Cynthia's Top 10 List for Insomnia

Sleep is so incredibly important to our health in ways that we often forget. Good sleep helps us lose weight, improves our creativity, and even lifts our mood. Because the lack of quality sleep is such a common complaint, I would like to offer my top 10 suggestions for insomnia. None of these have any bizarre or undesirable side effects like many of the medications prescribed, and they all help your body get back to doing what it's naturally supposed to do, sleep like a baby:

1. Massage Therapy - on a regular basis if needed. Once a week for 2 months can work wonders to re-train your body into a relaxed state that can be maintained.


2. Meditation - the slow, deep abdominal breathing and gentle calming of the mind quiets the heart and preps the spirit for good sleep.


3. Self Acupressure - first, use your middle and index fingers to rub the area at the bottom and behind your ears. Second, massage your inner wrist crease at the indentation on your pinky side. Third, massage along your shin bone from your inner ankle, up about 4 inches and back down. Last, rub the bottom of your feet with special attention to the area just under the ball of your foot and also the middle of your heel. Spend 1-5 minutes on each of the above areas just before you go to sleep.


4. Essential Oils - Try Lavender, Rose, Vetiver, or Sandalwood. Either use topically by diluting them in a carrier oil or lotion and applying to the above acupressure areas, or diffuse them into the air by adding about 4-5 drops to a bowl next to your bed, then fill with boiling water.


5. QiQong or Yoga Practice - both of these mind-body exercises are excellent to smooth your energy and make you more aware of unhealthy responses to stress you may have. The breathing involved, like in meditation, gives you a different response to that stress.


6. Valerian Tea or Tincture - Valerian is a strongly relaxing herb that can even be used for anxiety attacks. Drink a cup of tea or put several tincture drops in water and drink just before going to bed, but don't use it for more than about 2 months. If too much valerian builds up in your system it can cause anxiety or nervous symptoms instead of relieving them.


7. "Body Like Jello" Relaxation - Go through each bodypart head to foot and focus on it while saying, for example "I feel my right arm. Release and relax. My right arm is so relaxed it feels like jello." Your mind is actually strong enough to evoke this physical response in your body.


8. Chinese Herbs - these formulas are very individual. Consult a professional herbalist or acupuncturist for a formula appropriate for you.


9. Hot Foot Bath - get a home foot bath/spa, fill it up with hot water, add 4 drops of Lavender essential oil, and turn it on. If you have the time, a full body hot bath works great too.


10. Just Turn It Off! - make the decision and follow through with just turning off your TV or computer. It's a choice and you're in charge.

Learn more about these topics from our On-Line Courses. You can study here at our school in Alaska from anywhere in the world!

ALASKA INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL MEDICINE
ON-LINE COURSES

Quite the Dream!

I am currently a student here at OHAC and on Monday I came down with an unpleasant gum infection. (I promise there is a connection between these two points.) By Wednesday I was having trouble sleeping due to the pain and come Thursday evening, my cheek was swollen and half my face was a painful mess. Around 4am (this morning, Friday), I woke up due to the pain in my mouth. I couldn't even lay on the left side of my face. I thought to myself, "Man, I'm going to have to go to the Dr. This infection is just getting worse." My next thought was, "I hate going to the Dr. All they are going to do is prescribe antibiotics, which I don't want to take! My body knows how to heal itself. My body knows how to heal!" And with that thought, I was able to tumble back off to sleep.
The dream that followed was a fellow classmate called me and asked to come over for a massage. When she arrived, my massage room was perfect: candles, cozy, warm. She then mentions that she doesn't want a massage but would rather give me some energy work. So my dream self, gladly hops onto the massage table and curls up in the fetal position (weird) and settles in for some energy work. As the dream continues, my classmate provides energy work and then mentions my spleen meridian (which we haven't learned about in class yet). At the end of my energy work my dream ends and a new weird dream begins. My alarm goes off and it's been 3 hours since I was woken up by the pain. As I drag myself out of bed, I realize something. My cheek is no longer swollen, the pain is completely gone, and even my gums are back to normal! Holy Smokes!
I wouldn't believe it, if it wasn't my very own mouth! I couldn't wait to go to class and tell my classmates and Cynthia what had taken place! Now, the fact that my mouth had miraculously healed within hours of confirming to myself that my body knew how to heal during a dream energy session was pretty spectacular... but the insight that Cynthia shared once I'd told this story was pretty amazing too! She explained that mouth issues can be caused by 'stomach dis-harmonies' and one way to treat this is through the spleen meridian! Wowza.
It's pretty spectacular the things that can show up when we tap in to our innate body wisdom... And that was Quite the Dream!

Spinal Stenosis

Physiology Research Assignment by Mike Thompson

OVERVIEW: Narrowing of the dimensions of the spinal canal is called spinal stenosis. The spinal canal is present inside the vertebral bones; it contains the spinal cord, nerve roots and blood vessels supplying the spinal cord and nerves.

The vertebral bones form the vertebral column (back bone). The reduction in the size of the spinal canal can compress the spinal cord, nerve roots or blood vessels that supply the spinal cord. Spinal stenosis is common in the lumbar level and rare in the thoracic region.

 

CAUSES: Spinal stenosis is often caused by spinal degeneration that occurs with aging. Degeneration is believed to begin in the intervertebral disk where biochemical changes such as cell death and loss of water content lead to progressive disk bulging and collapse. This process leads to an increased stress transfer to the posterior facet joints, which accelerates cartilaginous degeneration, hypertrophy, and osteophyte (bone spur) formation; this is associated with thickening and buckling of the ligamentum flavum.

 

The combination of the ventral disk bulging, osteophyte formation at the dorsal facet, and ligamentum flavum hypertrophy combine to circumferentially narrow the spinal canal and the space available for the neural elements. This compression of the nerve roots of the cauda equina leads to the characteristic clinical signs and symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis.

 

Also, degenerative spondylolisthesis narrows the spinal canal and symptoms of spinal stenosis are common. Any forward slipping of one vertebra on another (spondylolisthesis) can cause spinal stenosis by narrowing the canal. If this forward slipping narrows the canal sufficiently, and impinges on the contents of the spinal column, it is spinal stenosis by definition. If there are associated symptoms of narrowing, the diagnosis is confirmed.

 

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS: Spinal stenosis symptoms include:

• pain
• weakness
• tingling of the legs
• "radiation down the posterior part of the leg to the feet."

Additional symptoms in the legs may be fatigue, heaviness, numbness, leg cramps, and also bladder symptoms. Symptoms are most commonly bilateral and symmetrical, but they may be unilateral; leg symptoms are usually more troubling than back pain.

 

DIAGNOSIS: Some patients can have a narrowed canal with out symptoms, and do not require therapy. Stenosis can occur as either central stenosis (the narrowing of the entire canal) or foraminal stenosis (the narrowing of the foramen through which the nerve root exits the spinal canal). "The normal lumbar central canal has a mid sagittal diameter (front to back) greater than 13 mm., with an area of 1.45 square cm. Relative stenosis is said to exist when the anterior-posterior canal diameter is between 10 and 13 mm. Absolute stenosis of the lumbar canal exists anatomically when the anterior-posterior measurement is 10 mm. or less.

Plain x-rays may or may not show spinal stenosis. CT (computerized tomography) scans are much more useful for diagnosis. The preferred method of diagnosis is MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) for all areas of the spine. The detection of spinal stenosis confirms only the anatomic presence of a stenotic condition. This may or may not correlate with the diagnosis of spinal stenosis which is based on clinical findings of neural disfunction, motor weakness, bowel and bladder dysfunction, hyperreflexia and muscular atrophy.

Radical Acceptance

Want to listen to this post? Now you can on our Podcast Channel:



Ever have an insight that made you feel so inspired you wanted to dance and jump around?  This is one I had the other day, and my heart felt so incredibly peaceful as I was pondering it.  I'll share:

Insight 11-6-11 while reading “Narrative Medicine” by Lewis Mehl-Madrona - an excellent book that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Wow - the Spirit of “Disease” changes, transforms, and spiritually grows just like we do. We are yin and yang to each other, necessary partners in our spiritual evolution. When we humans truly heal from a “disease”, we become a better person – clearer, more passionate about life, more compassionate to others.

And when we heal, the “disease” also heals and transforms into something better. I don’t think it just goes away or dissolves. But if we kill it as if it’s the enemy have we temporarily thwarted its spiritual growth along with our own?

As true healing begins, we might realize “disease” as a teacher, offering us valuable life-changing lessons that we haven’t understood in any other way. And maybe this is also the beginning of unconditional love the spirit of the “disease” has never known – or longs to know – or needs to know. As we stop hating it and begin appreciating it for the many ways it is changing our lives for the better, maybe it is our love and acceptance that teaches the “disease” to be free of its bonds of hatred, negativity, and loathing, and it moves closer to becoming one with unconditional love and oneness, just like we also do. What if….. this is the way to “eradicate disease”?

Application of Massage Therapy Project

Introduction
This project is to apply our learning's of massage therapy to help someone and demonstrate the benefits that massage can have on a persons life and health.  For my client I have provided 6 massages all at a length of 1.5 to 3 hours based on their desire at the time over the course of about 10 weeks.

Interview and chief complaint
I first had a interview/discussion with my client regarding their feelings day to day, general likes/dislikes, problems and possible complaints to address.  One of the main things I discovered is the client was very demanding of theirself day to day and because of that has a very high stress level.  Many of their mood changes were based upon work performance and completing tasks.  The client is going through many changes in life at the moment.  Based on this information and our discussion we determined the chief complaint to be stress.

Treatment options
I discussed some of the different massage protocols we have gone over in class and different techniques that may work to help relieve stress.  Over the clients lifetime they have only experienced 2 professional massages so we decided to stick to the general relaxation pattern and make modifications as necessary.  The client did suggest one of their favorite parts to massage was the head, neck and face massage so we decided to extend the time on that.

Procedure
Over the 10 week time period we completed 6 massages all ranging from 1.5 hours to 3 hours.  For all the massages we decided to stick to the regular plan, here and there we made modifications when areas needed more attention.  The desire for a thorough head massage was present through all the massages.  The client requested 3 things most often and those are head massage, abdomen massage and work on the bladder meridian.  After we learned the bladder meridian pattern and I added it to one of the massages the client requested that pattern be in the future massages.  Most notably in the bladder meridian the client enjoyed the foot massage, working the bladder meridian in the foot massage almost instantly put the client to sleep each massage.

Results
Over the course of the provided massages here are the most notable changes the client and I were able to identify:

    Reduced level of stress
    Improved quality of sleep
    Increased activity level
    Improved eating habits
    Improved flexibility
    Increase level of energy
    Reduced irritation from joint in foot
    Faster recovery of pulled muscles

All in all the project was enjoyable and it was great to discover the benefits of massage and help another experience a higher state of well being.

Learning Oriental Medicine with Massage

I am a recent student of Alaska Institute of Oriental Medicine and this is a brief summary of my experience in learning massage with oriental medicine.  Just to give you an idea of our schedule for learning massage I will outline our class schedule for you.  

There are basically two halves of school, in the first half we learn anatomy and physiology in the mornings and massage in the afternoon until we have completed the basic massage table and chair patterns and completed anatomy and physiology.  The second half of school we spend our time on oriental medicine and applications to massage practice with some specific patterns to help correct biological and physiological problems.

Learning this material in this order lets us full grasp the massage techniques and then teaches us why were doing what were doing and how we can improve what we are doing for ourselves and the clients. 

When learning oriental medicine you start to see how different parts of the body are connected and can influence one another.  You also see how you mind, mood, food, environment and other things can influence your health and state of being.  

With this knowledge you can help people significantly more with basic massage just by understanding their pain better.  Someone may experience frequent pain in a specific area on their body or experience a loss of energy and not have any explanation as to why.  

With oriental medicine you understand that areas of the body are connected and can influence one another, the pain may be referred from blockage in another part of the body or the energy loss could be something so simple as breathing properly and aligning posture.

In class we also learn basic qigongs and their application to a healthier mind and body.  We can advise and teach these to others as well as use them ourselves for self maintenance which is another thing that oriental medicine has brought to our practice.  

Self maintenance is the most important part of massage practice in my opinion.  By learning proper body mechanics, qigong and tai chi we as massage therapists can maintain our own bodies so that we are able to practice massage effectively while keeping our own bodies healthy and safe from damage.

We are not by any means certified doctors in oriental medicine after learning this material but that's one of the great things about oriental medicine.  Even with a brief understanding you can still see a profound change in your understanding of healthy living and its application to massage.  Although if you are ambitious enough to further your study with oriental medicine there is plenty of room to grow and further your understanding.

A students experience with the moxibustion belly bowl

I am a recent student of the Oriental healing arts center and this is a brief entry on my experience with the moxibustion belly bowl that we were given the opportunity to try in class.  Something to keep in mind when reading this is that I am a 25 year old male at about 195lbs and I have a fairly high level of energy prior to trying the belly bowl so my experience my differ from others depending on your own body.

The experience starts with assembling a belly bowl with a stick of moxa.  The belly bowl is a rubber cylinder with a metal frame that suspends the burning moxa stick above your skin where ever you decide to place it, mine was located directly above my belly button.  In class we set up massage tables to lie upon while trying this, we started by lighting the moxa stick and laying down on a table with the belly bowl in place.  From here I took deep full breaths and relaxed into the table.  

About half way through I started feeling sensations in my lower abdomen that would travel out to the rest of my body.  The feeling was almost an electricity or something similar to a double shot mocha, like my metabolism was being revved up.  By the end I felt almost a little sick but that quickly went away after leaving the class and getting into the rest of my day.  I noticed the rest of the day that my appetite had significantly increased and I had much more energy than normal.  I participate in alot of outdoor sports and I was amazed at how much I was able to endure in one day energy wise.  This increase in energy and metabolism lasted for about 3 days as far as I could tell.

After the first experience I decided I throughly enjoyed the belly bowl and did several other sessions before the end of school.  For someone with relatively low energy i strongly recommend trying this form of moxibustion, for those that already have a high level of energy I recommend that if you try this it may be a good idea to try this for half a moxa stick at first and possibly a full stick later after you experience a little first.