Adding Cold Stones to any massage is a great way to cool off during these hot Arizona summer months. Cold Stones have many wonderful benefits to aid in the healing process besides just cooling the body off on a hot day, they are also great for hot flashes due to menopause, pregnancy, etc. Using cold stones during a massage session is like using an ice pack on muscle tissue due to a sprain/strain or other injuries to help calm down the inflamed tissue. It is also very soothing on the face around tired/puffy eyes and great for anyone that suffers from TMJ issues.

Make Your next massage appt. and take advantage of our current massage special

$39 for 1 hr!

1. Dress For the Heat: Put Your synthetics away.  Wear light fabrics made of natural fibers (think cotton, linen, hemp, and bamboo; stylish and cool) allows for greater air flow which allows your skin to breathe, and in turn keep you cooler.

2. Cover Your Crown: Keep your head covered with a hat or cloth, especially if you are going to be outside for prolonged periods of time especially when exercising or playing sports outdoors. Heat from the sun enters your body easiest and most strongly through your head, exposing the top of your head to the sun creates the highest absorption of the sun rays so keep it covered and keep your vitality and performance strongest.

3. Make Water Your Best Friend: You know this. As Arizonans we all know this. But seriously, anytime you feel HOT, drink more water. It helps, It helps a lot!~Avoid or minimize intake of beverages that contain caffeine, alcohol, and sugar all of these will deplete your system of water and will increase chances for dehydration. If you intake these items make sure to increase your intake of water.

4. Let acupuncture help cool you down. It will help keep your temper in check, and circulate energy that could be causing extra heat in your body.

5. Limit work or activity outside between the hours of 11am and 3pm when heat from the sun is at peak levels.

6. Spend time in FREE and often VERY COLD A/C. Get out of the heat for a few hours; take in a movie or go to the mall. AMC currently has great specials for $5.25 ALL DAY Monday-Thursday and before Noon Fri-Sunday.

7. Leave your windows cracked anytime you leave the car. 70 percent of heat increase occurs within 5 minutes of closing your car door. 90 percent heat increase occurs within 15 minutes! NEVER leave a pet or child in the car during the summer. In Arizona it can and has spelled death for infants, children, pets, and the elderly.

8. Add Cold Stones to your next massage. KaiZen’s Massage Therapist, April Collins, says that adding cold stones to your next massage can not only help cool you down but also aid in relieving extra heat from hot flashes, or pregnancy fatigue, decrease inflammation from injuries or around the eyes, and assist in tension due to TMJ,

When a car is spinning it’s wheels in place a lot of heat is created. The same occurs in the human body, when energy builds up and it is not able to move. This build up energy can manifest itself as emotional anger and anger in and of itself can cause heat causing the body to physically feel even hotter.

Through Acupuncture treatments energy that is “stuck” in the body can begin to flow more freely which can cause a very calming effect on the psyche as well as physically cooling the body down.

KaiZen’s acupuncturist, Alejandra Rodriguez, also recommends doing what you can to keep your body cool between treatments;  eating cooling foods such as Watermelon, Cucumbers, Raw and Fresh Salads, and plenty of water can go a long way. Meditation and Yoga can also be extremely helpful in these summer months.

Join us at KaiZen Wednesday Nights for Yoga and Meditation @ 7:15pm-8:30pm.

She also recommends Hot tea, which contrary to popular belief,  can actually have a very cooling effect on the human body. Alejandra recommends drinking 3 cups of green tea a day to keep your summer energy up and your internal temperature cool.  If you are really do not vibe with a hot liquids-perfectly o.k. to add a few ice cubes.

Make Your appointment today for an acupuncture treatment and feel soothed that cooler temperatures for your body and your temper are coming soon.

What is Craniosacral Therapy?

Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is just one of the modalities that I am passionate about doing with my clients. It can be used for a one hour treatment or is a great complement to a massage session. CST was invented or fine tuned to become a worldwide therapeutic therapy from 1975 to 1983 by Dr. John Upledger at the University of Michigan. The Upledger Institute states that “CST is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the functioning of a physiological body system called the craniosacral system – comprised of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord”.

Your heart and your spine have their own unique rhythm. In a cranioscaral session, I assist your body to get back on track with it’s natural rhythm, which results in a very relaxing experience.

MY MOST MEMORABLE CRANIOSACRAL HEALING EXPERIENCE …..

A female client who was receiving medical treatments for pancreatic cancer, came in for a massage session for the purpose of general relaxation.  During the session I used a method of Craniosacral therapy called ‘direction of energy’ where you focus primarily on one part of the body (in this case I focused on her pancreas).  At the end of the session, the woman rose from the table in tears stating that this was the most relaxed her body had felt in several months.

The Upledger Institute states that CST works “by complementing the body’s natural healing processes. CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease, and is effective for a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction, including:

• Migraine Headaches
• Chronic Neck and Back Pain
• Central Nervous System Disorders
• Orthopedic Problems
• Scoliosis
• Chronic Fatigue
• Emotional Difficulties
• Stress and Tension-Related Problems
• Fibromyalgia and other Connective-Tissue Disorders
• Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome (TMJ)
• Neurovascular or Immune Disorders”

I am currently running an introductory Massage Special. For just $39 you can come in and experience the awesome relaxing and healing power of a Craniosacral therapy session. Each time I see a client I asses their unique needs and create a massage session tailored to what their body needs at that moment. Come and see, your body will thank you. Make an appointment today.

Written By April Collins, L.M.T, KaiZen Massage Therapist.

Today’s KaiZen Presciption For Wellness:

Generate Vibrant Wellness, and Why settle for less….?

Wellness is defined as a noun “The condition of good physical and mental health, especially when maintained by proper diet, exercise, and habits.”  At KaiZen, we don’t settle for good; We encourage and assist our patients to define their wellness with words like “GREAT”, “Fantastic” and “Exceptional” and “Vibrant”.  We strive to help our patients not only feel better than they have ever felt but also to ensure that they maintain this level of health. KaiZen means continuous improvement and that is what we help our patients to live. Vibrant Wellness is a lifelong asset we hope all of our clients acquire.

How is wellness achieved? To achieve true wellness it helps to have have all your body’s  systems functioning at their best.  The brain communicates with every organ and part of your body through the nervous system.  Subluxations, or nerve impulse interferences, can interrupt the brain’s ability to communicate effectively with the rest of your body, and create disturbances in the areas of your body that correlates with the part of the your nervous system that is experiencing the interference.  Did you know that by the time that you feel a symptom such as pain, increased tension, numbing, or tingling there is at least 60% interference of the nerve impulses correlated to that area of your body. 60%!  Symptoms of subluxations are not always painful but can also be such things as lack of energy, poor posture, moodiness, or trouble focusing.

When one’s system is functioning at peak performance everything is our lives is better.  In defining wellness we add that true wellness also means a high quality of life. When you are experiencing true wellness you are able to truly enjoy your life.  You can more easily set and attain your goals, embrace abundance, vitality, and achieve happiness. Measure the success of your wellness adventure in your everyday choices, this is the art of KaiZen.   At KaiZen, we are committed to helping each and every client to create and maintain a high level of Wellness through the use of Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Therapeutic Massage Therapy, Esthetic Services, and EFT.  Make an appointment today with one of our wellness experts, ease your subluxations, tension, pain, or just add a boost to your already vibrant health and know that you are taking your health to the next level.

Today’s Wellness Experiment:

Take a Wellness Inventory for yourself…

1.  On a Scale of 1-10 Are you currently experiencing vibrancy and vitality in your body and mind?

2. Do you feel you are doing all that you can to ensure your vibrant health?

4 . Are you getting the proper vitamins, minerals, and nutrients you needs on a daily a basis?

5. Are you allowing time in your life to get some daily exercise?

6. What steps can you take to maintain even greater health?

Need assistance in any of these areas? KaiZen is here to help. Contact us today.

During the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. In 2008, only one state (Colorado) had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-two states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; six of these states (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia ) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%. American society has become ‘obesogenic,’ characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, non-healthy foods, and physical inactivity. In Arizona, 1 in 4 is obese. Being overweight can become a matter of live and death. People who are overweight and obese are more likely to develop a number of potentially serious health problems. Also, the overall risk of death increases with obesity. If your holding some extra pounds Kai-Zen is here to help. We offer services that include nutritional coaching, diet and exercise programs, Detox and clensing products and programs as well and supplements and vitamins. For more information please contact Brooks@Kai-Zen.Net

We had a patient come in the other day and give the familiar statement “It’s in my Genes” I really do love this one. Dad, Grandpa, Mom, Sister, Cousin had “it” so it was only a matter of time before I got “it.” Funny thing is that people actually buy into this frame of thought. They accept dis-ease as some kind of fate or divine will. I was meant to have “it.” What’s your “it?”Is it obesity, heart disease, cancer, high cholesterol, high blood pressure? Depending on which study or report you read genetics or “genes” play anywhere from as little as 3 to 30% in your health. So if your health is defined by only 1/3 genetics what else plays a role in your health? The answer is Your Environment and Nutrition. The surroundings that you put your body in or around play a huge role in your health as well as the food you put into your body. Let’s follow John, a typical American during a typical American workday. He wakes up for work before the sun, most likely stiff from his night of sleep. He sleeps on the wrong bed and wrong pillow. It’s either too firm or too soft for his body type. He grabs his coffee and donut and heads out into his hour long commute. Sitting for many hours each day with poor posture while driving. A very stressful endeavor. With any luck he makes it to work where he sits again for hours upon hours with most likely poor posture once again. His computer screen is too low, his chair height is too high, or worse he works on his laptop using the built in touch pad. At lunch time John steps out to grab some fast food or even faster food from the vending machine. Nutritious and Delicisious! The work day ends he heads back into traffic. Exhausted he skips the gym and heads to the couch. Finally relaxation! Big comfy couch, horrible posture for hours of mind numbing television. If John does extract himself from the couch for dinner I highly doubt a well balanced meal is on his agenda.

Do you know somebody like John? Maybe your life is just like John’s. If John keeps up with this behavior he is essentially killing himself slowly. Poor diet, stressful environments, lack of exercise, bad posture all add up and wreck havoc on John’s body. So whatever John was pre-disposed to from his genes are allowed to manifest. If he did have a probability of heart disease his lifestyle made sure of it!