I went to my first physical therapy appointment this week. Cha Cha Cha! I've been lying around and recovering from long haulers since March 2020 and slowly adding more, like outings to the Clayton Art Fair and such. Good times but ya know how I like to ride my bike and jump around in the gym! Before I step up in the movement category, more than the neighborhood walks, easy yoga, and playing rock star in my living room, I want to build a base of core strength and mobility. I want to step it up without getting injured and really listen to my body. Sometimes ya gotta remind the muscles what their job is. 

It's ok to get support as you look at where ya wanna go and wonder how you're gonna get there. I know many things rehab, but having a one-one session bridges the gap. 

This is why people love working with us at Quantum Healing Arts! We have been specializing in and studying myofascial release for the last twenty years, helping you get out of pain...

I had someone ask me about legacy. You know I turned fifty and this is what comes up when you hit the big five O. Not so much the pressure of hurry up and do the thing but an inventory. We can do an inventory at any age and the key here is to tally up the wins. You have come so far! I'm talking about the comebacks, the pivots, and the opening of one's heart, especially when the go-to was to shut it down. Tally it all up, reminisce, celebrate, and sit in the beauty of all that you are AND be sure to include all things body.

We do an inventory of our bodies looking for what is wrong, how it used to be, how it should be...but don't forget the inventory of what is working. It's the little wins that mark the move towards healing, moving better, doing more, and resting with ease and grace.

You can be the high school track hero and someone who healed from having had breast cancer and made it through with a new way of looking at yourself, at the world.

Courage,...

Do you ever find yourself in the way? You know the thing that can help you and yet you don't do the thing? How do we find the time, the motivation, and the resources to make the change?

You see the goal (maybe it's to be pain-free, sleep through the night, have great sex with your partner, feel more at peace in your body) and you know the steps that can help you get there, and yet that two-step forward one-step back is as far as you get. 

You can have big shifts and build that momentum to healing AND to really embody that transformation it needs to seep into how you see yourself.

It's not just the activity, the stretching, the sessions on my table but how you think and feel about your body, your pain. As we say in the world of myofascial release...pain is the body asking for attention. How do you reply?

Is it like Miss Hannigan in the movie ANNIE, "...WHAT?!?!!"

So how do you get out of the way? How can you reach that...

I've spent the last few years taking things off my plate. Whether you are like me, and you had a big bout of Covid and the lingering side effects of long haulers or maybe you have had chronic pain, or you are watching pain and tightness creep up in your world and you are looking for the door that leads to feeling good in your body. So yes to taking things off your plate and slowing down your world...to heal, to integrate, to reassess what is working for you, and what still feeds your soul. Marie Kondo your day-to-day...the art of doing less. But how do you add more?

When you are feeling more spacious, have more energy, and that little bounce in your step is ready for new dance...let your heart and body lead the way. 

Your brain might be telling you to do more OR your brain might be warning you that to do more is gonna set you back. (Oh the dreaded setback!) As I say in my Myofascial Stretch class, to clients on the table, or in the world of coaching...

Do ya ever think there could be more? Not more as in "I'm dissatisfied" I need, I want, or even the realm of I can't have it...but more as in "yes please, bring it!" How much goodness can you stand without thinking it's too good to be true? Yes, we let go of patterns and heal the body, the heart, and the soul. What about the other side of that process? In our current healthcare system, the physical therapist is trained to get their patient to functional. I don't know about you but functional is not my stopping point! Body, Mind, and Soul, I am going for more!

 More love, more joy, more bliss found within your everyday. It's not over there or in the future or back when you were living it up. It's in the here and now.

Your nervous system is set up to detect danger. This is where the work comes in. You lay on the ball and create space where there was once pain and tightness. You notice your thoughts and counter that negative...

Can ya feel it? The subtle change in the air hints at the upcoming, fall season. I crave different foods, more nature, and I wake up with ideas brewing from a restful sleep. My summer companion (my 25-year-old daughter was home:) is back in her own world and I notice the space that is created. 

Sometimes we initiate change and sometimes change is simply upon us. The change in seasons is inviting you to not only pull out those cozy sweaters and all of the other things "autumn" but to search through your stash and see if what was last year, still fits in your world. 

You get to decide what you bring in. Here's the rub...you can only bring in something new when there is space created from the "letting go".

We are in the practice of "letting go" every week here in the Myofascial Stretch world. Gentle, sustained compression and elongation. Start the journey of learning how to track your body and take cues from your nervous system.  A...

Guess who's got a birthday coming up? I'm turning fifty this month and it brings all kinds of feels to the surface. I'm excited cuz that is amazing and fifty years is a long time and I can ponder my life and I am in awe of all that was, is, and can be. Everything we think, feel, and do add up and when I think of some of my favorites...Girl Scout summer camp as a camper and as a camp counselor, sports in high school...especially track and field (hello 400 meter run), my big move to Salt Lake City when I was twenty years old, buying my first guitar and writing songs, the car accident where I fractured my back and then I was a person who had pain, and then from my pain I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. I enrolled in massage school.

 It's not only the grand life experiences that lead you down the path to a happy, fulfilling life. It's the hard stuff that can shine a light on what really matters for you. You get permission to show up in a different...

This summer is a doozy. (Insert all things doozy here.....)

We don't have to make a list but list it is. We are strong and courageous and resilient and tired and prickly and in pain. We are reaching for our higher selves that can ebb and flow with the change and pivot even when it feels easier if we could just keep things the same. How do you manage all the things? That self-care I'm always talking about is more than just a body that bounces back after you fell off the curb. That self-care is building up your resources that help you when you are in the thick of it. Life, relationships, body, work, relationships...

 You don't have to work on "it" when you are "in it". Your newfound resources that you've been working on show up when you need them. If you can be with yourself, show up with compassion and empathy for yourself even when it's ugly.  You are building trust. You are creating a witness. You are honoring self.  

So let's...

I'm waiting for an idea. Well, I have an idea. I just don't know quite how to put it all together. I actively think about the pieces but it gets all tangled in my head and another day goes by. Then I put it aside and don't work on it. I play rock star in my living room with me and my guitar. I lay on my foam roller and let it all go. I rewatched Ted Lasso and it's still really good. And then I see my idea start to form. Little bits show up at a time. Cuz ya know...the magic shows up in the spaces.

 When you take the time; when you create spaces in your day, your week, your year, you are wooing those sweet possibilities without having to know what said possibility is. Knowing or wanting to know, as in really really know... if you already knew it you would know... ya know?

  
Add some Myofascial Release to the mix and you got yourself a whole bucket of possibilities. You are creating space between your joints, your vertebra, so all can slide and...

Hello beautiful Wednesday! Hello beautiful blue sky! Hey body...How's it going? Great job sleeping last night! OH yeah, I can water the garden, no problem. Hello lavender. Oh Honey, did you not get enough water? it's ok... It's not as hot today. 

Body - "How about some coffee?"

Oh yum, hits my chocolate button...yes let's.

Body - "Can we do that hamstring stretch with a twist?"

 The body doesn't always speak up in such an obvious way. Your legs might feel heavy as you walk. Your body might have a catch in your neck as you reach up to grab your favorite coffee mug. You might feel restless in bed as your body wants to toss and turn.  Pain, tightness, and discomfort are a few of the ways the body starts to chime in, "Heeeeyyy, over here please."

It starts with your attention. Create some time where it's just you and your body. My Myofascial Stretch of the Week is your reminder to say hi to your body. Your mind might not want to...