Mental health is always in the headlines, and for a very good reason; many Americans will have to deal with a mental health issue at some point in their lives. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) approximately 1 in 5 US adults (46.6 million) will experience some form of mental illness in any given year. Around 1 in 25 adults (11.2 million) will experience a serious mental illness in any given year that significantly interferes with or limits their major life activities.

it’s worth knowing that along with the right support from medical professionals, self-care and the correct medication if needed, massage may have a part to play in supporting mental health. Research has shown that massage therapy can really ...

There’s no escaping the truth; winter is here. The days have gotten shorter and the sweaters are  out of the wardrobe. It’s not unusual for people to get the ‘winter blues’ – which is a condition many people in the northern hemisphere are afflicted with due to lack of sunlight during the colder and darker winter months. The good news for everyone is that massage therapy can help increase health happiness for everyone during the cooler months of the year. Here a few reasons why…

Massage May Help to Banish Seasonal Affective Disorder 

As we’ve mentioned, Seasonal Affective Disorder – sometimes known as the winter blues – is a problem for many people when there’s.........

Facial cupping is a technique using small cups that create a negative pressure to lift the facial tissue mimicking the pumping movements of lymphatic drainage.  Cups used for facial cupping are usually either silicone cups or glass with the vacuum bulb (shown below).

Google ‘cupping,’ and you will see an array of images of backs covered in blue-black, circular bruises. Don’t be intimidated by this. That’s not what cupping is going to do to your face! Facial cupping is much milder than body cupping. The cups used for facial cupping are signifcantly smaller than the cups generally used for body cupping.  They also are kept moving--eliminating the risk of leaving cupping marks.

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Yes, please. Cancel if you are sick. Great! We’re done here.

Nah, there's a bunch more to cover. There are lots of variables to being sick. What does that even mean and why does it matter? Let’s dig in.

What is ‘sick’?

For determining your ability to receive massage, ‘sick’ means one or any combination of the following:

●     Fever and related symptoms

○     Chills

○     Aches

○     Unusual fatigue

●     Respiratory issues

○     Coughing

○     Sneezing

○     Very runny and/or ......

Massage Offers Excellent Return on Investment

"Invest for the long term" is great financial advice, but it's also great healthcare advice.  Never is investing for the long term more important than when you are making day-to-day decisions about your health.  There are short-term gains from taking care of your health, to be sure, but the long-term benefits are not to be underestimated.

You already know the value of massage.  For all the short-term stress and pain relief you get from massage today, there are lasting rewards you'll thank yourself for down the road.  Massage therapy as a preventative measure and part of an ongoing care regimen can mean fewer visits to the doctor, as well as fewer.........

Contraindication is a long word with a simple meaning: a reason you shouldn’t receive a particular treatment, such as a massage. There are local contraindications—things like a small wound—that shouldn’t be massaged directly, but that don’t mean you can’t still get a perfectly good massage on other parts of your body. Then there are general contraindications, or situations in which you shouldn’t get a massage at all. Contraindications can be an illness like the flu, a treatment or medication like a strong blood thinner, or even something environmental, like a bedbug infestation at home.

But there’s another kind of contraindication that also seems to make the rounds on a regular basis: ...

Dry skin brushing originates back centuries in part of Ayurveda's traditional medicines (which includes meditation and yoga).  It is just as the name implies--brushing your dry skin.  No water, no oil, no lotion.  You use a natural bristle brush and brush in sections towards the heart.

How Does It Work?  Here is an excellent excerpt from Rich Travis from "Thyroid Nation" 

Your skin is an organ of elimination, just like your kidneys, liver and colon. It’s the largest organ of your body and it’s estimated that one-third of your body’s daily impurities are excreted through the skin. Dry skin brushing helps keep the pores clear and the skin active to assist the body in this .........

Everyone wants a massage, but sometimes making it in to see your favorite massage therapist (hi there!) just isn’t feasible. It’s in those unexpected and inconvenient moments that knowing how to give your partner a pretty great massage yourself can make the difference between a rotten day and a better one. But of course, this hinges on one thing: do you know how to give a good massage? Giving an at-home massage is not that hard. Here are my favorite tips:

Use firm pressure, but not hard.

People get confused about pressure in two opposite ways. If your partner is smaller than you, you may have a tendency to use very light pressure. This is okay to a point (you probably won’t hurt anyone), but can be a little frustrating.........

Our legs do a lot for us. We use them all day, every day. Like other parts of our body they can get tired, overused, sore, and in need of some care.

Our legs take us where we want to go. They let us walk around to do what we need to do - even if it’s just to grab a snack from the kitchen.

Some jobs are physical and involve being on your feet a lot. If lifting and moving things are involved you use your legs to lift and haul them around. Job responsibilities can have repetitive actions than can overwork your muscles.

Other jobs are not very physical and involve a lot of sitting. Long periods of time with your legs in the same position causes your leg muscles to shorten, so when you do stand and walk your legs feel tight......

A tension headache often feels like there is a tight band around your head, squeezing tighter and tighter around your temples. You may also experience pain in your scalp or neck. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache, which may be triggered by responses to stress, depression, anxiety, or injury.

Here is some self massage tips to help alleviate that pain...

• Start by placing your thumbs on your cheekbones close to your ears, and use your fingertips to gently apply pressure and rub the temples (the soft spot between the corner of your eye and your ear).

• Using very firm pressure and a tiny circular motion, gradually move your fingers up along your hairline until they meet in the middle of your forehead, ......
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