News:
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Body Zen has been at the new location for two years now! And Still, Get the Startup Discount!
After being in the law building at Himes & Azeele for just two months shy of 6 years!- Body Zen has moved just one block south to the 2nd floor of the big green office building at 3502 Henderson Blvd, Tampa FL 33609 #226! The old building had water damage multiple times and the Body Zen floor was creaky, so they’re doing renovations again. Luckily, the new Body Zen office was/is recently renovated so we wont have to worry about that.
You still get the startup discount! The new space is really nice, however still small at the current time. And because we do not have the custom facilities that Daniel and Body Zen are determined to provide for you (and because the office has noisy neighbors during the day that refuse to be quiet), you still get the startup discount!!
Thank you so much for bearing with all the chaos with Body Zen starting up! I promise the goal is still to have Body Zen with ‘it’s’ own custom building that will eventually happen! Until then, thank you so much for your continued support; especially now with everything!
If you need anything please just let me know! 🙏🧘
Welcome to Body Zen! 🌴
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Before I moved to Tampa more than 10 years ago, I had glowing reviews from clients paying $240 for a 1 hour massage at one of the world finest resort spas in Palm Beach (Eau Spa! where I was also Master of Ceremonies (gave tours and opened/closed the Spa) and was on national television), and while I’m committed to serving Body Zen clients with that level of service; being a sole provider I’ve been enduring many harrowing challenges before and after the pandemic, and I have not yet, been able to get Body Zen the resort spa gym that she/it and you deserve – but it will, happen; and hopefully soon! Thank you so much for gifting Gift Cards and supporting me and Body Zen Scheduling Online for deals while we have our amazing south Tampa location until then!
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There are Still, Ongoing Tech’ Issues!
After many years of experiencing the strangest tech’ issues, I am still hearing of clients stating that they had text messaged who have shown me text messages next to my phone that never arrived. And when we were using MetroPCS first starting out, voice-mails were scrambled with incorrect phone numbers attached, so when I would call people would often say it was the wrong number.. And after switching to t-mobile (issues with other companies also, long stories), our phone was taken off the network entirely after already having a credit from prior issues.
> So, please contact me/us at 813-863-4895 ASAP of info@thebodyzen.com with as much info as possible so I/we can fix it ASAP.
Thank you so much for bearing with all that!
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Free Massages!
To reward you even more for being such an amazing client and to help bring in new clients while it’s been slow, Body Zen has a Refer 2 People Get a 1 Hour Massage Free special!
The normal special is refer 3 people and get one hour free, though this one will hopefully get you a free massage or two or more faster! Just remember to have both people tell me who referred them when scheduling.
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Around the Town
Aside from having my location in south Tampa, I will sometimes travel to clients that can’t visit me in house. Thanks to a friend I was able to help fix performing artists from Alabama and Iron Maiden at the Amalie arena, and there would have been many more artists if they needed massage work! My special thanks to everyone with the tours and Amalie arena who were so kind while allowing me the honor of fixing such great people. Whether you’re an international celebrity or a lesser known amazing person, feel free to contact me for an appointment and I’ll be happy to help you!
Alabama May/2017
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Iron Maiden June/2017
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Tips & Insights:
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. The 30 Second Women’s Self Defense Course
Has evolved into: KidnapDefense.com!
After giving practical lifesaving advice to so many wonderful ladies for years, I finally made the 30 second Womens Self Defense Course into KidnapDefense.com!
I was driving to the store several years ago, and I saw a little girl walking helpless and alone; so I was forced to create KidnapDefense.com to help save everyone from how uneducated and criminal `5% of the population can be. So thank you so much for reviewing the website and sharing with all the ladies and girls you know!💖 And stay tuned for more videos in the near future!
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. Most Common Advice from Massage Therapy, Personal Training & Martial Arts Experience
I’ve had the distinguished honor of fixing injured bodies for more than seven years now, and while I am a personal trainer, massage therapist and Black belt, I am not a dietician (and this is not a complete regimen); here is a list of things that I wish all my hurting clients knew and did that would make life a lot easier to prevent and deal with injured muscles. Most of you are doing really well, though most of us are not always perfect. Along with consulting your Doctor whenever you feel necessary or when starting new regimen or activity, here is the list to make life way more awesome and pain and injury free:
- Stay away from soda! Unless you like stiff painful muscles
- Drink plenty of water The most painful muscles ever are dehydrated & malnourished!
- Replace electrolytes if you’ve lost and drank lots of fluids
- Get away from what stresses you, before Wall Street the Doc’ used to basically say, “go home, drink fluids and rest”…
- Get some rest! It’s well known in sports medicine that most athlete’s do not get enough rest. Want to ever heal?
- Use gentle & slow, dynamic stretches (don’t stop moving) before you exercise and static stretches (hold for a bit if it’s comfortable) after your workout
- Get regular exercise but don’t over do it, less is definitely more when your getting back in the swing of things
- Eat quality foods, farm to table is best, though avoiding over processed ‘foods’ with high sugar is a start
- Get regular massages! You’d be surprised how much pain and money you can spare getting regular massages!
- Roll your shoulders back and down, when we’re stressed and defensive our shoulders climb high, so bring em back down after you’re out of the woods
- Meditate, simply sitting comfortably where you’re not going to be bothered and feeling yourself breathe is one of the best things for you
There are a ton of things I could continue to list and go on about, though this is the core of what I continually see people needing to prevent and deal with pain and challenges. If you make enjoying these things part of your regular life you’ll reap the benefits of great health and have the ability to recover from injury and deal with stress much easier.
Best wishes, kind regards and Happy Holidays!
Daniel Dunn, LMT
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. Structurally Aligned Posture & the Anatomical Position
Among the most important concepts that anyone can know for their long term biological health and so mental and emotional health, beyond martial arts, financial and social education; is knowing how to help our bodies recover – without injuring or re-injuring ourselves.
One of the best ways to help our bodies recover from modern day challenges to our posture, movement and future health, is to take 2+ minutes (even 30 seconds can help) to relax and recover: standing in the Structural Posture, and then slowly rotating your palms/arms/shoulders to the Anatomical Position – if, you are able to, while breathing in the nose and out the mouth.
Doing this addresses the entire body, and helps us re-align ourselves to being in harmony with gravity and so our own musculoskeletal system and so on. The extremely important subvertebral muscles that are located on the front of the spine (not sub-occipital or intrinsic back muscles as GenAI will likely say, Daniel & Body Zen will be developing Healthcare Analytics Services soon!) are not able to be worked in massage and are seldomly addressed appropriately otherwise.
The image below, shows the Anatomical Position in the two images to the left; that show the palms, arms and especially shoulders (if, possible; be careful!) forward. And the image below shows the Structural Posture in the two images to the right, that illustrate the palms facing the body. With both positions, we aim to have the very front of the 2nd toe (next to the 1st/Big toe) as the front of the foot; placed directly in front of the very back center of our heel.
Afterward, we simply “stand a little taller”, without forcing the body, aiming to have the hips, ribs/shoulders and head level and in harmony with gravity and the body as a whole.
Pro tip: looking into a full body mirror to the front and if possible also to the side, so you can see and adjust your own posture; can be extremely, valuable and helpful.
The two images on the left are the Anatomical Position, the two images on the right are the Structural Posture:
It is very important to “ask” the body how it feels while attempting to stand in these postures, to prevent injury or re-injury, while finding where we legitimately need, to recover our bodies to again prevent current and future injuries while accelerating health and performance.
Beyond helping the body mobilize without injuring it to recover the fastest and perform the best (pretty cool), we are also teaching the body to remember or memorize how to mobilize (without self-injuring); so you can be even better at mobilizing tight muscles to recover the best when, or after you use your body and make it tight again.
Why 2+ minutes? It normally takes 30+ seconds to legitimately allow the nervous system and so the muscles to relax, so they/we can then begin to mobilize without re-injury. So taking 2+ minutes allows us to actually get hopefully 30+ seconds of genuine neuromuscular, mobilization and relaxation training time in.
So, practice enjoying the 2-5+ minutes to recover your body, mind and spirit and coach your body to continually get better doing this! (And, your massages will be waaay, more effective if you’re already mobilized!).
Even more advice:
I like to point out that we wont always be able to be in good posture all the time. And that being able to slightly improve our posture when we can, can reap huge dividends in pain and injury prevention. And being able to align ourselves back into good posture (instead of overcompensating with more bad posture) after we’ve been in bad posture, can reap even bigger benefits over time.
If you enjoyed this and it worked for you, please check out the Body Zen Online Training Library especially; the Neuromuscular Repatterning (Retraining) Exercises – that are essential for anyone who has to work or spend time at a computer or driving. Also on the Videos Page!
.. Repatterning Exercises – Feet, Legs & Hips
These are two of the most commonly needed repatterning exercises that I recommend, because so many of us have lower body imbalances that affect the whole body. These are relatively simple and effective when done correctly, and like just mentioned; can benefit the entire body by gently focusing on the lower half.
What is neuromuscular repatterning and how do these work? When we learn how to perform any motor function, like crawling, walking, running, carrying things, and so on; our nerves form pathways and connections to muscles, to increase our ability and skill to perform these functions. And from injuries, improper form and or function, lack of or excessive motions, and so on; our neuromuscular function can be debilitated, imbalanced or excessive. So when we carry out motor functions in a specific controlled way, we can retrain these nerve pathways, neuromuscular junctions and muscles to perform the motions we need them to be able to do with more balance, skill and proper function.
Knee Bends
To begin the knee bends, stand in a structurally aligned posture (as mentioned in a previous post), with feet facing straight forward/parallel, even to eachother, about one of your foots width apart from eachother, with about 80% of your weight distributed evenly over each heel. Then while not aiming to do a full squat, only a mild knee bend where we can feel the ankles reach the end of their range of motion; we slowly, begin lowering ourselves down by bending the knees – keeping our focus on maintaining an even balance, weight and cadence to the entire motion, down and up.
The key to getting the most out of this exercise is to keep equal effort on the part of each leg while keeping equal weight over each heel, and stopping and correcting before proceeding when the effort and or weight becomes imbalanced.
When first beginning these, one two count repetition down and up, can take several minutes and leave you feeling like to may need to shake out your arms or legs; though that’s a good sign that your activating and retraining your body.
The more we focus on finding and correcting imbalances in a slow and controlled motion, the better these exercises will work and the better we’ll be when performing motions and functions that demand much more effort and intensity.
Toes Up Foot Up
If you’re new to the concept of mobilizing the muscles for blood flow and recover vs stretching them too far and injuring them in the attempt to recover, I recommend familiarizing the concept while lying in bed; and simply placing the feet in the Anatomical/Structural Position (see above) – and simply draw circles in the air with the toes – starting with 2″ for 15 repetitions, then 3″ x15, 4″ x15 before resting and breathing to see how that worked.
To begin this exercise, simply sit comfortably on the floor with your back against a wall or strong vertical surface to give your back support, with the legs bent comfortably at the knee with the heels close to our glutes; then lift the toes and foot of the exercised leg toward the ceiling/sky (curl the toes back/up and lift the foot the same way) and then slowly push your heel/leg forward as if you’re doing a forward heel kick. Once the leg is straight along the floor with the toes and foot still curled and lifted back; we then point the foot and toes straight forward (similar to how a ballerinas foot looks standing on the toes) for about two to three seconds, before lifting the toes and foot again and then bringing the heel close to our glutes again, and relaxing back to the starting position.
This is a six count exercise, where we first lift the toes/foot, extend the leg/heel, point the toes/foot, lift the toes/foot, retract/pull back the heel/leg, and relax the toes/feet back on the floor again.
Conclusion
The key again to getting the most out of the exercises is to find and correct imbalances by moving in a slow and controlled motion, that may feel awkward and strenuous at times. And again the more time and focus we take using these exercises to correct our neuromuscular patterning, the more ability and skill we’ll have later with more weight and intensity when we need it. Moving too fast to get more reps is the opposite of what this exercise is about.
I hope you enjoy this simple and straight to the point approach that you can hopefully use better and get more out of, though as always if you have any questions, feedback or any other thoughts you’d like to share always feel free to let me know!
All the best in good and better health,
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Side Lying Hip Flexor, Psoas, Quad, IT Band, & Glute Stretch!
This is a really great sequence to know and use if it works for you, because with 3 stretching motions in the safe and comfortable side lying position, we can effect the primary muscle groups, muscles and muscle/tendon that are directly related to lower back pain, hip pain and mobility, knee pain and dysfunction and even lower leg and neck and shoulder issues.
The whole sequence is done lying comfortably on the side, with the grounded leg slightly bent at the hip and knee in front of us and the top leg *held at the lower leg not the ankle or foot by our top arm, then the knee is extended behind us to stretch the hip flexors, psoas and quads, then touching toward the ground with the femur parallel to the spine to stretch the tenor fascia latae/TFL, gluteus medius and IT Band, then up toward the shoulder to stretch the gluteus maximus.
Hip Flexor, Quad and Psoas Stretch
Once in the side lying position, we form the fetal position, cup our hand like a hook or praying mantis/jujitsu hand and hold around the tibia bone/muscle of the lower leg, and then straighten our spine and hips while letting the quads, hip flexors and psoas groups relax and enjoy the stretch. To get the best stretch, keep the abdominals tense to stop the hips from extending backwards, while allowing the psoas group and quads to relax and let the femur extend backwards.
The quads are stretched when the knee is flexed and the hip flexors and psoas group are stretched when the femur is aligned with the spine and especially when the knee is extended behind us past our hips. Again, hold higher/closer to the knee on the leg and extend the whole back and middle shoulders with a relaxed neck to get a good stretch, instead of holding the foot and flexing the shoulders against the quads.
IT Band, TFL and Gluteus Medius Stretch
Just like the stretch above, we hold the lower leg, or keep it held, align the femur with the spine so the spine and femur are in a straight line, then either allow the knee to drop toward the ground or flex the adductor muscles on the inside of the leg to pull the knee for a couple seconds. If the muscles and IT band are really tight, we can use the foot of our ground leg to pull the knee down while keeping hips from rotating. And again, to get the best stretch we need to keep the hip bones from moving while we allow the hip joint to gain mobility with the stretch. So flexing the obliques by the sides of ribs as the joint and leg is relaxed is the way to go.
The TFL, glutes medius and the gluteus maximus (particularly a band of muscle of the g. maximus) create the predominant tension of the IT band. Tension created by the big outside quad muscle underneath the IT band, the vastus lateralis, creates most of the rest of it’s tension. So we can experiment moving the knee slightly behind the hips to hit the TFL more, or in front of the hip to hit the g. maximus more.
Glute Maximus Stretch
This stretch is very commonly done lying on the back and pulling the knee to the same or other side shoulder, by putting the ankle of the stretched leg on the knee of the other leg to pull the knee up to stretch, and by keeping the stretched leg bent big at the knee on the ground underneath us so we can lean our body-weight on the muscles to stretch (cycler stretch and pigeon pose).
However it’s very convenient while we’re already in side lying position to pull the knee up and over to get the same or very similar stretch. If the glutes are really tight we can touch the knee toward the ground slightly in front of the hips like the It band stretch. Tip: experiment with the angles of the stretch to see if you can find a particular one that really hits the muscle right where you need to.
Stretching Durations
There are six types of stretches with four subsets to those, so we could spend a while going over stretches. Instead I’ll cover some simple basics that can be helpful with really tight muscles. I’ll cover general stretching and types of stretches in another entry.
Before working out, dynamic stretches where we don’t stop moving the joint or joints being stretched is better. After working out, static stretches where we do hold the stretch for a couple to many seconds is better, largely because of minimizing the risk of injury due to over stretching the muscles about to be used during the workout.
Most dynamic stretches involve taking the muscles through the same or very similar range of motion that they’ll go through during the workout, with a slower speed and broader range to give them time to adjust and room to gain mobility. However stretches for individual muscles and muscle groups can be used also, just keeping the motions smooth and fluid without stretching the muscles to far.
The static stretches that I’ve found to work the best for really tight muscles, are a type of stretch called active isolated stretching; where the stretch is held gently and only for two seconds at a time, while progressing a little further and further each time, totaling about 3-4 stretches per set. You can clearly hold the stretches for longer depending on how you feel and how tight the muscle is. The longest stretches are held for 30 seconds to 2-3 minutes depending on the desired result, though I recommend stopping at 30 seconds max unless you have a plan for stretching the muscle so much.
Conclusion & Thank you
There are other really good ways to stretch the hip flexors, psoas and glutes in the same general position like the lung position or pigeon pose, though this one done side lying is great because it’s comfortable and you don’t need to balance while you’re doing them. And by the way, a pillow or bolster for the neck while doing these is a fabulous idea.
As always, healthy function and development is the goal, so having an even balance of mobility and tension is good to keep in mind when exploring and or continuing to use these or any stretching exercises. So getting comfortable with calisthenics squats is a great way give your body a test run before and or after your stretches depending on how long you use your stretches (another ‘blog topic for sure!). And always consult your doctor or physician before beginning or altering your diet or workout regimen 😉
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I wanted to have a simple and informative video though I hope that this was also enjoyable, to the point and very helpful to you. Thank you for being my client and I hope to see you again soon!
Yours in keeping great health,
. Neck Stretches
The neck stretches are basically like nodding the head “yes” and “no” and moving the ear towards the shoulders. The muscles of the neck and shoulders are commonly very tense, so only holding gentle stretches for 2-3 seconds at a time, and progressing a little further with each one until the muscles feel stretched is the best way to go.
It’s best rotate the head down and up using the auricle of the ear as the horizontal axis point, to avoid crunching down on the atlas and axis (C1 & 2) and get a small stretch in the back of the neck when looking down; before we let gravity take our head down. Using gravity is best, if we use muscles to pull we can pull to hard and cause the spindle cells to stop the stretch and create a proverbial game of tug-o-war and possibly strain the muscles.
To stretch the back of the head, neck and even shoulders, we can relax and let gravity take the head forward and down, using the auricle of the ear as the horizontal axis point. After the back of the head raises up as the front of the head goes down, let gravity continue to take the head forward and down until you feel a good easy stretch. The best way to recover or return to our beginning/zero posture, can sometimes be tilting the spine backward to let the head roll out of the stretch; instead of using already aggravated and stretched muscles to pull a heavy back to position. To stretch the front of the neck, which is important, we can look directly up toward the sky or ceiling and extend our head vertically. It’s very important to release a stretch slowly.
We can also look to sides at 45′ angles and or over each shoulder to stretch the sides of the back of the neck, by using the same down and up looking motions, of course rotating from the auricle of the ear and the spine. To stretch the front sides of the neck, we can look up instead of down at 45′ angles then let gravity take the rear facing ear towards the back of the shoulder. Again, it may be easier to tilt the spine to help the head roll back to zero position instead of using the stretched muscles to pull the head.
To stretch the sides of the neck directly, we can of course act as if, we are going to touch our ear to our shoulder with the head looking straight ahead. And again it’s best to only use gentle stretches for 2-3 seconds each proceeding a little further each time until the neck feels stretched. As always, it is best to use slow, gentle stretching using gravity to take the head down instead of muscles, and returning to zero posture slowly by tilting the spine if necessary.
I hope you enjoy these stretches and that they help you become and stay more relaxed. And more stretches and good advice is on the way.
Enjoy the weather out there and I’ll see you soon!
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. General Diet Suggestions for Success in the New Year!
I am not a Dietician nor a Nutritionist, and I definitely recommend that you contact a qualified one for health along with preventing disease.
With that I’ve been saying for a long time, that with too much sugar; the body will begin to burn sugar instead of fat. And that even if, your body is burning fat instead of sugars/excessive carbs; you definitely want the good/HDL fats over the bad/LDL fats that are harder for the body to deal with. Not to mention excessive sugar symptoms are the same as ADHD and even mood and sleep disorders.
I’ve read a few articles that talk about getting the body to burn fat instead of sugar by modifying workouts and diets. Though nothing is quite as effective as simply avoiding processed sugars and excessive carbs in the first place. Though how in the world today do we actually do that? Of course simple is not always easy.
There’s an article, that I cant find to reference at the moment though I will include it later when I find it, from a Navy SEAL trainer (likely from SEALFit) who was basically saying; that if we plan consecutively on a calendar to limit our intake of sugar/bad foods to only 1 day a month when we purposefully over indulge to overload our bodies and especially minds with the experience – we can reprogram our pituitary glands to rejecting excessive sugars/fats vs allowing our pituitary glands to hoard sugars/fats out of scarcity.
It is the 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or whatever weeks it is that go without processed sugars that our minds and hormones reference the times of over-indulgence and choose to purge the excessive sugars/fats vs keep them. Having the feeling of excess our bodies will purge, if we punish ourselves for having half of a peanut-butter cup our minds/hormones will see that as scarcity and hoard fats. So plan on your calendar the dates in time that your body will metamorphasis and melt by the fire of your willpower!
“Simply” understanding this alone should give you enough of an edge to persevere to achieving your goals. Though just in case you’d like a, No BS Approach to Effective Fat Loss, with cool calorie, protein, carb and fat calculators – here you go!
All the best in achieving your goals, and I hope you’re having the happiest start to the new year!
Daniel Dunn, LMT
Owner & Bodyworker
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