Tip of the day for the rest of your days...

Stress. Everybody experiences it and everybody hates it. How do you deal with it right at the moment? In an earlier post, I wrote about a type of ear massage to relieve stress. But here's another solution that you can combine with your ear massage. Deep breathing will calm the nerves and clear the mind. 

Yes, it may sound simple and many people tend to overlook it. But are you breathing properly? Ever notice when you are stressing out or having an anxiety attack, your breathing gets shallower? You begin to feel tightness in your chest and back. Instead, take 5 minutes. Stand still with your arms to your sides. Loosen your shoulders, unlock your knees, close your eyes gently and breathe deep into your diaphragm. Breathe in through your nose with your tongue touching the roof of your mouth and breathe out with your mouth. Repeat deep breathes until you can you breathe at a steady and slow rate. It is extremely important to breathe down into your diaphragm at a steady rate. 

As a student of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, I'm also required to learn the art of Taichi. In Taichi, not only do we learn movements that most of you have probably seen in school fields and parks, but it teaches you how to listen to your body. It teaches you how to breathe. Taichi brings every part of your body together to work together. If anyone is interested in learning Taichi, you can message me! =)

Tip of the day for the rest of your days...

The holiday season is just around the corner and we have all got one thing in mind. Holiday shopping. Joyous yet chaotic. Exciting yet stressful. You're in the middle of a mall and you're about to blow your top. So what do you do? Simple: Give yourself an ear massage to relieve the stress!

The idea of ear massaging to relieve stress goes way way back from many parts of the world. The Inuit had a form of ear massage to calm their infants. In China, there's a whole system of massaging and healing with JUST the ears alone. But since I'm studying Chinese medicine and acupuncture I'll focus on the Chinese method and idea. According to traditional medicine and acupuncture, the ears alone have accupoints corresponding to parts of the rest of the body; the internal organs, extremities and the head. The earlobes represent the head of your body and thus we'll look into what to do with the lobes. In Western terms, massaging of the lobes moves the tentorium membrane in your head which relieves stress.

So what can you do to relieve stress quick time? A simple massage is to place your thumbs behind your ears starting at the top and with your index fingers in front, wipe down along the rim from the top of your ears and when your index and thumbs reaches your earlobes, gently pinch, pull down and let go of your earlobes. Do this several times. Then afterward pinch your earlobes and massage it in gentle circles. Do this until you feel you're ready to take on the long lines and hustle and bustle of holiday shopping! (Remember to keep your breathing steady, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth when performing your massage.)

Tip of the day for the rest of your days...

Next time you're at the gym, check yourself out in the mirror while doing an exercise!

We all know exercise is supposed to relieve stress. But there are times when we don't feel that stress relief especially when we think exercising is too hard or it's not doing anything. Injury during exercise can also stress us out. 

Sports psychologist and professor Steve Edwards Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University says, "The psychological boost of adhering to a program that you enjoy doing is much greater than the reward you get from any single session." He also suggests looking at yourself in the mirror of your gym while doing your exercises. Not only will a mirror help you notice bad form but will also let you see what you can do well thus giving you a more profound appreciation of the capability of your body.