by SharonHartnett | Sep 5, 2015 | Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K
Understanding why people experience Chronic Headaches may be difficult.
So let’s rather concentrate our energy on finding a way to help relieve the pain. What actually works?
Generally speaking, when a person experiences headaches approximately 15 days a month or more, it is considered a chronic situation. The two kinds of headaches that shout out the loudest are: tension and migraine.
Chronic Headache relief
Tension headaches are usually diffused around and encompass the whole head. This includes the scalp, neck and are thought to be activated by stress.
Migraine headaches can be identified by a pounding pain in the head, along with feelings of nausea, light sensitivity and dizziness. Often they are felt on one side of the head. Genetics and the living environment are thought to be linked to the start of the throbbing. Diet, chemicals, hormones and such can all contribute to the onset of pain.
Massage Therapy can be helpful in reducing headache pain, simply because it is relaxing, balances the nervous and circulatory systems, and reduces stress. The best thing you can do it to create a healthy lifestyle that nourishes you and brings you into equilibrium. Therapeutic touch can be part of that positive decision making process!
How can Craniosacral Therapy Help?
Craniosacral Therapy in particular is a great modality of light touch massage that helps clients reconnect to better internal dialogue. Thereby, its’ benefits are found by allowing better circulation, nervous system communication, lymphatic flow, and energy transmission. CST is great for young babies, and all other ages.
Release Tension
When an experience Craniosacral Therapists works for you, he/she listens to what want to happen in your body to complete cycles of health and wellness. Especially in regards to headaches, one pays attention to the thoracic inlet to make sure that area is open and flowing superior of the heart, but below the neck. When the cranial motion is optimized by working with sutures and balancing the cerebrospinal flow, the fluids and nerves have a clearer path to move back down into the body for increased functionality.
If you haven’t heard about Craniosacral Therapy, please go to the Upledger site to find out more.
If you would like a free 15 minute phone consult, call Sharon Hartnett at 740 966-5153 if you are in the Ohio area.
Wishing you the best of health and joy!
Sharon Hartnett LMT Craniosacral Therapist Columbus
www.massageincolumbusohio.com
by SharonHartnett | Aug 30, 2015 | craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, Massage, Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K, mind body & spirit, Structural Integration
By learning to breathing well, people can learn how to calm themselves and feel more energized.
Many people who often feel stressed or anxious are prone to holding their breath. When this becomes an unconscious pattern, the movement around the ribcage can become dehydrated and stuck. This is unhealthy because it can impair physiological functioning of the body. The good news is that this can change!
By bringing mindfulness to your breathing throughout the day, you might find yourself surprised as to how often you stop breathing. At the same time, by just bringing your awareness to the breath and how the chest moves, you can improve things by learning about yourself and how you are internally organized. So mindfulness is a great beginning to understand the relationship between breathing and stress.
If you want to further let go of any restrictions around the upper chest and diaphragm, then getting some good therapeutic myofascial therapy can do wonders. The web of fascia that surrounds your body and envelopes all the individual organs, muscles, bones and other parts of your body can be restored back to health. Specifically, the areas that need to be released in order to enhanced breathing health are the neck, thoracic diaphragm, intercostal back muscles, abdomen and chest. Lengthening and opening up these areas can help you to live with more ease.
Breath easier with Massage
Often when I work with my clients, I like to introduce them to a breathing meditation during the session. This has shown to be quite helpful in helping clients to relax, especially while working to let go of the adhesions or tight holding. Starting with helping broad areas to soften and release, and then, releasing ribs and bones-clients are amazed at how much more space they discover to breath. In addition, by working with SomatoEmotional Release techniques, clients will feel things like fear letting go as the parasympathetic system starts to bring more calm after the initial wave.
Get in touch with your body sense to heal. Your body knows what it needs and will show the way to any massage therapist who knows how to listen well.
Sharon Hartnett CST, LMT, SI, BHSP
740 966-5153
Columbus, Ohio
www.massageincolumbusohio.com
by SharonHartnett | Aug 17, 2015 | Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K, Structural Integration
Avoiding your pain at all costs?
My guess is that most people would prefer not to feel their pain. It makes sense though, doesn’t it? Who would want to feel pain? Perhaps-that’s why we have so many defense mechanisms in place to supposedly protect us. We are like walking miracles where much of our pain is suppressed…. until it resurfaces or is found out!
Feeling Deeply into Pain to Heal
When people come in for a massage at my office, they are usually feeling some type of discomfort or pain that continues to call for attention. I often hear about chronic pain that doesn’t resolve and the stress and sleep deprivation that makes things even worst. My clients biggest wish is they would like to feel better. Yet, it’s hard to do this alone when we have learned to avoid our pain. Whether you go to a Massage Therapist, a Psychotherapist, a Chiropractor, whoever, it’s good to receive help from another perspective. You may not find the solution up front, but if you stay with it, and trust your own inner sense to guide you, you will get help that best suits your individual needs.
As a licensed Massage Therapist for 18 years, my observation after working with many clients, is that the truth is that the longer we are organized against feeling the “soft” pain, all the energy that is kept in protection to support this dynamic, starts to lose it ability to keep us separated from the pain. Eventually, the pain seeps through and one symptom start to show up, and another and another. Pain is only meant to be temporary to let us know when we are in real danger. Afterwards, we need to learn to shake it off or process it efficiently.
When I first started working, I was drawn toward Structural Integration Work, developed by Dr. Ida Rolf. When I received my first 10 sessions of this myofascial therapy, I felt great. In my thinking and experience, working with fascia became key to gaining a sense of wellbeing. Working with releasing dysfunctional fascial patterns has helped many of my clients release pain and find better posture. Then I found myself attracted to Energy Therapy. I know this sounds far out to many people, but in fact everything is made out of energy. Some people are born with a gift to perceive it and work with healing, and others can learn this. So I attended the Barbara Brennan School to study Brennan Healing Science. While there, I learned that soft pain was held in the Human Energy Field. There are many tools a “healer” can use to facilitate healing this way: clearing energy, charging the field, helping clients to awaken to their “Inner Wisdom”. As with most Massage Therapists, I went on to study another course to study “Hakomi” to add to my toolbox. Most of my class mates were Social Workers, Psychotherapists and such, but I enjoyed learning new and deeper skills to help people with emotional pain based on beliefs that were long held. Hakomi is an organic and gentle type of therapy that is kind and organic. The compassionate standpoint of this work has helped my clients try new things without any judgment or harshness. My last great passion was to study at the Upledger Institute, to gain a more extensive understanding of how to work with the brain, the Craniosacral System, and SomatoEmotional Release. With all of this and more said and done, what I have realized is that people have unique make-ups of how they run their living patterns. When they become stuck on one level, if it is not able to be cleared, pain stays in that system. So if someone truly wants to heal, they need to meet that place of suffering and/or pain with an open heart and a willingness to feel the “soft” pain in order to transform it.
Loving our pain is not a new concept, but I suppose most people might not have thought about it this way. All things are derived from Love. Our defenses only kick in because something is painful in the moment and we did not find a way to complete itself. Yet the mind, body, spirit connection is always waiting to complete itself into the next cycle of growth. So whether you come in and need deep fascial or muscle work, or light touch, give yourself a chance to work with a therapist long-term to explore your relationship to pain and finding ways to release it. In my opinion, the easiest way to feel good is to acknowledge what is present and feel it at your comfort level until the patterns dissolve. Using a SomatoEmotional approach can be very telling, as the body is always dialoguing what it needs, if we only listen and respect what is communicated.
Sometimes, during a first session, even after all this time, I am not spot-on, but I do learn something with every touch, sound, and exchange. I gain knowledge and compassion for the highest good of my clients on my table. So we try many different approaches to resolving pain issues, and happily I can say that I have seen many clients leave my office astounded by how much better they feel. But it’s important to remember that if you are just off the table, the endorphins will wear off, but if you stay with the clarity, staying committed to the work that is needed, and the homework that your MT’s give you, the long-term result are quite possible.
Remember: Love your pain because it is telling you something needs to be addressed. Something deeper than you probably know.
Imagine your life if you stopped thinking pain was “bad’ and learned to flow and dance with it in life.
It might actually change into something special!
Sharon Hartnett LMT
740 966-5153
www.massageincolumbusohio.com
by SharonHartnett | Aug 14, 2015 | Massage, Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K, mind body & spirit
Massage Therapy helps you to feel rather than think.
In the big picture, it doesn’t matter why something happened or to blame a circumstance for your unhappiness or difficulties. Reliving anxiety situations keeps your attention there. If you want to feel better, focus on getting into the flow of your life again by relaxing and feeling the pleasure of being here now.
One way to change things around is to find a good Massage Therapist who can help release any tension you feel in your body. It’s very difficult to be happy when you are feeling in pain or uncomfortable. When you find a massage therapist who had great contact and listens to your needs, almost nothing can feel better. Getting out of those vicious cycles of stress from work, relationships or whatever else is bothering you is key to finding your joy again!
massage therapy
If talking about things isn’t doing the trick, try a sensory approach. By working with the soft tissues, massage helps reduce stress hormones such as cortisol and increases endorphins. Endorphins help us to feel connected and at ease, even happy. Most clients walk away with a sense of wellbeing after a good massage.
Making massage a regular part of your Self-Care routine may do wonders for your mind, body and spirit. It’s much more than a luxury, it’s a proactive choice to bring you back to center.
Sharon Hartnett LMT, CST, SI, BHSP
740 966-5153
Massage Therapist Columbus, Ohio
www.massageincolumbusohio.com
by SharonHartnett | Aug 12, 2015 | Massage, Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K
My guess is that many Massage Therapists go to school and get into business because they love massage and it’s a great way to help people.
For me, massage is very healing and there are many ways to approach working with an individual. Massage Therapy is very creative and artistic in its own right. Over the last 17 years, I have studied different techniques, and then used the best where I felt there was overall improvement or enhanced my clients’ lives in an important way. As with most massage therapists, I have learned to integrate many different journeys into the moment. How a massage looks and feels is a dance that happens as therapist and client dialogue, whether it is in silence or whether it is through conversation. It’s the presence, the listening and contact which makes the session worthwhile or not.
A good Massage Therapist will visit other LMT’s and continue to get educated in their specialties and beyond. Often I enjoy going to therapists who do myofascial therapy, stretching and with whom I can feel a connection. Recently, I was down in Florida and I decided to visit a new Spa there, called Cloud 9. It was new and they just opened. Although I usually prefer the types of techniques I use, I was open. It’s important to grow in our work so that we can deepen within ourselves and better help our clients. That’s my thinking anyway. I took my massage with a therapist named James. He was quite good. With a combination of myofascial therapy and Thai massage, I felt pretty terrific after my hour. I was very pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the session because I am rather picky as most massage therapists are. And then- I partook in the water flotation station there as an added treat.
Floatation tanks in Columbus aren’t well known. In fact, I think there is one or maybe two business there-and I am not sure how many people know about them. So I will explain to you what it’s like. The client enters the room and showers well. Next, the subject goes into the encapsulated vessel that is pitch blank to then lies down and floats in about a foot of epsom salt water that is very concentrated. In the water, which is matched to skin temperature, he/she floats for an hour in the dark. In that wonderful silence and lack of other stimulation, the body and the brain being to relax and let go of all the busyness in the world. The more often one goes, it gets easier and easier to just float in that dark empty void.
I have been in Columbus working about 2 years on/off. Sometimes in Florida, but I just closed my business there in order to stay more full time in Ohio. While I usually prefer the contact of a person for a session, this added avenue of experience presents clients with a whole new way of self-discovering deeper peace and relaxation. But I do have to say, that it was exponentially better in combination with a great massage.
I hope one day to meet some other therapists that have the same dreams as me to create a very sacred environment spa which is focused on feeling well, but specialize in therapy rather that fluff. And surprisingly, the flotation spa really helps release our locked up thinking. Although I don’t offer these at this time,I like to keep clients updated on the newest feel good therapies. So for now, if you get a chance to add a floatation spa to your hands-on massage treatment, try it out. My experience in Florida was spectacular and I went back.
Sharon Hartnett LMT
740 966-5153
