A luxurious massage chair

As technology advances we have seen many perks and luxuries enter our homes
and daily lives. One such perk is the massage chair, and it is making
ripples in the professional and private worlds alike.

These aren’t just simple chairs though, and the average person may feel
overwhelmed. Fortunately this guide is here to help you understand what it
is, why you should want it, and if it can be part of your lifestyle.

What exactly is a massage chair?
A massage chair is normally a fold up chair that sits inside your current
chair. It provides various message types ranging from shiatsu to Swedish
with built in heating depending on brand name, model, and category. This can
be very relaxing and can release tension built up in the day.

What is the average massage chair made out of?
The average massage chair is made out of leather, fabric, or polyurethane.
Leather is most common for high end models as it fits in with most furniture
types. Although it is very comfortable it is often the most expensive type
of chair.

Just how do they work?
Current massage chairs that are available for purchase are designed to
target key points in your body. Pressure applied to these points in the form
of pushing, rubbing, circular massage, and deep kneading are just some of
the settings available.

Most chairs have some form of control interface whether it be a control
panel or a remote. This allows you to set the strength, depth, type, and
length of the massage. You can even turn heat functions on or off provided
your chair has them. This can make for a very relaxing and enjoyable
massage.

Are there benefits to owning a massage chair?
There are many benefits to owning one of these chairs. A massage can give
you a great deal of relaxation, and even some pleasure on those days that
you need a good back rub. This can relieve stress, tension, anxiety, and
just generally brighten your mood. Plus when you lower your stress level
your blood pressure drops as well, so it’s a win win situation.

Another benefit is that you don’t have to pay to use a chair outside the
initial investment. Traditional massage parlors will charge you an arm and a
leg for their services. Owning a chair allows you to get a massage whenever
you want for free without having to drive to a parlor. Plus you don’t have
to search the city for a reputable therapist, just go to your favorite chair
and enjoy.

Massage chairs also put pressure where you need it most. Sometimes people
just don’t know the right spot to hit. Many mid range and high end models
allow you to specify which areas to stimulate. This control allows you to
get the relief you need when and where you need it.

As our world moves towards high speed technology we often find that we are
neglecting ourselves. This can lead to stress and tension which is bad for
personal health. Owning a personal massage chair can help combat these ill
begotten symptoms of our modern world. It can also give you reason to look
forward to coming home from work on a hard day.

Our reader, Dr. Alan Weidner, contributed this article. Dr. Alan Weidner graduated summa cum laude from Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, class of 1991. His website, www.massage-chair-relief.com offers Panasonic, Omega, Inada, Human Touch, iJoy, and Sanyo massage chairs.

Busy urban people all over the world practise Yoga today. Many people see it as a therapeutic exercise that strengthen the body and relaxes the mind.  Much research and articles has been written about how Yoga brings about wonderful benefits to busy people and Yoga classes are the top exercise routine in many fitness studios.

I practise Hartha Yoga regularly too. I know there are various forms of Yoga but Hartha Yoga suits me fine and I’ve been too busy to explore other forms of Yoga. Imagine my surprise when I read about Facial Yoga. This certainly sound interesting…

A wrinkled face is not a good look but as the years catch up with you, short of going under the knife there’s no way to avoid it.

Or at least there wasn’t, until a new set of facial exercises called face yoga promised to turn back the clock, returning your face to its smooth, youthful prime, without a scalpel in sight.

Face yoga has already won devotees among the forever-young-looking celebrity crowd, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston said to be big fans. It’s the brainchild of New York yoga teacher Annelise Hagen, who teaches it at the swanky New York Health & Racquet Club.

You can read an article and see pictures about Facial Yoga at this website

Facial Yoga is also known as Happy Face Yoga because many of the facial postures in Facial Yoga revolve around different kind of smiles. I guess smiling always make one looks younger and fresher and perhaps that’s why Facial Yoga exercises tends to smile a lot.

You can check out some of Facial Yoga videos below. If you practise Yoga in a studio, you may want to ask your Yoga instructor the next time you see him or her about Facial Yoga!

Source of quotation: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Does any of the following impulses apply to you?

1. Love to turn bathroom into private ’spa sanctuary’.
2. Love the smell of spa products?
3. Enjoy pampering oneself?
4. Have good fingers and love to DIY?
5. Thinking of starting a small home business?

You know, I have always thought that the best job in the world is when your job becomes your hobby and your hobby is your job! Is that possible? Can job and hobby become one?

Many of us buy spa and aromatherapy products because we love the smell or like to pamper our skin. Have you ever stop and added how much these spa products cost? Many of them can be quite expensive. Have you ever thought of making them yourself? Can making such spa and aromatherapy products be a viable hobby and business at the same time?

I have been reading a DIY guidebook on making spa and aromatherapy products. The thoughts of making potpourri, fragrance sachets, home-made soap, aromatherapy blends, balms and bath salts certainly piqued my interest.

Hey, what if I can expand my home spa products DIY handicraft into a small home business? What if I can package them nicely and sell them to the many spa or massage boutiques I am familiar with? How about friends and colleagues who are fans of spa and aromatherapy products as well? With recession and job loss being rampant nowadays… I never know if such skills can become useful one day?

The Handcrafter’s Companion
Create spa-quality products for fun and profits

In this guidebook, you get a concise guide on what are popular spa products, how to make them, where to source for ingredients, tools needed, health and safety aspects of spa products, the kind of niche spa business market available and how to market your spa products.

An amazing range of spa products are covered and these include fragrant potpourri, bath salts, balms and lotions, handcrafted soaps, bubble baths and aromatherapy blends.

The author first starts you on a broad overview of spa product ingredients and tools needed to make them. She then moves on to health and safety aspects of making spa products, go into branding, marketing, packaging and selling issues and then move on into recipes and techniques to making the various spa products.

You are guided throughout including useful measurement conversion tips, where to source for wholesale spa ingredients, techniques to make variations and flavors of the same spa products as well as useful web references.

Useful spa product making tips and guides

This guidebook is available on electronic format which makes it easy and convenient to have around. I am a fan of e-products because you can easily have it on your computer or print out individual pages for easy reference.

What do I not like about this guidebook?

There are simply not enough pictorial reference. For example, how does lavender or nutmeg or cinnamon looks like? It would be good if there is a picture for each popular spa ingredient so that it is easy for a beginner that is new to DIY spa products to relate to it.

I also do not like that there is no contents nor index page for easy reference. It can be quite tiresome to scroll up and down when a content or index page can make searching or referencing the various recipes a much easier task.

Many recipes and ingredients guide for home-made spa products

If you are looking for a basic home-user guide to start your spa products making adventure, then this will be a useful guide. You can start with tinkering to make a few basic products and then see if this is a hobby that will grow on you. If it does, there are many more other but more expensive good reference books which you can refer to later. If it is not your cup of tea and turn out to be a passing fancy, then you would not have spent too much money and effort on this e-book either.

Be a little bit more adventurous! Kick off your own spa and aromatherapy making adventure by purchasing this guidebook! 

We look after our body by working out at the gyms and relaxing in spas.

However, time and tide waits for no man or woman. We do get sick. And the biggest killer in most developed countries today is cancer. All of us will surely know at least one friend or relative who have succumb to cancer; some, unfortunately at a very young age.

Despite great advances made in modern medicine, cancer still remains as one of the modern killer that still has medical science stumped. We are no nearer towards a medical cure for cancer than we were 40 years ago.

Where modern medicine fail to cure, in step alternative treatments. Many such treatments are just old wives’ tales. Some are plain quarks. Some are just unproven hypothesis.

But stories of successful alternative treatments has always persisted. Patients whom the doctor has diagnosed as being terminal often turned to alternative treatments and has doctors stumped when they realise some-one they diagnosed as being cancer-terminal later walks away cleared of the illness.

These alternative treatment ranges from Qi-gong to herbal remedies to alternate diets. What are the more believable treatments? Has there been more ’scientific’ research?  What are the cure statistics? How do we differentiate from the more believable alternative treatments to the hocus-pocus treatments? Who have actually survived using alternative cancer treatment methods?

A research team shows there are over 350 existing natural and alternative cancer treatments which have shown to stop or slow down cancer. People have used these gentle and non-toxic treatments instead of or alongside conventional treatment, or after conventional treatment has failed.

The research compilation shows testimonials of thousands of patients who have followed these alternative treatments together or separately with modern medicine and had their cancer slowed down or cured.  This include patients suffering from bone cancer, breast cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, Ovarian cancer, malignant melanoma, lung cancer, liver cancer and prostate cancer.

If you have always been interested in alternate cancer cures but do not know where or how to differentiate the better alternate treatments, these series of well-researched e-books compilation will be a good place to start your research.

* This article is offered for reference purpose only. Further research and consultation with your doctor is strongly advised.

Have you always wanted to have a spa party for yourself and friends?

How about getting your girlfriends together, enjoy a spa and massage, have high tea and receive a spa goodie bag all at the same time? Sound fantastic?

Well, check out what Totally Spa is offering you at this exclusive Weekend Spa party on 20, 21 and 22nd February 2009. Note:  Applicable if you are in Singapore during those days only.

There is nothing but waves and waves of economic bad news worldwide nowadays. Open the newspapers and you read nothing except well-established companies collapsing, mortgage sub-primes, government bail-outs, onset of recession, credit crunches, job retrenchments,etc

I’m sure you see it around you in daily life too. Friends and relatives worried about jobs, bonus or increment cut-backs in your company, companies closing down, government officials talking about economic crises all the time.

Will the spa and wellness industry be affected by the bad economy as well? Should we cut back on our personal spending on massage, spas, manicure and other treatments?

Well, in the last 10 years, we’ve seen the spa, wellness and alternative health industry move from strength to strength, not only in Asia but around the world. What was previously often seen as an old aunt’s trade, a side trade for beauty salons or some quark doctor treatment has not only become big business, but has become accepted into mainstream lifestyle and business as well.

The spa, wellness and alternative health industry(swah industry) has become big business indeed. Every other week, one hear of a new spanking new centre coming up in a new hotel, shopping mall or even hospital. Even when walking down the street, it is not unusual to find a new shop in your neighbourhood mall or town centre. This is especially true in Asia and a growing phenomenon in many parts of the world as well.

I think this industry is moving so fast is because people now accept it as a mainstream practice and no longer as an alternative practice. In today’s hectic world, people seems to want to return to nature all the more; hence the desire for natural and holistic treatment for illnesses and discomfort. Part of holistic treatment calls for massage and spa treatment and more so because more and more people suffer from mental and physical stress in today’s busy world.

It will be a difficult tug of war. Sure, spa and massage treatments are comfort treatments and will surely be the first to be sacrificed for in times of economic crises. However, many city people have come to see it as essential for today’s modern harsh living and while some may give it up, more will continue to see it as a need in daily modern life.

I believe in this current economic climate, there’ll be some immediate effect and some cash-strapped establishments may have to close. From here, I’ll sure there will be much re-consolidation and alignment of the alternative health and wellness industry, of which I believe it’ll re-emerge as better organised and aligned to serve it’s customers better.

As for myself, there’s no way I can give up on foot refloxology. It has become part of my life. I will continue to visit TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) for certain illnesses and will continue to seek TCM treatments including accupuncture, gua-sha or ba-guan.

As for pedicure or manicure, I’ll continue to seek for better bargains and cut down the number of sessions. The biggest cut-back will definitely come from scrubs and spa treatments which is always the biggest dollar-eater and I’ll continue to seek out credit-card promotions and definitely reduce the numbers of visits.

I may want to reduce drastically and cut off scrubs and spa sessions eventually – that is, if I can survive the old turkey treatment

Tell me, how will you cope?

First we had the Mad Cow Disease. Then we had Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Now, we even have toxic Melamine in our milk. Wave after wave of food and health scare! When will it be safe to trust our food, water and air ever again?

Even without these major health scare, we still have to struggle with daily health and food inadequacies – there are pesticide in our vegetable, micro-organism in our water, altered DNA in our poultry and polluted environment of our fishes – as farmers and businesses seek to maximise their profit dollars from our daily food supply!

That’s why modern scientific health experts chant the same mantra:

1. Eat lightly, eat widely
2. Exercise regularly
3. Get plenty of fresh air

In addition to scientific health experts, those of us who believes in alternative health will want to add:

1. Detoxify regularly
2. Meditate
3. Avoid or eat less meat

I personally believe in detoxification and practise it as much as I can. If you too believe in detoxification but do not know where to begin, whom to trust or how to go about, let me recommend this excellent body detox website by Dr Janet Starr Hull.

Dr Hull website is full of articles and research materials on scientific detoxification. Just reading from her website will put you in a good stead on how and why you should go about detoxing your body. Her website is chockablock of diet guides, detox books, vitamin and supplement information.

You can even order a personal hair analysis toxin test and a personal detoxification kit via her website. This is what she says of the detoxification kit:

The Detox Kit teaches you how to remove toxins using your body’s water, urine, fecal waste, skin and blood. The Detox Program is natural, and can be used for your lifetime as a “maintenance program” or if future health concerns develop. The Detoxification Program is safe for all ages and health conditions because it is a natural process using the simple nutrition techniques and information in Dr. Hull’s 10-Step Detoxification Program.

Dr. Hull is not just a nutritionist. She’s also a geologist and international geographer, a licensed Environmental Hazardous Waste Specialist and Toxicologist, a former fire fighter and college professor. She had a change in career after she “cured” herself from an “incurable” thyroid disease, Grave’s Disease in 1991. She was told she would die if she didn’t agree to drastic and expensive medical procedures; yet, her doctors didn’t know what caused her “fatal” thyroid disorder, or why she was suddenly deathly ill, or how to cure her disease. They only knew how to suppress her symptoms – destroy her thyroid with radiation – and keep her alive using medications for the rest of her lifetime.

She applied her environmental skills to help find the “cause” of her disease instead of having her thyroid destroyed. She discovered the cause of her illness – aspartame. She removed aspartame from her life and was healed within thirty days. She has been perfectly healthy ever since. No surgery, no medications, and NO aspartame!

The personal detoxification kit includes a DVD, a audio CD, a guidebook, pH test strips, diet and eating charts, suggested detox schedules and even a toxin guide. If you are serious about personal detoxification for better health, you should seriously consider this kit.

You can check out the detoxification kit at Dr Janet Starr Hull website.

Even if you have not reach a serious consideration about personal detox, you should still visit her website for generic health and toxin information. With today’s food and health crises coming one after another, you never know when you need a handy detox and diet guide in quick time!

Yet another food calamity! Did you read about the recent massive baby milk contamination crisis in China? A deadly chemical – melamine – was added to infant milk formula to increase profit for unscrupulous milk merchants, resulting in 4 babies’ death and thousands of affected babies to date.

Milk derived products such as biscuits, candies, ice-creams, chocolates, cakes and even coffee sachets were affected too!

Due to the gloablised nature of business nowadays, countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia were affected as well!

What is the world coming to with regards to food? Increased use of pesticides. Chemicals in fertilizers. DNA alteration to induce growth. Contaminated water and air. Will our food ever be safe?

A healthy life-style means regular exercise, stress-free living and the right food. However, even the healthiest tomato or lettuce could be contaminated without anyone’s knowledge nowadays.

Isn’t the best solution then to grow our own food nowadays? However, many of us are city dwellers and many of us lead busy professional and working lives. Where and how do we have the time and space to grow our own healthy food?

The solution may be easier than you think. Hydroponics – the science of growing plants without using soil – require little space, care and skills. Yet, you can grow your own green and healthy vegetables and herbs in your apartment crop after crop. Interested in more information about this modern modern of growing your own food? Hop over to my newest hobby and interest blog on DIY Hydroponics!

A personal home massage chair has suddenly become a vogue item to have at home.

A few years ago, some people would have purchased a massage chair at home because they may be suffering from back pain, neck pain, buttock pain, headaches, and even leg pain and stress and hence would want a chair to release some discomfort at home.

In those days, most chairs would be made from artificial leather and offer only one or two mode of massage – mostly vibration and kneading. Most of these chairs cannot fully recline and to be honest, most were not good-looking and may not blend well in a home if you are a fussy home maker.

Most chairs would have cost about US$1,500 to US$2,500, and were mostly bought by children as a gift to their elderly parents or by the elderly themselves.

Fast forward to today – and you’ll find that the trend of buying massage chair is not a one-time fancy or fad but instead, massage chair has almost become a vogue item to buy for the home.

No longer is the massage chair bought by children for their elderly parents but most likely by the children for themselves or for their new homes. The new massage chairs of today are likely to be made from real leather or suede, are good looking, can fully recline, has multiple massage functions and can even massage or vibrate in accordance to music or a movie!

Hence, some people will simply want a nice massage chair that looks good in their living room or office so that they can relax and just listen to their surround sound movie or music system! For others who are still keen on ‘real massage features’, new massage chairs today can perform all of these massage functions: -

Kneading – also known as “shiatsu”, kneading rolls outward from the spine and feels much like 2 hands alternately rubbing your back.

Percussion/Tapping – this is the light “karate chopping” on a client’s back that you’ve probably seen before on TV. Increased blood flow and muscle stiffness relief is the benefit gained. It feels wonderful.

Rolling – Basically, wheels just roll up and down the muscles on either side of your spine. Here are the benefits: 1.) gentle moving of the spinal bones, and 2.) stretching of the spine and the muscles around it.

Foot and calf massager – many of the new chairs have an attached ottoman that has a calf and foot massage feature administered by an airbag system. This feature is a real “must”, especially if you spend a good portion of your day on your feet.

Full recliner – if you want your massage to be as deep as possible, you need to get a massage chair that has a reclining feature. And the further back the recline, the greater the intensity of the massage.

Prices has not only not fallen over the years but have gone steadily up especially with a number of new features and are generally between US$1,500 to US$8,000 depending on leather quality and number of fancy mechanism. Most of these chairs are manufactured in Japan or China under a few big Japanese brands such as Sanyo and Panasonic. In other parts of Asia, local brands such as Osim, Oto, VGO, Omega has sprung up and are active sellers of the home massage chair and other home health products.

If you live far away from shopping malls or prefer to shop online, you can buy new massage chair recliners at a good price at this massage chair online site. This company offers a 90 refund policy, ships internationally, is managed by a doctor and carry most of the major and reputable brands. By far, this is one of the best on-line website for massage chairs I have seen.

I do Yoga regularly and try to practise at least twice a week at the gym. I spend another two days practising Yoga on my own at home because I find that I am spending too much time running back and forth to the gym and that Yoga is basically something you can practise alone at home.

If you are keen on doing Yoga at home as well, here’s the basic items you’ll need to start off:

1. A good non-slip Yoga mat
2. Tight gym clothes
3. A TV and a good instructor-led DVD or VHS video on Yoga so that you can practise along
4. Aromatherapy or fragrance burner to enhance the ambiance (Optional)
5. Soft music (Optional)

I normally rest for about an hour after dinner and then start my Yoga session at home. First, I’ll light up an aromatherapy candle or burner and then tone down the lights a notch or two. I find that building up the mood and ambiance contribute a lot to an enjoyable Yoga session.

Then, I’ll run the Yoga DVD video disc and follow along with the TV Yoga guru for an hour or so. I’ll next rest for half an hour or so before running a nice, warm hot shower. Then, I’ll drink down two glasses of plain water before turning in for the day.

I find that drinking two glasses of water at the start and end of the day help me flush off the toxins in my body. I also find that a round of Yoga practice followed by a hot shower let me fall asleep easily nowadays compared to a time prior to starting Yoga when I was always having a hard time falling asleep at night.

So, if you’re thinking of picking up a non-strenuous exercise or have insomnia problems at night, why not pick up my idea of doing an hour or so of Yoga at home. Home Yoga is completely a sustainable form of self-exercise for home and it does not take up a lot of space, equipments, time nor need a sporting partner.

Yoga is not as strenuous as a lot of other sports and is just the right exercise to do at home alone or with another family member. Yoga is both a therapeutic exercise for the mind – for it leaves you relaxed and serene after a session, and at the same time it is a also an exercise for the body for it tones up your muscle and loosen your ligaments.

If you need help in starting Yoga training or will feel more confident with a good instructor-led Yoga DVD video to follow along, you can pick up these video VHS tapes or DVD disc or even a Yoga exercise mat at this website!