By Larry Witzleben, LMT
One of the great joys of my work is to open your eyes to the marvel of your own design, that you may choose to be a better steward of that which is YOU!
The design of our bodies is mind-blowing, yet our part is so simple.
Did you know why a deep breath is your first and greatest ally in managing and reducing stress? There is a most marvelous mechanism in our bodies called the Hering-Breuer Reflex. I learned of this from a cardiologist decades ago, so this is old news but ageless in its benefit. (Back to the eternal basics!) Here’s how that works. There are millions of specifically purposed nerve receptors in your lungs. When you take a deep breath — down into your belly and filling your lungs completely, those millions of nerve receptors are triggered to fire in concert and, in turn, trigger a place in the brain to direct your muscles, when you exhale, to let go. It’s that simple. You cannot be more tense the moment after a deep breath.
Did you know that by pushing away from your computers, ipads, and smart phones, and looking away into larger, far-away vistas, preferably natural settings: the horizon, the ocean, green trees, up into blue skies, a city skyline, you literally restore your body to a better, health-giving acid/alkaline pH? This takes place through the nerves in your eyes. Is that a design, or what??? But there’s more! When you’re concentrating intensely on your devices and their close-up small print, your whole body is in fight-or-flight mode, and you spend long hours on your devices to your detriment. When you back away from your devices and spend relaxed moments in those same larger, far-away views, you shift out of fight-or-flight and back into the part of your nervous systems that is naturally calm. What if you combined this with some moments of relaxed, deep breathing?
This is also why Orthopedic Massage is so effective. Because guided deep breathing is part of the isometrics that characterize the treatments. After each isometric to soften a tight muscle, the deep breath resets the nerve pattern in the muscle to one of greater relaxation.
Yes, you need to unplug from your technology, back away from time to time. But you probably won’t, because we just don’t. No problem, I’ll do it for you. Call for my Whole-Body Reset. All you’ll take off are your shoes. In minutes you’ll come to stillness. You’ll relax out of fight-or-flight mode, your muscles will relax, and in that stillness and uncommon calm, your nervous system and whole body will reset. In time calm will be your new norm.
Larry Witzleben, LMT MA14390- Orthopedic Massage – Polarity Therapy- Whole-Body Reset!
Lotus Blossom Clinic
6710 Winkler Road, Suite 2
Ft. Myers, Florida 33919
407-595-4035
