Other moms (family and friends) know this and pitch in when and where they can.  Some new moms actively seek the support of professionals for support, like a doula.  Doulas are specially trained members of the birth team who are there to support and care for moms, sometimes during pregnancy, often during the birth and after the birth as well.  While a doula’s specialty and training may vary, as you might imagine, massage skills are a sought-after skill during pregnancy, delivery and recovery.  In fact some doulas are actually also Licensed Massage Therapists.

How can you help a new mom remember to practice self-care? All offers are usually welcome:  baby-sitting, doing the dishes or a load of laundry, bringing food, sweep or vacuum, or a run to the store.  Also welcome, would be offers that encourage self-care for new moms: the gift of time to soak, or nap, a foot rub, a pedicure, music that soothes. You get the idea: actively encourage/cajole new moms to practice self-care during this happy, exhausting time.

Taking Care of the Body and the Spirit

Q  How many people do you “take care of” in your life?
A  Write down your number_____!

The higher your number, the more urgently you need to read this!  Did you include yourself?  If not, take your number _____ and ADD 1 = ______! Although we don’t tend live this way, self-care is non-negotiable, necessary and life-saving.  Sure everybody’s busy!  Our techy, multi-tasking lives often leave our physical and emotional needs standing at the end of the line, cup in hand. It’s easy to cross yourself off your list, almost no one notices.  It’s easy to get away with.

Here’s the good news – not matter how seriously you have neglected yourself – you can change!  Self-care literally refers to “care of self” and encompasses many areas of your life:  your nourishment, your fitness, your energy, your sleep, preventive care, rest and relaxation, your use of time. Self-care is not an event, a finish line, nor a goalpost; self-care is the accumulative effect of taking a number of small actions, consciously and consistently: extra sleep every now and then, time alone, time in nature, time to soak, time to ponder, time to luxuriate, time to laugh, time to breathe.

Start here! Start now!  A day at the spa or a weekend get-away are wonderful balms for busy-ness, but not easy to pull off against the incessant demands of daily life. What can you do for yourself…. today? A walk at lunchtime, a power nap, a stroll at twilight, a yoga class, new running/walking shoes, a nice soak in the tub (with a do not disturb sign on door), meditate, browse in your favorite store, listen to music? Make a list of “caring” things you can do for your own well-being. Begin now!  Consult your list, pick one.  Tomorrow, consult your list, pick one.  Add to your list, then – pick another one! Keep going and going…

Mother’s Day Massage Samplers

1 Mini-Vacation (25 minute massage)

1 Healthy Retreat (15 minute massage)

1 QuickBREAK (10 minute massage)

Cost $50 ($15 savings). Limited Supply.

• Massage Passport (package of 10 massages + one free bonus massage). Passports start at $150.

• Individual gift certificates $15 – $30

*Massage samplers are available through Tuesday, May 15th at all our locations.   Phone orders must be placed by 5:00 pm Wednesday, May 9th for mail delivery in Orlando area by Saturday.  Call 407-896-6740. All packages & certificates redeemable at any Orlando Take 5 location.

Repurpose

When was the last time you upped your “green” quotient?  Every April, the earth rewards us – fresh growth, beauty, and abundance (not counting pollen of course)!  It’s a great time to reciprocate by doing a “green audit” on your lifestyle.  Where could you be greener?  It’s easy to make a little effort and then unconsciously slip back into old wasteful habits. Which habits or projects could you initiate to better conserve, reduce, recycle or restore?

Ideas to get you “greener”:

1)    Save resources!  Adjusting thermostats, using compact fluorescent bulbs, cold water laundry, taking shorter showers, use a clothesline, use drought -resistant native plants, walk or bike when possible, tele-commute if possible.

2)    Shop smart!  Buy locally raised fruits, veggies, meat and dairy – fresher with fewer resources to get to market , eat “low on the food chain”, go meatless when you can, filter tap water instead of bottled, borrow instead of buying (library, tools), buy in bulk, wash instead of dry clean, free cycle or post it for sale. Go garage- sailing!  Buy new products composed of recycled materials.

3)    Trash not!  Think before you toss:  can item be recycled or repurposed?  Is there a safe way to dispose of toxic materials and items?  Find creative ways to down source your used electronics – e-waste has mercury so donate or recycle. Dispose of toxic materials and waste appropriately. Get $ or credit for your ink cartridges. Cancel catalogues, call & cancel if on a list.  Consign gently used clothing.

4)      Grow/make your own!  Start a garden – even a container garden.  Make your own non-toxic cleaning products, handcraft for hobby and utility, and try your hand at canning, pickling or baking.  Make your hot morning drinks at home and use a reusable insulated cup to go.

5)      Repurpose!  Find creative ways to reuse things – create something new, offer to a friend, donate to charity.  Use the web to find cool ways to re-create your stuff and give it a new life.  Artist friends often love to get your old stuff!

Okay, so you’re thinking – “Geez, there’s so much waste and trash – what difference can I make”?  Answer?  More than you think.  According to statistics from the EPA, recycling saves millions of jobs, reduces greenhouse gases, saves energy and resources and often results in thousands of new products made from recycled materials.  Consider instead the power of 10 – what difference 10 of us can make!  And then, how about 100 of us, or 1,000 of us!  In fact, we think working “individually together” is our single best hope for a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Boy, you guys grow a lot of different things!

Joe T.  wrote, “We just got massage yesterday because of this garden.”

Rozelyn E. writes, “This is my garden. I have an aloe plant for when the Florida sun gets too hot, 3 cacti from Arizona to remind me of home, a strawberry plant I just planted with my 3 year-old son, and my flowers which are waiting for the Spring weather. It’s the best I can do living in an apartment.”

How cute is that?

This is Debrajaye D’s garden shot:

By the amount of flowers on the tomato plant (?), it looks like she’ll have a good crop!

Robert D. looks like he has a little helper.  Maybe for pest control?

And, Lauressa N. sent  a pic from the Festival Park Community Garden:

Thanks for all of your submissions, and enjoy your massages!

5 tips to protect your back:
1)    Conditioning.  Exercise regularly to stay in condition and warm up before starting with some gentle stretches.  (Reason #96 for staying in shape).
2)    Breaks.  Break your jobs into smaller more manageable projects and take frequent breaks to rest and hydrate.
3)    Tools.  Use long-handled tools to minimize bending and stretching and avoid over-extending.
4)    Get dirty.  Hug those loads of manure/dirt/fertilizer close to your body to reduce back strain. Old clothes come in handy for this one.
5)    Plants. Choose slow-growing and/or dwarf varieties for easier reach and maintenance.  Consider container gardening – for patios, herbs and vegetables.  Raise your beds to shorten your reach.
6)     Be Tom Sawyer.  Enlist helpers – family members, neighbors, younger backs – use bribery if necessary!  And don’t forget to strap on a back support thingy if you have one. Keep tools on a belt or in an apron to prevent excessive bending and stooping.  Use a wheel barrow or wagon for moving stuff around.
Back pain is no joke!  According to Consumer Reports, lower back pain is the 5th most common reason that adults seek medical help.  And if you’ve been on the planet awhile, you know that the effects of back strain or injury can be cumulative!  Some strategies to consider if you do experience simple back strain:  get plenty of rest, take frequent breaks, sit in supportive chairs, soak in warm water, apply ice packs and practice gentle stretching before, during and after gardening/yard work.  If your back pain persists and/or is chronic, consider seeking medical advice. To those weekend warriors who beat a path to our chairs to ease your spring soreness and stiffness – we’ve got your back.

While we’re busy amassing “friends” on Facebook, researchers are busy combing through statistics and anecdotal evidence to try to substantiate what we already intuitively know… friends matter!  Friends nurture, protect and support us!  Friendships profoundly benefit both men and women, but for women friendships “rule” and they start early – note passing (aka texting) sharing secrets, giggles and adventures.

Boys bond too, but more casually through sports, mutual interests and activities.  As adults, researchers think that the hormone oxytocin is, especially for women, the elixir of friendship and health. Oxytocin spikes in women around childbirth and stress, reducing serotonin levels (yikes – stress hormones) and compelling women to seek social connections. Men that lose a spouse, often suffer more than women, who frequently have a larger number of established friendships outside of the marriage!

But remember, friendship is a two way street – you must first be a good friend to gain strong friendships!

5 Ways to Become a “BBF” – Best Friend Forever:
1.    Make friendships a priority! Cross a few “shoulds” off your list and connect with a friend instead – talk, walk, meet for tea (okay – coffee or a drink), take a class together, form a club, any “excuse” to hang out!
2.    Be there for the good and bad, the hard and the easy!  Congratulate and commiserate, celebrate and commemorate.  Life is all about the highs and lows and ups and downs – be a friend through all of it!
3.    Be a good listener!  The best friendships are reciprocal – sometimes you need to talk, sometimes you need to listen.  Be equally generous with both sides of the equation – don’t keep score, things will even out on their own.
4.    Be friendly!  Now this sounds, er, obvious, but it can often be challenging to initiate contact, particularly if you are an introvert.  Joining groups and/or attending networking or social events can present opportunities to meet like-minded people – i.e. potential new friends.
5.    Establish and maintain a close inner circle.  There is no magic number, it depends on your time and the commitments you already have, but consider a circle of at least 4 (up to as many as 10) friends with whom you maintain close and intimate connections.  In the age of Facebook, don’t substitute the scroll of “friends” on your page for the true  intimacy and satisfaction of deep friendship.

For men and women, close friendships take time to establish and develop, but the long term benefits are well worth it! Talking to or hanging out with friends makes you laugh, allows you to cry and simply helps you figure out stuff.  On the health front – friends boost your immunity and promote physical as well as emotional healing.  Close friends profoundly contribute to the quality and length of your life and your health and happiness.  And above all, be the friend you want to have – give the gift of friendship and it will come back to you in amazing ways.

Our office will do this exercise this month for the third time (we first heard about the idea from Chris Brogan – a biz pro). In 2011 our words were:  Collaborate, Connect, and Create!  Those 3 powerful words guided us through a stimulating year of building our outreach through social media (thanks Lisa Moore), spending more “face time” with team members and customers, inviting “experts” to our team meetings, and upgrading our office technology!  We’re working on 2012 – we will take a “play” date later this month to wander and ponder.  This time-out gives us the space and vision to shape and define an exciting new year! We invite you to co-create 2012 with us – take some time to craft YOUR 3 words for 2012.  Please refer to our handy Word Map below!  Remember less can often be more!

Bette Calman 83

Modern yoga, a mind, body and spirit practice, incorporates a variety of disciplines and poses which have evolved over centuries. In many places ( in the US and the world) yoga is considered a form of alternative medicine.  In Sanskrit, the word yoga means to join, to unite or to attach. No matter which school of yoga you follow or style of yoga you practice, the popularity of Yoga is off the er…mat.  A study in the fall of 2010 found more robust growth in yoga than in over 50 sports from 2001- 2010. And the benefits are nothing short of miraculous.  According to Web MD, yoga improves posture, builds strength, lowers stress, improves concentration and mood, lowers blood pressure and relieves chronic pain – and that’s about half of the list!

Yoga can be a soothing, relaxing, work-at-your own pace exercise, and/or it can also be serious, sweaty, strenuous exercise. In Bikram Yoga aka “hot yoga” the room is heated to @%$^#$! degrees to facilitate stretching and detoxing.  “Power Yoga” ups the aerobic ante by elevating the level and pace.  And then there’s a stream of inventive “extreme” new entries like “mobile yoga” combining in-line skating and yoga.  You can find your bliss by sitting in a chair and breathing into your spine or dangling off the side a cliff and everything in-between, but don’t let the diversity deter you.  Start where you are.

We are happy to report that yoga is flourishing in Orlando.  There are dedicated yoga studios and stand- alone yoga classes all over O-town. As with any other pursuit, we encourage you to experiment and find a style of yoga that suits your goals, your level of fitness, your schedule and your budget. And as always, it’s advisable to seek medical advice first if you have injuries or conditions such as high blood pressure that could be affected by physical exercise.  That being said – grab a mat and jump in!  If you have found your “place” let your friends know — post it on Facebook and/or Twitter.  If you’re looking for classes, workshops or retreats, ask for referrals from friends and co-workers –(we love Shine On Yoga)  call or visit local studios and talk to owners or instructors to find a good match.  Googling “yoga Orlando” we stopped at page 49 of listings….OMG (om my god) – yoga is rocking in Orlando!

Without running away or adopting Scrooge as a role model, how can we manage?

Expert advice: Take breaks – lots of them – frequently, consciously, thoughtfully.  According to Dr. Alex Lickerman (Psychology Today), neurons become more resistant to diseases like epilepsy, migraines, and even dementia when stressed and then allowed a period of rest. The thing that stresses neurons and thus ultimately leads to their increased hardiness? Thinking.

Now it’s true, we’re partial to chair massage, but here are some other ways to snag some R & R:

• Calendar some white space
• Take power naps
• Sneak in walks
• Lunch away from your desk
• Phone a friend
• Listen to music (instead of news)
• Take a yoga or dance class

The most important break of all?  Immortalized in The Night Before Christmas – “a long winter’s nap” – i.e. adequate sleep!  You can vacay, take a long weekend, catch a matinee or savor a concert. Just a tiny bit of caution however, imaginary breaks don’t count – you must actually TAKE them!  So make your list, check it twice and then “gift” yourself the gift of breaks.  Breaks reward and help you reboot, but primarily breaks will rekindle the genuine spirit of the holidays: generosity, forgiveness and kindness.

Happy Holidays to all.