Good Monday everyone!!! Today we are talking about a common ailment that plagues quite a few people in the general population, neuropathy. While some people may experience neuropathy intermittently due to poor circulation, many people experience it due to chronic disease such as diabetes, or a a side effect from chemotherapy. The most common symptoms of neuropathy are consistent hand and foot pain, numbness in the hands and feet, burning pain, sharp, jabbing pain, extreme sensitivity to touch, lack of coordination and muscle weakness or paralysis. Aside from diabetes and chemotherapy, neuropathy is a result of infections, metabolic problems, toxin buildup, and injury. 

How does reflexology help? Reflexology helps to improve circulation. New blood provides new oxygen to the nerves. It cleans out toxins and helps clean out stagnation. It also works by relaxing the muscles of the feet and hands that have often trapped the nerves that are causing the problem! This can provide amazing pain relief and help to lessen neuropathic episodes. 

Looking for something that actually works? Try reflexology!

I hear it all the time. I think my ears are just tuned to pick up on people talking about essential oils, but I pick up on quite a few conversations of people talking about the wondrous liquids. What stops me dead in my tracks is when they talk about putting the oils in their water as flavoring.

Believe me, I know how good lemon water tastes and how boring plain tap water is, but I don't believe the drinkers of these homemade concoctions realize what they are really drinking. This? From a true EO lover you ask? Yes!

Did you know:

It takes: 

Essential Oils contain very concentrated properties of the herb or plant they are derived from. A very small amount of an essential oil has the qualities of many cups of herbal tea from the same plant. For instance, one drop of peppermint essential oil is equivalent to 26-28 cups of peppermint tea. If you wouldn’t ingest dozens of cups of an herbal tea, you should probably think twice before consuming the equivalent amount of essential oils.

If you aren't going to put the juice of 50 lemons in your one class of water, do not put the oil in. It affects your body the same way those 50 lemons would, and that can be havoc on your liver and kidneys! 

If you are looking for flavored water, trying infusing fresh fruits and herbs! 

We talk a lot about the pros of essential oils over here. Their benefits are too many to count and if I had to choose one thing to be stuck on a desert island with, it would be my oils. Part of the power of the oils is the knowledge of when and how to use them. Too often I see oils for sale in the Vitamin Shoppe, surrounded by young women who want to see what all the hype is about. They are all the rage right now. And while, yes, they are AMAZING. They can also do terrible harm if not used properly. Over the next few weeks we will touching on oils you should avoid during different times in your life. It is important to be educated, because while I make sure to use the correct essential oil blends for my clients, not everyone does. You know what they say, knowledge is power, and all that jazz.

 

This week is it all about pregnancy.

As you already know, essential oils can affect hormones, gut bacteria and other aspects of health. Danger Will Robinson. Extreme caution should be used during pregnancy for the safety of you and your sweet baby. Studies have shown that essential oils can cross the placenta and get to the baby. The effects of essential oils are then magnified. So 10 drops of the oil to you, can become harmful to baby. Don't get me wrong, essential oils are, well essential for overall health, but do your research. Here are a list of oils that are absolutely NOT safe during pregnancy:

Peppermint essential oil may decrease milk supply while nursing, and as such, I avoid it topically while nursing.

Knowledge is power people, so bring on the knowledge!

Regular reflexology treatments are beneficial in regulating the hormones involved in the reproductive system. This is demonstrated not only in successful pregnancy, but also in improvements in PMS, heavy or irregular periods and painful menstruation, with patients reporting positive feelings, better relaxation, deeper sleep, improved sex drive, regular cycles, better flow and of course, in some cases, pregnancy. 

"That is all fine and great," you say, but it doesn't apply to me because I have (insert a reason here). On the contrary, studies that have been conducted on reflexology and infertility, did not take the finest of women, who were most likely to become pregnant anyways. The studies include (and some done solely on) women with polycystic ovaries, recurrent miscarriage, annovulation, dysmenorrhoea, unexplained infertility and hostile cervical mucus. And guess what? Balancing the body, releasing toxins from reproductive organs and clearing energy pathways through reflexology can help not only relieve the symptoms, if not eliminate problems altogether.

Let's talk about babies and how they get into this world. No, this isn't th ebirds and the bees talk. Watch enough television and you can have that figured out. Today we are talking about reflexology and the effects it can have on pregnancy as well as labor and delivery.

the changes a woman's body endure while pregnant, can often be overwhelming. Luckily, maternity reflexology has been effective in treating morning sickness, lack of energy, pain and discomfort, digestive disorders, heartburn, indigestion, fatigue, swollen extremities, backache, cramps and incontinence.

Studies have shown that continual treatment during  pregnancy reduced heartburn, hypertension and swelling by a sweet 50 percent. The study also used reflexology as an alternative for labor inducing drugs with much success.

In another study, first-time mothers between the ages of 20 and 25 who received reflexology regularly during their pregnancy had an average labor time of just five to six hours (with some lasting two to three hours). Many of these women did not require anesthetics during or after delivery.

Be warned that maternity reflexology is an art and should only be performed by professionals who have their certification in maternity reflexology. Without proper training, one could induce labor far too early on accident.

Lucky for you, I have my certification and have seen first-hand the benefits of reflexology during pregnancy!

Join us on Monday as we talk about reflexology and infertility!

Happy Monday! Mondays get a pretty bad reputation don't they? I personally like to look on the bright side of things and say that Mondays means only FOUR more days until the weekend! Whatever works right?

Let's get right down to the topic again today. Essential oils. I use essential oil blends on practically all my clients (unless they request otherwise). The benefits astound me everytime. They add the extra punch in a 1-2 punch when balancing and aligning your health. But why do we put oils on our feet? 

1. The bottoms of our feet are known to be one of the strongest places of the body.  Our feet support our weight for at least several hours a day. That is no easy feat (pun intended). 

2. The skin on the soles of the feet are far less sensitive than the skin throughout the rest of the body, allowing us to use oils that the body needs but can sometimes cause a mild skin irritation elsewhere for people with sensitive skin.

3. While the skin may be thicker on the bottoms of our feet, they house some of the largest pores on our body. This allows the essential oils to be absorbed very quickly, some within 20 seconds!

4. Sometimes a particular oil might smell a little more medicinal than pleasant. Each oil blend is unique. Whether it is sinuses or arthritis or hormones, the oil will smell different. Now, I love almost all oils and how they smell, but that doesn't mean you will. Applying the oils to the soles of the feet and then covering with socks lets us get the benefits from our oils, without having to smell the constant potency.

And last but not least, our favorite reason to use essential oils on the bottoms of the feet:

5. The bottoms of our feet are connected to the rest of our body. If you have been with us for any length of time, you have heard this before and we will keep saying it. So when we use essential oils on the bottoms of the feet, we are able to direct the benefit of the oils towards specific organs in the body. How cool is that? How healing is that? 

Monday morning blues got you down? Give us a call, and I'll oil you right up!