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CranioSacral Therapy: What Is It and How Can It Help You?
CranioSacral Therapy is a noninvasive therapy that assesses, modifies, and corrects restrictions in the craniosacral system to improve wellness and enhance the body’s ability to self-regulate. The craniosacral system is a physiological system that is responsible for the production, circulation, and re-absorption of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This fluid is what keeps your brain from hitting the side of your skull and it flows all the way down your spine and back up again. Not only does the CSF protect your brain but it also helps maintain the environment for your nervous system to develop, function, and thrive. The system itself consists of the ventricular system that produces the cerebrospinal fluid, dural membranes surrounding the spinal cord, and the bony and fascial attachments of membranes. The practitioner is observing and feeling for areas of restriction in what we call the craniosacral rhythm. This rhythm is the movement of the bones and body tissues in response to the flow of CSF that I mentioned earlier.
Psychedelics in Therapy & the Psychedelic Science Conference
Much research has already been undertaken that demonstrates the efficacy and long term success of psychedelic-assisted treatments: Clinical trials exploring ketamine, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), and MDMA for treatment of depression have shown promising long term results for reduction of symptoms. Research exploring psychedelic medicine indicates that therapies incorporating it into treatment can help individuals process and heal from trauma. Neuroimaging research has shown that psychedelic treatment promotes increased neural plasticity, allowing for new connections and reorganization within the brain. Other studies exploring addiction and recovery suggest that the profound and transformative experiences induced by psychedelics can lead to increased motivation, self-reflection, and a greater sense of purpose, which can aid in the recovery process.
Is Melatonin a Safe Sleep Solution? What Users Need to Know
Millions of Americans are turning to Melatonin as a “natural” alternative to sleep aids … but is it safe? Endogenous melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain and helps to regulate the body’s internal clock, called the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle that regulates various internal processes, including the sleep-wake cycle, body temperature, metabolism, and digestion. Melatonin’s job is to tell the body when these cycles start and stop in a 24-hour period. However, despite confused reports, melatonin plays no role in the quality, depth, or overall restfulness of sleep. Although melatonin is thought to help with sleep issues, it is not effective for chronic insomnia, restless sleep, frequent nighttime waking, or other troubles with sleep at night.
Box Breath aka Square Breath for Calm
This style of breath, also called a “Square Breath” or a “4x4 Breath,” can be used in moments of stress or anxiety, or simply when you’d like to calm down or relax. You may have heard of Box Breathing due to its use as a part of Navy SEAL training—it’s used by soldiers to reduce stress and improve focus during chaotic moments of combat. Research supports this technique to help regulate your autonomic nervous system and it is correlated with improved sleep quality, decreased blood pressure and heart rate, and decreased symptoms of depression.
Mindfulness At The Workplace:Why We Need It
Mindfulness may seem like a buzzword, however it is on the cusp of becoming a household name. It is a centuries-old idea that has been reinvented to address modern day mental health challenges. So what is mindfulness really? It is a “mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic and meditation technique.”
Massage Therapy and the Safe and Sound Protocol
Dr. Stephen Porges created the Safe and Sound Protocol to encourage a state shift in our nervous system to a setting of safety. It’s not creating neuroplasticity; it moves the train to a different set of tracks that have been there all along. I initially discovered SSP when searching for interventions to help my son who has a diagnosis of autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and ADHD. SSP creates a setting of safety in the individual’s nervous system increasing their capacity for social engagement.
Grounding and Calm During the Holiday Season
As we move into the final weeks of 2022 and a holiday season that is in full swing, it can be helpful to support our well-being with practices that allow us to pause, breathe, and connect. Whether you are driving in traffic, checking off the to-do lists, or moving through the busyness of everyday life, these practices will offer you tools to stay grounded and connected this season, and throughout the year ahead! Here are some of my favorite practices to support overall health and well-being.
Immune Health Supplements and Botanicals
What supplements can help keep your immune system at its peak this winter? There is not one magic thing that will stop a cold in its tracks or ward off viruses but there are several nutraceuticals and botanicals that have good evidence for use to help modulate the immune response. These are some of my favorites and things I keep handy for me and my family during cold and flu season when we tend to be more proactive on the supplement front. As always, it is vitally important that you work with a trained practitioner to know if these are safe for you to take with respect to your health history and current medications.
PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome): East Meets West
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS, has troubled the minds of health professionals for years. Sadly, there are no real clear answers because it’s a relatively new disorder. What’s even more puzzling is that it can present with a combination of symptoms or the complete absence of common symptoms altogether. As practitioners of Chinese Medicine, we are constantly looking for patterns in the body. Your symptoms are signal fires guiding us to the root cause of your imbalance, and it’s our job to find that root imbalance to provide relief or reversal or symptoms. That is the real gift of eastern healing—a deeper knowing of yourself and the confidence to sit in the driver’s seat of your own wellness.
5 Tips to Help You Recover From Caesarian (C-Section) Delivery
For anyone who has experienced a caesarean (c-section) delivery, you have also experienced an incision into the abdominal wall. These scars are typically located horizontally above the pubic bone or vertically under your belly button. The incision moves through 6 different layers of the abdominal cavity with stitching performed at the uterus, sometimes rectus abdominis muscle (6-pack muscle) and skin. In the immediate weeks after delivery we can be unsure how to heal the scar and how to take care of your newborn with decreased abdominal strength.
Seniors’ Guide to Cancer
Seniors are living longer and having to face more challenges than before. A healthy lifestyle can help you deal with aging, protect you from cancer, and keep you at your best.
As average life expectancies increase, older adults are learning more about the cancers and other health risks that might affect them. In fact, age is the most significant risk factor for developing cancer. People 65 and older comprise 60% of all cancer patients.
While age is the primary factor affecting your cancer or treatment, your physical lifestyle, treatment decisions and mental fitness determine your overall health.
3 Ways to Train for the Sport of Motherhood
The tasks I have found myself engaged in during Motherhood have been quite different from any previous physical training I have done. Some of them might even be listed as unsafe.
During the postpartum period, a woman is STILL experiencing joint laxity and her core muscles take time to rebound. So we are taking a vulnerable system and applying force. Sounds like a recipe for injury.
Yoga as Medicine: Sympathetic Dampening
If the nervous system is repetitively triggered into "fight or flight" mode it can get confused, resulting in "sympathetic wind-up," a constant, heightened resting state. In this stressed state the nervous system has a hard time calming down, resulting in possible pain sensitivity, stress, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, and fatigue. Yoga has been shown to reduce pain, stress, anxiety, depression, and irritability. Yoga practice can also increase blood flow, improve concentration, and improve sleep quality. In short, yoga can produce the opposite effect of "sympathetic wind-up."
Mindfulness and Meditation: What’s the difference?
We hear so much about mindfulness and meditation these days. The terms are often used interchangeably. Your doctor may say “you really need to start a mindfulness practice.” Or you see a report on the national news of how great meditation is for you. Seems confusing, doesn’t it? I would like to simplify what meditation and mindfulness mean to me.
Loss of the Sense of Smell After Covid-19
Dealing with a loss or distortion of your sense of smell affects many aspects of your life and can be debilitating. It can also be isolating because others may not understand how profoundly these conditions affect your ability to do normal, everyday things. Reaching out to others who are experiencing these symptoms or joining a support group can reduce feelings of disconnection and provide encouragement and resources. Fortunately, there are options if you or someone you know is suffering from these conditions.
10 Ways Physical Therapy Can Help!
Physical therapy can help you reduce pain, get back to doing what you love, and help you perform at your peak ability. Check out our list of holistic PTs in the Denver area, available to help you virtually or in-person.
What is Holistic Healthcare? 4 Reasons to Go Holistic
The word holistic gets tossed around quite a bit in the world of health and wellness. You might also see the words integrative and functional used the same way. So what do they all mean? Holistic healthcare is an approach that sees your health as multidimensional and believes that the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of you should all be taken into account; holistic healthcare treats the whole person.
Networks
In this group we refer our patients to other providers we think they'd benefit from. We educate ourselves on different techniques and how an integrative approach best supports healing. We empower patients by sharing resources and information. And by doing all of this, we believe we can improve the standard of care and quality of health in Denver.