Category: Uncategorized

Originally published in September, 2017

There are many opinions on stretching as some people will say it is bad for you, and then others will say it is good for you. I went to school for exercise science and health and wellness and I had one professor say he thought stretching was not good for the body because he stretched his back once and he pulled a muscle. Then I had two other professors, all in the same program, say that stretching is great for the body. This was over 10 years ago and research has continued to grow with new knowledge of the benefits stretching has. It’s really important to know your body and the limitations it has. This will allow you to stretch properly without hurting yourself.

When I was a new personal trainer shortly after college I had a client come to me that wanted to feel better with hopes of losing weight. Together we worked on this goal. Then she got into a car accident during the time I was her trainer. One of the routines we did was I would assist her in her stretches. When we were done, this seemed to really help open up her back. After the car accident she came to me we would stretch her body along with some other exercises. While doing a back stretch, I let go of her for a second and she took her leg and pulled it into her body so fast she ended up pulling a muscle. She thought it was going to be better if she went deeper into the stretch. This can happen if we are not careful. When the body starts shaking in a stretch that is your nervous system in fight or flight mode. Your nervous system is telling you to relax a bit. It’s during this part that you could pull a muscle. You want to go into the stretch just before you start shaking and eventually you will be able to go deeper into the stretch.

There are a few different types of stretches that are great for your body. One is dynamic stretching. This is great before any workout, or just waking up in the morning. Dynamic stretching is done while moving. This helps increase blood flow and warm up the muscles. Another one is called static stretching. This kind of stretching is great for after a workout, or after you have done some dynamic stretches. Static stretches are the stretches that most people are familiar with. It’s when you hold the stretch in place for about 30 seconds. So what are the benefits of stretching?

• Increased flexibility and range of motion.
• Injury prevention.
• Preventing DOMS.
• Improved posture.
• Improvements in sports performance.
• Stress relief

Below are some great sites to visit if you would like to know more. Please note that these sites will talk about sports or running. These routines are highly used during these activities and that’s why you will see it talked about more. These are also very beneficial for those who do not participate in any of these sports. Your main goal should be to remain healthy and feeling good. I suggest a lot of these stretches to my clients and help them find a good time to use them. If you have any questions, or simply would like to book an appointment,  we can get the right treatment plan for you. I Look forward to seeing you!

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises/benefits-of-stretching
Dynamic

https://www.runnersworld.com/dynamic-stretching
http://www.stretching-exercises-guide.com/dynamic-stretching.html
https://greatist.com/fitness/full-body-dynamic-warm-up
Static
http://www.active.com/fitness/articles/12-post-workout-static-stretches
https://www.runnersworld.com/static-stretching

Both
http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/injury-prevention/dynamic-stretching-vs-static-stretching_54248

Originally posted in April, 2017

Meditation of any kind is extremely beneficial to the people who practice it. It calms your mind, relieves stress, and allows you to bring yourself to a better state of consciousness. However, when most people think of meditation they think of a form of sitting meditation, but there are actually many, many different kinds of meditation. There are eating meditations, heart meditations, sitting meditations, and others. One of the best forms of meditation for the person always on the move is a meditation called “Walking Meditation.” Using a walking meditation for everyday mindfulness is an excellent way to feel better, and to get your meditation worked into your busy schedule.

What Is a Walking Meditation?

Walking meditation is a meditation where you walk while you meditate. A key difference between this type of meditation and many other forms of meditation is that your eyes are open during it. Your eyes remain open so that you may see where you are going and not get hurt, but also so you can be fully engaged with your surroundings.
There are several different variations of the walking meditation, but the one I’d like to mention for this post is the mindfulness walking meditation.

Mindfulness Walking Meditation

A mindfulness walking meditation is just one variation, and it is a fairly modern one, too. It is, however, very easy to implement into your schedule. You can squeeze in a walking meditation any time you are walking somewhere. If you have a long walk to your car in the parking lot, or you have to walk clear across your place of work, using a walking meditation is simple and effective.
There are a few important things to keep in mind when you do your walking meditation. The first thing is to keep it slow. The slower the better. If you are rushing and walking quickly you won’t be able to focus on your thoughts or the world around you, and these things are key.
When you walk, take it slow and breathe deeply. Concentrate your thoughts on the way your feet feel as you walk. Concentrate on your surroundings. Is it loud? Quiet? If you’re outside: is there wind? What do you hear? How does it feel? If you find your mind drifting to thoughts about your day or personal life, re-focus them by concentrating on your individual steps, your breathing, and the ground that you are walking on.
By doing this you will increase your mindfulness of the world around you, and of your own body and soul. The best thing about this kind of meditation is that even a one minute meditation on your way to your car is beneficial. Just one minute of mindfulness can help relax you and decrease your stress. Of course, you can practice a walking meditation as long as you like. You may find that when you get home you want to practice it for fifteen or twenty minutes!
So the next time you’re walking somewhere, consider practicing a little walking meditation to ease your mind and increase your mindfulness.
If you’d like to find out what massage services we offer here at Mountain Valley Lotus, please contact us today! We’d love to help you!

Originally Published in December, 2017

After my last training cycle this past winter I really learned a lot about my body and what it can handle. Our bodies are capable of handling more than we give it credit for, but this is not to say that we should ignore red flags; we need to pay attention to our bodies and when something doesn’t feel right it is probably because something isn’t. In the past, I have ignored red flags and have had to endure much more than was ever necessary.
At the time, I was training to run a marathon and was experiencing a lot of discomfort throughout my body. I knew that something had to be wrong. However, as I was training for this marathon I ignored these red flags because I was focused on getting to that marathon and finishing it. This was my mistake. My knees and my ankles were killing me, and eventually this pain found its way up into my back. I was able to finish my marathon, but afterward I felt my entire body crumble. I had ignored these symptoms for too long, and now I was feeling the result.
The issue? My shoes. I was wearing the wrong footwear, which calloused my feet and threw my gait cycle off, which accounted for the all the pain in my ankles, knees, and back. There was one shoe I was wearing that was not wide enough for my foot, and as a result I had hyperpronation in my foot, which made my bunion hurt which in turn threw my knee and hip out which threw my back out of alignment. As you can see, something as simple as footwear can have a far reaching effect on the rest of the body.
Nevertheless, during this time I couldn’t breathe because of the pain and discomfort (I have a history of asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and sinus infection), and was getting nervous. I went to the doctors, and to a chiropractor, and soon everything was beginning to feel better, especially when I changed my footwear to a properly sized shoe. There were three things I had to change in order to heal my body.
1. Get new footwear that was properly sized.
2. Do my daily exercises on a regular basis.
3. Change my socks on a regular basis.
All in all, it took about seven months to fix this issue with my body. After going through this whole ordeal I am practicing more preventive measures to avoid this sort of thing happening again. Now my body feels the way it should, and I am training for my fifth marathon.
I suppose the most important takeaway from this is to pay attention to your body. Don’t ignore it. Our bodies can handle a lot, but if there is something wrong our bodies will tell us, and it is up to us to listen. No one else can listen for us. If you think something is wrong then there probably is, and the longer you hold off doing something about it the worse the problem will get. So be sure to listen to what your body is telling you. It could be something as simple as wearing the wrong footwear!

Originally Published in October, 2017

It is autumn, which means it is the perfect time to warm up on the sofa with a nice cup of tea. Tea has many health benefits, and tastes great too! Tea is especially great for your immune system. The immune system, as written in the Merriam Webster dictionary, is “the bodily system that protects the body from foreign substances, cells, and tissues by producing the immune response…” (Merriam Webster).
        Drinking tea will help boost your immune system and help your body fight off illnesses that come about as the air gets drier and cooler, and as we spend more of time indoors. Winter is the season where we get sick the most, so drinking tea in the autumn is a way of readying your body for the long, cold months ahead.
        It doesn’t matter which kind of brewing method you use (loose tea leaves or tea bags), both will provide you with the same boost to your immune system. I recommend drinking the tea black, as any milk or sugar will deplete the health benefits that the tea provides.
        You can also get creative with it! One thing you could try that I have been doing is making tea ice cubes. To do this, simply brew six bags of tea in a pitcher of water. Once brewed, pour the tea into an ice cube tray and freeze. Then put the tea ice cubes in a glass of water; this is a great method especially if you are looking to drink more water, and it makes it taste good too.
        Here are some teas that I recommend giving a try:
–          Eucalyptus
–          Rosemary
–          Lavender
–          Turmeric
–          Chamomile
In addition to tea, reflexology is a good type of massage that aids in boosting the immune system. There are points in the feet that when massages help strengthen your immune system. By boosting your immune system you will be protecting yourself against the common cold, flu, and other illnesses that come about in the winter. If you’d like more information, or to see what reflexology services I provide here at Mountain Valley Lotus, please contact us!

Work Cited
“Immune System.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2017. Web. 18 October 2017.

What is Reflexology?

I. Origins

Have you ever wondered what exactly reflexology is? In short, reflexology is a type of massage where the therapist massages reflex points in the foot, which create a sense of relaxation within the body. Most people believe this practice originated in China, but it actually dates back to around 2333 B.C. in Egypt. The Egyptians would perform reflexology on soldiers during and between battles to help relax them. Most soldiers who received reflexology found that they were more relaxed and productive afterward. 

II. Practice

But what is the practice itself? Within the foot are reflex points that correlate to different parts of the body; by massaging these points we are reflexing other parts throughout the body. The theory behind reflexology is that our feet, hands, and ears are designed in the shape of our body. So, for example, your big toe is a reflex point of the brain, sinus, throat, and cervical spine area. By massaging the big toe you will feel a sense of relaxation in the correlating areas.
I recently had a client, whose big toe I massaged, say that she could feel a tingling sensation throughout the left side of her head; at the time, I was massaging her left toe. I was, in effect, stimulating her nervous system. Within the foot are other correlations as well. The foot contains the reflex points of our organs, so by massaging the foot we are taking care of the rest of the body. Each part of the body has a different reflex point.  By practicing reflexology, we are able to open up pathways to help the nervous system and circulatory system.

III. Benefits

Receiving reflexology is a great way to get relaxed, and to learn about the ways different parts of your body interact with each other. By understanding how your feet correlate with other parts of your body, both external and internal, you will be able to enjoy all the benefits of massage. Massaging the feet doesn’t just relax your feet, but it will relax your whole body.