“This was totally unexpected, yet we are delighted to receive this honor.”, commented Brian. 

To read more about this award, and how Expertise determines who they choose to award, please go to their website HERE.  You can also see the other 17 businesses chosen listed in alphabetical order.

As of this writing, Finding Sanctuary is available for MP3 download through the website for $7.00.  See the Meditations Page to order.  Possibly by the time this newsletter comes out the next two meditations (Working Through Past Experiences and Visiting With Your Guides) will also be available for MP3 download.

We have submitted the Sanctuary meditation to a CD producer and are currently waiting on the sample to see if production through them is something we want to do.  That should arrive (again) by the time this newsletter is sent out.  If what they produced is good, and I expect it will be, we could have physical CDs in house within a week or two, at which point, we will also be submitting the other two for CD production.  The beauty is that you will be able to order CDs or MP3 download through the Caring Palms website, or pick them up when you are here. 

This is an exciting time as this is a project that has been trying to get off the ground for over 10 years, and has had its share of setbacks.  Now, it is really happening.  

Caring Palms currently has two treatment rooms for rent by some holistic arts practitioner. This could be massage, acupuncture, hypnosis, herbs, counseling, or others. The rent for each room is $400 per month. If you are a holistic arts practitioner, or you know anyone looking for space for their business at a reasonable rate, have them contact us. We are looking for others to come and be part of our healing arts center.

Belief

by Brian Dean

Now, I know I’ve written about belief before. I’ve talked about what you might be believing in. But did you think that believing in something might make it true?

When I teach Reiki, I giver an attunement at the end of each class. During the process, I trace certain symbols on the top of the head and the palms of the hands (where the energy comes in and where the energy comes out). The process brings the student into harmony with the Reiki energies which makes it easier for them to do the healing process.

There is belief in these symbols. They are magic, at least they are believed to be. Everyone thinks that it is the power of the symbols that make the energetic connection and make things happen. But what if the symbols themselves hold little energy, and it is the belief that gives them their power?

To believe is a process of energy. It puts energy out there to some constant or abstract item and increases the energy around it making it be what you believe it to be. If a lot of people believed in the same thing, then there would be more energy going into that thing, giving it substance, giving it form, making it real.

So, while a lot of people believe that the Reiki symbols are magic, I tend to think that the magic is created by the belief that people have in them. But this does not have to stop at Reiki. It can apply to lots of things.

If we believed that a particular type of car was really good, then this energy would go out and surround that type of car. It would infect others, and they would believe it. This belief would even go to the people making the car. Once they believed that their car was well made, they would actually spend more time and care working on their product and make this belief a reality.

So, what can we believe in? What can we change simply by pouring our belief and the belief of others into? Through our beliefs, we can change the world. Sound like a worthwhile thing, right? Let’s do it.

What you need to know about: Joint Instability

by Faith Stansbury

Lots of people with joint issues come to massage therapists for relief of their pain or to help increase their range of motion. This is a good thing. Lots of different types of massage can help a client move more freely, reduce inflammation, and reduce discomfort. But there are certain types of common injuries, as well as genetic factors, that can lead to joint instability. As you already know, it is important to inform your massage therapist of any medical conditions you may have. There are specific techniques that are contraindicated, meaning they can do more damage than good, for joint instability.

What is joint instability?

Joint instability is when an injury occurs in a joint that causes certain muscles to weaken and others to grow extremely tight. This makes it easier for the joint to slip out of place or to tear supporting muscles and tendons. Rheumatoid arthritis and genetic factors, such as connective tissue disorders and dysplasia, can also lead to joint instability.

Rotator cuff tears, dislocations, forced impacts, Ehler-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility, arthritis, and bursitis are only a few things to consider when talking to your doctor, massage therapist, chiropractor, physical therapist, and even personal trainer. Anyone that is caring for you and doing any physical manipulation to your body needs to be aware. With physical therapists and personal trainers, it’s important that they know and are educated about your condition so they don’t have you doing any load-bearing exercises before the recovery time, and so they don’t perform any assisted stretches that affect the injured joint. Assisted stretching is also something that massage therapists might perform. So is traction, a common technique performed by chiropractors and LMTs that involves decompression by lengthening the muscles and skeleton. The cartilage, and sometimes bone, is worn away once injury occurs in the joint. This makes it easier for a ball joint to repeatedly dislocate. So if someone tractions an arm that has had a dislocation, it is easy for the joint to slip back out of place. If someone is stretching another person, the torsion applied to the injured joint will cause the bone to twist out of place. They can not feel what you feel. They don’t know how far is okay if you can’t tell them. If you aren’t sure that you can tell, ask them not to perform the stretches or traction.

Some types of neuromuscular therapy and methods employed by myofascial release can also cause dislocation. For instance, NMT of the rotator cuff might include going underneath the shoulder blade. With a shoulder joint that is not stable, working beneath the shoulder blade can force the scapula to turn and pop the joint out backward. This is probably one of the most difficult dislocations to pop back into place without medical assistance. Sometimes MFR calls for techniques that involve full joint rotation or traction. Full joint rotation should not be performed without first tonifying the weakened muscles and checking beforehand with a medical practitioner with an MRI or series of x-rays that examines the joint from all angles. If the socket part of the joint is too shallow, which is the common cause of hip dysplasia, full joint rotation can actually wear away at the remaining cartilage.

So what can help?

For genetic factors, such as Ehler-Danlos: syndrome hypermobility type, strengthening and balancing the muscles that control joint movement will be the most important thing you can possibly do. Optimally, this is a practice that will begin BEFORE an injury occurs. For people with EDS, once a dislocation occurs they will happen time and again. If you do NOT have EDS, this same practice should be employed after a joint injury has healed.

If the injury occurred due to weak and tight muscles playing an unfair game of tug-of-war, a massage therapist can help to loosen tightened muscles by using drawing techniques to increase blood flow and flush the crunchies out, and tonify weakened muscles using quick techniques that activate the muscle to strengthen it. Cupping therapy is also excellent for this.

If the condition was bad enough to require surgery or had a long recovery time, range of motion can suffer due to scarring and adhesions in the joint capsule itself. This can be improved by assisted exercises that resemble stretches, but don’t actually put any true stress on the joint. These are movements that are usually done with pumping motions by the therapist that target supporting muscles near the joint while keeping a hand or finger fixed on a muscle. These muscles tense, trying to protect the injured site, freeze up or even paralyze, which can lead to deeper issues and greater pain in the long run. These movements can also break up scar tissue deep in the joint.

Talk to your doctor about your condition and what not to do. If you don’t feel like you were given enough information, research for yourself. The internet is an amazing resource, as are health magazines. Also, an important thing to remember when receiving massage or other hands on manipulative therapies is that you can expect some inflammation after a session for up to three days. You will be sore, but you will usually see an improvement. 

Last month, Caring Palms hosted a Group Past Life Regression seminar hosted by Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique practitioner, Laura Bogen.  We had 10 attendees who each delved into one of their past lives and found what lessons they were supposed to learn from that time.  They then took another trip in to visit a guide and receive some “gift”. 

Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and all said they wanted more. 

We have tentatively scheduled another seminar for Saturday, December 3rd. We don’t know what the topic will be at the moment, but keep watching here and on the website Events page for more information.

Pain

by Brian Dean

How many are in pain right now?  Did you raise your hand?  I did.  Is it a good pain?  Probably not.
Pain seems to be a constant issue nowadays.  It is so prevalent that there is a whole new breed of doctor that works with just this.  They specialize in treating pain with a variety of methods.  But the most common method this type of doctor uses is drugs.  There are dozens of types of drugs that work to lessen pain.  (I’m not sure there are drugs anymore that cure pain as the companies that make pharmaceuticals don’t seem to be interested in that.) 

Some use other methods including cutting the nerves that the pain uses to travel to the brain.  The problem with this is that nerves grow back.  I had a client many years ago that had this done. She suffered from CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome).   It worked for a while, but the nerves grew back.  Every couple of years, she had to have this surgery redone until the point that the nerves grew back fractured and it could not be done again.

And there are too many types of ailments that doctors don’t understand (like Fibromyalgia), and the they simply treat them by prescribing drugs.  I remember a friend that was going to medical school a number of years back.  She told me that she had to work with a patient whose diagnosis was Chronic Pain Syndrome.  Chronic Pain Syndrome?  That’s just a fancy term for saying someone has pain all the time and they don’t have a clue what causes it.

At Caring Palms, we treat pain of many types, even ranging from physical to emotional.  We have a variety of methods that have been proven effective.  That is not to say everything works all the time.  But we seem to have helped more people than not. 

Regular massage has been known to help Fibromyalgia.  People with the illness seem to do better with exercise and regular massage.  Fibromyalgia can also be helped with Myofascial Release (MFR) as it is constricted connective tissue (fascia).

The person with CRPS saw me and received two sessions of MFR after which she was doing very well.  Unfortunately, she stopped coming in, and then went and had more nerves cut.
A client last week had told me that she had been considering getting spinal injections for the back pain that she had been having (as the doctor was recommending that). But before she did, she came to see me.  With the MFR she has been getting, she is doing so much better.  She has learned that instead of blocking the pain, by aligning her body to the proper alignment, she is eliminating it.  MFR is also good for lessening scoliosis (curvature of the spine).

Reiki is also good about removing pain.  It has been known to get rid of a full migraine in as little as 30 minutes.  It is also good for calming someone that is upset, or going through mental trauma.
So, we have a wealth of methods that are helpful at solving many problems. And all of our therapists are good at finding methods to lessen or remove pain.  Now, I’m not saying that you should not see a doctor.  Please.  See your doctor.  But before you consider drugs, or surgeries, call us and see if we have anything that might help.  We might be able to come up with something that can alleviate the pain without drastic surgeries or years of drugs.

Call us.  See what we can do for you.  If we can’t help, we’ll tell you.  It might be worth trying a time or two to see if it can help.  And who knows?  It might fix your problem.