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It’s more than a massage, it is an experience…….
- Consistent, exceptional bodywork that encourages ease & grace in your body. Structurally, I will address your key complaints while taking to Cloud 9 along the way.
- I operate at a high level of integrity and maintain high standards of cleanliness & purity. Clean atmosphere, clean linens, clean body. Plus, I only use quality aromatherapy products.
- In addition to my massage training, I also have a Master’s degree in Intuitive Medicine- I can ease your pain physically but can also address, your emotional body, your boundaries, fields, and your energy anatomy systems.
- I have 3 offices in Marin County- Mill Valley, San Rafael and Novato. I also offer mobile massage services- ENSUITE SPA services for your convenience.
- I will help you ground, relax and support you to enter a “no-think” space so you can experience “true relaxation and bliss.” You may even fall asleep on the table.
- I will hold sacred space for your spirit to come more fully into your body- an essential piece to full-spectrum healing.
- I have a lot of repeat clientele- an indication of the strength and value of my work.
- I have a team of allies- other massage therapists, body-centered therapists, breath workers, chiropractors, and skin care specialists that support the work fully!
- I love what I do …and you will feel it!
- It is always an honor when someone lies down on my table- I respect my clients, their specific needs, and requests.
Spring is right around the corner- maybe even here now. With this means- less clothing & more skin reveled! Whatever your birth date is, look even more amazing naked with these tips for showing off more skin.
“Skin on your body ages the same way your face does: Cell turnover slows and collagen break down, causing scaliness and sagging. Glow from head to toe and keep skin supple with a body cream that contains exfoliating acids to remove dry layers. Look on the label for H2o-attracting hyaluronic acid and collagen- building peptides to soften and firm.”
As a massage therapist- I see a range of bodies & skin types. Protecting the entire body is necessary & can be fun when worked into body treatments & nurturing rituals. I am a big believer in “time on the yoga mat” to give skin that inner glow of radiance & grace. However, I also believe in regular facials & saturating the entire body with natural derived products that work! As my Nana would say- “That dress you want will be out of style next season- Your skin is with you LIFETIME.” I can always tell the ladies who have been on a long term skin/body care program. There is a softness and an elegance within their look.
“Bodies love self love and at the core- that is the basis of true healing- a commitment to a skin/body care program is a fabulous way to show yourself exactly that and look good at the same time.”
My Mill Valley office- PUREVANA SKIN CARE….has an amazing collection of products that reverse sun damage (hello- I was a lifeguard for 4 years) and erase fine lines (almost 40) I personally use organic massage lotions and creams in my massages so not only are you receiving the benefits of relaxation & stress management but we are also addressing the quality of your skin. This month I am featuring an OSEA body products. The undaria algae oil delivers ultimate skin repair and will leave your skin so incredible smooth- you will want it to stay that way….. Some information for this article was taken by Self Magazine…
With the exception of Pregnancy- there is only room for one person in your body. What do I mean by this? Essentially- we operate at out personal best when we are free of entanglements and OPE- (Other People’s Energy) You are your own best medicine and contrary to popular belief it is a good thing to be full of yourself or your OEE (Original Essence Energy)…..your body functions at optimum when your personal life-force is on & when you are in a grounded space. Your aura is your energetic skin- it is early warning detection to what is just outside your field. We often sense energy around us all the time- why do we feel suddenly anxious or get a pang in our stomach when someone enters the room? We often pick up on non- verbal communication through our telepathic chakras….and I ultimately believe this jamming of the telepathic channels is the culprit of unexplained headaches and other discomforts in the body.
Massage combined with Energy Work is one of the best ways I know to return to yourself completely- a talented therapist can relieve your muscle tension & clear your space energetically from other people. This is key to health because studies have shown energetic roots in disease & illness. You then have the opportunity to get clear on your next steps in life & quite frankly who does not want that? Born with natural intuition – I also have learned hands-on training at the Academy of Intuitive Medicine in Sausalito, California. For more info- Please refer to a Body Of Health by Francesca Mc Cartney.
I was plugging my cell phone into it’s Dock Station today & the lightbulb came on! Our bodies are very similar to batteries and need to be re-charged on a regular basis. We need to be boosted & renewed to keep going….after all we have to charge our phones up almost every day depending on usage. The massage table is very much like a dock station for the human body. Your body is able to rest, re-boot & get powered up for the next round. The hands of the therapist recharge the body by removing interference and stress, and other people’s energy out of your system. Your natural life force & vibrancy return- You are RELAXED & FREE to move forward with your plans & desires.
At first, it may not seem like much – after all, how much good can really happen in ten, twenty or even minutes?
The answer turns out to be: a lot. Studies have shown that the brain begins to recharge in just a few minutes. And with just the right touch, tired muscles feel rejuvenated right away. Now imagine how much more good can occur when the brain and the body are being refreshed in tandem, on a regular basis? Rested workers are relaxed and ready to get down to business. In addition, massage puts them in a good mood – the better to engage with customers or do whatever they do – and leaves them feeling quite upbeat and more inspired.
At Relax and Be Free, we offer Chair Massage to get you & your staff in the best possible shape to accomplish what is needed. Please contact Amanda @ 415-516-0965 with any questions you may have regarding Wellness Days or Staff Parties and Events.
This Valentine’s Day- Give the perfect gift and save!
Treat the one you love to a wonderful gift package from Relax and Be Free. We have three amazing packages all designed to save you money and delight the love of your life. Save up to 25% on massages
Valentine’s Day Gift Card Packages- Relax and Be Free has three gift card packages to save you money:
ROMANCE
Enjoy a Spa Foot Treatment with your choice of a 60-minute Pure Relaxation Massage . Just $139 (regular price $175).
TRUE LOVE
Indulge in a Spa Foot Treatment with a 90 -minute Pure Relaxation Massage. Just $210 (regular price $250).
FOR TWO
Each of you will enjoy a luxurious 90-minute Pure Relaxation massage Just $269 (regular price $350).
A Very Special Massage to Get Ready for the Holidays!
Enjoy a Full Spectrum Healing Massage to Boost & Prepare You for the Holiday Season.
Indulge yourself in the ultimate healing with luxurious pampering.
This two-hour session will upgrade your physical, emotional, and spiritual constitution so that you are ready for demands of the holiday season.
Exquisite Red Flower Aromatherapy to awaken your senses, and prepare your body and mind for the journey. Scented hot towel compresses and floral misters are used throughoutthe session making it a full-sensory experience.
Head to Toe Massage with Acutonics Tuning Forks. This session is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine and focuses on boosting your life force while relaxing you with a combination of various massage styles to suit your taste & needs.
Cranio-Sacral Therapy is added to this delightful package to address an over-stimulated mind, reduce analytical thoughts and balance your nervous system.
Reflexology is given on your feet to reground you and complete this journey.
Special 2 hours $175.00
Contact Amanda @ 415-516-0965
It’s not just puberty and menopause: Women experience hormonal changes throughout their lives. New research shows the onset of menopausal systems is often linked to hallmarks of modern Western lifestyle, including nutrient-poor diets of refined foods, alcohol consumption, smoking, chronic stress, depression, lack of exercise and exposure to endocrine-disrupting toxins found in common household products.
Perimenopause
About ten years before menopause, your egg quality declines and your hormones begin to shift-estrogen diminishes a little and progesterone plumments.
Potential problems
Brain fog. Researchers suspect lower estrogen may be partly to blame for difficulty some women report with memory and decision making- but the stress of busy lives make it worse.
Chronic stress cause overproduction of hormone cortisol, which can lead to adrenal fatigue, a collection of symptoms including insomnia, headaches, anxiety, and inability to concentrate.
Weight Gain. Yep, stress can make you fat. Cortisol releases sugar into bloodstream to provide fuel in stressful times, and insulin mops up the excess. With too much sugar to process, the body becomes insulin resistant and converts the excess to belly fat, or visceral fat, which is linked to greater risk for heart disease. Visceral fat is harder to
lose.
Sleep problems and hot flashes.
Perimenopausal women may have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, possibly due to low progesterone, high cortisol demands, or a disturbance in melatonin, the sleep-wake hormone. Erratic estrogen levels cause hot flashes.
How to feel your best
Eat right, sleep, and meditate to keep cortisol and insulin stable. Choose low-glycemic foods like lean proteins and complex carbs, which break down more slowly in the body. Sleep 7hrs a night to stabilize cortisol and balance appetite hormones leptin and gherkin. New studies indicate that women who participated in a program of mediating and mindful stretching has fewer, less intense hot flashes, better sleep quality, less anxiety
Getting regular massages help eases the body’s hormonal dialogue keeping women happy & balanced.
Massage is one of the most effective activities one can embark on after a break-up or divorce. Grief and levels of sadness can be soothed or minimized by generating positive sensations or endorphins within the body. The analytical loop of conversations & arguments can minimized and often realizations can come forth while on the massage table. Self care such as Massage helps one heal faster and move forward with one’s life. Requesting focus work on the chest where the heart resides is a ideal since this area is sometimes skipped in a massage. Below is a great article I found on the the Neuroscience of Relationship Breakups.
Our brains appear to process relationship breakups similarly to physical pain. There may be an evolutionary reason for this. The function of pain is to alert the person to physical danger or harm so she can take protective action. In the animal kingdom, one’s chances of avoiding predators are much higher as part of a group than alone, therefore social rejection may have been an actual threat to physical survival for our early ancestors. If this is the case, it might partially explain how difficult it is for many people to let go of the ex-partner and move on.
Obsessive Thoughts & “Cravings”
People who have recently been rejected by their partners often develop obsessive thinking. They may ruminate persistently about the ex-partner, how they are feeling, whether they are missing the relationship, and so on. These thoughts or feelings of loss may be triggered by places they used to go to together, people they used to hang out with, holidays, and everyday rituals that were shared. In this sense, processing a breakup is a bit like dealing with a trauma. The person cycles through periods of avoiding the emotional pain and being able to distract herself, and periods of being flooded by intense feelings and obsessive thoughts. There also seems to be a gender difference, in that men are more likely to distract and avoid feelings, and women more likely to obsess and ruminate. This may be because women have been socialized to take more responsibility for relationships, leading to more time spent thinking about what went wrong or what they could have done differently.
Recent research provides some suggestion that there may be physiological basis to these “cravings” for the ex-partner. Lucy Brown, Ph.D.,a Professor in the Department of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and her colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to recorded the brain activity of 15 college-age adults who had experienced a recent unwanted breakup and reported still feeling love for the ex-partner. Upon viewing photographs of their former partners, there was activity in the ventral tegmental area, the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal/prefrontal cortex. These areas are associated with reward and motivation, specifically, the release of dopamine that is also seen in drug addiction. Therefore, people may experience cravings for their ex-partner similarly to the way addicts crave a drug they are withdrawing from. This can lead to intense distress and physiological as well as psychological discomfort.
One issue with these fMRI studies is that they tend to use a small number of people who respond to advertisements for people who haven’t gotten over their ex-partners. We don’t know if these people are representative of the average person who goes through a breakup, or whether they answer the ads because they are especially distressed. This needs to be determined in future research. Despite the short-term pain of a breakup, longer term findings indicate that most young people are resilient and recover. College students report feeling significantly less distressed about the breakup after about 10 weeks. Also, other studies have shown brain activity in the craving centers decreased as more time passed since the breakup.
Is there anything we can learn from these findings to help people deal with painful breakups. The analogy to addiction and pain may give people a framework for understanding the intensity of their feelings and can be a basis for developing self-compassion and realistic expectations. You might expect waves of strong emotion or “cravings” for the ex-partner in the initial period. Do not expect yourself to immediately be able to “just get over it and move on.” Give yourself time for your feelings in the first few weeks. Distraction and self-care activities may also help. Conditioning theory would suggest that places, people, or activities associated with the ex-partner may be particularly likely to trigger “cravings,” so you may want to avoid these for a while and try to develop some new routines. You could try Rick Hanson’s approach, focused on reprogramming the brain to think more positively. As with addictions, it helps to have a support group of people you can call on when you’re tempted to do something foolish. If your feelings are too intense to manage alone or if you find yourself coping in unhealthy ways, you should speak to a counselor in your area.
Melanie Greenberg PhD is a Clinical Health Psychologist with a private practice in Marin County, CA. She specializes in helping individuals deal with life stress due to chronic illness, role demands, traumas and major life transitions. check out her blog http://marinpsychologist.blogspot.com.
Follow me on twitter (@drmelanieg) & facebook http://www.facebook.com/MindfulSelfExpress.
Here is a link to my post on expressive writing intervention for breakup distress
http://marinpsychologist.blogspot.com/2011/04/does-focusing-on-positive-help-your.html
Wedding Day Treatments and Services
Bridal Party Pampering Package- Go Ahead- be completely pampered on your special day! Turn your Bridal Suite into your personal spa! The big day has arrived and all of your dreams are finally coming true! Calm feelings of anticipation and nervousness with a fabulous, pre-ceremony massage. Minimize stress and look your best by letting our talented therapists come to you and bring out you and your groups inner radiance and beauty. This Bridal Pampering Package will calm and ground you and prepare you for a very full day of excitement, entertaining, and celebration.
The Bridal Party Pampering Package Includes:
- 60/90 Minute therapeutic, calming massage customized for the bride and her individual needs on that day!
- 30/60 Minute massages for bridesmaids, maid of honor, etc.
- Pre-event Bridal Hair and ”Inn Room” Bridal Makeup
Let our reservation team handle it all! We will work with you to create a calm and fun pre-event atmosphere for you and your bridal party. We will work with the bride prior to the wedding to establish a flow for the day. This will ensure that everyone is ready to go and looking their best!
