I have always felt very blessed, to understand from a very young age that my desire and what gives me purpose, is to be of service to others.  However there is such thing as care giver burnout and I am deep in the trenches of what I see happening to our society.  By being a massage therapist I take the brunt force of a world rushing around and filling their days with endless task and obligations that subsequently fill people’s bodies up with pain, stress and chronic tension.

Though we are taught proper body mechanics in massage school so we do not hurt our own bodies and taught visualizations and techniques to prevent sucking up others pain and frantic energy, a lot of it still leaks through when you are doing massage all day long on people.

My intention in my massage practice and my holistic living blog is to provide the public with honest, time tested knowledge into the world of holistic healing, with an ethical consideration for the public’s health and safety as well as an ethical consideration to the entire field of healing arts and my fellow professional colleagues who have dedicated their time, money and hearts to careers in the holistic fields of study. With this said please understand that when I say professional colleagues, I am referring to people who have attended legitimate educational institutes monitored closely by state regulating boards, not mail order certificates or training offered by multi-level marketing companies selling their products.

I would like to discuss the subject of headaches this month, as this time of year can bring on headaches more than any other season due to the blossoming of different pollens and fluctuations in weather patterns.  We will explore some of the causes and some information on holistic cures for every day headaches to more severe migraines.  Throughout the medical profession, headaches have remained an elusive subject to diagnose and treat due to the broad array of variables that cause them.

Wow, that is a mouthful.  What does this phrase even mean?  What is a fragmented self?

If you are experiencing a fragmented self, it simply means that your intentions are not in line with your actions.  We as humans will probably go in and out of this many times in our souls as we navigate our paths in this life.   To start we have to first ask ourselves what our intentions in life are and then learn the skill and discipline of applying the action of those intentions in a real way.

I recently treated myself to a weekend yoga and meditation retreat near Fort Collins at the Shambhala Mountain Center.  I went because I did not take any time off for the holidays from work and was feeling like I needed to surround myself with some other spiritually inclined “seekers” and gather some higher energy for myself.  I also just watched one of my best friends slowly die this last month and said goodbye to him for the last time before I left for my retreat.  Even though I had already booked my retreat before I knew how sick my friend was, it was perfect timing to have some space to myself alone to sort through my feelings about losing him.

The word inflammation in Latin means “to ignite or set alight”.  Put simply, inflammation can be described as our body’s natural response to any injury or agitation of our tissues.  On a deeper level, the inflammatory response “sets alight” a plethora of cellular wonders designed to protect and heal the area.

There are two types of inflammation.  The first one is acute inflammation.  The word acute is synonymous with words like serious, critical or dire.

Even though Autumn and Winter are my favorite times of the year, we are entering the notorious season for colds and flu’s that can kill your energy and holiday fun.  The following is a list of my favorite immune building products that I use to proactively guard my immune system in this season.  In addition to incorporating some of these products into your daily nutrition, staying active even when the weather changes and receiving regular massages will also keep your immune system in its optimal state.

Forward: I survived and chose my whole career to help bring this information to as many people as possible so this article is a major part of my heart and soul and gift to others.  I will continually be adding more to it as it is such a large and important subject I am always thinking of more resources to add.  Also because there is so much out there written about this subject matter you will find throughout the text additional articles on subjects where I didn't want to reinvent the wheel so to speak.

 

As us folks in Wyoming wait for the weather to actually feel like spring, I feel that the effects of this vibrant season have been in full force for the last two months.  Spring and autumn are the two seasons in the year that are all about transition.  While autumn represents a slowing down into hibernation, spring represents a speeding up into awakening and the birth of new life. Though this is a beautiful process, I feel a bit like a grumpy bear being woken up from my peaceful winter slumber.