Tips: Find new energy

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Many of us, especially during the darkest days of the year, feel tired and fatigued and just can't find energy to do what we want or need to do. Fortunately, it isn't difficult to find more energy. All it takes is some lifestyle changes. Remember, focus on a few steps at a time, perhaps one from each category and slowly add to that. It will not take you long to feel the benefits, perhaps as little as a week.

Make these things habits and you'll avoid most fatigue and constant tiredness, which can lead to depression and mental health problems.

Food and drinks

• Drink plenty of water.
• Avoid fast food and sugars, it's quick empty energy which burns out in no time and leaves us feeling even more tired afterwards - not to mention, hungry again.
• Eat breakfast, even if you don't feel hungry. A solid breakfast with cereals and fibres will give you a good start and be the foundation for the rest of the day.
• Make sure your blood sugar level doesn't become too low - symptoms are often tiredness, grumpiness, lack of focus and patience. Eat a healthy snack or a small healthy meal when you begin to feel your blood sugar level going down.
• Avoid caffeine, especially the combination of caffeine and sugar. They give a quick short boost, but tend to leave you feeling more tired afterwards. Caffeine makes the heart beat faster and eventually tires you more. Don't drink caffeine after dinner as it can make it more difficult to fall asleep.

Mentally

• Take a shower, dress up and look your best. It'll boost your mental energy and give you drive to go out and do things.
• Use music for relaxation or for gaining energy. It's hard to feel down and tired when you listen to quick happy music. Studies show that runners run better and longer when they listen to music. Listening to calming and relaxing music can lower stress and make you relax, giving you an opportunity to recharge in a good way.
• Let go of anger and annoyances. It takes energy and makes your body react as if it's under stress. Also let go of worries you can't change, such as the weather, world crises, catastrophes etc. They only serve to create a negative thought-pattern in your mind which drains you from energy.
• Focus on positive things. The smile a child gave you, the sun on a frosty leaf, the sound of rain on the window, the warm sweater you're wearing. When you begin to appreciate beauty and good things, energy will be drawn to you and you'll feel lighter and more positive.
• Clean and tidy up the old piles and organize your environment. Throw out or give away all that you don't need and don't use. Get rid of broken items or deliver them for repair. It gives energy to accomplish things, so cleaning the apartment will bring in a bunch of positive energy, and you'll no longer waste energy thinking "should do".
• Do a good deed. To help others makes you feel happier, more satisfied, better self-esteem, a feeling of control with your life, good mood and mental well-being.

Sleep

• It's easy to neglect sleep when we're busy. It's a bad idea as our performance and energy levels are dependent on the quantity and quality of sleep we get. If you're busy and spending a lot of energy, make certain you get more sleep, not less.
• Many people are woken or sleep poorly because of a pet or partner. If that's the case, take the steps to change the situation. Let the pet sleep elsewhere, talk to your partner and find solutions so you have uninterrupted sleep.
• Lower the temperature. Heat makes it harder to get a good nights sleep. Instead have a cooler room and use an extra blanket if it feels too cold. It is also more refreshing and energising to wake in a cool room instead of a warm.
• Don't drink in the evening. Even if alcohol makes us feel more tired, it actually makes it harder to sleep properly and in some cases harder to fall asleep.
• Exercise makes our muscles relax better and produces a healthy tiredness by the end of the day which increases the quality of our sleep. Exercise will also increase our overall energy level as we release a lot of tensions and frustrations while exercising. The metabolism is stimulated and our body has an easier time clearing out waste products and bringing fresh oxygen to our muscles and brain.
• Don't use TV or computer just before bedtime. The light from the screens resembles sunlight and tricks our brain to think it's day. Computer and TV also activates our mind which can be stressing and again lead to poorer sleep. Make sure you do something else the last half hour before going to bed.
• Use the 15 minutes rule. If you can't fall asleep in 15 minutes, get up instead of becoming frustrated over your insomnia. Read a book, take a relaxing stroll, meditate and then go back to bed and see if that didn't help.

Sources and inspiration:
http://fpn.dk/liv/krop_valvare/article1907787.ece
http://www.webmd.com/

Tips to a better massage energy

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As mentioned last week, massage is energy exchange. This makes it important that the therapist is aware of the mechanisms and takes that into consideration both before, during and after a massage.

There are different approaches, many depending on personal beliefs and experiences. The preparations and practices can be very personal and should generally not be shared with the client to avoid potential conflicts of beliefs and religions. I will list suggestions and ideas based on my own practices and what other therapists have shared with me.

Before the massage, preparing the massage room helps the therapist prepare for the massage while creating a healing environment for the client.

• Candles can be lighted, music put on, the temperature adjusted, incense burnt or essential oils put in the vaporizer.
• Preparing the table with sheets and towels, sorting the tools used and mixing a massage oil.
• Ritual purification, smudging, energy cleansing, a prayer etc.
  

Cleansing one self and preparing the massage room is very important to many massage therapists. This is one of the major reasons many prefer their own space, or at least their own room for all massages.

Preparing the therapist:

• Shower, hair, make-up, general appearance.
  
• Changing clothes to the "massage uniform". Changing clothes between massages (or at least the t-shirt) is refreshing and helps to let go of the former massage before receiving the next client.
• Washing of hands while the client undresses and get ready is both hygienic and a way to release negative energies.
• Ritual cleansing, smudging, a chant, prayer etc.
  

Just before entering the massage room with the client in it:

• Deep breathing releasing tensions.
• A quick meditation or prayer
  
• Visualization, eg. leaving behind negative energy, being filled with light, opening op etc.
• A prayer, chant, invoking guides or guarding angels etc
  

These suggestions can become a small ritual that calms the mind and helps the therapist focus on the task at hand. If done properly, the therapist will leave behind all personal worries and problems and be able to focus fully on the client and his needs.

During the massage the therapist can increase her energy. Most often these things are silent and private and the client will have no conscious notion that it's happening:

• Focus on intent. The intent of a massage is to provide healing, relaxation, make the client feel good, get the muscles to relax etc. Keeping this firmly in mind will help this to happen and invoke the energies wanted.
  
• Feel love and compassion for the client and tune in. Try to understand what's going on and how the client feels.
• Visualize being a channel, for pure light, universal energy, love or god's power. Let the energy come from the outside, go through you and your hands into the client. This way you don't drain yourself completely and give yourself (and those emotions not left behind) to the client. The energy given becomes pure and untainted.
• Talk to the client's body. While massaging an area, silently ask for cooperation and explain that you only seek to heal and help it feel better.
• Use prayers, invoke deities, protectors, chants etc as suits the situation and beliefs.

There are of course many other ways to increase the energy and give a better massage. We're all different people and what works for me might not work for another. The most important is the intent. That we all go into a massage with the intention of giving compassion and healing to the client. Giving a massage with the right intent goes a long way to create a wondrous experience for the receiver.

Feel free to share your own experiences in the comments below. Both as a giver and receiver of massages. I look forward to hearing from you and learning from your knowledge.

Massage is energy exchange

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Massage is much more than a client lying passively in her own world and a therapist just pressing on muscles. There's an entire unseen exchange taking place, which both actively take part in. It isn't something that can be measured except by experiencing it. It's an exchange of emotions, of intent, of compassion. It's an exchange of energy, however that is defined.

A massage's intent can completely change how it's received and felt by the recipient. If the therapist has her "heart" in the massage, the result is much more profound and more healing than if the therapist is thinking about paying the rent or the noisy neighbour. Seen from the outside the two massages would look exactly the same, but there's a world's difference in how it feels to both client and therapist.

The therapists aims to connect with the client during a massage in order to listen to the body and the signals it sends. By connecting, and feeling a deep compassion, it is easier to find those tense muscles and sore points. When the therapist is completely in tune with the client, intuition tells us very clearly where to massage, how long and how deep. This gives the best massages on both ends and the most profound results.

It is possible for both therapist and client to pick up the energy of the other. During the closeness of the massage emotions can be handed over. It is just like some of us can walk into a room and sense the mood instantly, and if we're not careful, be affected and pick up that mood. As a massage is much more direct and intimate, this picking up of mood can happen much more easily.

This makes it very important that the therapist goes into a session leaving behind her own negative emotions and with the intent of healing and focus on the client. The therapist also needs to be aware of the possibility of picking up the energies of the receiver and detach herself from those emotions.

For the client all that's needed is to be open-hearted and prepared to receive the healing and energy from the therapist. He should feel safe and trust that the therapist. Responsibility for the energy exchange lies with the therapist who has the experience and education to deal with it, and turn eventual negative energies into something positive.

There are many ways massage therapists deal with this situation. Most have a small cleansing ritual they perform before the session to prepare themselves and gather focus, leaving their own luggage by the door. During the massage there is often a focus on compassion and intent, and some even visualize being a conduit for universal love or energy. Washing hands before and after the massage also serves as a cleansing ritual.

What are your experiences with energy exchange during a massage?
Feel free to share your knowledge below so others can learn and benefit from it.

Stress relief with Cocooning

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Cocooning can be a great stress reliever, both from current work stress as well as old emotional wounds. The best way to illustrate this is to use a couple of case studies from some clients I have recently given a cocooning to.

One came to me after work with a headache after a stressful day. She felt burnt out, tired, and lacking motivation for doing her job. As part of her salary is commission based, the current economic times are particularly stressful for her.

After she lay on the table, I put on relaxing, quiet music and began to place the hot stones under and on her. Some were placed under the neck and shoulders to warm the tense muscles causing her headache, and the rest were placed to warm her up and give her the feeling of one long hug. While she lay with the stones I massaged her feet, again focusing on the areas related to neck and shoulders, but mostly just giving her a caring and warm foot massage that would help her relax.

After half an hour's treatment with stones and foot massage, she came out of the massage room feeling revived and refreshed. And she told me how her headache had disappeared while I massaged her feet. In the days following she had much more energy than usually, so much so that people actually commented upon it.

For her the Cocooning is a perfect treatment to deal with work related stress, especially when too busy for a full massage.

Another example is an elderly lady who came to me seeking to try something new. She's a very spiritual lady and teaches yoga in spite of her age. She was curious about the stones and could feel their earth energy. She received the treatment with the stones around her as well as a gentle foot massage with essential oils. I could sense I should be gentle with her as not to overwhelm her emotions with the treatment.

Afterwards she asked to be allowed to stay alone on the table for a while longer. Half an hour later she came out of the treatment room indicating desire to speak to me. She told me how it had released some very old tensions. The treatment had been so powerful that she had cried afterwards, releasing old emotions and pains. She seemed much more serene and balanced after the treatment, and very thoughtful. She asked to come back and continue with the Cocooning, as she felt it had done her much good.

For this lady the Cocooning aided her in healing old hurts and pains, letting go of some of the past and becoming more balanced and happy.

Even if Cocooning doesn't include much physical manipulation of soft tissue, it can be an incredibly powerful treatment, both physically and mentally. Cocooning is very suitable for those who can't otherwise receive a massage, as it's very gentle and not intrusive.