A bad flu season, ongoing allergies, the common cold -- it often feels like our bodies are fighting off round after round of infections and stress. While we can often keep things at bay with our healthy habits (enough sleep, good nutrition, exercise, and daily self-care rituals), sometimes we fall off the wagon, or just get slammed with a bad infection. Here are my go-to strategies when I'm feeling under the weather: -Turmeric tea: I pour recently boiled water in a mug with a

The Squat. We squat intuitively and effortlessly as toddlers, but as we get older, that skill is often lost. Here are the highlights of how (and why) to squat. To quote Mark Rippetoe, "the squat is the only exercise in the weight room that trains the recruitment of the entire posterior chain in a way that is progressively improvable... (It is) the best strength exercise there is." (from Starting Strength). Why is that important? Well, as I learned in massage school, most of u

A muscle knot (aka an adhesion) is a painful area of muscle tension--a very common condition. Most people notice knots in the their shoulders, backs, and necks (especially in the upper trapezius and levator scapula muscles). But what are these muscle knots and how do they form in the first place? Adhesions are basically thick knots of fibers in muscles that have been chronically contracted (shortened or tightened). They usually appear because of overuse, dehydration, stress,