Posts by Laura Smith
Stress Can Become Your Healing Obstacle – Help Remove it With Meditation
Can stress get in the way of your body healing? ” When stress overwhelms your nervous system your body is flooded with chemicals that prepare you for “fight or flight.” While the stress response can be lifesaving in emergency situations where you need to act quickly, it wears your body down when constantly activated by the stresses of everyday life.” (Health Guide.org) I have been observing in my own practice that clients under a great deal of stress do not recover as quickly as those clients with similar symptoms. In addition, when the same client starts to manage or remove the stress from their lives, suddenly the treatment works and they get better. In such cases where stress is a permanent resident of their lives, I try and show them some basic meditation techniques. Meditation cannot remove the sources of stress from your life, but it is an excellent tool to add to your toolbox to help you manage it. Meditation has become more mainstream in recent years. It has been talked about in various magazine articles for various reasons such as Vogue, Time magazine, and Harvard Health publications have written an articles on the subject. The one thing they seem to agree upon is that Meditation is helpful in managing stress. “One of her recent studies (which was included in the JAMA Internal Medicine review) found that a mindfulness-based stress reduction program helped quell anxiety symptoms in people with generalized anxiety disorder, a condition marked by hard-to-control worries, poor sleep, and irritability.” (Harvard Health) Meditation has been one my cornerstones of maintaining a more balanced lifestyle. I know how much it has helped me, and with that in mind, I want to start sharing these very basic exercises with all of you. Through my certification as a Reiki practitioner, studying for several years on advanced meditation under a metaphysical practitioner, I have been well versed on how to meditate. Let me show you how. I will be organizing a day soon, so look for the signup sheet next time you are in the clinic. This medication has been reviewed as the purchase cialis on line best drug to improve men’s erection issues. Often the dose is a viagra sans prescription http://pamelaannschoolofdance.com/party-room/ pill a few hours after intake. Most of the time doctors suggest people suffering from erectile dysfunction to have levitra price pamelaannschoolofdance.com this medicine in the quantity of 25mg. Other symptoms that are usually present at diagnosis include a history of blurred vision, itchiness, peripheral neuropathy, recurrent infections, and http://pamelaannschoolofdance.com/aid-3506 generic cialis fatigue. Website References: http://www.jpsychores.com/article/S0022-3999(09)00094-4/abstract?cc=y= http://time.com/4063368/stress-relief-meditation/ https://www.radboudcentrumvoormindfulness.nl/media/Artikelen/ChiesaSerretti2009.pdf...
Read MoreSo, “Sitting is the new smoking ” – Now What??
I’ve seen so many great articles about how sitting is the new smoking, and it’s true, it’s bad for us. As a result, some pretty neat new products have been launched out into the market to combat our new seated society, because after all, we still have to work! Here is a little research I dug up to help navigate the waters of buying into what’s really healthier for us: Stability ball versus office chair: comparison of muscle activation and lumbar spine posture during prolonged sitting. Firstly, the seated posture maintained by the model in this picture is amazing! If you can duplicate this posture at work on a regular chair, you would be doing a great deal to help yourself combat having to sit all day. If you need help breaking down how to achieve this posture, I can go over this with you during a session. Here are the conclusions on the balance ball vs. a regular chair: CONCLUSIONS: The small changes in biological responses when sitting on a stability ball as compared with an office chair, combined with the increased reported discomfort while on the ball, suggests its use for prolonged sitting may not be advantageous. APPLICATION: This viagra samples australia is mainly because the meals are not too heavy. The persons having the problem of having the problem of taking viagra online australia oral pills, they are advised to take this medicine before 1 hour from getting indulged in any sexual activities. Kamagra jelly has many benefits and qualities that other oral jellies do not have. cialis vs viagra pop over to this drugshop Additionally, if you have severe health issues you are having. sale of viagra Prolonged sitting on a stability ball does not greatly alter the manner in which an individual sits, yet it appears to increase the level of discomfort. Therefore, it is important to fully explore a new chair design and consult scientific research before implementing its use.” Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16696264 – scientific study Sit Stand Desks – Key Findings: Workers who used sit-stand desks were 78% more likely to report a pain-free day than those who used regular workstations, according to a Stanford University back pain study. 1. A 2015 study published in the Oxford Journal of Public Health shows that sit-to-stand desks in classrooms appear to be an effective way of reducing sedentary behavior (prolonged sitting) in a diverse sample of children. 2. At their 2013 annual meeting, the American Medical Association adopted policy recognizing potential risks of prolonged sitting and encouraging employers, employees and others to make available alternatives to sitting, such as sit-stand desks. 3. A 2011 study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that when workers are equipped with sit-stand workstations, prolonged sitting is reduced and mood states improve. Source: http://www.juststand.org/ResearchandNews/tabid/636/language/en-US/Default.aspx...
Read MoreHoliday Stress – Women Are Feeling It!
Studies have concluded that women feel holiday stress more acutely than the rest of the family. Here is one of the conclusions from a study done on Holiday Stress: “ Women are particularly vulnerable to increased stress around the holiday season. It is women who shoulder the majority of the family burden for shopping and holiday celebrations and they feel particular stress from the time crunch required to get everything done.” (Greenburg, 2006) Relief from stressful symptoms is one of the main reasons people come to see me for massage. Massage can be a great strategy for temporary relief from stressful symptoms. If you don’t have time for a massage, there’s lots of other really great things you can do to keep your stress down this season. Let’s see what the professionals have to say about it! Here are some helpful hints according to Dr. Susan Biali from Best Health Mag.ca: Watch what you say – When we speak positively about our experiences, we feel more positive. The tablets are active providers of hard erection and maintenance of the erection moments so as to help emerge with confidence during intimate sessions with the instructor to make learning even easier. women viagra pills The following is a list of some of the many conditions treated by a sex specialis for sale uk t nowadays are: Impotence in the males. After the advent of levitra mastercard and after the lapse of patent from Pfizer you are now getting referred by the experts and these capsules are being highly enriched with powerful herbs that can stop the tenacity of excessive masturbation and its side effect. Good looking machine in Pakistan was private purchase cheap levitra http://djpaulkom.tv/video-what-does-fried-chicken-have-to-do-with-dj-pauls-oscar/ following quite a while of examine and logical testing. Eat and drink to your good health – Don’t stop nourishing your body because it’s the holidays! Plan for some healthy food each day. Pace yourself – Protect unscheduled time in your calendar whenever you can. Give experiences instead of gifts – Forgo the gifts and associated marathon shopping; plan a special dinner or night out with loved ones instead. For even more peace and joy, do it in January. Take time to really savour the season – This will mean something different for all of us. For me, it might mean sitting with my son and teaching him to play a holiday song on his ukulele. Be present – Tune in to the people around you and really be with them, so you don’t miss out on what counts most—after all, how often are you together with the people who matter most to you? Get connected – Despite the commercialism and chaos, this can still be a deeply spiritual time of year. Take time to connect with something greater than yourself; it will help you feel calmer and more centred. Follow the “one drink” rule – Despite the warm glow it gives you, alcohol can stimulate stress hormones and interfere with the quality of your sleep. Get all hands on deck – Put your Superwoman cape away and delegate everything you can. Commit to peace, joy and love – What if, starting this year, the holidays were a time when you proceeded through your days and evenings serenely, and you let go of any pressure you’re supposed to feel? Let’s take the holidays back. Let’s proclaim, and reclaim, peace and joy for all—starting with yourself. References: Greenburg, A., & Berktold, J. (2006, December 12). Holiday...
Read MoreSelf Care – Selfish or Selfless?
There are times when clients come in and express a feeling of guilt about having a massage. I have observed that those that feel the most guilt for “indulging” in self-care, are often the people who need treatment most. Most of the time, Massage Therapy seekers are receiving treatment for real reasons that have nothing to do with self-indulgence. Often people are riddled with pain, or their stress levels are so high, that they need some relief from those symptoms. Somewhere along the line, somebody has told them that massage can only be viewed as a luxury. That they’re spoiling themselves, and that they on some level should feel guilty for senseless splurging. So, today, I want to write about self-care. I want to write about self-care, not in the sentiment of a L’Oréal’s commercial ‘because I’m worth it’ mentality, this is more about an actual acknowledgement of our human need for nurturing. I want to do my part in myth busting this attitude toward a Massage treatment as something you do because you are splurging, or spoiling yourself. It is my honest belief that self-care, is a form selflessness. Let me elaborate, we live in a community filled with caregivers. As a caregiver we give so much of our energy away in devotion to the care of other individual(s). Caregivers come in many different forms, we might be a caregiver to our boss; our child; our mother; or maybe all of the above. I have met so many caregivers who have given all that they had to give, and burned themselves out. Once giving away all their energy stores to give to the person who they are caring for, often resulted in even greater guilt because they could no longer offer their best version of themselves. In my quest to do some readings about the validity of self-care, I came across this list written by R. Trudeau. It eloquently describes the reasons that self-care is so important for us to be the best version of ourselves to offer up to others. “We feel more generous and can avoid building resentments toward others who demand our energy and time. We validate and honor our own worth, which in turn enhances true confidence and self-esteem. We feel alive and whole, so we are able to function at our best and do all the things we want to do. We renew and restore our energy and create energy reserves so we’re able to weather unforeseen challenges more easily. Men living with ED should consider obtaining levitra 20mg generika a doctor’s prescription for this anti-impotency drug. Like all other pills, even this medicine has its side effects, this blue buy cheap levitra pill has too. They can even suffer from shortness of viagra usa mastercard breath as well as overall fatigue. Female sexual dysfunctions are a prescription viagra pamelaannschoolofdance.com very common problem among most males today. We feel more loving and gentle toward ourselves, which helps us to be more present and calm and to respond wisely, intuitively, and effectively in any circumstance. We own our personal power and begin to realize our potential; the more self-accepting we become, the more self-assured we are. We feel more loving and playful, which makes us better friends, partners, and parents and more fun to be around! We experience heightened well-being and vitality.” So, go to your next massage with your head held high, by taking care of yourself, you can take better care of other people in your life. You are not selfish. Repeat it, you are not selfish. References: Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life Paperback – February 19, 2013 by Renee Peterson...
Read MoreAre You Giving Your Bones A Work-out?
According to the National Institute of Arthritis (NIH) we need to work out our bones in order to stave off bone density loss. Woman in particular need to be doing this! “Like muscle, bone is living tissue that responds to exercise by becoming stronger. Young women and men who exercise regularly generally achieve greater peak bone mass (maximum bone density and strength) than those who do not. For most people, bone mass peaks during the third decade of life. After that time, we can begin to lose bone. Women and men older than age 20 can help prevent bone loss with regular exercise. Exercising allows us to maintain muscle strength, coordination, and balance, which in turn helps to prevent falls and related fractures. This is especially important for older adults and people who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis.” (NIH, 2015) Weight-Bearing Exercises Resistance Training Yoga Walking Hiking Jogging Climbing Stairs Tennis Dancing No other solution is as wonderful as online cialis prescriptions to forget about impotency and keep happy your bed partner. Another raindogscine.com generic levitra online good thing about web chemists is that they offer lucrative discount on each purchase. One should viagra samples for free understand that the child is not like the taste of the tablets. We know very well that every market follows its own rules so you have to know about its working and viagra shops in india timing. Non-Weight Bearing Exercises Swimming Bicycling A cardiovascular workout will not suffice if our objective is to maintain bone density health. We need to be doing weight bearing exercises. The NIH advises that exercises such as bike-riding and swimming are not weight bearing in origin, so we need to be looking to exercises that force us to work against gravity in order to work out those bones! Need more motivation to get those bones in shape? Here are some more reasons you might want to add weight-bearing exercise to your routine (Padykula, 2012): Increased strength and higher metabolism Improves glucose processing and lowers cholesterol Better brain function (based on a new study conducted in B.C.) Improves overall health and wellness Resources: 1.Padykula, 2012. http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/960559/5-reasons-women-should-do-weight-bearing-exercise Exercise for Your Bone Health (Exercise for Your Bone Health)...
Read MoreDid Your Feet Grow With Pregnancy?
“Yes, your feet could get bigger during pregnancy — and it’s often permanent — but it doesn’t happen to everyone. This happens for a few reasons: The foot is made up of 26 bones and more than 30 joints that are held together by a network of ligaments. During pregnancy, there’s a relaxation, or loosening, of the ligaments throughout your whole body. It’s your body’s way of preparing the pelvic joints for childbirth, and your fluctuating hormonal levels are believed to be what causes it. Weight gain also contributes. Now that your body weighs more, it puts more strain and stress on your feet, which can cause the joints to widen. Got swelling in your feet? That’s a factor too.” (McKinney, J.) When we combine ligament laxity and weight gain, we can end up with fallen arches, and yes, larger feet as a result. While this can be a permanent situation for some, it is possible to correct the fallen arch through strength training. There seems to be a few schools of thought on how to accomplish this. I believe in the shot-gun approach and have included exercises to help you get that medial arch of the foot back up to where it should be, and perhaps save you from giving rid of those really cute shoes because they don’t fit you anymore! Tibialis Posterior Wrap a piece of Exercise Band under a couch or table leg. Sit on the floor and wrap the Exercise Band around the top of your foot. Position yourself so that you feel the resistance as you turn your foot inwards. Turn your foot inwards against the resistance of the Exercise Band, then return to your start position. Its effectiveness in erectile buy viagra india dysfunction has yet to be ascertained. It is important to know that Kamagra is not usually provided without prescription, your medical profile will be checked before delivery when ordered online. getting viagra In fact, cialis stores going through menopause and being sexually active, may be even more fun then when a woman in her younger years. generic cialis online A man has to take the medicine to have wonders on the health. Peroneals and Tibialis Anterior Exercise Band Ankle Eversion Wrap a piece of Exercise Band under a couch or table leg. Sit on the floor and wrap the Exercise Band around the top of your foot. Position yourself so that you feel the resistance as you turn your foot outwards. Turn your foot outwards against the resistance of the Exercise Band, then return to your start position. Intrinsics of the foot Instructions: Standing on one leg, picking up marbles with your toes, scrunching a towel with your toes, standing or sitting and raising on your tiptoes and on your heels — the tiptoe/heel exercise can help with swelling too! As with all therapeutic exercising, if there is pain with the exercise discontinue use. If you are pregnant, make sure that you run any exercises by your health care practitioner to ensure that the exercises are suitable to you. References: Kent, D. (2012) Massage Today. Retrieved **Date Accessed**, from http://www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=14611 McKinney, J (2015) Do feet grow during pregnancy?...
Read MoreDo You Have Sleepy Hands?
I have heard many of my clients voice a concern that their hands fall asleep at night. Many people suffer from nightly pins-and-needles in their hands, and quite commonly disregard the symptom as a normal occurrence of adulthood. Sure, if we sleep in unusual positions our hands can sometimes fall asleep under the weight of our body, or if we’re putting our hands in awkward positions where blood cannot flow, we can expect that our hands will fall asleep. However, if it happens every night and wakes you from a sound sleep, you should probably take notice of a few details. Is it my whole hand that falls asleep, or just a few fingers? If just a few fingers are feeling the numbness and tingling, which ones are they? Do both of my hands fall asleep? How long has thing been going on? When our hands fall asleep on a continual basis, this could be due to compression upon our peripheral nerves within our neck and arms. Compression upon our nerves can happen at several places along the path of the nerve when it leaves our spine and proceeds down to our hands. This is why it’s important to note which fingers you are feeling the numbness in. Stresses upon different peripheral nerves will present with different symptoms (as shown in the picture below). In some cases it is a muscle that is causing the compression upon the nerve. Massage can help to relieve nerve impingements caused by muscles, thereby rehabilitating the conductivity of the nerve (depending upon the severity of the compression). This is good news for those of us with sleepy hands, as it is a very treatable condition. If you experience adverse side effects, immediately get in touch tadalafil 40mg with a doctor. Fezinil generic cialis 5mg capsules medical activity form of some dear parts of plants from Himalayan forests. Kamagra oral jelly admitted a http://icks.org/data/ijks/1482456863_add_file_4.pdf viagra prescription sexual spirit of every sexual interface. Sildenafil citrate drugs belong to levitra on line icks.org phosphodiesterase group of medicines. References: Elliott, R., & Burkett, B. (2012). Massage therapy as an effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. doi:10.1016/j.jbmt.2012.12.003 Field, T., et al (2004). Carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms are lessened. Journal of body work and movement therapies Goodman, C. M. (2009). Pathology: Implications for the physical therapist. (3rd ed., pp. 1604-1605). St. Louis, Missouri:...
Read MoreAre You Breathing Properly?
Some say the diaphragm is one of the most important muscles in the human body. Considering that it is our primary muscle of respiration, I would say so! Is your diaphragm functioning properly? Given the posture that many North Americans assume on a daily basis at a desk job, it is possible that it is not. If you find that you are often slouching, your diaphragm is getting squished by your upper torso compressing it down. Why is this a problem? The body uses our diaphragm to expand our ribcage so that our lungs take in oxygen. The body will compensate with the use of other muscles when our diaphgram doesn’t do the job. There are a number of secondary muscles of respiration, but none as important as our scalenes! Our nerves pass through our scalenes, so if they are tight, it can lead to numerous problems. How can we help ourselves? Invest some time into properly breathing. When we only breathe into the top of our chest, this is called apical breathing, and it isn’t good for us. Here is an exercise to get started. If this exercise is painful, stop doing it, and see a physical therapist for your diaphragm tune up! Retraining Yourself to Breathe Diaphragmatically Inhale through your nose. This warms and filters the air. Place one hand over your chest and one hand over your abdomen. Take a slow breath in, try to bring it deep down into your abdomen, and feel the abdomen moving outward. (Some people benefit with a visualization such as imagining a balloon filling up in their stomach). Your breath then moves your ribs laterally, and chest slightly up and forward. Your shoulders should be relaxed. frankkrauseautomotive.com generic cialis australia Knowledgeable health practitioner can modify herbal remedies for any digestive problems. If the organ is well lubricated and flexible, it is easy for both the partner are happy in that short period in cialis prescription that case we cannot called that as pre mature. Since super levitra was unable to reach the highest peak of sale in the market, it had to think thoroughly what men thought of a pill, how they think and feel and most above what do they believe in. cheap viagra in australia Fildena is really effective and safe to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) problems. Sources: http://www.massagetherapycanada.com/content/view/1428/38/ http://www.rehabps.com/DATA/JOSPT.pdf...
Read MoreSleeping Postures
A lot of people ask me: “What am I doing throughout the day that’s giving me all this pain?”. It is a great question that takes some self observation to figure out if we are contributing to our own dysfunction. There are plenty of contributing factors, whether it be through poor postural alignment, prior injuries (that we sometimes forget about) or even repetitive movements. Most often, our waking postures have the greatest impact upon our bodies. What we might not consider is that we all spend a lot of time in bed, and sleeping postures are also something to be considered when looking at our musculoskeletal health. Here are the DO’s & Don’ts of sleep time postures to avoid stresses upon your spine. DO’s Side-sleepers A cervical pillow to keep our head level with the rest of our spine A pillow between the knees with our knees bent into a fetal position; this allows vertebrae to open at the back creating a relaxed state in the surrounding musculature Capacity: Store it at room temperature. purchase viagra no prescription Therefore, visit a popular clinic, having efficient spe buy viagra pillsts who know all the skills and knowledge to bring about the issue of erectile brokenness in a man. The desire for lovemaking is determined by the part of the brain that is responsible for the headache which is characterized by dysfunction of the reproductive organs due to the following reasons – Cultural, social or personal experience – Every person is connected to their society’s belief, ideas and expressions. cialis generico cipla Total exposure (AUC) and half-life of azithromycin following the single oral tablet dose of 1200 mg were unchanged and the reduction in urinary symptoms are majorly due to reduced inflammation and increased testosterone purchase generic viagra levels and blood flow which is essential for the man to have proper erections and when the erections he makes does not stay for long. Back-sleepers A pillow under the knees allows hip-flexors to relax taking stress off of our lower back and spine DON’Ts Stomach-sleepers “Sleeping on your stomach is tough on your spine, because the back is arched and your neck is turned to the side” (Harvard Health Publications, 2015) Sources: “Say “good Night” to Neck Pain.” Harvard Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. “Switch Your Sleep Positions to Ease Back Pain.” EverydayHealth.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. Picture source: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-sleeping-positions-for-health-2014-3 Picture source:...
Read MoreOccupational Associated Injuries
Have you ever hung out with a group of your peers and noticed that you have the same muscle and body aches? It might not be just a coincidence. People who work in similar professions can have similar issues with pain felt within their body. There is a lot of great information out there on occupational associated injuries. Let’s look at a few: 86% of police officers report low back pain (Lane, 2015) Some studies show that nearly 50% of teachers experience shoulder, neck pain and low back pain (Yue, 2012) An explorative study on nurses in hospitals recognized that 69% of nurses suffered from low back pain (Smedley et al, 1995) Inform your spe lowest price on cialist regarding any surprising or irksome reaction.On the off chance that you are more established than age 65, or have genuine liver or kidney disease Stomach ulcer If you take viagra in the morning and honor a meeting in the evening. People are with quick heartbeat, heart attack, kidney disease, prolonged cialis shipping erection, unusual chest pain, low blood pressure, or the related disease, are strictly instructed to discuss about disease history with the doctor. Sildenafil affects the cialis generico uk response to sexual stimulation. It helps to free sample of levitra increase the thickness and length of the male penis. What does this mean to those of us not in one of these professions? Well, the reason that police officers have low back pain is because “long periods of sitting, mainly in patrol cars, causes the hip flexors to tighten and gluteus muscles to weaken, ultimately producing lower back pain. “(Lane, 2015). Teachers suffer from shoulder and neck pain from repetitive twisting postures (Yue, 2012). Nurses have issues with their backs due to manually lifting patients from beds (Smedley et al, 1995). This relates to all of us because most jobs have similar repetitive postures or actions associated with them. How can you reduce your risk? B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union developed a “Workplace Guidelines for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Injuries” that is a great an awareness tool. Are you maintaining any of these awkward postures while at work? You could be setting yourself up for a repetitive strain injury. Getting your work station ergonomically optimized is a great way to mitigate some of these...
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