Holistic Healing Practices for Vibrant Health
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For me, yoga was the beginning.
The start of a 10+ year transformational journey to vibrant health. ;)
Yoga was a beautiful foundation that helped me discover a whole new world of holistic practices to support my overall wellbeing— physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
Beyond yoga, I have discovered many holistic practices that I utilize to stay in balance and energized. These have anti-aging effects, support immune health, balance the nervous system, and encourage physical and emotional healing.
Preventative medicine right here! Such wonderful, restorative ways to care for yourself and feel incredible.
Restore Your Health, Prevent Disease and Live a Happy Life— Holistically
Therapeutic Massage
Massage has always been good medicine for me. It helps with muscular recovery, joint health, fascial health, structural alignment, breath awareness, and stress relief. Massage provides a deep level of comfort to my entire nervous system and energetic body, too.
I’ve worked with a number of massage therapists over the years. If you’re looking for a therapist, I recommend finding someone whose approach aligns with your goals and who you feel comfortable being around. Here are some of my favorite practitioners in Chico:
Recently I’ve been lucky to work with Ben Beckman of Built for Bodywork. Ben specializes in sports massage, deep tissue work, and Active Release Technique (ART) for injury recovery. I appreciate Ben’s grounded energy, thorough knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and efficient approach. Right away, our conversation helped me better understand what was going on for me and learn new ways to care for my hips and knees to help balance out the running I’ve been doing all summer. I walked in with pain in my hip and left the session feeling immediate relief, empowered with some exercises to try at home to continue the healing process. Ben is a wonderful resource to our community here in Chico— highly recommend his work!
Eric Schmidt of Long Life Massage — Eric is hands-down one of the best massage therapists I’ve worked with. He specializes in restorative massage therapy, fire cupping, moxapressure, and gua sha. He has a background in martial arts that I feel contributes to his grounded, confident, no-BS approach. There have been a few times I scheduled last minute to work with Eric because of an injury (tweaking my low back, for example) and he was able to help me work through pain and discomfort to find healing. I trust Eric completely and am so grateful for his work. Can’t recommend him enough!
Marcy Burns — Intuitive, playful, approachable, and authentic are all words I’d use to describe Marcy. She’s an energy healer in addition to doing massage and brings a holistic approach that addresses your emotions and life experiences along with what’s going on in the body. I love that Marcy is easy to talk to and she brings a lightheartedness to the very powerful work she does. She does amazing ashiatsu work and also specializes in colon hydrotherapy.
Aaron Fetty — If you’re looking for the most relaxing massage ever, go to Aaron. He brings years of experience and an incredible knowledge of physiology and anatomy to every session. Aaron’s a massage school teacher, too, and his technique is on point! I did a deep tissue/sports massage with Aaron at one point and he was doing work on my quads/IT bands/hip flexors— very uncomfortable spots that were all really tight from a lot of running and working out— and Aaron guided me through the session and reminded me to breathe through it. Aaron’s education and down-to-earth style make his work truly one of a kind.
Cryotherapy, Infrared Sauna & Compression Massage
Cryotherapy and infrared sauna are incredible! I tried these modalities for the first time recently at Cryo Skin and Body Chico. Their staff provided an incredibly relaxing and restorative experience.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and I’ll admit, I was a little nervous to try it out. I’ve never been a big fan of the cold and the thought of being in a subzero temperature sounded intense! Cryotherapy ended up being a really fun, empowering experience for me.
First, they had me put on earmuffs, mittens and socks with slippers to help protect from frostbite (wild, right?!) and we talked about the process and how I’d be in the chamber for 2 and a half minutes. As the chamber started up and began the cooling process, I was able to pick out what song I wanted to listen to in there— they’ve got Bluetooth speakers set up so you can jam out to whatever your favorite music is (super helpful!). Once the temperature reached -175 degrees F, I went in!
Amanda, the owner, was there with me the whole time to guide me through the process and help count down how much time was left, and she’d give me a heads up about every 30 seconds. I loved how I could see my breath the whole time! By the end, I was definitely shivering but had found a very calm, focused mental state, I had complete awareness and control of my breathing, and my whole body felt so alive!
At the end, as I stepped out of the cryo chamber, I got a huge rush of endorphins and had a huge smile on my face— such a rush!
Cryotherapy is great for reducing inflammation to help with athletic recovery, pain management and overall wellness. Out of many holistic practices I’ve tried, I also found this to be a noticeable mood booster, and a great mental challenge; before trying it, I was intimidated and a bit nervous but each time I’ve gone in, I have felt more confident and grateful for the experience.
Following cryotherapy, I sat for 30 minutes in the infrared sauna. These saunas are great for circulation, detoxification, muscle aches and fatigue. Following cryotherapy and the sauna, I felt a huge reduction in soreness from a big workout I had done the day before.
I finished my experience at Cryo Skin and Body Chico with a 30 minute NormaTec compression massage. You slide your legs into compression “boots” that apply three distinct massage techniques— pulsing, gradient hold, and distal release— to speed the body’s recovery process. Similar to the feeling of having your blood pressure taken, you feel pressure build and then release in a rhythmic pattern. NormaTec compression massage can assist in lymphatic drainage, increased bloodflow circulation, decrease inflammation, reduce soreness, increase flexibility and range of motion and reduce swelling and water accumulation. Super rad!
I left Cryo Skin and Body Chico feeling incredibly grounded, relaxed, and in tune with my body and my spirit— so refreshed! I also felt empowered that I had challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. I highly recommend trying it out, especially if you’ve been feeling a lot of stress and need to reset.
Chiropractic Care
Receiving chiropractic care is hands down one of the most effective and potent ways for me to care for myself and stay healthy. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor off and on for the last 15 years and am SO lucky to have found Dr. Jesse Smith and the team at Spine Chiropractic here in Chico. Jesse has an incredible wealth of knowledge, and his adjustments are on point. He is very thorough in asking questions, providing helpful information, and ensuring that I’ve felt comfortable throughout the process during each visit. I appreciate that Jesse adjusts with confidence and also with a sense of compassion; he has a calm, comforting presence and an intuitive, grounded energy. He even incorporates a little bit of massage during an appointment, which I think has always gone a long way in helping me relax and let go of tension.
I can remember the first time I went in, I had written on my intake form that I sometimes struggle with anxiety and Jesse noted that and talked to me about it, specifically asking if there were any areas he should be aware of, or any triggers I’d experienced in the past. Open, honest conversation like this helped me feel more comfortable and more cared for. When receiving chiropractic care, it’s so important that I’m able to trust the process and relax during an adjustment— Jesse and I have talked about how that actually allows the nervous system to fully receive the benefit of the chiropractic care— and I think it’s a factor that other providers sometimes miss.
I appreciate that Dr. Jesse sees every patient as a whole person and genuinely wants to help them achieve optimal health, not just a quick fix. The entire staff at Spine Chiropractic is fantastic, too; I’ve been able to work with Austyn for massage therapy and Megan for PT/rehab and they are amazing. Sarah who runs the front office and does all the appointment booking is also incredibly patient, understanding and helpful.
I leave Spine Chiropractic feeling vibrant and balanced after each visit, and can’t recommend them highly enough.
Acupuncture
As with massage, I find that acupuncture provides a whole system reset. Deeply calming and restorative, this practice allows me to rebalance my energy and boost my immune system and digestive health. I have been blessed to work with Elinore Schafer here in Chico and am so grateful for her guidance, insightful suggestions, and vast knowledge of Chinese medicine and cupping that pairs so beautifully with the acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture has helped me a lot with stress relief, digestive health, low back pain, and overall energy balance. It’s useful for such a wide variety of physical conditions— a wonderful healing practice!
Float Therapy
Ever heard of float therapy, aka sensory deprivation pods? I hadn’t either, until a few years ago. This practice has changed my life!
You spend an hour floating in salt water in absolute silence and complete darkness (you can lead the pod door cracked if you want to, or keep low lighting on). This helps induce a theta brain-wave state, associated with deep sleep and dreaming. As all external sources of distraction are removed, floating provides an extreme form of rest. The skin temperature water feels like floating on a cloud or in outer space.
By eliminating the forces of gravity pulling on the musculoskeletal and nervous systems, you can effortlessly relieve pain, relax, recover, and improve sleep in this unique state.
I float regularly at True Rest Chico and highly recommend this practice. I have left each session feeling calm, centered and completely renewed.
Reiki Energy Work
Reiki has been an incredible journey for me. I've moved through the master level training and use this energy work modality on myself and others on a daily basis. I've met with hundreds of clients to help them with individual sessions geared towards physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing and have personally witnessed folks have incredible breakthroughs, immediate pain relief and help with depression, anxiety, relationship issues, self worth, grief, and many other experiences. Reiki has helped me increase my intuitive and psychic abilities exponentially. It provides me a beautiful framework to support my yoga practice and help me walk through life with greater self-awareness, compassion, focus and purpose.
Other Reiki practitioners in Chico who I highly recommend and who have helped me during times of high stress, emotional struggle, and grief:
Emerald Starlight. Emerald specializes in mediumship and grief work, and she also does incredible sound baths and sacred moon ceremonies for the new moon and full moon. Emerald's ability to hold space and guide you to powerful healing and new awareness is truly a rare gift.
Jane Miners of Rooted Life Reiki. Jane is a treasure in Chico! She’s incredibly community-minded, giving, and grounded. A powerful healer who can help you learn more about Reiki and discover what you need to move forward in your wellness journey. Jane also teaches yoga and does sound healings, meditation workshops, and Reiki drum sessions/ soul retrieval work.
Grounding / Earthing
Grounding, also called Earthing, can look a few different ways:
Walking barefoot outside on dirt, grass, or sand
Laying on the ground
Swimming in a lake, river or the ocean
Using a special mat, bracelet band or grounding socks (haven’t tried any of these yet)
The basic idea is that electrical charges from the earth have positive effects on your body. A regular grounding practice can help reduce stress and inflammation, reduce pain, boost your mood, boost inflammation, and bring balance to the entire system.
While I don’t run barefoot, my experience with trail running has shown me how powerful it is to get outside regularly and get my feet on the dirt— even just hearing the sound of my shoes moving along the trail is highly therapeutic. We are meant to live in connection to nature, and grounding helps us do just that! You can find more info about grounding at these links:
I’m curious, have you tried these? Would you?
If you’re feeling stuck, feeling lethargic, or not sure how to get your health back on track— I highly encourage you to try one of these healing modalities. I’d love to hear how it goes! :)
Basic and important yoga sequences for teachers to learn so that they can guide students safely through a class.