The Wellness Nook to Muladhara Movement

From Brick-and-Mortar to Online Wellness Education: Our Journey of Evolution and Empowerment

As we navigate the ever-changing landscape of wellness, our business has undergone a significant transformation. What began as a cozy brick-and-mortar wellness nook offering therapeutic massage and yoga has now evolved into a dynamic online wellness education platform. This shift allows us to reach and empower more women, offering them the tools and knowledge to understand their own bodies and achieve balanced health.

Embracing Change: Our New Online Presence

Our journey started with a simple but powerful mission: to provide a sanctuary where individuals could experience the healing benefits of massage therapy and yoga. Over the years, we cultivated a community of wellness enthusiasts who found solace and strength within our walls. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to close our doors temporarily, prompting us to regroup and rethink our approach. This period of reflection and redirection led us to embrace the digital realm and expand our reach.

Transitioning to an online platform was a natural progression for us. It opened up new possibilities for connecting with women globally, transcending geographical boundaries. Our online classes are designed to support women in their wellness journeys, offering insights into their own anatomy and teaching them to use their bodies as keys to balanced health through yoga and self-massage.

Empowering Women Through Education

One of our core focuses in this new phase is women's wellness education. We believe that understanding one’s own body is fundamental to achieving overall health and well-being. Our classes cover a range of topics, providing women with the knowledge and tools they need to nurture their bodies and minds.

Key Offerings:

-Anatomy and Physiology: Classes that delve into the intricacies of the female body, helping women understand their anatomy and physiological processes.

- Yoga and Self-Massage: Practical sessions that teach women how to use yoga and self-massage techniques to promote physical and mental balance.

- Advocacy and Communication: Workshops that empower women with the language and confidence to understand and advocate for their own health needs.

Supporting All Women and Future Educators

We have courses that are designed to support all women, regardless of where they are on their wellness journey. Whether you are just beginning to explore holistic health practices or are looking to deepen your existing knowledge, our classes offer valuable insights and practical tools.

In addition to individual wellness classes, we also offer teacher training programs for yoga instructors. These programs equip yoga teachers with the skills and knowledge to support their female students more effectively. By training educators, we aim to create a ripple effect, spreading the benefits of our approach to women's wellness far and wide.

In-Person Retreats for Deeper Connection

While our online platform allows us to reach women across the globe, we understand the unique value of in-person experiences. For those who prefer face-to-face interaction, we continue to offer in-person women's retreats. These retreats provide an immersive experience where women can connect deeply with themselves and each other in a supportive, nurturing environment.

Community Outreach and Support

Our commitment to women's wellness extends beyond our paying clients. We are dedicated to making a positive impact on the broader community through our outreach programs. We offer free training to women who have been financially disenfranchised and those in lower socioeconomic situations. By working with refugees, women's shelters, and other community organizations, we strive to provide valuable resources and support to those who need it most.

A Community of Empowered Women

As we continue to grow and evolve, our commitment to building a supportive community remains unwavering. Our online platform not only provides educational resources but also fosters a sense of connection among women from diverse backgrounds. Together, we share experiences, learn from each other, and support one another in our journeys towards holistic well-being.

Join Us on This Journey

We are excited about the future and the opportunities it holds for our community. By embracing the digital realm, we can offer our unique blend of therapeutic practices and educational content to women everywhere. We invite you to join us on this journey of evolution and empowerment. Whether you're looking to enhance your personal wellness, attend a transformative retreat, or become a beacon of support in your community, our classes and training programs are here to guide you every step of the way.

Together, we can create a world where women are empowered to understand, nurture, and advocate for their own health, leading lives of balance and fulfillment.

How to get into yoga?

You have chosen to join the fantastic world of yoga; you've decided to prioritize yourself, stop outsourcing your healing, improve your mobility and improve your stability-

 mentally and physically

But like with most things, for whatever reason there isn't a start line; where do you begin?  do I start by going into a class? do I start by a video at home? start by reading a book? -The answer is to figure out what works best for you; in every situation there are many priorities that come to play.

Things you want to make sure when starting any kind of fitness body practice, as well as a mental practice, is making sure you're doing it right ,avoiding any injury, avoiding any strain, and any stress again mentally and physically. 

Yoga is awareness, the practice of yoga is being aware of your body, mid and breath in that moment. unlike running on a treadmill and thinking about what you have to do for the rest of the day, what you have to handle with what happened earlier that day.  In yoga you are on your mat, you are thinking about the pose you're thinking about how your body feels in the pose and you are thinking about how your breath feels throughout the pose.- So if awareness is the key to yoga running with intention and mindfulness is practicing yoga, and doing asana(yoga pose) while thinking of your grocery list is not practicing yoga. 

 In this sense when you are practicing yoga, you are unable to injure yourself because you are completely aware  while doing the asana.

There's plenty of physical challenges in yoga but one of the most challenging part of yoga is the mental part, the ability to let the world around you go and be on an island on your mat and being completely there.

As somebody who practices yoga, and who teaches yoga, as a body worker who helps patients and clients get through injuries from any kind of physical trauma, I always recommend to clients to start with a small groups or one-on-one, in any new physical practice. I highly recommend going to a personal trainer when you still want to start working out more and I highly recommend taking private yoga lessons when you want to start practicing yoga. No different than any other physical practice, alignment posture are key to getting what you want out of a asana and mobility and stability, but as well as preventing any sort of injury, so it is key to know that your alignment is correct, not just when you're in a pose but flowing between poses. Giving a video online or that you bought at the store is a great way to practice yoga but is not a great way to start practicing. You don't have someone there that knows the proper alignments to help with any adjustments, you don't have a person there to see if you need to do a pose differently to make sure you get the most out of your post, you don't have someone there to assist you in preventing any strains for injuries. Taking a class is more beneficial, because there is a teacher who's observing, however, when you go into a class, even a beginner class, it is not as beginner as it probably should be. Realistically, if you've never practice yoga, you don't need a beginner class, you need an intro class. You need to be introduced to yoga because when you've been introduced then you can do beginner stuff but introductory is not a part of average beginner class. Problems that might arise are things might be more challenging than you expected and then become discouraging. Also, if you personally have physical limitations you don't know how to modify poses that the average person can do for you just might need to do a little bit differently; which you can't always do with a whole class. the teacher is unable to show every modification for every physical adjustment. As well, when you're dealing with a class of say 20 students the teacher is unable to give you a hundred percent of their attention. This leaves you open for the opportunity for misalignment and for learning bad habits and learning poses incorrectly.

 So, what I highly recommend to everyone introducing themselves to this new practice, is to do either very small introductory classes or one-on-one sessions with a yoga instructor. The benefits of doing a one-on-one session with your yoga instructor is you get full attention to make sure your alignment is where it needs to be so you can learn how the poses feels. How the stretches are meant to feel and where the strength is supposed to be coming from. The teacher is also able to customize the class, not only to your limitations and your needs but also to your goals and what you want out of your class. The teachers able to work with imbalances you have in your body to help bring balance back into your body The teacher would be able to help you bring strength where it is needed and flexibility where it's wanted and needed to help you get the most out of your yoga practice. You are able to ask questions throughout the class. Then you can take what you've learned from your private lesson and apply that to your full class or home yoga practice . 

How frequent and for how long you should be doing private yoga sessions is determined on you. Determined on what your teacher thinks and how you are feeling. What I usually recommend when you're starting, to go minimum of once a week if you can go more than that, that is fantastic, however, if you can at least go once a week, and make sure to do stretching and mobility work in between your personal sessions. I would also recommend going for a minimum of six times and then, as you get more confident and more comfortable with the asanas ,with your body, then you can go to full classes, where you don't need as much focused attention from the teacher. Where you already know how to modify things that are more challenging for you and different poses were you already know what alignment you need in each posture. Then you can always come back to private lessons if you want just a little extra focus on something, if you feel that you're not getting it right, you could always come back to private sessions if you feel you need more attention to reach a goal, maybe you want to get into a headstand, and you would like someone to work with you one-on-one on how is best to get to that goal. Maybe you need a private therapeutic session to recover from an injury or maybe you just prefer private sessions, the way some people prefer to do personal training rather than take a workout class. Whatever fits your comfort, whatever fits your needs. the goal is to get yourself into yoga to get yourself into the practice and to get yourself doing it correctly so you can feel your best and be your happiest!

Are you outsourcing your wellness?

On a normal day our hours are filled with work, preparing for work, preparing food, caring for children, helping our husbands, helping our wives, helping our parents; but do we take time for helping ourselves?

When our body's hurt we take muscle relaxers, we take anti-inflammatories, maybe we even get a massage. When our stress levels are up we take pills, we vent or friends, maybe we get a massage. If we feel we need to lose weight, we take a cookie-cutter diet, we found someone else made for their body, we eat "diet food";  maybe even take things for weight loss.

And of course we do, we don't have time to take to do the proper self-care, we don't have time to take control of our own wellness, we don't have time to be responsible to figure out what is going on in our bodies and how to take care of it. We have to delegate this, we have to Outsource our healing and are wellness because we just don't have the time.

It's easy to justify anything we don't achieve when we think about the time we have in a day and what we do in our days.

 Now, take the word "time" and change it for "priority". I don't have the priority to figure out what diet is best for my body; I don't have the priority to stretch and keep my muscles limber; I don't have the priority to take care of my body so it lasts me as long as it can. I don't know about you, but I would like to live a long healthy mobile life. At my age now in my thirties, I'd like to be able to use my body for, at the very least, 40 more years and honestly I would like 50 to 60 more good physically mobile years from my bones.

How to find the time to create the priority for your own self care might seem daunting and overwhelming but take a step back and evaluate what your day is filled with; what you do give time to, and see if it's something you really want to give priority to. Potentially, you can take away something or maybe combine things. Instead of just unwinding and watching TV, why don't you unwind, watch TV and stretch? It takes less then 5 minutes a day of stretching a muscle group, five to six days a week to increase flexibility. After your last meal of the day, take just a 10 to 15 minute walk, this reduces blood sugar spikes.  Rather than allowing social media to take up your time and priority, why don't you do research on different ways of eating what might be most beneficial for you and your body? 

With diet, with exercise, with meditation, there is no one-size-fits-all. We all need to take the time, takes the priority for our own self care, we need to find out what works best for us. In every avenue. What can we make the time and priority for, what do we enjoy, what makes us feel good, mentally and physically. Take the time to discover what works for you, so you can take the time to take care of yourself because you are a priority. 

For myself one of my favorite practices of prioritizing myself is yoga. I recommend yoga for any of my clients that come in for a massage because even though massage is a way to take care of yourself, even though massage should be a priority in your wellness practice, it is in essence, another form of Outsourcing your well-being. That doesn't mean you don't need massages and that you shouldn't also get massages but think of it as compared to dental care. At home you take care of your teeth, you brush them, you floes them, you probably use mouthwash. However, you still need to go get a teeth cleaning every 3 to 6 months. The better you take care of your teeth, the last frequently you have to get your teeth cleaned and then of course sometimes you need more intervention if you have a toothache, you'll have to go in sooner. Massage is like the same practice, yoga on a daily basis mentally relaxes yourself with meditation, physically relax yourself with the posture, you can do challenging postures to build strength and calming and soothing ones for mobility. Then every couple of weeks come in for your massage, your muscle cleaning, if you will. And if sooner intervention is needed, you get a massage sooner. But you will find the more priority you take for your self care on a daily basis, the less frequently you will need intervention and you'll just be continuing with more of a maintenance massage.

This self care can and will translate to all avenues of your life Because the more you take care of your self, the less intervention you will need. 

How Massage Therapy can Keep You Healthy this Flu Season

The cold, wet and gross flu season is with us. We wash our hands, avoid going out, use gallons of hand sanitizer and pounds of sanitizing wipes. We may even increase our vitamin C intake to keep us healthy. But maybe there is something more we can do. And something that wont dry up our skin in this already dry season....

Massage therapy has proven to have a multitude of benefits for our  mental and physical states, and some of these great benefits translate to directly helping our immune system and preventing illnesses. 

Massage helps us stay healthy in a number of ways broadening its approach to our wellness, From lowering stress, to increasing circulation, to aiding our GI tract so our bodies can flush toxins and harmful microbes out. 

Stress, mental or physical put a tole on our bodies, and their ability to work properly.  When we are under and stress our bodies and it's functions are not working at their bests. Which is an opportune time for harmful microbes to invade and make us sick. Receiving massage reduces both physical and mental stress.

Physically, massage therapy alleviates tension and unbalances in the muscle and connective tissue causing strain or discomfort in the body. Reducing physical stress on bone, joints and other muscles and connective tissue .

Mental stress can weaken the immune system, When we are over stressed we have adrenal fatigue from an over production of adrenaline. Massage reduces the production of adrenaline and cortisol in the body while increases the secretion of serotonin and dopamine which are feel good hormone that reduce stress.

Massaging the body increases circulation through out the body. This improves your circulatory systems function. This breaks down to your cardiovascular system , your system that circulates blood, and lymphatic system, system that circulates lymph. 

Increasing the flow of blood in the body helps you flood nutrients to your cells and clears waist from them. This will keep you healthy and optimumly functional on the cellular level. 

Lymphatic circulation is responsible for clearing you body of toxin, excess fluids and waists. Lymph nodes filter out microbes and toxins to keep you healthy. Massage can help keep this system flowing and prevent blockages that may lead to an invasion of your body by illness. 

You GI trace or digestive system , digests food but also eliminates waist. As well, a large number of lymph nodes can be found in the gut, So a healthy gut directly relates to a healthy body , Massage to the abdomen can stimulate peristalsis , the wave like contraction that moves waist through you GI and out of the body. Massage will also increase circulation in this area, increase cellular health and the continues flow of lymph through the lymph nodes. 

All of these benefits together keep your body functioning at its best. Nourishing cells eliminating harmful waists , reducing stress and keeping balanced. All key components to a healthy flu free season. 

Partner Yoga

Partner yoga  is a yoga practice between two people connecting , supporting and assisting each other through pastures and at times a flow.

For couples, this is a wonderful way to reconnect  in and through many ways . 

In a normal yoga practice you use your breathe to connect to your body. You can use this same principal to connect with your partner, synchronizing your breathe . Once breathe is united, you can connect with movement. 

Different poses will allow you to assist and support each other into the posture. Encouraging connection and also trust between the two. 

This is a practice that can bring balance not just in yourself but in the relationship as well. 

Both partners are fully present and engaged in the practice, rely on each other to move and adjust into poses.  Also, aides in helping to maintain balance, focus and alignment within the poses.  

Benefits of partner/couples yoga include:

1. Cultivates support in a relationship

2. Creates shared moments

3. Learning to let go

4. Improves self awareness & trust

5. Creates a sense of balance

Tips to Help your Tummy Through Thanksgiving

The end of November is here. Which means the intense roller coaster of family, fun and food has begun! Thanksgiving is many Americans favorite holidays. And why not, you get to hag out with those you love, watch parades and football, and of course eat like we haven't seen food all year.

Everyone has some wonderful family recipe to add, be it bacon covered turkeys or carrot souffle, Jack Danieles sweet potatoes and five different kinds of stuffing. And as our eyes widen, mouths salivate and taste buds dance our stomachs may star out excite s but often by the end of the night we are all bloated and babbling about how we ate too much.

Here are some tips to help you through

The simplest and yet hardest would be to just eat less, Take smaller portions so you can still try everything, but maybe just a bite of everything rather than a full serving. Honestly, though for me Thanksgiving is a day I wait for all year and no amount of self control is limiting me to a bite of stuffing …so on to the next tips.

For those of you like me that will be stuffing their faces more than they had stuffed the turkey, the rest of these will help with the bloating and discomfort...

Deep Breathing

This might seem silly and even like a little kids idea. But there is an actual anatomical reason this helps.

Deep diaphragmatic breathing(or belly breathing) will ad in digestion. When you breathe into your belly your diaphragm pressed down onto you stomach, down to the intestines and massages these organs encouraging the movement of food through your GI tracts.

Abdominal Massage

Continue the encouragement of movement in your digestive system with gentle massage to the belly. Even just lightly rubbing your belly in a clockwise motion can help calm the bloating.

*start at the right hip bone, slide your hand up till you feel the right ribs, slide across to just under the left ribs, then slide down toward the left hip bone. -You can also do smaller clockwise circle around the navel to get the small intestine*

Peppermint

Peppermint is one of my favorite essential oils. You can rub this directly on your belly to help with discomfort(you may want to mix with a carrier oil like coconut or grapeseed as it can be intense on its own). It provides a cooling sensation and alleviate bloating nausea and even heartburn.

You can even enjoy it as a tea to help with these symptoms (if peppermint is to harsh and increases your heartburn spearmint might be better for you)

Ginger Tea

Ginger is an amazing root . It helps with gas and bloating, it reduces inflammation, alleviate nausea . Enjoying a cup of tea after a big meal can help aid your digestion and make you feel better.

Easy Yoga

After a big meal you do not want to jump into any intense movements but easy, slow stretches and actually help feelings of bloat and promote digestion.

some poses to try

wind pose /Pavanamuktasana

supine twists /Supta Matsyendrasana

yogi squat /malasana

Hopefully with these easy tips you can have an even more enjoyable Thanksgiving this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Deep neck / shoulder streatched -video

Neck shoulder tension?

Try these three deeper neck and shoulder stretches I like to do when feeling stiff.

These are three deeper neck / shoulder stretching yoga poses or variations of them.

As always with any neck or shoulder injury please clear with your doctor before trying any extreme movements.

Enjoy!

Be to Calm for a Cold:How Massage Can Help You Stay Healthy!

Massage has many benefits, to many parts of our body and this does not disnclude our immune systems.

To better understand how massage helps your immune system , you need to understand stress and how it affects your body.

Stress, strain or pressure put upon you mentally of physically. Right now we are focusing on the mental stress. that could be from work, kids, school relationship and pretty much just life.

Adrenaline and cortisol are our stress hormones. Which are great when you are in fact being chased by a tiger. But fortunately on a daily we are not being chased by large predators. We just mentally feel like we are when we stressed about daily life.

Excessive production of these hormones fatigues the body. And when the body is fatigued it has a weakened defense and lower immunity.

Massage therapy has proven to reduce stress, and the production of adrenaline and cortisol as well as increase the production of sarotonin and dopamine, our "feel good" hormones.

This reduction in stress and fatigue throughout the body strengthens our ability to fight off those pesky microbes.

Massage also improves the circulation of our lymphatic system. Lymph node and the lymphatic system work as filtration in our bodies. The glands that get swollen in our neck when we get sick are lymph nodes. And they are usually swollen when they are clogged and overwhelmed with pathogens.

Light touch massage to areas of lymph nodes and centripetal strokes throughout the body may help flush out this system and any disease lingering within it.

And finally, studies have shown that massage therapy has increase the activity of lymphocytes , a type of white blood cell. The cells in your body responsible for fighting invading pathogens.

So, add massage to your wellness routine and stay your healthiest all years!

Low Back & Hip Stretches for at Desk-Video

Long hours at a desk can be rough. Looming deadlines and and grooling paper work and keep us stuck seating for longer then our bodies would like.

Here are some stretches I like to do to keep my spine happy and healthy !

Why Try CranioSacral Therapy?

By Kelly Mahoney LMT

First let's understand CranioSacral Therapy (CST). It is NOT a scalp massage. CST is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the functioning of a physiological body system called the craniosacral system - comprised of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.

Medical research has recognized and confirmed significant systems in the brain that can benefit from manual therapies, like CranioSacral Therapy.
1 - There is motion of the cranial bones.
2 - The brain has a waste removal system, the glymphatic system.
3 - The brain is directly connected to the immune system by lymph vessels.

After injury, the sutures between cranial bones can jam, decreasing the cranial motion, decreasing the craniosacral rythm and even causing the sutures to become calcified.

There is also soft tissue damage, the superficial fascia can send imbalances and restrictions to the dura mater (the protective membrane around the brain and spinal cord). This too, can disrupt the cranial motion, the craniosacral rhythm, create scar tissue and even block neurological function.

In acute stages of brain injury, a restriction of the cranial motion can cause a backup of fluids in almost any part of the brain. This backup of fluid causes pressure and swelling on the brain and inhibits brain function.

So you can now see how restoring cranial motion allows the systems of the brain to function properly.

Keep in mind restrictions of the craniosacral system can begin on the outside and work inward as well as start internally and work to the exterior.

Remember, everything in the body is connected... What can affect the craniosacral system? Stress, muscle tension, surgery, scars, injury, postural imbalances, medical conditions, the list is endless.

So when you go for massage, take care of the whole body system, not just the 'knots'