Source: ​​https://studylib.net/doc/5865484/correct-prayer-as-described-by-neville-goddard

​“In 1944, Max Planck, the father of quantum theory, shocked the world by saying that there is a “matrix” of energy that provides the blueprint for our physical world. It is this place of pure energy where everything from the birth of stars and the DNA of life, to our deepest relationships, the peace between nations and our personal healing begins.”

Edgar Cayce who has been called the "sleeping prophet," the "father of holistic medicine," and the most documented psychic of the 20th century, "suggest that each of us writes the story of our lives through our thoughts, our deeds, and our interactions with the rest of creation. This information has an effect on us in the here and now. In fact, the Akashic Records have such an impact upon our lives and the potentials and probabilities we draw toward us that any exploration of them cannot help but provide us with insights into the nature of ourselves and our relationship to the universe."

Assessing the situation

• We knew he was not feeling good for few days already

• He didn't know for sure if he had a fever at school but said it did feel like it. (College kids don't think to check)
• Symptoms were achy muscles, stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing and having chest congestion/difficulty taking in deep breaths.

Assuming that this was either a cold or flu and most likely only time would make him better, hydrating his body was the 1st most important part of recovery.

Hydrating with Multivitamins & Electrolytes

• Twice a day he was taking Oxylent in a 2cup glass of water.
• 3 times a day he would take a small pinch of Makai sea salt, let it dissolve in his mouth then drank water after. This helps to absorb the water into the body more efficiently. For more information of the importance of water & salt in our bodies click here (lecture by Barbara O'neill)
• Lemon tea that I made from lemon peels and added Raw Local Honey to it.

Healthy eating is extremely important when you are not feeling well. So we made:

• Homemade onion soup that he ate one day and vegetable soup the next day. Used all fresh ingredients (nothing frozen, caned or packaged)
• Garlic sandwiches are nature’s best antibiotic. We used homemade bread drizzled with olive oil, topped with chopped garlic, fresh tomato, and avocado. We also made a version with sourdough bread, local honey, and garlic. Yum my son loved! 
• We live in a world full of processed snacks, so although most of his meals were healthy, snacks were a different story. Still working on that one!

Natural Therapies 1st day

• Cupping Therapy (This is a therapy that my mom used to do on me when I was little to help me get over bronchitis or any respiratory issues that I would get every winter, yes I was one of those always sick kids in the family)
• Did a Raindrop technique on his feet using 9 different essential oils on each foot.
• CranioSacral Therapy to bring balance to the body 

2nd day

• Did onion poultice (lecture by Barbara O'neill on poultices) around the neck and chest
• Repeated the essential oils on the feet

With every one of these treatments there was lots of joking and laughing going on which is good for the Soul. My kid was a good sport in letting me do this to him. The best part he took Advil only once while being home, which was due to his fever going up to 102. However by the time Monday came around he felt 90% better continuing with Oxylent, Makai sea salt and water and back to College dorm he went. 

Growing up in Russia, medicine was not as available to us as it is here in the states. My parents did a lot of natural therapies including going to Palanga Sea every summer.  They did this not just for vacation but because it was doctors recommendation for treatment for my yearly bronchitis.  Can you imagine that?!? My mom told me that the most well known doctor in our small town told her, that salty air and the Pine trees that surrounded the beaches was good for the immune system and would help reduce the respiratory infections that I was getting every year. 

Now living in a country where so much is available to us from different types of food to supplements and therapies, and yes even the oceans, it does not have to cost a fortune for us to get back to the basics. All of these therapies that I mention above is something anyone can do. 

In today’s healthcare environment, it’s common to seek medical care and prescription treatment at the first sign of illness. While this is often appropriate, foundational support such as proper hydration, balanced nutrition, and targeted supplementation can play an important role in supporting the body’s natural healing process and overall recovery as this was the case in helping my son feeling his best before sending him back to college dorm life.

As Hippocrates said "If you dismiss and neglect the experience of the ancients and believe that you will find the right path only in the newest treatments, you fool yourself and the people around you."

And of course... do not dismiss going to the doctors as it is necessary to rule out anything else more serious. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Wishing you the best of health.

It's also easy to make your own electrolyte drinks using ingredients that you most likely have in your kitchen. As recommended by WHO and UNICEF recipe and guidelines for oral rehydration salts (ORS) this is their recipe.

• 6 teaspoons sugar (Good quality unrefined sugar is always a better choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 liter (or 4.2 cups) of filtered drinking water
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This recipe I have been making for our family. This is a basic recipe and every so often I will also add Blackstrap Unrefined Molasses.
​
1/4 cup Raw Honey or Manuka Honey
1/4 cup Fresh Squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp of Makai or Celtic sea salt
7 Cups water

I like to blend my salt with lemon first to make sure the salt is dissolved. Then add honey to the mix and after it's mixed add the water. But there is no set ways in mixing it as you can add everything in blender. Also, you can modify the recipe to your taste buds.

As a rule of thumb, with any ingredients you want to use fresh local and organic to make sure the end quality is healthy.

2025 UPDATE: Since this blog was originally published in 2015, new testing has revealed that common salts often contain measurable amounts of unwanted substances like heavy metals (such as lead) and microplastics. Consumers should take extra care to select certified, high-quality salts to ensure maximum purity. Please read more in this recent investigation: Sea Salt & Himalayan Salt Tested for Heavy Metals Like Lead & Microplastics Guide. 

If you would like to learn more about the Water Cure there are few websites that have a lot of information about Dr. F. Batmanghelidj and Bob Butts: www.watercure.com,  www.watercures.org,

Books written by Dr. Batmanghelidj that you can find onAmazon

When clients come in for relaxing massage many have the same problems of the neck and shoulders being tight due to the workplace environment that their in.  Stress of course is one of the highest complaints along with the office jobs that require long hours of sitting in the same position.

So for awareness of change, I wanted to share these videos of how to look at stress in a different light along with a video showing different chairs that can help to save your posture. Also an article focusing on posture and breathing techniques that can help in everyday life and work environment. Hope this helps!!!

The talk by  Stanford University psychologist, Kelly McGonigal has become one of my favorite talks on stress and how to look at stress from a positive point of view. 

This animated video is to remind ourselves on proper sitting techniques using different chairs along with stretching techniques if you are in a work place that requires a lot of sitting time.

Here is a great article Holistic View Posture and Breath by Mary Bond, which is very informative when we align the breathing techniques with posture. Try this out and see if it makes a difference for you.  Click HERE to read the article. 

Investing in massage is an investment in your health.
Take advantage of this months specials we offer
& book your appointment today!
Call 623-399-7595

A Holistic View Posture and Breath
By Mary Bond

As the holistic paradigm joins the mainstream, most of us are increasingly aware that everything is connected to everything else. Within this vision we acknowledge correspondence between body and mind, but most of us haven't yet regarded our posture through a holistic mirror. The usual idea of good posture is an ideal positioning of the chest, shoulders, and neck. This idealized picture is so common that the mere mention of posture in public provokes sheepish adjustments of spines and shoulders.

However, in our hearts, we know that posture reflects how we feel at any given moment. If we are down in the dumps, our bodies sag; when our spirits lift, so do our bodies. We experience our posture holistically. We know unconsciously, however, that posture includes the ways in which we move and breathe, digest and think, feel and perceive. Surely it is time to revise our definition of posture to reflect what we actually know within ourselves.

The key to a new understanding of posture can be found in the most essential function of our lives--our breathing. Healthy breathing habits and healthy posture go hand in hand. Yet people who have breathing problems are seldom led to correct a related postural fault, and people who complain of poor posture seldom realize that their faulty breathing is involved. Let's take a look at how these two aspects of our bodies correspond.

The Movements Of Breathing
Breath is so essential to life that it's easy to overlook the fact that breathing involves movement. Like all other movements, breathing can be done gracefully and efficiently or poorly and painfully. Breathing can be shallow or full, labored or free.

The basic movements of breathing are the successive expansion and contraction of the rib cage. The expanding movement, or inhalation, creates a vacuum within the lungs that draws the air inside. During inhalation the spine subtly extends, lifting the trunk and helping to raise the ribs. Exhalation occurs when the spine and ribs reverse their motion, compressing the interior space of the lungs and forcing air out.

Numerous muscles contribute to these movements, expanding the rib cage to a greater or lesser degree depending on the current need for oxygen. More physical activity requires more oxygen and therefore greater rib cage expansion. If your muscles are tense around the rib cage or along the spine, you won't be able to inhale fully. This explains why, when you're on the receiving end of a great massage, you may find yourself breathing more freely than at any other time during your week. And, the more freely your ribs and spine are moving when you breathe, the more erect and open your posture can be when you get up from the massage table.

Posture As Perception
I believe that good posture is not an idealized stance, but is rather the expression of our response to living. Posture is a holistic activity of perceiving and orienting ourselves relative to situations that occur in our lives.

While the details of what we perceive are as various as life itself, the perceptions by which we orient ourselves fall into two basic categories. First, we locate ourselves through our relationship with gravity by sensing our bodies in relation to the ground. We know where we are in reference to where down is. Second, we orient ourselves to our surroundings by knowing where we are in relation to the people, objects, and events in our environment. Environment in this sense includes both physical location and the overlapping personal, social, and energetic spaces that envelop us. In general, our posture is how we locate ourselves through our perceptions of ground and space.

Perceiving Spaciousness And Weight
To understand what I mean about perceiving ground and space, try the following mental experiment. Recall what it feels like to swing on a swing. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself reliving the experience. As children, what was so pleasurable about swinging was the way our bodies' changing relationship to gravity made us feel. On the downward plunge we felt weighted and solid. But when the swing's momentum defied gravity and took us flying, we felt ourselves blended with the air and knew ourselves as creatures of sky and light, weightless and spacious.

These same perceptions, in subtle measure, organize our nervous systems to activate the muscles that produce and maintain upright posture. The perception of "down" lets us feel grounded, secure, and relaxed. When we are relaxed, our body parts are literally closer to the earth--they are down.

Our perceptions of the space around our bodies evoke alertness, curiosity, and the physical lift we need for reaching out into the world. Orienting ourselves in space takes place through our senses. We touch, see, hear, and smell our surroundings. The resulting sensations activate the postural muscles to raise the body and hold it away from the earth. There is a natural correspondence between spatial awareness and inhalation. When we inhale, we literally allow outside space inside our bodies. This is reflected in our metaphors for personal space--we commonly speak of "breathing room" or "breathing space."

Just as our spirits and bodies can be held too far down, they can also soar too high. If we are caught up in ideas and intentions, frantically waiting for results, we barely feel our bodies. We are unable to come down, unable to relax. Our breathing becomes shallow and our movements are jerky and disconnected. We may be light on our feet, but we are without rest or rhythm.

When our orienting perceptions are balanced between ground and space--when we are neither too far down or too far up--our muscular tone is balanced and adaptable. This becomes the basis for the most efficient coordination of the body, the most graceful posture, and the freest breathing.

Breathing Meditation
In the pressured environment of the twenty-first century workplace, our perceptions may become so overwhelmed that the holistic postural responses described earlier cannot occur. Instead, bodies become habituated to a constant state of low-grade global tension. This is often accompanied by unconscious breath-holding that, in turn, perpetuates chronic tension.

Holding your breath creates pressure in the abdomen that makes your trunk feel stable. For many people, holding the breath serves as a way of gaining control over time. Without the regular ebb and flow of breathing, there is an illusion that time has stopped, prolonging the arrival of a deadline.

The following practice helps you balance the motions of breathing by attending to their spaciousness and weight. To do the exercise you need to be lying down or resting back in a chaise-like chair that supports openness through your rib cage.

As you inhale, allow the movement of your rib cage to expand your entire skin surface. Imagine your pores are also absorbing oxygen. Or picture yourself on a mountaintop, breathing in the pleasure of the scene. Tune in to your gratitude for each breath as you welcome the air inside your body. This deep breathing should be accomplished without strain in your natural rhythm. If you find that spacious inhalations become taxing, alternate them with one or two ordinary breathing cycles. Notice any tendency to pull or suck the air inside. Should you feel yourself doing that, forget about the inhalation practice for now and go on to the exhalation practice.

During your exhalations, shift your attention away from the expelling of air. Focus, instead, on surrendering your body to gravity. The weighted, yielding feeling of letting go is a feature of relaxation, and relaxation is essential to full exhalation. It will be helpful to sense your body's weight in stages. During several exhalations, focus on yielding the weight of your legs. When your legs feel truly heavy, shift your attention to your arms, and then to your spine, belly, hands, or eyes. Scan your body for regions where you seem to be held up from the ground. Then allow that part to yield.

As you relax, you will find yourself automatically exhaling more slowly and deeply. You will also notice a pause occurring after each exhalation. If your breathing is habitually shallow and rapid, this pause may not occur. In such a case, do not force the breath to stop after exhalation. As you learn to relax your body, the pause will naturally emerge. The respiratory pause is a needed moment of rest for your hardworking breathing muscles. The pause also allows time for the breathing center in your brain to receive the signal that you need more oxygen. That way your next inhalation is automatic, so it feels effortless.

Practice this breathing exercise for at least five minutes every day. In time, your increasingly slower and longer exhalations will lead to increasingly effortless and expansive inhalations. End each breathing meditation session with a few moments' awareness of your body's length and openness. Picture yourself standing upright while sustaining your awareness of spaciousness and weight. Imagine yourself walking across the room that way. Finally, stand and experience an actual shift in your posture.

Besides having an effect on your posture, the breathing meditation can provide opportunity for self-study. Within your breathing cycle you embody your habits of receptivity and surrender--the ways in which you let experiences in and how you let them go. Notice whether you receive your inhalation with urgency, trepidation, or with a sense of gratitude. Notice whether you exhale with reluctance, relief, or surrender. Give yourself time to grow comfortable with the emptiness of your respiratory pause. Allow the truth within your breathing to holistically inform and transform the way you live your life.

Your best posture and freest breathing occur when you are in a relaxed good mood. In such moments your perceptions are open and adaptable. You are aware of the spaciousness of your world and at the same time you feel at ease on the planet, secure and grounded. At such moments, your spine and rib cage subtly rise and settle on the wave of your breathing. Breathing is easy and pleasurable--as the song says, "Easy like Sunday morning."

Originally published in Body Sense magazine, Autumn/Winter 2007.
Mary Bond is the author of New Rules of Posture: How to Sit, Stand and Move in the Modern World. For more information about Mary Bond and other posture tutorials visit  www.healyourposture.com

Investing in massage is an investment in your health.
Take advantage of this months specials we offer
& book your appointment today!
Call 623-399-7595

Morton’s Toe: One Little Bone, One Big Problem
by Linda Fehrs, LMT

The human body contains many wonderful things. Most of them have been handed down genetically, from parent to child, and there is little we can do to change them. One such trait is called Morton’s Toe. Only about 10 percent of the world population has this attribute, where the second toe appears longer than the first. About 80 percent of those with Morton’s Toe suffer from chronic pain. Much of it is thought to derive from this relatively rare foot configuration. Learn how discomfort from Morton’s Toe can be eased using massage therapy.

The human body is indeed a marvelous, well-coordinated system of bones, muscles, organs, glands and a myriad of other wonders. Most of the time, for many people, it works just the way it is supposed to. Our bodies allow us to move about – forward, backward and sideways. Possible infections are thwarted, nourishment is supplied to all regions, toxins are removed and so on and so on. Such a perfect machine cannot be built by man or woman. But even human beings are not absolute in their perfection. Each of us, or should I say most of us, have some small anomaly, a trait or traits that make us unique. We do not all look alike, talk alike or walk alike – except within a certain universal parameter.

While doing research on another article, I discovered something about myself, that for more than 50 years I had always thought to be normal – only now to find out that by some it is labeled a “deformity.” It is referred to as Morton’s Toe (also called Morton’s Syndrome), so named after Dr. Dudley J. Morton, a physician, orthopedic surgeon, researcher and author who was well-known in the 1920s through the1950s. He described this condition, in which the second toe appears to be longer that the first or “big” toe.

What Is Morton’s Toe?
If you were to look at a normal foot, according to experts, you would see that the first toe is usually the longest as well as the largest. The remaining toes are shorter and smaller, going down proportionately in size. With a foot exhibiting Morton’s Toe, the first toe may be either equal in length or somewhat shorter than the second toe. In actuality, the cause of this is not that the second toe is longer than the first, as much as the first metatarsal is shorter than it should be in relation to the second metatarsal. It is estimated that only about 10 percent* of the world’s population has this configuration of bones in the feet.

Morton’s Toe is not to be confused with Morton’s Neuroma, a condition named for Thomas C. Morton, which is a painful condition of entrapped nerves found in the intermetatarsal spaces of the foot (in acupressure points it would be located in the proximity of Kidney 1), and thought to be caused by the wearing of shoes that are too tight or too narrow. Morton’s Toe is genetic, while Morton’s Neuroma is acquired. In some cases, the neuroma can be caused by Morton’s Toe.

A foot with a long second toe is unofficially known as the Classic Greek Foot and those who share this distinction share it as well with the Statue of Liberty (also known as Liberty Enlightening the World) created by the artist and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.

A Cause of Many Ills
Dr. Dudley Morton wrote many articles on the repercussions of having a long second toe; among many other ailments, he claimed the following were a result of this podiatric phenomenon:

• Back pain
• Hip pain
• Knee pain
• Arthritis
• Fibromyalgia
• Bunions and hammer toes
• Temporomandibular joint pain

Morton’s Toe sometimes causes hyper mobility of the first metatarsal and big toe, which can result in a lack of lateral stability in the foot. The bulk of the weight of the body is on a line from the middle of the heel through to the second toe creating a kind of “walking on ice skates” effect, resulting in an unstable ankle. In a normal foot there is a triangular base created with the heel and the heads of the first and fifth metatarsals that more evenly distributes the weight over a broader surface. Depending on your body structure and postural habit, a person with Morton’s Toe will find him- or herself over pronating or over supinating the foot. This can, in turn, throw the back, shoulders and neck out of alignment. The hips may have a forward tilt.

Dr. Morton isn’t the only person to recognize the connection of this condition to the rest of the body. Dr. Janet Travell also wrote extensively on this structural oddity. Travell was a personal physician to both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, as well as their families. She was also the person who developed Trigger Point Therapy and imparted a new understanding of myofascial pain syndrome. One full tape of her seven-set series is dedicated to the single subject of Morton’s Toe.

Dr. Burton S. Schuller has written an entire book, Why You Hurt: It All Starts in the Foot, about Morton’s Toe and the associated ailments. He and the others claim that if the foot has this structure, by connection to the rest of the body, there is a resulting chain reaction of misalignment causing all kinds of problems.

A Simple Solution
Morton’s Toe and many other foot problems are genetic. They are handed down as an unintended gift from generation to generation, just like the natural color of your hair or eyes. There is no cure, though some sufferers have tried rather drastic surgery to alleviate the chronic pain.

There is, however, a rather simple remedy consisting of making a small foot pad approximately the diameter and depth of a quarter or half dollar coin. The foot pad can be made by cutting the shape out of an insole, which can be purchased at any drug store. This is then taped to the base of the toe at the head of the first metatarsal bone. With some creativity you can make a more permanent solution with a full insole and a patch.

Massage Helps Ease the Pain
Clients often arrive at a massage office with non-specific complaints of chronic pain. It is not unlikely that these long time sufferers have heard of all kinds of reasons for their pain, and applied all kinds of remedies over the years. One look at his or her feet will tell you if the person has Morton’s Toes.** Aside from the solution above, massage therapy can do a great deal to ease the possibly related pain.

What is most often recommended is Trigger Point Therapy, although Swedish massage, acupressure, neuromuscular techniques and reflexology will help as well. The most common trigger points related to Morton’s Toe are:

•  Gluteus Medius
• Tensor Fasciae Latae
• Quadriceps
• Peroneus Longus
• Tibialis Posterior
• Adductor Longus
• Flexor Hallucis Brevis
  
  

** Although Morton’s Toe is an inherited physical trait and not a disease, massage therapists cannot diagnose medical conditions. A definitive diagnosis can only be made by getting the foot x-rayed by a doctor for further evaluation.

Story Source:
For a full article click here. © 2013 Institute for Integrative Healthcare Studies. This work is reproduced with the permission of the Institute. www.Integrative-Healthcare.org

Disclaimer: All article posted on this website are not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Investing in massage is an investment in your health.
Take advantage of this months specials we offer
& book your appointment today!
Call 623-399-7595

A study led by a Michigan State University researcher offers the strongest evidence yet that reflexology – a type of specialized foot massage practiced since the age of pharaohs – can help cancer patients manage their symptoms and perform daily tasks.

Funded by the National Cancer Institute and published in the latest issue of Oncology Nursing Forum, it is the first large-scale, randomized study of reflexology as a complement to standard cancer treatment, according to lead author Gwen Wyatt, a professor in the College of Nursing.

“It’s always been assumed that it’s a nice comfort measure, but to this point we really have not, in a rigorous way, documented the benefits,” Wyatt said. “This is the first step toward moving a complementary therapy from fringe care to mainstream care.”

Reflexology is based on the idea that stimulating specific points on the feet can improve the functioning of corresponding organs, glands and other parts of the body.

The study involved 385 women undergoing chemotherapy or hormonal therapy for advanced-stage breast cancer that had spread beyond the breast. The women were assigned randomly to three groups: Some received treatment by a certified reflexologist, others got a foot massage meant to act like a placebo, and the rest had only standard medical treatment and no foot manipulation.

Wyatt and colleagues surveyed participants about their symptoms at intake and then checked in with them after five weeks and 11 weeks.

They found that those in the reflexology group experienced significantly less shortness of breath, a common symptom in breast cancer patients. Perhaps as a result of their improved breathing, they also were better able to perform daily tasks such as climbing a flight of stairs, getting dressed or going grocery shopping.

Wyatt said she was surprised to find that reflexology’s effects appeared to be primarily physical, not psychological.

“We didn’t get the change we might have expected with the emotional symptoms like anxiety and depression,” she said. “The most significant changes were documented with the physical symptoms.”

Also unexpected was the reduced fatigue reported by those who received the “placebo” foot massage, particularly since the reflexology group did not show similarly significant improvement. Wyatt is now researching whether massage similar to reflexology performed by cancer patients’ friends and family, as opposed to certified reflexologists, might be a simple and inexpensive treatment option.

Reflexology did not appear to reduce pain or nausea, but Wyatt said that could be because the drugs for combating those symptoms are generally quite effective, so the women may not have reported them to begin with.

Although health researchers only recently have begun studying reflexology in a scientifically rigorous way, it’s widely practiced in many parts of the world and dates back thousands of years.

“Reflexology comes out of the Chinese tradition and out of Egypt,” Wyatt said. “In fact, it’s shown in hieroglyphics. It’s been around for a very long time.”

Wyatt’s co-authors include MSU statistics and probability professor Alla Sikorskii and College of Nursing research assistant Mei You, along with colleagues from Northwestern University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Michigan State University.

Disclaimer: All article posted on this website are not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from Original Article Link