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Being a parent, employee, fitness-minded individual and consumer in today’s technology-driven society can take a toll on your body as you bounce around from role to role throughout your day. Your body is your biggest tool and its health plays a huge significance in the quality and longevity of your life.

If you don’t take care of your body each day and continually run around on fumes, then you won’t have a sound structure to support a healthy and fit lifestyle. Taking care of your body begins with being aware of the amount of stress you are under and realizing the importance of addressing this stress prior to feeling aches and pains. Feed your body with the following proactive body awareness strategies and you will set the foundation for a strong, resilient body.

Tune Up for Healthier Living
When you aren’t in tune with your body, mental and physical ailments can create a domino effect that if overlooked for too long will eventually lead to more serious conditions. Initially, the most common signs that it’s time to tune up your body include getting sick often, feeling unbalanced or uncoordinated, muscle soreness, irritability, and aches in your neck, shoulders and upper back.

Many people aren’t aware that their bodies aren’t functioning properly or being taken care of well until they start seeing these type of signs. At this point, body awareness practices such as massage, yoga, stretching or mediation can only be used as a reactive tool to address your specific ailments, instead of a proactive practice that maintains your overall health and wellness. Massage is something that brings you relaxation and relief.

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Repeat Often
One of the simplest, yet most effective, ways to monitor your body’s reaction to the stresses of daily life is to check in with your breathing patterns. When you’re calm, you will have longer, deeper breathing patterns.  But when you’re stressed, your breath will tend to be quicker and shorter.

To stay connected with your mind and body throughout the day, make it a point to take a few breaths in, exhaling strongly throughout your day and focus on breathing from your diaphragm, rather than your throat area.

In addition to massage, regular meditation can be a powerful tool for getting in tune with yourself. The simple act of taking five minutes of quiet time each day to just sit by yourself without technology, kids running around or being in the office can elevate your awareness levels.

Stretch it Out for Mental and Physical Longevity
Whether you consider yourself an active person or not, regular stretching is beneficial not only physically, but mentally as well.

It is suggested that combining stretching before and after physical activity with a five-minute warm-up and cool-down to support the best performance of your body. When working on a computer or at a desk, he suggests getting up from your workstation at least every 45 minutes to stretch your neck by bringing your chin to your chest, looking up to the ceiling and moving your head from side-to-side.

Making stretching a regular part of your daily activities helps to stay aware of and detect any possible aches and pains that may be surfacing throughout your body before they flair up into an injury.

Taking care of your body today with a mix of self-reflection time, stretching and massage will provide many short-term benefits associated with body awareness, but it also can help establish a lifestyle based on achieving overall health and wellness for the long-term. Enjoy taking care of your healthy body; you deserve it!

Combine the health benefits with the true relaxation of a good massage from Jodi at Inner Focus Massage in south Fargo. Call with questions or to make an appointment at 701-238-8257.

The way you feel is more important than the number of candles on your birthday cake.  But inevitably we all get older and experience the effects of aging on our minds and bodies.

Age may be just a number, as the saying goes.  But certain ages are significant benchmarks for many.

Whether your 40th, 50th or 60th birthday is your turning point, incorporating massage into your regular lifestyle can help you age wisely and gracefully. 

Revitalize Aging Skin

One of the most common concerns about aging is keeping skin looking healthy and wrinkle-free, especially in the face and neck areas. While massage can’t actually get rid of wrinkles, it can help people feel younger and improve their outlook on themselves by relaxing face muscles and revitalizing the health of the skin.

Massaging the face relaxes muscles underneath the skin and helps keep the skin more flexible. Massage also can positively affect the skin’s hydration levels by transforming dry, rough skin into a smoother and softer texture. 

Alleviate Arthritic Pain

Arthritis causes inflammation in the body’s joint capsules, causing varying degrees of pain ranging from moderate to severe. Massage can’t cure arthritis, but it can improve blood movement and circulation throughout the body, which in turn helps to alleviate the crippling pain that arthritis can cause.

Lower Stress-Related High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is common among adults of all ages and there are a lot of causes associated with this condition. In today’s fast paced life, a poor diet and lack of exercise are the two most common causes and ones which massage can’t really help. However, if you’re a corporate executive who juggles large amounts of daily stress that results in high blood pressure, then massage can be an effective solution for reducing the impacts of this of condition.
  
You’re Never Too Old for Massage

No matter your age, it’s never too late to start getting massages to combat the common conditions associated with aging and enjoy the benefits of a therapeutic experience. You can reduce stress, feel more relaxed and experience the positive impacts of massage on your health and wellness at any age.

If this makes sense to you, call Jodi at Inner Focus Massage to begin an ongoing massage program. Many of her clients regularly visit for therapeutic massage and find it very helpful. Call with questions or for an appointment: 701-238-8257. She is conveniently located in south Fargo.

As you watch your children or grandchildren grow and begin a new grade at school each year, it’s only natural to start thinking of how you’ve aged over the years and what your future holds as you and your family progress in life. To help slow down some of the effects that naturally occur as you age, Inner Focus Massage offers the following tips to keep your mind and body feeling young.

Stay Active

As you age, you might think you’ll naturally slow down. But, the more active you stay as you reach milestone birthdays, the healthier you can feel physically and the happier you can live mentally. Regular cardio exercise, like walking and riding your bike, not only helps keep your body active and strong, but it can also be great for releasing stress and promoting a more positive attitude. Regular strength and flexibility training is also great for helping keep your posture in line and your mobility flexible, both of which are important factors to aging gracefully. 

Keep a Positive State of Mind

Your mind can be one of the weakest muscles in your body if you leave it to wander into negative feelings of self-doubt, self-defeat and low self-esteem. You can only experience true piece of mind when you learn to let go of the negative thoughts and influences in your life. To keep your mind free of negativity and full of youthfulness, take notice and appreciate all the little things in life. And, remember that age is only a number. You’re only as old as you think you are, so throwback your attitude to your earlier years when you found pleasure in the simpler things in life.

Take Time Out for Yourself

Whether you have children or not, adults are notorious for putting the needs of others before themselves in both personal and professional situations.  It is only a matter of time before you’ll experience total burnout if you don’t take time to focus on your own health and well-being. To be the best version of yourself for you, your family and your career, it’s important to designate regular time in your life that’s dedicated to refueling and reinvigorating your mind, body and soul. Regular massage therapy sessions are great times to do this as massage helps relax and repair your mind and body so you’re prepared to continue running strong  in all aspects of your life today and as you age. Let Jodi at Inner Focus Massage help you with some therapeutic “Me time”. Call for an appointment today 701-238-8257.

As the stress of work, family, relationships and personal obligations pile up, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything that goes on in your daily life. Before you know it, you can get caught up in a vicious cycle of negative feelings, habits and attitudes.

To keep your emotional and physical health grounded, it can be helpful to maintain a healthy perspective by focusing on daily therapeutic approaches that can lead to better overall health and well-being. Whether you’re a busy mom or a stressed-out executive, everyone can benefit from pushing out the unhealthy aspects of your life one day at a time with the following five therapeutic tips. 

Sweat It Out 

Sweating can be one of the most therapeutic remedies for relieving stress and tension while increasing energy levels and positive attitudes. But many people believe they need to set aside an hour every day for cardio or strength training workouts to get the best results.

When it comes to exercising for the purpose of relieving stress, just five to 10 minutes of any level of activity can do the trick.    Go for a 10-minute walk either outside or on the treadmill can be enough time to download your brain from a busy day and revitalize your spirits. 

Leave Out the Junk

Most people would agree that soda, chips, sugary treats and desserts can be classified as traditional junk food. But eating refined and processed foods is fueling your body with junk food as well.

As the old saying goes, “you get out what you put in.” So if you’re fueling your body with junk food, then you will more than likely experience unfavorable results both physically and mentally.

Food not only can affect how your body looks and feels, but it also can contribute to people’s stress and whether they can handle what comes their way during the day.

Breathe In and Out

Breathing is simple enough. You do it all day, every day without even thinking about it. But when you’re stressed or busy, your breathing patterns can become short and shallow, which can lead to tension from holding in your full breaths.

A good daily tension and stress release tactic is to take a minute or two out of your day to focus on deep breathing. If you work at a desk, it can be as easy as backing your chair up, putting your screensaver on, turning your phone off and just sitting quietly inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. 

Take Time Out for Yourself

The biggest excuse that most people lean on for not being able to live a therapeutic lifestyle is not having enough time during their busy days to focus on their personal health and well-being. In the grand scheme of life, though, if you want to start living a better one then you have to start taking five minutes for yourself every day.

 
Just like you spend a few minutes daily brushing your teeth, schedule a few minutes of downtime every night before you go to bed to wind down, drink a cup of tea and just let yourself go. Or before you get out of bed in the morning, snooze your alarm for an extra few minutes to stretch out your body from head to toe, take a few deep breaths and set your intentions for the day.

Taking these few minutes at the beginning and end of your day can lead to making a big difference in your overall approach and attitude toward all areas of your life. 

Daily therapeutics are not only good for promoting a healthy heart and soul internally.  Taking time for yourself can also carry over to being able to better handle external situations in your life like work, relationships and family.

Start out today taking five minutes to relax and rejuvenate your mind and body. It’ll only be a matter of time before you start feeling healthier and happier.

Another key to “taking care of yourself” could be regular massage. Call Jodi at Inner Focus Massage in south Fargo to schedule an appointment. Jodi is available at 701-238-8257.

If you’re looking for a good massage therapist, it’s important to find someone who is invested in getting to know the entirety of their clients and not just what hurts in the moment. A good therapist wants to know not only how a client feels mentally and physically at the time of the massage appointment, but also how they can help their clients move forward to accomplish their goals during and after the massage therapy session.  In order to give you the best massage experience that meets all of your needs medically, mentally and physically, Inner Focus Massage encourages its clients to discuss the following three areas with their therapists prior to receiving a therapeutic massage.

Medical History

Getting a massage is more than just rubbing a tight muscle here and there. Therapeutic massage is a non-invasive and drug-free approach to well-being based on the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Massage therapy addresses a variety of health conditions that range from stress-induced tension and sleep disorders to high blood pressure, diabetes, lower back pain, immunity suppression, spinal cord injury, post-operative care, age-related disorders, infertility, eating disorders, smoking cessation and depression.

Due to the power of massage to heal and restore your mind and body’s health and wellness, it’s important to disclose all of your medical history to your therapist before starting a session so that he or she can customize your massage experience. Prior to getting your first massage from a new therapist and every massage going forward should include a thorough dialogue between you and your therapist about current and past medical conditions.   

Current Medications

When you’re seeking a massage to relax and unwind your muscles and your mind, you may not think about the importance of letting your therapist know about prescription and over-the-counter medications that you take regularly. However, massage is such a circulatory process that can promote healing on even a cellular level that it’s important to disclose every medication or pain relievers that you may be taking. This critical information can help the therapist make sure that the bodywork he/she provides doesn’t interfere with the purpose of your medications.

Accidents and Injuries

Using massage therapy to encourage a more rapid healing process for existing injuries can be a powerful approach to rehabilitation and recovery. In these instances, therapists will want to know specifics about the pain you’re feeling and the details associated with the injuries so they can deliver the best massage experience to meet your goals. However, it’s also important to let therapists know about past injuries or accidents too so they can ensure to not aggravate the affected area.

Before getting a massage always take the time to discuss your medical history, medications and accidents or injuries with your massage therapist. Jodi at Inner Focus Massage is a true professional and can do a better job for you if you are open about what we have discussed in this blog. Call her for an appointment today at 701-238-8257.

Receiving a great massage that relaxes your mind, relieves tension from your muscles and rejuvenates your soul can have a lasting effect on your mind and body’s well-being. But, to continue getting the most out of your great massage experience well beyond your session, it can be helpful to adopt some of the following post-massage healthy habits.

Tip No. 1: Take Five

After your therapist leaves the room at the end of your massage, take your time getting off the table. Instead of jumping off the table and running back into the busy world, lie on the table quietly, take a few relaxing deep breaths and just enjoy some peaceful stillness for a few minutes.

Tip No. 2: Clear Your Calendar

If you jump back into your busy, hectic schedule following your massage appointment, you’re going to miss out on enjoying the lasting effects of relaxation and rejuvenation from your massage therapy session. Schedule some downtime following your massage where you can rest, relax and enjoy some quality time with yourself. Taking a nap, reading a book or visiting your favorite coffee shop are nice massage follow-up activities.

Tip No. 3: Drink Plenty of Water

Hydrating your muscles by drinking water after they’ve been worked on during your massage can further help to increase the benefits of bodywork. It’s also a good idea to avoid caffeinated drinks like coffee and tea following a massage, as these drinks can be counterproductive to your hydration efforts.

Tip No. 4: Soak Up the Relaxation

Some of the best homework following a massage to maintain your mind and body’s relaxed state is to take a warm Epsom salt bath. Soaking in Epsom salt water can help to enhance the release of tension and stress from your mind and body, as well as rejuvenate tired and overused muscles.

Tip No. 5: Refuel Your Body

After your muscles have been worked out and relieved of all their tension and stress, it’s important to refuel them with clean healthy food. Get the most out of your massage by feeding your body and muscles with nutrient-rich foods that combine a healthy mix of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, leafy greens and vegetables, and healthy fats.

If you’d like the benefits of an extraordinary massage, call Jodi at Inner Focus Massage today for an appointment. 701-238-8257 or for information, visit her website at InnerFocusMassage.com