Trauma support and name change

Exciting things are happening at Midvalley Massage and Hypnotherapy (previously known as Enlighten Massage Therapy)

I have always, ALWAYS had a passion for helping people. Even growing up, my best friend and I started talking in 3rd grade, because she was the new girl in school and I offered her some of my lunch when she didn’t have any, I have always been the first to help when someone needs something! I was going to school for Psychology when I found massage, do not get confused, I do not have a psychology degree and do not treat or diagnose any mental health disorders, what I do is support SYMPTOMS of anxiety, trauma, and grief.

Having gone through trauma myself and to a psychotherapist, I understand the direct effect that your mental health can have on your body, physically. Some examples of these symptoms can include, but are not limited to: clenched jaw, tight upper back, neck, and shoulders, headaches (migraine or tension), low back and hip pain due to tight hip flexors, and really, just general tension due to the inability to relax. I address these concerns through manual massage, relaxation techniques using lighter pressure modalities, and will soon be adding hypnotherapy into the mix. I am so excited to bring my passions together and help those of you struggling with these symptoms!

With a new focus, comes a new name! Enlighten Massage Therapy was not aligning with what I do. It sounds new-age-y and like I do energy work. Let me explain, ALL Massage Therapists do energy work, some of us do not address it directly, though and I did not want to confuse anyone. Plus, I wanted to add Hypnotherapy to my name. My office is located in Salt Lake Valley and the exact area is considered the "Midvalley” of Salt Lake. Thus, Midvalley Massage and Hypnotherapy was born!

Thank you for being here! If you are reading this, you get the first glance at my exciting relaunch offer!

I am looking for a few people to give me feedback on some new massage therapy treatments I’m developing, specifically for the relief of syptoms of anxiety or PTSD.

I’m offering a huge discount on three sessions (one 60 min and two 30 min sessions.) - normally $195, but I am offering it at $99 (a $96 savings!) for those who are willing to help me refine these treatments. You must be able to come to my office in Holladay, Utah at least 2 times in the next 2 weeks, and you must be someone who is currently experiencing symptoms of anxiety or PTSD.

If you or someone you know meets the criteria, please contact me ASAP for more details and to sign up. I’m limiting this to TEN people only. Please copy/paste or share with anyone you know who qualifies and may be interested!

Thank you for your help!
Katie Wininger, LMT
(801) 592-6588
katie@midvalleymassage.com

CBD and Food Addiction

Our ancestors relied on “food addiction” to survive. Well, Kind of. Our bodies are designed to release feel-good hormones (dopamine and serotonin) in the event of eating carbohydrates, fat, salt, and sugar. This is because these types of “high energy” foods were not easily accessible during the Paleolithic period but they were necessary to survival. So, when you came across a berry bush (carbohydrate) with high sugar content, it would spike your feel-good hormones, causing you to want more of them, in turn giving you more energy to hunt and make it through the winter.

In the year 2020, we have Carbohydrates, fat, salt, sugar, etc. all bundled up in pretty little packages at the grocery store to buy whenever we would like them. This, along with our body’s natural reaction to these kinds of food, cause us to eat more than we should, crave the foods when we don’t have them, and gain weight. So, how do you stop these cravings from happening once in the vicious cycle? Dwight Christie with GreenDoor Health says CBD is the answer!

I invited Dwight to be on the Stealth Health Podcast this past week to talk about the way his clients implement CBD into their routine to help balance hormones to reduce cravings. Many of his clients have had amazing results with his program and implementing his products. Listen to the episode here:

https://anchor.fm/stealth-health/episodes/Episode-2-CBD-and-Food-Addiction-with-Dwight-Christie-emiebo/a-a3s3pq6

You can find Dwight and his products at GreenDoorHW.com

CBD has many health benefits, I use it in massage to help eliminate inflammation and to relax the muscles faster. If you would like to experience GreenDoor’s CBD Freeze Cream in all of it’s glory before purchasing, book a CBD massage with me today!

Anxiety or Excitement? Your brain doesn't know the difference.

Heart racing, sweaty palms, heightened senses, rapid breathing, feeling jittery/nervous. These are the symptoms of an adrenaline rush, which pumps through your system when you are scared, but also when you are excited! So, how do you trick your brain into thinking that this isn’t anxiety, but rather just excitement?

Picture this; You are about to board a plane, you keep thinking about everything that could go wrong, while watching the pilot run from one plane to the next, wondering if all of the mechanics were checked or if he has time to double check everything in the cabin. (He does, by the way, they can’t fly until they have everything on their checklist checked off, but your anxious brain doesn’t stop to think about any of that.) So, you set yourself into a panic, “What happens if the plane goes down? What happens if a wing falls off” -I know, I know, a little irrational. At this point, your brain doesn’t have anything to work with to calm down. You are in a panic because of things that might happen, so until you land, you will stay in that panicked state. That doesn’t sound like a very fun flight, does it?

Your brain doesn’t know the difference between panic and excitement, it just knows something is happening and it needs to release the hormone. Here is the hard part; after your brain releases adrenaline, it tries to figure out what the threat is so it knows whether to run, stay and fight, or determine that we are, in fact, safe. With an anxiety disorder, there is rarely a trigger for anxiety, it usually occurs for no reason. Therefore you stay with your anxiety, because your brain doesn’t know if you are safe or not when it can’t identify the threat.

Instead of thinking of everything that could go wrong and thinking about how nervous you are, why don’t you try telling yourself, “I am so excited to get to Hawaii to see the ocean and play with dolphins”. Your mind will then focus on that positive and assume the adrenaline rush was from your excitement to swim in the ocean and not at all about the flight, so from here, you will forget about your nervousness. You will be excited to fly, because you can’t get to Hawaii unless you do. This is called anxiety retraining, if you do it enough, anytime you get on a plane, you will feel excitement instead of dread.

This concept was introduced to me by Mel Robins in her book, The 5 Second Rule, and it is honestly life changing.

Do you know what else can help calm your nervous system? Massage. That’s right, one of the many benefits of massage is to help the brain relax and stop thinking about everything that can go wrong. Give it a try today!

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How to prevent tech neck; a massage therapist's take.

Have you heard of tech neck? If you read my post last week, I had mentioned it and promised to elaborate. When I first heard of it, from my chiropractor, I had gone in for an adjustment because I was getting headaches, stiff neck, and vertigo. He mentioned that I most likely have tech neck. Tech WHAT?? Tech neck, the act of stressing muscles by holding them in place for long periods of time while using phones, tablets, and computers, resulting in an array of symptoms. We will all look like Quasimodo soon if we don’t do something about it!

Photo credit: healthmatters.nyp.org

What are the symptoms?

Okay…so tech neck is not an official medical diagnosis, it is a term referring to a stress injury. I am not a doctor, nor will I ever be, so if you have concerns that your neck pain is something more or if simple stretches/exercises don’t help. PLEASE see a doctor!

According to Spine-Health symptoms can include:

• Pain in the neck, upper back, and/or shoulder.  Pretty self explanatory and a VERY common symptom in today’s world. The number one thing people want me to work are their neck and shoulders. We live in a society that requires technology, unfortunately pain is a negative result.

• Forward head posture and rounded shoulders. Muscles tend to hold the positions you keep them in, for convenience. Your muscles think if you hold them in a position for a long time, that you prefer them there. Muscle memory makes it difficult to maintain proper head/neck posture.

• Reduced mobility. Look up at the ceiling, now down at the ground, tilt your head from side to side, feel that tension? That is most likely resulting in limited mobility. This is especially true if you use a computer for work.

• Headache. Shoulder muscles and those at the base of the head may become tense, which can cause referral pain up into your head. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache among adults and teens today.

• Increased pain with neck flexion. Symptoms typically get worse when you look down (the motion which caused the issue to begin with) because of the tension already placed on those muscles.

So, how do we prevent tech neck?

It will take time and patience, especially if symptoms have already set in, but it is not impossible to overcome. Only do these exercises if they relieve the pain, not make it worse. Stretching should NEVER hurt.

Hanging your head off of a bed for 20 minutes at a time can help combat tech neck.

• Better posture with electronics. Raise the device up to eye level instead of looking down, we might all look like 80 year olds, but at least our necks won’t hurt! If you work at a desk, request or buy a lift for your computer to sit on. Here is an Amazon link to the one that I use.

• Better posture in general. Sit up straight, put your shoulders back and down, look forward, release your tongue from the roof of your mouth, relax your jaw. How does that feel?

• Stretching your pecs, neck, shoulders, upper back. I will show you a stretching routine you can use daily down below. My chiropractor also recommended simply hanging my head off of the edge of a bed for 20 minutes at a time.

• Take breaks. Put the phone down, go for a walk, do a back workout! The most useful advice my chiropractor gave me is while you are working at a computer, set an alarm for every hour, when your alarm goes off, stop what you are doing, and look up at the ceiling for 1 minute. That’s it. It will stretch your neck muscles that have been flexed all day and give your shoulders/back a break.

• Exercises. Strengthening your upper back can help pull your shoulders back, the back muscles compete with your pecs all day long, give them a fighting chance by strengthening those! Click here to be directed to Workout Labs website for exercise descriptions/instruction.

Do these few stretches everyday to help combat Tech Neck. More information can be found on my blog at https://enlightenmassageut.com/mindbodymassage/tech-neck ~ https://www.instagram.com/enlighten.massage/ https://www.facebook.com/enlightenmassagetherapy/ ~ Music credit to: Our Fantasies by Oshóva | https://soundcloud.com/osh-va Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

When to See a Doctor for Neck Pain

If neck pain keeps returning or is accompanied by a severe headache, fever, nausea, unintended weight loss, dizziness, pain or tingling that radiates down into the arm or hand, or other troubling symptoms, it is important to seek medical attention. Any of these symptoms with neck pain could indicate a serious underlying medical condition that needs to be accurately diagnosed by a doctor in order to get the correct treatment.

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If you are in Utah and you feel so inclined, come see me in office to get a massage! I would love to work with you one on one to help you meet your goals. Massage can help ease pain associated with tech neck!

Just 30 minutes per day can improve your health, here's how!

The year is 2020!

WHAT?? There are no flying cars, we don’t live on mars, and we don’t have robot maids that will do our laundry for us (lame, I know). What we do have is INFORMATION. If you told someone 100 years ago that they would be able to see photos of their great-grandchildren on a screen from thousands of miles away, they would have thought you belonged in a mental institution. Unfortunately with platforms that allow us to do these incredible things, comes addiction, comparison, inactivity and tech neck. I will go into tech neck another time, but it is real! Google it. I am not telling you to stop using these platforms, because that would make me a giant hypocrite. What I am telling, no, asking…BEGGING you to do is just spend 30 minutes a day doing something active.

Just 30 minutes per day of activity, according to Genesis Health and Fitness, may help improve heart health, reduce stress, aid in weight loss, increase your productivity, and improve self confidence. When you exercise, your oxygen flow increases, your body eliminates metabolic wastes, and the hormones: endorphins, dopamine, cortisol, and serotonin are released (which make you feel good, balance your mood during stress, and aid in sleep).

I could go into all of the science behind WHY these processes occur during exercise, but I won’t bore you. What I will do is give you some ways to stay active on your own time for these processes to take place so you can live your best life in 2020 and FEEL GOOD. That is the goal here. Any objections? Yes?…that is just your body taking the easy way out. You see, your brain doesn’t like to challenge itself, because it processes challenges as stress. It makes excuses for you so that you don’t have to feel stressed. Little does your brain know, the hormones released after the “stressful” situation, which is really just getting yourself to the point of exercising, does the exact opposite by relieving stress. Now, lets step out of your comfort zone. Any objections? GOOD!

Ideas to stay active:

A HIKE! My favorite form of exercise. I love nature, the smells, the scenery, leisurely enough that you can still talk to whoever you are with and can go at your own pace. 30 minutes, that’s it. Drive to a trail head and just start walking, it is that simple. Make sure to bring enough layers, sunscreen, water, and food necessary for the trail and time of year. AllTrails is an amazing resource if you don’t know where your local trails are or how they are rated. I recommend starting on the “easy” trails and working your way up. Have fun with this one!

A workout in your living room. I know nature isn’t for everyone and not everyone has a gym membership, so here is a quick workout that I found at happyfitmama, I use it for when I am short on time, you can do this in the comfort of your own home. No weights necessary and takes about 30 minutes, give or take. Go at your own pace, drink plenty of water, and take breaks if you need to.

A walk: Easy!! When I am short on time and my dogs need to get out, I will skip the gym and take them on a short walk around my neighborhood. You can make this as short or as long as you would like and it is not very strenuous, unless you want to turn it into a run. The possibilities to challenge yourself are endless.

A Yoga class: Find an instructor you love. I, personally, prefer slower paced yoga and being able to sit in the stretches for a longer time. There are some instructors who prefer to teach core or power yoga to get your blood pumping. All types are beneficial, find the one that works best for you! If you are new to yoga, I recommend going to at least one class with an instructor as to not injure yourself, but Do Yoga With Me has plenty of at home yoga flows to do on your own time, some free, some paid. It is a great resource no matter what level you are at.

Fitness classes: Most gyms out there have classes included in their membership. Find one you love and go for it! Exercise can be fun, if you enjoy what you are doing. If you aren’t enjoying yourself, you aren’t doing the right exercise.

Gym workout: If you are new to the gym, get yourself a personal trainer! I did 3 years of personal training and it was honestly the best thing I could have done for myself and my self confidence in the gym. I can walk into any gym now and know exactly what I am doing. If this isn’t in your budget, there are so many YouTube videos out there and people in the gym who are experienced, ask someone! Most everyone in the gym is happy to help familiarize you with the equipment so you don’t injure yourself. If they aren’t willing to help, that is on them, not you. Ask the next person.

Join a fitness competition: I am joining a free fitness competition which starts this Monday, it isn’t what you are thinking, I’m not going up in a bathing suit in front of judges. It is a 6 week program, at home prerecorded workouts, meal prep ideas, tips, and tricks to stay on track! It is all online, the only catch is that you have to sign up by Friday Jan 3rd and measure/weigh in by Monday Jan 6th. The winners (one male, one female) of the competition will be the person with the biggest change, whether that be muscle building, weight loss, or measurements. The winners will receive a 4 pack of Prestige Labs Supplements, 28 days of FREE 1:1 coaching with a personal trainer in Spanish Fork, Utah, a $250 visa gift card, and some Limitless Athletics Swag, all valued at over $1000! If you are local to Utah and want in on this challenge, let me know! I can get you the details.

Everyday activities: Park in the back of the parking lot, take the stairs, stand instead of sit at work, walk around during commercials on your favorite TV show, clean your house. Make an effort every single day to show up for yourself. Choose your health over your convenience. Your body and mind will thank you for it.

Don’t forget to subscribe here to be notified when I post a new blog post.

If you are in Utah and you feel so inclined, come see me in office to get a massage! I would love to work with you one on one to help you meet your goals. Massage helps in muscle recovery after a workout!