MAKING IT COUNT - HEALTH & WELLNESS SMART!

Check Out Chair Massage: You Deserve a Break in Your Busy Day  by Cathy Ulrich Ever been curious about the chair massage area at the mall? Or wondered why your company offers massages in the conference room on certain days? Does it seem strange people want to get massages in an odd-looking chair during a busy workday? Well, maybe they're on to something. In fact, a small investment in a chair massage session can lead to a significant pay-off. Chair massage--also called seated or on-site massage--provides a host of benefits, including reducing stress, improving mental clarity, and enhancing work performance. And the time investment is minimal: short five-, ten- or fifteen-minute sessions can often do the trick. In a study done at the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami, researchers found that when participants got a fifteen-minute chair massage just twice a week, their anxiety levels were lower, their brain waves proved they were more relaxed and...

Upcoming Office Move  Our lease at Rosecrans Place finishes up at the end of February. The decision has been made to move to a new site at South Bay Park, San Diego. No disrupti ons to appointments or scheduling is expected. The new office iis located at 1465  Morena Blvd, Suite 209, San Diego, CA 92110. The new location provides numerous amenities and upgrades and ease of access. There will be designated customer parking, direct access from the Interstate 5 Tecolate/Sea World Drive On/Off Ramp and the Interstate5/8 Interchange; this dramatically reduces choke points to the wellness center. Suite upgrades include : showers, restroom, dry sauna, couples massage, hot stone therapy and group movement therapy. The Move is expected to be completed by February 21st. More to follow along with pics of the new offices.

Holding Headaches at Bay Bodywork Eases Migraines and Tension Headaches by Cathy Ulrich "Do you get headaches?" I asked Cindy. She had come to see me for massage to address her neck and shoulder pain but hadn't mentioned headaches. "Well, yes," she said. "I've always had headaches and, now that you mention it, they seem to be worse when my neck hurts." Cindy went on to say she suffered from them as often as 2-3 times a week and typically treated them with ibuprofen. Like many Americans, Cindy suffers from chronic, frequent headaches. Her neck pain finally prompted her to seek help, but she was so used to the headaches, she thought they were something she simply had to live with. What Cindy didn't understand was that frequent headaches are not normal and, with a little proactive planning, there is something that can be done to manage and even prevent them. Types of Headaches Headaches come in many varieties. Following is a ...

The Importance of Proper Posture Correct Alignment Leads to Better Health Hope Bentley Talk of good posture often generates images of women walking in a circle with books balanced on their heads or soldiers standing at attention. But good posture does not have to be rigid or ridiculous. In fact, far from ridiculous, it may be the key to good health. According to Patrick Wroblewski, a Boulder, Colorado-based structural integration practitioner, "Good posture is a dynamic, working awareness of how gravity is coming down through the body." In other words, just as the body moves and changes throughout the day, so should posture.  Wroblewski explains that many people come in to his practice with complaints of lower back pain, and stiff necks and shoulders, most of which have a direct correlation to poor posture. If a person sits hunched in front of a computer screen all day, it's likely the head hovers towards the screen, the lower back has collapsed and the tail bo...

Back Pain and Massage How Bodywork Can Help Karrie Osborn Whether it's a pulled muscle from yoga class or an afternoon basketball game, or a long-term pain caused by injury, most of us will come to know the beast that is called back pain. In fact, when it comes to low-back pain specifically, researchers say that 70-85 percent of the population will experience it at some point in their lives.  Causes of Pain Experts say the cause of back pain can be the result of several factors. High on the list is stress. When our body is stressed, we literally begin to pull inward: the shoulders roll forward and move up to the ears, the neck disappears, and the back tightens in the new posture. "It's an armoring effect," says Angie Parris-Raney, a Denver-based massage therapist who specializes in deep-tissue massage and sports therapy. "That protective mode, with the muscles in flex, can even result in visceral problems," she says, where the pain also affects in...

Bodywork & Exercise Increase Body Awareness While Increasing Your Activity Ruth Werner You have to give us credit: as a culture, Americans are incredibly interested in getting fit. We invest every year in new diets, exercise programs, and supplements for weight loss and improved energy. Low-range estimates suggest that Americans spend about $2.6 billion each year on gym memberships alone.  We also tend to pitch full speed into any given commitment. If we're going to get fit, by golly, we're going to do it now, regardless of how long it took us to get into our current state. We don't do things by half measures, and moderation is not in our nature. So how do we keep ourselves injury-free while honoring our commitment to exercise and get healthy? Does It Have to Be All or Nothing?  We all know that starting an exercise program doesn't actually mean we'll finish it. When we throw ourselves into an ambitious new routine, we are likely to overdo it and ge...

"...There is nothing new about this subject, in 1200 BC natural preparations were used in China as fungicides and for treating seeds, farmers all over the world were dependant on natural means to help preserve their crops from predators and disease. During the agricultural revolution in Europe, between 1750 and 1880, international commerce triggered the expansive use of the natural insecticide ‘ Pyrethrum ’, made from the dried flower heads of  Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium  and of course farmers and small holders worldwide all had their own local recipes and techniques for looking after their precious crops..." Read more Click Here