Mandamine Massage Therapy

Dear clients and friends,

It’s October! The spookiest, and often most beautiful month of the year! It’s the month that includes my favorite holiday, Halloween, or what the pagans know as Samhain. The leaves are falling, the weather is cooling, we’re all going on nature walks and watching squirrels start to find places for their winter storage. I love it!

And as it’s the beginning of October, it’s time for me to introduce you to the aromatherapy scent of the month. As ever, I’ll be incorporating this blend at Mandamine Massage Therapy of Old Town Alexandria (a place where watching the leaves change is particularly spectacular!). Move over, pumpkin spice latte, because this month, we’ll be using a blend called Harvest Spice, a perfectly named scent for the season, and one that will make you as joyful as those famous seasonal coffee drinks.

Head over to my blog to learn more about this blend and why I selected it for my clients this month - https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/aromatherapy-massage-series-october-and-harvest-spice

Dear clients and friends:

I’m very lucky to have a lot of female clients who are looking for natural ways to stay youthful, because let’s face it, if we’re LUCKY, we get to get very old, so whatever we can do to feel beautiful is a good thing, right? Whether they have defied age with the aid of surgery or just found ways to feel young without it, you’d be surprised at just how helpful massage therapy is at helping to keep youthful skin.

I invite you to my blog to read more and learn how massage can help, https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/massage-therapy-and-aging-skin

Dear clients and friends:

September, and autumn in general, allows for much more outside activity, which is both exciting and invigorating, but it can also mean flare-ups of arthritis. About one in five adults in the US have been diagnosed with some form of arthritis, and while you’d think that’s all older folks, actually as much as 15% are adults under 45 years old. It impacts how a day is spent and how much exercise or activity is possible, even on the most beautiful fall days. Fortunately, there’s a mountain of evidence that shows massage therapy helps alleviate the pain and stiffness of arthritis!

Head over to me blog to read more! https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/massage-therapy-and-arthritis-4

Dear friends and clients:

As we’re heading into autumn, there’s so much more reason to head out into the cooling temperatures and fall foliage, something we’re very lucky to have here in Old Town Alexandria and further points in Virginia! Florida and California are all well and good, but they don’t have the burst of colors, the reds, golds, and rusts that begin to surround us here!

It’s really invigorating and inspiring to see, right? That’s why, when I’m writing my events blog for September, I’m particularly excited to get out and about, and I bet you are, too! And there are a few fun things happening you might be able to plan, now that you’re used to heading into Old Town to visit me at Mandamine Massage.

Head over to my blog to read more about my picks for celebrating September in Alexandria! https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/september-events-in-old-town

Dear friends and clients:

Announcing my aromatherapy choice for September! I invite you over to my blog to read all about it:

https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/celebrate-fall-with-new-aromatherapy-at-mandamine-massage-2

Dear clients and friends:

Last week, I talked about our recent issues with the air quality index, and one of the things I mentioned was how poor air quality can contribute to inflammation.

That got me thinking about inflammation in general, because it plagues SO. MANY. PEOPLE. We know that chronic inflammation is associated with a whole host of health problems and chronic conditions. That’s not a reason to panic. Our world has plenty of things that can stress our bodies, which is one of the reasons I believe so strongly in finding joy where we can and choosing happiness, one day at a time.

Still, there are things we can do to help our bodies manage inflammation. And massage therapy can be one of them. OF COURSE THERE ARE!! Massage therapy ROCKS!

Massage may help support the body’s inflammatory response by improving circulation and fluid movement, reducing muscle tension, and helping bring down the physical effects of stress.

Let me count the ways:

🌟Swedish massage uses long, rhythmic strokes and gentle to moderate pressure to encourage circulation and help you relax.
🌟Lymphatic drainage uses very light, specific pressure to encourage the movement of lymphatic fluid. This can be particularly useful when swelling and fluid retention are an issue.
🌟Deep tissue massage uses slower, more focused pressure to work with areas of chronic muscle tension and restricted movement. It’s not necessarily about “breaking up” knots, but about helping tight tissues relax and move more freely.

So, how does massage actually help? Head over to my blog to read more, https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/massage-therapy-and-inflammation

Dear friends and clients:

As I’m sure many of you have been contending with, we here in Mandamine Massage of Old Town, Alexandria have been having to check the “AQI,” or air quality index, quite a bit lately, most recently because of the very sad and destructive fires in Canada. It’s starting to get under control, although there are still over 500 of them right now up there (!!), but the days where we were seeing haze and getting “PURPLE” warnings (the worst and highest warning) are hopefully behind us. Still, some of us had to go outside, whether it was to walk the pup or head out to work or, you know, life things, so a few of my clients mentioned their lungs were stinging, or they were having a bit more asthma or breathing issues as a result of those days.

It’s interesting to learn that in Northern Virginia, air quality is typically at it worst during the summer months of June, July, and August, driven mostly by high ground level ozone (smog) and the aforementioned wildfire smoke.

That, of course, and in the way I usually do, made me think about how massage therapy can mitigate or help breathing or chronic issues like asthma, or help clear out or protect the body from damage of the various air pollutants we breathe in those circumstances. Would you believe there are a bunch of benefits? Of course you would! Head over to my blog, to learn more.
https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/massage-therapy-and-the-air-quality-index

Dear friends and clients:

As we wind our way through August and head towards crisper, cooler climes of autumn (do you BELIEVE IT?), it seems we should be doing all we can to enjoy August, in all its glory. And it may be hot, but Old Town Alexandria is glorious in August, with all its flowers and bustling tourists and happenings around town!

Head to my blog to read about my picks for celebrating August, https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/august-events-in-old-town

Dear friends and clients:

It’s officially August, which, here in Old Town Alexandria, is often a time of high heat and humidity with dry spells, then an intense thunderstorm. There’s really nothing like an August thunderstorm in Virginia!

And since it’s August, that means it’s time for a new aromatherapy for the month, which got me thinking about petrichor. That’s the scientific term for the earthy scent released dafter oils that accumulate in rocks and soil during dry periods are released by moisture. You know that smell of rain and earth that’s particularly intense in August? I wanted to capture that in an aromatherapy blend, so I decided to mix two that would do that, white fir and bergamot.

To learn more about the benefits of these essential oils and the blend they create, I invite you over to my blog to read more, https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/aromatherapy-massage-series-august-and-petrichor

Dear friends and clients:

Obviously I am looking at the news as much as anyone else, so gastrointestinal health became top of mind this week! I’ve not encountered anyone personally who has suffered from contaminated food, but that led me to think about how many ways massage therapy can help with tummy and intestinal troubles, be they temporary or acute. Even more simply, it can help with gut health overall!

Now, I’m not even talking about stomach or abdominal massage, I’m talking about how holistic massage can have an impact. I invite you over to my blog to read more, https://www.mandaminemassage.com/s/stories/massage-therapy-and-gut-health