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Cool Down with Yoga

As July comes to an end, what ways have you found to keep cool this month? As you focus in on self, self care and keeping cool in the hot summer months, think yoga. Yoga helps with blood flow, breathing and self awareness, so what better way to cool down. I find for myself being a a pitta dosha(Ayurveda constitution that typically runs hot) that yoga with a heart centering and grounding focus helps to keep my mind and body calm helping me feel cooler.  Poses that are helpful for cooling would be child's pose, mountain, cat cow, downward dog, warrior 1(or side angle), and so many more. Finding a pose that works not only for your body type, but for the season will help you to stay cool and balanced. Explore a yoga class, or look for more information for pitta, heart centering or cooling yoga. Learning to work with your body and the many ways to cool down the body will help with the seasonal changes.

Keep your head Cool

As we focus on keeping the body cool this summer, lets talk about that scalp! In the hot summer months keeping cool can sometimes be a challenge, and keeping a cool head can be an even bigger challenge. If your anything like me, I get a hot head, and face(to much pitta dosha) and its hard to keep it cool. But with a few tricks, you can make it easier. I work a lot with clients that come in for stress, headaches, hair-loss,TMJ, and more that need a focus from the shoulders up. One thing I do, is blend together a herbal oil to help, whether we need to stimulate or cool down the scalp to relieve tension. In Ayurveda we have many tools to cool the body, so why not cool the head. Some of my simple oils:Blend coconut oil with rosewater and maybe a drop of lavender essential oil to cool and relax then massage into the scalp with a circulatory motion. I also like to apply a small amount of aloe to the center point(crown charka) in the heat of summer to bring the cooling in fast. Make ...

Herbalized Water

Create your own Flavored Water July is a great time to explore with your cooling summer drinks: I like to start with a large mason jar, drop in sliced: cucumber lemon and mint Fill with water, and place in the frig overnight, the next morning you have a great herbalized water for cooling and detoxifying . Try: Lemon balm and mint - cooling and calming, I also like to play around with Strawberry and rosemary or Watermelon and ginger. Try your own combinations of herbalized water, let me know what you like to add to your water. Have fun and stay hydrated this summer                                                                                                               ...

Essential Oils for Allergies

Allergies can be difficult for many people to deal with, so finding ways to relive some so the symptoms is one way to deal with the discomfort. One way we find relief form allergies is through a few simple steps that we add to our daily routine. 1tsp raw honey with turmeric and black pepper honey works as a cleaning agent to the body, so as it moves through the system it picks up things and carries them through( like pollen's, dirt)  to helps eliminate them black pepper and turmeric work together, the black pepper activates the turmeric and the body, while the turmeric is an anti-inflammatory agent for the body. Allergies cause discomfort equaling inflammation that will result in puffy eyes, stuffy nose, etc. Essential oil diffuser I take a blend of peppermint, lemon and lavender essential oils and add to my diffuser at home and will run at night to help clear the air, leaving smelling fresh and opening my sinus passages. I will also do a second blend of the pe...

Thai Foot Massage

Thai Foot Massage becoming my clients favorite healing tool. I love sharing different techniques with my clients, and their is nothing better then finding just the right combination for and with your client. I am continually learning different ways to work with issues, such as headaches, stress reduction, low back pain right down to anxiety. Every client is different, so, each combination of treatments can be different. I start by checking in with you, what are your goals, what brought you to me for body-work,then onto  health forms a few questions and from their we see what will work best for you. After a while you know what treatment combination you like, and as we continue to adjust over time , weather it be oils, essential oils, herbs, teas, right down to maybe a different combination of body-work. One combination that has become a favorite of quite a few of my clients is a massage,  followed by a Thai Foot massage. A Thai foot massage can be very deep, work...

Nettles and the many ways we use them at Metta Wellness

Yes, I love Nettle, and as you see I  featured them last week in my teas:  Blueberry Nettle and Nettle with Rose-hip and Cinnamon chip. Both have the nourishment that we need in the change of season and are a great source of vit.C, not to mention they taste great. You will also find nettle in my massage oil for the head and scalp massage(helps wake up the scalp while nourishing the pores, this oil is made right at Metta Wellness), along with my muscle oil for the Ayurvedic treatment Kati Basti.   Not sure what an Ayurvedic Kati Basti is? Start off with an Abhyanga or a warm oil application, wrapped in warm towels you will rest while the oils soak into the area or areas that we are working.This treatment can be done on the low back, neck area, stomach and yes even for the eyes(different oils are used for the eye treatment), each one has its own herbalized oils that I make here at Metta Wellness, your oil could have up to 20 different herbs that ...

Spring Cleanse Tea

Yes here we are, between winter cold and wet damp Spring. As the weather starts to change this is the time to prepare the body and mind for the spring. A great way to do this is with a gentle cleanse. I like to start with teas, then add in daily massage(I do garshana then abhyanga), this wakes up the system while starting to clean out the old. This is also the time that I slowly decrease any bad habits that I have picked up over the long winter months, mine would be lack of my yoga practice and coffee. So as the weather is changing, I slow down on my coffee intake, and add in yoga, while eating warm nourishing foods with herbs that my body needs along with cleansing teas.                                    Look for  Metta Wellness  for massage and body-work, and now  Metta Wellness Herbals  for your blends of our in-house teas, oils and salves. The products and body-wor...