Friday, January 6, 2012

It’s All About Feet!


With a full house over New Year’s that kept us on our feet hour after hour, we were ready to experience some tender loving tootsie care, which is why Innkeeper Ilja had lined up Lise Grondin Danault, a reflexologist who offers ionic detox foot baths, as our weekly guest, assisted by Tamar Smookler, a certified massage therapist and owner of Inner Truth Massage in Littleton.
 
We’d met Tamar a couple of weeks earlier when she presented a program on the benefits of massage. Lise, who holds office hours at Inner Truth Massage and in Berlin through her business, called Osmosis, is a certified reflexology therapist and a certified ionic footbath practitioner. While most of us were familiar with reflexology – the art and science of foot massage, we were unfamiliar with the benefits of ionic detox foot baths. 

During the foot bath, your feet soak in a tub of warm water, Lise explained, “while a computerized ionCleanse® unit runs through its alternating cycles and generates millions of neutralizing ions.” These ions are
absorbed by the feet, followed by toxins being released by your organs through the pores in the feet. It all

Brad, Kathleen and Orlo taking a Ionic detox foot bath
sounded a bit unbelievable, but we could see the results in the water of the three people who volunteered to try the footbath. Depending on the toxins in your body, says Lise, the water turns a different color – brown, orange, black, yellow, green – and may also fill with what looked like particulate matter. The color and consistency helps the therapist to assess which organs are releasing toxins. The goal is to cleanse the body’s tissues and organs over a series of sessions, helping them to rest and heal. Ionic foot baths can treat a variety of ailments, says Lise, like joint and muscle pain, fatigue, and allergies.


While Lise was overseeing the foot baths, Tamar offered the rest of us relaxing mini foot massages. Reflex points on the feet correspond to different points and organs in the body. During reflexology, the therapist massages the foot and takes notice of any tenderness or irregularities. Massaging these points helps bring the body into balance, and provides a feeling of well-being.


Many health practitioners believe that the feet are the foundation of a healthy body. If that’s true, then we all walked away from the evening’s program just a little bit healthier.

More information about foot reflexology and ionic detox can be found on Lise’s website, http://www.osmosisnh.com/. Learn about Inner Truth Massage at http://www.innertruthmassage.com/.



Weekly Weigh-In
The pounds continue to come off, slowly but surely, and the group consensus is that we’ve embarked on a good program. Feedback has been positive. Comments from some in our group:

Kathleen has enjoyed the program, especially the nutritionist. “The program has been worth it, just to learn that stuff.”

“I like it,” says Orlo. “I’ve lost weight and am eating better. Now that the holidays are over, the next step is real aggressive exercise. I don’t miss what I’ve dropped out of my diet as much as I though I would.”

Peet says he’s “enjoying it and learning a bunch.”

Brad is more aware of what he’s eating and how he’s exercising. “You can’t let excuses get in the way.”

“I knew it was going to be good,” says Tinah. “It’s given me more information than I had. It makes you stop and think about what you put in your mouth. We’re all set in our ways. The program has helped us step out of the box.”

Healthy Snack:
Peet contributed our healthy snack this week, a large plate of crisp celery and carrot sticks accompanied by a small bowl of Ranch dressing, which everyone scoffed down. It was simple and delicious and proves that you don’t have to follow a complicated recipe to have a satisfying and good-for-you snack. A real winner!

Next Week:
Next week is the 6th week of the “Ten Years Younger in 60 Days” program. Innkeeper Ilja hasn’t let us know what the program will be (we love surprises!), but based on past programs it’s sure to be both inspiring and educational. Everyone is feeling “in the groove” and making good strides toward their goals.

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the site. I so hope to get home with my now ten yo son this summer. I lived at Adair for several years,and have some very happy memories of "The Cave".
    My VERY best wishes to you, and yours. Peace
    Nathaniel A. Allin

    ReplyDelete