We each get to figure out how to process through things that happen (even if not to us directly) – things that are said, things that we see, smell, and touch, stories told to us – some of them for our entire lives. Things leave marks on us and some words and actions resonate stronger than others, some sources hold greater weight because of how we feel about various factors like who said or did something or where you were at the time of an incident. Life is full of exploring pleasure as well as the darker side of the human condition related to displeasure, distress, a sensation of pain and trauma. Sometimes, especially right now amidst COVID-19, it’s easy to get caught up in distractions that creep into the subconscious, trying to disrupt peace and breed fear. The goal is to figure out how to return to a level head/heart space with the least amount of internal turbulence.

Why do our emotions even matter? Why do we have them?

Every person has the ability to utilize emotions (although mastery is far from an easy process), but many people don’t have someone to explain how things work. Our emotions are signifiers, signs that things are either okay or not in our environment, both internally and externally. Pain shows up when distress doesn’t get addressed, discomfort and disease are born from unbalanced energy. Whatever happened has happened and you cannot go back and unmake or undo it, but you can change the way you feel. Basically, you can change your own mind by practicing activities that help shift your focus; by becoming aware of your ‘self,’ engaged with your own health and well-being you can actually change your physiochemistry. When dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins are balanced we are a lot more likely to feel comfortable and at ease than when they are out of whack. Exercise, proper hydration, and getting enough sleep are major factors that help regulate the aforementioned neurotransmitters. As humans we need regularity, discipline, consistency to set up and maintain expectations about reality and our ideas of ourselves, our personal values.

The 3 basic steps to healing yourself:

1. Acceptance

2. Forgiveness

3. Love

Our bodies have an incredible ability to heal themselves when we can get our big powerful brains out of the damn way. Our brains need to feel that things are safe and clear so that we can tap into our charged and prepared CPU; ready to work, play, and recharge. Acceptance, forgiveness, and love are necessary ingredients for healthy processing.

You are allowed to examine your belief system and approach at any time, check-in with yourself to see what works and what doesn’t work to help you reach your personal goals. Are you ready to download, shift gears, let go of old shit that doesn’t serve your current purpose? Are you ready to radically accept, forgive, and love yourself?

1. Do range of motion activities to the joint right around injection site (if you know where it is) and massage the area gently to increase blood flow to the site region.

2. Take several deep, controlled breaths and remind yourself that all pain is temporary and that you’ll feel better afterward, relax your brain and muscles (CNS) as much as possible and remain in this state until all done. Let your shoulders release down from your ears and shimmy your shoulders back and forth. Have earbuds/headphones ready (and a way to play music), and play music that distracts or calms you through the process.

3. For 5-10 minutes prior to shot, massage area vigorously to get your body ready for something a little bit uncomfortable. With distraction music in place, calm sensation throughout your body and with your mind all set, you’re ready to take this like a champ; let your muscles be as loose and relaxed as possible so that the phlebotomist can access what they need and that the needle has an easy pathway. Injection time is now not a big deal and when it’s over you can very gently massage the area right around site (frequently the area just proximal, a little closer to the core) to help make it feel better – to help with both blood and lymph flow. A very gentle movement can feel nice and will help it return to normal soon.

4. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate; keep moving; and choose to feel fantastic, repeat as necessary and share with your friends!

I frequently am met with a decision to act out of fear or with love, like daily. What about you? Just starting a blog for my website has me a little fearful, but I know that the content will be full of love, offer resources, and provide relief and hopefully something fantastic to look forward to; a healing session, distance Rei Ki, sitting down to journal for a few minutes, time where you feel relaxed, at ease, calm in the coming hours/days/ weeks — and how I feel about doing it for the first time doesn't really matter. In fact, getting it over with for the first time or first few times will be more challenging than any other time as I keep going and making it a habit, a part of my practice.

Things are shifting and changing, always, but right now it feels especially striking. The world reacting and responding to the pandemic of the Coronavirus-19 has made daily life "as we know it" challenging. I stopped working in person to help flatten the curve, one of the most difficult decisions of my career and life thus far. I see this time as an opportunity to reset and think about what really matters. When you don't have disposable income and are limited to mostly indoor activities for an unknown time, it's an awesome time to clean your home, take apart your closets and reorganize, toss things you haven't used in 6 months to a year, spend time caring for yourself, think about what you can do that your future self will thank you for during this darn quarantine time. Consider what really matters to you most and take action now, get started. What are you doing to help yourself?

I've been doing my best to find a routine, seek connection with my family and close friends, create something each day so that there's differentiation and I have some type of log to look back at in the future, spend time outside in the sunshine with my babe while walking his pup. I meditate, practice gratitude, listen to music that makes me feel good, read for self betterment and development, seek laughter/levity, and think about a future that has fewer people living in fear, who actively take chances to better the lives of themselves and their communities, and live with love and peace at the center of their hearts.

Don't get me wrong, I've cried, slept more than I've needed, and felt helpless and overwhelmed lately, but it's not my focus. It's super important to feel the spectrum of emotions even when the feelings aren't popular. Handling emotions over time is the trick...Becoming mindful of how much time you allow lower frequency vibrations and thoughts to take up your mental real estate is an essential tool. Are you able to shift back to a place of comfort and calm relatively quickly?

I pray, meditate [and medicate], choose to vibrate higher. I actively choose love over fear and wish the same for you. If you need energy work or a private sound bath, want a tarot card reading or want help with inner work I’m virtually everywhere, I'm here! Send me a message and I'll offer light, hope, laughter.

Namastizzle,
Ariel Monroe, (more than just an) LMT

Then I take the opportunity to educate them that I'm no longer a masseuse, but that I was for many years before I went to school for it to become a Licensed Massage Therapist. I knew that someday I wanted to practice legally, help Hands-On Healing Arts gain recognition as a valid and valuable aid to healthcare, gain access peripherally to Western Medicine, and touch the lives of people far and wide while taking good care of myself along the way.

A short road to becoming a Licensed Massage Therapist, it was not! No sir, not a short road at all. For my entire life, I've been a people person; interested in where people are from, what they're doing with their bodies and minds, what they hope for in the future. Generally, I like to know, what is your experience like: this leads to how comfortable are you physically? emotionally? spiritually? Do you have any unmet needs that I can serve? Am I able to help myself or can I point you in the direction of someone who can - YES, please! I feel like that's what life is all about, helping out!

My journey as a healer goes back to being a very young child being super intrigued by other people's experiences and backgrounds, what people were up to as we crossed paths. My nature has always been very tactile, caring with a genuine concern for others' well-being and happiness. Others have noticed that I have a knack for intuitive understanding, connection, the feeling of love, and warmth with most everyone I encounter. My parents spent a lot of time hands-on with my brother and me as we grew up, so I've always had access to loads of supportive loving touch and I wanted to pass that as well as pertinent life skills onto others.

I used to get called upon as a kid, was asked to comfort homesick kids at my grandparent's summer camp between the ages of 8 and 16. I was known to be a trusted grounded spirit - people felt safe, warm, and cared for, I was able to be fully present and then lift spirits high. People were able to genuinely process through the emotions and were (eventually) convinced to be present and remain immersed, much of the time.

Also in that phase of my life, I spent a lot of time with my godmother who was a beautician; hairstylist, makeup artist, manicurist. She frequently complained of having pain all over would ask me to help her feel better from the time I was 12. She invited to me be creative and to use my intuition, she loved how hot my hands would get! I've always had good circulation and had a wildly passionate inclination toward healing and helping [myself and others] process through icky energy blocks.

Fast forward approximately 15 years and I felt stuck in a super craptastic long-distance relationship, trapped in my living situation at home with my folks in Elmer, NJ, was working a boring job that anyone could do, I was being driven to work by my parents as a grown-ass woman, and then I got hurt on the job. I fell while moving a crate of loose beer bottles. I was more concerned with hurting the bottles of beer than I was about hurting myself. That was my wake-up call. I felt as though it was time to embrace my life passion, JUMP for something massive for myself, and pursue my lifelong dream of using my natural talents to provide for myself.

I took a wild leap of faith - I ended my crappy relationship; got approval for a car loan for the Subaru Outback I'd be dreaming of for yearssss; enrolled in Cortiva Institute , a massage school in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania that made me feel like I had found a home away from home. I moved to PA, in with some very good friends who I will forever be grateful to (thanks Nick and Mu!) and I tackled massage school like it was my SOLE/SOUL purpose. The initial training changed me as a person in bigger ways than I could have ever imagined. Gaining this education moved me through life-altering paradigm shifts. I was 27 when I began, 28 when I graduated and my ego took some strides.

In this phase, I was awakened to some of my powerful energy, intuition, divine connection, and innate ability to help others to feel happier and more positive. It became required for me to use skills I'd been developing my whole life. This is fortunate for me because as professional licensed practitioners, we are required (by law) to do 24 hours of continuing education every 2 years; we must be CPR/AED trained with live hours and testing; we have to know how to recognize and report child abuse; we are also required to take an Ethics Course. Some people don't care for Ethics, but I love talking about rules, regulations, boundaries, freaky experiences, how to react better when certain situations come up. It's really interesting (funny, complicated yet simplistic, messed up and, at the same time, happenstance) what people go through!

I earned a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Rutgers University just prior to this stent of my life as I always knew I wanted to help people somehow. I figured out for myself that I'm not here to be average, that it is my goal to be the absolute best version of myself while helping others do the same. If you had known me before massage school, you'd be able to tell that I blossomed through the process. My energy and direction felt more evolved and well suited for where I feel I'm supposed to be, how I feel I'm supposed to operate with my special set of skills.

The initial core curriculum at Cortiva included Anatomy, Physiology, Pathologies for all systems of the body, Kinesiology, Medications and how massage affects certain common ones, Contraindications (there are times when it's not safe to give massage), Techniques for Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced Massage, Holy Toledo! There was a class for Business Practices and Laws for both local and federal regulations in the United States, Ethics, and 65 hours of hands-on time in the student clinic working on clients from the real world was required. I had to pass both physical and written practicals along the way, settle the bill prior to graduation, and pass the MBLEX (Massage and Bodywork Licensing Examination) in order to get licensed. Lastly, I had to get professional liability insurance before being legally allowed to gain employment to give massage, I chose ABMP.

Becoming an LMT is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. It took a seriously long time to intuitively master the human body, and my life-long self-healing journey (coupled with a six-and-a-half month process of formal training) got me warmed up! This led to even more self-discovery, developed passion, and a hunger to travel the world to spread the practices/notions/ideas that I have for health, wellness, and happiness.

I've chosen continuing education taught by some of the best healers and teachers the field has to offer; I feel so lucky, so blessed. My fellow MT's have immense experience and exposure that excites me to gain such valuable tools so that I may better serve each person I reach and teach. I love lifelong learning, especially about how our bodies and minds work and how I can affect them both physically and energetically.