3 Things To Do Prior A Massage

1. Pack a Change of Clothes: After a massage, wearing close-fitting or restrictive clothing will probably feel uncomfortable. When preparing for a treatment, pack soft, loose-fitting clothes you can change into afterwards.

2. Bring a snack: Massage can lower your blood sugar levels, which can leave you feeling lightheaded. In fact, it has even been shown to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. A light, unprocessed snack containing healthy carbohydrates and protein is the best choice. Try vegetable sticks with hummus or an apple with a piece of string cheese.

3. Bring some water: Massage can dehydrate muscle tissue, so keep your water bottle to hand.

Massage promotes the breakdown of metabolic waste, and your body requires water to flush this through the lymphatic system. Your kidneys will be working harder than usual, which will draw water from your bloodstream.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol, as they will dehydrate you further. If you can’t stand the taste of regular water, add a few slices of lemon. Caffeine-free herbal teas are another good choice.

Looking forward to seeing you - 

Nancy

The Aura Color Blue - Part I

The Aura Color Blue

An Aura is believed to be an intangible, ever-shifting field that surrounds all living things. Today we will look at the color Blue. This color envelops us in serenity and calmness. It connects us to things that are bigger than ourselves. It can fill us with positive energy.  This is why blue is such a popular color in clothing. It calms us and grounds us in the present moment, stabilizing our energy. Do you have a blue aura? In this article, we’ll take a look at the blue aura meaning and common personality traits.

Meaning

Aura colors can mean many things to different people, but a blue aura is generally thought to be connected with sensitivity and intelligence.

The presence of blue energy in a person’s aura is also linked to an openness to receiving or perceiving spiritual energy. People with a blue aura may have a strong sense of intuition, but be unaware of where their instincts come from.  “True blue” auras are sometimes found in people who are calm and collected and tend to live a very balanced life. In short, the meaning of a blue aura often reflects the meaning of the color in nature—a relaxed, receptive energy that is aware of the bigger picture.

The Blue Aura Personality

The blue aura personality is optimistic, intelligent, open, and calm. People with a blue aura are believed to be highly intuitive and inspired, sometimes receiving insight from other planes.

With friends and family, the blue aura is likely to be empathetic and communicative. Their sensitivity and openness allow them to connect deeply with the people around them. However, people with blue energy need to be aware of their tendency to talk in circles or dump their problems on their loved ones. What they may see as open communication, others may receive as non-stop chattering or even gossip.

In the workplace, jobs that demand high intelligence and strong communication skills may attract people with a blue aura. 

Speaking Up During a Massage

At the core of everything, My passion is to help you feel better by giving bodywork that is both effective and feels incredible. While I think I might know what that means, each client is beautifully different and so the only person who really knows what’s best for you is you. I rely on your honest feedback to make the experience the best it can be.

Speak Up

What You Don’t Like

Crazy as this sounds - I love to hear what you don't like because that helps me fine tune things for you and possibly others. I don’t like to hear after the fact that you were cold, didn’t like the music, felt the pressure was too light, etc. Please tell me what’s not working while I still have the chance to fix it. I advise everyone before their massage to speak up along the way.  

The things- you-can-tell-me-about list includes (but is not limited to):

 a no-go body part you don’t want worked, music, pressure, scents, technique, and temperature.

What You Do Like

Please feel free to tell me what did work for you. I really like that, too, and it’s actually very helpful to know what you thought was effective and/or just felt great to you; I’ll make sure to keep using those techniques in your future sessions.

Nancy

Stretches between Massages

People can be classified into two categories: those who have back pain and those who will get back pain. The inevitability of back pain can be avoided with stretching.

During a stretch, there is increased blood flow to the muscle, causing it to relax. People often don’t see the consequences of not stretching until they are reminded by pain in the body. You save up for pain—the body doesn’t forget what you’ve been up to the last 20 years.

Stretching daily and it should be part of daily body maintenance, likening it to the habit of brushing one’s teeth. There are Three principles for an effective and safe stretching routine.

Avoid Pain

When stretching correctly, muscles will react in the desired manner. But, if muscles are stretched to the point of pain, the body’s defense mechanisms will kick in. When muscles register pain, they try to protect themselves by contracting, which is the opposite of what you want to achieve.

Slight pain during a stretch can feel good

if the pain doesn’t spread to the rest of the body. Distinguishing between the burn of stretching and actual pain is vital.

Stretch Slowly

Stretching should be progressive and never forceful. Don’t stretch the muscle too fast. The body will try to protect the muscle by contracting it, preventing you from reaching your goal.

Stretch the Correct Muscle

Although this sounds obvious, you must use proper technique to follow this rule. Movement that goes a couple of degrees in the wrong direction can mean the difference between stretching the muscle and pulling on the joint capsule or similarly harming the body.

Careless or poorly done stretching can actually worsen your condition. This common mistake is the main reason why some people consider stretching worthless or painful.

* I’m a big believer in stretching. I will stretch you during the massage and send you home with stretching routines if needed. 

Wishing you the best today. 🍮

 

Massage and Emotions

Massage can provide stress relief for just about anyone. Yet the benefits of massage go beyond stress relief. Moderate-pressure massage for as little as 15 minutes may offer relief from depression, anger, and anxiety.

Massage therapy can improve a person’s emotional health by reducing stress and stress hormones; by increasing serotonin and thereby reducing depression and pain; and by enhancing immune function and thereby reducing bacterial and viral illnesses. 

Research has also shown that:

• Six 30-minute massages over a two-week period can ease pain and improve mood among people with advanced cancer.
• Massage can help reduce depression in both children and pregnant women. As little as 15 minutes of massage on a regular basis may be beneficial to mood.
• Massage therapy is helpful for trauma victims. Aside from physical pain, victims of trauma, past or present, will often hold memories of such events in their muscle tissues. By receiving massage from a trained professional, one can get back in touch with their body and be able to access the held emotions.

Massage is not just a way to gain stress relief — you can reduce many of the other unpleasant emotions in your life as well. Many studies show that massage therapy reduces negative mood states like depression, anxiety, and anger and their associated stress hormones.

There are a lot of studies out there that show how massage is playing a huge part in managing those emotions and having better health. Another great reason is add massage as part of your monthly health routine. As I mention in the beginning of the post, 15 minutes may offer relief. I offer a 15 minute massage. Let's get you in for some emotional wellbeing. 

I look forward to seeing you. - Nancy 

Hello Sunday☕️🇺🇸

 

Hello Sunday

Yesterday my husband and I attended a wedding in Pierz, MN. It was a classmate of mine. We were best friends in middle school or grade 7-9. Due to Facebook we were able to reconnect and stay in touch. 

I’ll be honest, we aren’t very close these days but something in me said I needed to attend this wedding. Once I got to my seat and the music started to play, I understood immediately why I needed to be there. We grew up in the same small town. She grew up on one side of the lake in town and I grew up on the other. The classmates on that side of the lake all had parents with well to do jobs, their parents were on average 15 yrs or older then mine and catholic. It was a different energy. I grew up in a penny pinching, very young, low income household and Lutheran. It was the 70’s - a different time. 

I needed to be there because it jogged my childhood memories and thoughts forward. I had forgotten all of them for years. They all came to me in a moment, and all of a sudden I had all the answers for that child in me. As an adult I’ve studied the history of our home town. It was just 8 years ago that I visited the other side of our home towns’ lake. Otherwise I had not been to that side since I was 11. 

As a child, I could feel energy and see the colors with that energy and didn’t understand why. Yesterday I sat there with her family and it was the same energy and colors I felt as a child. It all came back to me. This friend was the first person I confided in to see if she saw the same things and she made fun of me and said no. No one does she replied. I was 11 years old. It’s this moment of my childhood that I had blocked out of my memory until yesterday. This is the point that changed our friendship and I started distancing myself from her. We were not close friends. At times, I recalled, we hated one another in school.

This classmate was friends with everyone in school. She was in every sport. She was in band and choir. In reality I felt like I should have been the last person there at her wedding. And yet she had chose me after all these years to come to her very small wedding. I was one of 3 people from our school yesterday. The other two come to find out were friends of the families. They grew up next door to each other 

It was worth the hour drive and hot sun. I had the best afternoon reflecting and reliving. I was overcome with joy to finally put the memories of a child in me to rest. The classmates parents of age 88 were there and full of great health. It was magical to reconnect with them. 

My advice- if your feel you need to go and be a part of something that doesn’t make any sense for you to be a part of - go!! 

Wishing you blessings today.

Nancy

Hello Saturday ☕️🇺🇸

 

Welcome 

This last week was like a fast ride. Holy Cow. 😅 

I started my week with a visit to my eye doctor. The week prior I was diagnosed with inflammation on my eye. That was painful and it discolors the white of your eye. I was put on a steroid and eye drops. This week everything appears to be clearing up nicely. They changed the eye drops to a different brand. This is my first experience with dry eye and eye drops. They have made an amazing improvement for me. Not only do my eyes feel better but I’ve also noticed a huge drop in concussion symptoms. HUGE! This last week was the first week since we reopened back in June that I had ZERO down time in bed struggling with symptoms of headaches, dizziness and fogginess. 

Yesterday was my first time to go in an actual store in a while. I needed groceries. 😣 I found myself really stressed while being in the store. I needed 2 cards. One for a wedding and one for a graduation. Well I ended up buying cards for everyone I know for the rest of the year, expect Christmas. On top of that I brought two of every item I purchased.ugh. Twice the bill as well. But seriously 😳 This is just crazy. Between the stress and the worry. The only up side is I got ALL of the upcoming birthdays, anniversaries and Halloween covered. 🤣🤣

Last week I made some changes to the regular massage routine. I put a towel warmer in another room because at this time of year it’s too hot in mine. So we’ve had warm towels to refresh those tired feet. AND of all crazy things I received word that the company that I purchased 2 air conditioners, from back in May, that they are on ship headed this way. Unbelievable! We just might see them by the end of the year. 

Enough of my craziness- You enjoy your day. I am headed to Pierz, MN for an outside, social distancing, wedding. 🙄 Sounds fun.🙄 

Enjoy and God Bless☕️🇺🇸