Benefits Of Consistent Massage

The healing benefits of massage go far beyond just alleviating sore muscles. As humans, we thrive on positive touch. We have all heard of prematurely born babies who begin thriving with a loving massage. When did we think that we outgrew that need for touch? Unfortunately, in the modern world with advances in technology, we experience less and less physical human contact. In many other cultures, people still greet each other with big hugs and kisses on the cheek – but in our society, it seems much more common to send friends a quick text or chat message saying hello. Combine this with a mentality of fear regarding germs, assault, and with many people not being comfortable with their [More]

How Does Your Lifestyle Affect Your Posture?

What are the effects of your lifestyle on your posture? How you carry yourself throughout every moment of the day adds up, and can make the difference between a pain-free, strong body and a body full of aches and pains. Your body starts to mold, adapt, and compensate for all of your less-than-ideal habits when it comes to posture. You may go to a yoga class and spend an hour very conscious of your alignment, which is great, but all of those other hours during the week maintaining bad alignment certainly add up too. Here are some of the most common times when people lose good posture alignment: While sleeping: Have you ever woken up with tightness or kinks? You [More]

Stress Relief With Yoga

One of the most meaningful benefits of yoga for your emotional or mental wellbeing is the ability of yoga to relieve stress and help you achieve a steadier and clearer frame of mind. Stress is an insidious problem for humans; we live with it so much that we don’t even notice its impact until it’s too late. Stress has been hooked to a wide range of problems including weight gain, lowered immune system, low libido, anger issues, depression, relationship problems, and alcoholism, to name a few. Everyone has some level of stress to deal with and yoga is one of the best coping strategies out there. Yoga has been shown in several studies to relieve levels of stress in a [More]

The Cupping Method To Detox And Remove Cold Symptoms

When you think of ‘cupping’, you probably think of holding something. In this case though, cupping is an ancient Chinese method of detoxification which also carries benefits like getting rid of cold symptoms, relieving aches and pains, and helping you to feel more energized. It is completely non-invasive, easy, and very relaxing and can be done right alongside acupuncture for complete body wellness. But how does cupping work and why does it work for detox and removal of cold symptoms? Cupping the Toxins When you go in for your cupping session, you will have several cups made from glass or rubber placed on your skin and suction sealed. The vacuum caused by this, forces the blood to flow more strongly [More]

Take Time For Taking Child’s Pose

Why does a time as sparkling and exciting as the holidays have to be so stressful? Our bodies are still dealing with a season’s windy change and now we have planning, baking, traveling and partying to do. It’s a joyous time, sure. But it’s a time of headaches too. I’ve already found myself in child’s pose several times in each room of my house. I’m thankful that a yoga practice at Root has trained me into knowing that it’s okay, a good idea even, to stop and breathe when you need to, to pause and listen to what your body needs wherever you may be. Sometimes it needs child’s pose. It’s a great pose to follow back bends and headstands, [More]

The French Know How To Motivate

The French do a whole lot of things right. Bread, cheese, shoes, and films to name a few. They also know how motivate people. Or so it seems from this ad for Contrex, a bottled mineral water. I mean, look at those women go. I don’t usually get quite that excited about my workout. But then, I’ve never had the opportunity to get Mr. Neon naked by cycling. Usually, I just chill out to some tunes while I swim laps.* Getting from bed to the pool is another matter. Sometimes it’s hard to get motivated. My bed is just so cozy and warm, my pillow so fluffy. I have to remind myself that on my way home from the gym [More]

Attitudes Of Gratitude

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. A time of harvest feasting and family meetings, a day for dressing down, board games, fireplace chats, or long walks counting colors in the leaves. This year, thanks to the encouragement of yoga teachers at Root and their reminders to breathe in with gratitude and out without expectation. (thank you, Nikki!) And, strangely enough, to times of uncertainty and the sort of changes in the wind that can make you feel you’re walking a tight rope, I found myself more immersed than I’d ever been in a practice of real Thanksgiving. It all started when a few of my Facebook friends began to post their gratitudes daily. Their thankfulness reminded me to practice my own. I read about [More]

What Is Acupuncture And How Can It Help Me?

For a long time, it was hard to sort out the good acupuncture from the bad acupuncture and the media was largely to blame. Fortunately, a public push in more knowledge about healing methods which go beyond the western frame of reference has resulted in acupuncture becoming not only accepted, but widespread. However, you may only think of acupuncture as something involving needles and have an immediate ‘Yuck!’ reaction. I don’t really blame you; I’m not exactly a fan of needles either! However, we here want to demystify and get rid of the fear around this ancient Chinese medicinal practice and show how it can be highly beneficial to anyone. So, what is acupuncture and how can it help you [More]

The Gift Of Gratitude

I’m sure most of you would agree that expressing gratitude is a good thing to do. And you might even suppose that gratitude is beneficial for your health. But now, the scientific evidence is in. The Huffington Post recently reported that several scientific studies have shown that the expression of gratitude increases not only general happiness, but pro-social behaviors such as goodwill toward others, more hours of sleep and feelings of being refreshed upon waking, and stronger, long-lasting marriages. The article closes with some good advice: make your gratitude more tangible. Write it down. In the same way that a list of goals can help us realize our dreams, or a food journal (as our dear Barbara Birke suggests we [More]

Introducing Unlimited And Group Acupuncture | Making Frequent Acupuncture Accessible

Acupuncture has been an important practice for healing and maintaining good health for thousands of years. Scientific studies to determine exactly how acupuncture works are ongoing and becoming more common. Recently, The Royal College of General Practitioners reported that two studies in the British Journal of General Practice have shown that patients, “perceived a wide range of positive effects and appeared to take on a more active role in their consultations and self-care.” The patients showed a sustained improvement which, ultimately, is the goal of five-element acupuncture. Chinese Medicine works to heal the whole person and the issues behind symptoms, not just symptoms themselves. According to the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, the number of treatments needed depends of the [More]