Welcome 2015! New Yoga Fun!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

A Toast to the New!

  Hope your entrance into 2015 has been a wonder so far.  So glad to start anew this time!  Mostly I’m easy about the passing of time, but some years are laden with the heavy goo of emotion and grasping to familiarity and 2014 has been one for me personally.  Of course, with the uncomfortable changes come the rewards of new buds blooming, a renewal of all things old and thought, as well as a shedding of old skin and ways of being we think we can never outgrow.  Here’s to that messiness of all that life heaps on at times and being able to sink into new blessings with grace and gratefulness.

I have been enjoying being a full-time business owner.  Meeting a wonderful clientele that supports my advocacy for wellness and self-care, working out kinks and knots for the body and mind, and just being able to share in the joy of the moments one takes for oneself.  This part of my journey has helped to seek out my own personal wellness regimes.  With an increase in overall massage work, it is my first priority to care for myself in a full and authentic way.  Sometimes a challenge!  But most imperative if I am to imbue my clients with the same sense of self-care and healthful wellness that I wish to see in all I see.  Take care of you! It’s all we’ve got of ya!

I am grateful for all the new that is burgeoning in my life.  There may be some perceived sadness in the backstories, but overall and despite my dramatics, newness just keep on filling in the cracks and making sure I am sure of where I am heading is in the right direction.  What has been doing this for you lately???  Here’s my list…

*NEW LOVE*NEW MOM*NEW HOUSE*NEW CAR*NEW YOGA CLASS*NEW FRIENDS& FAMILY*NEW OFFICE*

The most exciting for me lately is the NEW YOGA CLASS!  Are you ready to partake of the yogic journey?  This is a new start for me, so with all my students as well.  We’ll start slow and gently to get in the groove, see what is in us, and over some time, work up to flap our wings and soar to new spaces and places that our bodies allow and our minds embrace.  We do yoga to bring our body to complete health in order to bring our minds to complete health.  If our bodies are “cranky”, then we can only listen to the aches and pains.  Relieve the pain and we can hear what our hearts say to lead us to our best selves.

Join us to see what happens.  This is a beginning class, with beginning bodies and beginning minds.  We will begin and see where that takes us and how it makes us feel.  Let’s adventure anew and find the dreams lurking in our hearts and curling toes and dissipating woes.

See you Wednesdays!!!

Beginner’s Yoga, 9-10:30am, Town and Mountain Training Center

261 Asheland Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (around back to the left, 2nd door)

We’ve got what you need!  Just wear comfy, stretchy clothes and a willing spirit.

One Great Way to Enjoy Fall

On my walk today, I was so happy to see our great local, urban homestead supply and design shop, ,  renting a cider press at 25 dollars for two days!  Makes me think of fall days far back in my early years.  Getting lost in the dark corn fields, though we could hear our friends at the picnic shelter.  Feeling safe, but ending up scared as we roamed round and round the cornfield realizing we were going in circles, following the voices but hearing them from everywhere, and mysteriously they could not hear us!  Scary fun!

Being a part of outdoor haunted forests and apple festivals with family and kiddies and pumpkins galore.

Going to a cider press festival, enjoying the adventure, being the city girl I guess I mostly was at that time, and feeling like I had finally met my kinda people.  Whatever our ways, it’s great to meet people that resonate with you, make you feel like they are weird in the same way you are  – kindred spirits!  They want to hang out the same way you do – Yea!

I’m so grateful to be kindred spirits with all my massage clients.  Folks who enjoy spending their time relaxing, taking time to de-stress and take care of their minds and bodies.   Working at a spa where couple’s massages are a regular request and many are folks celebrating their anniversary or birthday, I always get a kick and am proud for the people who declare they are just out celebrating today.  They often continue with how they are always celebrating the day and are glad to take this time for massage.  These are the people we all aspire to be.  Even as a massage therapist, it is sometimes tough to get the time needed for self-care and reflection – though I work on it as it’s integral and supportive of my career.

Take the time to celebrate the moment this fall; for yourself, with a friend, family, or sweetie.

 

Check out VILLAGERS for all your urban farming needs!

Schedule a Massage with yours truly:)

Have a lovely dining experience  in Asheville!  One of my favorite spots!

 

Hot for Cold in the Hot

Paul Pritchford bring to light in his book Healing with Whole Foods that in Chinese medicine, a major functional concept is qi, also known as chi.  A vital essence found in all things, qi has aspects of both matter and energy.  The qi concept gives a measure for the vitality of a person, object, or state.  In a person, good qi is manifested as an ability to accomplish all things, lack of obstruction in the body, better functioning of the internal organs, and so on.  Qi exists in the body through 1) food;  2) our environment; and 3) the essence of the kidneys.

Basically, it’s our vitally and what we put in and put on our bodies affect our day to day levels of energy, mood, and health.  Our daily goal, then, is to clear obstructions in order to maximize qi flow.  With that in mind, know much of Chinese medicine uses the Five Elements to attune and harmonize the body.  These are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

I wanted to touch on that so you know where I am headed as I talk a little about Hot Stone Therapy.  I bring that up because, man, is it the season for it!  Crazy, right?  I wouldn’t think so either, but I feel will this cooler summer, cold is more prevalent and people are experienceing coldness and dampness and doing their best to get their fill of heat.  Pritchford says that coldness is a associated with the Water Element.  In the body it resembles ice:  hard and motionless.  Coldness causes contraction, so a cold person bends back or moves around with difficulty.  Pain from  cold  can be intense and fixed in one place.  Some symptoms of cold include chill sensations, dislike of cold, and an attraction to warmth.  A person with signs of coldness will usually be overdressed and attracted to warm foods and drinks.  Older people tend to be cold, and people who are transitioning to a vegetarian diet also show signs of coldness.  It takes longer for a cold person to build warmth than for a hot person to lose excess heat.  This may explain the desire for hot stones during our not-so-hot summer!

Hot stone massage is a natural therapy in which warmed stones are positioned on parts of the client’s body of to maximize the therapeutic benefit. The stones used are typically river rocks or other smooth-surfaced stones made of basalt.  These stones are heated before use.  Hot stone massages are beneficial on both physical and psychological levels. Check with your doctor before getting a hot stone massage though;  pregnant women and people with high blood pressure are advised to avoid this type of therapy.

Muscle relaxation is one more added  benefit of Hot Stone Therapy.  The heat from the stones helps your muscles relax, allowing the massage therapist to manipulate your deeper tissues more effectively. Overly tense muscles can hinder the massage procedure, so if your muscles are extremely tight or stiff, the heated stones may provide the extra relaxation you need for the massage to be beneficial in releasing tension and easing sore muscles.

While all types of massage can help relieve pain caused by tense muscles, stiff joints or injuries, a hot stone massage may provide greater relief due to the intense nature of the massage. Because the hot stones allow the massage therapist to work deeper, you may find that a hot stone massage leaves you feeling so much better.

Typically, a massage therapist allows the heated stones to rest on trigger points in your body before beginning the actual massage. As the heat from the stones penetrates into your deeper body tissues, your blood vessels open, resulting in improved circulation. Poor circulation can lead to fatigue, which tenses the muscles, and a buildup of fluid and lactic acid in the muscles. Increased circulation delivers more oxygen to the muscles, which can help ease aches and pains, as well as move the beneficial qi.

Massage therapy can result in mental benefits as well as physical ones in many people. You may find that the relaxation afforded to you through a hot stone massage helps ease some of your mental stress and tension. A hot stone massage may also help you combat some of the symptoms of anxiety disorders and depression. While massage therapy is not a substitute for traditional medical or psychiatric care, it can be an integral part of your treatment plan for summer

 

 

Look here for more information on Paul Pritchford’s Healing with Whole Foods

Interested in balancing your qi through Acupuncture?  Visit Lutea Acupuncture and Herbs in Asheville, or click here to find an acupuncturist near you!

 

 

 

 

 

Tis’ the Season for all Sorts of Things!

The holidays are in full force upon us and at times if seems as if all the lines are long, the days are short, and our  teapot whistle is about to shriek out to the universe its piercing siren of distress.  But alas!  Your solace has arrived!  One for you, one for them…

For this holiday season, One Earth Healing Massage is offering a variety of choices to help you enjoy and navigate these jolly days with peace and serenity.  Choose any or all, with a gift certificate  as needed.

For you:                                                                                                                                               A pre-holiday de-stresser, a perfect time for you to shower yourself with love, so you are better able to pay it forward…

A Full Body Massage with Reflexology of the hands and feet: 90 minutes of relaxation and calm.       $70

For the athlete:                                                                                                                                                                                             A great gift to help pamper new resolutions as everyone heads to the gym  after gobbling goodies for a few weeks.  

A series of three Thai Massages to stretch and invigorate the muscles in a yoga-is-happening-TO-me kinda way.                                                                                                       $275

For the frantic:                                                                                                                                      Know someone who looks at sleep as an inconvenience?  Who does 80 things in a day and needs to make a longer list at 3pm?

A short yet sweet 30 minute treat of reflexology for sore feet and short attention-to-self (but need it!) pals.                           $25