Cupping, as defined by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, is “a traditional Chinese medicine practice that involves placing cups on the skin to create suction.” Suction cups are left on the skin to draw fluid into the area, thereby speeding the healing process. Cupping follows the Chinese philosophy: “Where there’s stagnation, there will be pain.
After 8 years in roller derby, Laurel suffered the injury every derby girl dreads: a broken ankle. Despite a looming fear that nothing would ever be the same again, Laurel, a determined Bikram-style instructor, embarked on a yoga journey back to skating.
A low ankle break is an injury that lingers and delays. The moment I heard the snap in my ankle, I knew it was all over. I saw my mediocre derby career pass before my eyes, abruptly destroyed. My life was at an end.
In the wellness community, we often expound the benefits of moving and exercising more, and with good reason. Exercise is a crucial part of achieving wellness and health, and it aids in longevity. However, it is also true that many people experience difficulty or discomfort when they move.
Frankincense (Boswellia) is best known as incense to most folks. It’s been used for thousands of years as a wonderful aid for mood, medication, ritual, and prayer. As such, frankincense was extremely valuable in the ancient world and was a key part of the spice trade 2000 years ago, making the folks who controlled frankincense trees in the Southern Arabian Peninsula and East Africa extremely wealthy (1).
Frankincense is also great support for the digestive tract. More on this in a moment…
31 million Americans suffer from chronic back pain, and according to one recent study, up to 80 percent of Americans will experience an episode of low back pain during their lifetime. Many chronic back pain sufferers undergo extensive therapy, even surgery, to find relief.
If sinusitis pain has become a common problem for you every time the weather turns, you may want to look towards yoga...
Forgiveness. Sometimes it seems to be the be-all and end-all of spiritual practice, the goal
of every religious seeker, the easy solution to almost every experience of abuse and trauma a person can experience. Indeed, true forgiveness is a profound state—and probably a pinnacle of spiritual evolution. However, demanding that those who are on different places on the path to healing and wholeness forgive—without even understanding what that entails—and using “forgiveness” as a way to blame victims is an act of violence itself.
The eyes and our other senses are our windows to the world. Vision is a powerful sense that we often take for granted. And this particular window is sensitive…to dryness, dust and other irritants. There are some simple steps you can use to support the health of these valuable portals of information and beauty. I’ve found all three to be useful for myself, for friends, and for clients in my wellness practice.
So why does the heart hurt? It’s not a physical pain unless you are having a heart attack. The heart itself is not hurting, or wounded, or even broken. What happens is a physical manifestation of the emotional pain that you are feeling. There is an intense sadness because a loved one has left you or deserted you. And you end up channeling it into small bombs of pain that seem to hit you everywhere. You are sad and depressed, and want life itself to end. To compensate, some of us tend to build walls around our heart.
If we are not careful, the older we get the more excuses we can have for why we cannot love.