One of the greatest things about Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is that this modality is all about trusting your own body’s wisdom to heal.
Yes it is important to find a Craniosacral Therapist who is knowledgeable and has good experience with your issues. However- the best session will be all about having faith in the process.
During a Craniosacral Session, the first thing your practitioner will do is listen to your body to find out where there might be dysfunctional patterns that lead to pain and other ailments. This is done by starting at the feet and moving up to the head in order to check for amplitude, symmetry and other qualities of the craniosacral rhythm throughout the body. Once the primary lesion is discovered, it is easy to go to that area and start the session for healing. The rest is about following the body’s response to the work.
During evaluation and thereafter, Craniosacral Therapy touch is gentle and non-invasive. There are very few contra-indications with CST, yet the effects are far reaching and profound in your healing process. The primary benefits that you will first feel are relief of pain, more flexibility and often more vitality. By working primarily with the Central Nervous System as the focus, a Craniosacral Therapist can dialogue with every other body system to support the integration of full body functioning. Often clients are unexpectingly surprised that there can be so much change in attitude, feeling and sensation after just a few session.
Craniosacral Therapy as taught by the Upledger Institute
If you would like to find out more about Craniosacral, please contact Sharon Hartnett for a free 15 minute telephone consultation: (614) 372-6598.
Craniosacral Therapy is a self-discovery process of remembering your own light! It’s always present.
The by-product of Stress may be affecting you in ways that you don’t even know.
Long-term chronic stress can contribute to experiences such as: digestive problems, sleeplessness, anxiety, anger, headaches and decreased immune function.
If you are finding yourself in ongoing stress, it’s time to take charge of your life with some new choices. Believe it or not- you have the ability to shift your thinking and to re-orient how your respond to life’s challenges.
Some relaxation techniques that are easy to do:
Yoga-This mixture of exercise, mindfulness and poses can quiet the mind and enhance the body’s vitality.
Visualization- When you find yourself reaching your limit, think about positive serene places that feel emotionally supportive and nurturing to you. Some examples may be your pet, a beach, or a meditative retreat. Changing your thinking can help you break the patterns of stress.
Massage and Bodywork- Nothing feels better than having someone knead, and treat tight muscles and to unwind the fascial restrictive patterns of stress. When the body lengthens and feels more fluidity, so does the mind. Craniosacral Therapy and Structural Integration are especially helping in alleviating stress from the body and emotionally.
Tensing and Relaxing Muscles Alternately
Meditation-Allowing the thoughts to arise and flow can be very quieting for the mind body connection.
Music can be very therapeutic and help shift a person into relaxation easily.
Slowing down with Intention and becoming mindful of the moment can help us to feel calmer and more peaceful.
Exercise- The body’s communication system during a workout is more sharp and active. Question Your Thinking with Byron Katie’s 4 questions: www.thework.com
Spiritual Work and transformation
Change Your Stress Habits
Reducing stress can:
Reduce activity of stress hormones
Lower blood pressure
Increase blood flow
Decrease tension and pain levels
Regulate the nervous system more efficiently
Promote better health
Relieve Depression Symptoms
Take time to re-focus your life. You deserve the best!
Have you taken the time lately to examine your feet?
Did you know that the feet are good indicators of what is going on with your overall health?
For your wellbeing, you might want to consider setting aside a little space in your schedule for some TLC to this part of your body.
As a Massage Therapist for 17 years, I have seen lots of feet. The care that people put there ranges anywhere from between a “0” up to a “10”.
Most common for the best feet- women who like to have pedicures and get their feet massaged monthly often sport around healthy feet. Believe it or not, this extra attention really shows. When your pedicurist or massage therapist work with your feet, the professional ones will let you know if they notice any unusual sores, stiffness, and personally-you will feel if there is pain by touch or certain movements. Also athletes who listen to their feet and find their center and balance also have better posture in how they stand and move through life.
I see more unhealthy feet with the elderly. Sometimes Seniors can’t reach down and touch their feet so they get neglected. In these cases, I have seen open sores, felt the lack of circulation, noticed yellowing and dryness, and ingrown nails. But there are also younger people who have issues. I have seen young women who wear high heel shoes every day and their feet lose their natural shape and then start to resemble shoes. They are no longer able to stand correctly fully on their feet which pulls the whole body out of alignment. Another issues that frequently comes up is the pain associated with Plantar fasciitis. When people don’t wear the proper shoes to support their feet, this very painful condition in which a thick band that connects the heel to the toes becomes inflamed.
So what can you do to take care of your feet?
Taking Care of Your Feet
As you can see from this reflexology chart, the feet, as is the whole body, is interconnected. People who have studied the feet in particular, or who have massaged them for years, can usually begin to correlate certain relationships. This chart can be helpful to you too in identifying any possible problems. Try practicing massage at home or receive massage by your favorite therapist and ask for particular attention to the feet. Allow yourself to become mindful and feel into the sensations… whether pleasure or pain. In the picture above, you can get an idea where you are tense and be curious about the part of the body that is associated there. Knowledge is power and understanding your body is key to your health.
If you have a challenge reaching down or visual problems seeing your feet, ask your caretaker or partner to give you some feedback. For example, if there are yellowing nails- it may be time to see your podiatrist for fungus problems. Keeping your physicians updated on any unusual conditions will help them to decide how to test you for health issues such as diabetes or neuropathy.
Make sure that you change your shoes often. From a Structural Integration perspective, walking in old worn out shoes that are already a reflection of your footstep will worsen your alignment. Different shoes support differently. That makes sense. Engage the whole foot as a whole as much as possible. Keeping your foot balanced is healthy.
Structural Integration and Massage can be great in taking care of your feet. It improves circulation, increases lymphatic flow, engages the nervous system, touches into the reflexology points, enhances flexibility and helps you to feel more grounded and at ease in your whole body. After all, your whole structure comes through your feet as you move through life. So it’s important to bring your attention to this connection of structure.
I know it can be easy to ignore the feet. Everyday they move us around, they do their job so that we forget to feel mindful. However, this is the exact reason why we should change our thinking. For longterm health- pay attention to what is working and make sure that the feet are well taken care of. Let your feet be an indicator of your overall health and wellness. You deserve happy and healthy feet!
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depression, major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and depression may make you feel as if life isn’t worth living.
More than just a bout of the blues, depression isn’t a weakness, nor is it something that you can simply “snap out” of. Depression may require long-term treatment. But don’t get discouraged. Most people with depression feel better with medication, psychological counseling or both. Other treatments also may help.
This is how it is defined by the Mayo Clinic with the Link right here:Mayo Clinic
massage helps create positive change.
So what are some of the “other” treatments that may support wellness?
Here is a link to the position held by the American Massage Therapy Association:
More Americans are incorporating massage therapy into their regular health and wellness regimens to assist with medical conditions:
• 88% of individuals view massage as being beneficial to overall health and wellness
• 88% of individuals believe that massage can be effective in reducing pain
• 75% of consumers surveyed claim that their primary reason for receiving a massage was medical (43%) or stress (32%) related
• 53% of people say their doctor has recommended they get a massage
In recent studies, Massage, which includes touching and working with the soft tissues of the body, has been shown to reduce stress and also take the edge off of depression. These effects are due primarily to the parasympathetic and hormonal levels shifting to reduce stress and anxiety. While massage and bodywork does not cure depression, these changes do help clients to better cope in day to day life.
For people who are feeling alone and disconnected from life, reaching out and finding the right type of therapy may be helpful for you. Intimate massage touch and skill can help you feel rejuvenated and more open to life.
Clients often leave their massage sessions feeling happier and more relaxed.
At Lighten Up Therapies in Columbus, Ohio, we offer three main modalities of bodywork:
Craniosacral Therapy
Structural Integration
Reiki and Brennan Healing Science
Each of these techniques holds the client in confidentiality, sacred listening, and with an intention to help you to reconnect to your health and wellbeing.
If we want to continue to Grow and Evolve, it is necessary to open the mind to the body’s own wisdom. By bringing our conscious awareness to our body’s breathing, movement and dialogue, we continue to learn from our internal experience and stay healthier.
Human Evolution
As an experienced massage therapist and bodyworker, I am no longer surprised by how many people spend the majority of time living in their thinking head. I know this may sound crazy to some of you, but there is so much more to us then the thoughts we have been thinking for so long. There is a whole blissful pool of intelligence Within that is Light and the key to our human evolution.
Exploring our bodies with curiosity, through witnessing and and experiencing will help us to feel more deeply connected to the core of our lives.
For yourself, take some time to expand your life and move one step ahead into the fullness of your life!
Lighten Up Therapies is happy to help you on your journey too.
Do your Feet Hurt? How about a wonderful Foot Massage to sooth away the pain?
When your feet feel good, you feel good. Foot massage will not only help undo knots and tension in your feet, but also helps bring comfort to your whole body.
Benefits:
Having your feet rubbed helps with circulation and is especially advantageous for people experiencing neuropathy in their legs.
It’s wonderful in how well it alleviates cramped feet discomfort and chronically tight leg muscles.
From a structural perspective, when the foot is balanced, we stand better in relationship to gravity. Our posture improves from foot to the top of the head.
Reflexologists state that there are certain areas of nerve innervation that when worked will enhance the corresponding parts of the body.
Stimulates the Lymphatic System to carry away waste.
Massage Columbus Ohio
Ask your massage therapist to spend a little extra time on your feet!
