aching heads – migraines, tensions headaches…

How ever you describe your aches in your head, I have dealt with them, and you’re not alone!

And over the past several months, there has been an increase in clients coming in who have been dealing with tension headaches, mixed headaches, and (dum dum dummmmmm) migraines.  What pain and agony!  And sometimes, what irritation our sweet brains experience during these moments, which can extend through days!  This is serious discomfort, and these people are often calling it ‘chronic’!

I’ll give you the good news first: I have had lots of success working with these clients!  They feel relief and are pain-free for longer length of time; they are able to participate in their daily lives, with less concern about having to cancel activities;  they are able to both listen to their bodies and actively take care of themselves; and they are able to integrate what they’ve learned from their bodies in session with me, off the table and into their lives!  These clients smile and laugh again, and you, or someone you know who continues to suffer from headaches of anykind, can too!

Calming, or stilling the body can really help, as can acupressure, foot reflexology, and firmly gentle massage.  I use these modalities, as well as Reiki, and other forms of energy work when clients come in with head aches.  My focus is initially to release tension through out your body’s various systems.  This often comes easily in the first session, regardless of how long the headache has been going on before the client comes in.

And because these are often ongoing aches, I work my clients towards (bing-bing) *consistency*.  Once we have a consistency established, it’s awesome to see, clearly, how we run our lives.  How much stress we choose, how well we nourish ourselves, and how this may or may not be the source of more stress in our lives, are a few of the gems that surface in this process of noticing.

The bodywork I do continues to help client develop anchors and awareness, and education.  Doing this empowers my clients.  They learn how to integrate the calm experience of being in session with me into their daily lives.  After we’ve worked through some of these deep layers of centering, my clients are able to explore support and safety in our sessions to go deeper into the patterns of how they move their bodies, which is identical and parallel to how thoughts meander and choices get made.  Discovering and bringing to light these strategies gives us conscious ground to choose to employ the same old structure, or to establish a new way of being.

For some, the causes of headaches are dietary, e.g. food allergies, or food combining.  For others hydration and dehydration, i.e. not drinking enough water, or not retaining the water we drink.  For others hormonal, beyond dietary, stress, or trauma related.  And still for others, the cause has no rhyme or reason -i.e. the pattern hasn’t been discovered yet.  It’s a process of exploration.  The answers don’t always come easily, and there are a few things that you can do daily to care for yourself.  These few suggestions, by the way, (extra-double-plus!) are the same things that will help you get the most benefit from your massage sessions, and in life!

1. Hydrate – Drink 1/2 of your bodyweight in ounces daily.
2. Prepare a nutritious meal at home or in a family member/friend’s kitchen, and have a good time!
3. Enjoy the process of eating.  Eat slowly, and chew your food well.
4. Take time for yourself to unwind before going to bed.  Rather than doing (e.g. reading, being on the computer, watching a program).  Consider just being, quietly.

I hope that you fair wonderful folks who experience your body talking to you through aches of all kinds in your heads, are activating on what it is that you hear.  Come in for a series of session, receive care.  You are worth it!  Gently take care of yourself.

In health,

Joie Mazor, HMT, CMT-SE(Explore another published article on headaches and massage therapy’s potency here.)

Opossum Massage

Were I an opossum masseur, I believe that I’d study with her – she’s pinned down all of the fine points of woo-woo techniques and how to teach them in a massage course, while making a video -a true exposé on some of the ridiculousness that you may, or may not have missed out on in massage school.  And a simultaneous spectacle!  Enjoy!

Summer weather’s effect on bay area bodies

The bay area has been a weather buster over the past weeks, approaching summer. In a period of days, the area has experienced drizzle, cold winds, high humidity, overcast and blue skies, and even quite a bit of heat. Though Mark Twain never did write it, he is widely credited for the reminiscent phrase “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” The point being that San Francisco summers require a bit of extra care, and there is a way to be healthy with the flux of weather when traveling between neighborhoods and sides of the bay. Here are some tips from local & renowned health care professionals, encouraging health this summer.

Summer Season
Summer is the time of year when there is a lot of growth in the natural world.  With more hours of sunlight before summer solstice, (it may be more accurate to emphasize the longer days, for those in the bay area), plants grow like crazy and the annuals and grasses that distinguish the California rolling hills dry out and “turn brown in the summertime,” as warned folk singer-songwriter Kate Wolf. The longer days of summer encourage more activity and socializing in the world; the time of travel and being out of the house to enjoy the light. Summer is the “energetic and metabolic peak in the year.  Not surprisingly, summer is related to the Fire element, and the Heart channel of the body,” says San Francisco based licensed acupuncturist Jeannie Bianchi. TIP #1: Take notice if you’re inclined to follow your heart. If you’re willing to be on the adventure, do you find you’ve led yourself to exciting and challenging situations that reflect past patterns and behaviors and maybe even inspire growth? Or, has your heart lead you to caring for your body, and maybe even some self-care and bodywork that you’ve been putting off?

What effect does this seasonal change have on your body? Our bodies respond to drastic shifts in weather, sometimes with variance of emotional response, elation for example, and other times with symptoms such as respiratory congestion, or aching joints…

Joie giving a Bodywork Session on Salt Spring Island, BC, CA

Click here to read the complete article.

The Journey – a poem by Mary Oliver

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver

“Your head must bow to your heart”

Tonight, the inspiration to blog comes from a client with whom I have been working.  This client is head strong, so, in fact, head strong that with an idea, or several, at the forefront of the brain, the head literally drives the movement, the pelvis compensates crunching just above the hip flexors, and extending the errectors along the lumbar spine.  The turtle neck gently juts out, allowing c-7 to bulge posteriorly and the shoulders to tense to hold in the weight and momentum of the arms through the finger tips.  The eyes follow closely the movement of the feet, just barely focused at the next step.  The rear is extended slightly, reversing the curvature of the lower spine.

Walking, by this client, has been described as a “regressed” activity.  Regression to an older body, mimicking the body posture & movement of an elder parent, -a body that does not seem to reflect what is on the inside…  perhaps all of our inner worlds are slightly delusional, our inner mirrors slightly fogged up so that we sometimes mistake others’ actions  to be motivated by our own… the idea of projection comes into play (another blog another time – foggy mirrors)…

…and where is the heart? in all of this… the head must bow to the heart, and so the wisdom attached to my tea bag says, … and when does the head bowing to the heart disconcert us – or perhaps isn’t even applicable in the case of the head strong… and how can we incorporate more of this, even though this particular head strong client has a burly heart, open chest and congested sternum @ thymus…?

thoughts?  are you head strong?

Skyward Spring Equinox inpriations…

Between last night’s sunset, stargazing outside of Sebastopol, Ca, and this morning’s spring equinox sunrise, I’ve been ruminating and digesting the possibility of ‘knowing home’  -the sense of connecting to where we are in time and space in a more expansive way than many of you have heard me facilitate during session- literally, time and space relative to the planets and stars!  And, I invite you to connect, to reorient to ‘home’ whatever that may be for you, grounded and anchored in your physical presence and body, –right now, when it’s most important – yes, right now!

Join me for the Spring Somatic Bodywork Cleanse –I think it’ll rock your world if that’s what you’re signing up for — in just the sustainable, focused and spring-like manner that you’re looking for!

Invest * Participate *and learn some new applications of spring cleaning and orienting to your own sense of ‘home’!

This is your *invitation to heal*

Spring Cleaning: Cleansing the body

Seasonally appropriate – spring cleansing!

For ages past and current, cultures have found ways to cleanse in the spring.  We cleanse because it is seasonally appropriate in and as far as what food is available, what activities weather permits, including: migration, spring cleaning the house, and exercise.

More on in this blog post, coming soon!…

Through my private practice, Conscious Integrative Bodywork, I’m offering a 4 session series that I’ve designed to support you this spring!  The intention of this series is to connect the seasonal shifts to what is happening in your system, while you engage in you daily life.  I invite you to be more present with the what the seasonal change offers us, and to really experience it on a personal level.  Spring is the appropriate season to cleanse.

This is so important right now as the world around us buzzes, quickening the pace of life.  The weather is getting warmer, the days still longer yet, and this aids us in turning more outward with our thoughts and energy.  If you’re someone who is prone to getting sick, more melancholy around the seasonal shift and excitement of the spring growth, this is a place where you can get in touch and focus on yourself.  Establishing space to be with ourselves sets us up for preventing sickness, support in detoxifying, making the changes we want, and staying conscious, integrated and healthy.

We’re working together, using massage and somatic bodywork to support and guide you through this season and deeper into embodying yourself!  We start right where you’re at, and go as deep as you’re wanting and willing.  You show up, and we’ll work you out.

More information is available on the website.

Untended to Concerns & Unanswered Questions?

Have you ever had any untended concerns and/or unanswered questions after a bodywork treatment?  This is a great place to inquire…  Perhaps I can shed some light…

Gratuity Guidelines

In my private practice, I often get asked a “psssst, should I tip you!?”  My reply is usually the same: “It’s not necessary, and gratuity is appreciated.”  I got the latter of that sentence from signs posted at a spa that I work at.  And, it’s true.  There in particular, it is a bummer to be working for someone else, and not get tipped well…

Here are some Gratuity Guidelines:

*Food & Spa Services general rule (at least) 20%.

*At coffee shops, usually it’s closer to 50%, cause coffee is relatively inexpensive…

And here’s what Mom has to say: <<when it’s a service directly from a business owner, I do not do it.  When it is an employee, of a company I do.>>

And here’s what my last Hair stylist/cutter says: <<TIP!!! – & tip hard –That’s b.s. (referring to not tipping business owners).  It doesn’t matter whose business it is, she/he/they deserve it!>>

And what do you say?

For any of you who have been in any aspect of the service industry – you may well know that there is an art and appreciation to tipping.  It makes the wage and job worth doing.  For those of you who haven’t ventured into this realm, know that your service providers really appreciate it!!!  And, you, as a return customer, often get extra perks, if not way better service.

In my practice, I teeter on the edge, one foot in the health care field as a professional and the other in the service industry as a service provider.  Would you tip your doctor?  Your shrink?  Your PT?  Your acupuncture/herbalist?  Your life coach, or chiropractor?  …How about your personal trainer?  You see, there are these interesting lines…

Bodyworkers – what do you have to say for your guidelines?

Clients – was this a helpful post?

‘Not Just a Back Rub’ & ‘More than a Luxury’

NOT JUST A BACK RUB OR LUXURY

This post is inspired by a client who came in yesterday for his “annual massage”.  A 60 min session was a push for this client, as he is used to the “30 min full body” -which I do not offer- and btw I am way impressed by those who do offer such services on their menus!  This post is also a summary of what I gleaned from an article in the latest autumn/winter Body Sense magazine.

CERTS & Licensure

Standards in the bay area – San Francisco particularly, are comparatively minimal to many other counties and states, –actually, ÜBER lax.  This is perhaps part of why there is a high density of practitioners in this area, and also because, it’s such a darn amazing place to be!  Having said that, my clients can pick and choose their therapists, and choose a different one for every day of several years and not have received from every available practitioner for decades– basically, there are heaps of practicing massage therapists here!

EDU & Continuing EDU

Many of us have racked up hundreds of documented hours of study, hands on training, and hours in session over the course of our careers.  Ask your massage therapist what they are studying now?  I’m always really excited to share with friends, family and clients what I’m learning, because it is soooo juicy and exciting to me!

AFFILIATION

Many of us also belong to organizations, which set professional standards that we uphold in our practice.  Included in this are therapist’s affiliations with national, state & county regulations, insurers, professional groups, and our communities.  I have set the bar high in my field, while working in the necessary empowerment shift in practitioner-client dynamics.  It is so important that my clients experience themselves and learn their bodies, and how to communicate with their bodies.  My ultimate goal with each client is to show up for them, till they get to the point that they no longer need me as a guide/practitioner, because they have developed trust in their soma as well as an array of tools in their kit to handle what comes up.  I consider myself very much an educator, a Somatic Educator.

RESULTS

There is a lot that goes into the practice of Massage Therapy and Bodywork; a lot beyond the certification & licensing requirements, beyond the education & continuing education, and beyond the affiliations & organizations.  How you feel in your body makes up the most frequent reason that I am booked.  People seek pain relief and relaxation.  Our bodies actually want to be more efficient and healthy, our bodies want to connect, humans want to be embodied as we move around!

How you feel after you massage?  What’s present and alive?  What words do you use to communicate that with others?

So, why is it not just a back rub?  … And how is bodywork more than a luxury?  I hope that after reading this, you’ve got some solid points when someone asks you, and that you can confidently, if so inspired, add your personal tale and experience.