A client of mine walked into my suite super stressed today holding the world on her shoulders.
As she laid on the table trying to relax she quickly mentioned that she couldn’t get the recent Robb Elementary School tragedy that occurred a few days ago out of her head and how one of her kids is the age of those who were shot.
She’d booked online for a hot stone massage the other day scheduled for today and said the stones are the only thing that help relax her when she feels this way.
I also had with me calming and refreshing essential oils including Lavender, Clarity (a blend of 12 oils including Basil and Rosemary) and Eucalyptus. Immediately I had her breathe deeply into Clarity and Lavender.
This client is usually one who loves to chat. She’s high energy, positive and a leader in her family and career. It’s tough for her to slow down sometimes. Today, she was completely quiet and appeared a bit depleted.
As I added my essential oil concoctions to my massage oil, I deeply focused on Petrissage and Effleurage massage strokes, paired with the soothing hot stones. Throughout the massage I had her breathe deeply into the essential oils.
The massage was only an hour long but the timing was perfect and my client said that she felt a huge weight had been lifted from her entire body.
A few hours after her massage I stopped at the grocery store. One of my favorite snacks is a banana dipped in dark Dove chocolates so I loaded my cart with Dove chocolate, bananas and other healthy and fun options for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.
One thing aside from deliciousness that I love about Dove chocolate is the little message inside the wrapper. Today, coincidentally, one wrapper held a quote that resonated with me.
“Life happens between an inhale and an exhale”.
You may or may not know that when we allow ourselves to get really stressed out, we often hold our breath and sometimes don’t breathe almost at all. We worry and get wrapped up in the bad things in life and we forget about the good. There is a lot of good but it’s very difficult to ignore or avoid the bad. And when we focus or even briefly encounter it we often stop breathing. It’s a vicious cycle because we practically stop breathing as a result of stress but we get more stressed as a result of shallow breathing.
The good news is when we remember to breathe, we experience more of the good In life and living. We may not be able to control evil in the world but we can control our response. It’s okay to feel angry, sad and it’s a good idea to think of smart solutions on how to help make the world and the people in it better and feel more loved. In the mean time, we need to focus on what we can control and one thing we can fully control (as long as we are healthy) is our breath.
