April, 2009    

 

 

Well, here’s my first attempt at the promised monthly newsletter!  I’m deliberately keeping it more personal instead of using a newsletter-generating service; this month my main goal is to produce something easily downloaded and read.  Things get garbled up among different internet carriers, so I’m trying an attachment; if it doesn’t work or is too slow, please tell me.

 

What I’ve learned about massage therapists in general is that they (among other things):

¨      have a sincere desire to help others and work hard

¨      are well-trained as well as amazingly intuitive

¨      are interested in learning new things to expand ways to help their clients

¨      often put other people’s needs before their own

¨      know they could use self-care, but don’t get around to it because it’s one more thing to add to their already-busy and tiring days

Sooooo, what I’m going to attempt to do is offer some “bites” of self-care information and techniques that:

©      don’t require “equipment”                                      

©      are easy to learn

©      only take a few minutes, so fit into a busy day               

©      are easy to do

Since it’s spring, here are some tips for “spring-cleaning” yourself.  RESEARCH HAS SHOWN:  for both exercise and meditation, to get benefits THE ACTIVITY NEEDS TO BE DONE REGULARLY, NOT that it’s done infrequently for a long time.  In other words, benefits of meditation done a few minutes several times a week is more beneficial than meditation done an hour once (same is true with exercise, only it’s 20-30 minutes).  That tells us we can choose something we can actually find time to do-say 4 or 5 times a week-and get great benefits from it. 

 

Today I’d like to share an easy recipe for Dr. Elson Hass’ “master cleanser”, which is a tasty beverage beneficial for liver detoxifying and kidney flushing.  Initially I tried using it as a liquid cleanse, consuming nothing else for 7 days; that was pretty tough and meant lots of time in the bathroom eliminating all that fluid, not to mention the tiredness (probably a result of the detoxification process, but it was certainly more disruptive to day-to-day life than most of us can tolerate).  I’m offering it as kind of a “tonic” that’s easy to make, tasty, and lightly detoxifying.

 

Master Cleanser Recipe

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice                                    dash cayenne pepper

1-2 Tablespoons PURE maple syrup, to taste                           8 ounces water

Tips

*Right now, limes are much cheaper than lemons

*Make the mixture in quantity without the water and freeze it to be mixed with water later

*Be VERY careful of the amount of cayenne you add until you’re sure you can tolerate it

*If you’re going to ONLY consume this for a cleanse, drink 8-12 glasses a day

*If you want to add some “punch” to your mini-detox: before you even brush your teeth in the morning, drink the juice of one lemon with a dash of hot water in it.  Do this once a week, or every day for a week to detox your liver. 

 

Elson M. Haas, M.D. has written several interesting and useful books if you have the interest in pursuing dietary lifestyle management.  He also has a website with lots of information: www.elsonhaas.com.

 

Next month’s newsletter will be about “waterfall” yoga posture.  Email re spring classes will come sooner.   

Again, hopefully you’ve found this interesting and helpful; if not, please reply with something like “no thanks” in the subject line.  Namaste, Cheryl   www.FaceNewBeginnings.com