disease is a matter of priorities, or at least that's prevention for me. It seems wrong to me Many people make massage a priority, the way 22-year-old Elizabeth Sosa to wait until you get sick to go to a and you may well be one of them. Know Bailey sees it. She calls her modest doctor." The 47-year-old reports he that you have chosen something with real Houston public radio station salary often falls asleep in the middle of his value that benefits your health--both in "practically a sneeze," yet she manages to session. body and mind. get a monthly massage. "My first massage was only 30 minutes, but I fell in love," "As a ranked expenditure, massage is up she says. "It's worth it because it makes very high," he says. "It has a higher me happy." importance than going out to eat and Being happy is only part of it, since studies show an ever-increasing number of health benefits massage affords. This is an instance where the pillars of intelligently managing your health--prevention and early intervention--come into focus. Medical Odyssey Attorney J. Kim Wright of Taos, New Mexico, stressed out over the constant demands on her time after founding a law practice 15 years ago. Those pressures, combined with having a large family at home, soon led to margaritas at a local watering hole with her staff every Friday after work. When coworkers started discussing an additional drinking night on Wednesdays, she got worried about the path she was on. A colleague recommended massage. She scheduled weekly massage appointments, a resource that also helped her cope with a divorce when her life changed direction. The sessions stretched her budget, but became her lifeline, she reports, adding that she often broke into tears the minute she walked through the door for her massage session. "It was the outlet I needed," Wright says. Christine Stump used to work as a full-time paramedic and continues in a part-time capacity after adding yoga teacher to her career. Massage is how she maintains her emotional balance and avoids injuries that have disabled her coworkers in the "adrenaline-soaked Incorporate massage into your wellness strategy for best results. What is Hot Stone Massage?

Jed Heneberry

Stone massage is a luxurious experience especially beneficial for certain oPromotes local circulation in the area in which the massage therapist uses populations and something to avoid for where it is applied. warmed, smooth stones to provide others. Specific chronic muscular oWarms soft-tissue structures so they bodywork, warming muscle tissue to conditions like frozen shoulder or are ready for firm work more quickly. reduce muscle tension and stiffness, and low-back pain benefit as the heat helps eliciting physical healing, mental tissues relax during massage work. And, relaxation, and a spiritual connection to while stone massage is lauded for the earth energy relaxation it promotes, therapists can use it for targeted trigger-point work Photos frequently incorrectly portray and as well. the treatment with massage clients relaxing on a towel with stones placed Those who should avoid hot stone artfully along their naked spines. massage include people with diabetes, neuropathy, rheumatoid arthritis, skin In reality, two insulating layers, a sheet conditions covering large areas of the and a thick bath towel, will be placed on body, or local skin conditions such as your skin, and the stones will be placed sunburn, broken skin, localized upon it. Your massage therapist will be swelling, or other soft-tissue injuries. using stones heated to 130-140 degrees Fahrenheit. Stones should never rest Following are some of the benefits directly on your skin; they will only associated with stone therapies: touch your skin if the therapist is oReduces anxiety, pain, and stress. holding them to apply strokes. oPromotes mental and physical relaxation. oCreates a feeling of groundedness Should I Get One? and balance. Heated stones can provide a wealth of benefits The heat of stone massage can be oEnhances connection to earth energy. Massage for Old Injuries Ancient Injuries Don't Have to Make You Feel Old Art Riggs

Injuries such as chronic back pain, trick movement and cause pain far away from If that nagging injury persists, consider knees, and sticky shoulders are not the original injury. booking a massage. Be sure to discuss necessarily something you just have to the injury with your practitioner: How live with. Massage techniques might hold Therapists who perform such work often did you receive the injury? Have you the key to unlocking this old pain. have specialized names for their reinjured it? And what exactly are your work--such as orthopedic massage, symptoms? Often, the body Will Massage Help? , myofascial compensates in one area to protect The benefits of massage will depend on release, , etc.,--but another that has been traumatized, and the extent of the injury, how long ago it many massage therapists utilize an this can create new problems. occurred, and on the skill of the eclectic approach combining the best of therapist. Chronic and old injuries the specialties. Discuss the issues with your massage often require deeper and more precise therapist. (Sometimes just talking about treatments with less emphasis on general It Works! old injuries can play a significant role in relaxation and working on the whole A recent Consumer Reports article ran the healing process.) Together, the two body. Massage works best for soft tissue the results of a survey of thousands of its of you can work to determine a injuries to muscles and tendons and is readers and reported that massage was treatment plan. most effective in releasing adhesions and equal to chiropractic care in many areas, lengthening muscles that have shortened including back and neck pain. Massage due to compensatory reactions to the also ranked significantly higher than injury. Tight and fibrous muscles not some other forms of treatment, such as only hurt at the muscle or its tendon, physical therapy or drugs. but can also interfere with proper joint Massage & Energy Medicine

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