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Align: Massage & Bodywork Square Directory

For all you tech-savvy folks out there using your Square Wallet, browse through products and services on Align’s Square Directory.

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Complementary medicine goes mainstream

At the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, one of the oldest cancer treatment centers in the world, complimentary therapies such as hypnosis, therapeutic massage, and Tai Chi are now regularly offered to patients. NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49423772

 

The Painful Plate-5 Dietary Tips for Reducing Chronic Pain

Did you know that chronic pain plagues more Americans than cancer, diabetes, and heart disease combined? If not, now you do. Not only is chronic pain common, it is an American epidemic, racking up as much as $635 billion dollars annually in healthcare costs. Break that down to a more manageable number, and that’s about $2,000 for EVERY inhabitant of the United States, whether or not

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
-Confucius

Clearing the Clutter-The Psychology of Place Inside & Out

What’s cluttering your life? Is it the stuff in the corner of the bedroom, or the stuff in the corner of your mind? What are you tolerating that keeps you from expressing your true self? Authors Bruce and Lou Stewart say that clutter–both in our environment and our mind–is stagnating, blocking the free-flow of energy, or chi, in our homes and lives. Whether we’re detouring around a box

Thank You-The Transformative Power of Gratitude

I’ve struggled the last few days with trying to discuss the amazing power that gratitude can have on our lives. In our modern world of constant buzz. Of emails, texts, tweets. Of sales reports and morning commutes. The stress of our jobs, our spouses, and our health. Diets. Gyms. Routine upon routine. In all of this busy-ness, where do we find time? Any time!?Much less time to stop and cultivate gratitude.

Our time is vied for from the moment we awake to the time we lay our head down at night. With the constant battle to find balance and what is “right” for us, how can expressing gratitude transform us a little bit every day?

Military Pokes Holes In Acupuncture Skeptics’ Theory : NPR

Blake Farmer

In a fluorescent-lit exam room, Col. Rochelle Wasserman sticks ballpoint-size pins in the ears of Sgt. Rick Remalia.

Remalia broke his back, hip and pelvis during a rollover caused by a pair of rocket-propelled grenades in Afghanistan. He still walks with a cane and suffers from mild traumatic brain injury. Pain is an everyday occurrence, which is where the needles come in.

“I’ve had a lot of treatment, and this is the first treatment that I’ve had where I’ve been like, OK, wow, I’ve actually seen a really big difference,” he says.

‘Let’s Give It A Shot’

Army doctors have been told by the top brass to rethink their “pill for every ill” approach to treating pain. For the 47,000

How to Start Your Morning: 5 Tips to Create More Energy and Confidence

How to Start Your Morning: 5 Tips to Create More Energy and Confidence.

Musical Motivation-55 Tracks to Get You Moving

There’s no doubt that music can set a mood. These tracks can get me from lazy to motivated as fast as I can click play. The list is pretty clean, but there are a few with some explicit lyrics which I’ve marked with (*).

There should be a little something for everyone. I’ve provided the Spotify links here. If you want a link to the full playlist I’ll post it on my Facebook page here. Enjoy!

1. Skrillex – Bangarang – feat. Sirah
2. Tomoyasu Hotei – Battle Without Honor Or Humanity
3. Lo Fidelity Allstars – Battleflag – Radio Edit
4. U2 – Beautiful Day
5. Madcon – Beggin’ – Original Version
6. Wiz Khalifa – Black And Yellow*
7. Ke$ha – Blow – Cirkut Remix
8. Karmin – Brokenhearted
9. La Roux – Bulletproof

Moving Through Life-Finding the Pleasure In Exercise

We’re busier than ever with longer workdays, less leisure time, shorter lunch hours, longer commutes, and more demands than ever before. We may even be in a job that doesn’t fulfill us, yet we spend most of our time there. When the day ends, we have almost no energy left to do what we enjoy. How to find a healthy balance?

Plenty has been written about the therapeutic benefits of exercise. So, why aren’t more people reaping those benefits and moving toward health and well-being? We need to reexamine our notion of what exercise and movement are and consider what we’re moving toward or away from. Then we can begin to ask ourselves other questions: Not just are we fit, but are we physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy?

Stress, Wellness, and Pain Management–my chat with Jay Woodard on the theory and practice of Alphabiotics

SV: “So…Alphabiotics? If I had never heard of it or had no experience

with bodywork, how would you explain the idea.. the process?” 

JW: “Alphabiotics is the science of stress relief. It is a non-threatening, hands-on process that pulls the body out of an outer-reactive, inappropriate stress response state.  It is based on the science that shows that 90% of all disease is stress caused and that we all exist in an outer-reactive, inappropriate stress response state from day to day, with limited brain function (otherwise known as Fight or Flight).”SV: “An outer-reactive, inappropriate stress state? Can you break that down a little?”

Developing a Healthy Body Image through Bodywork

Body Image

Learning to Love Who We Are

The statistics are alarming. The majority of U.S. women–some estimate more than 80 percent–are unhappy with their appearance. At least 10 million young women, and 1 million young men have an eating disorder. Girls as young as 6 and 7 are expressing disapproval of their looks, and most fourth-grade girls are already diet veterans. Most unsettling is the fact that more women, and girls, fear becoming fat than they do dying.

Combating the Images

How do you see yourself?

The Weekend Warrior’s Toolkit: Tips for Injury Prevention and Treatment

Summer has arrived, and with the season comes the onslaught of weekend warriors. Warm weather and sunshine can be enough to get even the most obstinate couch potatoes up and running. Orthopedic injuries come in second only to the common cold on the list of most common reasons for doctor visits. So, whether you are soaking up the precious summer weekends on the mountain, on the lake, or breaking in your new pair of running shoes, use these tips to help avoid a would-be injury.

1) Know your limitations. These days we are inundated with an explosion of workout techniques in which pushing yourself to the absolute maximum is the name of the game. P90X, Insanity, CrossFit, and other equally intense programs have flooded the market. These may be excellent if you’re not at risk for any orthopedic injuries, but going from sedentary to intensely active can be a recipe for landing yourself in the ER on a Saturday afternoon. Don’t let the fear of injury keep you from being active, but it’s important to remember that you aren’t 18 anymore. Your doctor can help you decide what is within healthy limits for you.

2) Change it up. Many weekend warriors engage in one type of activity. Racquetball, cycling, water skiing. No matter your choice in activity,

Life Only Has 2 Problems

Every so often, life likes to throw a wrench in our plans. We are blindsided. By the stress of our children, our family, our spouses. Work and in-laws. Our health. When faced with stressful situations and problems in life, we tend to over think. I know I’ve been there. What am I going to do? What are people going to think? To whom do I turn? Where do I go from here? The negative thought patterns seem to take hold even more than the situation that brought us there. I just wish my brain would BE…QUIET.

So…what ARE we going to do?

Success is…

“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” ~Orison Swett Marden

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Study at Penn State Shows Exercise Reduces Menopausal Symptoms Including Hot Flashes

5 Tips to Conquer Chronic Pain

That pain. That pernicious, pervasive (seemingly inescapable) pain. It’s there when you wake up and curls up in bed with you each night. If you have ever suffered from it, you’ll have no difficulty in producing plenty of choice words to describe it. Lessen the grip that chronic pain has on your life by implementing a few of these tips every day:

The Case for the 42 lb. Head?

Ever heard of FHP? No, it’s not an additive to make your car run cleaner or a ticker symbol for the latest IPO. In the world of kinesiology, FHP refers to Forward Head Posture. It, quite simply, describes a postural deviation in which the head juts forward beyond the shoulders. Coincidentally, it is the cause of the majority of head and neck pain my clients complain of on a daily basis.

So, how do I know if I have forward head posture?

Massage Therapy tops Bloomberg Business Week best careers

An article published by Bloomberg Business Week ranks massage therapy as the No. 1 career for 2011. Data was pulled from various sources including the United States Dept. of Labor, The Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Manpower, a US based staffing firm. The determination was reached based on a number of factors and included:

• An average work week consisting of 25 hours or less with an average of 15 hours of hands on time
• A median income average of $41/hr of hands on time with the top 75% earning $92/hr of hands on time
• Ranked at 19% career growth between now and 2018 (higher than average when compared to all industries surveyed)

Eat this daily for proper hydration!

Would you have guessed, bananas? These perfectly portable fruits come in 3rd on the list, at 75%, for fruits containing the largest percentages of water by weight (apricots coming in 2nd and apples in 1st). Many experts agree that, barring extreme physical exertion, a banana and water is one of the best ways to hydrate yourself.

Some funky banana facts:

• Containing Potassium-40, bananas are mildly radioactive