THRIVE Sara Weimers - The Importance of Massage, Self Care & Touch During The COVID-19 Crisis

Hey everybody, welcome to Thriving, Creating a Healthy Lifestyle. Thriving in Business and Life, Living Intentionally Through the Midst of the COVID-19 Crisis. My name is Val Nichols. I am your host. And today we have an amazing, wonderful guest. I am so excited to be introducing this woman. She is a massage therapist, a certified educator of infant massage, which she's going to explain to you more about what that is. And she is here to educate, to help us really learn about connecting and the physical, emotional, and mental health benefits of massage. Today I would love to introduce Sarah Weimers. Welcome!

Hello, thanks for having me.

Thank you. I am so excited to have you here, and we were talking a little bit before we pressed record about why I created this summit and why I've brought together so many amazing men and women who are out there in the world sharing their positive messages. So can you share a little bit with me, why infant massage? I know you're a massage therapist and then you also got into the niche of infant massage. So why is that important during this time in this crisis?

So it's really important that we maintain that touch connection throughout this. It's been shown that touch, healthy touch and safe touch, helps people thrive. It actually lowers their immune system— or sorry, it benefits, boosts their immune system, so you can maintain your healthy— your health. It also helps improve sleep, which we know is very important anytime, but especially now with You know, COVID going around, we want to make sure we stay healthy and stay on top of our game mentally and physically during this time. Infant massage, to me, I instantly, instantly knew that this is what I was put on earth to do. It is life-changing. Introducing that safe, healthy touch, we actually ask permission, so we were never forcing touch on the babies. can help them grow higher self-esteem, more self-awareness. They're less apt to do self-harm. They're better equipped to make it in this world. So I am a big fan of infant massage.

That is beautiful. And so for the moms out there who are wondering, you know, because I think that there's a lot of moms who are home with their kids right now, Whether if that's they're in quarantine, maybe they're working from home, and they might be sitting there thinking, wow, you know, I haven't really thought about the long-term effects of my baby right now. What are things they can look for as far as, you know, if there is abnormal sleeping, or, you know, what signs would you say is like it's good for them to be doing this massage technique?

Well, a big one is Colic. I have a colic routine specifically for babies that are gassy, fussy. So it's just, it's really a good thing to do no matter if they're showing signs of uncomfortable or, you know. Yeah, now's the best time to do it because now you have the time, you have the intentional time right now where you can connect With your baby. I think with this 6 feet, you know, don't go anywhere near people, they're 6 feet, it's important to remember that within the family, it's important to maintain that touch for your mental health during this time. So infant massage would be a great way to bond and attach and continue to grow that bonding and attachment during this time.

Yeah, that's a really good point because I'm thinking about, you know, with social distance, maybe previously there was caregivers or there were grandparents or family members who were in contact with the child. And so I'm feeling, and correct me if I'm wrong, but this time is probably a really important time to make sure you're having that loving touch with the baby.

Yes, yes, that's a really good point with the caretakers and the other family members that you may not be able to be around at this time. Yeah, absolutely. It's also a really good time for those partners to be involved in this infant massage too. Most of my classes are the moms or the females, but when those dads and partners get involved, it's amazing because they often want to help, but they're not quite sure how and they're not quite comfortable. Maybe not all the times, but I find that, you know, they're just not quite comfortable. They're just not quite sure what to do. So spending that intentional time safely touching, growing that attachment and bond with the baby right now, fantastic.

I love it. I love that because I think that's one thing that people are really gonna be missing is that connection and that touch. And when we can intentionally create that in the home, even in the isolation, even in the social distancing, It seems like that's just a win-win.

Yeah, it keeps everybody connected. It keeps everybody— yeah, it keeps everybody connected.

I love that because I think that that's something a lot of people are going to be wanting is how do I keep that connection in my family while we're in this time?

Yep. Yep.

So I know that you also do prenatal and postnatal.

Yeah.

Which I can only imagine there are women at home right now who are pregnant Right. Probably a lot of fear around that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What tips do you have for them as far as not just, you know, massage, but I also want to dive into that, but like just like what words of advice do you have for them right now as far as like keeping calm and keeping, you know, their mental health?

Right. I mean, it's easy for me to say, you know, don't freak out. We all kind of have a freakout meter, right? I'm a big fan of meditation. I try to meditate, even if it's just for 5 minutes a day. Just take that quiet time, regulate your nervous system, quiet your mind, lower your heart rate, focus on your breathing, and that just for 5 minutes can go a long way with keeping your mental health intact. And the less stressed you are during pregnancy, the better. Stress and anxiety can cause premature labor. It can cause lower birth rate or birth weight. So keeping calm as best as you can by meditation really, really helps.

That's amazing. I love that. And that is too, it's like the whole people like, keep calm, just stay calm, and then you're not calm. But I get that. Being intentional and creating practices around it.

Yes, go for a walk. That's another thing, get some fresh air. You can still go outside and get some fresh air. So go for a walk and meditate.

Yes, I'm so glad you said that because I feel like so many people think that being in quarantine means you have to stay in your house.

Right.

And for those of you who don't know, we live in beautiful Central Oregon where there's so many opportunities to Have social distance.

Right, and still be out in nature. Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. Yeah, we're pretty lucky that way.

We are.

So do you have any tips for if there is someone out there who is either prenatal or postnatal, anything that they can do right now from their home that would kind of help them to alleviate stress or specific aches and pains?

Yeah, so learn how to do some self-massage. There's a lot of good tips out there, or get your partner involved and say, hey, you know, this is for mental health. We need to do this. So learning some self-massage would be great. Like I said, meditation, taking a walk, drinking lots of water. Those are all really good things. Creating a little self-sanctuary in the home, doing just soaking your feet in a warm bath, using essential oils. I'm a big proponent of essential oils as well. So it's, it's a lot of things, you know, a lot of tools that you can use to just, like I said, help regulate that nervous system and reduce your stress.

So it sounds like what you're saying is, you know, create a routine. A self-care routine that works for you.

Yes.

And honestly, like, that's great for anybody out there.

Yes.

Because I think especially in this time, we can get so caught up in everything else that we forget to really, like, take care of ourselves.

Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. I find, I think especially for women too, because we're— we try to be the caretakers of everybody. And so We oftentimes forget about ourselves, especially now with kids out of school too. I mean, that's— it's tough. I've got a 6-year-old at home right now. And so finding the time and the space to take care of myself, it's a little bit more complicated now. But like I said, even if it's 5 minutes, you know, even if it's just 5 minutes so you can meditate, it will do a world of difference.

So it sounds like— so I was curious. I'm glad that you said that. Um, so what does your routine look like with being, you know, an entrepreneur, being a mom, having your kid now? Like, you've had to pivot, as have, I'm sure, 99% of the people who are watching this right now have needed to pivot and shift things in their lives. So what does your daily routine look like with self-care and everything else?

Yeah. So I'm pretty lucky in the sense that before this all happened, I made my own schedule. I had a lot of my own personal time. So yes, it has been a big pivot. I love The Miracle Morning. I don't know if you've read it. It's life-changing. So I like to get up before my son, have my coffee, need to have some coffee. And that's when I meditate. That's when I journal. That's when I might, you know, draw an oracle card for myself just to kind of prepare my mind for the day. Um, so I love the Miracle Morning. It just sets me off. It gets me ready for my day before I have to, you know, deal with my kid and making dinner and figuring out schoolwork and figuring out outside time and, and all of that. So I really recommend the Miracle Morning and getting up a little bit earlier to take care of yourself.

So it sounds like I'm hearing this common thread with a lot of people that I'm talking to. And it sounds like, you know, the whole intentionality of creating some sort of routine during this time or maintaining the routine Yeah. Huge.

Oh, it's, it's absolutely huge. I mean, it's, it's not only huge for maintaining the chaos. I mean, I'm not, I'm not a teacher. I'm not, you know, so yes, maintaining a routine as best as possible. I'm not gonna lie, you know, sometimes, you know, he's downstairs watching a movie right now. But yeah, so maintaining a routine, it helps It just, it just helps put your mind in that set of, okay, this is our new normal right now and we need to have a baseline for our new normal and this is what it's going to look like for me.

I love that. Yeah, and I love that whole idea of the new normal because I think that, you know, there are some people who are struggling with surrendering to that, you know, just like the acceptance piece of This is the new normal.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of people who are kind of pushing up against that, you know, that they're resisting for whatever reason. I'm not here to get in a debate of why, but do you have any advice? Like, how have you sunk into that? How have you been in acceptance of that?

You know, I don't— I'm not sure. It took me a few days because I had to close down my business and And that was a really tough decision. I fought that for probably 3 or 4 days. I wasn't quite sure what to do. But then I looked at the big picture. And that's, that's really what it was. I mean, is a few extra dollars today, is that going to really benefit me 2 months from now? Is that going to benefit my neighbor who might get it or my client? So I really had to look at the big picture and realize it's It's not all about me. It's about the community. I'm really community-focused anyway. And so it just, it is what it is. I know I am privileged to be able to make that decision, but it's, you know, I just realized the big picture was more important than myself.

I love that. I love that. And it's so funny, I was talking about how You know, there's like this, this network of generosity. And I do feel like people in my immediate network are very generous, very like big picture minded.

Yeah.

You know, and I love that because I know that there's a lot of service-based women out there and men out there as well who have had to make those hard decisions.

Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was not easy. But like I said, it was just, it was the right thing to do. I could not in good conscience continue to see clients when all of this was happening.

Yeah, I love that. And so do you think that there's extra— I know that with being a massage therapist, you're one-on-one with people, right? And that's a very vulnerable space, right? And you probably have people that you work with that have compromised Immune systems?

Oh yeah, yeah. I see a wide range. I don't just work with pregnant women. And, you know, even if they don't have compromised immune systems, you know, it's just better to be safe. Luckily, my clients are fantastic and they all understand and they're, you know, we're all in this together. I was telling my husband, like, we're Excuse my language, but we're all in this shit show. Like, everybody is being affected by this. But like you said, I have noticed an amazing outpouring of support and generosity and kindness in this community.

Yes. Oh my goodness. It's been amazing.

Yeah, it really has.

It's beautiful how, you know, it seems like in these times of— it's almost like we're all survivors of a sinking ship. You know, like you bond together.

Yeah.

You bond together and there's this thing that's created.

Yeah.

So how are you staying in connection in the midst of isolation and, you know, social distance?

Yeah, so Zoom, you know, is a great face chatting with the grandparents. Luckily, I'm kind of an introvert anyway. You know, this kind of plays to my favor. But, you know, going out in nature, I love connecting with nature. So going out on walks with my son, he loves to adventure as well. And so yeah, just doing stuff like this, talking with other humans via Zoom. Skype, FaceChat, what have you. Yeah.

I love it. I love it. And for those of you who don't know, Sarah's business is not just based on a lot of one-on-one contact with her massage therapy, but she's also event-based.

Yeah.

So, you know, like there's a lot of, a lot of us out there who have been kind of in this waiting game with events.

Mm-hmm.

So in the midst of that, how have you shifted into the online space?

Yeah, yeah, this situation definitely had me get creative and it made me kind of re-examine my business and how I can serve my clients without having to physically touch them. So I've created a few online courses, some self-massage courses, and also my Introduction to Infant Massage course I've put online. That's a really popular event and since I can't do it in person, I put it out there online so more people have access to it and more people can take advantage of that contact and the one-on-one and the intentional time with their babies right now.

I love it. So for people who are curious to learn more about this, where can they find you to get information about that?

Yeah, so my website is a good place to go. It kind of has everything. It's bundleofjoymassage.com. There's links to my Teachable accounts where it has massage courses. Right now I'm also offering discounted gift cards for future massage use because I'm sure everybody's gonna need a massage once this is over. So yeah, my website is a good place to go to find, to find everything that I offer.

Awesome, and we will definitely put the link below, so check that out. If you're local here in Central Oregon, grab the discounted gift card because that is going to be a great way to decompress after all of this.

Yes.

Whenever that is.

And also support small businesses because, you know, it's being self-employed. Once— when I shut down my business, it's, you know, small businesses.

Yes, absolutely. Support local and support small businesses. I love it. And we'll also put a link to your Teachable so that people can find the intro to infant massage, because I think that a lot of women out there are going to be— and men— are going to be very curious to learn more about that. So in the midst of this, what is your one takeaway or one tip that you would give to people to create that healthy lifestyle and to live intentionally during this time?

Don't forget to touch. Stay connected through touch, whether that's with your partner, honestly with yourself, you know, just maintaining touch. Oh, and your children. Don't forget to touch, hug, stay connected that way. I love it.

Thank you so much, Sarah. It has been an absolute pleasure having you on here.

Thank you.

Yes, your words of advice are beautiful. And I know that people are going to get a lot out of this. So thank you for joining us.

Thank you. You're welcome.

All right, guys, we will see you tomorrow and hope you have a healthy, safe day. And remember to go out there and touch the world.