“You seem to be very tense,” said my esthetician D this afternoon as she prepared to massage my upper body. “Your neck and shoulders are extremely tight. Are you stressed?” she asked.
“I’ve just arrived back from a business trip where I was attending a three day meeting and have been doing a lot of sitting,” I replied.
D put coconut oil on my face and then covered it with a Vitamin C mask. It felt so good. “Relax and calm down,” said D. She put the heating pad under my back and a bolster under my knees.
“I think I need to do some saging,” said D, “to get all the negative energy away that is swirling around you.”
“Really,” I said. “What is saging? I’ve never experienced saging before.”
D took out a dried white sage leaf, lit it and blew out the tip. She took the burning sage which had a fragrant odor and walked around my body several times to release the negative energy. “This may also help you sleep,” said D.
Dried white sage leaves can be used in saging to ward off negative energy.
I felt renewed and refreshed after I left her office. So glad I had decided to make an appointment for a facial. D always gives me sage advice about my skin and now she is saging me too. She even gave me some sage to take home in a little red bag. Now I can sage my house or myself whenever I feel negative energy.
Last week, I learned from a segment on “The Today Show” that April is National Stress Awareness Month. In addition to saging myself to increase my energy there are other things I can do (and so can you) to de-stress. Here are some tips from the NBC reporter:
Exercise can relieve stress. The reporter said that push-ups are a good exercise to build arm strength. I’ve been trying to do my yoga plank pose each morning to see how long I can stay in position. I’m up to about one to two minutes. My yoga teacher N says that Jennifer Aniston got her strong arms doing this pose.
Crying can relieve stress. I’ve been doing quite a bit of this since losing my mom last month. Sometimes I cry at night when I am missing her. I usually tell myself that it’s okay to cry. It’s part of the grieving process.
Bath salts and baths can relieve stress. Ooh, ooh, ooh – I LOVE TO TAKE baths. I mix epsom salts and lavender oil to make my own bath salts. Then I light some candles (and make sure to blow them out when I am done), lay back and relax. (Maybe I should also burn some sage just in case there is any negative energy in my bathroom?)
Swirl around in your desk chair…that’s if your desk chair swirls. Mine does. Here I go…go…go…oops I’m back!
Eat some oranges or put lemon slices in your water. Supposedly, Vitamin C can help lower cortisol levels which contribute to stress in the body. (According to writer Juniper Russo’s post on LiveStrong.com, “The “stress hormone” cortisol enables many important processes within the human body. However, during times of physical or emotional stress, cortisol levels can elevate to unsafe levels, which may lead to a variety of stress-related complications.)
Jump up and down on a big exercise ball or squeeze a stress ball in your hand. I don’t have a big exercise ball at home…will have to get one and put it in my home office near my desk.
How do you de-stress? Do share a tip or two.
Judi
P.S. – Check out The WHOA! Network!, a new website about women honoring our age from two really talented and smart boomer girls, Lynn Forbes and Darryle Pollack.
I never heard of saging before but I’d love to have that done for me! Stress? Ha! That’s an understatement. I’d love to know what an esthetician actually does?!? I need to find myself one!
Great post.
Cathy, you definitely need an esthetician who can give you a good facial. It is so wonderful to have facials. Just try to find one that isn’t too expensive.
Hi Boomergirl,
First, a big congratulations on your transition from the corporate world! A big, happy, healthy step you.
How I de-stress: Running. It helps me see the bigger picture, get outside and into nature and just enjoy feeling my body work. Not always easy every day (mood, weather), but I can always feel a difference when I get back. 🙂
Best,
Alison
Alison, thanks for your note. Sounds like you have a good de-stress plan with your running. Keep it up!
Hi Judy, Remember me from CS? Great blog!! Reading about Paris and I am ready to go. Glad you are well. My daughter and I have been saging each other for some time now. It somehow works.
Yes I do remember you! Thanks for your comment. Hope you will come back and become a regular reader.
Destress… I sage (should more often), Meditation, dancing around the room with my ipod in, the gym.
Ashley, sounds like you are taking care of yourself. Good for you.