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Posts Tagged ‘alternative health’

Crank Up Relief Of Anxiety From A Massage Chair

October 9th, 2009 No comments

If you suffer from bouts of anxiety, then you may find relief with massage chair therapy. Anxiety can arise from various causes. Whatever the events driving your anxiety, your body responds to it in known ways. For instance, you may feel chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath or even sweating. Your body has been programmed biologically to react and respond in certain ways. One effective relief of anxiety is massage chair therapy.

In cases on non-chronic anxiety, massage has proven to be a very effective method of relieving less serious levels of anxiety. More chronic anxiety involves more complex treatments. The affects of anxiety and even the lesser levels can be a great hinderance to those suffering from it.

Just thinking about getting a massage starts the process of relaxation. You think about letting the tightness of your muscles start to be soothed. As your muscles feel better, your mind starts to relax and drift off into other realms. The troubling thoughts sustaining the anxiety start to dissipate as your energy is directed back to more productive pursuits. Massage is just that type of relaxing experience that is a great counter-balance to anxiety.

What is massage therapy? It is the manipulation of your muscles and other soft tissues to relieve tension and tightness. You may be familiar with many of the more universal massage treatments. Perhaps you know about Swedish massage or shiatsu massage. There are a wide variety of techniques which target specific areas and benefits.

When you ask people what they think of massage, they think it is something for the rich and famous. However, with massage chairs, massage therapy can be brought to the masses in an affordable and effective method. The massage chairs have a tremendous base of technologies and provide effective relief of aches, pains and soreness.

Massage therapy helps to relieve tension in your muscles and tendons. Some massage chairs come with MP3 players where you can listen to soft music. This helps your mind to relax as the massage chair starts to release the built up tension and stress in your body. Massage also helps to release endorphins or your natural painkillers which help reduce aches and pains.

Massage chairs provide full body massage capabilities. They have roller mechanisms that provide a vast array of massages to the back, shoulders and neck. They also come with air massage systems that can provide compression and reflexology massages to the buttocks, thighs, hips, calves, feet, arms and hands. These massage recliners help your body by relieving muscle tension and tightness.

How would you like a good stretch? Some of the best massage chairs have lower body traction systems and some even can stretch your arms and shoulders. This helps to increase your flexibility. There are even massage chair recliners that have integrated heating elements. You can select to apply heat to different parts of body to suit your needs.

If you are interested in a massage chair, then start with the best brands. The best massage recliner brands are Panasonic, Omega and Sanyo. These companies have excellent massage therapies, well designed chairs and comprehensive warranty coverage. Sticking with a recognized name brand will provide you with years of trouble-free massage therapy.

Anxiety may be a more common symptom in our new economy. Everything is much harder now then just a few short years ago. You need to find more effective tools to cope with this new economy. Do not let anxiety and stress get the better of you! Fight back with treatments that provide an effective counter balance to anxiety–like massage. Massage chair therapy is an excellent method to relieve that anxiety and get you focused on more productive pursuits.

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Enhancing Summer Foods with Essential Oils

July 24th, 2009 No comments

Now that summer is officially here, our home gardens are in their heyday. Spring’s greens have already sprouted and given us the first gifts of the season, like bitter dandelion leaves, soft lettuces and nutrient-rich spinach. Now it’s peas and squash, strawberries and raspberries. Last season you risked it and planted watermelon (and oh, what a harvest you had!). This summer you’re branching out to cooking herbs and thinking of buying a backyard composting bin for all of your fertile scraps. No matter what you’re growing in your garden or on your deck, the abundance of summer makes us want to eat healthy and pay attention to the earth, the real root of our nourishment.

Most of the year, we get our fruits and veggies from farms that are states, and sometimes even continents, away from home. Each summer, however, we put on our gloves, pull out the tools and accept the call of the home garden. The fruits of this fulfilling labor let us create dazzling, healthy meals. As anyone who’s ever harvested a basket of summer fruits and veggies from their own garden can attest, these simple ingredients produce the most extraordinary meals. If, however, your summer produce needs an added splash, you can cull a wide range of flavors from a surprising source: your essential oil repertoire.

When buying aromatic oils, you should always strive to use medicinal-grade oils. These oils come from huge amounts of plant material, so it?s wise to use high-quality oils from reliable sources. Of course we already consider this when we buy aromatherapy products for external use. However, committing to therapeutic-grade oils has a secret bonus: you can use these oils in food as well. If you?ve never seen your aromatherapy collection this way, just remember that smell has more control over our sense of flavor than even our taste buds do. Keeping that little fact in focus, here are some fun ways to use essential oils in your summer cuisine.

First and foremost, let’s address the issue of food safety. Essential oils are, obviously, plant-derived substances. While you may not want to eat a hunk of frankincense resin straight from the tree, frankincense is still a naturally occurring substance. It is not poisonous in small quantities, but it may make you want to brush your teeth immediately. Many essential oils are expressly dangerous for internal consumption, such as wintergreen and birch, but other oils can be used in small quantities for internal health as well as for cooking. In fact, the FDA has qualified many of the common essential oils as GRAS, Generally Recognized as Safe, substances. This means that, although they are not categorized as food additives, they can be consumed without apparent side-effects. When considering which oils to cook with, this is a good rule of thumb: essential oils of citruses, spices and other commonly-eaten foods are probably going to make excellent additions to your cuisine. Just be cautious when using essential oils that are known to irritate mucous membranes, such as cinnamon, oregano and peppermint.

How can essential oils improve your summer harvest? Let’s first consider one of the gifts of the Mediterranean region: the citruses. Oils like grapefruit and lemon blend beautifully with olive oil for simple, tangy dressings. All it takes is one drop of oil per tablespoon of oil, and your salad will be transformed. Love guacamole? Try a few drops of lime oil mixed with ripe avocado and serve it with corn chips or jicama slices. Still munching on this spring’s spinach? Mandarin orange essential oil, which smells heavenly, is refreshing drizzled on greens. How about beverages? Oils add dimension to juices and fizzy waters, too. By mixing grapefruit, mandarin and lime in equal parts, seltzer water is transformed into a healthy citrus soda without the sugar found in commercial brands. As with all aromatic oils, though, don’t overdo it. Thankfully, a little bit of oil goes a long way.

What about the bevy of essential oils derived from well-loved cooking spices? Sweet marjoram, basil, ginger, thyme, oregano and bay can all be used to enhance food. Try blending sweet basil oil in with a tomato-mozzarella-Italian parsley pasta, or put a drop of ginger oil in your summer bok choy and carrot stir fry. Like your coffee with cardamom, Arabian-style? One drop of this oil transforms regular coffee into a delectable treat (hint: try this drink iced!). Cooking spice essential oils tend to be surprisingly strong, so again, don’t be lavish with them. Too much oregano or thyme oil will definitely ruin an otherwise balanced dish, so be careful. It’s also usually a good idea to wait to throw the oils in until the food is nearly done cooking, thereby reducing the chance of evaporation before you’re able to enjoy your creation.

Essential oils also work in desserts. Two of the most well-loved dessert flavorings come as essential oils: vanilla bean and cacao. The aromatic oils, however, do not come laden with sugar, nor are they soaking in alcohol, the process used to create extracts. If you find yourself craving a sweet vanilla, try blending your essential oil with honey instead of sugar and see if your craving is curbed. The same can be said for cacao. This bitter, dark essential oil is not a candy bar, but it signals the brain the same way chocolate does. A decadent way of indulging your sweet tooth without jeopardizing your diet is to place two drops of cacao or vanilla into yogurt and eat like ice cream.

Summer food has a way of reminding us of life?s simple pleasures. From a basic family barbeque to a neighborhood feast, the fruits of the season enable us to take care of ourselves while taking care of the earth, too. Essential oils bring new dimension and ease to already simple fare, and often the addition of an oil adds nuance to a dish without the need for an extra trip to the grocery. So remember: if you find yourself the sudden hostess of an impromptu summer get-together and you?re down to soy milk, just toss water, ice and essential oil of lime in a glass and call it a spritzer. This is summer, after all!

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