I love learning myself! I simply can’t get enough of it on any topic at all . . . AND . . . I am, and have always been a teacher. (I began with my first class of 4-year-olds in a church setting when I was only an eleven-year-old myself! Shortly after that, I was asked to be the music leader in the weekly children’s meeting.) I love writing these newsletters and trying to share with you things that I have found useful in my own life and my years doing Foot Zones. And Butterfly Expressions, LLC is about sharing and educating!
This month’s topic and sale items for the general Butterfly Express, LLC Newsletter are “Immunity and Immune Building”. As Foot Zone therapists, I am making the assumption that each of you understands how critical an understanding of anatomy is to the work you do! I am also assuming that you have made your own study of anatomy and how the Immune System works, so as to enable you to better recognize and understand those things that the feet can reveal about the physical and emotional health of those people you work with.
I have been informed that the majority of you (Foot Zone Therapists) also receive the general Butterfly Express Newsletter. I have gone into quite a lot of detail about the Immune System in that newsletter, and I have also discussed some of the properties of this month’s ‘on sale’ Immune Building products at Butterfly Express, LLC there. I will not be taking the time or space to re-discuss those items here. If you do not get that newsletter sent to you and you are interested, the monthly general Newsletter may be accessed online at ButterflyExpressions.org.
Additional items, more specific and chosen by myself, based on my favorites for possible use during a Foot Zone treatment, will be the topics of this article. I will, however, be including a slightly shorter summation of the General Newsletter here along with a list of those ‘on sale’ items at the end of this article/newsletter. (The promised summary of the Butterfly Expressions General Newsletter can be found at the very end of this article, if you are interested in accessing it that way.)
The Zone, although very ‘energetic’ in nature, brings about real changes in the physical body. Of course, you have all seen both the physical and energetic balancing and healing that the Foot Zone treatment is capable of bringing about! As you can see from the title of this article/newsletter, I will be focusing on energetic responses during a Foot Zone session and how those responses may affect the body’s physical immune system.
The lymphatic system is a vital part of our circulatory and immune systems. It consists of a network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, and lymphatic organs, including your spleen and tonsils.
How do I adequately describe the lymphatic system without needing as many pages as I print up when teaching about this body-wide system during the Foot Zone therapy classes that I teach?
Let’s begin today by imagining a team inside your body that is constantly working to keep everything—and I do mean everything!— in balance. That is our lymphatic system!
The heart is an incredible muscle—yes, muscle. The amount of work done by the heart each day is almost too incredible to even believe. The body contains approximately six quarts of blood. This blood is pushed through the blood vessels over 1000 times in a day. The heart, incredibly, pumps about 6000 quarts (about 1,500 gallons) of blood in a single day for all the days of one’s life!
There is simply no way that I can cover the complicated workings and anatomy of the heart in this article. (I certainly do try during Foot Zone Therapy classes, as some of you can probably attest, to do my best with pages and pages of information—possibly too much information—in the material provided.
Two systems regulate heart activity. One involves the nerves of the autonomic nervous system and acts as an accelerator and as brakes for the heart rate. The other is the intrinsic conduction system—nodes which are built right into the heart tissue. This system sets the basic rhythm of the heart. For this article, let me stress firmly (very firmly) that when a person is under either physical or emotional stress, the heart works much too hard, pumping faster and more forcefully, in order to make more oxygen and glucose available to the systems of the body. The good news: For people who know how to handle stress more calmly or know how to rest and rejuvenate between periods of stress or hard work, the heart will slow down and beat steadily. This gives the heart a period of rest when the crisis is over.
A troubled mind may lead to a broken heart in a very literal and physical sense.
Many patients arriving at emergency rooms and doctors’ offices with symptoms of a heart attack have just experienced the death or loss of a loved one. Traumatic experiences such as a car accident or mugging are also recognized as triggers for heart attack-type symptoms.
Intense emotional events can trigger your sympathetic nervous system, unleashing a flood of chemicals. This sudden surge of chemicals can stun the heart’s muscle and leave it temporarily, and sometimes permanently, unable to pump properly. In medical speak, this is referred to as ‘Stress Cardiomyopathy’. Energy workers often refer to this situation as ‘Broken Heart Syndrome’. It is very real!
My point? If we insist on living our lives in real or imaginary stress, we will be increasing, daily, the stress on our hearts.
A second point? Anything that strengthens you emotionally—whether oils, herbs, exercise, faith, or anything else—will benefit your heart. . . and the heart certainly needs all the help that we can give it. Statistically speaking, heart disease of various types is the leading cause of death for both men and women and has been for more than a century!
Albert Einstein is reputed to have said that he studied science in order to ‘understand God’s thoughts’ as He created the world. As I have studied anatomy and physiology and the healing properties of “God’s pharmacy’—for a lifetime—I am always in awe of the genius of our Creator and His overwhelming love for each of us!
With plants, in either herb or essential oil form, we have been given wonderful ways to nourish and heal our bodies. And the energetic miracle that is Blessed Water/Homeopathic Remedies is almost beyond belief!
We are meant to be well and happy and energetic into our advanced years! Please do not accept pain and physical limitations as a normal part of the aging process! Eat right. live well, and use the wonderful and amazing remedies that God has provided for us everywhere in the world!
As an introduction to this section on Alternative Pain Management, I am including parts of an “FDA Drug Safety Communication” issued on July 9, 2015. If you wish to read the entire communication (with pages of additional information for patients and consumers and even more information for Health Care Professionals along with a comprehensive Data Summary) I am providing the link to the FDA announcement itself on the U.S Food & Drug Administration’s web page.
This statement certainly is true of the drugs used for pain management, as is illustrated by these statements taken from the FDA website itself. The use of herbs, essential oils, and Blessed Water or Homeopathic remedies is an effective and safe way to manage pain.
The digestive system is a very intricate and complex system. To my mind, it is much like a fragile ecosystem. There is a constant need for balance in the digestive system, just as there is in nature. The balance between the organs and among the different types of healthy bacteria found in the digestive system is absolutely essential to good health. When the digestive system is not working properly, the body becomes either malnourished or toxic. As a result, all the woes of poor nutrition and/or a toxic system eventually show themselves in the overall health of the body and mind.
Due to the many different organs included in the digestive system and their specific roles in the body, there are a lot of essential oils and herbs which have an ability to impact this system and bring about improvements. This month’s newsletter targets only a few of them. (I know from the length of the article that it seems like we surely must have mentioned them all. Not so—but it did feel like that to me as I wrote it.) I hope you find something useful to you or your family in the information I have tried to present here.
March is the perfect time to focus on Allergies, Liver, and Lymph. With allergy season just around the corner giving your liver and lymph some extra love can make your spring and summer a lot more fun. The lymph is a very important part of the immune system and the liver is vital to keeping your body detoxed. The liver performs over 500 functions in the body. The liver is part of the digestive system. This blog is full of great ideas to help keep your lymph moving and keep your liver happier. This is the secret to surviving allergies. Make sure you don’t miss the new multivitamin.
See the full list of topics.
In November we will be talking about Women’s Health. Sometimes as women, we tend to take care of everyone else and put ourselves at the bottom of the list. It has been really fun to focus on women and their special and unique needs. There is something for every woman in this blog. From the young girl preparing to start to cycle to the seasoned woman in menopause. I hope this is a wonderful read for you that will improve your quality of life as well as the lives of other women in your life. See the full list of topics.
In July, we will be talking about DEHYDRATION and MINERALS. We are all aware that when you are extremely dehydrated, it is a serious situation. However, most of us do not realize how important it is to avoid being even slightly dehydrated. We also don’t really grasp how minerals work to help us stay hydrated. Water is only part of staying hydrated. Join us as we talk about the importance of minerals, and electrolytes. We will also talk about essential oils, herbs, and blessed waters. See the full list of topics.
In July we will be talking about the amazing natural remedies for burns, sunburns, heat exhaustion, and other things you might need when spending time in the great outdoors. Learn about miracle salve (it really is miraculous) lavender, and neutralizer for the best sunburn relief ever. Did you know essential oils make amazing bug repellents and there are some great ones for treating bites too? This is where the Blessed Waters really shine.