Category Archives: Wellness

Monthly Challenge – Move Your Body

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This months challenge is to get your body moving consistently throughout the ENTIRE day. This challenge is for those of you who are stuck in front of the computer, or perhaps you are moving throughout your work day, but your bodies biomechanics are put at risk. This challenge is also for those of us who find it tricky to get into a regular exercise routine or are wanting to add some extra movement into the week.

Getting motivated to move is half the battle, after that, you need to figure out read more

7 Steps to Better Sleep!

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SLEEP! There are many reasons why good quality sleep eludes so many of us. Physiological reasons, emotional reasons, external substances, neurological….the list is endless. Some of these things we cannot change on our own. However, many of our daily habits can be adjusted to maximize our quality of sleep.

So, why is good sleep even important? Besides falling asleep at the most inopportune times, such as in class, or, say, driving (!), studies have shown that sleep is crucial for immune read more

MONTHLY CHALLENGE – SUN SALUTATIONS

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Ask any massage therapist, and they will tell you about the days when all their clients seem to have the same clinical issue. “I treated 5 shoulder problems today”!

Last week was tension week. It seemed the majority of my patients suffered from tension related issues. Headaches, shoulder and neck pain and an inability to find a life balance between work, family and self. Over the last 12 years of treating various pathologies, the one constant reoccurring problem that my clients seem to face is read more

Monthly Challenge – Eat Better Food

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This challenge isn’t about loosing weight or going on a crazy uber-wholesome diet. This challenge is about taking a good look at your food intake and making a few tweaks. To change a few bad habits into healthy ones. The biggest test may be analyzing what it is you actually eat throughout an entire day. Do you skip breakfast? Do you graze throughout the day? Do you love your carbohydrates? What about protein? Sweets? Fruits and veggies?

We all have our ideas of what healthy eating can be. Some read more

5 Common Massage Therapy Techniques

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5 common massage therapy techniques

Registered massage therapists here in British Columbia have been trained to use many diverse techniques. There are dozens of techniques to be learned and variations of each of them. As a therapist grows into their training, they typically drift towards the techniques that they feel to be the most effective for their practice. Therapists often combine several techniques within one treatment to address the concerns of their clients. For example, if a client presents with a swollen ankle, the read more

Breathe Like A Kid

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Breathe Like A Kid

Breathing is a fairly simple act. You rarely need to think about it. You inhale in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide effortlessly from the moment you’re born. In fact, newborns are probably the best breathers out there. Infants and young children seem to effortlessly use their main muscle of respiration, the diaphragm. When you watch kids breathe, their little tummies move outwards when they inhale and move inwards when they exhale. This is because our diaphragm, which is a dome shaped read more

What are “HOMECARE EXERCISES”?

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What are “HOMECARE EXERCISES”?

A typical massage therapy treatment takes about an hour. The majority of people that I treat have a goal for that hour. They want to treat a recent injury, address a chronic problem, release shoulder tension or reoccurring headaches. The intention behind making that massage appointment is to get rid of something that is hurting, or, perhaps to add something that is missing, like relaxation.

For that hour, I will assess their problem and proceed with several techniques to hopefully meet read more

Massage Therapy for Digestion

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Massage Therapy for Digestion

Digestion is the process in which food is broken down into substances that can be used for energy and basic nutrients to feed the body.

Physically, food moves from your mouth, down your esophagus to your stomach where it churns and moves the liquefied food through your small intestines, into your large intestines, and finally out the “other end”. Anywhere along this line, digestive problems can crop up from ulcers, reflux, cramping, bloating, gas, constipation and diarrhoea. Poor read more

Keeping Your Body Healthy When Traveling

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Keeping your body healthy when travelling

Travel. For some of us, travel is part of work. For others it’s an escape from the winter blues or the excitement of a road trip. Traveling by plane, car, bicycle or on foot can be hard on your body. Muscle aches and pains can ruin even the sunniest of vacation plans! Here are a few tips on how to stay healthy when traveling.

The most physically detrimental part of any travel plan is the extended periods of sitting, whether on a plane or in a vehicle. Sitting requires the muscles in read more

Water – How Much Do You Need?

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How Much Water Should I Drink?
We are fortunate to have access to decent drinking water here in Victoria, BC, Canada. We can get water straight from the tap, filtered water, water in bottles, and even from local streams! We all hear about the importance of drinking water, so how much water do we really need?

There is actually no scientific evidence that supports the claim that people should drink 8 x 8 ounce glasses of water a day to be healthy. Generally, if the “8 x 8” rule is not already part of your lifestyle, read more