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.