This is a blog post from Teesforchange.com – the gracious folks that helped us start our revolution for peace.  This photo is from our first day of training in Dharamsala, India which serendipitously happened to be International Peace Day.   A million thank yous to everyone that supported this trip; financially and spiritually.  I will go back; for there is more peace and healing touch to share.

by teesblog on July 7, 2010

The Massage for Peace program by the Boulder College of Massage Therapy literally touches hundreds of people each year.

The non-profit massage school helps student share their healing hands with those living with illness, in poverty, and through war and conflict. Each year they offer 10,000 hours of massage free of charge to those who need it most.

As one alumna for the College, Becky Little explains Massage for Peace is “the simple act of reaching out and touching someone. Extending the love, care, and respect that comes from nurturing touch to another human being is a gift that enriches life. The gentle touch of a hand or a reassuring hug reduces fear, anxiety, and loneliness often felt in times of unrest and despair.”

With the average cost of a massage being about $1 per minute, over the last 33 years the school estimates its donation to those in need to be nearly $200,000.

At home, massage therapists from the school each spend about 250 hours per year with patients in prenatal, postpartum, cancer, cardiac, and orthopedic care at Boulder Community Hospital.

Last September, 10 massage therapists travelled to Dharamsala, India to teach massage therapy to Tibetan refugees at Lha Charitable Trust. Many of the refugees they worked with arrived with little aside from the clothes on their backs and the terror of the experiences they escaped. In a letter afterward, the trust’s general manager Ngawang Rabgyal said the skills learned by the refugees will go a long way toward helping them rebuild their confidence, and praised BCMT for its dedication to non violence. This was the seventh trip by students of the school to Dharamsala.

We at Tees for Change are proud  that we designed and produced the Massage for Peace t-shirts worn by the massage therapists on their journey and we hope you’ll join us in following their adventures in peace.

If you want to know more about the Massage for Peace trip to India, you can read all about it on the BCMT blog. To donate to Massage for Peace please follow this link.

Although I am quite aware of the reality in the world today, I do pride myself on being an optimist and for my true belief in the inherent good within each of us. It’s simple, I was raised this way, for me, I have known no other method for working through life.  As an adult I now see how all the twists and turns in life have taken to where I am today.  Always focused on furthering the search for my true purpose I continue to follow my path with trust as well as caution.

A piece of this life purpose was revealed to me in the fall of 2009 when I traveled to Dharamsala, India on behalf of BCMT’s Massage for Peace service effort. This trip was nothing less than life changing for myself, my travel mates and the incredible friends that we met along the way. The intent of the group was to teach massage therapy to Tibetan refugees allowing them access to education, a new skill and increased hope for prosperity in their lives. What I found was that in many cases, I was the student. Learning about deep compassion and forgiveness, sincere dedication to truth and enlightened thought. Learning about their spiritual leader, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and their undying allegiance to him as children of his words.  This experience opened my world to this culture, their leader and a beautiful new mindset.

A client of mine recently told me about an interview on the Today Show, I wanted to share that today. I hope that you are as captivated as I was when watching this and I hope you are as optimistic as I am about the future of our world.

Cardiovascular disease is the general term for diseases of the circulatory system, commonly the heart, arteries and veins. It is believed that the stress hormones make blood thicker and thicker blood clots easier. Chronic stress could cause blood clots to form within the bloodstream and impact blood getting to and from the heart. This specifically leads to strokes. It is well documented that stress has a substantial affect on the heart.

It has been shown that massage will act as a second heart, pumping blood 5 times as fast to the area being worked. Massage has nothing but positive effects on the circulatory system. So please, don’t let your stress go untreated.

The effects of stress on the immune system are many and include weakened defenses, lower resistance to infections and viral illnesses as well as increased susceptibility to allergies and malignant cell changes that encourage the growth and spread of cancer.

Unfortunately we have come to live in a highly toxic environment, therefore it is as important as ever to support healthy function of your immune system. I recommend regular massage to reduce stress and strengthen your immunity but in the short term, try a good laugh. Stress constricts blood vessels, and thus lowers our immune systems, and ability to fight off disease. Studies have shown that laughter lowers levels of the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine, and in effect reversing the constriction of blood vessels.

An overload of stress prevents the release of the ‘master’ hormone that signals a cascade of hormones that direct reproduction and sexual behavior. It also inhibits the testes and ovaries directly, hindering production of the male and female sex hormones testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone.

In men, long-term stress can reduce the number of sperm produced or cause impotence. In women, stress can cause absent or irregular menstrual cycles, and reduce sexual desire.

So what do you say? Let’s keep the human race alive, book a massage session and help relieve the stress in your life.

So how is this system involved with stress? When the body is stressed, the glands of our endrocrine system start to produce stress hormones. These hormones are released into the body and in response the liver produces glucose, raising our blood sugar and keeping us in our ‘fight or flight’ sympathetic nervous system when we don’t need to be there. Basically, it inhibits our ability to relax and recover from the stress.

The ability to recover from stress and to relieve ourselves from stress is very important in overall healthy function of the body.  Our society lends to a life of sympathetic nervous system living and not parasympathetic healing.  As a whole we need more time in the parasympathetic nervous system and ‘down time’ is the way to get there.  I’m not talking about down time in front of the television while folding laundry.  I’m referring to meditation, massage, relaxation in nature – I’m referring to time spent nurturing our soul and rejuvenating our systems.  Time out of our hectic schedules and time for healing.

So, how does stress affect us?  Before we can answer this question we must know what stress is. Simply put, stress is the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental and emotional responses.

Stress, to varying degrees, is a normal part of life and our body, mind and spirit is designed to experience and react to stress. Stress can be positive in that it helps to keep us alert and ready to avoid danger.

Stress, as we know, can also be negative and without relief or relaxation, it will negatively affect every system in our body. In future posts, I will be highlighting the different systems of the body and how stress affects those systems.

Here are some interesting statistics on stress:

- 43% of adults suffer adverse health effects from stress
- OSHA estimates that stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually
- Emotional disorders are more than 50% due to chronic, untreated reactions to stress
- It is now believed that 80% – 90% of all disease is stress induced
- 75% – 90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress related ailments and complaints

My intent is to help you understand just how important it is to allow our mind, body and spirit to experience relief. Whether you are an elite athlete, a corporate executive, college student or average joe, we all need to be active participants in our own care.

So please, take an hour out of your life and come in for a massage. Let me assist you in living a healthy life.

Receiving massage on a regular basis will help to promote a healthy circulatory system, along with good posture. Massage also releases tension and pain in the muscles, allowing them to move more freely. People who receive massage frequently tend to be more flexible and comfortable in their bodies, since they are maintaining a higher level of general health.

Because of the various benefits that massage offers, it is unlikely a person could receive too much. Therapeutic massage has a cumulative effect on both soft tissue repair and decreasing stress, therefore regular massage is recommended to achieve the best result.

There is not a ‘one for all’ answer to this question and will vary from person to person.  Generally speaking, if you are recovering from injury or trying to ‘dial down’ some red flags that your body is putting up, then I feel weekly massage is in order until your body is able to re-establish balance.  For health maintenance and to assist in your activities of daily living once a month is ideal.  I am more than happy to talk with you individually and make a personalized recommendation regarding frequency of receiving massage.

Don’t ever forget, the care of yourself needs to be your top priority in life.