Shivrael Thai Bodyworker in Mt.Shasta
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Get Moving and Feel Better! 

4/1/2016

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We all know that regular exercise helps our bodies feel better. We know that yoga stretches our muscles. We know that we can build strength and stamina if we do excercise, whatever it is, on a daily or semi-daily basis. A huge benefit is that our body does not hurt as much. In this time where many do more sitting at computers and looking at phones, we get into muscular patterns that stress our spine and especially our necks and shoulders. Even if we know that exercise is good for us, it is sometimes hard to get started and to be keep it up. This blog post is to give some encouragement and a few tips, as getting started is can be the hardest part. 

There are some other benefits beyond feeling less pain, flexibility, strength and stamina. When we do regular workouts, we get an endorphin rush that makes us feel good inside. The endorphins effect us like drug that feels like a dose of motivation and positivity in our bloodstream. It comes from inside us! Runners become addicted to this high, but it we can get it too, without having to go running. Our body may slim down if we do regular exercise. It helps if this becomes a happy side effect instead of a goal. Great benefits await to a regular exercise practice. It takes time to start to feel those benefits, kind of like planting a garden. We sow the seeds but we need to water them and eventually we see the seedling that then will bear fruit. A practice or habit that is new is like that. We have to get out and plant and water, making it regular. It won't be long until we feel better. Our body functions better. Walking and sitting is easier with less pain. When we lie down to sleep, we are able to sleep more soundly because we exercised. 

But how can we get started if we have not done it in awhile? 

First find some things you like to do. It has to be fun! You may want to think of it as "movement" instead of "exercise." Next, make a goal of how many minutes you want to start with. After a time of no exercise for me, I knew I needed to get back to it. My strategy was to start with only 7 minutes and then each day I would add a minute longer. Since I had not been exercising much, I started with some easy, gentle things, like some Tai Chi, Chi Gung and Eight Brocades practices. The Eight Brocades is a simple type of Chi Gung. I watched Youtube videos and did the exercises along with instructors of these modalities. I added Yoga, and Bollywood Dancing workouts, which are my favorites. Doonya is a channel that has lots of great workouts, too. Then I added more cardio videos with more dancing such as Zuumba (Latin Dancing aerobics) and then kickboxing combined with dance. I gradually upped the intensity of the workouts. In order too meet my energy level for the day, I did the gentle Chi Gung ones on days that I didn't have a lot of energy. I kept track on a calendar how many minutes a day I worked out. Some days I did zero minutes which I marked on the calendar. Even if I went a couple days with no exercise, I would get right back onto doing it again and try to sustain it. 

It was less than a month until I got to 30 minutes or more a day. Now I do thirty minutes daily, at least, and I do more strenuous workouts because I have the energy. Eventually I will up the number of minutes from 30 per day. The really cool thing is that when I started doing more cardio practice, I felt an endorphin high. Now I am more hooked on exercise and remember how good it feels. I love mixing it up and going on hikes outside instead of exercising to Youtube. The yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Gung videos (7 Minutes of Magic Chi Gung Video here) stretch parts of my body to help me feel really good in those areas which for me are my neck and shoulders (Qi Gong for Upper Back and Neck Pain that is seated video here). These practices are designed to help you circulate the chi in your body and for healing.

I love Eric Goodman's lower back exercise session which is 11 minutes which is for "no back pain ever" if you do it regularly. His premise is teaches better posture and alignment with his technique and it really works in taking away the pain in the lower back. I value a mix of workouts so I don't get bored and so I experience different kinds of movement. Maybe you want to go to a class and exercise with others. Maybe you want a Fit Bit which is an electronic device you wear on your wrist that measures how many steps you take daily.

Make it fun, bring some music, and get on your yoga mat or get out and walk, hike or even run. Make a movement playlist from Youtube exercise videos you might want to try out that approach. You might want to look up songs you like and see if somebody made a dance or workout video for those songs. Let me know of any links and workouts you love. I would love to try them. When you workout, open a bunch of tabs on the computer of promising videos that you like and do them one-by-one until you are up to the goal number of minutes. I am cheering you onto greatness! 

For those starting out slow, there are chair exercises and yoga classes. This is a good one that is seated  called Qi Gong for Upper Back and Neck Pain. Look up Chair Yoga on Youtube and see what you find. Those over a certain age can find exercises that are really gentle for older bodies. Our bodies are more functional the more we exercise and the younger we feel. The better our health is and it is can be Can you convince yourself to start and see what happens? See if you can track changes in how your body feels.

The goal is not to be a triathlete. It is not bodybuilding. It is to have fun and get some movement in most every day. You don't have to compare yourself to anyone else and what they do. It is you comparing yourself with you. Can you add one minute a day? Can you do the moves a little better each time you exercise? It really doesn't matter as long as you are having fun. To exercise is to love yourself. Your body thanks you for it. Exercise need not be a chore, it can be delight, once you get into it. Remember to smile along with the people in the videos and you will fake it 'til you make it and you actually are smiling, from the inside out in a true authentic way.

Wishing you many happy workouts! 

~Thanks for reading, Shivrael

I am back in Mt.Shasta after visiting and teaching Thai Bodywork in Guatemala.


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Let us Create a Different Culture

10/20/2015

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​My personal mission is to bring sacred bodywork to more people, to make bodywork accessible to more people. I would love to see more people getting bodywork and sharing bodywork with others. I see a massage based culture in which everyone takes care of one another. In Thailand, it is a normal thing for grandmothers to massage their children and teach them. In Thailand it is a normal thing to get regular bodywork sessions as a preventative health, not a luxury thing like it is in the US.

​I teach Thai Bodywork so people can share with loved ones to help them feel better and to help heal them, or come into greater balance. You do not have to be a massage therapist to share this. My training is Traditional Thai Bodywork that has been handed down as a healing modality through Buddhist culture. It is more an energy work but also acupressure, so you feel it on your muscles. 

Opening up the energy lines so more prana moves through the body, it also is deeply relaxing on muscles. It is customized to the individual and their needs.Those who are athletes can enjoy deep pressure that helps release tightness. Yogis are taken to even greater flexibility, as it is called lazy man's yoga, and offers stretches that are done for your body. Some people require a light touch with the acupressure. Your Ayurvedic body type calls for different kind of pressure and touch, whether you are predominantly a Pitta, Vata, or Kapha (Fire, Air, or Earth/Water) Constitution. Of course, your personal preference is always honored!

Thai Bodywork can be something that is shared in families, and with friends. My mission is a more touch based society in which we can give and receive touch, in a safe and sacred way, with one another often and easily. I offer Thai Bodywork sessions for bringing one into a state of alignment, emotionally and physically. Thai can address issues and it can create overall circulation of energy through unblocking it.The energy lines or meridians are opened up which moves energy. The special points of the body, marma points or reflexology points, are vortexes of energy that can be pressed to further unblock energy and allow the body to function better. Our bodies are like rivers of energy and the energy has to flow for us to feel healthy. Reflexology and Thai Bodywork can address problems through moving energy in one place which effects other places in the body. Our bodies are fractals and multidimensional. Points correlated to other points in the body. Did you know that the ear has points the echo correspondence to the whole body as the feet and hands do? Finding points that are sore and working on them allows healing. 

That is a little on what Thai Bodywork does, my mission of sharing it. Thank you for reading. Shivrael 

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Thank you Mt.Shasta

10/12/2015

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I have a great bodywork space- finally. After more than a year in Mt.Shasta, I have just moved to wonderful office space steps from Berryvale, the local health food store. It is a also a center for meeting people, and it is a vortex of energy. If you are supposed to meet somebody, you are likely run into them here just after you think of them! That is the some of the magic of this town. It is a place of gathering and meeting and synchronicity. Living right across from that is going to be interesting! So far, I feel more connected to town, and love being able to walk places and run into people. I love Sisson Meadow which gives the experience of nature. See the photo above from the meadow with a reflection of the mountain in the water.

This small mountain town is home now. We witness the beauty of the mountain and feel here sacred energy which makes this place like no other. Also, the people who are drawn to live here are like no other, really special people with so many gifts and open hearts. I love the community here and after more than a year, it makes my heart sing.

We love spiritual ceremonies. We love our unique spiritual paths. We love acoustic music and kirtan. We love drum circles. We love the Headwaters, and we love blessing the water and want to honor its sacredness here. We love the rain and the snow. We love the magic of lenticular clouds above the mountain. We love meditations. We love that we dream of community living. We love nature, the trees, the stones, and especially the mountain. We love our crystals but know that we are the magic and our coming together is the magic. We love that we know there is something beyond the visible reality. We love that a paradigm shift is palpable and present. We love it here and can laugh at ourselves about how different it is to live here. We are grateful for Mt.Shasta, the mountain. We are grateful for the town, and for the people who are our friends and neighbors and familiar faces we haven't met quite yet but will one day.

Hey friends and neighbors! ​I want to welcome you to my website, and to announce the grand opening of my bodywork studio. I invite you to try out a session of bodywork. New Customer Specials are available now. Thank you for visiting and reading, and connecting and thank you for your support and kindness. ~Shivrael



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Thai Bodywork Workshop June 16

10/12/2015

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 Shivrael, Certified Thai Bodyworker and Certified BQH Practitioner    
Location: 105 E. Ivy, #111 in the Gregory House

shannon@yogisource.com    918-530-8922 to call or text