A whole lot of FRIGGIN money is about to be literaly DUMPED, by you and me, right into the economy! But whos economy?

So this is a call, a challenge... buy local this holiday season. This is a very direct way to build a strong local economy, to empower your community and flex your purchasing power! I challenge you to buy 25% local or 50% local or ... more.


Yes. I know. Things ARE more expensive on a local level. This is part of your investment. It's part of your contribution. You may find  your self yielding to quality over quanity. This then becomes a very sound and environmentally good choice.

When you really look around, there are a ton of exciting ways to give from the heart! A popular trend is to give the gift of experience. This includes restaurants, performances, art, dance or karate classes, boat rides, wine tours... just about any bucket list item has a gift certificate for sale. Get them a makeover, a horse riding adventure...

Check out local hardware stores for bigger items. Bergers Appliance of Hawthorne is a local business. 

I've seen so many wonderful local boutiques tank. They lose so much holiday revenue to big box stores. Get out and support these wonderful shops while getting something truly unique! Compile a list of boutiques and just go to them! The only ones I can think of around here are Trinkets in Croton or Ruthenys, also in Croton. I always used to buy jewelery from SWAK in Montrose and my recepients squealed, no really, squealed with delight. They sadly had to close.

Get to your local craft fairs!!! You will always find something unique and wonderful. No one, and mean not one of us, can own enough hand made scarves. Seriously. 

If a small business is not in your local area per say it's still shopping local. Now's a good time to check out etsy.com for hundreds of independant sellers of handmade or vintage goods inlcuding jewelery, art, or just about anything you can think of.  

Explore pintrest for a millions ways to MAKE an awesome gift!

Also consider local bakers, florists, book and record shops, yoga studios, spas...

Every year I enjoy going to Feed the Birds in Croton and getting bird feeders and outdoor seed ornaments.

Like I said, 25%, 50%, 75%. These are good percentages if we all challenged ourselves with one of them. All of us are going to buy big box items this year. It's unavoidable. It's okay. But we can make a major impact by looking around and challenging ourselves to a percentage. 

What are some of your favorite local holiday hot spots? Plug away! Show us where to go! 
Your community thanks you!

Here I am. I am your massage therapist and I'm ready to blog for you.

Peace is an abstract concept; at least I think it's better to think of it that way until you finally acheive it. There can be little or no reference to what peace is or feels like until you have felt it's exact opposite. 

Stress is something we're generally used to. I don't mean the pressure of a stressful, nerve wracking event or a bad day. I'm talking about a low level stress that's always there. It's there when you unwind from the day or even when we do the things that give us pleasure. We aren't aware of it. This kind of stress is also an abstract concept, until you experience the opposite. 

This is exactly what happens on the massage table. You get the concept; sometimes you get it the second your head hits the table. I'm pretty sure every person who gets on the table leaves with a reference for peace. Once you get familiar with the concept of peace you begin to recognize your stress. When you leave the office you are out of stress, at least the kind of stress that we carry day to day.

What makes the table unique is that deep relaxation and a senes of peace and well being happens immediately without any effort. To maintain that peace you must practice by finding meditation or a yoga teacher, but massage can and will open the door. It is a silver bullet. Whatever you bring to the table your massage will improve it. 

I've enjoyed a simple visualization in my work. I imagine that the treatment is a drop of water that hits the surface of your stress, rippling it out, smoothing it over. There is at least a drop of peace with you, effecting the ocean of your being. And now when you leave the office you are a drop of peace rippling out into the ocean of the world. If it lasts five seconds then it has done some good but it can last all day.

There are biological names for these abstract concepts of stress and peace and there are many physiological things that take place between the two but I will talk about that another time. For now it's enough that you know peace and stress cannot exists together and that you can choose on or the other. It takes practice to learn to choose and massage can help.