Darth Vader was a Yogi

March 25, 2010

By: Marty Kestin, Ensoma Bodyworks, www.ensomabodyworks.com

If you can consciously control your breath you can drastically improve your health. In my private practice almost all new clients with chronic pain, discomfort or anxiety do not breathe well or consciously. Breathing techniques, practiced regularly are now well documented and validated by science to ease physical pain, anxiety and improve wellbeing. One specific health promoting breathing practice used by Yogis for centuries, called Ujjayi breathing, was made famous by the evil Lord Darth Vader in the Star War series….Really!

Yes Darth was a master of evil and spent most of his adult life murdering innocents, forcing conversions, and leaving most places he visited with a legion of storm troopers and the locals with a general feeling of malaise and dread. However, he was also a master of breath control. All those occult powers he used to his evil advantage was due largely to his mastery over the “force” or “prana,” after years of Jedi breath training.

That asthmatic sounding breath he is famous for…is akin to the sound you make when doing “Ujjayi” or “ocean” breathing. My clients who undertake an Ujjayi breathing practice report falling asleep faster, have less pain, and get rid of the pain condition faster then those who do not practice breathing regularly. Ujjayi breathing helps train the breath to be slower, fuller and more relaxed. It also warms the body and blood and practiced daily for at least 15 minutes will lower blood pressure and anxiety.

How to do ocean breathing:

• Ideally you are sitting with a straight spine and can practice it for 5-30 minutes. But in reality you can do it anywhere, even in your car on your way to work for health benefits.
• As you inhale and exhale very slowly through your nose think about closing off the very back of your throat. (You will either get this right away or it will take some time and effort). It feels like you are putting a slight pressure around the Adams apple area. It should not be forced, painful or feel really awkward – just different.

We non Jedi’s have the same ability to practice developing and controlling our breathe to elevate our physical and emotional health. Please use this power only for good…not evil!

To be sure you are doing this correctly talk to your local Yoga instructor or contact me via phone or email: mkestin@ensomabodyworks.com • 704.335.8115 • www.ensomabodyworks.com

Marty Kestin, BS, MSW, LMBT has a private practice inside the Bindu and has been helping people out of pain and into vibrant lifestyles for 15 years.

Welcome New Practitioners!

March 23, 2010

By: Kelley Gardner

The Bindu welcomes‭ ‬Acupuncturist‭, ‬Abe‭ ‬Rummage‭, ‬and‭ ‬Massage‭ ‬Therapist‭, ‬Tammy Shulenberger‭, ‬to our Wellness Team‭.‬

We are delighted to announce that beginning April 1‭, ‬Abe will offer community acupuncture each Thursday at the Bindu from 1-6p‭.m. ‬For appointments, please contact Abe at 704-483-5441. Walk-ins welcome.

‭‬Community acupuncture is a unique and totally cost-effective way to experience acupuncture‭. Using acupuncture points that are easy to access sitting in a comfortable group setting‭, ‬Abe will work with 6-8‭ ‬patients at a time‭. ‬Each patient will spend 45‭ ‬minutes to an hour receiving acupuncture in the relaxed atmosphere of the Bindu break room‭.‬

Abe Rummage‭, ‬L.Ac‭. ‬Dipl.Ac‭., ‬graduated at the top of his class from the graduate program in Acupuncture at Jung Tao School of Classical Chinese Medicine‭. ‬He is North Carolina licensed and nationally board certified in acupuncture by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine‭. ‬Abe owns and operates AcuCare Clinic in Denver‭, ‬NC where he provides acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas for a wide variety of health problems‭.‬

The first time I met Abe Rummage‭, ‬I liked him immediately‭. ‬His warmth and gentleness make him very easy to talk with and his knowledge and experience as an acupuncturist would make even the‭ ‬“needle-nervous”‭ ‬patient relax and step right in to the experience‭.‬‬
704-483-5441‭ ‬www.AcuCareClinic.com

As more wellness practitioners become part of the Bindu‭, ‬I smile because everyone‭ ‬excels‭ ‬in their‭ ‬chosen‭ ‬areas of wellness‭. ‬Tammy‭ ‬Shulenberger is‭ ‬no exception‭. ‬‭‬

Owner of Palms Therapeutic Massage‭,‬ Tammy comes to us with a wonderfully broad skill set‭. ‬In addition to being a certified massage therapist‭, ‬Tammy has received certification in La Stone‭ (‬massage that includes hot stones placed on the body‭)‬‭, ‬from Rene Shuford at Blue Ridge Healing Arts Academy in Concord‭, ‬NC‭. ‬She‭ ‬has‭ ‬also had Level II‭ ‬Reiki‭ ‬training in the Usui System of Natural Healing with‭ ‬our very own Meredith‭ ‬DeSopo‭ ‬of Reiki 4‭ ‬Life‭.‬

Being in Tammy’s presence reminds me of the saying, “still waters run deep.” She is quiet, thoughtful and patient. After receiving her first massage from Tammy recently, a good friend who gets regular massages told me that after taking a thorough history, Tammy worked quietly and skillfully moving to all the “parts” that needed attention. My friend was totally relaxed and peaceful by the end of the session. Sign me up!!!

Come get acquainted with Tammy on select Monday nights in March and April! Tammy will be offering free chair massage at the Bindu between 4-6 p.m. on the following dates: 3/29, 4/5 and 4/12. Sign up at the front desk to guarantee a time slot. Walk-ins welcome, too.

Palms therapeutic massage palmslkn@gmail.com 704-640-5520

Welcome, Abe and Tammy!

Beginner’s Mind: The Art of Learning

March 19, 2010

By: Amy Becton

As my younger students pick up new tai chi moves with ease, some of my older students who struggle wonder what is wrong with themselves and may even begin to think that dementia is setting in.

Do you often feel a bit slow in the brain these days? Take comfort in knowing that there is nothing wrong with you. You may have just forgotten the way to learn. The advantage that younger students have is that they lack experience and therefore their minds and bodies are rich with space, ready to adapt to new material. This state of eagerness, attention and cooperation is called “Beginner’s Mind.”

When we are young, our minds and bodies are so fertile and eager to absorb new material. But as we age, it is not unusual for our minds to “have something to say” about what we are hearing or doing for the first time…particularly if we have a lot of confidence in what we think we already know.

Setting aside the idea of Dementia…instead consider that what gets in the way of learning is an accumulation of ideas, generalizations, judgments and old information, all of which clog up potential space for new stuff.

Thoughts like, “Oh, I’m never going to get this”, or “This person has no idea what they are talking about”, or “My body is getting too old for this”, are ways of thinking that lock out the potential for new experiences.

This type of congestion is the same within the physical body as it is with the mind. Without new experiences or challenges, muscles and tendons become less flexible and get stuck in patterns too. These structures impair physical and mental transformation. They keep us from learning.

Essentially, the art of learning IS the ability to accept change!

For a “Beginner,” life feels like an adventure and they welcome anything that is unique, novel and engaging.
Becoming a master student again resides in three essential conditions, which at any age you can recapture:

Condition One: Awareness
In order to learn anything new, you have to “be here.” That means that your mind must be enrolled in whatever you are doing. You must feel, hear, see, smell and taste what is going on right now! This condition is called presence. It is being conscious of what is going on around you and also conscious of what you are thinking, feeling, and believing.

Condition Two: Letting Go
Once you are conscious of what is going on, you must then develop an open, receptive mind. Lack of experience is an easy way to have an open mind because you don’t know enough information for comparison. After you’ve accumulated experience however, you have to set aside your previous experience for the sake of allowing something new. When incoming information seems seems illogical or meaningless, you can simply decide that it is worthy of direct experience. Reserve your decision until after you go through the activity.

Condition Three: An engaging attitude
The definition of engaging is “that which is alternately brought into gear or out of gear with another, depending on what the occasion may require.” The occasion of learning requires an interactive, cooperative relationship with what you desire to understand. You have to want the information in order to experience beginners mind! A beginner’s mind is curious and that is a marvelous attitude for learning, a feeling that contains a subtle excitement along with an emotional eagerness to welcome something new.

When you can hold yourself in a state of awareness, resigned to lack preconception and open to absorb, you can regain the ability to adapt and learn anything with ease.

Why did Meredith get involved in Reiki?

March 11, 2010

By Meredith DeSopo, www.Reiki4Life.net

At the time I began to learn more about Reiki, my life was in chaos. My son had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease as a baby and continued to have issues with his health. Our lives became a myriad of illnesses, doctor’s appointments and medical emergencies.

Obviously the physical and medical trauma took its toll on our family. I was carrying around an enormous amount of anxiety and stress. I felt like a disaster magnet…attracting one catastrophe after another. And as I now know, like attracts like. All of the turmoil and tension that I was holding onto in my body (and not releasing) was actually attracting more of the same into my life.

I started researching energy…how one can calm their energy, or balance and clear their own energy. I kept bumping into Reiki. I would be researching energy online and wind up on a Reiki site. Reiki showed up in my dreams, books and even in the phone book! I took these as signs that Reiki could help me.

I knew I needed to find a Reiki Master to teach me how to do Reiki myself. I received my training from a mother and daughter Reiki Master team, Libby and Deb Barnett in Asheville, North Carolina. I loved the idea of the mother-daughter dynamic and hit it off with them right away. Libby received her Reiki training back in the 1970’s from one of the original 22 Reiki Masters in North America. So what I learned from her was very pure to the source of the original Reiki taught in Japan in the 1850’s.

Of course, I first practiced Reiki on my family and immediately saw a difference in them. My husband was rather skeptical of Reiki, but did allow me to practice on him when I first returned from my training because he had hurt his ankle. I explained to him that I didn’t even need to place my hands on the injured spot because the energy would naturally flow to where he needed it most. He said that my hands (which were on his back at the time) got very hot and he could feel the energy flow into his ankle, and the pain disappeared. I have since been able to use Reiki to help when members of my family had broken bones, headaches, fevers, ear aches, back pain, and many other illnesses and injuries.

Our entire household became much more calm and cohesive with the addition of Reiki. Over time I noticed an even bigger difference in the overall balance of our family. It was just really nice to have another tool in my tool belt to assist anytime anyone in the family got sick, hurt, or was upset in any way. And that is why I offer Reiki to others – to empower them to make a difference in their own lives. Not just with Reiki treatments, but also teaching others how to perform Reiki themselves. Because it made such a difference in mine.

I have since taught the art of Reiki to my entire family. Anytime they become sick, upset, or in pain, I encourage them to perform Reiki on themselves, or ask another family member to do Reiki on them in order to bring them back to balance.

If you feel scattered, stressed or are in physical pain, ask me if Reiki might be something to help center, calm and balance you.

Mention this blog post to receive $10 off your next Reiki session.

Meredith DeSopo, 704-425-5500, www.Reiki4Life.net

Giving Back with Yoga for Haiti

March 9, 2010

Wow, did we just have NC’s first beautiful spring weekend or what? We hope you enjoyed it! We are very proud of our kula for showing up in such generous way! In total, we raised just under $1400 to send to Partners in Health (StandwithHaiti.org). $520 of that was from our silent auction, $73 was from the bake sale and the rest was straight out of your pocket. Thank you!

We’d like to thank all of our silent auction sponsors.
Here is a list of the lucky participants who won:

Know Your Farms – Month Membership to CSA – Melissa McNamee
Seven Cranes – Gong – Robin Underwood
Nutrivita – One Hour Nutrition Consultation – Melissa McNamee
Momentum – One Hour Business/Life Coaching – Jenny Langford
Palms Massage – (2) Hot Stone Massage Sessions – Robin Underwood & Robert Lee
Kaliana – 30 min Phone Consultation – Kelley Gardner
Bindu – 5 Class Pass – Marty Dubois
T1Tapas – $50 Gift Certificate – Kelley Gardner
Corkscrew – Gift Certificate for 4 to Thursday Evening Wine Tasting – Sari Weston
Phyllis Nadel – Hand crafted pottery piece – Wanda Baker
AcuCare – 2 Community Acupuncture Treatments – Skye McDonald & Marty Dubois
Lia Sophia Jewelry – Melissa McNamee
Children’s Books written by Yvette Harrold– Skye McDonald

What an amazing contribution you’ve made to our greater community. We can’t thank you enough for making this outreach effort a success.

Don’t forget that coming up this month…

We’ve got two new classes on the calendar:

1. Level 1 with Yvette, Sundays from 4:00-5:15p
2. Hot Yoga with Patti on Monday from 6-7:15pm and with Mary on Wednesday from 6-7:15 pm and Saturday from 9-10:15 am.

Wellness Events:
March 11: Tea with Kaliana 11:30-1 pm
March 25: Tea with Kaliana 11:30-1 pm
March 26: Feel Good Friday Rockin’ Vinyasa and Student Athlete Yoga 6-8 pm
March 28: Community Acupuncture with Abe 10:30-12:00

Mac or PC user?

March 3, 2010

By: Marty Kestin, www.EnsomaBodyWorks.com

Reduce and eliminate long-term painful computer usage by properly assessing and addressing Repetitive Strain Injuries.

Chances are if you work with a PC all day you may have pain, weakness, or “nerve” like sensations in your arm, wrist or fingers. Contrary to popular belief, it is not Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) as most people (and doctors) believe it is. CTS has been grossly over diagnosed when a patient goes to the doctor and reports these symptoms.

Why is this important to you?
Because the surgery for CTS fails about 60% of the time and more conservative measures do not address the root causes. CTS (and other repetitive strain injuries) are the end result of the slow deterioration of soft tissue health in the wrist and arm.

CTS is but one of many soft tissue injuries that can affect you from the neck down to the fingers. More often, computer professionals are susceptible to a type of repetitive strain injury called a Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD).

A CTD is the direct result of performing thousands of tiny finger/wrist repetitions day in and day out while holding the arms and wrists in the same position with a lack of recovery time between work periods…This results in:

1. Massive forearm and wrist inflammation, muscle and tendon damage, resulting in weakness and pain.
2. Trigger points (tiny, hard, irritated knots in muscle tissue) “trigger” pain and odd nerve like sensations far from the irritated knot. I.e. A trigger point in the neck, shoulder or forearm can send pain/nerve like sensations into the forearm, wrist, and fingers.
3. Trigger points can also press on nerves in the neck, shoulder, arm and wrist creating numbness, pins and needles and shock like spikes.

How you can avoid a Cumulative Trauma Disorder:
Click here to implement the steps in my blog entitled “5 steps to better posture” and perform step 1B below 2-3 times a week.

If you have some of the symptoms above, remember that splinting, injections, anti – inflammatories, stretching and strengthening to your arm and wrist muscles do not accurately treat the soft tissue damage nor give the tissue time to heal. Here is what you can do for effective healing:

1. (A) Get the needed soft tissue therapy with a Neuromuscular or Physical Therapist who specializes in CTD/RSI. (Did you know Ensoma Bodyworks does?)
   (B) Click here to learn how to effectively massage and treat your own wrist and forearm muscles.
2. You must reduce your work load for 6 weeks. The diseased tissue must rest in order to heal with therapy.
3. Once the pain and inflammation is down 75-100% you can begin to increase your work load while reducing the soft tissue therapy in a professional manner. But keep up the personal therapy you are doing at home.

Call or email Marty today to get more information about RSI’s and a pain free PC career. Marty also gives workshops to teach PC professionals how to stay pain free or get out of pain while staying productive at work. Free consultations. mkestin@ensomabodyworks.com 704.335.8115