Hand Massage

Have you ever had to sit in one place longer then you’d like, as in an airplane or in a classroom?

 Have your legs ever felt like they’ve gotten stiff from sitting there to long?  According to reflexology or Korean hand acupuncture you can easily affect those stiff areas by applying pressure to your hands.

The hand is a micro system of your body, it’s an extension of your being and therefore it’s intrically connected to the rest of you.  According to Korean hand acupuncture your hand is like a mirror image of your body. Applying pressure to the hand will direct better blood circulation and release hormones throughout the body, which can improve multiple systems at once.

Above is a diagram of where each organ and body part lies in your hand, if an area is bothering you its good to apply pressure to that area a few times a day for a few minutes. Although, just massaging the entire hand or even just squeezing the tips of each finger on a daily basis can and will help the rest of the body maintain a level of balance.

Hand Massage is one of the easiest ways to promote relaxation and good health through out the body. If you work with your hands a lot too, a daily two-minute hand massage will bring about better circulation throughout the joints and tendons of the hand keeping them limber and strong.

A hand massage doesn’t take long and can feel pretty good with the right pressure, making it a habit and doing it on a daily basis can over time bring relief to troubled areas.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s article, if you have any comments or questions please let me know. Otherwise I hope you have a great week ahead.

How To Improve Digestion

Ever just eat a little too much and get a little bloated and felt tired afterwards? Well I do, especially after every holiday.  Although in every day life when you eat that wrong thing or just had one too many pieces of chocolate. You might get a little nauseous, or have some uncomfortable acid reflux.  Here is a simple acupressure massage technique to improve digestion.

There is an acupressure point just below the knee on the lateral side of the shinbone (tibia) that can do wonders for the digestive system. The point is called Stomach 36 , or Leg Three Mile or  Zusanli in Chinese. This point is actually one of the most used points during most acupuncture treatments because of its ability to strengthen digestion and has a very strong ripple effect upon all other organs and the body as a whole.

The point lies one hand width or four fingers width below the knee cap on the outside of the shin.  A good way to massage this point is to just cross your leg over the other and to squeeze the area with your fingers and hand. Don’t worry about being accurate; the stomach channel passes down the whole outside of the tibia, so you’ll be creating an effect on the stomach even if you’re completely off of the point.

Within 5 minutes of doing this massage you should be able to feel or hear your stomach grumble, especially after eating. In general this point is good for a great variety of issues, which include stomach pain, GERD, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, hiccups, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, mastitis, depression, asthma, cough and even insomnia.

Good digestion is key to over all good health; doing this a few times a week can help keep a body healthy and balanced.

Thank you for your time, I hope this has been a useful and interesting read for you. Please leave any comments or questions below and I hope you have a great week!

Does Acupuncture Work?

I hear this question all the time. The answer is yes acupuncture works, but its effectiveness depends on many factors.  Age, general health, well being, how long and severe the issue is, along with diet and lifestyle all have to be taken into consideration.  

Acupuncture can do wonders for issues that haven’t been around to long like the common cold or any acute injury. If its something more severe like chronic back pain then acupuncture can and will help, but it will take more treatments.

The best part of having an acupuncture treatment is that there are no negative side effects, matter of fact acupuncture can help reduce unwanted side effects from medications. It works because acupuncture works in conjunction with the bodies own healing system, placing needles in specific points all over the body stimulate the central nervous system to release hormones and natural pain relieving opioids.

 In general these same hormones and opioids are released during the sleep state. Due to this acupuncture is really good for issues like stress because the release of these hormones force the body to relax and heal itself.

Here is a short list of how many treatments it may take for various issues:

Headaches- May go away with only one treatment

Recent injury-  1- 5 treatments

Acute back pain- 1-6 treatments

Allergies- 6-12 treatments

Insomnia-  6-12 treatments

Chronic back pain-  20- 30 treatments

Arthritis- research had shown a 50% pain reduction in 3 treatments, 10-15 treatments

Stroke- 25-30 treatments with in six months after stroke

Anxiety- 10-15 treatments

Depression- 10-20 treatments, with occasional follow up treatments

I hope this article has been an interesting read for you, please leave any comments or questions below. Thanks and have a great week!

Improve Eyesight Naturally

"The liver acupuncture meridian passes through and thereby influences the tissues surrounding the eyes, the eyes are directly affected by the liver in many ways"

In his book Take Off Your Glasses And See author Jacob Liberman, an optometrist, takes a revolutionary new look at keeping eyes healthy with out glasses.

The book goes to say that wearing a pair of glasses all day every day is like wearing crutches all day every day. For optimal health eyes need to be able to move in all directions with ease. Wearing glasses keeps the eyes focused through one specific focal point, which inhibits them from getting better and causes atrophy over time. This is a big reason as to why peoples glasses get thicker as they age.

In other words wearing glasses long term is worse for your eyes, it is better to use them only when necessary, like for driving at night.  The book goes on to talk about acupressure points around the eyes that when stimulated daily will improve eyesight over time.  There are at least 5 specific acupressure points around each eye, 3 in the eyebrow, one on the temple and another in a depression under the eye.  To stimulate them, you don’t need to know exactly where they are. Just rubbing the areas around the eyes for a few minutes every day or every other day will improve eyesight. If you do this and feel any tender areas, then you have found a blockage and this is a great area to massage daily until it goes away. Doing this will improve your eyesight.

In Chinese medicine the eyes are also directly connected to the liver, the liver works very hard to keep the body healthy.  Its job is to remove toxins from the blood and improve blood circulation. So the health of the eyes really depends on the health of the liver, granted the older one gets the harder it is to keep the body in perfect working condition. Although keeping a decent healthy diet and a little exercise can go a long way to keeping the liver and eyes healthy. Too much alchohol, like any toxin is bad for the liver, it reduces the livers ability to clean out the blood and improve circulation.  Alcohol taken in moderation is the best way to go, but if over done too much alcohol will diminish eyesight over time.

Good blood circulation is also more of a factor for good eye sight then most people realize. When we are more awake, our circulation is better and faster, which allows us to see better. In the morning or at night we are more tired and there fore our eyesight diminishes. That is why wearing glasses at night while driving is a good time to wear them. Although, a little weekly exercise can do wonders for circulation and eye sight.

Over all, wearing glasses when not necessary can do more harm on your eyes, it is better to wear them when necessary. To improve eyesight massaging the outside of the eyes, a good diet and a little exercise can really do wonders. For more tips, I suggest reading the book Take Off Your Glasses And See, which can be found in the book section of this blog.

I hope this has been a useful and interesting read, please leave any comments or questions, and I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you!