Healthy Mindset Part II

Last week I shared the importance of having a Healthy Mindset and shared the first step or tool to utilize to achieving that, Acceptance. I expressed that this is the hardest of all the tools to learn.

Today we explore two more tools to help us get on the path to a Healthy Mindset. 

Just Breathe – when we feel stressed, unsafe and threatened we fall into “survival mode” and forget to pay attention to one of the most important skills in life: breathing. It has been scientifically proven that the practice of deep breathing and breath work can rewire our brain, regulate your nervous system and ease us into a calm state of mind. Therefore, using deep breathing exercises not only directly impacts your body in a positive manner, it also helps to increase your self-awareness, reconnect with your positive energy and help you take control over your mind. As a practice, I encourage you to do this exercise twice a day.Once in the morning and once at night. You may also use them as you deem necessary.

• Sit or lay in a position most comfortable.

• Close your eyes if you are comfortable doing so.

• Breathe through your nose rather than your mouth if that is comfortable for you.

• Deliberately slow your breathing down.

• Breathe in to a count of 4

• Pause for a moment

• Breathe out to a count of 4

• Pause

• Repeat

• Make sure that your breaths are smooth, steady, and continuous

Gratitude – Research has shown how people who practice gratitude experience more joy. I myself have been a willing victim of this amazing practice and can personally attest to its wonders. Gratitude teaches us to look for the good and positive about our lives, as opposed to focusing on lack and negativity. As we foster a mind of scarcity, we create a life filled with pain, sorrow, and resentment. When we practice gratitude, we refocus our energy and attention on what we have, what is working, the strengths and qualities we intrinsically possess, and we allow ourselves to heal from the pain of hopelessness and insufficiency. In order to start your practice, I recommend the next steps:

• Keep a journal, writing down what you are grateful on a daily basis can increase feelings of happiness and joy.

• Don’t over think it and start with the little big things: people, places, items, pets. Anything goes!

• Find new things to write about everything, you’ll be surprised how much we take for granted.

• If writing takes too much of your time, name things, people or places you are grateful for throughout your day, or as many times as you can remember.

Wish you and yours the very best today.🍮

Aromatherapy in the Add-On Section of Massage Services.

This week in the Massage Room I’m featuring Aromatherapy. 

I think there’s some confusion around Aromatherapy, so let’s discuss them. 

First off, one of the new things on my online booking website is something called ‘Add-Ons.’ These are mini sessions or treatments that you can add to your massage sessions. 

Aromatherapy is one of these Add-Ons. What this means is that I will use a practical oil blend to massage with. This blend is diluted in Almond/Grape seed oil. This is different from the massage cream that I use. The massage cream brand that I use is Biotone Herbal. It’s light, non-greasy texture penetrates quickly to moisturize and condition the skin while assuring an easy glide and consistent workability. It contains intensive hydrating Sea Kelp and Aloe Vera plus fragrant, soothing botanicals to melt away stress: Roman Chamomile to calm, English Lavender to heal, Clover Blossom to help ease skin disorders and Blue Malva to moisturize very dry skin.

Finally my experience with Aromatherapy has left me — oily. There. I’ll just put that out there. I do not like feeling oily and sticky after a massage. I think a person who truly desires a full body aromatherapy massage would need to go directly home afterwards and shower. So I recommend a little on your neck and shoulder area as well as on your back area. And it shouldn’t be over powering. 

I have oil blends with a light fragrance or if you’d rather have just one oil there are options for that as well. This week, however, I am featuring the oil blend - Serenity. If you have a massage scheduled this week, treat yourself is this add-on. Or Book Online today and look for Aromatherapy in the Add-On section of your booking process. 

I look forward to seeing you. 

Nancy

Hello Sunday🍮

Hello Sunday 🍮

Did you see the new ad on McShane Massage Facebook page this last Monday? It was a flash Sale. Wow. I’ve been doing massage for 20 years and never saw a Flash Sale. And it was on a NEW Massage session - 75 Minutes. We will have those Flash Sales about once a month. 

Are you familiar with the ’Nextdoor’ website or app. It’s an app for our local neighborhood. Featuring posts from our neighbors and businesses. McShane Massage is now on this website and app. If you are a member of this site please consider making a recommendation for my business. The more recommendations I get the higher my rating. This means when people are searching for a massage therapist my name will appear on the list of recommendations. You will find monthly posts and ads here as well. 

There was also a story this last week on the idea of just staying in the massage room the rest of the day after the massage due to having jello legs. The answer was No. You can however stay an extra 10 to 15 minutes on the table after a massage. Again as I say...There is no rush. Take your time. Enjoy the moment. 

This upcoming week I’m featuring an Add-On for Massage Sessions. Aromatherapy is a new offering. This week if you have a massage scheduled add-on Serenity aroma oil to your session. Serenity 100% Pure. It’s a blend of Lavender, Mandarin and Cedarwood essential oils. This oil blend is known to promote a sense of Well-being.

I never baked that Bundt cake last week due to a bakery cake for Father’s Day and a birthday cake that, as we learned yesterday, thankfully did not have his age on it. 🤦🏼‍♀️ So hoping to get to that Angel food Raspberry Bundt Cake today.

Enjoy the rest the weekend. 🍮

Hello Saturday 🍮

Hello Saturday 🍮

The weeks did not go by this fast when I was 10, 15 or even 20. At 50 something ~ they fly by like a jet airplane. Should I be doing more or less? How does this time thing work? I attempt to make every second count but then there are days like last Thursday where I cancelled all my plans, hopes and ideas to lie in bed all day because my brain was in no condition to leave the house. It’s humbling to have to just lie still until my concussion symptoms pass. They say this will get better in a few years.

The highlight of the week was getting an area rug that I ordered for the Massage Room. It turned out to be perfect. Just what the room needed to feel complete and cozy. So excited about that! 

I did something crazy while resting Thursday. An ad caught my eye for small cordless air conditioners. According to all of the reviews this is the one.🙄🤞🏻So I ordered two. Overall the massage room has been amazingly better then last summer.😰😩 But there is still room for improvement. This small air conditioner is suppose to be quiet and do the job for small areas. We shall see. 🤨 

I’ll let you know when they come in. 

My blonder this week.🤦🏼‍♀️ Which for me leaves people wondering- How did that happen? One of the things I also do besides Bundt cakes on Instagram is celebrate the birthdays of those family members that have passed and present. I share our family history on all of the branches on share media and this includes birthdays and anniversaries. So - Wednesday was my husband’s birthday. I had a huge sign on his gift saying, Happy 48th Birthday! I should know his birthday. Only this year he turned 47. 🤨 

So there was a little ribbing about that. Yikes🤣 I don’t know how I got that wrong.

It’s been a joy🥰 all week to listen to the baby Wrens just outside our front door. I just love them. 

🍮 Refill your own cup first. It’s Essential

Nancy

Guidelines to Creating a Healthy Mindset

When our thoughts are healthy, our body and soul feel at ease. It is crucial to pay attention where our mind wanders, what information we’re feeding it and how this impacts our relationship with ourselves and others. As I sit here at home, my mind is constantly in a state of wondering. 

Pay attention to yourself and gain control over your mind so that consequently, you can regain some sense of control over the situation. Even when our surroundings feel chaotic and uncertain, our mind has the power to protect and heal itself.

So, let’s focus on our mindset for a moment.

I like to define mindset as: the way we receive, perceive and react to our environment and internal processes. Our mind undeniably runs our lives. When we have a healthy mindset, we are able to put ourselves first, we cope better with stress, we find ways to reframe our thoughts and focus on what is in the highest good for everyone involved.

When our thoughts are healthy, our body and soul feel at ease.

As our lives constantly change and evolve, it is important to remember that this stage too shall pass. So, how can we achieve a healthy mindset in such difficult times? Today let’s look at the most important guideline is achieving a Healthy Mindset. 

Acceptance – let’s be real, no one likes too much change. We are creatures of habit. Having a routine makes us feel in control of ourselves and our world. And when something unexpected happens, we panic, live in fear and see everything through a negative lens. People who practice acceptance also practice flexibility and letting go. Attaching to things, people and circumstances only create more resentment and powerlessness. When we align with acceptance, we surrender to the rhythms of life and we flow with the energy of the universe.

A way to practice acceptance can be done through the following affirmations:

• Find a comfortable place to sit or lay

• Close your eyes if it feels safe

• Place your hand over your heart chakra and repeat:

• As I detach from circumstances I can’t control, I allow the universe to guide me.

• I let go of my need to control and my need to plan

• Life is about phases, and this too shall pass

• I am able to keep myself safe, in spite of the chaos around me

• I was not ready to let go before, but I am now

• When I accept what is happening, I give myself the gift of peace. I deserve that peace

Again this of all the guidelines I will share with you over the next few days, is the hardest one and the one that takes the most time to master.

Wishing you and your family the very best on this day. 

Nancy

Symptoms From A Lack of Grounding

Present-day lifestyles leave us very little room to connect with the earth. We used to spend time on farms and forests or doing manual work. Today we live in high rise buildings, everything is mechanized, and it may be weeks to years before you visit earth again. This type of present day living leaves our lower chakras extremely starved. So what are the signs that we need grounding? 

Feeling Spaced Out

An extreme lack of grounding leaves one feeling spacey and disoriented, almost like it is impossible to think. Being absent-minded is often a direct result of feeling spaced out, and one might end up repeatedly misplacing things, losing track of what one was just saying or doing, and forgetting important tasks. Another way this can manifest it when ends up bumping into objects repeatedly.

Hard to Be Effective

If you are finding it hard to concentrate on anything, you are ungrounded. This includes a lack of being able to focus on work and on conversations. Mundane tasks seem meaningless and unnecessary. Feeling tired all the time, and even more so when work needs to be done, is another clear sign.

Cannot Make Decisions

A strong, stable root chakra gives one a good grip on the ground realities. Without this, it becomes very difficult to have confidence in one’s decisions.

Erratic Sleep

Too much energy in the upper chakras affects sleep. One might find changes in sleep patterns, lying wide awake at night for hours, or sleeping incessantly, if grounding is weak. Falling asleep during meditation is another common symptom.

Weak Digestion

A sudden lack of grounding can leave a person without any desire to eat, sometimes for weeks. Digestion needs downward moving energies, and when there is too much energy in the upper chakras and none in the lower ones, the body is incapable of processing any food. In contrast, when a person can eat large amounts of food and still remain skinny, that also indicates a lack of grounding – the body is unable to absorb any nutrients from the food due to lack of energy.

So what can you do... Get outside.

I suffer with plantar fasciitis and concussion symptoms. I walk in my bare feet in our yard daily. Crazy as this sounds, it’s the only time my feet do not hurt. It’s the only time have I clarity and freedom from my symptoms. This feeling will last for a good 12 to 24 hours until I am outside again. 

Maybe you can’t walk barefoot. Then sit in the grass. Plant your feet on the ground for as long as you can and feel the difference. 

.

🙏🏼 Have a great day and I’ll see you outside. 

Nancy

How that Intention Works

Intention is very important in energy healing, and in life. Everything we do starts with the vibrational energy of intention. From that intention come the thoughts, words and actions that become our life. These thoughts, words and actions draw the situations and people into our life that we encounter. It is all connected, and it all starts with intention.

The intention that we set is the vibrational state that we are operating from. It sets the tone for how we will behave, how our lives will be, and even how we will feel. It becomes who we are and how others perceive us. It is the “vibe” or energy we radiate. So even before we have thought, said or done anything, our intention for how we want to be in the world and the effect we want to have on the Earth is important. It is important to our healing work, as it sets the tone for what sort of energy we are putting into our work.

There is a frequent misconception about intention, however. When you set an intention, it is not the same as making a wish and waiting for the wish to be granted. When you set an intention you are acknowledging the flow from that intention, through you and into the world. You acknowledge that you are setting your energy to a state where your thoughts, words and actions will now begin to shift and follow through to the fulfillment of that intention, even if you don’t know how that will happen.

Often we don’t know how the end result of our intention will come to be. It may seem so big or so far away from where we are now that we can’t imagine it clearly, or don’t know the steps to get there. By setting the intention, we set the course for our energy to begin to shift in the ways it needs to for the intention to come to be, to the extent that we are ready and open to it. This brings change to our minds, hearts and lives. It changes our energy.

There is always change when you set an intention. We all set intentions every day, though we aren’t always aware of them. Consciously setting an intention is different. It is a way of accepting responsibility for your life and for the power you have over it. If you set intentions for something to come to you or for a change to happen in your life, but you are unwilling to do or change anything in yourself or your life to allow that to happen, then you are blocking the intentions you set.

Both allowing and action are important to creative change. The only one in charge of your energy and your life is you. By being open to allowing change and to taking action to bring your intentions into being, you take full responsibility and control of your life. That can be a little frightening at first, but it is a great feeling when you step into it.

To use intention to expand your heart and your awareness, especially in service to others is a wonderful thing, and will serve you in the end. This is very much what we do when we set an intention for healing at the beginning of a healing session. We intend to be present for the client in a loving way, with an open heart, and allow healing energy to flow through. The intention is that the session be for their greatest and highest good, though we don’t know what that may be or what the outcome will look like. We don’t know the path the healing will take, either in the short term or in the long term. In order for the healing to be most effective, both the healer and the client must be open to change, expansion and possible action.

Having a clear understanding about intention can lead to more ease in reaching your goals and less frustration. Be open to the path that may arise for you when you set an intention and be prepared to walk it. Pay attention to the signs, even if they are unexpected. Listen to the energy within your own body and heart. Take the steps and opportunities that your mind opens to. Most of all, allow your heart and mind to open. That’s what setting an intention is all about—changing the energy of your heart and mind.

Wishing you a great start to your week.

Nancy

Hello Sunday

To All of the Father’s out there Friends and family - Happy Father’s Day. Mother Nature gave us the perfect weather for a great weekend. 

My family finally was able to get together with my dad after months of quarantine. It was so good to see everyone. We grilled and ate way too much. 

From Left to right - Middle Daughter, My father, Oldest Daughter and our Grandson. 

This last week I had an opportunity to work on a wall hanging that I’ve been quilting. While doing so I spotted a woodchuck in my weed/flower garden that has one row of radishes. I’m sure he was as disappointed as I am with them. They aren't growing at all. I have tops and no bottoms.

We have a family of Wrens. They are my favorite little birds. They took up residence in a birdhouse that my father's father made many many years ago. So what a treat.

I wish all of the father's out there a Happy Father's Day. I hope you enjoy the day.

Nancy

Hello Saturday

Grab a Cup and Let’s Chat.

5 Days fly by fast. I attempt to fill each day to brim with everything a person is supposed to do to maintain a healthy life, and balance work and family. It’s a lot. I don’t know about you but I quickly become overwhelmed.  So today we'll chat about day to day stuff.

This last week my skills were tested, as well as how my concussion healing process. My cup was filled with a lot of gratitude. I was able to help a large number of clients that were in a great deal of pain. My hope and prayer 🙏🏼 for 60 or 90 minutes is always that God helps those in need and that they feel better. The downside this last week, was that I am not yet able to work so hard and as much. I experienced an increase in my concussion symptoms which led to more hours of downtime when not working. I’m hoping over time this will improve. 

We are at the end of week 3 of being back to work. Insparation Salon has been buzzing. Those girls are so busy and for the most part back to normal.👏🏻People have commented repeatedly how they are just grateful to get back to some type of normal again. I totally agree. Tanya St. Marie (the Esthetician that I will share more about in the upcoming weeks) and I finally finished decorating the back hall this week. It looks amazing. I ordered a rug for my massage room. 👏🏻 That should be here in a few weeks. I had a facial this last week. 😮 Wow. My skin feels soft and clean. She also took care of my eyebrows that had gone crazy over quarantine. Facials are like hair. You need to have it done. ✅ 

Hometowne - Glenwood

This morning I’m headed to my hometown of Glenwood, Minnesota, to celebrate the fathers in our family, my husband’s birthday and sister’s birthday. I haven’t been home to my dad’s since March due to this quarantine stuff so I am super excited to see him and my siblings. I’m looking forward to getting back into our routine of weekly visits while working on my mom’s quilts or just visiting. I need that ‘normal’ routine back in my life. Speaking of quilting, I noticed that the Minnesota Quilt Shop Hop is still on this year starting July 31st. I'm thinking that this will be my year to get out and about for it. I figure I maybe able to kill two birds with one stone. I can shop hop and cemetery stop for Ancestry in most of the same visits. For those new here, I am a family historian and genealogist as well. The quilting thing - well - that was brought on by my mother's passing 3 years ago. A lot of what I do and create is in her memory.

My husband and I made Bundt Cake #40 this last weekend. You can find us on Instagram or #bundtingthroughlife. We baked a pistachio cake on the grill. It was very good. This weekend I hope to try out a Raspberry Angelfood cake recipe in our Bundt cake pan. YAY. The Bundt cakes are part of our meal prep every week. We prep all of our lunches and most suppers on Sunday. 40 cakes ago we decided we deserve a treat at the end of every day too.

Until the next post, I wish you the very best. Enjoy the day to your fullest.

Nancy

Tuning Forks For Massage & Spiritual Healing

One of my favorite ways of moving energy and do massage work. 

While working with tuning forks, I feel they make my work easier and more effective. 

A weighted tuning fork has a round weight at the end of each prong. The weight causes the tuning fork to vibrate more strongly so that it can be felt at the stem of the fork. When you place the stem of the tuning fork on the body, you will feel the vibration. That vibration instantly instructs the body to relax the muscles, joints and nerve groups. If the body is relaxed, then the work will be easier and more effective.

Tuning forks have been successfully used to relieve joint pain as well as reduce tension in muscles and nerve groups. Research has shown that they stimulate the release of nitric oxide, a gas in our blood known to reduce inflammation. Reducing inflammation helps to relieve the pain from arthritis as well as muscle spasms by improving blood flow.

We know the body relaxes with the tuning fork due to the research. Aside from the research, most everyone who uses the tuning forks experiences relaxation in the body and often, a reduction of any physical pain they may be experiencing.

Wishing you the best this great day. 

Nancy

Chakra Breathing

Chakra Breathing

We are connected, through our breathing, to everything involving us, to all living beings that cohabitate the planet with us. All persons, all animals, and all plants breathe the same air. We breathe what they exhale and vice versa.

In our body air also establishes a contact, a permanent exchange, with all our cells. They all breathe the same “air” that enables them to work and that feeds our body with the so-called “Strength/ Vital Energy”.

In Yoga, different breathing techniques are used to enable us to extract, from the air, the Vital Energy (Prana in India and Ki in China). Prana, an energy too tenuous to be measured, represents the Vital Energy that penetrates everything and keeps our physical body working, without it, life would not be possible. This shows the importance of our breathing.

When directing our conscience to our breathing (what we do, for instance, during a meditation) we can reach the so-called altered states of conscience and, through the change in our vibration pattern, we are going to influence the Chakras (during meditation the connection with our Higher Self is easier).

With time, it will be possible to establish a permanent, and conscientious, connection to our Inner Divine Self and to its real nature as a Soul having a human experience and not as a “physical being” having a spiritual experience, as the majority of people still thinks ….

• Clean the room as usual;
• Sit comfortably (keeping your back upwards and chin slightly pointing to your chest) and close your eyes. Keep yourself centered in your breathing (inhale through your nose, retain the breath for three or four seconds and exhale softly through your mouth making a slight hissing sound), don’t alter your rhythm, just be aware of it. Relax and feel the flux of air in each inhalation and exhalation
• Focus on each step of your breathing and, keeping the rhythm, breathe seven times, slowly and deeply.
• Visualize the Cho Ku Rei or the Reiki Power Symbol and repeat its name three times to activate.
  
  
• While inhaling feel/visualize the Root Chakra participating in the process, breathing also.
  
  
• Visualize the Cho Ku Rei being absorbed by the Root Chakra. When exhaling, visualize and feel all the accumulated stress, all the stagnant energy being expelled by the Root Chakra (you can try to visualize a sort of “black smoke” being eliminated).
• Visualize the Cho Ku Rei, preferably in the golden color, (you can also use the violet color), harmonizing that chakra.
• Repeat the process in each of the Chakras, since the Root Chakra to the Crown Chakra;
• At the end, visualize, a big Cho Ku Rei over your head;
• Make positive statements/affirmations such as:
  • “I (name) recognize the divinity that lives in me”;
  • “I (name) am in harmony with the Universe”;
  • “God is in me”
  • I prefer to use the Supreme Being or Creating Force as Reiki is transversal to all religions –, “I AM a being of Light” and repeat them three times (the three times repletion works as a mantra, facilitating the rooting of the affirmation);
    o Never use the word no. Sentences should be precise, concise, objective and short;
• Visualize the Cho Ku Rei entering by the top of your head, going through your body and going out by the feet soles and being absorbed by the earth;
• Open your eyes returning to the Here and Now;
• Express your gratitude by placing the hands in Gassho.

Nancy
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