How Stress Affects Your Life

Are you often cranky, lethargic, irritable and unhappy? Do you have consistent headaches, neck pain, tense shoulders and tired back muscles? If this describes your normal disposition then you more than likely are feeling the effects of living an all-too-common stressed-out lifestyle. If you don’t start taking steps to break down the stress in your life soon, then it can ultimately lead to breaking you down both mentally and physically.

Physical Stress Cramps Your Body
One of the most popular places for stress to set up camp is in the neck and back areas. One of the biggest culprits for physical stress is constantly sitting in front of the computer and plugging in to electronic devices.

Whether it’s for our jobs or not, we are horribly addicted to sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time. Keep a timer by their desk and set it for the top of the hour. When the timer goes off, get up, walk around and take a much-needed break.

By sitting too long with your neck and shoulders hunched toward a screen, stress solidifies in your neck and back muscles leading to headaches, pains and strains. Physical stress from sitting and staring at a computer also can show itself in your body in the short term by affecting your lower back, legs, feet and eyes. When ignored or prolonged, physical soreness and stiffness in these areas can lead to arthritis, loss of motion and muscle fatigue. Get your blood flowing and moving throughout your body, especially through your legs and feet if you sit all day for your job.

After a long day of working in the office or the home, relieve daily muscle strain and tension by incorporating the following at-home stress remedies to close out your day.

Rub a frozen water bottle along the bottom of your feet. Releasing pressure points in your feet is a good way to help release stress.
Massage the top and back of your legs to get circulation moving when you have your legs propped up to watch your favorite television show.
Rub a tennis ball along your neck, shoulder blades and spine before bed to help loosen common tight and tense muscles due to stress.
Mental Stress Messes with your Mood and Body

Heated discussions with family or co-workers, long to-do lists and an overscheduled lifestyle might be business as usual in your daily life, but all of the individual pressures you face each day can quickly pile up into a huge heap of mental stress. Mental stress tends to show itself in your attitude toward yourself and others, as well as the way you communicate and interact with the people around you. It also can affect your body physically by flaring up muscle tension in your neck, shoulder blades and at the temples of your forehead. In the long term, mental stress can lead to insomnia, ulcers, internal organ issues, depression and anxiety.

Healthy Lifestyles Stress the Importance of Taking Care of Yourself

Ultimately, it is up to you whether you are going to be a victim of stress or if you are going to take the proper steps to break its vicious cycle. The first step to winning the fight is to take responsibility for the stress in your life and become accountable for minimizing it. The simple act of taking time out for yourself on a regular basis can lead to making big strides toward living a healthy and stress-free lifestyle. By taking a break on a regular basis, you are making it a point to step away from your hectic life, even if it’s just for a few minutes, to relax and release built-up tension.

Try to implement the following regular habits into your lifestyle to begin the process of taking care of and time out for yourself.

Get out and walk around the block each morning or night to move the muscles in your body and get away from the world. Turn off your phone and just tune into taking time for yourself both mentally and physically.

Leave stress from your job at the office by not bringing work home. At the end of each day, write a list of everything you want to focus on for the following day and leave it on your desk. This can help minimize worrying about work situations during your off hours.

Schedule regular massage therapy sessions to heal and repair your body by relaxing your muscles and mind. When the body is massaged, it stimulates the release of chemicals in the brain that can help reduce stress and anxiety.

Get on a path to a healthier, happy lifestyle by breaking the pattern of a stressed-out existence. Replace the people and things that are stressing you out with activities and habits that support taking time out for yourself and regularly releasing the tension that builds up throughout your day.

Massage not only relaxes, but also works to stimulate, condition and heal the body. It is important to remember that one massage is not going to restore the body to a natural state and Therapeutic Massage should be integrated as part of a wellness program.

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, each massage is individually customized to best fit your health and wellness regimen. Contact our studio to book an appointment with one of our specialists.

Getting Comfortable with Physical Touch

When you see two people walking down the street hand-in-hand, it evokes feelings of love and devotion. When someone embraces you into a bear hug or places their hand on your shoulder during a difficult time, you feel their acceptance and support without them saying a word. The simple act of touch can convey so many emotions between people; however, all societies aren’t always comfortable with using this type of communication.

Throughout the world, the level of acceptable touch varies between cultures. If you travel to Europe, for example, people touch more often on a day-to-day basis by hugging and kissing each other on the cheek when simply greeting each other. On the other hand, residents of countries such as Japan typically welcome each other without touching one another, but by instead bowing.

Reaching Out to Others

Physical contact with others is a natural need for human beings that often can get overlooked in today’s busy, always-on-the-go society where people can hide or get stuck behind screens and usernames. Unlike any other time in history, you can easily be connected via technology to anyone in the world. But, the simple act of communicating and staying in touch with the friends and family members in your neighborhood is becoming more difficult.

By simply reaching out for a hug, tapping someone on the back or introducing yourself with a handshake, you can quickly make a lasting impression and connection with people you come in contact with on a daily basis.

Whether you’re connecting with friends and family or running a business, it’s important to reach out to one another to not only make a personal connection, but to show gratitude and that you care. When clients walk into Saham’s studio, she makes it a point to get up and walk around the front desk to welcome everyone to the studio by shaking their hand. This seemingly simple act makes a big difference in creating a warm and inviting atmosphere at her business.

Healing Through Touch

The power of touch can be one of the most effective tools for relieving muscular and emotional pains. Many of us use touch every day to help ourselves and others feel better, even if we don’t realize it. For example, it’s a natural instinct to rub your neck without thinking about it you’ve sat for too long or are feeling stressed. Or, if you are studying with a friend, you may ask them to rub a knot out of your neck to release tension.

When children have tummy aches, it’s a natural reaction for parents to rub their stomachs to comfort them. Rubbing your children’s back to help them relax and fall asleep is also a common bedtime routine for parents. And, the simple act of patting someone on the back when telling them they did a great job can make your praise more genuine and meaningful.

Understanding Personal Space

Everyone needs a different level of personal space in their lives and is comfortable with different levels of touch and communication. The important thing is to realize what works for you and not feel bad if it’s not the same as others in your family or your community. When life gets hectic and you feel like you need some personal space, simply make an announcement to your friends or family that you need to take a few minutes for yourself and will rejoin them shortly.

Depending on your level of comfort, make it a point today to connect with someone in your life through the simple act of holding their hand, patting them on their back or giving them a hug. Actions can speak much louder than words so embrace the powerful energy of touch to communicate with your friends, family and loved ones.

Massage not only relaxes, but also works to stimulate, condition and heal the body. It is important to remember that one massage is not going to restore the body to a natural state and Therapeutic Massage should be integrated as part of a wellness program.

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, each massage is individually customized to best fit your health and wellness regimen. Contact our studio to book an appointment with one of our specialists.

Dress for Better Health

Fashionable or functional? Color that pops or blends? Comfortable material or eye-catching? Every day you stand in front of the clothes lining your closet faced with the important decision of picking the best outfit to flatter your figure, give you the attitude you need to succeed and provide the image you would like to portray to the public.

What you wear from head to toe can be one of the biggest influences on your daily mood, body posture and alignment. The following tips can help you pick outfits and accessories to reflect your personality, as well as dress you for better health.

Running Around in Heels and Sneakers
Wearing high heels with your favorite cocktail dress may make you feel more confident in a group of people and help you see eye-to-eye with all of the guests. But the damage to your body associated with squishing your toes into a narrow box and putting extra weight on the balls of your feet all day and night can have lasting effects. Even the sneakers you wear to workouts and the sandals you sport to run errands can put your feet in a bind if your shoes are old, worn out or don’t have adequate arch support to fit your foot’s structure.

Wearing shoes without arch support – whether it’s flip flops or stilettos – can lead to painful, throbbing feet at the end of the night, as well as cause pain and discomfort in your calf muscles, knee joints and hips. It’s important to add footwear into your wardrobe that is not only fitted appropriately to your foot – arch, size and width – but also helps to promote healthy balance and alignment for all areas your body. Dress your feet for style and health by picking shoes that mix fashion sense with support.

Lugging Around Handbags and Wallets
As you move up your body, other common areas that can be stressed by the outfit accessories you choose are the shoulders and hips. When you are accessorizing your outfit with jewelry, it is important to steer clear from heavy earrings and necklaces that can weigh down your head and neck. Carrying a heavy purse, handbag or briefcase day-in and day-out also can strain your shoulder and neck muscles as you lug around electronics, books, baby items and cosmetics in your on-the-go bag. Men who carry heavy wallets in the back pocket of their pants can cause undo stress on their hips and lower back, as well.

Reducing the weight of your load, carrying your purse on both sides of your body and using a briefcase/work bag with a two-strap system can help with keeping your body more inline and in balance as you travel through your day.

Putting on Some Color
Picking the right colors and dressing up an outfit with the right combination of glitz and glam can make or break the image you are trying to portray through your wardrobe. According to Psychology Today, the colors you choose have a lot to say about your personality and image. Take a look at what your favorite colors might be saying about you.

Black : Artistic, Sensitive, Careful with Details, Doesn’t Share Easily
White: Organized, Logical, Clutter-Free Living
Blue: Harmony, Reliable, Sensitive, Thoughtful, Tidy
Green: Affectionate, Loyal, Frank
Yellow: Learner, Knowledge Sharer, Easily Happy
Purple: Artistic, Unique, Great Respect for People
Red: Tenacious, Determined, Live Life to the Fullest
Brown: Reliable, Dependable, Stable, Good Friend
As you pick out your wardrobe tomorrow morning, choose an outfit that not only makes you feel happy and confident but also promotes comfort and health for your body. Clothes don’t necessarily make you the person who you are on the inside, but they can have a great effect on the message you are communicating about yourself and the strain you are putting on your body. Dress well for your personality and your health.

Massage not only relaxes, but also works to stimulate, condition and heal the body. It is important to remember that one massage is not going to restore the body to a natural state and Therapeutic Massage should be integrated as part of a wellness program.

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, each massage is individually customized to best fit your health and wellness regimen. Contact our studio to book an appointment with one of our specialists.

Navigating Pain

The journey to alleviating pain can be a long road if you solely focus on where your pain is rather than determining the actual source of your discomfort. To help you chart a course to a more pain-free lifestyle, we break down the three most common pain areas in the body and provides pointers for finding relief and relaxation. It might surprise you that when using massage to address nagging, painful areas, massage therapists may not necessary focus their efforts on where you feel the pain.

Pain Point: Neck and Shoulders
Sitting in front of a computer for hours at a time, reading books or playing games on electronic devices and commuting for long periods of time each day can wreak havoc on the muscles in your neck and shoulder area. To help minimize the physical stress and strain your neck and shoulder areas experience on a daily basis, Stuard encourages you to put a picture of something you love on the ceiling above your computer desk so that you have a reason to look up and change your body’s position regularly during your workday. She also suggests drinking water continually throughout the day to not only promote healthy hydration, circulation and mental clarity, but also to provide regular opportunities throughout the day to get up out of your seat to go to the bathroom.

Both of these lifestyle habits can help encourage you to take breaks throughout the day, change your posture, stretch and move around to keep muscles loose and limber.

When your neck and shoulder muscles are screaming with pain, though, our first instinct isn’t necessarily to massage the pain point. Since the muscles in the body are similar to a pulley system that tugs and pulls, sore muscles in the back of your neck and shoulder blade area can actually be the result of tight pectoral muscles on the front side of your body. Tight pectoral muscles can pull your shoulders and neck into an unfavorable forward position, resulting in tightly fatigued and sore neck and shoulder muscles. By massaging tight and contracted pectoral muscles, you are releasing the tension that may be causing your neck and shoulder pain.

Pain Point: Lower Back
When you lift a heavy box and feel a spark of pain radiate through your lower back, your first reaction is to grab your back and start massaging the area in pain. The root cause of lower back pain, though, can actually be tight leg muscles in some cases that are pulling on the hips and triggering the pain you feel in your back. To break up this chain reaction of pain, it can be most effective to start with deeply massaging your tight leg muscles, moving up to your hips and finishing off with a gentler, light massage on the lower back muscles.

Pain Point: Heel and Foot
A common pain point for active people, especially runners, is in the heel area of the foot. Often referred to as plantar fasciitis, this debilitating heel pain can often sideline runners for extended periods of time, especially if they are focusing solely on healing their foot. Many times, the root cause of foot and heel pain can be tight Achilles tendon and calf muscles that are intensely pulling and shooting pain downward. Consistently stretching your calves, staying active, wearing supportive footwear, and massaging your lower legs, ankles and feet on a regular basis can help put you on the right path to pain-free living.

Awareness of your body and the trigger points associated with common areas of pain are critical elements to diagnosing and healing your body’s aches and pains. Combining a healthy and active lifestyle with regular massage therapy sessions can help keep you on the road to living a pain-free and rejuvenated lifestyle.

Massage not only relaxes, but also works to stimulate, condition and heal the body. It is important to remember that one massage is not going to restore the body to a natural state and Therapeutic Massage should be integrated as part of a wellness program.

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, each massage is individually customized to best fit your health and wellness regimen. Contact our studio to book an appointment with one of our specialists.

Real Men, Real Massage

Massage sometimes can get a bad rap as being only for women and not something that strong, professional and rugged men can benefit from. The truth of the matter is, though, that real men know that massage can be the secret weapon for successful careers, family life and sports competitions.

Get into the game of life by working hard, playing hard and making massage a part of your masculine lifestyle.

Real Men: Live to Compete
Massage can be a real game-changer for men both professionally and competitively. To stay on top of the game in your career, massage increases circulation throughout your body, helping increase mental acuity and alertness. Massage also can help you get a leg up in sports competitions by helping you work through injuries and physical ailments such as tendonitis, muscle strains and tension.

Just as you have to train your muscles to compete in an endurance event, you have to continually retrain your muscles to relax and repair for the best performance results and mental strength.

Real Men: Don’t Get Sucker Punched by Stress
A stereotypical “real man” is cool, calm and collected in the face of adversity and when presented with a work or life challenge. But, when you dig deeper past the surface, you will find that men carry the weight of a lot of life’s stresses. Working late to close a big deal, accumulating thousands of frequent flyer miles traveling for business trips, coaching your kid’s little league team, being there for your spouse and squeezing in time at the gym can all be sources of stress for men in today’s society.

Stress can cripple your mood and attitude by making you feel irritable and tired. While blowing off steam with a high-intensity bike ride or punching bag session can lighten your mood, it also can be helpful to slow down, take a break and relax. Don’t let stress sideswipe you with negative feelings. Instead, knock out the opponent with the power of massage.

Real Men: Make it a Habit
Humans are creatures of habit and men are no exception. If you make it a habit to bottle up all of your stress and ignore nagging aches and pains in your muscles, your body will eventually break down. If you want to stay active in the fast lane of life, then you have to schedule regular pit stops to refuel and re-energize your mind and body.

Your speedster sports car or rugged off-road Jeep both need regular oil changes and maintenance appointments for the best performance, just as you need regular maintenance appointments to keep your mind and body running strong. You get your vehicle’s oil changed every few thousand miles to flush out the gunk and grime that accumulates after hundreds of hours on the road. After hundred of hours of working in an office, competing on a field or meeting with customers, your body needs to flush out all of the toxins and stress that builds up from your daily activities. Make it a habit to schedule regular massage sessions to maintain a fine-tuned mind and body.

It is time to trade in your stressed-out and muscle-tension lifestyle for a more relaxed, high-performing one. When you are in a less stressful state of mind, you can be there more for the important people in your life and deal better with the curve balls you are thrown in your career and family life.

Massage not only relaxes, but also works to stimulate, condition and heal the body. It is important to remember that one massage is not going to restore the body to a natural state and Therapeutic Massage should be integrated as part of a wellness program.

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, each massage is individually customized to best fit your health and wellness regimen. Contact our studio to book an appointment with one of our specialists.

Recover from Summer Travels

The travel season is in full swing with summer vacations, family reunions and cross-country road trips filling up your personal calendar. While you’re off enjoying beach houses, monuments, national parks and prime summer destinations it’s important to be mindful of the toll vacationing can take on your mind and body.

To help reduce the mental and physical stress associated with this year’s traveling season, incorporate the following tips into your itinerary for overall health and wellness during your trip.

Melt Away Mental Stress
From the time a vacation is confirmed on your calendar to when you arrive home with piles of dirty laundry and memories to last a lifetime, summer vacations can mentally tax you and your family. To help minimize vacation stress, make a concentrated effort to relax by adopting a flexible attitude that embraces the unexpected events that can surface during your trip.

Make it a point during your vacation to schedule relaxation and rejuvenation time for both you and your family. Whether it’s a quiet walk on the beach with your spouse, watching the sunset on your patio or enjoying a dip in your hotel hot tub, making a point to slow down and enjoy the simple parts of your trip can make a world of difference to your mental health.

Relieve Physical Tension
Your body can take quite a beating during a long summer trip, especially if you spend hours driving cross country or jet setting internationally. The most common areas of your body that can experience physical tension and strain from traveling include:

Neck and Shoulders: Driving long distances with your hands in the two and ten position, sleeping with your head leaning on the window, and bunking up in different beds and pillows during your trip can lead to kinks and stiffness in your neck and shoulder area. To help minimize soreness during your travels, make sure to adjust your seat height and distance from the steering wheel to a comfortable level, take deep breaths throughout your trip to relax your shoulders, and schedule regular pit stops along your route to loosen the tension in your upper and lower body from sitting for long periods of time. Traveling with your own pillow also can make a big difference for providing neck support as a passenger in a car/airplane, as well as help to improve your sleep during your trip.

Feet: Whether your travel plans include sightseeing by foot to all of the area’s landmarks or playing in the ocean and running around the beach area, your feet can quickly become tired and sore. Regular foot massages relieve the daily stress that can accumulate in your feet. If you don’t have someone to massage your feet for you, make sure to pack a golf ball in your travel bag. You can rub a golf ball back and forth under your foot to release tension and relieve soreness from walking a lot during your vacation.

Legs: If you are stuck in a car or airplane seat for an extended period of time and an opportunity to get up and move around is nowhere in sight, you can help alleviate leg pain by simply pointing your toes down to the ground and then lifting or flexing them upward. Repeating this point and flex motion over the course of your trip can help to improve the blood circulation throughout your legs.
Make it a point this summer to have a travel experience that is more relaxing, enjoyable and memorable than ever before. By packing a more flexible attitude and being mindful of your body throughout your trip, you will be well on your way to a great summer vacation.

Massage not only relaxes, but also works to stimulate, condition and heal the body. It is important to remember that one massage is not going to restore the body to a natural state and Therapeutic Massage should be integrated as part of a wellness program.

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, each massage is individually customized to best fit your health and wellness regimen. Contact our studio to book an appointment with one of our specialists

Massage Modalities

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, we take pride in our therapists and the expertise they bring. We focus on the following therapeutic methods, although they make up only a portion of what our highly skilled therapists are trained in. We will be continuing to add more in-depth articles through our blog each month.

Deep Tissue Massage: Working on loosening stressed muscles, Deep Tissue Massage can do more for the body than relaxation alone. It can also be helpful in the elimination of scar tissue by breaking up the tissue and increasing blood circulation to the area to help restore your movement. Through stretching of muscles to release tension, Deep Tissue Massage helps encourage the body to return to its natural state of alignment, helping to improve posture.

Hot Stone Massage: This cold day favorite massage technique can help combat negative effects that cooler temperatures can take on your body by warming your muscles and your mind from the inside out. Hot Stone Massage enhances a regular massage by incorporating hot stones on specific trigger points throughout your body easing muscle tension without deep pressure.

Prenatal Massage: Beginning in any stage of pregnancy Prenatal Massage is used to alleviate the main ailments of pregnancy; decreased circulation, joint pain, and muscle fatigue. During pregnancy there are specific points to avoid for health reason and Prenatal massages is always customized to the individual. Our therapists understand the effects of the hormone relaxing which enables muscles, ligaments, and cartilage to stretch and the care that needs to be taken to avoid overstretching. Given the physical and mental benefits associated with Pre-Natal massages and acknowledging this special time in your life, we encourage you to discuss massage with your prenatal care provider prior to adding it to your prenatal program.

Sports Massage: Highlighted for athletes, Therapeutic Sports Massage is also beneficial to anyone in an exercise program. From preparing muscles for training and optimal performance to recovering from an athletic event, Therapeutic Sports Massage can help prevent minor issues that prevent and derail exercise programs.

Trigger Point Massage: Best for Highly localized ‘knots’ where the body holds tension.

Swedish Massage: Relaxation massage for stress relief and a good ‘first’ massage modality, Swedish Massage can start helping through the decreased stress build-up of our daily lives. Our mental well-being is just as important as our physical well-being and reducing the stress in our lives have an overall positive impact on our overall well-being.

Additional Modalities:

TMJ Massage: Temporomandibular Joint dysfunctions or any disorders of the jaw have been referred to as TMJ syndrome and include, but are not limited to, locking of the jaw, inability to cloth the mouth comfortable, clipping, headaches and pain in the neck, shoulder and back. While not the primary cause, a reduction in stress and relaxation of muscles can improve TMJ symptoms. TMJ Massage pinpoints affected muscles in the jaw to help stretch and relax the muscles to promote proper realignment of the jaw bones to relieve the effects of TMJ.

Lymph Drainage Massage: Also known as Lymphatic Massage, Lymph Drainage Massage works to increase the level of production in the lymph system helping in the removal of toxins. The lymphatic system works to help cleanse and filter out toxins and bacteria from the body. When not working correctly, frequent colds and flu infections, headaches and migraines, joint paint, loss of appetite and depression can all occur. Lymph Drainage Massage can also be helpful in edema, sports injury, lack of energy or those suffering from a sluggish immune system.

Chair Massage: Chair massage can help give the body relief from the physical and mental stresses of everyday life. Providing your mind and body with a chance to unwind, massage has also been shown to increase serotonin levels which, in turn reduce the chances and effects of depression.

Arthritis Massage: Specialized Arthritis Massage can provide general pain relief, relax stiff, sore muscles and help reduce inflammation and swelling of the joints. Arthritis Massage can increase circulation, helping to remove toxic build up in joints, a contributing factor to Arthritis. Arthritis Massage requires a specialized technique that needs to be done by an experienced therapist and with a lot of communication so different techniques can be used with inflamed joints.

Fibromyalgia Massage: Therapeutic Massage has been used to; increase blood circulation in muscles to promote faster muscle repair, produce increased stimulation of oxygen supply to needed cells, and release toxic waste products from the tissues into the circulatory system. People with Fibromyalgia can benefit from reduced pain, stiffness, stress and depression, and improve sleep patterns associated with Therapeutic Massage.

Therapeutic Effects of Massage

Incorporating Therapeutic Massage into a balanced health and wellness program can be beneficial for overall health. One of the oldest healing arts, massage dates back to B.C. times in the Orient. Today, Therapeutic Massage is now accepted as part of many physical rehabilitation programs worldwide for symptoms as diverse as Arthritis, Diabetes, and Insomnia as well as many more.

The effects and benefits of Therapeutic Massage are both physical and emotional.  Through the physical contact of Therapeutic Massage, clients have experienced increased joint flexibility, stretching weak or tightened muscles, increased circulation through muscle activity and reduced pain. Emotional effects and benefits of massage have been seen through the relaxation of the entire body; reducing stress, reducing blood pressure, relief of anxiety and depression as well as the release of vital endorphins into the body.

The physical and emotional effects of massage work together to help influence a faster recovery from ailments and discomfort by targeting not one particular area, but the overall body as it works together as a whole.

At Elements Therapeutic Massage Costa Mesa, each massage is individually customized to best fit your health and wellness regimen. Contact us to book an appointment with one of our specialists.