How many times do you check in with yourself a day? Once? Twice? Do you even know what it means to check in with yourself?

How is your stress level? Have you taken time to be still and assess your emotions, your body? Any aches? Any pains? Are you tense? Why is it important?

Lets talk about the mind-body connection. We have all heard stories of people who become sick, and decide they will not be sick, and guess what? They get better. We chalk it up to good luck, but what if your mind could tell your body to get well? It can. Our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can positively or negatively affect our biological functioning. In other words, our minds can affect how healthy our bodies are!

Our body gives us cues. And our brain knows what to do when those red flags pop up. Call it good engineering. Our lives have become so hectic, that when our body is screaming and our mind is trying to pick up on the cues, we overwrite the program with stress, and homework, and work, and tv, you name it. The lines of communication get lost and what we have is a failure to communicate. We wind up sick and tired.

How do we fix this? 

Taking time to check in. Really check in. This is why yoga, meditation and reflexology are so important. Do not be a passive participant, but engage. Check in. How do you feel about today? How does your body feel? How do you feel about how your body feels? How do you wish it felt? See where I am going with this? Connect with your mind. Connect with your body. Connect.

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!

As much as we love reflexology over here, we love all forms hands-on healing just as much (almost). One of our favorites, that gets a little less love than some of the others is Reiki. 

So what is Reiki? It is a type of hand-on massage, often called "palm healing" in which a professional places their hands lightly ove the body of the patient to encourage the process of healing.

The word Reiki is derived from Japanese and Chinese words for spiritual and vital energy. We believe that your body, under the right circumstances, has a natural ability to heal itself.

At the root of Reiki is the concept that disease is caused by imbalances of vital energy in the body and that correcting these imbalances promotes healing, (not too far off from our beloved reflexology right?) Reiki promotes relaxation, which in turn lowers your stress and that encourages balance and healing.

Want to find a Reiki practitioner? Look no further people! 

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! 

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.

When dealing with achy joints and painful movement, these are the areas of the feet to focus on! Refer to this foot map for the exact placement of the corresponding areas.

Arthritis is one of those things that we recommend regular treatments for. it is much easier to keep under control when the reflexes are worked often! Be Well!

The number one tell-tale sign of years starting to pile up is arthritis and joint pain. It is a constant reminder, especially in the mornings, of just how many times we have threaded a needle or ran a mile. Things that were once easy and painless are now activities we avoid at all costs because of the pain! But there is hope, symptoms can be manages and your quality of life can be improved tremendously through reflexology.

There is quite a bit of information on the subject of reflexology and arthritis, pain and stiffness, so erring on the side of caution (we never want you to get bored), we will discuss the benefits of reflexology this week, and the actual practices next week. We have to keep you coming back for more!

Want to know ways you can supplement at home in between sessions? Check back on Monday for all the details! Be well!

The need to "earth" has only recently come onto the scene. Recently as in, the last few decades or generations. Let's just face it. Most of us have become "city folks." Even if we don't technically live in the big city, we are more likely to sit inside and watch a movie or surf pinterest than we are to go outside and play barefooted. It is what it is.

So what are we missing out on? A. LOT. Believe it or not, when you are connected with the ground, say through walking barefoot in grass or even gardening with bare hands, you are exchanging electrons with the earth. It acts as a detox for your body. This allows for better sleep. reduced stress and tension, less pain and better immune function. Not only that, but it could potentially eliminate the harmful effects of electromagnetic fields given off by all the electronic devices in our world (think cell phones people).

So how can you earth? So easy!

1. Walking outside barefoot

2. Sitting on the ground

3. Gardening without gloves (think hands in the dirt).

4. Even small things like mud masks!

According to earthing experts, electrons drawn into the body from the earth neutralize damaging free radicals and by extension reduce disease-related chronic or acute inflammation. 

So how does this relate to reflexology? Walking barefoot (the most common way to earth) stimulates the pressure points on the feet. If you've been with us for any time at all, you know that those pressure points directly correlate to the systems in your body. Stimulating the points means stimulating the whole body, Detoxing the whole body!

How cool is that?