Community News
Renew Yourself with Matcha 

Spring is in the air, time for renewing your life. Let go of what you don’t need and bring in what you do need. Take a break from the TV to be more creative, have dinner by candlelight or just sit quietly to meditate and listen. Go outside and spend more time in nature. Take a hike, plant a garden, or work in a community garden. Create a balanced fitness program or modify the one you are already following that will support your healthy body/mind happiness. Start a ritual. The ritual surrounding matcha is ancient, precise and beautiful. The use of an earthen bowl to hold the fresh green tea, and the wooden scoop and wooden whisk to froth it up, is very significant from a 5 element perspective, and lends the energy of wood (growth, determination, and upward mobility) to your drink. Spring is about renewal, matcha is about renewal. Take your moment.

Tiffanie and Kip Home, www.justmatcha.com

Headaches, TMJ and Posture

A possible cause of headaches and temporomandibular joint dysfunction is poor posture. Proper postural alignment involves having the head, shoulders and hips aligned vertically in sitting, and in standing to also have them aligned with the ankles. This allows the muscles that run from the spine, shoulders and rib cage balance the head on top of the spine. When a person develops a forward head posture (FWP), the head starts to sit in front of that line. This causes some muscles, like the posterior occipatels (small muscles the run from the head to the spine) to shorten or get tight; other muscles, like longus Colli (small muscles along the front of the spine) to get lengthened and weak. This muscle imbalance will lead to movement dysfunction in the cervical spine and potentially in the temporomandibular joint. This dysfunction can become a source of pain and discomfort.

The human head weighs between 10-15 lbs. This is similar to a gallon of water. Think of how much harder your muscles have to work when you hold that pail of water out in front of you, compared to holding it at your side. That is what happens to the muscles in your neck, they have to work as much as 4x harder to hold your head up as compared to when you are in proper alignment.

When muscles are active, they release lactic acid, this is what makes a person feel sore when they start a new exercise program, or do extra work that they are not used to. When the muscles in the neck are working harder, they also release more lactic acid, overtime this may cause your neck to feel stiff and tight.

If you think that your posture is not very good, have someone take a picture of you from the side and look to see how you are aligned, very easy to do. If you are not aligned, try to make the correction and see how that feels. It will probably feel unnatural and might even feel painful as you are not used to being in this position. Your body has adapted to that positon, some muscles lengthen, some shorten, and so it will take some time before this becomes the new normal.

If you need some help with identifying whether your posture is optimal, or whether your posture is contributing the symptoms you may be having, please consult with a qualified, registered health care professional who can help guide through the path to pain free living.

Andrew Neufeld, BMR (PT), Steinbach Physiotherapy

Making Sound Decisions When Buying Your First Home

As summer starts to heat up, so does the housing market in Manitoba. Let’s face it, who really wants to be out house hunting or moving boxes in five feet of snow and -40 degree weather anyways? If you’re one of the many looking to make your first foray into real estate while the weather’s hot, here are a few things you should know. . Use the Home Buyer’s Plan (HBP) wisely. If you’re unfamiliar with the program, the HBP allows first-time homebuyers to take up to $25,000 tax free from their RRSPs to help buy a home. The only stipulation is that you must pay it back over 15 years or, if you miss a repayment, include that year’s amount in your taxable income for the year. Using RRSPs and the HBP to buy your first house can really accelerate the savings process, but only if you have the discipline to hang on to your additional tax refund instead of going on that annual spring spending spree. . What they can’t account for, until you’ve picked a place, is whether they’ll lend to you based on the property you’re buying. That house is their collateral should you not be able to repay and lenders want to know it’s worth what you’re buying it for. Protect your deposit with a “Financing Condition” when making an offer on a house. If the bank comes back and tells you they won’t lend on a home, after your deposit has been paid, a Financing Condition may be your only recourse to recover it.

If you’re in the market for your first home, here are a few things you should know: The minimum down payment is not the maximum you should have. The most common question I get from first time homebuyers is “how much should I save for the down payment?” While the minimum you need is 5% of the purchase price, there are other costs you must pay for out of pocket. Expenses such as legal fees and the land transfer tax are unavoidable in Manitoba. Expect to add another 2-3% over and above your down payment to cover additional costs of home ownership. Being “pre-approved” is not the same as being “approved.” When a lender tells you that you’re pre-approved for a certain dollar amount, they are giving you a limit to shop for based on your income, credit history, and lifestyle. If you follow these guidelines, your first home buying experience will be much less stressful and much more financially sound.

Tom Johnson, Cascade Financial Group
http://www.cascadefinancialgroup.com/

Product Review: Greens+ Extra Energy 

Do you often feel tired and in need of an all-natural energy boost? With greens+ extra energy, you get all-natural energizing ingredients including taurine and naturally occurring 100mg caffeine from the kola nut, plus a full serving of nutrient-rich greens+ in every scoop! The best part is, it tastes amazing! Fresh orange or rich cappuccino flavours – no cream or sugar required. You’ll feel a calm energy – refreshed and energetic – without shakiness, nervousness or irritability. Underneath this amazing burst of energy, your body is absorbing a plethora of vitamins, minerals and unique phytonutrients along with hydrating effects from the water – and because it doesn’t come with sugar, synthetic additives or a mega-dose of caffeine, there is no diuretic effect! Whether you need a boost first thing in the morning, before your workout, or just to get over that 3pm workday slump, greens+ extra energy works to provide long-lasting energy with no over-stimulation or energy “crash”.

Matthew Calvez, www.nutritionplus.com

Eliminate Chronic Health Conditions

Most people believe that developing diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s or any chronic health condition is just something that happens because of bad luck or poor familial genetics. This mindset is keeping those people trapped in a mentality that they have no control over their health. The human body is not designed to be sick. Consuming the wrong types of foods has led us down a path of declining health. Mankind was a hunter gatherer for the last few million years and only started consuming grains some 10,000 years ago. The human body has not adapted to thrive on the consumption of grains. The addition of sugars and bad oils in the last 100 years has made the problem worse. Consuming a diet closer to that of our ancient ancestors will allow a body to heal to the extent that it can, and likely prevent future health issues. The human body is a self-healing organism. Give your body the nutrients it needs, and get out of the way.

Tom White, www.becomehealthy.ca

Reiki for Wellness 

Reiki is an ancient Japanese energy therapy that induces deep relaxation allowing stress to be released and returning the body to a natural state of wellness and balance.  It has no medical contraindications and can be used to speed up recovery from surgery, or long-term illness.  Reiki also helps to reduce pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue and improve overall wellbeing. It has been increasingly offered as part of workplace wellness programs to address burnout and stress. The Reiki practitioner’s hands remain on or slightly above the body for several minutes moving from head to toe. Many individuals report feeling a pulsing heat, vibrations or tingling sensation during the gentle touch therapy and most enter a calm, deep relaxed state.  Others may experience a powerful awareness and healing.

Cathy Lovatt, Reiki Master, www.sundragonstudios.ca

First Aid Saves Lives! 

Did you know that friends, coworkers and family members are the ones we are most likely to have to use first aid and CPR on? Many incidents happen in the home, workplace and school that require immediate medical attention as professional emergency medical assistance may take some time to arrive, and that is time we may not have! We should be teaching every student these skills in schools as early as possible. Providing students with first aid training at an early age helps cement those life saving techniques in their mind and by having as many people as possible trained with the right first aid skills, emergency first aid can be done immediately, potentially saving a life or preventing more damage. There are several programs available to students such as the PeopleSavers course and First Aid/CPR/AED training.

Yvonne Harder, www.eastmansafety.ca

The Healing Science of Life

Anything affecting your physical, spiritual and emotional well-being can cause you to be out of balance and therefore cause disease. Ayurveda is a natural holistic approach to health that focuses on treating the whole person – body, mind and spirit, with a primary focus on promoting good health rather than fighting disease. Ayurveda is a sanskrit word, ‘ayu’ meaning “life”, defined in the ancient scriptures as the combination of body, mind and soul. And ‘veda’ meaning “science” – “The science of life.” This unique health practice is a proven ancient method that combines the natural healing components of whole foods, herbs and oils to treat the imbalances of mental, physiological and chemical problems within the body. Many that adopt an ayurvedic lifestyle find that health problems significantly reduce, energy levels rise, sleep improves and weight usually balances itself out without the need for diets.

Andgela Diamond, www.prairiewellnessretreat.com

What is Wellness?

Well, Wellness is a choice; it is a choice we make for ourselves to get us closer to optimal health. There is a process we go through but it won’t happen overnight. It’s developing a lifestyle that brings us into our highest potential of well-being and health. Wellness starts in our mind the moment we take that first step and commit to eating better. Our bodies begin to heal themselves and ask for more healthy things such as more water, more movement, less screen time, and we start seeing life in a better light. Making that choice allows us to be able to play with our kids and grandkids for years to come. Even if you were never taught a healthy lifestyle, now is the time to learn and to teach the next generation! Get up, eat some veggies and get out there with the kids!

Theadora Juenke, RMT

Book Club: Furiously Happy   

A Funny Book About Horrible Things

Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best. Furiously happy is a book about embracing everything that makes us who we are – the beautiful and the flawed – and then using it to find joy in fantastic and outrageous ways. Maybe crazy isn’t so bad after all!

Jenny Lawson, www.thebloggess.com

How is Stress Affecting You

Stress is unpleasant, even when it is transient. Stressors such as work, relationships, finances etc. stimulate the Sympathetic Nervous System (or fight-and-flight response) in your body, and over time and continuation cause negative effects to the affected areas (lack of sleep, digestive issues, high blood pressure, reproductive complications, etc.). The areas or systems of your body that are most affected by stress are:  Brain and Nerves, Muscles and Joints, Cardiovascular System, Stomach and Intestines, Pancreas and Reproductive System. Reflexology stimulates the Parasympathetic Nervous System (or rest-and-renew response) in your body, allowing your body functions to normalize naturally, resulting in: Longer, deeper sleep, an increase in digestive function, lowered blood pressure, reversal of reproductive complications, etc. Other ways to reduce stress naturally and improve your overall mental and physical health are small daily doses of physical exercise, daily meditation, deep breathing exercises and massage therapy.

Gloria Laing, www.gloriasreflexology.ca