The Gifts of the Fire Element
Mae Costello, L.Ac.
Summer is here, and with it come thoughts of the fire element. In Chinese medicine, the fire element corresponds to summertime, warmth and growth, and to laughter and a joyful emotional state. Fire creates movement that is dynamic and travels upward and outward. It provides heat and light, and is associated with playfulness, intimacy, connection and community.
According to Chinese physiology, the fire element is associated with the Heart. In this medical system, the functions of the Heart are to control blood circulation, support the health of the blood vessels, and maintain a healthy mental consciousness. The Heart accomplishes these functions by sustaining a vigorous, regular heartbeat. This sends blood and energy upward and outward through the vessels to nourish and warm the whole body. When the Heart’s energy, or Qi, is strong, the Heart is able to maintain a rhythmic beat, creating the smooth circulation of blood in the vessels to transport nutrients.
When Heart Qi is in balance one is filled with vital energy, reflects a rosy complexion, enjoys healthy circulation and warmth, and experiences a joyful emotional state. If Heart Qi falls out of balance, symptoms including fatigue, cold limbs, pale complexion, poor memory, sadness, insomnia, dream-disturbed sleep, night sweats, and anxiety may occur.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can restore the balance of the Heart’s energy to help you fully enjoy the summer and all the gifts of the fire element.
Thai Massage Stretches the Body and Mind and Spirit
Maree Natal Bento, LMT
Happy Summer! This might mean you are out of school, your kids are out of school and you are on vacation going hiking, biking and moving more! It's a great time to get your muscles stretched out and limber for all your summer activities. Imagine a massage where someone stretches you out from head to toe. All you have to do is lay there and receive. Well welcome to the wonderful world of Traditional Thai massage!! The healing art of Traditional Thai Yoga massage is an ancient system with roots in Yoga, Ayurvedic medicine and Buddhism. It is a powerful system of therapy that combines Yoga stretches, rhythmic massage, acupressure, energy work and meditation. Thai massage stretches and balances the entire body. Listed are the many benefits of Thai massage:
The Physical Benefits:
The Mental Benefits:
Let me share this ancient healing art with you! 10% off your first Thai Massage with me!
Maree Natal Bento, LMT#11534 | 503-803-3296 | mareenatal@gmail.com
It’s Summer! Time to Move Your Muscles… and Your Lymph!
Augusta Swift, N.D.
What is lymph? The lymphatic system is a complex system throughout your entire body that eliminates waste and supports the immune system. Many have noticed swollen lymph nodes in your neck when you have a cold. This system is actually spread throughout your entire body though and is part of the circulatory system.
Why is the lymphatic system important? The lymphatic system is how our blood detoxifies. The waste in our circulatory system is transferred to the lymphatic system to be circulated and eliminated. The lymphatic system is also where we make many immune modulators such as antibodies. If this system does not continue to circulate the waste from our blood and the immune cells, our body has a difficult time eliminating waste, inflammation occurs and our immune function is compromised.
The lymphatic fluid is part of the circulatory system but it does not have the heartbeat like the arteries to help it circulate. The lymphatic system is dependent on movement and muscular contractions for it to circulate and function optimally. Contraction and stretching of the muscles squeezes the lymphatic tissue and moves the lymph. As the lymph moves, immune cells become activated and waste is capable of circulating and ultimately being eliminated from the body. To support a healthy immune system and optimal elimination, movement is essential.
Ways for you to move your lymph:
Enjoy the beautiful summer weather by moving your body and also moving your lymph!
The Low Back
Kevin Colling, D.C.
The low back (lumbar spine) is perhaps the most dysfunctional and weakest musculoskeletal link in the body. It is one of the leading reasons for visits to the emergency room. And anyone who has had a bout of back pain will tell you it affects everything they do throughout the day. It is active in nearly every functional activity of the body and its proper function is integral to most of our movements in every day life.
Interestingly, the low back is rarely the first to move. If you take a swing in golf, first your arms move, then your upper back, and then your low back moves then hips. If you step forward and bend down to pick something up, first your foot moves then your leg and hip then your sacroiliac joint and then your low back moves. This is a very important point, because the low back relies on proper communication from the rest of the body in order to function properly. Thus, any therapy for low back pain should integrate the rest of the body and promote proper communication between the low back and the upper and lower body.
What does communication to the low back mean? It means the ability to transfer triplane (sagittal, frontal and transverse) motion into triplane stability. The low back is designed to move really well in the front to back motions (sagittal plane); it has some movement in the side to side (frontal plane motion) and very little motion in rotation (transverse plane). The limitation in rotation allows the lumbar spine to be stable enough to transfer rotational motion between the upper and lower body. As a practitioner I consider how the body functions in its transformational zones between two stages of motion. The load and the unload. Loading is the preparation for a movement. The unload is performance of a specific movement. Let’s look at an example.
I recently treated a person who was training for her first marathon that was to take place in 3 weeks. She had been having right low back pain for the last 2 months of her training and had just recently started to get right knee pain and swelling. She was unable to run or even go from sitting to standing without pain.
I started her evaluation by observing her walk. I immediately noticed that she walked on the outside of her right foot, her right foot turned out more than the left and her heel came off the ground early. My next step was to get more specific and see how her right foot moved in all three planes of motion and when she was doing a balance reach exercise she lacked balance in the frontal and transverse planes. In response to this unbalance she said, “I do remember spraining my ankle about a year ago”. Next I assessed her hip function on the TrueStretch which allowed for a stable environment to look at triplane motion. It quickly became evident that she lacked sagittal, and more importantly, transverse plane motion of her right hip. “Yeah, but what does this have to do with my back”, she asked me. Next I set out to re-gain motion in her right ankle and hip by facilitating these motions in a pain-free range of motion and then I followed up with triplane functional lunges to activate some sleeping muscles. Within one and a half weeks, this patient was back to pain-free running.
Although the patient’s original complaint was right low back pain and knee pain, I believe the true cause of pain and dysfunction was rooted in the foot/ankle and hip. Since the low back only has a nominal amount of rotation to begin with, there is not much it can do to compensate for lack of motion in other parts of the body. Therefore those restricted parts of the body must be evaluated and treated in order to have a truly successful and lasting resolution of back pain.