The Care from a Massage

I recently had an incredible massage from a wonderful therapist! Within the first few minutes the only thing I could think about was that I really needed to blog about how amazing massages are!

I love so many things about massage, I would have chosen a different career path otherwise, but the things I really connect with and that I can't live with out are as follows:

- The incredible healing power of touch is second to none, and its effects are increased with a gifted healer.
- The care, kindness, and compassion a great therapist takes in taking care of you, not only your physical self, but your soul self too, is amazing.
- To have an hour or an hour and a half dedicated to myself, and my healing. I know that it is hard for me to take time out for myself, and I know that many other people feel the same way. It is nice to have time to reconnect with myself again.
- To have the time unplugged from all devices is incredible!
- To have an opportunity to meditate at the same time takes a healing treatment to incredibly deep levels, not to mention the time to be able to meditate and the help it gives to my already existing meditation practice.

I also decided to make sure that I am getting regular massages too, for me I aim for at least once a month, but I assure you, if I could get one weekly I would!

Fusion Massage Therapy

Fusion is a treatment for people who want more out of a massage than just the physical manipulation of muscles and other tissues. With a Fusion treatment, the energy components of both Reiki and Acupressure are applied, as well as finishing the massage with Body Talk. This allows the body to heal on the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels, this allows me to treat the body as a whole and not just it's parts. You will still get the pain relief from releasing muscular tension, and you get the added bonus of having your energy system  flow properly so your massage is even more effective. By bringing Body Talk in, your body gets the chance to express all of the things it needs attention brought to, and have all of those things addressed as well.

As an added bonus, by utilizing Reiki and Acupressure in a Massage treatment, it helps to create a relaxing treatment that is still very therapeutic, without having to use deep tissue methods.

What is your happiness waiting for?

I watched the first few minutes of a show that had a lovely woman who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she had gone through radiation twice and her body didn't respond well, and she is left with no alternatives. Though I have no idea if she is even attempting the non-traditional holistic route, just to see at least, but that isn't why I am here. She was saying that now she is making her happiness important in her life. If there is something not working, she changes it so that it does work or it isn't a part of her anymore. She is not alone, I have heard this many times from people who have, or are, experiencing a very big life threatening illness, whether it be a horrific accident, cancer, heart disease/attacks.

Why do we wait until we have a terminal illness to change our lives in such a positive way? I am writing this to say that I have made the commitment to myself to make my life as joyful as possible, if something isn't working right then I will change it, if I am not doing something I like, then I will change it. I refuse to have to resort to an illness to have a wake up call, I am learning from others so I don't have to go through it myself.

I encourage everyone else out there to choose yourself and your happiness, I know that change isn't always the easiest of things to do, but I promise once you have done it, it will feel amazing, and you will be grateful for doing it. Don't wait to be forced into it, just start with little steps.

October stretch of the month

This stretch is a good one! 

If you have pain or tension in your back between your shoulder blades the following suggestions are for you!

You can also place your full forearm from elbow to wrist against the door frame - elbows at 90 degrees and then bring your arms up to a 120 degree angle - hands near the top corners of the door.

Hold the stretch for 10-15 seconds and remember to breathe the whole time, only move forward to the point that you feel the stretch, not to where you feel the most pain. Repeat 3-5 times. I suggest doing this stretch through out the day if you can, it is really great to do when you get home from work, or really any time you are feeling tension in your back between your shoulder blades.

Another fantastic feeling thing to do is to roll a bath towel up lengthwise and lay it on the floor (you can also use a bolster or a foam roller), lay on top of it so it runs the length of your spine, and breathe, to increase the stretch you can place your arms at a 90 degree angle or straight up above your head. Lay there for as long as you like! or aim for at least 90 seconds at a time and repeat 2-3 times.

If you have any questions about these stretches or would like some alternatives, please don't hesitate to let me know, you can email me anytime at info@omniawellness.ca
You can also book a massage online at www.omniawellness.ca!

How Often Should You Get A Massage???

This is a really common question, and each therapist has a method to determine this, and not everyone is the same! It does depend on the situation in which you are getting a massage, if you are in the process of rehabilitating an injury, or if you are trying to maintain your health and wellness the answer will be different.

Personally I would love to have a massage once a week, but that isn't really plausible (except for when you are in massage school...how I miss it sometimes!) If you are in the process of rehabilitation, there will be a structured time line to improve your muscle function that should be adhered to that is completely dependent upon the injury. For maintenance of your health and wellness or reduction of tension and stress once a month is certainly ideal, if that fits your budget, or your insurance coverage, or your desire.

What it really comes down to is listening to yourself, it's incredibly important and it's the key to truthfully answering that question. When you start to notice the discomfort that brought you in for a treatment is coming back, that is the right time to come back in for another treatment whether that is 6 weeks or 6 months. Or when you feel like you want a massage, its the right time to come in. It is that simple.

The Subtle Intuition

I consider myself a very intuitive person, and how intuition works has always been an interest of mine, so I have devoured a lot of literature on intuition, and how to improve it, understand it, trust it, and hear it.

I had a really great moment of clarity and understanding the other day about intuition and I really have to share! We are all intuitive, I think that it is often that we don't really chalk things up to intuition, its usually just a moment of being glad you did something.
I was talking my brothers amazingly adorable dog out for a walk at an off leash park, we go there at least once a week. I parked beside a giant puddle and when he got out I made sure to grab his leash so he didn't go through the puddle - here is the intuition part, I don't care if he goes in a puddle, I have a towel on my back seat because I have been taking him to the river often and he is always still wet by the time we get back to my car - as we came around my car there were two other dogs there, they sniffed each other and then there was a minor altercation between my dog and one of the others. Thankfully they were both still on leash and it was really easy to get them apart without any real harm done, the other man apologised for his dog (Oliver is a really kind and gentle dog, and hes a bit of a chicken so I knew it wasn't him) so we just left and went to another dog park instead - the one with the river!

So here is my realisation, my intuition was working amazingly well, with out my conscious knowledge! So I have been trying to bring my consciousness more into awareness when things like this happen, mostly because I think it is so awesome. I do however, feel like I now know that it isn't always about me being able to know that my intuition is working, I can actually just sit back and let it do its thing, because it has always been doing it; and that is the important bit of information that I feel has been missing, and I wanted to share!

My Journey Changer

The moment that started it all! When I was 16 I had a wonderful group of friends, there were seven of us girls that were really close. When seven, sixteen year old girls are all friends, there is bound to be a bit of drama, and perhaps an argument or two. There was one girl and I that were working through something or other (I truly don't remember the what or why of our argument, it was almost 14 years ago!) and we happened to take the same bus home on the afternoon I had a massage booked. We silently gave each other glances and never spoke a word to each other the whole ride. I was mad that this was going to ruin my massage, I was really looking forward to getting one. I had been working at a fast food place at the time and I had gotten a massage every chance I got. I walked to the chiropractor clinic that my massage therapist was housed at, all the while thinking about how mad I was. 

And then I had a life changing treatment. The massage I had was amazing, it allowed me to meditate and reconnect with myself; while helping to release tension in my back, neck, and arms. An incredible thing happened afterwards, I walked home with a wonderful smile on my face. I felt no more animosity towards my friend, or anything else for that matter. I realised that if I could help someone else feel that way, no matter what was going on in their life, it would be a dream come true. That was when I knew that this was the path I was meant to take. 

Peter Pesek was the massage therapist that I saw, he has, unfortunately for me, moved back to Ontario. He helped to shape the therapist that I am, and the treatments I love to give. To him, I am very grateful!

Massage Unplugged

With the amount of multitasking that we do on a day to day, minute to minute basis, sometimes it is really nice to be unplugged from our devices and allow ourselves to be free of having to do anything other than enjoy receiving a healing treatment. This is why we always ask to have phones turned off or muted during a treatment. I know that if I hear my phone, what ever I am doing becomes less important and my curiosity takes over, (this is why my phone is also on silent when a client comes in for a treatment). The same generally happens with everyone, and that's typically when your massage stops being as relaxing as it should be, and thoughts and plans creep back into your awareness.

Massage at Omnia Wellness (especially Fusion Massage) is really geared towards time you get to take for self reflection, meditation, and giving you the chance to rest your body, mind, and spirit. This allows you to get the most healing out of a treatment by allowing a specialist to fully respect and care for your body, all while being able to let go of everything else in the world. There is nothing else that you can do when you are lying on a massage table other than relax and enjoy!!

Insurance Coverage is Changing for Massage Therapy!

The process of regulating Massage Therapy in Alberta has started, which will ensure that every massage therapist has the same standard of education. This will create credibility and recognition of how important Massage Therapy is to maintain and improve health and wellness. Currently the only standards in place are: a minimum of 250 hours in order to receive a practitioners licence from the city of Calgary (which is an unacceptable amount of education!), however, most reputable clinics, spas, holistic centres, etc. will only hire therapists with 1000-2200 hours of formal education. Once regulated, 2200 hours of formal education will be the standard.

 

SunLife, Manulife, and Alberta Blue Cross are being pro-active when it comes to covering massage, and they have decided to only cover therapists who have their 2200 hours. SunLife has already implemented this, Manulife will as of October, and Alberta Blue Cross will follow suit as of May 2013. Many therapists have 1000 hours of education, so please check before you book an appointment if insurance coverage is important to you!

* What this means for you at Omnia Wellness:

If you have massage coverage, you will be able to claim a massage with me!!

When you come to Omnia Wellness for a massage, have no fear, I am recognised by all three insurance companies as a fully accredited therapist. I have received my 2 year, 2200 hour, diploma for Massage. If you know of anyone who is with these insurance companies and needs to find a therapist that is covered, send them my way!      

Using Your Voice in a Treatment

I place a really high value on my clients getting what they want from a treatment, which is why it is important to use your voice before and during a treatment. I have heard some pretty interesting 'horror' stories that have happened in a massage treatment, and the most common factor is they went to a therapist that didn't listen to what it is that they wanted. Which creates the loss of your voice, which is not the way it should be, and is definitely not what I am about!
I want each person to get what they want out of their treatment, I fully commit to respecting you and what you want as best I can. So please just tell me what will make you the happiest for your treatment and together we can create the right plan to do so!

Pressure is often the most important thing that will ensure your happiness with a treatment, and it is something that is completely subjective. Each person has their own sense of what is light pressure and what is deep, myself included, so we will have to work together in the first treatments so I can fully understand the depth you prefer and be able to recreate that every treatment that follows. Let me know at anytime if I can adjust my pressure to create the most effective and comfortable way to treat what ails you.

Comfort is another thing that is important. I strive to create a safe and comfortable environment to allow the healing and relaxation process to flourish. I have a table warmer to help keep you warm and comfortable (it can always be turned up or down), the music that is playing helps to calm the mind (it can always go louder or quieter), and I encourage you to choose whether or not conversation or rest is what your feeling like in each treatment. Proper draping techniques are used here, which means that only the area I am working on will be uncovered and at no time will you ever feel like you are being exposed (or be exposed).

And if you tell me which of the tea's I have is your favorite I will make sure that I have that one ready for you when you come in, and/or have a cup ready to go for you at the end of your treatment!

I love my job!!!

I know that not everyone gets to say that they love their job and that I am especially blessed that I get to do what I love and that it involves helping people feel better!

I have had a really great time being able to really do what I love to do and I think it shows in my treatments. I love being able to combine knowledge of Eastern and Western modalities and create a unique treatment that I enjoy giving.

I have had some great feedback about how my treatments are incredibly relaxing and they put you in a meditative like place, all while treating the specific reason of why you came to see me in the first place (often it is because something hurts!) I am grateful for the encouragement and motivation to continue to strive to be the best Holistic practitioner I can be!

The Tricks of Meditation

Meditation is amazing, especially when there are such peaceful and beautiful places in the world, and in our own back yards. I think that there is a common misconception about meditation and how you have to sit still and silence your mind. I know that when I first started it was next to impossible to sit still and quiet my mind. As soon as I started to try to meditate I noticed what areas in my body felt uncomfortable, and often those feelings were exasperated by trying to sit cross-legged and perfectly still! Then my mind would inevitably wander off to random thoughts, then they would become less random and then before I knew it I was off on an internal rant about one thing or another. So feeling like I was a poor meditation student, I started researching it, I knew that I couldn't be the only one to start out like this (at least that was what I was hoping!!) and I was right!

So here are the tricks:
First off, throw out all of your misconceptions about meditation, it is a PRACTICE, practice allow you to figure out what works the best for you, and don't be hard on yourself if your practice doesn't look like someone else's.

When you start your practice utilize a space that you enjoy, it doesn't have to be a specific place that you go to every time, it can be out in your garden, in your bathtub, on the side of a beautiful river with the mountains in the background, at your desk at work, in your car, sitting cross legged in the middle of your living room, the possibilities are endless.

When you find your space, unplug yourself, turn your phone off ( or if you only want to meditate for a short period of time, set an alarm and turn your phone to airplane mode so no calls, emails, facebook or twitter alerts , or text messages can come in, but your alarm can still be heard)

If sitting doesn't appeal to you, walk. You can walk back and forth across a room, around the block, by the river, on a treadmill. I don't recommend lying down, often this leads to sleeping! Check out Qi Gong it is a moving meditation that is incredible, plus it forces you to focus your mind on the movements so less distracting thoughts come in.

If you are having trouble quieting the mind, get a guided meditation, or listen to music that you find really calming. Focus on your breathing, a good technique is to count to 4 on the inhale, count to 4 while holding, count to 4 on the exhale ( you can use a higher or lower count if it feels better for you). If you are a visual person picture white light entering your body as you inhale and allow it to grow brighter with each inhale, or picture your favourite place in nature, or use your imagination and create a space in your mind that you can come back to time and again when you meditate.

Most importantly - Allow yourself to take time for yourself, you deserve it, and everything that you need to do can wait, I promise the world will not collapse around you and everything will still be waiting there for you when you are done. You don't need to meditate for an hour (unless of course you want to) to start aim for 5 minutes or 15 and increase the length of time when it feels right to, and when you have time to.

Ok, now go and try some of it out, and if anyone has any technique that works for them that they would like to add, leave a comment!

Grateful

Starting up a new business is a tricky thing, there are a lot of ups and a few downs, but all in all its been an incredible journey so far! I have been blessed with amazing family, friends and clients that have helped make the start of Omnia Wellness so great. I am truly grateful for all of the kind words, support, and encouragement to help keep me positive and moving forward while I am fulfilling my dreams and doing what I love.
Thank you, I truly couldn't live my dreams without you all, and I am grateful and honored that I get to be one of the people who do what they love and love what they do.

Omnia Wellness begins!

I have decided to take a huge step forward in my career and open my own practice! Since it happened so easily, I figure it must be the right step. I have decided that with this new ad/venture I also needed a new name, and Omnia Wellness was born. Omnia means 'everything' in Latin. I decided on it because of the phrase 'Omnia Causa Fiunt' which simply means 'everything happens for a reason', it is a phrase near and dear to my heart ( and on the wrist that it is tattooed on). It's purpose for me is to remind me that every single person that I am working with/on is there for a reason, and it is my job to do the best that I can while I have the privilege to help them along their journey, and have them help me along mine. 

The love of a new modality

I am adding another modality to my tool belt, my repertoire. The Body Talk system is incredible. It integrates all of my knowledge from all of my modalities, in one beautifully simple and highly effective session. It is not the easiest one to explain, so bare with me. Basically your body speaks its own language, and due to life experiences,stress, or the conscious mind (or ego), translation for what is going on in the body can become misconstrued. Normally we would treat the one small part, and can on occasion, sacrifice the greater good of the whole body for the good of the part because we are not able to get all the information we need. My training allows me to 'talk' to your body and find out what it really needs to restore balance within itself, what it considers to be the top priority. Here is the interesting part, your body, once it gets the information to create this balance (which it receives by gentle tapping on the top of the head that signals to the brain there is important information coming in) and sends this information out to the rest of the body (received from the gentle tapping over the heart - the information is basically sent out to where it needs to go through the blood) Your body's innate knowing, will take care of the rest. Your body already knows how to be the healthiest being it can be. It sometimes just forgets, or lets other things get in the way. I am simply there to remind you.

The process of talking to your body works on the same principle of  muscle testing in kinesiology, I place my hand underneath your wrist or hand, and go through my series of questioning, and receive yes and no answers based on if your hand/wrist moves or not. Sounds fairly simple, right?  Here is the interesting bit, I generally ask everything internally, which allows the conscious mind to be free to think about what ever it feels like thinking about while allowing the body to speak for itself ( I can also ask all the questions aloud if it is preferable, the same things your innate/body sees as priorities to return to balance will come up no matter which way). After getting the priority information that your body needs, the tapping on the head and heart will happen and your innate will take care of the rest. 

That was a whole lot to wrap my head around when I first started getting body talk treatments myself. I am a self professed open minded skeptic. I need to know that every modality I spend my passions in is worthwhile and works. I go into every class, seminar, and treatment that I receive in a new modality with an open mind, while searching for my own form of evidence that it works. I will say that my first body talk experience was a memorable one. I didn't really know what to expect, I truthfully went in without doing any research, aside from the information I had from other people that had experienced it. Which was mostly, "I had this treatment, I don't really quite know what happened, but everything that came up made a lot of sense and now I feel better". So being the curious sort, I had to check it out. I will say that " I had this treatment, I don't quite know what happened, I cried a lot (which is the first time ever in a treatment), everything that came up made a lot of sense, and now I feel better" and now here I am on the brink of becoming a Certified Bodytalk Practitioner, because I feel that much better, and I believe that Body Talk is a very useful modality and a great new tool for me to use.