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'
Meditation and Yoga for Mama Pre & Postnatal Care
Prenatal yoga helps decrease risks during pregnancy and increases the chance of a safe and healthy delivery. Incorporating prenatal yoga into your pregnancy routine can assist in improving sleep, reducing anxiety & stress as well as aiding in an easier delivery. Postnatal yoga is an effective way to ease back into an active lifestyle, by regaining strength and flexibility where it is most needed.
Pregnancy can be one of the most amazing experiences. Your whole body changing and evolving to create new life. Your muscles are stretching, your hormones are changing, sugars are all over and your blood pressure might be on a roller coaster.
As wonderful of a time this can be, it is also equally stressful. Physical changes aside, the new life changes can be overwhelming at times, to the point you forget even how to breathe. Everything can be rather anxiety provoking.
Teaching you to breathe and connect with your breath is one of the base building blocks of yoga. Breathing properly and deeply activates your parasympathetic nervous system lowering stress and anxiety.
Another key component to yoga is meditation which has shown to help with relaxation.
Keeping stress under control will help with muscle tension and even blood pressure.
One of the most interesting and beautiful parts of our bodies is the basket of muscles that support our organs and our core known as the pelvic floor. Pelvic floor muscle support organs, which include the womb.
A strong pelvic floor will help support your growing fetus, taking pressure off the lower back and hips helping with pain and discomfort in these areas.
Pelvic floor muscles contractions are what assist you through childbirth in bringing your baby into the world. In turn, having a stronger pelvic floor will assist you in the birthing process.
A prenatal (as well as postnatal) yoga practice will focus on not just strengthening these muscles but increasing the mind body connection to your pelvic floor.
Strengthening and connecting with these muscles will also help you postpartum. Assisting in a faster recovery, reducing/stopping incontinence and stabilizing your core reducing lower back and hip pain.
Tight hips and stiff muscles in your back can cause not just discomfort and pain but also can pose some challenges during childbirth and recovery. Assisted and supported yoga asanas (poses) can gently stretch and lengthen shortened, tight muscles. Help open the hips for a more easefull labor. As well as loosen the back for a healthy pain free spine.
A consistent yoga practice will reduce stress and pain, increase relaxation and structural support. Along with eating right, daily vitamins, talk to your doctor about adding holistic natural approaches to wellness like yoga and massage.
Morning Low Back Stretches -Video
Low Back Pain?
Here is a short video of some great lower back and hip stretches you can do in the morning to increase range of motion and decrease pain!
In this video we do 5 simple stretches,
Starting with opening up the lower back, then a twist, and some hip stretches and then a back extension and flexion.
Great for lower back pain, increase spinal rang of motion and hip stiffness!
Mama Massage...Post natal Care with Massage
Welcome to motherhood Mama!
40 weeks of giving your body up as a host to your newest beautiful family member. During which time we hope, along with eating right and avoiding to much caffeine, you enjoyed some great holistic prenatal wellness practices like regular massage and prenatal yoga. But now is not the time to stop, and if you didn't take advantage then it is a fantastic time to start!
Massage therapy is a wonderful way to help your body naturally heal . Either in ways of just staying healthy in your day to day life or in recovering from any kind of trauma. And as beautiful and wonderful as carrying and birthing a child is, it is no less then a trauma.
Excess fluid retention. Swelling and puffiness lingered throughout your pregnancy, but unfortunately didn't flow out with your new baby. Massage increases circulation in not just your cardiovascular system but also the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system takes interstitial fluid(the pooling fluid in swollen legs) and helps it drain from your body in its natural systems. Excess fluid and pressure causes the edema and massage helps reduces pressure and increase the circulation and flush out the fluids.
Lingering aches and pains from structural imbalances during pregnancy can be alleviated with soft tissue manipulation. Massaging tight muscles can break up pain causing trigger points and loosen bound up connective tissue causing stiffness and discomfort. This can help with overall muscular and joint discomfort.
Beings a new mom and still having your hormones all over the place is an easy recipe for stress and anxiety.
Simply taking an hour for yourself helps reduce this stress.
Getting regular massages have shown to lower stress hormones like cortisol and norepinephrine while raising "feel good" hormones like sarotonin and dopamine .
And breastfeeding, a great way to nourish your baby. Though at time some women struggle with make or just making enough breast milk. Massage to the area and even breast tissue you reduce restrictions and help increase flow and supply. It is even great to have a self massage practice for while you breast feed or pump.
Al of this combined can help you feel better and have even more benefits. From helping get you body back on track. Aid in digestion. Improve sleep and more. So along with you personal wellness routines, look into and speak with your health are provider about holistic /natural practices to add as well, like massage and even yoga .
Video Basic Neck Stretches for Neck Pain and Stiffness
Neck pain and stiffness can plague us all. To much time on computers, or over scrolling on our phones , driving for hours or any number things we do in a day.
Here is a short stretch routine you can do everyday or even twice a day to help keep your range of motion up and pain down.
Enjoy!
In the video we do three stretches . First to stretch the back of the neck. Followed by stretching the side of the neck. side of the neck . Then finally the front of the neck.
Mama Massage Prenatal Care
Congratulations on growing to your next level of goddess!
Undoubtedly you've started on vitamins, cut back on coffee and bought some cream for stretch marks. And that is only the beginning of your new wellness regimen for the next 40 or so weeks. Next time you are with your doctor you should ask if massage would be a good addition for you.
Massage therapy has many benefits for the human body and all of it's systems. This is no less true, and perhaps even more, for human body's growing another tiny little human.
Skeletal muscular pain can burden us all. But especially someone undergoing a new stage of womanhood. With added weight causing increased joint pain. Structural changes straining already tight muscles . And new hormones loosening ligaments calling on more muscular stability. Manual massage of the soft tissue can help alleviate aches and pains, reduce trigger points and smooth out bound up connective tissue.
This is particularly helpful with lower back pain, neck shoulder discomfort and even tension caused headaches.
One of the common, less loved, side effect of creating life, is the doubling in size of two feet and ten toes. Excess fluid in the body coupled with the pressure from the growing fetus causes edema. Gravity does the rest, bringing this fluid down to the feet. Elevating the feet can help. Massage to the hips, thighs, legs and feet can increase circulation and allow the fluid to drain through the bodies natural systems. Reducing the swelling and any discomfort caused by it.
Naturally, hormones are all over the place at this time in your life. And that is not entirely a bad thing. Though there are some hormones we can all do with some less of on our day to day, and others a bit more. Cortisol and norepinephrine "stress hormones" can be reduced with regular massage. While sarotonin and dopamine , the "feel good" hormones, can be increased.
Balancing these hormones have continued benefits. Helping in reducing stress and anxiety. Reducing stress and anxiety feels great enough, but this also helps with muscle tension and sleep.
This can be one of the best times in your life, so why not feel the best you can. So, in addition to what you and your doctor think is best think about some alternative methods like massage and even yoga.
Your Moon Cycle...Women's Health
Since, well forever, our moon cycle is a time for our body to heal and reset. And though it would be more than ideal if we could take a few days off from life and let our bodies do their thing, life tends to get in the way.
But this shouldn't stop us from giving ourselves a little extra TLC this time of the month. Giving ourselves proper healing attention at this time can help us stay healthy and balanced throughout the month.
Eating right, such as iron rich foods, staying hydrated and cutting back on the caffeine are some dietary ways you can help during this time.
Menstrual and yin yoga practices can be very beneficial. Yoga is great for calming the mind and relaxing as well as the gentle stretching helps in lengthening the muscles alleviating back tension and pain.
Essential oils are also great tools for holistic health. And of course there are some amazing options for women when our ruby slippers arrive.
Lavender: an oil we should just always have on hand for it’s seemingly endless list of benefits. These everyday benefits are just as useful on these days. From its stress relieving and deep relaxation effects, the assist in hormone balance and of course pain relief.
Fennel: a great oil for women in a few ways, here its pain relief benefits really shine through
Clary Sage: helps with the balance and production of menstrual hormones like estrogen. It has also shown to assist in stress relief
Rose: great for balancing hormones and even alleviating symptoms of fatigue.
Heat is a great way to melt mental and physical tension away. Use a heating pad, hot water bottle, or even better, take a hot bath and add a few drops of the above essential oils to really maximize your healing time!
And lastly, maybe one of the best things you could do is get a massage. Massage therapy can reduce swelling and muscle tension alleviating lower back pain and cramping. Massage helps your body in it’s own natural healing processes; with things like hormone balance, increased circulation, and increasing relaxation.
So next time the moon is in your orbit, take time to heal and help yourself. And book a Moon Cycle Massage with The Wellness Nook!
Seasonal Sinus Struggles?
Spring is here! Bringing us warmer weather, longer days, and beautiful flowers. And, as wonderful as all that sounds and is, those beautiful blooms bring less then appealing pollen. So, while some people are freeing themselves from their winter burrows, the rest of us are starting to dig in a bit deeper.
Sneezing, coughing, runny nose and eyes you sometimes want to claw out, are just some of the fun gifts spring has to offer. And some of us know all to well that this isn't always the worst of it.
Inflamed sinuses and airways, coupled with increase in mucous production, decreases the quality of each breath. This smothering irritation leads to more inconstant symptoms, like headaches and dizziness. Difficulty breathing decreases our sleep quality leaving us fatigued, drained and unable to function at our fullest.
Some of us take over the counter meds or even prescriptions to keep these symptoms at bay. But there are other things we can also do to help(always with the approval/supervision of our own doctors).
Daily consumption of local honey has show overtime can alleviate the irritation from our friendly flowers.
Decreasing or cutting out completely all dairy products around the seasonal change. Dairy can increase mucus production and inflammation exacerbating allergy symptoms.
Using essential oils. Applying oils like lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint or sinus blends can also help alleviate symptoms.
Massage, either self massage of your sinus area or come in for facial cupping or cold stones on the face to decrease inflammation and pressure.
Salt therapy or halo therapy can decrease inflammation and the production of mucus, deepening and smoothing out the breath, leading to the release of most seasonal allergy symptoms.
Try something out and see what works best for you, so we can all enjoy the warmer weather!
Spring Cleaning...Detox your Body
April is the perfect time for spring cleaning, not just for your home but you body!
All day long we expose our body to things we shouldn't eat, shouldn't breathe and, I am always guilty of, laziness we just don't need. So, with stagnant bodies and and toxins building it's time we clean house, from head to toe.
Detoxing your body with diet, exercise and body work has countless benefits.
Cleaning up your eating, and even taking a few days of juicing (check out our Instagram or Facebook to see updates on Laura's and Danielle's cleanse) is a great way to start cleaning out your internal closets. This can help flush out your gastrointestinal or GI tract allowing this tissue in your body to reset and heal. Sometimes even curing digestion issues you may suffer with. Clearing out the colon also has remarkable impact on our skin. Which is why often just cleaning up your eating can start clearing up your skin. Anything from rashes to acne to sensitivities to bumpy or prickliness.
Another great tool for cleaning up is movement or exercise. One of our main body systems for detox is out lymphatic system. But unlike our cardiovascular system there is no automatic pump (heart in CV) to keep the fluid moving. And this is where our muscles are super helpful. Every time we contract the muscle in our arms, legs and torso we act like a pump moving the fluid through the lymphatic system so toxins throughout our body can get flushed out. Even simply deep belly breath or yoga breath help this flow and helps us detoxify ourselves.
For the trifecta of detox add body work. This can be by coming to The Wellness Nook for one of our many detoxifying treatments or doing body work on yourself at home. Two great things I do when spring cleaning comes along is abdominal massage and dry brushing. By massaging your abdomen in a clockwise motion you stimulate the smooth muscle in your colon. This helps aid your GI track in expelling out everything you don't need. Body brushing or dry brushing does so many wonderful things for your skin. It exfoliates, removing unnecessary dead skin cells, stimulates sebaceous glands allowing natural hydration of your skin and promotes collagen production. But on top of all of that it also stimulates your lymphatic system which as we mentioned earlier is key for detox.
