Happy Solstice Everyone, I hope you enjoy this poem, it's one of my very favorites,

Toward the Winter Solstice

 

by Timothy Steele

Although the roof is just a story high,

It dizzies me a little to look down.

I lariat-twirl the cord of Christmas lights

And cast it to the weeping birch’s crown;

A dowel into which I've  screwed a hook

Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine

The cord among the boughs so that the bulbs

Will accent the tree’s elegant design.

Friends, passing home from work or shopping, pause

And call up commendations or critiques.

I make adjustments. Though a potpourri

Of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs,

We all are conscious of the time of year;

We all enjoy its colorful displays

And keep some festival that mitigates

The dwindling warmth and compass of the days.

Some say that L.A. doesn’t suit the Yule,

But UPS vans now like magi make

Their present-laden rounds, while fallen leaves

Are gaily resurrected in their wake;

The desert lifts a full moon from the east

And issues a dry Santa Ana breeze,

And valets at chic restaurants will soon

Be tending flocks of cars and SUVs.

And as the neighborhoods sink into dusk

The fan palms scattered all across town stand

More calmly prominent, and this place seems

A vast oasis in the Holy Land.

This house might be a caravansary,

The tree a kind of cordial fountainhead

Of welcome, looped and decked with necklaces

And ceintures of green, yellow, blue, and red.

Some wonder if the star of Bethlehem

Occurred when Jupiter and Saturn crossed;

It’s comforting to look up from this roof

And feel that, while all changes, nothing’s lost,

To recollect that in antiquity

The winter solstice fell in Capricorn

And that, in the Orion Nebula,

From swirling gas, new stars are being born.

Have wonderous Holiday.

Peace

Chicken or Egg, Symptom or Emotion?

From Face Book on Nov.6, 2013
Here's what may be a new thought, "The emerging science is providing some really good evidence that the physical sensation can lead to the emotion, instead of the emotion manifesting as a physical experience."

Below are some excerpts from an article written by Douglas Nelson who  is the founder and principal instructor for Precision Neuromuscular Therapy Seminars. The link to the article is http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php/article_id/2226/%E2%80%9CHow-Exactly-Does-Massage-Therapy-Work%E2%80%9D

"Sure. Your mind is always trying to make sense of what the body experiences. The brain needs a reason for what it experiences; we interpret meaning so we know how to respond appropriately. As an example, let's imagine you have an increased respiration and pulse rate. Are you excited or are you fearful? When you think about it, the physical experiences of excitement and fear are almost identical. The mind must decide which emotion it is based on the context of the experience. If you are seated in a theater waiting for a much anticipated concert to begin, it is excitement. If you are seated in a dental chair, your mind is going to interpret your physical sensations as signs of fear. 

"The same process can occur with regard to a bad mood. I am sure you can remember being really tense some morning, feeling completely out of sorts. If someone asked you why, you probably couldn't point to any specific offense as the reason. Throughout the morning, however, little things that would normally go unnoticed now really bothered you. You looked for things that were wrong to confirm that the tension you were feeling was perfectly appropriate for the terrible mood you were in. In essence, you created a viable emotional reason to explain your tense physical state."

"I assume that the reverse is also true, correct?" Craig interjected. "A better physical state should have a positive effect on emotions."

"Exactly. This might indeed explain what you experience after a massage. You leave my office with a very different physiology than when you arrived. The optimization of muscle function after massage will be experienced as efficient and effortless movement. The muscle tension in your shoulders is drastically reduced. Your breathing is slower and there is a heightened sense of awareness. Think about the emotional correlate your brain must then assign to this new stream of physical information. When do you normally feel such lack of tension, such lightness and freedom?" 
"When I am extremely relaxed, happy, and contented; when the world seems like a wonderful place," he responded.

I learned this for myself a few years ago.  I had been experiencing extreme anxiety for some years, and was always tightly focused on what my body sensations were telling me about my state of mind.  I found myself in a situation where I was very excited, and realized that the physical sensations I was experiencing  were identical to what I experienced as anxiety.  This was a tremendous turning point for me as I realized that I could re-interpret what was I feeling anytime.  Not quite that simple, of course, but a very big step in the right direction nonetheless. What I have also realized, or come to be comfortable with, is just letting a funny tummy be just that, not a harbinger of disaster, or a herald of hope.  Just letting the feelings be, with out interpreting them.  I think that might fall under the "Be Here Now"  mantra!

So, next time you're feeling kinda funky, ask yourself this, Do I need to change my mind, my job, my friends or, change my state of body?  Get up, move around, stretch, get some fresh air, or get a massage!

cheers to new thinking!
Peace
Penny

The Deep End of the Breathing Pool

(from Face Book)
Hey there, I was gone, but now I'm back! I'm going to continue with information about breathing. Here is a list of the benefits of getting your breathing deep (especially combined with mindfulness): Lower blood pressure, improved asthma symptoms, reduced feelings of panic and anxiety, less pain, less chest pain due to angina and better blood sugar control. It also improves heart health by boosting heart rate variability, a sign of a relaxed responsive cardiovascular system. By deep, here I don't mean your taking giant breaths all day long, but rather using your deep muscles that are supposed to do the breathing, rather than taking small sips of air at the top of your lungs. This needs more explanation, so I'll post more at my blog, along with another breathing exercise. See you there...
Peace

I should mention that some of the material I'm reporting today is from an article by the Doctor's Oz and Roizen, and reports news from the Cleveland Clinic. In fact it is so well written that here is an excerpt: "When 300 people test-drove a new Internet-based stress-management program that included meditation with deep breathing, their stress levels fell 25%....When stress fades, you're better able to avoid or control conditions made worse by tension such as asthma, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, digestive woes and accelerated aging...Chances are you use just one third of your lung capacity. That's because you have slouchy posture and spend oddles of time hunched behind the wheel of your car or in front of a digital device....Shallow breathing doesn't use the bottom portion of your lungs, home to hundreds of tiny blood vessels that help translate oxygen from the air you inhale into your bloodstream and then help to remove carbon dioxide with each exhalation. Taking shallow breaths also means you're missing out on the nervous-system calming effects of activating the sheet of muscle between your lungs and lower abdomen (diaphragm). As it moves up and down, helping fill your blood stream with energizing oxygen, it also switches on your body's relaxation response."

When you breath shallowly, not only are you not getting as much oxygen in as you could, but the bottom of your lungs accumulate CO2, and you create a stagnant pool of air in your chest. And nothing good comes of that!  The issue of good posture is one that I reiterate to my clients frequently, part of the "coaching" duties I take on, because we all need to hear information frequently before  it becomes second nature to check ourselves and correct ourselves.  Knowing why  we're doing it helps a lot too.

There's an app for that: (also from the article)  Breath Pacer and Breathe2Relax, are two.  I have no personal experience with them, so if you try them out give us all a report!

Extra breathing exercise:  This is also from the article, but is one I have many clients learn.  Laying down, place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest.  Now, inhale, breathing deep into the belly, allowing the lower hand to rise first, and the upper hand not at all.  To feel a fully deep breath you will be tempted to lift your shoulders and expand your chest.  This feeling should pass as you expand the real  muscles of breathing, and they become more pliable. You can also purse your lips as you exhale, as if trying to blow out a candle. This is especially useful for anti-anxiety breathing.  Practice deep breathing at night in bed, to calm the nervous system and prepare for sleep. Aim for about 5 minutes, if you're light headed, go lighter on the inhalation. I hope you find this useful,
Sweet Dreams

Science Reveals Massage's Healing Powers

More research notes: we all know massage feels good and helps heal sore muscles, but how? In one clinical trial, research subjects performed difficult exercises, and then received Swedish massage on only one leg. Biopsies on each leg found that massage activated genes that decrease inflammation and promote energy generation within cells, resulting in muscles that hurt less and grow quicker. If you want the source go to today's blog entry. So, do what horse trainers know-get a good rub down after exercise!

The study was published in February 2012 in Science Translational Medicine.  I read the story in Body Sense Magazine, Spring Issue, 2012, which you can link to from my website.  This issue also contains one of my favorite articles  "I'm a Massage Convert"  which tells one man's story about why he spends his very few discretionary dollars on regular massage.

Are you a convert?

Peace

What Is and What Is No More, Progress?

Two poems of change,

Buffalo Dusk

The buffalo are gone.

And those who saw the buffaloes are gone.

Those who saw the buffaloes by the thousands and how they

     pawed the prairie sod into dust with their  hoofs,

     their great heads down pawing on in a great pageant

     of dusk,

those who saw the buffaloes are gone,

And the buffaloes are gone. 


-----Carl Sandburg




The Flower-Fed Buffaloes

The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring

In the days of long ago

Ranged where the locomotives sing

And the prairie flowers lie low:

The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass

Is swept away by wheat,

Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by

In the spring that still is sweet.

But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring

Left us long ago,

They gore no more, they bellow no more:--

With the Blackfeet lying low,

With the Pawnee lying low.

--------Vachel Lindsay



These  two poets, born a year apart, were both members of the Chicago School of Poets.

Safely Stretching Necks and Easing Computer Eyes

(this is a continuation of a conversation from my Face Book page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rising-Sun-Massage/1662628780544032)

 OK, back to stretching the neck, it's pretty straight forward ( or sideways)  but you should not bend the neck straight back.  This compresses all the vertebra and can cause more strain and pain. To stretch the front of the neck, tilt the head back and left, and then back and right. When doing any stretching, go to where you first feel a gentle stretch and hold it there until you feel the tissues release, then if you want to go further, gently do so.

There are organelles in the tissues that  tell your brain how much stretch is being put on the muscles,(this is also where several  parts of your balance system are located) and since the muscle's job is to protect your joints any sudden over stimulation of the length sensors causes the muscles to contract. So, slow and easy is the way to make progress, and of course, consistency. Easy, right? Pick a body part every day to focus on, and every thing will get at least some attention on a regular basis.

You can do stretches statically, moving into one position and holding it, or you can do a moving stretch.  This has be particularly mindful.  There are fluids that are produced  in joints only when they are moving that help with motion and comfort. So if you are rehabbing an injury, movement is your friend.  Just go slow and easy. You can do circles with your head, slowly.Feeling every part at each moment will protect your neck and muscles.  There are nerves in the neck that can cause some vertigo if stretched overly much, so take caution when stretching the neck. The best prevention for neck strain  is the proverbial warning:  HEADS UP!

At my website you can find a link to this season's edition of Body Sense Magazine and an article about how using computers is causing eye and neck muscle strain. go here: http://www.risingsunmassage.massagetherapy.com/body-sense-magazine to read the article.

Peace

Weeds and Flowers and Massage

     I had a new client last week. She came in and looked around and said something a bit surprising and pleasing. She said she likes how I had arranged my studio and home, how everything seemed to be placed with great intention, in just the right spot.  This is indeed my goal, to create an environment that will help people to relax the moment they walk in.  I had forgotten to observe for myself that I had achieved my goal.        This came up again a few days later when I looked out at my garden and saw all the work undone, the weeds un-pulled.  Then remembering what my client had said, my vision sort of shifted and I saw the beauty of the flowers, and the care that had gone into creating the timing of the flowering, the height of the plantings, and I saw it as someone else might see it.  Just a beautiful, peaceful place.
     As a gardener most of my time is not, as one might think, spent nurturing the flowers, but pulling the weeds. By removing what is not desired, space and resources are freed up.The desirable plants know how to grow on their own, they don't need me for that.
     So too does your body know how to heal itself.  In a way, when you come in with sore shoulders, achy hands, or a sore elbow, I'm still pulling weeds. By the careful unraveling and elimination of the tension and pain that has accumulated, stores of energy and resources are available for physical healing and emotional balance.
    Pull the weeds, and flowers grow.  Get a massage, and health flows!

Peace

Independence Day poem, July 4, 2013

On the (physical)  poetry post in the garden, for the last three years, I have posted a special 4th of July poem.  This year I will post it here as well.  It's an oldie, but still a goodie.


I Hear America Singing


I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics—each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat—the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench—the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song—the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother—or of the young wife at work—or of the girl sewing or washing—
Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day—
At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.


---- Walt Whitman (from Leaves of Grass,

first published in the 1867 edition)



Remember what it took to build this nation, and all the nations that were here that were subsumed.   Let's continue to build

PEACE
for the tree and stone
for the grass and the leaves,
the children and brook
the people and the river
the earth and all her children
all   the people of the rainbow
praying for 
peace.

Chest Relaxed, Shoulders Back

To continue on with healing sore necks and shoulders... ( I know it's been a bit of a break here, didn't mean to be gone so long) There has been a surge of painful shoulders in my practice and among my friends, so this has been on my mind and lips a lot. One of the most important things to do is get those shoulders down and BACK. When directed to stand up straight and get your shoulders back, most people push their shoulders back using their pectorals.(chest muscles) What you want to do is PULL them back using the muscles between your shoulder blades. The pecs are already strong muscles, and building strength in the back muscles is key to a variety of postural changes that will help your shoulders feel better. I'll describe how to do that most effectively on the blog, so I'll see you there...


So, part of having healthy happy shoulders starts with foot placement. Toes forward shifts our weight forward, relaxes the butt muscles, allows the spine to lengthen, and drops the shoulders. This was covered in the last post.  So now we have to get those shoulders back.  Most of our everyday activities involve postures that drop our head forward, and curl our upper spine.  This rotates  the shoulders forward, and shortens the pec muscles.  While this is going on the muscles between the shoulder blades are contracting to provide stability for shoulder movement, but are simultaneously being stretched, and are static for long periods of time.  This makes them weak and cranky. Really cranky.  So, the cure for this is, as in almost all cases, increased blood flow by way of muscle contraction.  The trick here is to get the back muscles to contract, and keep the pecs from being involved.  The solution is to get your arms behind your ears.  Let me explain.  Lift your arms as if you were holding a bar above your head., so your arms are straight out to your sides, and elbows bent in a 90 degree angle.  Now, move your elbows so that they are behind your ears, put another way, move your elbows towards the back of you, upper arms still parallel to the floor.  Got it?  Good.  Now from here, squeeze your shoulder blades together.  Your chest muscles should be out of the equation and the back muscles should be going, "ahhhh." Do a few repetitions in sets of 8-10. Do throughout the day to nourish and clean out the tissues.  Even simpler... with your arms at your side, again bend the elbows to 90 degrees, and rotate the hands so they are palms up and thumbs are pointing behind you.  Now squeeze the shoulder blades together.  So there  you have it, go forth with your feet forward, and shoulders rolled back.  You'll look proud, and your back and shoulders will be happier. 
Peace

Feet Forward, Shoulders Down

   Sore neck/shoulders? Of course, we all have them. Believe it or not, the beginning of having less pain there begins with your feet. This will take a bit of explaining, so I'll start here, and finish on the blog. The first part is this: stand up, or do this sometime you're doing something like washing dishes. First assess how you feel in your various parts: legs, hips, shoulders. Now, look down at your feet. Chances are one or both of your feet are rotated away from the mid-line of your body, the opposite of pigeon toed. Now bring both feet so they are pointing straight forward, (you'll have to look at them to make sure.) Take a deep breath, relax, and let your body regions readjust. What happened? For most folks there is a predictable sequence of events. I'll go through it on the blog if you want to follow the discussion there. 


 Continuing on with the exercise from today's Facebook posting, the first thing people say is that they now feel pigeon toed! Our muscles have proprioceptors in them that tell us where we are in space, but chronic muscle shortening can distort what they perceive to be the right place for us to be!
     Next, your body weight should have shifted to your quadriceps, the muscle on the front of the thigh. And your shoulders should have descended, relaxing from where they usually reside up around your ears. Some of you  may have felt your spine lengthen, as your tail bone tucked under. 
     The kids song about the "hip bone is connected to the thigh bone" is very literally true, and applies just as surely to the soft tissue. We are a collection of parts, but we are one; each member influencing the position and function of even its most distant neighbors.
     Try to develop the habit of feet straight forward. This will involve some hip stretching to counterbalance the outward rotation of the hips, which is caused by contracted gluts. This  will require some mindfulness, but will pay off in a happier body. 

Peace

Cat Poem

A poem for those who love cats, and also, strangely enough, one for those who don't!


I COULD PEE ON THIS

Her new sweater doesn't smell of me
I could pee on that.
She's gone out for the day and
    left her laptop on the counter
I could pee on that
Her new boyfriend just pushed
     my head away
I could pee on him.
She's ignoring me ignoring her
I could pee everywhere
She's making up for it
     by putting me in her lap
I could pee on this
I could pee on this


from I COULD PEE ON THIS, AND OTHER POEMS BY CATS
by Francesco Marciuliano

Thumbrint

Just a poem this week, by Eve Merriam


THUMBPRINT

In the heel of my thumb
are whorls, whirls, wheels
in a unique design:
mine alone.
What a treasure to own!
My own flesh, my own feelings.
No other, however grand or base,
can ever contain the same.
My signature,
thumbing the pages of my time.
My universe key,
my singularity.
Impress, implant,
I am myself,
of all my atom part I an the sum.
And out of my blood and my brain
I make my own interior weather,
my own sun and rain.
Imprint my mark upon the world,
whatever I shall become.

Movement and Fluids

    When new clients come, I give out a welcome bag that includes a folder of articles about massage and health. I'm always looking for simple things that people can do and incorporate into their day that will keep them feeling better. There are at least a couple of software programs out there that you can get that will remind you when its time for you to take a movement break. So this was a fun find: http://www.undulationexercise.com/index.htm The exercise "the octopus" which is one of the free videos here, is one I include in my welcome pack. Anything that gets you up and moving during the day is a great tool to have on hand. The Octopus is especially great for hands and forearms. Do it mindfully and really feel into the movements for all the subtle changes and differences from side to side. For a little more on why movement is different than just stretching, and a couple of little poems, check out my blog posts for this week. Peace



 Our bodies are wonderful and intricate living machines.  I don't usually like to use that  analogy, but for this discussion it's useful.  

     Our bodies were designed for gentle, nearly continuous, movement for most of the hours in a day.  Think of foraging across a landscape.  Moving along and picking seeds and fruit. The system that propels us along, the vehicle in which we dwell, is largely hydraulic. The tissues and even ligaments are mostly water.  

     The "pump" in this system is two fold:  the heart and the contraction of the muscles.  So when we sit for too long, the muscles in the legs stop pumping fluids back up to the torso, which puts the burden of moving fluids all on the heart.  This puts quite a strain on the heart and is one of the reasons sitting is so tiring.

     Additionally, not all fluids in the body are pumped by the heart, this mostly includes the lymph, which relies solely on the movement of muscles to move it around. So when we sit for too long, lymph pools and can become sluggish, which is not a great thing in a system responsible for removing the gunk from the body.

     One more thing that movement does is stimulate  the production of synovial fluid.  Everybody has had the experience of being a bit stiff when waking up, but then it works its self out in a few minutes.  Part of that is that the fluid that keeps joints lubricated is produced by the lining of the joint capsule and is secreted only when the joint is moving!

     So there you are, a thumbnail sketch of body hydraulics.  Now, get up and undulate!  It really only takes a few minutes of movement to undo hours of sitting, so get up and have a bit of a jig.

Peace

Sing of the Earth and sky

Just a couple of quick poems to enjoy. Take a deep breath, relax,  let your mind expand and release all the little hobgoblins...


Sing of the Earth and sky,
sing of our lovely planet,
sing of the low and high,
of fossils locked in granite.

Sing of the strange, the known,
the secrets that surround us,
sing of the wonders shown,
and wonders still around us.
                                                     
                                                                 Aileen Fischer



from Auguries of Innocence

To see a World in a grain of sand
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

                                                                 William Blake


peace

circling arms, breath in

  This week's topic is more about stretching. We're all pretty good with the simple flexion and extension of the limbs, but in the torso there are muscles that wrap around, and need a different approach. One of the simplest is a standing twist. T'ai Chi and Qi Gong players will know variations of this. This is also good for stretching tendons and ligaments in the hips; additionally it works the spinal column muscles and energizes that part of your body.
Standing with crown of head floating up and tailbone tucked under, soften the knees. Inhale. While you exhale twist around to look behind you. Keep the hips still and the feet flat on the floor. Don't strain. Twist as far as you comfortable can, then slowly and easily return to center while inhaling. Repeat to the other side. Continue as long as you like. To get additional benefits you can add the arms. For those directions, go to my blog and read the very first entry, Circling arms, breath in. Be well!



   The addition of the arm movements that go along with the spinal twisting motion work to open the chi channels in the shoulders, and are all  some form of circling. Some circles are bigger, and some are smaller,deeper or shallower.  Since I am not a T'ai Chi instructor this is just a synthesis of various styles I have practiced.
      The breath is key,as it is in all aspects of life. The free and easy flow of breath signals the body that all is well; so if during these movements, or during a massage, you find your breath is strained, or held, release it and the tension will start to flow out and be replaced by more fluid movement in your body.
    Standing looking forward, allow the top of the head, the crown, to float up.  Tuck the tailbone under.  This straightens the spine. You can start with your hands facing your lower abdomen, palms a few inches out from your body. As you twist to the right the right arm circles out and down and the breath goes out.  At the apogee of the circle which is also the end of the twist, scoop with your hand.  This can be very shallow, or more pronounced, the hand never rising more than about shoulder height; as you circle the arm forward and the torso returns to center, the breath comes in.  The combination is this: the breath moves in as the right arm moves toward the (center of)the body, and out as the right arm moves away from the body. 
     The movements should be fluid and easy, the combination of breath and movement does a great deal to increase energy flow as well as the more grounded bodily fluids, loosens muscles and calms the nerves.  One version of the movement is called Swimming Dragon.  I like that image.