I dreamed I was dying, and no one knew. When I woke, I learned David Bowie had died.

I did a biodynamic craniosacral session yesterday with someone I cherish. In years past, I’ve participated in several of her workshops exploring life and death. As in my life, unexpected violent death visited her life early on and made a lasting impression, so we both have a long acquaintance with death and mortality.

This was our first session doing biodynamic work.

(And by the way, biodynamic work may have been first written about by cranial osteopaths who spent decades working with people, mostly in silence, listening intently and deeply, who finally had the courage to say, “There’s something else going on here.” However, in my opinion, this work is timeless, and another label for it, that goes back to ancient times, is hands-on healing.)

I dreamt in the middle of the night that I was dying. I had been told that I had a terminal condition and that nothing could be done to restore my health. I was on my way out of this life. Continue reading

Here’s how I do bath therapy.

This morning I felt the need to nurture myself after a bit of a rough week wondering about my status with a place that provides a good chunk of my income and also having some lower abdominal pains that I believe were due to the adjustments my body is making as I realign my pelvis.

(See previous posts about my SI belt, pelvic tilt, and self-treatment program if interested.)

These were just little bumps in the road. We all experience them. But often we don’t know they’re not the beginning of major stressors until some progress or good news occurs. I don’t believe in worrying about things beyond my control. I like to place my attention on what I can do, and do it. But I’ve been a bit unsettled, experiencing uncertainty.

Both of those concerns are currently resolving favorably. I more than recovered the lost income with private clients, and doing Kegels has helped me recover from the pains. Continue reading

Etiquette for massage: how to handle stinky butt

Warning: This is a delicate topic.

All massage therapists and bodyworkers who work with unclothed people have encountered this phenomenon, and it goes by several names: stinky butt, monkey butt, smelly ass, stinkbutt, stinky bum, ass stink, swamp ass, sweaty bum, and rotten smelly butt hole. You get the idea.

It happens like this: The therapist leaves the room, and the client undresses and lies down on the table between the sheets. The therapist re-enters and begins the session.

When the therapist is ready to work on the client’s hip/sacrum/gluteal muscles, he or she undrapes the area, usually leaving the butt crack covered.

Suddenly a nasty smell hits the therapist’s nose. Pee-yew! It’s gross, and the client is often unaware of it, which makes it embarrassing for both the therapist and the client.

And it can happen to anyone. Continue reading

The rapture of being alive

“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life… I think that what we’re really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive.” ~ Joseph Campbell

This quote has been a long-time favorite and is included on my Favorite Quotes page.

I want to go on record as saying that one of the times when I most feel the rapture of being alive is when I’m practicing biodynamic craniosacral therapy.

It’s like meditating together, but with much more connection, yet totally safe because nothing is expected.

I don’t know what else to say about it, except that if you want to experience it too, I’m happy to do a session with you.

 

 

Gift suggestions that increase well-being

If you’re looking for gift ideas for those you care about, here are a few suggestions. Since I am a licensed massage therapist, that’s where I’ll start.

Although there are a few people around who don’t like to be touched, most people enjoy a professional massage that’s tailored for their needs: the right modality, the right pressure, the right length. One thing people say they’d do if they had unlimited resources is to get massages more often.

Massage gift certificates are welcome gifts, especially with a personal note from you letting them know how much they deserve to be pampered. If the recipient is a busy person, adding the promise of watching the kids or making dinner afterwards so they can enjoy the afterglow is an extra nice touch. Continue reading

Easy improvisational curry (vegan, vegetarian, and carnivore versions)

This recipe is like jazz: you can improvise based on what you have on hand and what your tastebuds desire. It’s a great way to eat lots of veggies because it’s so delicious. It’s easy because everything can be chopped roughly to bite-size, which adds to the charm; precision is not needed. It’s colorful, too!

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Continue reading

Juicing with watermelon

This summer,  I’ve had a blast making juices with watermelon as the main ingredient. Seedless watermelons are so easy to work with, abundant, and inexpensive. You start with the sweetness of the watermelon and add layers of flavor — sour, hot, herbal, fragrant, smoked, savory, and/or salty elements — to that yumminess.

Screen Shot 2017-07-01 at 2.57.45 PM.pngAlthough I make a lot of juices that are all veggies (green) or veggies plus one fruit (usually brown!), for some reason it seemed important to keep this juice red in color, so I didn’t add kale, spinach, or parsley, which I’m sure would have made the juice more nutritious, if less pretty to look at.

I had fun combining watermelon with other flavors. I don’t measure, so measurements aren’t included. Make watermelon the most abundant ingredient, because it’s where most of the juice comes from. After that, use your tastebuds and common sense! Continue reading

If you want to get better at healing others and/or self, read this blog post

My wonderful craniosacral therapy teacher of the past few years, Ryan Hallford, wrote a blog post entitled Soft Mantras for Hard Lesions. Although specific to biodynamic craniosacral work, in my opinion it applies to so much more – all types of healing work with others and all healing work on self.

ryanSubstitute “stuck places” for lesions and consider his statement that this post is about our mindset when encountering them, and you can understand how applicable this is to all realms of life.

Toward the end of the post, he lists three mantras (internal prayers) that a person intending to heal (self or other) might find helpful to ask.

I’ve read this blog post three times now and decided to write down the questions to carry with me at all times. This is a practice I use when I want to integrate something new into my being. The writing of it helps me commit it to memory as my pen moves across the paper letter by letter, word by word, and carrying the written paper with me signals my commitment to integrate it.  Continue reading

New science about heart disease, sulfate, glyphosate, sunlight, statins, and aluminum

I listened to a podcast earlier this week that was pretty scientific (for me), yet fascinating. The Bulletproof Exec (Dave Asprey) interviewed Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a senior researcher at MIT. For three decades she’s been doing interdisciplinary research where biology and computers intersect.

It was so full of information, I could hardly keep up with the podcast while driving. Later I went online to read the actual transcript. Here’s the link, and the page also has video of the Facetime-like conversation.

I am not a scientist, but the findings and recommendations that I found intriguing in this lengthy and wide-ranging conversation are listed below. If you want to learn more about any of this, there’s a lot of good information available online. There are open-access scientific journals and papers available on the internet that are free. And you can google “Seneff”.

  • The cause of heart disease isn’t high cholesterol, it’s a deficiency in sulfate.

Continue reading

SI belt update, plus insoles for Morton’s foot

The sacroiliac belt is still working for me. It’s been three-and-a-half weeks since I started wearing it 24/7. It can get hot and a bit itchy at times, but I love what it’s doing for me.

Remember, my plan is to wear it so much that my pelvis and sacrum become aligned and I don’t have SI joint discomfort. It takes time for ligaments to adjust, but I’ve been assured that they do adjust. I’m willing to give this a while.

Last week I started doing something else designed to improve my alignment. I have a condition called Morton’s foot (or Morton’s toe). It’s very common and is often called Greek foot. It’s something people are born with.

feet

Consider the image above as a guideline, because toe length is actually irrelevant. Metatarsal length is what counts. Those are the long bones in the foot that go from the instep to the base of the toes.  Continue reading