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Greetings!
Welcome to the April issue of the Caring Palms newsletter. This month we have a couple articles and an updated class schedule.
I hope you like what we have here.
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Spring
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Spring has sprung. If you are like me, you are spending more time outside which is good as we get vitamins and other necessary things from the sun. But if you are like me, your time is spent fixing up the yard from the winter, planting new plants, trimming, cutting, weeding, and the usual stuff that causes sore and pulled muscles. While you are working, you need to remember two things... a) Keep within the limits of what you can do and b) When you don't, you know where to come get relief.
Remember, use your body properly. Lift with your legs. Pull using your body, not just your arms. Use tools rather than your body when getting things out. If you get hurt, come see us for help. Remember this is just the beginning of the summer. Take care of yourself so you can enjoy all of it.
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What Can Massage Do For You?
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Well, for the most part, massage is the manipulation of the fascia, or soft tissues of the body. It takes places that have become hard and sore, and makes them pliable again. It also stretches muscles so that they are looser, easier to move with a greater range of motion. It improves blood flow. It makes one feel better.
But with all the styles, what is right for you? Yes, styles range from mild work to deep work, from relaxation to realignment, from reinvigoration to recuperation. What you need depends on what is going on with you and what you are comfortable with.
For relaxation, there are many styles that can be utilized. The basic Swedish massage can be very relaxing as the pressure is measured to be firm yet pleasant. A basic routine is followed, yet each person is different and that routine is changed for each person's needs. This style is fairly structured.
For those that are comfortable with less draping, Hawaiian Temple Lomi Lomi and Esalen-Inspired (or FreeForm) massages are best. Each uses length of the body movements so a person feels like a whole instead of a series of parts. Temple Lomi works above and underneath the body as the client simply lets go and rides the waves. There is a feel of structure to Temple Lomi which is comforting to those that feel they need it. Esalen-Inspired is a FreeForm massage that also uses length of the body movements, but is unstructured functioning on a level of what the body needs. The therapist intuitively does whatever moves they feel are needed at the time and place that they are working.
All of the styles listed above can be done on a deeper, more therapeutic level as well as that of relaxation. One can add to this Auntie Margaret's version of Hawaiian Lomi Lomi which can work deeply into muscles to stretch and loosen them. Massive changes can be made in a very short period of time with this style.
For more recuperative work, Myofascial Release (MFR) and basic fascial work can do wonders. Accident victims can benefit as these styles work on realigning the body back to where it should be. They can also work on things that doctors throw up their hands at such as Fibromyalgia. MFR has been known to eliminate Fibromyalgia in some cases which also eliminates a person's dependency on drugs. These styles may even eliminate the need for surgeries for such things as carpal tunnel syndrome and scoliosis. Basically, if one is in pain, MFR and fascial work may be something worth looking into.
So, massage is not just something you get on vacation at a fancy spa. It is necessary healthcare which could even be considered preventative medicine. So you might want to check into it and see what it can do for you.
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Checking in on Rilind
| | | by Brian Dean
Back in December, Caring Palms participated in Pit Sisters' rescue of a badly cared for pit bull which they named Rilind (meaning rebirth or reincarnation). Rilind was skin and bones. Since then, he has been receiving the care he needs along with a few sessions of Reiki. He has also been diagnosed with EPI, a pancreatic disorder which keeps him from gaining weight.. Basically no matter how much food he eats, he cannot gain weight. So he is now given a special enzyme supplement with his meals and he has been filling out. Rilind also gets regular shots at the vet (I believe every two weeks).
During the past three months, this dog has changed, and changed lives and beliefs. He has his own Facebook page (Rilind Reborn) which has almost 7500 Likes, and where updates are made regularly. Through an online contest, Rilind was voted Dog Whisperer Caesar Milan's dog of the year. He lets his foster family dress him up in different outfits so he is always the epitome of cool. He was one of the guests of honor at the Jacksonville premiere of a film debunking the myths about pit bulls. He was there in his tux and tie and sun glasses. He has become the local celebrity and hero to many.
I got to see Rilind this past weekend at an adoption event at the humane society and was amazed at how much he has changed. He was also happy to see me, and I got kisses from him. While visiting, I was able to do some more Reiki which he loved.
It was just so amazing that he has changed so much, and is a playful, happy dog. Since I have been so busy on the weekends, I have not seen him in a couple of months. When I first saw him, I was afraid to hug him too hard as he was nothing but a bony frame. Now I can hug him as hard as I want as he has filled out to his proper weight. But you can judge for yourself in the pictures below.
It just goes to show what love and proper care can do for a pet of any kind. Here is a dog that was abandoned, on death's door, and through the compassion of people has become healthy and happy. Soon, he will be looking for a special family to adopt and love him.
Also, Rilind is in another contest where you can vote for your favorite hero dog. To vote for Rilind, go here.
 | Rilind, January 1, 2012
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 | Rilind, March 31, 2012
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| Reiki Class Schedule | |  The following is a list of currently scheduled Reiki Classes. Each class (unless otherwise marked) currently has a status of 'Scheduled'. This means that a date has been set, but no one has signed up for it yet. Once a deposit has been received for a class, the status will be 'Confirmed'. Any class marked as 'Closed' has basically filled up. (Note: In some cases, one may be able to enter a class marked 'Closed' with permission of the instructor.)
The current schedule is as follows:
Reiki 1
- April 14 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm Confirmed
- May 12 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- June 9 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- July 14 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- August 11 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- September 8 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- October 13 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- November 10 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
Reiki 2
- June 23 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- October 27 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
Reiki 3
- April 28, 2012 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm Confirmed
- July 28 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
- December 27 (Saturday) 10am - 5pm
All classes are open to anyone wanting to learn this unique method of hands-on healing. The cost for each class is $100 no matter what level of Reiki the class is for. A 50% deposit ($50) is required a minimum of seven (7) days prior to the class date (or permission of the instructor) to reserve a space in the class. Classes with no deposits received by the deposit date will be canceled. All class statuses may be viewed on the Reiki side of the web site under 'Class Scheduling and Schedule of Classes'. You can also sign up for classes there.
Each Reiki class is six (6) CEUs for Florida massage therapists. |
Editorial
| | by Brian Dean
As I write this, your choices and availability to healthcare is being limited. Recently, the Florida legislature passed Bill 119 (by a margin of 21 - 19) which removes massage (and I believe acupuncture) as accepted care modalities for people of automobile accidents. This bill redefines the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance coverage so that it removes what has been called "special interest groups" from the list of acceptable modes of care. The purpose of this bill (wanted by the insurance industry) originally was designed to stop fraud. The insurance companies felt that they were getting a lot of fraudulent claims from massage therapists. But this bill attacks the problem with an axe rather than a knife. Now, I know that there are many massage therapists that do insurance billing, and many of them charge more (as much as three to four times more) when they bill insurance companies. Part of that comes from the fact that there is so much more work involved in making insurance claims. There are forms and codes and specific things that have to be listed. And this needs to be done in a short time frame in order to get paid. Sometimes one can spend an hour working on a client and then another 30 minutes submitting the forms. Now, Caring Palms does not do insurance billing. At one point in time I was a provider for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, but even then massage therapy was treated as out of network. This meant that the client still had to pay me and I had to fill out forms and they had to be sent it in with the client's signature for reimbursement (and this money went back to the client, not the therapist). My one and only client stopped coming to me because it took so long to figure out how to fill out the forms that she was not seeing any money coming back, and I lost money on the deal as I did not charge her for the first session as I thought it would come from the insurance. But eliminating massage therapy because there are people making fraudulent claims is like saying there are fraudulent doctors so we will eliminate health care. Massage therapy is healthcare. It has taken a long time to be understood as such, but it is. People still see it as relaxation (and it is) or sex (in some places it is, but not by a licensed therapist). But in truth massage, including many of the techniques and styles used by Caring Palms, can dramatically help victims of auto accidents and reduce their reliance on drugs. With methods like Myofascial Release (MFR), a therapist can bring a person back to health so they are not forever on pain killers. Last year, one insurance company bent its own rules so they could pay me for work I did on one of their customers. I was the only one that made any progress in changing how she was. When I brought her 80% back to full health, I sent her to a trusted chiropractor that got her the remaining 20%. So to ignore methods like this is just plain stupid. I feel this is part of a bigger agenda by businesses and government to keep alternative care out of mainline healthcare, even though it has proved to work (in some cases) where modern medicine can not. Basically, if you are being sent to a Pain Specialist, modern medicine has given up on any type of cure. And some things that they claim have no cure like Fibromyalgia has been helped with massage and sometimes eliminated with MFR. I have heard enough rumblings about some 100k donation to one of the governor's projects by the auto insurance industry which makes me think there is something more going on here. (One massage therapist was printing up t-shirts that said "My State Legislature Sold Me Out So Rick Scott Could Collect A $100K Check From Big Insurance And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt." What we as people need to do is keep an eye on what government is doing with our choices in healthcare. There is so much more out there than most doctors are willing to tell you about (or they do not know about) that could help you without painful surgeries or looking at living with pain killers. We need to educate ourselves and let government know that we do not like them taking away our choices and routing our care down a path that may not be best for us. We need to make sure that we understand all choices available including alternative or complimentary care. And we need freedom of choice without government legislation to be able to have it. Make your feelings known. Tell your government, governor, state representatives now. We need to safeguard our ability to choose what is right for us. Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
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| Modality of the Month | | Myofascial Unwinding
Every memory of everything we have done in our lives is stored as energy in every cell of our bodies. This energy can cause us problems unless it is released because it is linked to all of our experiences, the good as well as the bad. Memories such as sexual abuse, auto accidents, or any other memory based energy can affect us in how we act or react to things. Unwinding is a way of releasing this energy.
John Barnes discovered that our bodies need to release energies to be able to let go of past issues. If you were to watch a dog as it gets up or lies down, you will see that it does not simply get up or lay down. It goes through a lot of movement. When a dog gets up, it usually shakes itself. When it lies down, it will move in circles several times. This is a form of releasing energy.
Because we are humans, and slightly more complex mentally, we tend not to do things like this. It also means that being more complex, we don't do all the natural things to help ourselves. That is why unwinding was developed.
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Caring Palms Promise
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At
Caring Palms, we pledge to do the best work we can at every session. We
not only do this to continue to earn your business, but because we believe that
you deserve the best care possible every time you are here. This is true whether it is massage, or energy work, or
classes. This
is our promise. This is what we will continue to do.
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| Can We Answer Your Questions? | |
You have Questions? Maybe we have answers.
Each month, we write articles on a variety of subjects. Is there something that you would like to see us write about? Do you have questions that you'd like answered? Do you have questions on massage? On Reiki? On energy work in general? Submit your questions or requests to Brian@CaringPalms.com and we will try to see if we can answer them for you.
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