Invitation to Eat Real Be Well’s Open House-Palooza

Eat Real Be Well is hosting a free event at Faunbrook Bed and Breakfast on Wednesday, April 10 from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Holistic health and wellness coach Emi Kirschner thought the term “open house” didn’t sound like enough fun, so she has dubbed the event an Open House-Palooza!

Do you feel too busy to eat well? Are all of your food choices overwhelming? Do you hear too much conflicting health information? Emi can help you figure out which foods work best for you, which don’t, and how to fit healthy food choices into your busy life. “My philosophy,” says Emi, “is this: there is no reason to feel deprived. If you aren’t enjoying what you are eating, why bother? Food should be fun. Healthy food can and does taste great, and it can be easy to prepare.” Everyone who attends will take home recipes and a gift bag, and there will be a chance to win an amazing gift basket.

Oscar’s Catering will provide delicious and healthy food during the two-hour event. There will be different activities throughout the evening; attending for the whole time will be the greatest benefit, although you are welcome to drop in for only part of the time. Several speakers will give short presentations, there will be a smoothie demonstration, and Sue Scales from Hands Down Massage & Bodywork will provide chair massages. You will also have the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful Faunbrook Bed and Breakfast. Built in the 1860’s and tucked away at 699 West Rosedale Avenue in West Chester, Faunbrook has been featured in the Chester County Day tours several times over the years.

If you want to feel better and improve your health, please check out Eat Real Be Well’s Open House-Palooza. Please register for this free event by e-mailing Emi Kirschner at emi@eatrealbewell.com or calling 484-888-6563.

Intuit? You can do it!

My clients often ask me how I know where to focus my attention during their massage. The answer has two parts. The first is listening, with my ears to what you tell me, and with my hands to what I feel your muscles telling me. Your muscles don’t lie, and they can tell me about your current situation and also what has happened in the past. And the second part of the answer is intuition. I have a sense, or I suspect that the tension I feel in your shoulder, for example, actually arises an imbalance in your hips.

But the best part is that your body doesn’t talk only to me; it’s talking to you, too! And the more you experience massage and we talk about it afterward, the more you will strengthen your own intuition and the ability to hear what your body is telling you. This will allow you to take better care of your body and make corrections to how you move and carry yourself, so that you can maintain better health and help to prevent injury.

Musical muscles

What happens if you play a musical instrument for a while without tuning it? It doesn’t sound so great anymore, right? You can continue to play it and make some approximation of the notes or chords that you want, but your performance will be less pleasant than usual–and if you haven’t tuned in a very long time, maybe even difficult to endure!

A good musician tunes his or her instrument for optimal performance. Why would we do any less with the “instrument” of our bodies? Stress builds up, our immunity is reduced, our muscles can get tight and sore. We can still push our bodies to perform, but just like that out-of-tune instrument, we’ll be disappointed or even annoyed by our performance.

Receiving massage therapy on a regular basis is just like what musicians do when they tune their instruments. Find a massage therapist you like and trust, make an appointment, and then keep regular appointments. If you’d like to see me during the month of March 2013, mention the word GUITAR when you schedule and receive $10 off your March session.

All the best!

Welcome to my new blog

Here is my first blog entry.  Welcome!

Today I wanted to share an analogy. It involves cooking a frog (although no frogs were harmed in the writing of this post). If you want to cook a frog, you can’t just toss it into a pot of boiling water. The frog will know that something is very wrong and jump right out. However, if you put the frog in a pot of room-temperature water, it will be quite comfortable. You can then turn on the burner under the pot, and because the temperature changes gradually, the frog will cook before it knows that anything is amiss.

Why are we talking about frogs? Well, if someone was able to make major muscle changes in our bodies, we would know something was wrong and correct it, just like the frog leaping out of boiling water. But if we hold our arms out in front of us every day (maybe typing on the computer) or sit for hours every day, little by little we contract a certain set of muscles and change our posture over time. Something abnormal begins to seem normal to us, because we allow it to develop slowly, like the frog who starts in room-temperature water and is subjected to gradual heating.

A massage therapist can correct these small changes by lenthening the muscles that you habitually contract, and a personal trainer can help you to strengthen the weak muscles that oppose these short ones. Maintain balance, and don’t be the frog in the pot!