New Virtual Massage Video

 John Morgan, my friend and former boss, put together this video so that I could offer my recording of Virtual Massage on YouTube. YAY!  Click on the video below to hear it. 

Here's the back story of how I came to write and record Virtual Massage:

My friend Lena was my first massage client here in my new home when I lived at the River House. After she left, I was on the phone to John Morgan, my boss of John Morgan Seminars fame and I said, "I wish I had another body to work on." And he said his shoulder was bothering him and what would I do to alleviate the pain. I told him I'd start with his traps and work into levator...and being the auditory person he is, he said, Tell me as if you're giving a massage in real time. So I did, without the anatomical nerd-talk. At the end of it, he said he felt better and said, "I think you have something here. Write a script." He came up with the name Virtual Massage AND did the post-production (he made my voice sound like velvet!) AND designed the CD for me. John was my willing guinea pig as we worked through the script together and he gave me advice on how to make it even better. On the final reading, he fell asleep (the ultimate success!) and I hung up the phone after I was finished. He phoned ten minutes later saying, "I think you're ready to go into the studio." High praise coming from "America's-Best-Known-Hypnotherapist."

I also wanted feedback from a fellow massage therapist, so I read it to my friend Bess. She said, "That was fantastic! I feel like I've just had a massage and a half!" High praise coming from my favourite massage therapist! The night before I went into the studio, I read it for XM Radio Guy, who has been a client for years. And he said, "That was amazing." THANK YOU!!!

I also have background music on this recording. And not just any music, but my favourite music when I'm giving a massage: Chesapeake Bay: Reflections of Beauty, by Mike Zampi. He let me use the whole CD just like I would in a massage session. So, it's been 13 years and things have changed!  But the recording still sounds fantastic. Thanks, John!

Anti-Anxiety Meditation: Part 2

Apologies for the delay!  I had major technical issues. Ugh. I couldn't synch the audio with the visual, blah blah blah. Anyway, here it is!

If you missed the introduction, you can click HERE for information about anxiety, as well as lots of helpful resources.

Labyrinth Naps

Tomorrow I'm going into the studio to record my next CD: Labyrinth Naps This is the introduction:

Hi. I’m Hali Chambers. Welcome to Labyrinth Naps. I designed the following guided visualizations to facilitate a nap. What do Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison all have in common? They understood the value of naps. There’s a wonderful book by William C. Dement, called The Promise of Sleep. Dr. Dement has been a pioneer in sleep research for the past 50 years and has demonstrated the value of sleep to our health, performance, and overall well-being. He has also documented the dire consequences of sleep deprivation including accidents, serious health issues, and even death. Unfortunately, so many people in modern society are sleep-deprived. Naps are a simple, beneficial, biologically-based antidote. Many people experience a natural, physiological dip in energy in the afternoon. Some people push through their drowsiness with the coffee & donut break, but what if you were to take a different, healthier approach that actually makes you feel more alert and energized afterward? What if you were to decide to work with your body’s biology instead of ignoring its signals? In our culture, naps may be viewed as laziness, but research has shown that a well-placed nap will help you to perform better afterward. In addition, the benefits of a nap are long-lasting. It was found that a 45-minute nap improved alertness for a full 6 hours after the nap. In fact, Dr. Dement says that “naps can make you smarter, faster, and safer than you would be without them. They should be widely recognized as a powerful tool in battling fatigue, and the person who chooses to nap should be regarded as heroic.” Now, doesn’t that make you feel better? You’re a hero.

The processes on this CD are only 20 minutes and can be used during a lunch break or later in the afternoon. They can help to recharge your batteries, so that after this experience, you can feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and alert.

Now that I’ve addressed the importance and value of taking naps, you may be wondering, Why a labyrinth? First of all, let’s define a labyrinth, because they are often confused with mazes. A maze is a puzzle or game that has tricks and dead-ends. It requires critical thinking and problem-solving skills. A labyrinth, on the other hand, has no tricks or dead-ends. It is a single path that you follow to the center, and then back out again. It’s more of a walking meditation. By the way, it’s not necessary to have walked one to feel the relaxing benefits of these guided visualizations.

There are many benefits to the labyrinth experience. For example, labyrinths have been used to help people who experience insomnia, so that you are able to get a restful night’s sleep. They are also thought to balance the hemispheres of the brain. They can promote relaxation, and they can also be used to get more energized. For more information on labyrinths, you can visit my website: healinglabyrinthpath.com

Now, back to naps: Another benefit when you take this nap is to lower stress. Stress often prevents people from being able to sleep. Lack of sleep contributes to greater stress and it becomes a vicious cycle. Dr. Bruce Lipton, in his book The Biology of Belief, has said that “almost every major illness that people acquire has been linked to chronic stress.” He likens stress to a race. Imagine you’re at the starting line of a race and poised to run. You hear, “On your mark, get set…” and there you stay waiting to hear GO—but it never comes. You’re stuck in an alert state which fatigues the body very quickly. People pay lip service by saying they’re stressed. Sometimes they’ll say, “It’s just stress.” Our bodies were not designed to be under the constant stresses and tensions in which we live our lives today. And we pay the price with our health. If stress is linked to almost every major illness, doesn’t it make sense to take measures to reduce the stresses in your life? These guided visualizations are processes that help you to begin to feel relaxed. So that as you take time to rest, each time you take one of these naps, you may find that you can relax faster and it gets easier and easier the more you do it.

There are 2 choices for naps. The first is an abbreviated version of my CD The Healing Labyrinth Path. In it, you are guided down a soft grassy path on a breezy summer’s day. The second one is a labyrinth on a beach. I often draw one in the sand when I go to the beach, and this particular process was inspired by the late Dave Dobson, one of my teachers. I’ve combined my labyrinth with his beach trip. You can also use these to go to sleep with at night, and if that’s your intention, you can just sleep through instead of waking up as suggested at the end of each recording. Also, you can rest assured that you can wake up fully alert if there’s something that requires your attention, so that as you begin this process, you can relax on a deeper level… faster.

And now . . . get ready . . . get set . . . nap . . . .