Soothe Winter’s Harsh Effects - Spiral Eye News Feb. 2011

Spiral Eye Newsletter February 2011
A service of Blind Faith Bodywork, Sue Redding, LMT

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The Violet is the floral emblem of February, symbolizing faithfulness, wisdom and hope.

In This Issue

- Soothe Winter’s Harsh Effects

- Yoga By Prescription

- Shingles Vaccine

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"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it." Harry Emerson Fosdick

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Soothe Winter’s Harsh Effects

Winter is still in full swing. It’s the time of year when even favorite comforts, like snuggling up with hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire, are getting old. When the days are still dark, the wind biting, the cold air drying, and you’re stuck indoors again, it may be time to step up your self-care regimen.

What are some ways to go beyond coping and actually thrive?

Get started by turning your home into a winter sanctuary.

Ways to ward off—or reverse—the winter blues.

Repair skin amidst the drying effect of the season.

This information courtesy of ABMP (Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals) at
MassageTherapy.com.

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"If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete." Buddha

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Yoga by prescription

With clinical trials now backing up many uses of yoga as therapy, physicians and other mainstream health professionals are giving serious consideration to the 5,000-year-old practice.

Some Portland-area Health Services offer yoga in addition to standard medical care for cancer and other diseases. Unlike medical therapies aimed at fixing one problem, yoga works on many levels at the same time.

You breathe more deeply, the spine lengthens, you get stronger muscles, you get joints that are better lubricated and more flexible. All these benefits combine to help you be strong, function better and improve your sense of emotional well-being.

In recent clinical trials, yoga improved symptoms of asthma and obstructive pulmonary disease when added to conventional care. Yoga breathing can help lower blood pressure. There's some evidence that yoga practice during pregnancy can reduce the risk of pre-term labor and low birth weight.

Helping people cope with chronic pain that defies conventional treatment may be yoga's most significant medical benefit.

After eight weeks of a clinical trial offering a yoga program tailored for people with fibromyalgia, women in the yoga group showed significant improvement in measures of pain, fatigue, stiffness, sleep quality, depression, memory, anxiety and balance, while the control group showed none.

Read more | The Oregonian, OregonLive.com
Yoga Rx
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2010/12/yoga_by_prescription.html

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Shingles Vaccine

Anyone who's had chickenpox can wake up one day with shingles, a distinctive, painful red rash caused by the chickenpox virus. One million Americans get shingles every year. A vaccine has been available for four years to help people over 60 avoid shingles, but only about 10 percent of the people who should get it actually have.

To hear the story from NPR Morning Edition (4.5 min.),
follow this link and click on "Listen":
Vaccine Prevents Painful Shingles
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132935345/few-opt-for-vaccine-to-prevent-painful-shingles

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"I don't believe in astrology; I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical."
Arthur C. Clarke

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Follow me on Twitter SueReddingLMT

"Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart..." Rilke

"Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves,
like locked rooms,
or books that are written in a foreign tongue.
The point is to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it,
live your way some distant day into the answers."
R. M. Rilke
(Rainer Maria Rilke, Bohemian–Austrian poet, 1875 - 1926)