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www.RajamRoose.com
3103 Falcon St. Ste. I
San Diego, CA 92103
619-964-5821
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Greetings!
Hope this newsletter finds you and your family in good health! In our culture here in the United States, it's common to set a series of goals for the upcoming year, or 'New Year's Resolutions'. While living in Cumana, Venezuela, I learned another way to celebrate the New Year. Take an orange (of course they use an easy to peel tangerine!) and you begin 30 seconds before midnight to peel and eat the pieces and with each piece you have to make a wish. If you eat all the pieces, then all your wishes will come true in the upcoming year! In reality, making a wish or having an idea is only the first step to creating and fulfilling a goal. It's amazing how the simple act of accomplishing even one goal can help us feel more relaxed in our daily lives. So, in this newsletter I've included an article that may help you learn how to create goals that can actually be completed, which can help lead to a stress-free life! This newsletter marks the start of a new year and also my eleventh year working full time as a massage therapist. I've owned two practices, worked in day spas, a wellness center and at a physical therapist's office. This is my second practice and has now reached the one year mark, the office has had a very successful first year and I'm looking forward to many more! There are a few new things coming your way, including the ability to schedule your appointments online and make purchases from my website. My new site will be coming soon and I'll be sure to email you a notice when it's ready! LaStone Therapy brings warmth to those chilly days and aching bones and this luxurious treatment is offered at my office only during the winter months. In this newsletter, I've also included a neat way to massage your own feet, this can be done at the office while you're on the computer or at home! I'd like to celebrate my eleventh year in practice and my first year in this new location with you, so at the bottom of this newsletter is a coupon only good for the month of January. You can print it off to use for yourself and print some off to share with family and friends! Warmly, Rajam Roose, HHP 619-964-5821 www.RajamRoose.comrajamroose@yahoo.com
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What is LaStone Therapy?
Although the use of heated and cool stones in bodywork has probably been around for a time; it was in 1993 that Mary Nelson developed and created a specific form of bodywork that used both warm basalt stones and cool marble. She created a specific set of routines and named them LaStone Therapy. All LaStone therapists have a minimum of 30 hours training. The AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association) will not insure any therapist for practicing a hot stone massage unless they are a certified LaStone therapist.
LaStone Therapy is a treatment that lasts around 90 minutes depending on the health of the client. LaStone Therapy is different from other hot stone massages. Most other hot stone massages include massage using the hands along with the use of hot stones. Another difference is that marble is also used if there are any areas of inflammation in the client's body. The combination of cool and warm stones creates a unique treatment that leaves one with a deep sense of extreme relaxation and well being.
In your LaStone treatment, we will discuss the session and I will have previously set the temperature of the stones in accordance with your health. When I leave the room, you can undress and lay between two sheets face up on the massage table. Upon my return to the room, you will be asked to sit up and warm stones will be placed on the table, so when you lay back down, there are warm/cool stones along each side of your spine. I will then proceed to place stones between your toes, under your hands and along the front of your body. The massage will be delivered using the warm stones. Marble is used only in places of inflammation or soreness. After working the front, I will remove all stones and then have you roll onto your stomach where the heated stones will be used on the back and the backs of the arms, legs and feet. The treatment is completed with the sound of a soft bell to bring you back into your awareness and your hands and feet are wiped with a lightly scented hot moist towel.
All my clients who have received a LaSone Therapy session are usually quite surprised to find the cool marble stones are enjoyable in the session. The marble is used only in areas of inflammation or soreness in conjunction with the heated basalt. It gives the effect of a flushing sensation, not unlike using an alternating heat and cold pack on an area that has been previously injured.
LaStone Therapy produces an alternately sedative and re-energizing responses in the body. People who receive a LaStone Therapy treatment remark how deeply relaxed they feel after a session. I highly recommend a LaStone treatment if you are having a particularly stressful time in your life and would like to have 90 minutes of relaxation that you can carry with you after your treatment is completed. There is no massage using the hands, rather it is the stones themselves that are used to bring heat and relaxation to the tissues of the body.
Due to the warming nature of this treatment, I only offer it during the winter months. If you'd like to schedule a session, please call 619-964-5821. A LaStone Therapy session typically lasts for 90 minutes and is $130.00
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Stress-Free Goals
 It's a tradition in the United States to set a series of New Year's resolutions or goals for ourselves to accomplish during the next year. Not only do we set New Year's resolutions, but we set goals for ourselves in our daily lives in general. One of the many great lessons I learned in my adolescence was the importance of goal setting and how accomplishing goals helps to build self esteem and create a sense of overall well being. Often we tend to stress out over creating goals, so much so that we can easily throw our hands up in the air and exclaim "Why bother?!" Many times we don't accomplish our goals because we have made them too grandiose or have created goals that we really don't even want. Here are a couple tips to help you with your New Year's resolutions or for use anytime you are creating a goal in your life.
Think of what it is you really want. This is the first step in creating a goal and requires some self reflection. It may help to find a quiet place where you can sit with a pen and paper. It is important that when choosing a goal, to really feel that it is important to you. If you are just picking a goal that was chosen for you by a friend, family member or colleagues, you will not accomplish the goal. If you haven't chosen a goal YOU want, then when you don't accomplish it, then you've just unnecessarily added more stress in your life. Make sure it is something you really want and feel strongly about.
Write down your goal. Using a journal or just a piece of paper, write down the goal. Writing it down will help you feel that you are making a deeper commitment. You can also write down how you plan to carry out the goal so you can check your progress.
Create a plan on how you will accomplish the goal. After writing down you goal/s, take a good look at them and decide if they are realistic for where you are in life. Think about your goal and decide how you will go about completing it and whether or not it is feasible for you. It usually helps to break them up into smaller increments. For example, if your plan is to loose 20 lbs, then break it up to lose 2 lbs a week. Decide what you will do to lose those 2 lbs and write that down as well. There's certainly nothing wrong in taking baby steps and it will help to make the goal easier to accomplish in the long run!
Review your progress. Every week, track your goal. This is why it helps to break larger goals into smaller increments, so you can easily see how you are slowly, but surely getting closer.
Be flexible and welcome failure. Go easy on yourself. Recognize that life is not stagnant, but a fluid event. You may find it necessary to change part of your plan to accomplish the goal and that's perfectly okay! Rarely does anyone accomplish a goal immediately and without some struggle. You will stumble, but that is in our nature, failure is part of the learning process.
Celebrate your successes! Don't forget to celebrate every time you complete a step in your goal. At the end of each week that you lost 2 lbs, treat yourself by doing something your really enjoy. Every step completed takes you closer to accomplishing your goal and that's something to savor!
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Self Massage Tip
Here is one of my favorite methods to loosen the muscles and ligaments at the bottom of the foot. To perform this stretch all you need is a tennis ball! You can do it with or without socks. This stretch can also be performed sitting or standing, if you find the bottom of your foot particularly tender, go ahead and try it from a sitting position.
The bottom of the foot contains points where connective tissue planes extend from the bottom of the foot in the body all the way to the top of the head. To demonstrate that connection, before you attempt this stretch- first bend down and touch your toes. Notice any tightness in the body. Go ahead and perform the stretch on only one foot. Then bend down again and touch your toes, you will find the leg of the foot you stretched feels looser than the other side!
With your foot on the tennis ball, go ahead and roll the ball until it is at the top of your heel. Then, while applying pressure S-L-O-W-L-Y roll the ball up the foot until it is at the toes. You can imagine vertical lines under the foot and follow those lines, be sure to work all aspects of the arch! An important consideration is to only roll in one direction, whether you start at the heel or the toes make sure to stay in that direction. It isn't recommended to just roll the ball back and forth.
Work each foot for 2 to 5 minutes.
Don't overdo it! Be gentle with yourself, the work should feel good, it's okay to be a little tender, but stay within a comfortable level! It is possible to hurt your feet performing this stretch too aggressively.
Happy Rolling!
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Rajam Roose
Therapeutic Massage by Rajam Roose, HHP |
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