The thick, the sick, the chemicals, and everything else laid to waste. This “mad world” has not taken me under yet, and if I have my say it won’t claim anyone else either.
I have survived chemicals in my drinks: flouride, chlorine, and other trace chemicals in my water, and sodas with sugar, acid and artificial sweeteners. I have survived chemicals in my foods: preservatives, pesticides, and others.
I survived it all.
I have survived Epstein-Barr for probably 27 years or more. I survived the damage it did to my thyroid and my emotions. The damage it caused to my pancreas, and allergies inflicted.
I survived the resulting ripple it caused for pregnancy and birth. I not only survived, I have taken care of myself and found some healing, even if it was slow.
Then I survived Covid and it’s havoc on my body taking everything negative and bringing it directly to my immediate awareness. It flared everything Epstein-Barr started, and took it a step further, driving me nearly insane. It damaged my son’s brain and my husband’s kidneys, but we’re all still alive.
Regardless of western medicines’ lack of ability to solve any of it, I will find a way. See I’m a thriver at heart.
If nastiness like that only takes me down, I survive, and I eventually overcome. Then, once I fully overcome all of it, I will thrive in a massive way. I look forward to that time.
For now I’m giving myself credit.
I deserve the beautiful body to match my beautiful insides, and to do that I have to stay focused on my love for myself.
I found reverse osmosis water and organic produce. I found auto-immune Paleo and Raw diets to enable healing. I found numerous supplements to manage symptoms and enable healing. I found my way out of darkness because of Dr Illardi’s ” Depression Cure”. I revived my love of the sun and found ways to love physical activity. I make an effort to connect with nature, mother Earth, and humanity.
I have taken care of my entire family since July of 2010. I have kept us alive and housed, and clothed and fed.
I helped my father and an acquaintance in the midst of their hard times.
I have donated time, items, and money to charities and individuals.
I help people on my table to feel better and find their own healing every day.
And through all of it I have even found a way to take care of myself. I have given myself space for healing to the best of my ability. I have done everything I could to feel better, as often as I was able.
I am strong and capable. I know how to persevere.
I am smart, nay very intelligent and I choose to use my gifts for good. I do my best to educate everyone I come in contact with.
I may never reach the same enlightened master level such as the likes of AdiYogi Shiva, Buddha, or Jésus, but I did mine while caring for others daily. I did mine while birthing and raising children. I did mine while fighting diseases in my own body and caring for a husband with even more complex health concerns. AND I did mine when Western Medicine was bent on doing only the lazy, simplest, send you on your way options.
So, if you ask me, my battles have been more challenging and the fact I’ve made it this far is majorly commendable.
So yes, I am focusing on my victories and accomplishments. I am loving myself so my inner beauty can be seen by everyone. I love me and I deserve the best for myself. I deserve recognition. I deserve to be acknowledged for my healing journey, everything I have gone through and survived, to reach for thriving.
I love me and I hope you love yourself too.
May you see your accomplishments. May you acknowledge your own gifts. May you love yourself and honor others for their tough journies too. Above all may you know that God loves and supports you in all that you do.
Many of my long term readers know I’m a massage therapist. Occasionally, I do write about things related to my job. This is one such instance. Today I found myself foam rollering, AGAIN, in my office, and decided it was time to give my 2 cents to help any readers interested. This post is information I regularly share with my clients verbally, and I’m offering to others in need.
First I had to convert my space. My last office had carpeted floors, so I just moved the table over and did my mat work, be it roller or yoga. My current office looks like this:
It’s a concrete floor with lineoleum tiles, and a small area rug for client’s feet. Not exactly kind to knees or elbows. So to adjust, I now do this:
Not only do I move the table over, I put a towel over the rug and a yoga mat over that. It’s much kinder to the joints.
My point here is that before you even begin to attempt foam rollering, you must think of the space you need and the level of comfort your joints want. Considering your own needs first ensures that you not only maximize benefits, but you’re more likely to make it a consistent helpful tool.
2nd is the tool: the foam rollers.
The set I bought for my office came from a store called ‘Five Below’ and both were exactly $5. The set I bought for home was sourced multiple places over time, but none was more than $7. At the office I have the two rolls pictured next. The set for home is 3 rollers: one is very similar to this black one but has mild texture, one is the same size roller with large nubbies that is fairly firm, and the third is another of the turquoise one.
The large roller that is less firm is always your best starting place. It is a dense foam, but will give some with your body weight. It will produce less ouch and is very beneficial if you are very tight, constricted, or it is your first time using a roller.
The one I have at home (same size but with large nubbies) is a slightly more dense foam. It is a great next step because it still gives a nice broad pressure, but the firmness enables a bit deeper pressure. It is great for really getting deep pressure in broad muscles.
The turquoise one is a truly deep tissue roller, and that is why I have one for home and office. It is smaller so it can effectively work into spaces that the other rollers are too big for. It is also firm enough that it will effectively sink through large layers of muscles to get deeper than the other rollers can. It definitely has it’s place and is very helpful, but will produce ouch moments. I have a well-validated high pain-tolerance level according to several other professionals, and the turquoise roller still causes me to swear on occasion. Be aware, you can injure yourself with this roller if you are too aggressive with the movements or if you place the roller in an unsafe position/location. Just be more cautious when you use a roller like this.
Now for the tips:
First, I need you to understand that foam rollers are a tool that is intended to mimic a deep tissue massage. It mimics the same pressure sensation as an elbow and forearm moving through your muscles. So, the same tips that apply to my job, apply to using these.
1) Broader is better.
Broad pressure helps diffuse the sensations, spreading them out through the muscles, and will disarm both the pain response and the tickle response. There is a window of tightness in muscles that causes them to feel tickelish, broad pressure will help reduce the sensation of tickeling.
2) Slower is better. & 3) Work as many directions as possible.
Foam rollering is a focused deep stretch of a muscle or a few muscles. For instance, instead of stretching your entire leg, you can focus on just your outer hamstring. However, because you are stretching one muscle or a small cluster, you will be activating and engaging the fascia.
Fascia is a thin envelope of connective tissue that helps everything in your body stay in it’s rightful place, but in doing it’s job sometimes it too can get bound up, and massage therapists reference this as adhesions. Adhesions can prevent the muscle from moving properly even if the muscle itself has become more pliable. Additionally, fascia often collects these adhesions directionally, so they need to be addressed in multiple directions. The easiest way to determine which directions are still holding adhesions is to apply circular rubbing motions to the area you are working on. If it is completely stretched free you should be able to rub smooth circles clockwise or counter clockwise. Any remaining adhesions will cause a catch sensation that prevents the smooth circular pattern.
Furthermore, the fascia tends to respond very slowly to external input. I can attest to this. In school, I was trained that any movement less than 10 seconds will not engage the fascia properly. We were instructed to stretch the muscles painfully slowly to ensure that the fascia would engage and drop tension. After having practiced massage for almost 13 years, I often will spend a minute or more on one stretch to ensure I am effectively loosening the fascia as well.
So, even though foam rollering can engage the fascia more readily, it takes focused multi-directional slow movements to truly relax the fascia itself. To fully relax any one area you may have to do several stretches in different directions, and each approximately a minute in duration.
4) More Frequently = Less Work to Do
In an ideal world everyone would get a massage weekly. We don’t live in an ideal world, so it becomes up to you to take care of yourself in-between whatever shedule you can manage for paid massages. However, the more frequently you care for yourself and your muscles, the less work you will have to do on each attempt. You may find that when you start foam rollering it takes you several days to fully work everything out. Start with your worst areas, and each time you roller move on to the next worst. As you build repetition, each round of head to toe, will gradually become less time consuming because you are addressing concerns more frequently. Eventually, you may find that you really can spend 60-90 minutes weekly and solve all your concerns. This will in turn help prevent long-term RSI and joint damage, which is good for everyone.
Tricks:
So, I have covered all the important points to note about foam rollering, now let’s discuss common concerns or things people have trouble with.
YouTube is an excellent resource for finding videos showing ways to foam roller a wide array of ways. Just remember my tips from above, some of the fitness gurus tend to roll far faster than I would recommend based on my knowledge of fascia. Faster rolling will still stretch muscles, but may not give you the full relief you seek.
Moving on, one of the biggest concerns clients of mine have is lower leg, otherwise known in common terms as the calf. Many people find that they have recurring difficulty with calf-cramps. Sometimes this is a key sign of magnesium deficiency, and sometimes it is simply because they are not being stretched fully or frequently enough. I have had many clients express frustrations over attempting to roll them, so I decided to take some pictures to show options for addressing those concerns. Each caption will provide a description of what I’m conveying.
The front of the lower leg tends to be very sensitive because it carries so much tension, so it is best to start there. The best way to roll the front of the lower leg is to place both ankles on the roll and engage your core to put your full body weight into balancing and rolling up to the knee.To get the front outside angle of the lower leg, essentially you place that stretch of your leg on the roller and sit on your foot. Then balance and roll the foam from knee to ankle and back.
These are additional calf variations. Top left is similar to the last, but enables a bit more pressure on the upper outer calf. The rest of these images show using the non-roller leg to apply pressure from the back of the leg. It does double duty, helping to shift your coat muscle outward, and you get a sandwiched stretch from both sides of the muscles. The more vertical the posture, the less pressure you will experience on the lower calf. When you collapse downward it applies more of your weight to the lower calf for a very intense stretch, but will also produce some stretch for the upper calf and leg.
Stretching the posterior calf can definitely be difficult, as it is hard to get enough pressure. First, ensuring that you engage your core to make certain that the foam roller becomes a fulcrum is vital. If you have more than just your hands on the floor, then you are not maximizing your own body weight. If you find that is still not enough pressure to stretch your calves, then adding some weight on top of your shins will help. You can use strap-on weights on your ankles, or even a weighted blanket folded over your shins. Then just make sure that you make at least a couple of passes from ankle to knee and back to ankle.
The next area of common concer is quads and hamstrings or upper leg. I have many people that roll out and still deal with knee pain or sciatica. So here are tips from the knee to hips and beyond.
Quads: start at the knee and keep your core strong for the full stretch. Remember the foam roller should be bearing the brunt of your body weight. I personally prefer to roll all the way from knee to the bottom of my rib cage as shown in this progression. It effectively stretches both my quads and my abdominals. When it transition from quads to abdominals I arch my back to ensure I engage the lowest abdominal muscles. Also, remember to go both directions: bottom to top and then back down.
Hamstrings: can be rolled lying down or sitting up. Sitting produces more pressure to get through more layers of muscles. You also can do one at a time, or both at the same time. Just remember to roll from knee to glutes and back to knee.
Inner Quads & Hamstrings: Make friends with a variation of the splits. I find it easier to go knee to hip to knee, but it’s not impossible to reverse that. Just remember that you want to put as much of your weight on the roller as possible.
TFL/IT Band/Gluteus Minimus: these images show variations good for attacking those muscles. Top Left is view from posterior, but it’s important to note the angle. If you are leaning forward you will produce more stretch for TFL, if you are straight verticle it will stretch Gluteus Minimus more. If you lean posterior it will get into Gluteus Medius more. Top Right and Bottom Left are variations specifically for TFL and Gluteus Minimus. Bottom Right is a variation for the IT Band and Vastus Lateralis, it is difficult and somewhat painful, but does address the perpendicular element of faacial adhesions, as well as two common trigger points in Vastus. Just be slow and steady, and roll back to front and front to back, as far as possible. Keep the roller parallel to your IT Band as much as possible.
Progression for upper pelvis and tailbone area. Helps reduce adhesions in the glutes along the inferior edges of the sacrum, and also addresses the trigger point in Gluteus Maximus and Gluteus Medius. Start with the roller at the very top of your tailbone and keep your legs verticle for enough weight/pressure. Use your hands to slowly roll the roller towards your hamstrings. Eventually you will slide down the roller and meet the floor. The stretch is complete at that point. It is very difficult to accomplish this exact stretch in reverse, but you can do a similar side to side motion to address the fascia.
Piraformis/Sciatica: this is less of a stretch and more a positional hold. Place the deep tissue roller at an angle parallel to the edge of your tail bone. It should feel like it is running from your pocket to where your legs come together. Keep your legs as vertical as possible, but you will notice they lean to the opposite side. Hold for 2 to 3 minutes and you will feel the muscles relax to a deep level. For me I sometimes feel my femur realign and pop back into place, and it feels so good when that happens. If you get a small pop like that it’s okay, if any popping sensations ever produce any pain, it’s a good idea to make a visit to the chiropractor. Occasionally a joint only partially realigns or realigns improperly and a chiropractor can correct that.
Finally, you know where you are tight. It’s all those aches and pains and stiff spots. If you touch a muscle and it feels like a brick or ball under your skin, then it’s tight. Foam rollering can literally address every tight spot from shoulders to feet. This is just a start, and it has amazing benefits if you utilize it regularly. May you find excitement and all the benefits in loosening your body up.
This was a fairly long post, but I hope it helps anyone interested in caring for themselves better. If you have any questions or concerns you are always welcome to email me.
May you have solid self-care and feel better physically. May you know you are doing everything possible to ensure a healthy body. May you know you are strong and flexible and all of your efforts help you live your best life. May you know that God always loves and supports you in all that you do.
After having found the alignment through the climb my last several posts reflected, I knew I needed to milk it. The feeling place of those high vibration moments needed to do me some major good. It was time to focus on the feelings I want more of in my body and in my world.
Thinking about the joy and freedom felt in camp was a good start, but I want more.
I deserve to feel good and see results that others will also see. I deserve for my entire body to come into alignment, even blood sugars and thyroid function, all the things that doctors document. So far some of that has improved significantly and some of that seems worse. I use seems, because sometimes seeming worse is actually on your way to improvement (detoxing is a really good example of that).
I spent a long time focusing on feeling good in my body. I did my usual moving meditation to snap, crackle, and pop my joints back into alignment. I did some more moving meditation, almost like yoga, to stretch out some of my tight muscle spots. Then I was down to just a few of my extra stubborn areas. One is my right rhomboid. I have had times where other massage therapists spent 20 minutes just on that one muscle and it’s trigger points. Well on this occasion I simple rested my hand (more my finger-tips for ease in reach) on the trigger point and used several visuals to help relax it. My touch was the focus mechanism to ‘put the power there’ (that’s a rough translation of one of the Reiki symbols I use). Then once I engaged the energy in that spot I moved through more intense Reiki symbols. I visualized being She-Ra in her moments of healing (I’m going to write more on that soon). I visualized the muscle being like a pat of butter on a hot skillet. Eventually all of it put together, the muscle did give in and relax. It took a long while, it really wanted to hold on. I really had to convince it that it was off duty and didn’t have to do anything.
Then I moved on from structural elements. I felt for and visualized energy of love in and around my body. I let it start from my heart with loving myself. I thought of all the pieces of myself that I genuinely appreciate. Once I had the feeling of the vibration of self-love, I pushed it around my body mentally. Sometimes I would have to stop and focus on something about an area that could be loved. For instance, my thighs still carry much more adipose that I prefer, so I had to focus on their strength, the fact they can lift 210 pounds in addition to my body weight, the fact that they propel me everyday and everywhere I go. That enabled the love vibration to flow in those areas.
When all was said and done, I felt genuinely spectacular. The only drawback was it took what seemed forever. It was the better part of my Sunday afternoon, and though I didn’t watch the clock, I know it took a couple of hours or more.
My goal is to get to a level of health and focused thought that my process described here is more like a normal meditation. It will probably take much practice over a long while. It seems that most of my basic goals like this take about 9 to 10 months to fruition… Hmmm… I’m seeing a correlation with pregnancy. Anyway, I have noted that I do create positive changes, but it definitely takes a while, and progress still frustrates me on occasion when it’s technically there, but less than desired.
May you have good healing meditative moments. May you genuinely feel self-love. May you convey to your body that you do care for it in all the ways you know of. May your body generally cooperate with you and show you good positive results more quickly and in bigger more noticeable ways. May you know that beyond everything God loves and supports you in all that you do and are.
