Hinman Healing Blog

The Myth of The “Good Baby”  Seemingly one of the first things people ask a parent when they see a new baby; right after how old they are and their gender, is about whether they are a “good baby” or not.  As a parent and person who has worked in a daycare for many years as well as a human that has been privileged to be around a large number of infants over the years I can honestly tell you this one thing: there is no such thing as an innately good or bad baby. We need to stop asking if babies are good and we need to stop making parents feel like they are somehow failing at parenting if their baby fails to measure up to this impossible and ridiculous standard of “good.” It is not fair to the parent but it’s even more unfair to the baby.  What Qualifies As "Good?" Well meaning family and strangers ask if your baby is sleeping through the night, whether they cry a lot or if they feed well etc. All of the things a baby is "supposed" to do in order to be a sweet little a...

  Music to Work By: The Effect of Music on Exercise  Why do so many people listen to music when they work out? Is it just because the silence causes them to be bored or is there something more to it? Music and Motivation Not feeling motivated to get up and get out the door for exercise? Even people who love to work out can find themselves struggling with motivation from time to time. The right music can get you up and going feeling like you can take on the world. Get the right playlist going and you might find yourself feeling pumped and hitting the exercise regimen hard before you know it.  Music and Mood Feeling a little low? Having a hard time focusing? Music can get your spirits lifted and boost focus a lot. There is a playlist for every mood and music is known to inspire and get the brain to release endorphins which loft mood and promote focus. This means that when working out you get a double mood boost because exercise has been used to combat poor mood since ancien...

   Massage For Health 3: Massage and Injury Recovery One of the things I see clients for most is injury recovery.  Whether it happened earlier in the week or years ago; injuries to muscles, ligaments and tendons can cause a serious drop in your ability to perform tasks or maintain your daily routine without pain. No one wants to suffer the tight feeling, dull achy pain that comes with muscle strain or the sharp sting of overworking hurt muscles, ligaments or tendons. While they may be an inevitable part of being a human, they do not have to linger or cause more pain when you try to resume normal life after an injury.  What Can Help? The best treatment is prevention, but that's not always a guarantee; so when you do get injured make sure to follow your doctors orders and do not push yourself too soon.  Some of the most effective ways to help your body recover after an injury are: giving it enough time to heal, stretching the injured area carefully, using cryother...

  Are doulas just for home births? Most people imagine doulas as a crunchy naturalist woman who supports women during a birth without medication at home in their own bed or in their bathtub but they are so much more than that.  What is a doula? According to Websters Dictionary a doula is defined as: a person trained to provide advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a birthing person before, during, and just after childbirth This means that they can support anyone giving birth anywhere they choose to (or just end up due to unforeseen circumstances) give birth. They don’t just feed ice chips and rub backs. They help the birthing person advocate for themselves and understand any intervention or change in plans made during the process of that birth. They can offer suggestions about positioning, massage aching backs, keep up morale, lead breathing or meditation exercises, take pictures, or even support the birthing person through unplanned/planned c section...

  Fireworks in the Brain: Understanding Migraines Nothing will stop you in your tracks like a headache. Headaches are painful and can be caused by a variety of things; therefore requiring a variety of treatments.  But what is the mother of all headaches, the migraine and how is it different from a regular headache? Regular headaches are painful, your head throbs or stabs in pain and often cannot be ignored leading to people seeking treatment in the form of hydration, a small snack, rubbing their neck or forehead or even taking medication to help ease the ache. But for those who have ever had a migraine: they have experienced that place of desperation where you would do anything to make them stop, especially if it is causing the pain/vomit cycle where the pain causes nausea but the vomiting causes more pain on repeat like a bad music playlist. The light, sound and/ or touch sensitivity, the dizziness, blurry vision, and painful skin or shaking limbs and the best part? It can la...

  Massage For Health 2: Massage and the Sixth Sense Six senses? One of the most important aspects of how touch helps your body reset has to do with proprioception. What is proprioception? It is your body’s ability to sense where it is in action, location and movement. It’s why you can touch your nose or other body parts even with your eyes shut. Sometimes it’s called the body’s sixth sense because it is so innate to all people. Ever wondered why you feel better when someone hugs you? It’s because gentle pressure on the body gives proprioceptive input. Your body is constantly communicating with itself in regards to location in time and space. Brain: Hello? Arm? You there? Arm: Yup! Still here! All day long back and forth. When the body is under stress, the brain asks more and gets freaked out about whether everything is where it should be because it thinks there is a threat that could change the location of a body part or injure it. But when someone hugs you all the nerve centers ...