Hand & Hand Mobile Massage |

Aromatherapy & Massage, Nuking Food Safely, Breathing Exercise

Tom Saulnier — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 20:45:36 +0000

Aromatherapy and Massage

Karrie Osborn

Aromatherapy, a process utilizing the purest essence of a plant, is a 4,000-year-old technique that has enhanced the health of everyone from modern-day pop divas to the scholars of ancient Greece. The art of massage has its own deeply rich roots, with even Plato and Socrates touting the value of hands-on bodywork for good health.

Separately, these two therapeutic traditions hold individual prowess in the realm of personal health and well-being. Together, however, they become a formidable health alliance that can address not only a person’s physical health, but the health of the mind and spirit as well.

A Natural Complement

Our senses were designed to work best in conjunction with one another. Our sense of taste would not be as acute without our nose lending its support to the process. Our auditory senses might seem hollow if we weren’t gifted with sight as well. Indeed, there exists a quiet partnership between all our five senses that’s built on synergy.

Let’s see how it works. Essential oils are extracted from herbs, flowers, and plants with the intent to improve a person’s health and well-being. Addressing everything from arthritis to whooping cough, effects of the approximate 3,000 oils found globally can range from sedative to stimulating and antibacterial to antispasmodic. The benefits derived from aromatherapy during a massage come in part from the contact the essential oil has on our skin, but even more so how it affects us when it’s inhaled and absorbed through the soft-tissue linings of our nose and mouth.

The scientific explanation suggests that the essential oil’s molecules, when inhaled, lock onto receptor cells at the back of the nose, sending an electrochemical message to the brain’s limbic system. This message appears to trigger memory and emotional responses, causing…(To red “The Rest of the Story”, please click here Spring2022Newsletter

Enhance Your Massage Experience, Neck Stretches, Back to Massage

Tom Saulnier — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 16:53:57 +0000

How to Enhance Your Massage Experience

Tips for Before, During, and After Your Session

By Kristin Coverly

In a lot of ways, a massage session is like a 5k run: a physical activity that can be done with little to no preparation, but that is a much more enjoyable experience with some thoughtful planning. Can a runner just show up to the starting line, zip through the race, and then head back to their regular life and to-do list? Sure. But do most runners set goals, carefully plan their food and hydration, and stretch before and after so that it’s a better experience for them and their bodies? Absolutely.

Let’s think about your massage or bodywork session like a 5k and explore the self-care aspects of your massage pre-, mid-, and post-session so that you, too, get the most out of your experience.

PRE-SESSION

What do runners do to prepare for their race? They set goals, choose appropriate clothing, hydrate, eat wisely, stretch, breathe, go to the bathroom, and get to the event before the start time. You can use these same strategies to prepare for your bodywork session.

SET GOALS

Your body’s needs change from day to day (sometimes hour to hour), so of course they’ll change from session to session. While last session you really needed some extra work on your legs that felt tight and sore from hiking, this time

you might want to focus more on your neck and upper shoulder muscles to help alleviate the headache that’s been lingering for a few days. Take a few minutes to determine what you need today, communicate those goals to your massage therapist, and you’ve actively participated in creating a session to meet your unique needs.

CHOOSE APPROPRIATE CLOTHING

Go into the session thinking about how you want to walk out of the session. No one wants
to put tight, constricting clothing on after a massage, so prepare to have a loose, comfortable outfit to wear. One of my clients comes to her sessions straight from work, so she brings a change of clothes to put on afterward.

DRINK

Plan to drink water throughout the day so you don’t (To read “The Rest of the Story” please click here BSAutumn2021)

Cornerstone of Health, Healthy Holidays, Massage for Old Injuries

Tom Saulnier — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 16:32:52 +0000

A Cornerstone of Health

Why Now, More Than Ever, You Need a Massage

While you may be tempted to trim your wellness budget when economic times are tough, now more than ever, massage should play a role in reducing stress and strengthening the health of Americans.

When you feel your best, you are more likely to be able to face the challenges difficult times present. With greater health and peace of mind, you can face difficulties with poise, clarity of purpose, and strengthened emotional reserves.

Truly, massage is more than a luxury–it’s a vital part of self-care that has a positive ripple effect on us as we work, play, relax, live life, and care for others.

Invest In Yourself, Invest in Those You Love
In economically challenging times, it is vital to invest in preventative health care. The last thing you want is to get sick, have to take time off of work, and pay expensive medical bills. Staying healthy means maintaining your ability to take whatever life has to throw at you. Besides lowering stress levels and, in turn, reducing the risk of stress-related illnesses, massage also boosts immunity, helping you fight colds, flu, and other viral infections.

Following is a sampling of a long list of bodywork benefits: (To read the “rest of the Story”, please click here Winter21Newsletter )

Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, Skin Care Through Seasons, Hot or Cold for Injuries?

Tom Saulnier — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 01:02:00 +0000

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Bodywork Treatment Proves Successful

Cathy Ulrich

It started as a vague feeling of numbness in her thumb and first two fingers, then progressed slowly to a definite tingling that woke her several nights a week. “It’s not so bad on weekends when I have a chance to rest my arms, but it’s now getting in the way of things I like to do at home,” says Marie, who spends long hours during the work week typing at her computer keyboard. “I love to knit and cook, and I’ve had to curb these activities, as well.”

Diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, Marie displayed the classic symptoms: soreness in her forearms, pain in her hands at the end of a long day at the computer, and a feeling of tightness that had spread from hands and wrists all the way to her elbows. And recently, she’d been getting headaches.

Marie has a couple of different options for treating the problem. “My doctor tells me he can operate, but the surgery isn’t always successful,” she says. “He recommends I try bodywork first.”

Because Marie does the same motion in the same way many times a day over a long period of time, she has literally worn out the tissues involved in that motion. This type of injury — called a repetitive strain injury, or RSI — creates tiny tears in the fibers of the soft tissues of the body. While they don’t immediately cause loss of function, these micro-tears set up conditions for chronic inflammation that will eventually manifest as pain, soreness, tightness, tingling, and burning.

CTS – The hand and wrist combination work together as an amazing, mechanical anatomical wonder. Imagine…(To read “The Rest of the Story”, please click here Autumn21Newsletter

Breath as a Healing Tool, Massage Returns, Massage for Dementia, Lymph Massage

Tom Saulnier — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 02:30:42 +0000

The Impact of Breath on the Body

4 Techniques to Try at Home

Cindy Williams

You breathe every second of every day, but likely without placing your attention on it. It just happens. This life-giving force has the power to heal, but often goes under the radar instead of being given the acknowledgment it deserves. Breath work is a tool in your massage therapist’s toolbox, which they may employ during your massage sessions. This tool is versatile enough that you can also use breath exercises at home to facilitate the repair of stressed tissues.

Here is a quick look at the vast and profound benefits of this simple practice on a few of the key systems of the body, as well as an overview of some simple breath techniques you can utilize at home.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF BREATH: A SIMPLE VIEW

Breath is the movement of air into and out of the lungs. The primary function of breath on a physiological level is the exchange of gases in order to sustain life processes in the body by giving oxygen to the organs and tissues, and removing waste gas. The exchange happens in the lungs as well as in the capillaries throughout the body.

Breath requires the movement of two cavities of the body—thoracic and abdominal. Both change shape in the process of breathing. When you inhale, the diaphragm flattens, and ribs lift and expand to make room for air to be drawn into the lungs by a suction force. Simultaneously, the abdominal cavity descends down and forward, causing the abdomen to swell outward. When the thoracic cavity increases in volume with air, the space of the abdominal cavity has to shift in order to make room, so when an inhale causes the belly to expand, it’s a surefire sign that it is deep rather than shallow.

While exhalation is primarily passive, when you exhale (especially consciously), abdominal muscles push the abdominal cavity back toward center and up. The diaphragm releases, ribs release, and the rib cage narrows. Air is released (and can be consciously pushed) out of the body. The actions of these muscles in the processes of inhalation and exhalation are collectively known as the respiratory pump.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Research into the physiological effects of deep breathing have illuminated significant effects on (to read “The Rest of the Story”, please click here BSsummer2021)

Age is a State of Mind, Back Health, Gifts of Green Tea

Tom Saulnier — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 17:48:25 +0000

Age is a State of Mind

Baby Boomers Combat Aging with Bodywork

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, preventing disease and injury is critical to reducing the expected growth of health-care costs headed our way, as more than 70 million U.S. baby boomers cross the 60-year-old threshold. Moreover, disease prevention is critical to, well, your health!

Whether you’re a boomer who is running a marathon or running after your grandchildren, you know that growing older doesn’t mean growing old. If you’re wondering how to stave off the effects of aging, the preventative and restorative nature of massage and bodywork might be just what the body ordered.

Improved Circulation, Healthier Skin

As our bodies age, our circulation slows and our skin loses its once youthful vitality. Experts say the mechanical nature of massage combats these effects by increasing circulation through the manipulation of tissue, improving the appearance and condition of the skin and its elasticity, and toning muscle tissue. Massage also creates a stimulating cellular function in the hypodermis, dermis, and epidermis layers of the skin and increases the production of skin-nurturing sebum.

Immunity and Stress

If you’re already a frequent recipient of massage, you know what the work does to combat daily stress. But did you know how detrimental those stressors can be?

Experts say the majority of disease we encounter today is associated with stress. Not only that, stress is a huge factor in…To Read “The Rest of The Story”, please click here Spring21Newsletter

Spring Detox, Massage After Vaccine, Realign With Nature & Your Core

Tom Saulnier — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:52:19 +0000

Detox on the Equinox

5 Ayurvedic Ways to Improve Balance in Your Body and Mind

By Angie Parris-Raney

Spring is a time of renewal and rebirth. As nature emerges, there is a wellspring of life filled with hope and inspiration. For some, however, it can mean a heavy and damp season associated with colds, congestion, and allergies. Thankfully, ayurveda—one of the world’s oldest holistic healing systems—offers a guideline to counter these characteristics with diet and lifestyle routines to strengthen a healthy immune system as we shift into the new season.

According to ayurveda, spring is kapha season, which reflects the qualities of water and cohesion. Kapha characteristics include words like cold, heavy, dull, cloudy, slow, or dense. Over the winter months, we may have accumulated even more of these attributes. Ayurveda recognizes that “like increases like.” To counter this type
of imbalance, we look to diet and lifestyle routines to invite a sense of lightness, warmth, dryness, and sharpness to support our physiology as it aligns with the changes of nature.

Just as spring is a great time to clean out our closets and drawers, it’s also a good time to clean up our diet and daily routines. Here are five tips to kick-start your ayurvedic detox this season.

1. PURIFY THE MIND WITH MEDITATION

Our beliefs, thoughts, and emotions directly affect the chemical reactions that take place
in every cell in our body. Because of that, it’s important to observe our thoughts and feelings so we have an opportunity to respond to events in a healthier way. Meditation is a practice that settles the mind into silence, connecting the self to its inner wisdom. In silence, we access joy, peace, harmony, love, and compassion. As a result of meditation, we bring these qualities back into our life, and we become more consciously aware to make healthier choices.

A growing library of research continues to support the physiological benefits of meditation, including decreased anxiety, heart rate, inflammation, and stress hormone production; increased antiaging hormone production; and a strengthened immune system. One study, supported by the Chopra Foundation, compared meditation to the effects of a vacation. Researchers found…To read “The Rest of the Story”, please click here BSSpring21

Vision & Muscle Tension, Healthy Holidays, Immune to Inactivity

Tom Saulnier — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 17:51:48 +0000

Is Your Vision Causing Muscle Tension?

– Mary Betts Sinclair

Do you have tension headaches or chronic tension in your upper body? How about neck and shoulder stiffness? Maybe you experience strain in the temples, forehead, neck, shoulders, or back, especially after a long period of working at a computer or reading a book? If so, your tension could be related to how you look at the world.

Healthy vision is comfortable, efficient, and relaxed for the viewer, while poor visual habits can interfere with free and easy movement, making the body chronically tense. We use our eyes much of the day, and if we strain to see, we create tension in the face, neck, shoulders, and back muscles. Squinting and straining when we have trouble making something out, or stiffening our entire neck, spine, and pelvis every time we look up can affect the entire body.

Most of us develop these vision habits without even being aware of them, but there are other health factors that can play a role. Up to 5 percent of children are born with some kind of visual abnormality, or develop one in the first few years of life. A lazy eye, for example, may cause a child to hike up one eye or one shoulder, or twist the neck to look out of the better-sighted eye at all times. Being sensitive to light might cause a child to develop the habit of hanging the head forward. Injuries to or near the eyes can also cause chronic tension in the muscles of the eyes or structures near the eyes. And finally, emotional stress can cause us to hold our muscles tight while we look out at the world.

What To Do

Step One

Talk with your massage therapist about your pain and strain. During a session, your therapist can check you for extra tension in …(To read “the rest of the story” please click here Winter2020 Newsletter )

Massage & Emotional Wellness, Healthy Shoulders, Importance of Health Intake

Tom Saulnier — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:08:10 +0000

From PTSD to Depression, Hands-On Work Offers Relief

By Ruth Werner

Massage therapy offers a myriad of physical benefits, but we sometimes forget everything hands-on treatments can do for our emotional well-being. Let’s take a quick look at the importance of touch and some of the specific ways it can help our mental and emotional health.

TOUCH HUNGER

From the earliest days of humankind, when one person reached out to soothe another, we have known that welcomed physical contact is good for us. The loving touch that occurs between infants and their caregivers helps create a sense of safety in the world that follows us for a lifetime. Touch that occurs between humans helps us build our foundational relationships, supports social interaction, enables emotional sharing, and provides many other benefits.

By contrast, research shows us that prolonged touch deprivation experienced by infants and young children is connected with failure to thrive and the inability to create social attachments,
and with shorter lifespans and more illness in isolated elders.

The need for healthy touch is so important, and the consequences of touch deprivation are so dire, that groundbreaking anthropologist Ashley Montagu gave our drive for this form of human-to-human interaction a name: touch hunger.

We know that touch is a basic human need, but we live in a society with few appropriate venues for physical contact. Where does healthy touch (outside of sexual activity) occur between non-related adults in our culture? We only see it in the context of greetings and leave-takings, sports, professional grooming, or health care. Massage therapy is an intervention that bridges those last two; in some settings it could be considered part of grooming, and in others it is offered as health care.

MASSAGE AND ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND PTSD

For mental and emotional well-being, massage therapy has a surprisingly robust body of evidence showing benefits for people with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mood-related challenges. Much of this research has been done in settings where…(To read “the rest of the story”, please click here BSFall2020)

Clearing Clutter, Healthy Energy Boosters, Easing Holiday Angst

Tom Saulnier — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 01:00:34 +0000

Clearing the Clutter

The Psychology of Place Inside and Out

Shirley Vanderbilt

What’s cluttering your life? Is it the stuff in the corner of the bedroom, or the stuff in the corner of your mind? What are you tolerating that keeps you from expressing your true self? Authors Bruce and Lou Stewart say that clutter–both in our environment and our mind–is stagnating, blocking the free-flow of energy, or chi, in our homes and lives. Whether we’re detouring around a box in the living room or repeating a negative pattern in our head, it’s time to clear the path.

In their new book, “Your Way Home–The Psychology of Place Inside and Out,” the Stewarts present a unique approach to clutter-clearing by combining Lou’s expertise in feng shui with Bruce’s mastery of neurolinguistic programming (NLP). While feng shui has to do with external placement and structure, NLP is a psychological approach that addresses our internal structure of mind, body, emotion, and spirit. With feng shui, we can free energy flow by rearranging the room; with NLP tools, we can do the same thing with our mind. The goal is to bring balance between the inner and outer sanctums by clarifying our core, or essential self, and allowing our environment to reflect and support our core values.

Making the Connection

When the Stewarts first blended their feng shui and NLP skills together in workshop presentations, they noticed it was easier for people to clear their environment when they were connected to their core.

“It really is a cycle,” Lou says. “The environment and our core are reflections of one another. When we know our core, it’s much easier to…(To read “the rest of the story” please click here Fall2020Newsletter