Detox with Reflexology

In the slower, colder, winter months, our bodies tend to store more toxins since our detoxification organs are impacted by inactivity. Spring is the season of reawakening and a perfect time to kick start your detoxification system.

For a limited time we're offering a Complimentary 15 Minute Detox Add- On with every (75 or 90 Minute) Reflexology session booked. This Detox Add-On focuses on your lymphatic system, kidney, lungs, liver and colon and will jump start your detoxification system, starting you on your way to an internal spring cleaning.

But how does Reflexology, a therapy working on the feet, detoxify the whole body? It's all about the blood flow.

-With over 7,000 nerve endings per foot, Reflexology deeply relaxes our bodies - allowing the blood vessels to dilate, promoting increased blood flow to the whole body. With increased blood flow, the detoxing organs and the lymphatic system are able to function at their peak.

-When the body is in a state of stress, the blood flow is sent to key areas of the body, diverting it away from other areas such as the intestines and gut. While this hardwired body response was intended for short duration, many people are now experiencing a chronic level of stress to some degree. As a result, detoxification is not priority, so these organs are given less blood flow and cannot perform optimally. In a Reflexology session, the cleaning organs and lymphatic system are flushed with the proper amount of blood flow and can perform the job nature intended.

-Each 'relex area' on the foot is a system of nerve endings that correspond to an organ, gland or part of the muscuolskeletal system. Reflexology studies (using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology) have shown that when a reflex area is worked, there is increased blood flow in the region of the brain related to the body part the reflex corresponds to. With our Spring Detox Add-On, we will focus on your detoxification system (lymphatic system, lungs, kidneys, liver and colon) to bring more blood flow to these organs and jump start your internal cleanse.

We invite you to shake off winter, jump start your detoxification system and see how incredible you feel with a Spring Detox with Reflexology. This special is available for a limited time only.

Introducing Clinical Grade Peels

Dramatic results, without the downtime and harsh chemicals is what you can expect with our Cosmedix Clinical Grade Peels. These botanically based peels work with your skin to encourage healthy exfoliation and renewal, without harming your healthy skin cells, like traditional chemical peels.

Offering a variety of intensity, each peel will effectively smooth fine lines, reduce large pores, diminish age spots, blemishes, acne marks and leave your skin looking + feeling totally refreshed and rejuvenated.

For best results, our Cosmedix peels are booked in a series and may include a prep kit. A Prep Facial, which includes a skin analysis and consultation, must be booked before your first peel.

Unveil your radiance with one of our four Cosmedix Clinical Grade Peels.

Results you will love, ingredients you can trust. 

Getting to Know You - Cheryl Gregory, ESTHETICIAN

What led you to pursue a career in Esthetics?

I have been in the service industry all of my life and am a natural care giver. I remember receiving a facial, feeling so good and nurtured, and thinking I'd like to provide that feeling for others.

How would you describe your approach to your Skin Care sessions?

I believe the healing process begins with total relaxation. If I can get my clients into a state of relaxation, their skin is more likely to respond positively to the treatment. I use a lot of massage to help penetrate almost all of the products I use. I like to encourage a lot of oxygenated blood to the skin; it's very healing.

What is your favorite Skin Care product you can't live without?

Everybody has different needs, but for me, I can't live without my moisturizer! My favorite right now is Ilike's Hyaluronic Time Erase Comples Moisturizer, but of course, it changes seasonally for me.

You are married with 3 children and have such a nurturing, care giving approach to your sessions. How do you fill yourself up so you can give so much to others?

I love yoga and practice Bikram regularly. I also get regular massages, which helps me replenish and rejuvenate. Fortunately I don't crave junk food and eat really well. I think that helps me feel so good and gives me great energy.

As we know, a healthy lifestyle is one of the most important ways to encourage beautiful skin? What are some of your favorite tips you share with your clients to enhance the work you do?

I think movement and exercise is key to maintaining beautiful skin. Oxygen is essential to the health and maintenance of our skin cells. As we age our skin loses the ability to retain and utilize the oxygen for normal metabolic processes. I try to encourage my clients to move. 

Water water water. Hydration is another key ingredient to healthy skin.

And limit unnecessary stress. Stress wreaks havoc on your skin. Do things that fill you up and make you happy! Have you ever seen a super happy person with terrible skin?

We have just launched clinical grade peels with a new (to us) line called, Cosmedix. Can you tell us a little about these peels and why you love them so much?

I have worked with Cosmedix for about four years before I joined the Therapeutic Bodywork team. These metabolic peels are effective in peeling back rough, aging, blemished skin without using harsh chemicals that can damage healthy cells. The peels we use are botanically based treatments that produce dramatic results without the downtime of traditional peels. While sloughing off the dead, outer layer of skin, Cosmedix peels also work by stimulating the skin's natural renewal system - leaving you with better collagen production and elasticity.

They are amazing - you are going to LOVE the results!

Take $15 off your Initial Skin Care Session with Cheryl *

*(must be valued at $100 or more)

Cheryl is available Monday-Friday.

Your internal fire - the salad challange

As discussed previously in our blog titled “Hunkering Down for Winter”, winter is a time to preserve our internal light and yang energies. January is often the coldest month of the year, and yet, a chosen month to begin anew; and for many, it sparks the resolution to lose those unwanted extra pounds. Of course then comes the myriad of fads and diets to achieve these goals. And, more often than not, salads are the go to meal. With a lower total calorie count, salads do at first appear to be the ideal weight loss food. Today, however, we will challenge this belief and show that salads in January may actually hinder loss of those final unwanted pounds in the coming year.

Let’s begin our discussion with our centers- our bellies- our digestion! To better understand how optimal digestion occurs, we will use the analogy of cooking a pot of soup over an open fire: the fire being our metabolism or digestion, and the meal our food intake. In order to bring the pot of soup to a boil, we need a strong fire. In order to achieve a strong fire, we must have ideal conditions. Cold weather will dim its flames and a wet ground will inhibit its spark. Without a strong fire, our soup does not boil and our food does not cook, and when meal comes, there remains lots of inedible, uneaten food. The same can be said for our digestion: without a strong fire, our bellies cannot cook our food and our metabolism cannot work optimally. 

In Chinese Medicine, we call this function of the body our yang energy. Our digestive yang energy sparks a fire to cook down our food into energy and nutrients (often referred to as qi and blood). If our fire or yang energy is weak, we bolster a cold environment and produce an inefficient byproduct called damp. Just like in chemistry when a catabolic reaction occurs and some energy is wasted via heat -when our fire is weak, our metabolism is not as efficient and produces a waste product called damp [picture that tummy chub or even cellulite]. This in turn can eventually encumber our fire even more and it's wet nature will again dim our yang metabolic energies.

In the long run, these byproducts have to be deposited somewhere. Without enough fire to completely metabolize them, we eventually end up with excess weight, mucus in our lungs and sinuses, heavy limbs and often achy, stiff joints.

Now picture your cold salad. Then picture your cold salad straight out of the cold refrigerator. Now picture putting that cold wet salad over your digestive fire, again and again and again, in the cold cold winter months. What happens? Our fires start to putter, our metabolism starts to slow and our yang energy becomes encumbered with yin. Over time, when we eat less calories and push our bodies to exercise more, our depleted yang (or fire) is too weak to keep up and burn efficiently and hence, the more we push, the more fatigued we become and the more stubborn those last few pounds appear. Sigh.

Now, take that salad and lightly steam it. Or, take that salad and turn it into a slow cooked meal or a warm simmered winter stew! By using an external source of fire to do some of the work for you, some of your metabolic energy is freed up to be used elsewhere; and if you play it right, that freed up energy may possibly even be used toward cooking down that extra bit of unwanted stubborn flub over your belly. It truly is simple math!

So this winter, I challenge you to take a 30 Day Salad Fast (tricked you! But at least I got your attention!) and try cooking your veggies (or at minimum, warming your salad to room temperature). Once you gain momentum, you may even consider adding more warming spices like ginger, garlic, onion, curry, cumin and cinnamon to your meals to rev up that metabolism and ward off all the cold attempting to encumber your fire during these winter months. Or better yet, come see us for warming acupuncture treatments and customized herbs catered to your body type. By Spring, your yang energy will be that much stronger to burst forth out of the cold and gain momentum for easy shedding unwanted weight by summer.

Dr. Deb Salazar is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and Licensed Acupuncturist who specializes in women's health and fertility, and difficult/stubborn/chronic/recalcitrant disease. If you are interested in how acupuncture, herbs and Chinese Medicine can help you this winter, please schedule an appointment today.

Getting to know you - Megan Kershaw, Massage Therapist

Q: What led you to pursue a career in Massage Therapy?

A: As with most things, my decision to go into massage and bodywork is the result of a longer
process. I’ve worn a few different hats in my life, and am very fortunate that my life is a
collage of diverse experiences, most of them wonderful and enriching, if not educational. I
came to massage through the side door of yoga and organic farming. The physical labor of
farming required that I be proactive in caring for my body, hence the yoga. And through my
experience with yoga began my interest and curiosity about the body. 9 months after
completing a yoga teacher training, I was enrolled at the Asheville School of Massage &
Yoga.

Q: How would you describe your massage style?

A: My style is certainly a hybrid of different techniques. You take the foundation of Swedish
massage taught in school, and then start layering upon that. I’ve been mentored by some
talented individuals, and have “borrowed” techniques from them for my personal toolbox and
that I believe will add value to the massage experience with me.
I agree that most often, therapists will give the massage that they themselves would like to
receive. For me, that starts with the therapist’s presence with their client, tuning in to their breath
and any tensions in the body. My style is decidedly firm and thorough, though that does not
always guarantee that I will “work” your whole body thoroughly; sometimes need will dictate I
spend an hour on the back and neck, alone. In sum, my intention is to create a sense of
wholeness and connectedness in the client.

Q: You’ve had training in the Esalen Technique; can you describe that modality to us?

A: Yes! In November 2015 I spent 3 weeks in Big Sur, California at Esalen Institute, a renowned
retreat center that offers workshops and retreats in all topics related to the advancement of
human consciousness. I was there specifically for the 100 hour training in the Esalen technique,
unique in its long, flowing, heel to head massage strokes. Admittedly, to carry out these strokes,
there is less sheet material in the way(keep in mind it was developed during the 60s on the
shores of California, where the temperatures are always comfortable to the skin). The technique
has been refined over the years, but mainly its purpose is that of an intensely relaxing massage,
triggering the parasympathetic system for greater healing in the body. It does this through a
variety of techniques including rocking; long, fluid strokes; providing a sense of
three-dimensionality to the body; cross-directional strokes to “confuse” the mind, which forces
relaxation. Tuning in to breath and encouraging client to breath into tension spots is essential.

Q: What’s the one thing you can’t live without?

A: I couldn’t possibly choose just one thing! Friendship, humor, health, adventure, good food,
the ocean, diversity...all the spices of life!

Q: What’s your favorite self-care ritual?

A: My yoga practice. When I’ve gone a week without a downward dog in sight, I notice it- both in
my physical body and my emotional body. Long walks on the beach - swims in the warm season also help ground and reconnect me.

Q: Have you set any intentions for 2017?

A: I will keep it short and simple for the sake of this Q&A! I recently read a book called The
Miracle Morning, which has encouraged me to commit to a solid morning routine. Own your
morning and you own you day, as the saying goes. This morning routine includes adding
relevant affirmations and visualizations, as well as reading and journaling, to my existing
exercise routine(either walking or yoga). The point is, these are all parts of the roadmap that will
increase your chances of getting to whatever destination you’ve chosen. It’s a fun concept to
consider and, more importantly, to employ. And though I believe the journey CAN be the
destination, I believe it’s good to take inventory of where you’re at, compared to where you’d like
to be. Also, cultivating gratitude for all the things I’m blessed with is a big intention I’ve set for
myself!

Take $15 off your Initial Session with Megan

Megan is available on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.