Choosing a Massage for Better Peace of Mind

Mental wellness refers to a state of emotional and psychological balance where individuals feel a sense of contentment in their lives. They have developed a resilience to the stresses of life and can take whatever comes their way. This is a state that takes effort to achieve, and there are many tools out there to explore. There is a common misconception that massage therapy is a “treat yourself” type of service, reserved for special moments of relaxation or bouts of pain. Contrary to this popular belief, regular massage offers so many more benefits than just relaxation and physical relief. Stress, anxiety, depression, and many other feelings and conditions that affect our mental health greatly benefit from regular massage.

Mental Benefits of Massage

Stress is a regular part of life, and managing that stress can be difficult. Not only is the actual massage beneficial, but the usual environment provided during the service is often intended to heighten relaxation and peace. These spaces are safe, quiet, clean, and pleasant. Aromatherapy can be used to further relax, and calming, often meditative music will play. The lights will be dim, there may be a heating pad on the table to keep you warm, and your privacy will be respected. All of these touches are designed to allow the body to fully relax into the massage and relinquish any feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression that are lingering. This will allow the healing benefits to take effect. 

MindBody Benefits of Regular Massage

Reduces cortisol and adrenaline

Releases serotonin and dopamine

Fulfills the body’s need for physical contact and comforting touch

Reduces pain and tension

Improves insomnia, which improves cognitive function

Improves mood

Boosts energy

Enhances feelings of happiness and pleasure

Improves blood circulation

Delivers oxygen and nutrients to the brain

Eliminates toxins and wastes, allowing brain and organs to function at peak performance

Types of Massage and their Benefits

Swedish: Involving long, gliding strokes,kneading, and rhythmic tapping, this type of massage relaxes the muscles and releases tension. Swedish massage promotes overall relaxation, stress reduction, and improved circulation.

Deep Tissue: This type of massage targets deeper layers of muscles and connective tissues to release chronic pain and muscle tension. Deep inner work releases physical and emotional blockages, provides relief from chronic stress, and promotes feeling of mental well-being. 

Orthopedic: As a targeted approach to pain and injury recovery, orthopedic massage treats your body’s soft tissues like muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and helps individuals recover from pain and musculoskeletal issues. Pain relief can bring about feelings of better mental wellness through reduced stress and discomfort, better blood circulation, and reduced muscle tension.Orthopedic massage is a great option if you are recovering from an injury and want a gentle way to promote healing and relaxation.

Aromatherapy: The addition of essential oils to your massage will enhance the massage with the benefits of each type of oil. Lavender is known to be calming and relaxing, making it perfect for reducing anxiety and promoting restful sleep. Peppermint and citrus oils are invigorating and uplift the mood. Adding essential oils to your massage offers a sensory experience that stimulates the mind and body.

Hot Stone: In a hot stone massage, hot stones are placed on certain pain points of the body to warm and loosen tight muscles, as well as balance the energy centers of the body. The stones can also be used to apply gentle pressure along sore muscles, releasing tension and stress. The warmth of the stones is comforting and relaxing.

Craniosacral: Craniosacral massage focuses on the craniosacral system, which includes the nervous system and all membranes and fluids surrounding the brain. Using light, rhythmic touches, the therapist assesses areas of trauma or inflammation and will stimulate them to release. This type of massage is especially helpful for insomnia, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and stress. By improving the flow of cerebrospinal fluid throughout the body’s tissues, inflammation is reduced and relaxation is achieved. Tension is also released through the gentle manipulation of the fascia, or connective tissue.

While getting a massage for occasional tension or stress can help, those struggling with mental wellness may find regular massage therapy to be a great addition to their treatment plan to help them manage their symptoms. There are so many different types of massage that can provide different areas of relief, and finding the right one that caters to your individual needs could be just the thing to bring you peace of mind and body.

References

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/massage-for-depression-anxiety-and-stress

https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/mental-health/mayo-clinic-explores-the-role-of-massage-therapy-for-mental-health/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6519566/

https://www.inc.com/indigo-triplett/five-massage-therapies-that-can-create-mental-wellness.html

https://www.mentalhealthcenter.org/massage-therapy-for-mental-wellness/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/17677-craniosacral-therapy

https://www.westendwellness.ca/blogs/craniosacral-therapy-does-it-work-what-are-the-benefits#:~:text=Benefits%20Of%20Craniosacral%20Therapy,%2C%20neck%2C%20and%20nervous%20limitations.

Annie Wegner LeFort: Culinary + Medicinal Herbs to Grow in the Garden

Guest Blogger: Annie Wegner LeFort, owner and founder of EatMoveMKE, teaches cooking and yoga classes in the Milwaukee area, organizes hikes and local dinners, and offers both private and group Health Coaching services. Learn more at eatmovemke.com.

To learn more about how to enjoy herbs, join Annie’s class “Using Culinary Herbs” on Friday, April 28 from 6-7:30pm. For more info, contact her at annie@eatmovemke.com.

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Spring is in the air. Daylight is longer, the snow is (hopefully) gone, shoots are popping out of the ground, and the temperatures are feeling more mild. This time of year I get excited about all things outdoors from farmers’ markets to wild foraging hikes to hanging laundry and gardening. Especially gardening!

Another sign of spring is chives beginning to poke through the soft soil of the garden. They are always the first to emerge in my culinary herb collection followed closely by sorrel, mint, and lemon balm. I grow at least a dozen culinary herbs in my garden adding oregano, various types of basil, parsley, chervil, sage, thyme, cilantro, dill, chamomile, lovage, borage, and lavender to the list over the years that I’ve maintained my urban homestead.

I use these herbs both fresh and to prepare seasonal cooked dishes and homemade preserves and also dry or freeze them for use in cooking year-round and to create custom tea blends. My cooking style is rooted in low-waste or no-waste, which moves me to use not only leaves and blossoms, but the stems and sometimes the roots as well.

Many of the herbs I grow are perennials, herbs that come back on their own each year. These herbs such as oregano, lemon balm, mint, and sage can be wildly abundant so it’s important to be mindful of where you plant them and stay diligent about culling them each season if you don’t want to them to take over your plot.

Herbs that I plant each season are different varieties of basil, chervil, and dill. A few starts purchased from the local farmers market or family-owned garden center usually give me plenty of flavor for a whole season.

Herbs like parsley—both flat-leaf (aka “Italian parsley”) and curly leaf—are biennials, which means that they will provide wonderful leaves the first year and go to seed in the second season.

I also have plentiful herbs like borage and chamomile that start as “volunteers”, plants that come up in the garden with no effort on my part. They germinate from seeds dropped by flowers in the previous years.

And lastly, the cilantro in my garden is planted in “successions”, which is the practice of seeding crops at certain intervals (ie 7 to 21 days) in order to maintain a consistent supply throughout the season. Cilantro doesn’t grow back after it’s cut like some perennials or even the annual basil, which, when harvested from the crotch of a stem encourages exponential regrowth. After cilantro matures, it goes to seed. Harvesting the entire plant (roots and all, if you wish), means that it requires replanting if you want more throughout the season.

To plant annual herbs—starts or seeds—I wait until after the last frost date, which could be end of April to early or mid-May. A frost date is the average date of the last light freeze in spring or the first light freeze in fall and is estimated based on historical climate data, but not set in stone. As a rule of thumb, I seek out starts from local garden centers or growers around Mother’s Day, which is a fun tradition with my daughter. Our hardiness zone in the Milwaukee area is 5b with a growing season around 180 days. It’s a brief six months that we can grow food outdoors with the heart of the season feeling like it starts in late June.

I harvest herbs daily in the summer to use fresh in salads, for cooking, baking, and to dry throughout the growing season. As some herbs will produce more the more that you pick—basil, mint, lemon balm and other herbs in the mint family (lamiaceae)—I harvest heavily and keep the drying process going for herbal tea mixtures and dried backups come winter. The simplest way to dry most herbs is airdrying; wash the herbs and pat dry, strip the leaves off the stems, spread them out on a baking sheet or screen and put them in a dry, sunny spot out of the way of pets. Then, check them every day and toss them for even drying. This low-energy process may take a few days or most of a week. One can also dry herbs more quickly in a dehydrator; that is my go-to method for the end-of-season harvest.

Herbs can also be frozen. Finely chop or puree them, fill ice cube trays or muffin pans with the herbs then top with water. Once the cubes are frozen solid they can be transferred to freezer bags, labeled, and dated. Frozen herbs are great added to soups, casseroles, egg dishes, baked goods, dressings, and dips.

Another favorite way to use herbs in is a variety of pestos. A classis Pesto Genovese contains basil, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, olive oil, and pinenuts. But there’s lots of space for creativity in making pesto beyond basil. My favorite combinations are Sage-Walnut, Arugula-Almond, Mint-Feta-Pinenut, Dandelion Green-Hazelnut, Nasturtium Leaf-and Sunflower Seed, and Carrot Top-Almond. I’ve also made pesto with the leaves of ramps (wild leeks), lemon zest, and sorrel. These pestos are easy to freeze in ice cube trays or muffin pans as well and thaw quickly to use in pasta dishes and spreads or to add to a soup, egg bake, or pizza.

Homegrown herbs make great gifts in the form of preserves—herbal jellies, herbed fruits, and custom tea mixtures. I dry and blend catnip, lemon balm, mint, and chamomile to create a my own bedtime tea mix.

Most of herbs I grow are for culinary purposes, but the medicinal herbs I enjoy cultivating each year are peppermint, comfrey, calendula, and tulsi (holy basil). I also grow elderberries and while they are not an herb, both the blossoms and the fruit can be dried and incorporated into tea mixtures.

Peppermint has cooling properties, can relieve bloating and indigestion, reduce nausea and vomiting, relax muscles, and relieve headaches and menstrual cramps. It is antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory and also aids sleep. Tulsi is a superfood with antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties as well. It can prevent respiratory illnesses and reduce phlegm. It is also known to reduce stress, as it lowers the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone in the body. Tulsi can also reduce blood sugar and cholesterol levels in the body.

There are many possibilities for both culinary and medicinal herbs we can grow in Zone 5:

-Agrimony

-Angelica

-Anise hyssop

-Borage

-Calendula

-Catnip

-Caraway

-Chervil

-Chives

-Cilantro/Coriander

-Clary sage

-Comfrey

-Dill

-Echinacea

-Chamomile (depending on variety)

-Lavender (depending on variety)

-Feverfew

-Sorrel

-French Tarragon

-Garlic chives

-Horseradish

-Lemon Balm

-Lovage

-Marjoram

-Mint hybrids (chocolate mint, apple mint, orange mint, etc.)

-Parsley (depending on variety)

-Peppermint

-Rue

-Salad burnet

-Spearmint

-Sweet Cicely

-Oregano (depending on variety)

-Thyme (depending on variety)

-Savory (winter)

Blooming in Spring with Traditional Chinese Medicine

In Chinese medicine, springtime is correlated to the liver and the gallbladder as these organs carry energy to store and detox the blood. In spring, we look forward to longer days, the frost thawing and new growth surrounding us.

‘Spring cleaning’ is a great energetic way to express the change of the season, not only for your home, but for your body too.

As the bulbs begin to push through the soil, we humans should be pushing ourselves to be more active, to engage in activities or thought provoking experiences in order to move stagnant winter energy and express our creativity.

When it comes to our nutrition, raw greens, herbs and vegetables are in abundance this season to enjoy-which stimulates liver energy flow.

A restful winter that may have led to more indulging in heavy foods, alcohol, coffee, and Netflix will lead to more feelings of tension and congestion symptoms.  This tense, sluggish energy is called liver stagnation.

Symptoms of stagnant or sluggish liver energy include: muscle tension, headaches, waking between 1-3am, difficult menses, increased allergies, waking feeling "hung-over", lethargic, depressed, impatient, irritable, or more constipated. 

Foods that decrease liver stagnation are those that taste pungent such as watercress, onions, mustard greens, turmeric, basil, fennel, rosemary and mints. Too many pungent foods can lead to excess heat in the body. If you find yourself experiencing excess heat turn to foods like beets, taro root, sweet rice, strawberries, cabbage, kohlrabi or broccoli. 

If this time of year you find yourself in depression or digestive indigestion, try drinking unrefined, high quality apple cider vinegar, brown rice vinegar or red wine vinegar. To drink, add one teaspoon vinegar of choice to one cup of warm water (raw and local honey an optional addition). If the vinegar causes excess heat try drinking warm water with lemon, lime or grapefruit instead. 

Decreasing your cups of coffee throughout the day will also keep our liver healthy. In order to curb this habit reach for herbal tea rather than the caffeine. We suggest milk thistle, chamomile, licorice root or dandelion root tea. Add a hint of brightness with a fresh slice of lemon or lime and a generous teaspoon of honey to sweeten your morning or afternoon.

Upping our dose of raw foods, adding pungent, bitter and sour foods and drink along with drinking less caffeine will make for a happy liver, a calmer mind and a more creative spirit this time of year. Combine these fresh new foods with hot tea to ensure strong digestion.