Body Balancing Massage Therapy

The average person reaches peak respiratory function and lung capacity in their mid 20's. Then they begin to loose respiratory capacity: between 10% and 27% for every decade of life!

Ok,.. Now that Mr. Obama has taken the oath of office, everyone can let out the breath they have been holding, and that is the focus of this months newsletter. With two years of ridiculous politics, the media constantly demoralizing us, corrupt politicians and greedy wall streeters conning us out of money and even our homes it is no wonder we are holding our breath. We are constantly waiting for the  other shoe to drop!

AS Mr.. Miyagi said "when all things confuse, fall back to basics,....."Breathe"

That, my friends is what we are collectively NOT doing.

Breathing is one of two actions we do that involve the whole body. In my opinion breathing is the most important function of the body even more important that heart function. The breath charges the fluid movement of the immune system,.. it exchanges the O2/CO2 gas for chemical reactions in the body, it even helps the circulatory function. NOTHING in the body, no viscera, no nerve, no fluid, no thing is left that is not influenced by respiratory function.

So when you do not breath fully, your breathing gets shallower, your blood pressure goes up, adrenaline kicks in. You can feel more alive, and like any stimulant the crash is debilitating. Don't forget, what you do not use, you loose. Full respiratory volume is not something you want to loose.

 Not long ago (just a couple of weeks) I got a call at 4:30 on Friday Afternoon. My friend told me that i could put up a booth at a local farmers market the next morning. This was certainly short notice. But I  try never to waste an opportunity. So that morning i packed up the tent, my banners a roll of paper towels and set up shop.

Something i have learned over time (and it took awhile) is that nothing happens by accident. Opportunities present themselves in their own way in their own time. You either recognize them and accept them or miss out! So as i sat under a beautiful blue Florida sky with passersby in a cheery mood i reconciled myself to just enjoy the moment, the weather and the people. So I sat, waited and talked to people about the weather, and fruits and vegetables and enjoyed the morning.

Then a gentleman walked right up to me, and said "I've been looking for you" He had asked around town for a massage therapist in town and couldn't find one. (my first thought is that my word of mouth advertising isn't working very well) He need some therapeutic work on his back to get him ready for his trip north. I worked on him for about 5 minutes and he scheduled an appointment with me.

So, 2 appointments and several bodies later

There are a couple lessons here

1. Patience is a virtue and

2. sometimes your just there to enjoy the day, but

3. when the opportunity presents it self - take it!

Thanks BT :)

If you are throwing up everything in your stomach whether from food poisoning or cold and/or flu. In between bouts,.. rinse your mouth to clear the acid, hold some fresh water in your mouth and also drink as much water as you can handle.

The inside of your mouth will absorb some of the water right away, and the water going down will rinse the acid off delicate tubing, and you might actually get to keep some down.

Even if you know you are going to "evacuate" it again or are afraid of anything on your stomach will "promote" another bout. get the water in, because you are loosing dangerous levels of water with each bout!

Case Study -

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. " John Muir

Lets take Pam, Pam is a normal woman of the house. After a particularly vicious bout with the flu (didn't know if she was coming or going) which she had a hard time getting rid of, Pam found herself getting headaches. They corresponded to and felt like sinus headaches. They grew from a low level gnawing ache to periodic mind numbing migraines. OTC Headaches and sinus products seemed to give some relief but nothing to really beat it. Not long after that she started noticing periodic pain in her shoulder which would reach down to her wrist and fingers. Since it was in her left arm she began to get worried about heart problems, so she went to see her physician. Her physician ran a plethora of tests, sample Rx's, and even suggested surgery for the carpal tunnel problem.

She waffled fearfully on the idea of surgery. One of her friends had suggested a massage therapist and so she asked her physician about it.

"I thought you were serious about this?" The dismissive look on his face said volumes

A few days later she called me.

After the first session, the gnawing headache was gone. Pam said she had forgotten what it was like not to have a headache. After the fourth session the shoulder pain "just went away". After the 7th session she just plain forgot she had "carpal tunnel".

It all started during that flu, when she was convulsing so hard with dry heaves. The anterior scalene (under the muscular V in the front of the neck, respiratory muscle) went into spasm and all the agonist (cooperative) and antagonist (balancing/resisting) adapted to the injury. They shortened, tightened, or went lax to allow for the spasm in that muscle. Each symptom fell into place with adaptation, trigger point or inflammation.

SO "even" massage therapy can help when you listen!

In cases of dehydration a slightly salty solution of water helps tremendously in the rehydraton process.

This may be one of the reasons Chicken soup produces such a good effect on those suffering from flu or cold

Water is by far better than sports drinks as the body needs clear fluid for a variety of uses. After the initial is over sports drinks can be very valuable.

 In the case above the LDT Element of the problem was water. Once she had gotten to the point of the dry heaves she had starved her body the necessary water. Subsequently, the muscles demand for water to flush out the cellular waste from the hard work of throwing up simply wasn't there.

"Inflammation (Latin, inflamatio, to set on fire) is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. It is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue."

The muscle is working tremendously hard to evacuate the contents of your stomach. Even worse it if doesn't know "if it is coming or going" then comes....

"Dehydration (hypohydration) is the removal of water (hydro in ancient Greek) from an object. In physiological terms, it entails a relative deficiency of water molecules in relation to other dissolved solutes."

The muscle cries out for water. Alas, there is not enough for this effort (Plain and simple: it's budget got cut!)

"A spasm is a sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, or a similarly sudden contraction of an orifice. It is sometimes accompanied by a sudden burst of pain, but is usually (<--- operative word) harmless and ceases after a few minutes." Wikipedia

Once I get to the patient, it is simply a matter of flushing open the lymph nodes and drawing the lymphatic fluid through it normal pathways. It feels great, it immensely relaxing and good for you! LDT in the beginning stages of a cold can stop it dead, or at the very least give it a good but kicking and improve your recovery time. So before or after, LDT is a colds worst enemy!

What can I say about the digastric muscle that hasn't been said already.....a LOT! The word digastric comes from Greek words meaning "two bellies. It has two bellies and two independent trigger points. Trigger point tenderness under the jaw is often mistaken for swollen lymph glands. In fact restriction from this muscle can restrict lymphatic flow through this area. The digastric has a dynamic balancing effect with many of the anterior (front) neck muscles. It obvious job is to open the mouth. (I know a few people who could do without this  muscle :))

This is  a muscle often missed in treatment of whiplash cases. It can develop trigger points during coughing, swallowing, retracting the jaw and bruxism (teeth grinding) also as a result or excessive mouth breathing. Trigger points as a result of mouth breathing are usually from nasal polyps), structural distortion (deviated septum) of the nasal passages, sinusitis, or recurrent allergic rhinitis

backed up Sinus's promote mouth breathing, mouth breathing promotes TrP (trigger points) in digastric muscle, TrP

 in digastric restricts draining of lymph from problematic sinuses, sinuses backed up worse, drains in throat - sore throat. Digastric TrP's can be mistaken for a swollen lymph node. The whole thing can be mistaken for a cold.

One way to tell if there is an anterior digastric TrP going on is to make the "eeek face" if the TrP is active the face will spur pain in the front bottom teeth.