Mind-Body-Salsa

Dancing has always been an integral part of my life. In fact, I can’t imagine my life without some form of dance or movement to help keep me balanced. Dancing has the ability to transform my mood, alter my consciousness, and improve how I feel physically while also giving me an outlet for stress reduction and self-expression. Western medical research also shows there are incredible health benefits to one of my favorite dance styles, salsa dancing!

According to studies by the Mayo Clinic, salsa dancing has been found to increase energy, strength, muscle tone and coordination while decreasing stress. Additionally, salsa dancing may help with weight loss, cardiovascular health and concentration.

As a social dance, salsa also allows for a sense of community, and may decrease feelings of loneliness and depression. The New England Journal of Medicine touts dancing in general for its benefits in stimulating the brain and having a positive effect on memory and decreasing the risk for some aging health concerns like dementia.

Dance has been used in many societies, over centuries, to express personal stories, cultural legacies and to celebrate life. Knowing the remarkable health benefits in addition to enjoying the rhythm of music and dance, it makes it an easy choice to select dancing as a tool for every day stress reduction. To choose a style that’s right for you, try taking a local community class at your city’s Adult Recreation Center. Bring a friend who enjoys a similar style to your own and find a community of other people to meet. Above all, let loose, have fun and know you’re getting the top health benefits from dancing the night away!

In Health and Salsa,

Lori

For more information on the health benefits of dancing read on:

Article from WebMD on dancing your way to better health:

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/dancing-your-way-to-better-health

Article on health benefits of dancing according to specific dance styles:

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/11/02/the-health-benefits-of-dancing----including-specific-benefits-of-different-dances.htm

Salsa Dance Classes Locally:

Bay Area Salsa! If you are in the Bay Area, try my favorite Salsa dance instructor, Tomaj Trenda, and his classes for beginning or intermediate students. He is also hosting a night of Salsa dancing, including lessons and a live Salsa band. Come enjoy a friendly community of dancers: Saturday, June 11th in the East Bay starting at 8pm at the Orinda Masonic Hall. $15 discount tickets available online now.

Visit www.salsawithtomaj.com for more information on ongoing classes and this special event.

Workplace Yoga

Many employers, of all sizes and industries, are taking a proactive approach to employee wellness by encouraging yoga in the workplace. Yoga has been known to reduce the number of sick days in the workplace, lower health care costs, and improve the overall health of people who practice this ancient healing art. Studies have shown that yoga can increase both mental and physical strength, improve focus and elevate mood. Employees who take regular breaks to do yoga stretches or postures often return to work refreshed and revived, more focused and poised to make better decisions. The deep breathing and relaxation employees experience in yoga can also help them manage and reduce stress and cope with challenges more effectively.

Need more convincing? Here are other key benefits for incorporating yoga during your workday. Yoga can:

*Allow the body to recover from repetitive tasks and increase flexibility

*Calm the mind and improve concentration and clear thinking

*Decrease stress during the workday and improve mood

*Improve productivity and decrease sick time/absences

*Reduce tension in the head, neck shoulders, forearms and wrists

More and more employers are now offering perks such as yoga and meditation sessions at the workplace for employee wellness and stress relief. But even if you don’t have a yoga class at your workplace, there are a variety of stretches you can do at your work station to reduce tension, decrease repetitive stress injury and improve your mood and energy level.

Hill Physicians has a great slideshow and podcast for simple stretches and exercises you can do at work, right in your chair. This is a great way to take mini-breaks throughout the day, which can prevent injuries from repetitive motion and relieve workday stress.

Visit: www.HillPhysicians.com/Podcasts to download the podcast and chair yoga slideshow for free or check out their entire Workplace Stress podcast series:

Managing Workplace Stress

Creating Calm in the Work Zone

Chair Yoga for the Workplace

For Workplace Yoga classes near you, inquire with a certified yoga instructor in your area. Find a registered yoga instructor through the National Yoga Alliance: http://yogaalliance.org/

My favorite local instructor for work place yoga is Diane Valentine at the Yoga and Movement Center in Walnut Creek. She was voted Best Yoga Teacher in 2010 in the Bay area’s Diablo Magazine.

You can read more about Diane from the Diablo Magazine article http://www.diablomag.com/health/Best-of-the-East-Bay-Health-Fitness/#yogateacher or visit http://www.yoga-movement.com/ to learn more about her Yoga and Movement Center in Walnut Creek, CA.

So get stretching in the office and discover the benefits!

Lori

Healing Touch for Health

There are some things you can't avoid no matter how well you take care of yourself. For me, being in a cubicle work environment sometimes means exposure to germs, viruses and more. After having a flu for more than a week this month, I was experiencing low energy even after all my symptoms had cleared. I was even feeling a little too fragile for a massage treatment (which I normally relish in) so I opted for a gentler approach to assist with my healing, a therapy called Energy Field Massage. I was glad I did! Not only was this therapy extremely gentle, it was the calming, restorative experience I had hoped it would be.

As a massage practitioner and instructor I was curious about this technique, and I'm always looking for new ways to expand my knowledge of therapeutic touch to benefit my clients and students. Since many of the people I see have pain issues, such as arthritis, back pain, migraines or other issues that make it difficult to sometimes receive massage work directly on the body, I signed up for a course to learn more about this particular therapy and how it works.

Energy Field Massage is based on the therapy known as Healing Touch and incorporates "off the body" healing, in the area of the aura. Although some may consider this practice as new age or "out there" in concept, the truth is that the electromagnetic field that surrounds our physical body was scientifically proven and measured many years ago by scientists at Yale University back in the 1930's. This "biofield" consists of ions, free protons and free electrons which act as a vibration, constantly receiving as well as filtering out information from our environment that then has a direct impact on our thoughts, mood, and physical health. The theory behind Healing Touch therapy is that if we can work on balancing the energy field (and energy centers known as Chakras which comprise this field) then we may positively impact our overall health and wellness. Some hospitals even now employ trained Healing Touch practitioners to do energy work on post surgery patients in an effort to reduce pain and stress.

This approach to health and healing is very exciting and I'm happy to share this resource since the benefits of this technique may reduce pain, accelerate healing and provide balance for the whole person: mind, body and spirit.

Using healing touch for yourself as self-care is also possible and includes using the palms of the hands held just above the body. To feel the energy field yourself, begin by rubbing the palms together until you feel warmth and heat between the hands. Next take the hands apart slowly and bring your awareness to the center of the palms. Begin to draw the palms away from each other and then slowly back towards one another, but not touching. See if you can sense energy here between the palms. As you take the hands apart and then towards each other you may start to feel sensations of warmth, tingling or even a stronger feeling of a bubble between the hands, as if you could make the bubble larger as you move the hands away or make it smaller as the hands come closer together.

This initial exercise is a practice in sensing the bioelectrical energy being radiated from the palm Chakras and felt just outside the body. You can use this sensation to then hover one palm over the center of the chest and the other palm above the crown of the head, for instance, to bring a sense of tranquility when you feel stressed.

A certified practitioner would use their palms to feel your energy and then use their hands to help rebalance areas of the field that may feel different in temperature, texture, and density which may indicate pain, energy blocks, or armoring from trauma.

To learn more about Healing Touch for your own self-care or to find a practitioner near you, visit Healing Touch International:

http://www.healingtouchinternational.org/

Yours in healing touch,

Lori

Resources on Energy Healing and Books of interest:

Energy Medicine: Balancing Your Body's Energies for Optimal Health, Joy and Vitality

Donna Eden and David Feinstein, Ph.D (New York, Penguin Group, 2008)

Vibrational Medicine: The #1 Handbook of Subtle-Energy Therapies

Richard Gerber, M.D. (Rochester, Vermont, Bear and Company, 2001)

Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field

Barbara Ann Brennan (New York, Bantam Books, 1988)

Energy Field Massage in the Bay Area:

Susan Gann, Certified Acupressure Therapist

susancgann@sbcglobal.net

Consider Qigong to Calm Your Mind and Increase Your Energy

A few weeks ago I attended a weekend class on Qigong (Chi Kung) in the hopes of learning exercises that could compliment my yoga instruction. I had some past experience with Qigong, and was interested in learning more about this ancient healing practice and its therapeutic benefits for health and wellness.

What I enjoyed most about the class was the use of mindful movements which helped shift my own state of consciousness from a sluggish and preoccupied mind to a more clear and focused state of present moment awareness. After many hours of learning these ancient forms of meditative movements, I felt both still and calm inwardly, yet fueled throughout like a powerhouse of energy. There was a unique sense of Aliveness that came from this practice that left my body humming. I was no longer functioning from a state of separation between mind and body (with my thoughts acting as the leader and my body slowly trying to follow directions). Instead, I was now moving through the world feeling more embodied, whole and integrated.

From the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach, Qigong uses slow, graceful, repeated movements to balance the bioelectrical energy flow in the body and thus improve health. In my studies of yoga, another ancient movement discipline, I know the same to be true of its benefits. Both Qigong and yoga use movement to balance internal energy (known as “qi” in qigong or “prana” in yoga) and aim to enhance the flow of energy, blood and body fluid for optimal wellness (only one of the many benefits of these practices). I can see how the more gentle, fluid movements of qigong may compliment a yoga practice or be used in place of some yoga postures if there are movement limitations. And for anyone looking for stress reduction, Qigong is a natural stress reducer!

Other mindful movement practices can vary in technique yet they ultimately aim to reduce stress and bring balance to both mind and body. Some examples are running, dancing or walking. What is your favorite mindful movement practice?

In health and Qi,

Lori

To learn more about Qigong or to find a Qigong practitioner near you, visit:

The National Qigong Association

http://nqa.org/

The Qigong Institute

http://www.qigonginstitute.org/listing/directory.php

For articles and research on the efficacy of Qigong read:

http://nqa.org/category/articles/

My favorite Qigong teacher in the Bay area:

(Try his 5 Element Qigong Utube video!)

Kaleo Ching

http://www.kaleoching.com/classes.html

*As with any physical activity, people who perform tai chi or qi gong may experience muscle strains or sprains. Gentle stretching before a tai chi or qi gong session can prevent most injuries. In most cases, you can safely use tai chi or qi gong alongside conventional medical treatments. Always tell your doctor if you are using an alternative therapy or if you are thinking about combining an alternative therapy with your conventional medical treatment. It may not be safe to forgo your conventional medical treatment and rely only on an alternative therapy.

Busy medical practice finds holistic health helpful for stress reduction!

Earlier this month I found myself providing stress management counseling for a very busy physician’s office. What was interesting about this experience is that it was not meant for their patients, but rather their medical staff. Within minutes of observing the environment I could tell this group of hardworking, dedicated professionals were operating on what seemed like adrenaline. The support they needed in the immediate moment was to rediscover why stress management is important for their own self-care. In the healthcare profession it's easy to become wrapped up in a cycle of taking care of everyone else without replenishing one’s own resources of energy and wellness.

Knowing they were busy and had very little time for a stress reduction presentation, I narrowed my focus down to one or two tools I could teach them; I hoped they would be successful at incorporating these short yet effective changes into their lives, even if it meant only taking one minute away from work to practice self-care. With 30 minutes on the clock and phones ringing off the hook, we managed to have an assistant answer the phones while the rest of the staff was allowed this rare opportunity to be gathered in a separate room, with the door closed, to learn a few techniques.

My lesson focused on diaphragmatic breathing and guided imagery. We practiced 2-5 minutes of this highly effective breathing technique followed by a 15-20 minute guided imagery focused on releasing muscle tension and visualizing ourselves in a relaxing, restorative environment. The end result was truly amazing for the office staff as they each felt not only more relaxed, but grounded. They felt they could function within the busyness of their office, but this time they agreed it would come from feeling calm, alert and refreshed.

Since the staff at this medical practice were open to the idea of help, and welcomed the invitation to learn new tools for rebalancing during a busy workday, they are truly on the road to success. In order for them to make the change a habit, I suggested they practice regularly and with the help of tools such as CD’s or podcasts that offer instruction and guidance on the deeper breathing technique and visualizations.

To learn more about how guided imagery and diaphragmatic breathing can help you with reducing stress, check out these resources:

Free downloadable podcasts:

• Hill Physicians Medical Group (available for members and non-members)

http://www.hillphysicians.com/Podcasts

• Kaiser Permanente (available for members and non-members)

https://members.kaiserpermanente.org/redirects/listen/

For a fee: CD’s and Podcasts on a variety of health topics:

• Health Journeys

http://www.healthjourneys.com

• Golden Transformation

www.GoldenTransformation.com

Yours in Health,

Lori Golden

Welcome

Around the world there are people looking for stress relief. Many are searching for ways to ease a worried mind, reduce anxiety, or cope with wellness issues such as insomnia, headaches, muscle tension, indigestion and a host of other stress-related health concerns. I have been actively researching and studying holistic pathways to reducing stress and rebalancing the body naturally for the last 15 years. My experience has led me down the road of studying different forms of bodywork, various styles of yoga and countless avenues for self-care, all with a focus on bringing balance to the whole body: mentally, physically and emotionally. My intention for creating this blog is to pass on information to a much wider audience than I have been able to support locally.

Many of my clients over the years have expressed positive feedback from the knowledge they have gained through my classes, workshops and mind-body products for stress reduction. Others have found support in these services for their pain management. My hope is that the tools, tips, resources and reflections I can share here will reach a broader community of those who seek insight into living a more harmonious and vibrant life.

You may want to pass along the updates to friends, family, co-workers or others you know that are struggling with stress and who may benefit from the information. See if together, you can build a toolkit of resources for self-care. I look forward to sharing my professional experiences here and highlighting different holistic practices for wellness to help you build that toolkit.

What’s Next: Stay tuned for upcoming tips on staying well through the holistic practices of self-acupressure, yoga, guided imagery and more.

In health and wellness,

Lori Golden