Blog Posts

Meditation taught at business schools

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

12644355_m2

At the Drucker School of Business  in Claremont, California, students working on their MBA are being taught to be in the moment.  That is to say, mindful and  aware of what is actually happening in the present.  Companies including Google Inc. and General Mills Inc. are embracing mindfulness training with the aim of making their workforces less reactive, more resilient — even more creative.

A brass bowl and a leather covered mallet. are the tools that are used in classes for this exercise.  Clearing the mind of all the chatter (monkey mind as some Buddhists call it), is the key element for mindfulness.  It’s about paying attention to what’s going around you.  Jeremy Hunter, a professor at the Drucker School of Business says it’s like upgrading human ability.

Meditation is no new fad.  It’s been happening for about 2500 years in Indian and Asian cultures.  American business are learning something about being less reactive in situations and  more about choosing to change behavior in stressful situations.  Steve Jobs credits Zen meditation as a way of being focused while he was running Apple.

Some businesses might consider this as airy-fairy, but if Steve Jobs and Google find it useful, it might be worth giving it a try.

Body Charge Massage called to Sesame Street to help Cookie Monster puppeteers

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

Sesame Street puppeteers have a tough job that stresses the body.  Each puppet usually has two puppeteers that crawl on the floor twisting and turning as the move around.  What they need every once in a while is a good massage.

Body Charge to the rescue!

This April 2017, Sesame Street’s studios in New York City called us up to provide relaxing and soothing massage to the puppeteers of The Cookie Monster.  Body Charge dispatched two of our best massage therapists to help out these great puppeteers.

Both of the therapists said the job was a memorable one and they had a lot of fun at the Sesame Street set.  

6 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Corporate Massage Business

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

Body-Charge-Massage-Services-Event-Corporate
Not all corporate chair massage businesses are created equal. And to make matters more complicated, there are many massage therapists around the Greater Nashville area to choose from. So before you hire one, take some time to do your research!

Here are 6 questions to ask a prospective corporate chair massage company before you hire them.

  1. Are the therapists given a hands-on interview where their skills and technique are tested?
  2. Are the therapists licensed and insured in the state where they practice?  Ask for proof.
  3. How long has the massage company been in business?
  4. Does the company have managers in each city they work in to hold interviews and manage the local therapists?
  5. What do the therapists bring with them to the job? Music, aromatherapy etc…?
  6. Has the owner of the company been a massage therapist? Asking this will give you an insight to his/her ability to manage and judge the quality of a massage.

We hope these questions will help save you time and money when searching for your corporate chair massage business. In fact, we’d love the chance to answer these 6 questions before you hire us!. Call us today to discuss!

New Hot Towel Service for Massage Programs

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

Now, end your office massage with a refreshing hot moist towel…

Hot towel service with our office massage

Body Charge is now offering a refreshing conclusion to companies that use our services on a regular basis.  Aside from a great seated massage, we’re offering lemon scented hot towels for your employees, so they feel refreshed and recharged, before going back to work.  We’re here to make your work day more pleasant.  Call us for our SPECIALS!

imgres

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-Animation

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

15564549_s

 

Consider: The lifetime cost of carpal tunnel syndrome is about $30,000 per person, the National Institutes of Health reports.

Research also shows that people with bad backs rack up 60% more in medical bills than their healthier colleagues and that the average worker experiencing muscle, tendon, ligament, or bone pain (not including backaches) loses 5½ hours a week in productivity. Says Brad Hutchins, an ergonomist in Thousand Oaks, Calif.:                                                                                                     “That can be just as costly as missing days in the office.”

How Does Chronic Stress Affect the Brain

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

chronic stress

In a very busy world where stress is the norm rather than the exception, it’s important you seek to mitigate stress using any technique that works for you! Your brain manages all of your bodily functions, so it’s important you protect it. Understanding chronic stress and its effects on your brain can help you protect yourself!

Here are some of the effects of chronic stress on your brain

  • Stress shrinks your brain
  • Stress kills brain cells
  • Stress Hinders Cognition, Expression, and Memory
  • Stress Depletes Brain Chemicals
  • Stress Shuts Down Functions and Sharpens Others
  • If a threat is especially severe or recurs frequently, such as protracted combat or living with abuse, the chemicals that carry messages from one nerve cell to another become depleted, and the brain becomes sluggish and inefficient. According to the American Institute of Stress, this can lead to a variety of mental health effects, including:
    • Depression
    • Sleep disturbances
    • Racing thoughts and difficulty concentrating
    • Difficulty learning
    • Absent-mindedness
    • Difficulty making decisions
    • Obsessive or compulsive behaviors
    • Increased hostility, worry and guilt

Call us today to learn more about taking care of yourself and your employees!

 

 

Body Charge staffs the Tommy Bahama Relaxation Day in 92 Stores August 15th

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

 Tommy Bahama National Relaxation Day

  tommy bahamas

Body Charge Inc. managed to staff 92 stores for Tommy Bahama on August 15th for the National Relaxation Day. Therapists were in stores in the US, Canada and the Hawaiian Islands.  The day went off without a hitch and the hard work we put in to make it happen paid off.  Customers walking in were treated to a 10-minute massage by local therapists and was a great addition by Tommy Bahama to add to the ambiance of the occasion.

 

 

 

 

Text tension, computer cramps: Spas offer relief for techno-woes

Posted on
by Paul Guditis
As more and more technophiles seek relief from computer-caused discomfort, spas are getting creative about meeting their needs. And they don’t plan on being a flash (drive) in the pan.

New York’s Mohonk Mountain House — named #1 resort spa by Conde Nast Traveler— now offers a Texting Tension Tamer, a consistently-booked massage for the shoulders and neck, with help from an organic vanilla cream.

Stuck in a Silicon Valley rut? Dash over to California’s luxurious Burke Williams spa for a Dot.Com enhancement, where customized stretching and massage is meant to “relieve the stress and muscle tension we all develop working at a computer.” Launched in June 2012, the tech-focused treatment has since jumped to the number two position this year, accounting for 28 percent of Burke Williams’ enhancement sales.

And for some wrist rest, national spa chain Massage Envy offers a one-hour massage that focuses on pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome — targeting the palm, thumbs and wrists. Notice a consistent breakout on your right cheek, where your iPhone rests? Fear not: the Smartphone Regeneration Facial at Gotham Skincare in New York City should clear that up in no time.

Texter’s thumb
Industry veterans say this trend was a long time coming, and medical experts affirm that it’s much more than skin (or even muscle) deep.

Susie Ellis, president of SpaFinder Wellness, has noticed a definite trend towards “designing and branding treatments that alleviate pain, tension or conditions” in tech-affected areas, though the treatments themselves are not necessarily new, but just with “new labels.”

“Therapists are now are much more attuned to tech-centered needs, recognizing, for example, tight shoulders, as a sign someone has been at a computer all day,” Ellis told TODAY.com. (Just consider your posture as you read this article.)

Paul Guditis used to be a commercial pilot, but stress in the cockpit actually led him to think about wellness and de-stressing in the workplace. He is now the owner of Body Charge, bringing massage chairs into corporate environments.
“I go into offices where people’s hands are bandaged from carpal tunnel from being on computers too long,” said Guditis. “Massage therapists come back reporting shoulder injuries and migraines.”

Cornell University professor Alan Hedge, an expert in ergonomics, confirms that our hunched hacker posture has ushered in some new pains. “We jokingly call it ‘homo computeris,’ but it’s also called ‘turtling,’” he said: people sitting in a rounded position like the shell of a turtle.

Overuse of the thumb can also cause injury. “When you’re using thumbs to text — which aren’t very dexterous — those tendons get an awful lot of use, and if they get inflamed, can be very painful.”

Relief, but not a cure
So far, the tech-massage movement already has its loyal devotees. Jenna Groesch, 23, an executive assistant at an advertising agency in New York City, affirms there’s nothing gimmicky about this trend — that these rubdowns generate real results.

“I feel incredible afterwards,” Groesch says of the Body Charge massages which help her alleviate stress built up from working at a computer. “I can really take on my day, without worrying about neck and back pain.”

Others concur: Heather Franks, 28, a digital marketing consultant from Irvine, Calif., goes to Burke Williams every three months for their Dot.Com treatment. “I feel immediate relief and change in my posture,” she said.

“Massage is fantastic for preventing and reducing tension build up,” attests Susan N. Servetnick, a physical therapist who specializes in correcting work positioning in her New York City practice, Back Into Balance.

So are these pod-patron pampering massages the answer? In part, says Hedge. “Massage doesn’t fix the problem; it temporarily alleviates the symptoms. The real key is to change the way they’re working or texting.” He’s hopeful about the improvements that might be brought by touch-free technology like Siri.

Detox from texts
Even spa hotels are addressing the problem. From California to Costa Rica, retreats offering travelers a digital detox experience are gaining popularity. Guests are told to relinquish all their various gadgets or are even offered 15 percent off for checking their iPhones at the door.

Barbara Stirewalt, spa director at Mohonk Mountain House, understands that treatment doesn’t end when her guests leave the spa. “We do try to be the antithesis of technology in some ways — a historic resort that does not have TVs in the rooms,” Stirewalt told TODAY.com. “In a subtle way, we’re enabling people to come back to nature.”

If DIY is more your bandwidth, let your digits do the walking: try some stretches from the experts at HealthyComputing.com, or a quick search on YouTube generates dozens of massage demonstrations for computer aches and pains. And hey — you can live-tweet it, too.

“These spas have hit on something real here,” said Hedge, adding: “Probably the most helpful thing about them is that people won’t be texting while they’rein the spa.”

 

 

5 Surprising Benefits of Chair Massage

Posted on
by Paul Guditis

Relaxing Corporate Body Chair MassageMassage not only feels good, but it also good for you.  Here are a few benefits:

1.  Massage reduces stress. Why?  Massage creates chemical changes within the body that reduce pain and stress.  One of the culprits is substance P.  Substance P is a neuro-peptide that transmits signals of pain and anxiety to the brain.  Studies show that massage twice a week showed a reduction of substance P in the patients saliva, and reduced pain.

2.  Massage strengthens your immunity.   Under stress your body produces cortisol, which in turn kills off important cells for your immune system.  Massage circulates white blood cells through out the body, and reduces the cortisol production.

3. Massage lowers blood pressure.

4.  Techniques:  There is no evidence supporting one massage technique over another.  As long as the pressure is enough to make a temporary indentation, it’s doing the job.

5.  Self massage.  Targeting the tendons in the forearm by stretching them can relieve pain and discomfort from long hours on the computer.  Also stretching those tendons by doing active stretches will also help with those computer muscles…..