want to enhance your well-being, exponentially?
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massage therapy
Top 4 discussion points during massage sessions:
1. Daily water consumption. People aren't drinking enough water. I can feel it in your tissues. Your muscles are sore and you are tired. You're hungry more often with cravings. Water is your miracle drink! Not only will you feel better (minimize/get rid of headaches, heartburn, high blood pressure, and more), but you may even lose that poundage you you've been wanting to shed. Here's my rule set: Take your weight and divide by 2. This equals the amount of water you should (at least) drink in ounces daily. If you drink coffee, teas, sodas, alcohol, and any other diuretics, then add 2 more cups of water for every one cup of diuretic drink you drink. If you exercise, add more water, too. Here's a
hydration calculator you can use to tabulate your intake, especially in figuring out your extra exercise water portions.
Whoa Nellie, that's alot of water you're thinking...I'm going to have setup camp in the bathroom! Well, maybe initially you will have to ;-) , because the water is flushing out the your system (blood, lymph, kidneys, etc.). Another secret is to not drink all the water at once, so divide your total water consumption by 3. SO I drink ~100oz daily, therefore, I drink ~33oz (a liter) 3 times daily, about an half hour before my meal.
Lastly, you're going to think that this drinking water is a pain in you know what. But keep drinking water for, at least, two weeks steady, and then stop. See how you feel then! You'll probably like crapola. Start "playing" with your water consumption and see how it feels to you. Only you know what's best for you and how much you need...
Oh, one more thing, if you feel "washed out", get some electrolytes in. The best time would be in the morning with your first servings of water. I recommend one packet of Emergen-C Lite or Alive! Effervescent. Also, read Fereydoon Batmanghelidj's book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water (also see health resouces below).
2. Epsom salt. It is always recommended to have an Epsom Salt bath after a massage. Why? Thirty percent of the body's wastes are eliminated through the skin. Baths facilitate the opening of pores and stimulating the sweat glands, allowing the skin to excrete toxins. When Epsom Salt is added to your bath, the sulfates and magnesium in Epsom Salt detoxify your body by drawing out toxins through the skin and reduce inflammation to relieve pain and muscles cramps. Lactic acid and other waste products that are built-up in chronically-held tissues can be released in the body through massage. However, taking a bath with Epsom Salt, these toxins can be released through the skin. Therefore, Epsom Salt helps eliminate toxins by activating fluid movement in the issues and increasing perspiration (in conjunction to the warm water). Begin with a 1/4 cup of Epsom Salt. Gradually increase the amount with each bath until you are using ~4 cups/tub of clean, warm-hot water. Should you experience symptoms at any level, stay at that level of Epsom Salt until you can soak 30 minutes with no symptoms. REMEMBER, you must replenish your body with water! If you want to learn more about Epsom Salt, visit the Epsom Salt Council website.
3. Got tennis and/or golf ball(s)? You are not able to see a massage therapist and your self-massage techniques aren't working, but you got this pain in your body that you just gotta get rid of...use a tennis/golf ball or two! It's cheap and it works for your neck, back, IT band, gluts, your feet, and where ever else you hurt. Put the ball on the ground and rub the bottom of your foot on it as light or hard as you can - great for plantar fasciitis. Lay on the bed or floor and put 2 balls at the base of your neck and on sides of the spine and just lay there. You can also move the balls down your spine or do compressions down your spine. You may need to be creative on how to use these balls as massage tools for your muscles, but it/they do great work. For those who graduated from using tennis balls, use golf balls instead.
4. My hands and skin. People always comment on how soft my hands and skin are. So what do I do? Here is a list of how this could be:
a. I drink lots of water, eat a vegan diet, and exercise daily.
b. I use a dry brush before showering daily. The benefits are amazing and plentiful. Visit Natural Health Techniques website for detailed information.
c. In the shower, I use a scrungy with soap to exfoliate even more dead cells. If I have rough spots (especially on my feet and sometimes at my fingertips), I use a pumice board.
d. I moisturize occasionally with olive oil (before getting out of the shower) or lotion (also before getting out of the shower). Sometimes in the evenings, I "lather-up" my hands with lots of lotion, put on a set of gloves, and go to sleep. In the morning, my hands are sooo soft...
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activism for health
COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (CAM) PRODUCTS
In Europe, if you ravaged with a cold and want to pop some vitamin C and Zinc, don't expect that you can go to the store and buy it. You'll have to see a doctor and have it prescribed and pay about double-triple of what you pay now (here in the US) for over the counter vitamins and other popular medications. How about if water or juice was considered as a drug? In the US, we are not there YET. CAM products affect us who use, seek, and provide health alternatives outside the doctor-pharmaceutical arena. Public comment period is now closed as of July 31, 2007 (no other extensions have been issued). However, if you're curious as to how CAM products are "developing" in the US, read through to these resources: "Organic Consumers Organization" and "Heath Freedom Foundation".
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Friday, May 4, 2007
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quote central
Maintaining and improving your health is a rewarding,
fighting illness and disease a grueling experience.
Everything is on purpose.
The burden of proof should fall upon the MD, to justify his/her self-proclaimed "radical" procedures, and not upon the conservative practitioner using the time proven "nature cure". (Dr. Doug Graham)
The basis of life is absolute freedom. The objective of life is absolute joy. The result of life is absolute growth. (Abraham-Hicks)
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health resources
- cleanse & purify thyself (books I & II)
- pain free in 6 weeks (book)
- senior fitness & a race for life (2 books)
- staying healthy with the seasons (book)
- stretching (book)
- the china study (book)
- the natural year - jane alexander (book)
- women's bodies, women's wisdom (book)
- world without cancer (book & website)
- your body's many cries for water
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well-being resources
- a course in miracles (3 book volume)
- ask and it's given, the amazing power of deliberate intent, law of attraction, and a new beginnings II ( books)
- beliefnet (website)
- bodymind - ken dychtwald (book)
- celestine prophecy (book & movie)
- chakra cleaning (book w/ cd)
- god spoke to me (book)
- i could do anything if i only knew what it was (book)
- molecules of emotion (book)
- peaceful warrior (book & movie)
- positive energy (book)
- power of now (book)
- present moment, wonderful moment (book)
- road less travelled (book)
- surfing the himalayas (book)
- the four agreements (book)
- the four-fold way (book)
- the pathway (book)
- the purpose driven life (book)
- the purpose of your life & find your purpose, change your life (two books)
- the right questions (book)
- the secret (book & movie)
- the seven spiritual laws of success (book)
- what the bleep!? (movie)