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Thank YOU for a Great Year!

9/20/2015

Mindy's Massage & Wellness Center turned 1 last week. It may not be a big deal to most, however it was pretty exciting for us. With much determination, perseverance and a lot of faith the doors to Mindy's were opened.

Many clients have been served in the past year. Most walk in as strangers, but leave as friends. We are so thankful for the friendship and trust that has been given to us. We never take it for granted.

Here's to many more years of serving you and yours....

In love and light ~ Mindy

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2015! Stay You. Stay Amazing.

12/31/2014

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The New Year is upon us and I don't know about you, but I used to always make a New Year's resolution. Each year it was the same: lose weight; exercise more; spend less; and vacation more. However, these resolutions seem to get me through January, sometimes even February. In the past few years, after many life changes, I have learned (and still am!) to live each day to its fullest, setting only goals for myself. I try to eat healthy each day. I try to do some sort of exercise each day. Am I successful every day? No. Have I reached my goal weight? No. Have I vacationed enough? Yes! Have I quit spending foolishly? No. But, as I look back upon my year I DO NOT think of myself as a failure.

I love Wayne Dyer, he has such great things to say and says them so eloquently. If you can, follow him on Facebook. I have copied his latest Facebook post and pasted it below. Please take the time to read it, if you can. If I can be of service to you or your loved one in 2015 please do not hesitate to contact me.

Remember....you ARE an amazing person. It is so important to feel good about yourself in 2015.
Happy New Year 2015!

In Love & Light ~ Mindy
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"Feel good about yourself. You are a magnificent human being. Always feel good about that self that you are always with.

In two days, it will be the dawn of the New Year. So you’re probably working on a list of things that you’d like to get done in 2015. Well, I’d like to ask you to forget about making these resolutions. Forget about deciding on the first day of January how you will be conducting your life in September, some nine months later. Any resolution that involves making decisions about future behaviors is a... waste of time. It also reinforces the self-defeating notion of living in the future.

For 2015, wouldn’t you rather live in the present moment?

This day that you’re living right now is the only day you get. Period. You can resolve to be skinny when next July rolls around, or to quit smoking next month, or to write that book you’ve been meaning to, or to embark on your overdue exercise program by the end of this year. You can go about resolving until the cows come home, and you still have to live your life just like everyone else on the planet: One day at a time.

You can only live minute to minute. You can certainly use up your present moments thinking about what you’ll be doing in the future, but that doesn’t change the fact that you can only live in the now. The important question to be asking yourself is:

How am I going to live in the present moment this year?

Will I waste these moments reviewing the way I used to behave? Will I waste these moments reviewing how I would like to behave in the future rather than resolving to live each day to the fullest?

The New Year is a good time to initiate a plan so you can make some changes and help live your life to the fullest. See if you can practice thinking differently. Decide very specifically what it is that you would like to change about yourself in 2015. If you have some goals in mind, vow to work on them day by day rather than making them a year-long project.

When you set up day-to-day goals for yourself, you can begin living this way for the rest of your life. Remember this little piece of advice, which will be extremely helpful to you if you can incorporate it into your life: When you go for one entire day without eating sugar (or not smoking, or being assertive, or any other new behavior), you are a totally different person at the end of that day. What you must learn to do is let that totally different person decide on the second day whether to do it again on this new day, rather than letting the same old person decide today that it is going to be difficult in a couple of days anyhow, so what’s the use. Always let the New You make the decision, and then you’ll be living your present moments.

Remember, you are in control of all thoughts in your head. When you are using up your present moments to worry about the future, constantly reviewing the past to come up with how you should have done it differently, or contemplating disaster, remind yourself that you are wasting this particular present moment.

Practice cancelling out negative thoughts for a few minutes at a time. Vow to enjoy the next five minutes regardless of what has previously transpired or what you think is about to happen. Remind yourself of the folly of wasting your present moments on mental activity that focuses exclusively on your past or imagined future. All of your thoughts about what you should have done, or how terrible things were in the past will not change one tiny slice of the past.

As you celebrate this New Year and each precious present moment, here are 10 reminders to help you live in the Now:

1. Remember that habits are changed by practicing new behavior. By practicing new thinking every five minutes, you’ll soon begin to master the art of present-moment living.
2. Do an honest assessment of your “problems.” You’ll very likely discover that almost all of your problems are really in your head and not located in reality.
3. Take time to be mindful of everything around you. Begin to look at your entire surroundings in a new light. Observe every detail on every face, every building and every object. If you do this often enough it will become a habit that will facilitate your being alive in every moment of the year.
4. Change your attitude. Begin an attitude-redevelopment plan. That means practice enjoying everything you do.
5. Be specific about what you want and take action. Decide on one thing that you would like to work on and do it today. Work at it daily, rather than making it a long-range objective.
6. Create a self-improvement agenda for yourself. Put on your agenda whatever activities you’ve always thought about but never had time to do. Do them now.
7. Rid yourself of mundane chores that are not really that important. Spend more time making your life a pleasure.
8. Eliminate procrastination as a lifestyle. Instead of talking to yourself about what you are going to do next week or even tomorrow, use this time to start a new task.
9. Don’t give up control of your life to others. You cannot enjoy the present moment if you are busy trying to make everyone else like you. People respect you more when you operate from a position of strength and self-reliance.
10. Feel good about yourself. You are a magnificent human being. Always feel good about that self that you are always with.

For 2015, as I have for many other years, I vow to be fully alive and see the world the way Walt Whitman described it to be many years ago: “To me…every cubic inch of space is a miracle.” I really believe that.

I wish you a New Year filled with many miracles. May you live a long and productive life—one present moment at a time.

Love,
I AM,
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer"

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Meditation - A Beginner's Guide

10/29/2014

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Throughout this past month I have encountered many clients who have been experiencing severe anxiety, depression, stress and even panic attacks. Some are starting to experience the onset of seasonal depression. Depression, anxiety, stress and panic attacks are all manageable, if we have the proper tools to help us through the rough patches in our lives. I fully believe in massage and the many benefits it offers a person emotionally. However, I also know massage cannot be done on a daily basis, due to financial and time constraints. So what can we do? There are many things you can do, however in this article I am going to concentrate on what I know works (for me) and what I refer my clients to, meditation.

What is meditation? There are several different definitions for meditation, because it means a lot of different things depending on the culture or religion being researched. The most common definition today, however, is a method of training of the mind, often inducing a mode of consciousness different from that of everyday life. Most meditation commonly practiced today revolves around learning to clear your mind for a specified amount of time, in an effort to create some quiet and focused energy. The different mode of consciousness in most cases is a state of quiet and peace, which is the ultimate goal of most modern meditation practices.

Meditation brings many benefits: It refreshes us, helps us settle into what’s happening now, makes us wiser and gentler, helps us cope in a world that overloads us with information and communication, and more. How? By increasing your capacity to resist distracting urges.

Research shows that an ability to resist urges will improve your relationships, increase your dependability, and raise your performance. If you can resist your urges, you can make better, more thoughtful decisions. You can be more intentional about what you say and how you say it. You can think about the outcome of your actions before following through on them.

Our ability to resist an impulse determines our success in learning a new behavior or changing an old habit. It’s probably the single most important skill for our growth and development.

Meditating daily will strengthen your willpower muscle. Your urges won’t disappear, but you will be better equipped to manage them. And you will have experiences that prove to you that the urge is only a suggestion. You are in control.

Does that mean you never follow an urge? Of course not. Urges hold useful information. If you’re hungry, it may be a good indication that you need to eat. But it also may be an indication that you’re bored or struggling with a difficult piece of work. Meditation gives you practice having power over your urges so you can make intentional choices about which to follow and which to let pass.

So how do you do it? If you’re just starting, keep it very simple. Sit with your back straight enough that your breathing is comfortable — on a chair or a cushion on the floor (sometimes I sit with my legs up on the couch) — and set a timer for however many minutes you want to meditate. Once you start the timer, close your eyes, relax, and don’t move except to breathe, until the timer goes off. Focus on your breath going in and out. Every time you have a thought or an urge, notice it and bring yourself back to your breath. Do not expect to be perfect at this. I am NOT a great meditator; however, the practice of clearing the mind is relaxing in itself. I started the practice of meditation with a 21-day meditation challenge with Oprah and Deepak Chopra. It was amazing. They are starting another meditation challenge on November 3rd. Here is the link, https://chopracentermeditation.com/home/?acode=oprah. It is FREE. You have nothing to lose, except the stress and anxiety. I encourage all of you who are reading this to try it out. I know you will not be disappointed. I would love to hear your comments if you do decide to do the challenge.

Take Care and Be Well.

With love & Gratitude ~ Mindy

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What is a muscle KNOT and WHERE does it come from?

9/24/2014

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A knot, also known as a trigger point, represent small areas of a muscle that experienced a sustained contraction, similar to a muscle cramp, but on a smaller scale.

Where does the trigger point come from?

To most people, the term muscular overload probably conjures up images of physical strain on the muscle tissue and its tendons, but in trigger point therapy the term has a dual interpretation. While the physical load imposed on a muscle does play a role in trigger point formation, an equally important factor is the demand placed on the neuromuscular control mechanism of the muscle. This mechanism is responsible for taking the electrical impulse of a nerve and transforming it into a biochemical signal that both controls and powers muscular activity. The complex nature of this electrochemical process makes it the “weak link in the chain” of muscular functioning, and the failure of a muscle’s control mechanism is responsible for the activation of trigger points.

Types of Muscle Overload:

Muscular overload comes in several different flavors; some are obvious, while others are a bit more elusive. Let’s take a closer look at the most popular types of muscular overload:

§ Exertion Overload: This is the most obvious form of muscular overload and simply means that a muscle was not strong enough to perform a task required of it. For example, bending at the waist to lift a heavy object is likely to create an exertion overload in the low back muscles. Trigger point activity resulting from this type of overload is more prominent in unconditioned muscles. People who partake in resistance training (lifting weights) are likely to develop exertion related trigger points when they begin training, or return to it after a long hiatus. (Honest moment-I am guilty of this!) This type of overload also occurs during a sudden fall, when a person tries to brace against an impact.

§ Overuse or Repetitive Stress Overload: An overload of this type is probably the most common cause of trigger point activity, though this is just my personal opinion. In these cases, the muscle’s functional endurance is exceeded by a given task. Examples include performing repetitive movements at a job day after day, sporting activities, and gardening. Often the pain associated with overuse injuries is attributed to tendonitis, but it is remarkable how many cases of tendonitis can be indirectly resolved with trigger point therapy.

§ Postural Overload: One of the more subtle ways of overloading a muscle is to place it in an over-shortened or overstretched state for a prolonged period of time. This type of overload, termed postural overload, can be either of a mechanical or neurological nature, and is closely related to biomechanical overload. There are two very common types of postural overload that cause trigger points to form within a muscle; antalgic and degenerative.

§ Referred Pain Overload: Pain that is referred to a muscle from trigger points in other muscles, or from joints and internal organs, can overload a muscle’s control mechanism and cause trigger points to form within it. In trigger point therapy, trigger points that develop secondarily to the referred pain from other trigger points are called satellite trigger points. Any myofascial disorder that is more than 2 days old, is likely to involve satellite trigger point activity. If the referred pain is severe enough, muscle tension associated with an unconscious guarding reflex may also produce trigger point activity in the local muscles.

§ Muscle Trauma Overload: Physical trauma to a muscle, like that which might occur during a fall or automobile accident, can directly activate trigger points in that muscle. This may occur from a reflex response to the pain associated with the tissue damage, or because of impairment in the muscle’s functional capacity.

Factors That Predispose A Muscle To Overload

The following is a list of factors that can make a muscle particularly susceptible to the types of muscular overload discussed above. In cases where trigger point activity returns shortly after treatment, one should investigate these conditions for a likely cause.

§ Muscle Tension: Anything that increases a muscle’s tension also makes it more susceptible to muscular overload. Emotional stress can create significant tension in the neck, shoulder, and abdominal muscles, making these muscles hot-spots of trigger point activity.

§ Structural Inadequacies: This term refers to abnormalities in the skeletal structure that can cause some muscles to be chronically overworked when trying to compensate for them. Examples include having one leg that is longer than the other (a lower limb-length inequality), pelvic bone asymmetries, short upper arms, and a Morton foot structure (short big toe-long second toe).

§ Nutritional Deficiencies: Myofascial pain disorders can be perpetuated by deficiencies in the water-soluble vitamins B1, B6, B12, folic acid, and vitamin C. These micronutrients play important roles in the physiology of muscular activity and nearly half of chronic myofascial pain disorder cases require dietary supplementation for successful treatment. Additionally, dietary imbalances in calcium, potassium, and iron may also perpetuate trigger point disorders, and must be corrected to achieve long-term treatment success in some cases.

§ Metabolic Disorders: Any abnormality in the energy metabolism of a muscle can make it hypersensitive to overload stress. Systemic metabolic disorders such as hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia can contribute significantly to the perpetuation of trigger point activity in muscles throughout the body.

§ Chronic Bacterial Infections: Dental abscesses, sinusitis, and urinary tract infections may negate the treatment of trigger points, and must be ruled out in relevant cases.

§ Viral Diseases: Systemic viral conditions such as the flu or herpes simplex virus 1 (not genital herpes) need to be addressed prior to the treatment of trigger point disorders.

Trigger Point therapy is one of my favorite types of massage and what I have the most experience at. A good trigger point therapist is like a detective (side note: my original career was an arson investigator). My inquiring and inquisitive mind seeks out all the information about the case. When I find an active trigger point, I probe for more information by asking questions such as: what did you (the client) do to overload your muscle(s) which caused said trigger point to form; what activities are you partaking in that likely resulted in this trigger point to return; is this trigger point a satellite trigger point from trigger point activity in other muscles; is this trigger point caused by postural distortions or structural abnormalities in the musculoskeletal system; and finally is there some nutritional or metabolic reason why these trigger points keep coming back. Most importantly, my goal is to use the answers to these questions to deliver treatment results that last.

Take Care….until next time…BE WELL!

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Welcome Mindy's Massage & Wellness Center

9/18/2014

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Mindy’s Massage & Wellness Center has been born. I could not be more excited. I am so excited to serve my community and surrounding communities. I have been manifesting this location, this space, this breath of fresh air for the past two years. And let me tell you it is better than I could have imagined. I cannot wait to share the energy and love that has come from this place with you.

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Thank YOU for a Great Year!

2015! Stay You. Stay Amazing.

Meditation - A Beginner's Guide

What is a muscle KNOT and WHERE does it come from?

Welcome Mindy's Massage & Wellness Center

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