Today I went to the grocery store. When I was about to pay, the casher showed me a pineapple and a pen with his mischievous smile. I started laughing out loud. To my surprise, I was not the only one who was laughing. The bagger who was helping my shopping items and the other bagger who was helping a customer on the next lane also bursted into laughing.  

While laughing with them, I thought it interesting that at least three foreigners knew about the Japanese comedian and that was why they could laugh with me.

Last year, one Japanese male comedian, Pikotarou, became very popular with his funny dance and song. The song is about a pen, an apple, and a pineapple.

This song is nothing but simple, but once you hear it, the song tone will stay with you for a while and crack you up.

His song makes me reminds me of the basic logic; being simple is the best. When we start thinking about our audience, sometimes it is good idea to stay being simple instead of thinking too hard.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Recently I frequently receive the message from my family souls to massage the underarms.

Massaging arm pits raises my body temperature. It helps the blood flows.

When I took the lymphatic massage, the instructor emphasizes the importance of arm pits. Armpit lymph nodes (axillary lymph nodes) are one of the biggest exit for lymphatic drain. Massaging this area accelerates the good circulation of lymph. It also helps detoxification.

Before the bed time, I give my daughter a quick massage on the underarms. It seems helpful for her to quickly fall asleep.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I went to my third appointment of the physical rehabilitation therapy. When I mentioned about my sickness yesterday, the female therapist arranged me other needle therapist; different one from the last time.

The therapy that I had on my second visit was a male therapist and gave me the dry needling treatment.  The dry needling is the western therapy. As I mentioned in yesterday’s article, the treatment was painful, and I bled from the needle. The bled area is still being bruised.

Today, I received the acupuncture therapy, which is the eastern therapy. And I received it from a female therapist. Unlike the treatment of last time, I didn’t feel any pain at all. Instead, I felt my energy started flowing. I stated sweating and my body got warmer than before the treatment.

All in all, today’s treatment was a great improvement for me. The pain in my left shoulder got much lesser than before. I guess I should stick with the female therapist with the eastern treatment; acupuncture treatment.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I woke up with sharp pain my left arm and dull headache. After I ate a light breakfast, I puked. After that I slept until evening.

I thought about the cause. It could stem from the dry needling. Yesterday on my second rehabilitation therapy, the male therapist gave me the dry needling therapy. It was painful, and there were two spots that I started bleeding from that. Maybe that’s it. Too much male energy.

In the evening when my husband and daughter came back, they gave me Reiki healing energy. It was amazing. After 30 minutes Reiki healing session, I got totally well. I could walk around and do some house choirs.

Even though I had a tough time in day time, I could receive great love from my husband and daughter in the evening. I should say I had a great day, all in all.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I went to the rehabilitation center. This was my second appointment of the rehabilitation therapy for my left arm.

At the last appointment, since it was my first appointment, the therapist focused on the diagnosis so I didn’t do much exercise. From today, the real rehabilitation therapy has started. I did lots of painful stretches and exercises. My therapist was so uplifting and cheerful person, so I could somewhat survive from all the touch treatment. We laughed a lot together. It was fun.

When I was young, up to age 42 or so, I could move my body parts easily and flexibly. I could clasp my hands behind my back with one hand from the shoulder and the other hand from the waist line. Not anymore. My body has gotten very stiff.

Two months ago, I attended the yoga class. I was definitely the youngest student in the studio. The other students were all elders in their 70s and 80s. When the instructor told us to sit down and spread out feet wide, and have the right hand touch the left toenail. I was so embarrassed. I was the only one who could not touch the toenail. All the other elders could easily touch it.

After the class, I talked to some of them. They told me they have been coming to the yoga class for many years.

I respected them for taking good care of their body. As we go older, we will need to make more time for body maintenance. It is just like applying lubricate oil to a machine for rust prevention.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

In these recent years, I have tried to live my life without merchandised products as much as I can. It helps to get rid of unnecessary chemicals from my body as well as to save daily costs.

I make my laundry detergent at home. I make my bath bomb at home. I make my cleaning detergent at home. I make my sanitary pads at home. I make my shirts, pants, and skirts at home.

I use olive oil for hair moisturizer. I use coconut oil for face and skin moisturizer. I brush my teeth and rinse my mouth with baking soda. I use vinegar as softer when washing clothes.

Last night I used vinegar as hair conditioner. I was amazed the efficiency. It soften my hair as well as moisten my skin.

I am amazed how our daily things can be handy. Items such as vinegar, baking soda, and coconut oil are inexpensive and handy in our daily life.

My house does not have a microwave since October 2016. It has been 6 months without a microwave. I noticed it totally fine. Getting rid of the harm of electromagnetic radiation caused by a microwave might be subtle but when it accumulates years and years, it will show much improvement for our body.

Let’s continue doing our efforts to maintain our good health. We can start from tiny efforts in our daily life. Taking small steps every day continuously will eventually amaze us on how far we have come from the start point.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

When I was a teenager, the doctor told me my spine is missing one bone. I was born like that. I think that is why I have chronic pain in my back. Whenever I had a severe pain in my back, I used to go to the local osteopathic clinic. The clinic was very small. The osteopath therapist was an old man. He used one room of his residence house as a clinic room.

I used to go see him for my back pain very frequently. My health insurance covered the therapy and my fee was always 500 Japanese Yen (approximately $5); very reasonable price.

Every time when I went there, I entered the clinic with severe back pain. It was almost impossible for me to normally walk. I needed to bend my body and walked like an old person.

The osteopath would give me a quick treatment (for less than 10 minutes) by pushing and moving my bones in certain area. With his treatment, all my pain would go away right away. I always felt like he had a magic wand or something to fix my bone alignment. After the quick magical therapy, I always left the clinic without any pain. I could even run back to my house. I would feel I got taller with his treatment.

The osteopath always warned me not to cross legs, because it caused the distortion of the spines. In my younger days, I often crossed my legs as my unconscious habit. Nowadays I completely stop crossing legs.

Now I am in America. I cannot find any osteopaths in my area. Chiropractors are available, but health insurance does not cover the fee. I heard the average fee of chiropractic treatment is around $70 for less than 10 minutes. Due to the high fee, I am reluctant to have the chiropractic treatment.

I really miss the Japanese medical system which offers the osteopath in such a very reasonable copay. I know the osteopath will be able to fix my pain in the left arm within 10 minutes, and he won’t charge much for the miracle.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Recently I thought about earthing. Several years ago, one of my acquaintances showed me the earthing sheet and mat that she purchased online. I did not have opportunity to ask her to let me try out, so I don’t know if the products work well or not.

I did some research about an earthing sheet and an eathing mat. These products can be a bit pricy and I hesitated to purchase them right away. Then, I heard my inner voice saying “just go outside and enjoy standing on the Earth with bare feet.”

So I followed my inner voice. I went to the backyard, took off my shoes and socks, and enjoyed the earth with my bare feet.

I don’t know how to explain but I felt so calmed and relaxed.

I have kept doing this for about one week so far. Regardless of the weather, on a rainy day, a windy day, and a sunny day, even only five minutes or so, I do my new routine every day. It does make difference in my health mentally and physically.

The simple and luxurious time can be created for free of charge. We are surrounded by abundance.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I sweat a lot. When I was in my late 20s, I worked as a sales person and wore a dress shirt and a business suit jacket during the work. I hated my sweating, especially in my under arms. Younger version of me thought my excessive sweating as a curse.

In such days, I seriously had thought about having a surgery to get rid of sweat glands in arm pits. My boyfriend-at-that-time and my friends were strongly opposed to my idea. They persuaded me not to have the surgery. They said sweating is necessary for maintaining good health. So I refrained from having the surgery.

Since then, I have studied about human body’s vital energy and immune systems. Our body naturally tries to maintain our good health by cleansing energy. Our body functions on constant circulation, by bringing in fresh energy and taking out used energy. Sweating is one of the most beneficial functions in our body. 

As a result of my research and study, now, 47 years old version of me think of my excessive sweating as a blessing. I appreciates for my body and sweating function.

We are designed to sweat. Everybody needs to sweat for the energy circulation in our body. So, sweating is good. And, I truly appreciate my boyfriend-at-that-time and my friends to stop me having the surgery.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I went to the rehabilitation center. The pain in my left arm has been so bad to the extent that I cannot ignore the pain anymore.

I hate going to the hospital so I was reluctant to go there as usual. But today’s experience in the rehabilitation center was totally different. Everybody that I met there was polite and nice. And most importantly, they were helpful. It is always good to dealt with nice people from the beginnng to the end.

My physical therapists was a young female, maybe in her 20s. After the diagnosis, she treated me the dry needling.

It was my first time to receive the dry needling treatment. It is similar to acupuncture. Dry needling is used to treat myofascial pain. It came with slight pain with the needle poking, but I felt the point where energy was clogged now started going smoothly.

I still cannot say my pain is all gone, but at least, I made a progress in moving my arm.

I have four more treatments coming up. I hope through these treatments, my pain will all go away and I will get back to a normal state.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪