Deepen your dancing path of self discovery with dancers who'll dive deep with you. Join us for an exploration of connection, with Open Floor facilitator,Jenny Macke this weekend to invite your opening and growth, in cool Flagstaff....

https://www.facebook.com/events/1737713649799212/

June 10 - 12, 2016
The Dance of Connection to Self and Other

An Open Floor Dance Investigation
with Jenny Macke: 5 Rhythms and Open Floor Teacher

Dance can call up moments of great joy. Feeling connected to others can bring our hearts joyfully alive. Yet if joy is our only agenda in these endeavors, we risk missing out on the many layers of life that are poignantly human by letting moments that are truly honest and heartfelt slip past us. These moment of deep connection make life rich.

In this Open Floor Workshop we will practice tools of embodiment that let us explore the dance in relationship to ourselves and others.

Conscious dance is a great equalizer. We fumble and have fun together. We give ourselves room to show up with layers of shadow and light. We acknowledge perfection in exploring the profound and profane. We put it all in motion and connect to this dynamic conversation called human life.

Friday 6/10: 6 - 9 p
Saturday 6/11: 11a to 6p
Sunday 6/12: 1 - 5p

$185 early bird (before June 1)
$225 (after June 1)

more information and online registration at:
http://www.flagstafffreemotion.com/workshops--events.html

East Valley Conscious Dance asks, Where does your heart feel freedom?

"Where does your heart feel freedom?" In rest? In authenticity? In being okay with not knowing? In vulnerability...which is to say courage. Come dance the questions, answers, and explorations that matter most to you... in community, every Tuesday.

"Like" East Valley Conscious Dance on Facebook for updates and inspiration and join us each week. https://www.facebook.com/East-Valley-Conscious-Dance-973747022709782/?fref=ts  

Where Massage Meets OM....

Our first Healing Touch Partner Yoga workshop is a soothing success! 

Big thanks to Floating Lotus Studios for providing a lovely space!

September's Healing Touch Partner Yoga gathering catching the wellness glow!

Massage therapist Carrie Smith-Hardee and Yoga instructor Karmie Christian team up to offer relaxing and restorative experiences.

HEALING TOUCH PARTNER YOGA

Massage meets yoga! No partner needed!

with Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, CLC and Karmie Christian, RYT500

Next workshop date to be announced this week!

Floating Lotus Yoga Studio

202 West Main St, Mesa AZ 85201

HEALING TOUCH PARTNER YOGA: a workshop for wellness and connection

with Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, CLC and Karmie Christian, RYT500.

Join us for an experience of wellness, connection, nurturing, and fun!  Healing Touch Partner Yoga offers you research informed practices for bringing the wellness benefits of touch, massage, yoga, and meditation into your life, at an affordable price.  In this workshop, we'll explore yoga poses combined with gentle massage. Exercises are appropriate for all skill levels, and can be modified to suit your ability level. Bring a partner to work with in class, or come on your own and pair up here. 

We hope to go on to offer this a as regular class, to make the wellness benefits of massage an affordable weekly practice! Join us in making it shine!

Facilitated by healing arts practitioner, Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, CLC, www.FromHealingToThriving.com and yoga instructor, Karmie Christian, RYT500, flotusyoga.com. Join us at the beautiful and spacious Floating Lotus Yoga Studio, nestled in Mesa's vibrant downtown arts district.

HEALING TOUCH PARTNER YOGA, the touch of wellness and fitness you'll love! Join us!

Contact: Carrie at Thrive Wellness: 480-452-3086.

Photo credit: lcosta7508 / Foter / CC BY

Healing Touch Partner Yoga

HEALING TOUCH PARTNER YOGA: a workshop for wellness and connection
with Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, CLC and Karmie Christian, RYT500.

Sunday, September 20th, 3pm-5pm
Floating Lotus Yoga Studio
202 West Main St, Mesa AZ 85201

Join us for an experience of wellness, connection, nurturing, and fun!  Healing Touch Partner Yoga offers you research informed practices for bringing the wellness benefits of touch, massage, yoga, and meditation into your life, at an affordable price.  In this workshop, we'll explore yoga poses combined with gentle massage. Exercises are appropriate for all skill levels, and can be modified to suit your ability level. Bring a partner to work with in class, or come on your own and pair up here. You're invited to stay for complementary tea, after the workshop.

We hope to go on to offer this a as regular class, to make the wellness benefits of massage an affordable weekly practice! Join us in making it shine!

Facilitated by healing arts practitioner, Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, CLC, www.FromHealingToThriving.com and yoga instructor, Karmie Christian, RYT500, flotusyoga.com. Join us at the beautiful and spacious Floating Lotus Yoga Studio, nestled in Mesa's vibrant downtown arts district.

Register online now: $15 until 9/17/15, $20 thereafter.

Register Online

Please include the name of participant you are registering in the "notes" when purchasing online.  A receipt of your registration will be emailed.

Contact: Carrie at Thrive Wellness: 480-452-3086.

HEALING TOUCH PARTNER YOGA, the touch of wellness and fitness you'll love! Join us!


Photo credit: lcosta7508 / Foter / CC BY

Massage, you can have your healing and be pampered too!

Photo Credit

Massage is the wellness secret we want to share with everyone. It's for young and old, friends, caregivers, couples, and family. Massage literally changes our body chemistry for the better. It delightfully boosts health, in oh so many researched ways.

Whether getting a professional massage, or sharing them regularly with friends, family, and loved ones--massage changes physical and mental health for the better.

How?

Clinical testing has shown massage increases relaxation hormones, such as oxitocin and dopamine. These hormones facilitate healing in the body, promote psychological stability and focus, and increase feelings of well-being, connection and trust in people. Massage also decreases stress hormones, such as cortisol, which often sets the stage for illness, anxiety, and disease.

Today, lets explore just one of these benefits of massage: How massage heals sore muscles.

It is widely known that massage after an intense workout feels good. Much research has found massage benefits healing, based on self report.  However, the Feb. 1, 2012 issue of Science Translational Medicine reported on research that examined muscle biopsies to show that massage reduced the production of cytokines, which produce inflammation in the body. Massage also increased the functioning of mitochondria, which increase cell function and repair vital to healing in the body.

Although taking a medicinal anti-inflammatory or Nsaids, such as ibuprofen, can be needed at times, it's important to understand that while these do help decrease inflammation and pain, they may actually slow the healing process. Massage on the other hand, decreases inflammation and speeds healing. With massage, you really can have your cake and eat it too!

Click this highlighted link to read the full New York Times article  about how massage heals muscle tissue.

Excellent places to find a professional massage therapist:

The American Massage Therapy Association

The Esalen Massage and Bodywork Association

Massage Magazine--Find a Therapist Tool

Massage your friends and family....

Massage belongs to everybody and doesn't need to be a big expense. Classes and workshops may be available in your area, for the non-professional to learn a bit about massaging. Thrive Wellness is currently offering a workshop combining massage and yoga to get you started!

Register Online

When massaging friends or family, leave the extra deep work to the professionals, and focus on offering touch that feels good. Ask your partner for feedback. Make a delightful habit of it. Enjoy!

EMBODY DANCE movement, meditation & play SEPTEMBER

EMBODY DANCE

movement, meditation & play

Saturday, Sept. 19th, 7pm-9pm
(Warm up for all dancers 6:50p
& introduction for new comers 6:45p)

Gilbert Yoga

6 E Palo Verde St, Ste 11

Gilbert AZ 85296
  

EMBODY DANCE invites you into the joy, wellness, and meditative path of play!

Adults of all ages, body types, and dancing ability levels are encouraged to attend this safe, welcoming, drug and alcohol-free conscious dance experience! You set your own pace, and discover your own way of moving. Facilitated by healing arts practitioner Carrie Smith-Hardee of Thrive Wellness.

Through both free form and guided dance explorations, we practice reconnecting with the vital energy of play, and through it experiencing moments of meaning and marvel. Play lives in all of us. Play heals, is nothing less than sacred, calls us out of our stuck spots. We can so easily loose touch with play as adults. It offers a most noble practice.

The simple practice of allowing our personal, free-form dance to move us from the inside out, offers profound original experience to each participant and the collective group. We close with a circle to reflect on our experience and celebrate the now.

Does your heart long for more playfulness in your spirit? EMBODY DANCE is for YOU! --

******Join us for our next EMBODY DANCE at Gilbert Yoga on Saturday, September 19th from 7pm-9pm. $15 cash at the door.*********

**First time at Embody Dance? Join us early at 6:45p for a brief introduction. All dancers are encouraged to arrive 5-10 minutes early to begin moving and warming up. We begin EMBODY DANCE promptly at 7pm, please give yourself the gift of attending for the full experience.


....................................

Want more Conscious Dance? Connect with other dancers and a spectrum of Conscious Dance offerings across the state on Facebook at Arizona Conscious Dance.

Photo credit: celine nadeau / Foter / CC BY-SA

Dance as a Meditation on Play in Gilbert! Join Us!

EMBODY DANCE

movement, meditation & play

Saturday, August 22nd, 7pm-9pm
(Warm up for all dancers 6:50p
& introduction for new comers 6:45p)

Gilbert Yoga

6 E Palo Verde St, Ste 11

Gilbert AZ 85296
  

 

EMBODY DANCE invites you into the joy, wellness, and meditative path of play!

Adults of all ages, body types, and dancing ability levels are encouraged to attend this safe, welcoming, drug and alcohol-free conscious dance experience! You set your own pace, and discover your own way of moving. Facilitated by healing arts practitioner Carrie Smith-Hardee of Thrive Wellness.

Through both freeform and guided dance explorations, we practice reconnecting with the vital energy of play, and through it experiencing moments of meaning and marvel. Play lives in all of us. Play heals, is nothing less than sacred, calls us out of our stuck spots. We can so easily loose touch with play as adults. It offers a most noble pr...actice.

The simple practice of allowing our personal, ...free-form dance to move us from the inside out, offers profound original experience to each participant and the collective group. We close with a circle to reflect on our experience and celebrate the now.

Does your heart long for more playfulness in your spirit? EMBODY DANCE is for YOU! --

******Join us for our next EMBODY DANCE at Gilbert Yoga on Saturday, August 22nd from 7pm-9pm. $15 cash at the door.*********

All dancers are encouraged to arrive 5-10 minutes early to begin moving and warming up. We begin EMBODY DANCE promptly at 7pm, please give yourself the gift of attending for the full experience.

**First time at Embody Dance? Join us early at 6:45p for a brief introduction.
....................................

Want more Conscious Dance? Connect with other dancers and a spectrum of Conscious Dance offerings across the state on Facebook at Arizona Conscious Dance.

Photo: "Dancing Bokeh", by Neal Fowler https://www.flickr.com/photos/31878512@N06/4075258691/

Moving from the Inside Out, No Dancing Experieince Required!

EMBODY DANCE

movement, meditation & play

Saturday, July 25th, 7pm-9pm  

Gilbert Yoga

6 E Palo Verde St, Ste 11

Gilbert AZ 85296
  

 

EMBODY INTERdependence in July, at our dancing exploration of the energy of play! There is much focus on INdependence in our culture. While this is valuable, experts tell us that the more mature and challenging level of growth comes in achieving healthy INTERdependence; mutual reliance on one another, and harmony with nature.

Through both freeform and guided dance explorations, we practice reconnecting with the vital energy of play, and through it, exploring our theme. Play lives in all of us. Play heals, is nothing less than sacred, calls us out of our stuck spots. We can so easily loose touch with play as adults. It offers a most noble practice.

The simple practice of allowing our personal, free-form dance to move us from the inside out, offers profound original experience to each participant and the collective group. We close with a circle to reflect on our experience and celebrate the now.

Adults of all ages, body types, and dancing ability levels are encouraged to attend this safe, welcoming, drug and alcohol-free conscious dance experience! You set your own pace, and discover your own way of moving. Facilitated by healing arts practitioner, Carrie Smith-Hardee of Thrive Wellness.

Does your heart long for more playfulness in your spirit? EMBODY DANCE is for YOU!

  ******Join us for our next EMBODY DANCE at Gilbert Yoga on Saturday, July 25th from 7pm-9pm. $15 cash at the door.*********

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Want more Conscious Dance? Connect with other dancers and a spectrum of Conscious Dance offerings across the state on Facebook at Arizona Conscious Dance.

Embody Dance, Your playful mindfulness practice at Gilbert Yoga!

EMBODY DANCE

movement, meditation & play

Saturday, June 27th, 7pm-9pm  

Gilbert Yoga

6 E Palo Verde St, Ste 11

Gilbert AZ 85296
 

 
 

Dance and play into YOUR aliveness!  Play lives in all of us. Play heals, is nothing less than sacred, calls us out of our stuck spots. Play does not demand that we pretend to be happy, or any other emotion. It simply invites us to shake loose, give over control, find new grounding in returning to our flow. We can so easily loose touch with play as adults. It offers a most noble practice. What heart says no?

 

Join us for a conscious dance practice of play, embodiment, and presence.  Adults of all ages, body types, and dancing ability levels are encouraged to attend this safe, welcoming, drug and alcohol-free conscious dance experience!  Facilitated by healing arts practitioner, Carrie Smith-Hardee of Thrive Wellness. You set your own pace, and discover your own way of moving as we dive into a delicious music set..

Does your heart long for more playfulness in your spirit? EMBODY DANCE is for YOU! --

Join us for our next EMBODY DANCE at Gilbert Yoga on Saturday, June 27th from 7pm-9pm. $15 cash at the door.

 

Want more Conscious Dance?  Connect with other dancers and a spectrum of Conscious Dance offerings across the state on Facebook at Arizona Conscious Dance.

EMBODY DANCE movement, meditation & play

Saturday, May 30th, 7pm-9pm  

Gilbert Yoga

6 E Palo Verde St, Ste 11

Gilbert AZ 85296

 

Embody Dance is an invitation into your heart that calls you to move, into your senses, and into playful connection with life. It is free-form dancing and movement from a place of how the dance feels, as opposed to how it looks. It is your dance. People of all body types and ability levels are encouraged to participate. You set your own pace, and discover your own way of moving.

 

Inspired by Gabriel Roth’s 5 Rhythms, the embodiment teachings of Esalen, and her healing arts practice of 17 years, Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, RM, CLC of Thrive Wellness, weaves these influences into an offering that invites you to rediscover your aliveness, and let it move you.

 

We begin with moving into our personal flow, with a gentle meditative prompt. The dance becomes a free-form moving meditation in which to quiet the mind, rediscover your senses, express through movement, invite play, and transformation. The simple practice of allowing our personal, free-form dance to move us from the inside out, offers profound original experience to each participant and the collective group. We close with a circle to reflect on our experience and celebrate the now.

 

Join us for Embody Dance at Gilbert Yoga on Saturday, May 30th from 7pm-9pm. $15 cash at the door.

 

Visit Carrie online at www.FromHealingToThriving.com

Wellness and Discovery through Mind Body Massage in Gilbert, AZ

What is Mind Body Massage? Imagine a retreat from the busy pace of the day to a place of nurturing inner stillness. Stress melts away with long flowing strokes, reminding you through touch of your wholeness. As your thoughts quiet, you find yourself returning to the richness of your senses. It is an experience of reawakening aliveness, a dive into yourself, bringing feelings of reconnection, renewal, and awe...

...and all this "ahhhhhh!" is research informed. Mind Body Massage draws from what we know about the wellness and healing benefits of touch, massage, and meditation. It's an approach to bodywork that I've developed over 17 years of practice and study as a massage therapist and healing arts practitioner, that offers massage as a deeply relaxing, wellness promoting, moving meditation. Inspired by the renowned massage of Esalen, this flowing, intuitive, contactful style of massage supports wellness, healing, and personal growth. 

Our wellness and thriving depends on touch, connection, and inner peace. We literally cannot live healthy lives without it. Research finds that massage increases relaxation hormones, such as oxytocin, and decreases stress hormones leaving us healthier and happier. Massage can boost immunity, lower blood pressure, and combat depression, anxiety, and stress. It can increase body awareness, confidence, and ability to connect with others.  Offering massage as a moving meditation holds increased wellness benefits. Harvard research found regular meditation to switch off genetic predisposition for some diseases. Mind Body Massage is informed by this research to support wellness of the whole person. 

Sessions in Mind Body Massage, available at Thrive Wellness,LLC, FromHealingToThriving.com, offer a place to unwind, renew, and reconnect with inner resources for healing and thriving. The experience naturally supports a more embodied, radiant health and deeper connection to your body, self, and life.

Massage is a powerful way to bring health to our whole selves; mind, body, spirit, and heart. What wonders will your path of wellness open for you?

Book your session with therapist Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, RM now at 480-452-3086.

Thrive Wellness, LLC

Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT

4365 E Pecos Rd, Suite 141

Gilbert, AZ 85295

FromHealingToThriving.com

480-452-3086

The Empowering Element of Holistic Life Coaching

Have you ever found yourself waiting for a transformative moment? Holding out for a deep feeling of knowing what to do and how to do it? Ever put on the brakes until receiving an “Aha! Moment”?

Unplanned epiphanies can touch us in unexpected ways, and we are wise and living well in our hearts to be open to their illuminating spark when they happen upon us. In the meantime, however, waiting for an inspired moment rather than living, being, and acting can leave us feeling stuck. The notion that inspiration only strikes unplanned is a myth that can stagnate rather than empower.

This is just one area in which Life Coaching can transform lives. In my work with clients, my joy comes from helping them find and act on inspiration and insights fitted mindfully to their needs. I'm committed to providing tools of empowerment to my clients by helping them ask powerful questions of themselves, which solve their most pressing needs with solutions they handpick. 

The results oriented nature of coaching and mentorship is well proven. Find your right direction, work with a coach to keep your forward movement strong and to provide compassionate and objective support, and find the person you've always felt you were on the inside has become a shining reality on the outside!

What can Life Coaching help you do?

• Shift the ways that you've been thinking about challenges or areas of confusion.
• Develop the skills, confidence, and tools you need to liberate yourself from chronic frustration.
• Identify what truly brings you alive, in each moment of every day.
• Move forward in your life with enhanced engagement, vitality, and joy.

I specialize in Holistic Life Coaching for:

• Personal Empowerment/Reaching Goals
• Early Childhood Attachment and Thriving
• Diverse Family Structures
• Couples Communication and Intimacy
• Holistic Spirituality

Coaching sessions can take place over the phone, on Skype, or in person. I invite you to begin your journey today with a complimentary 20 minute phone session.  I’m happy to answer any questions you might have, discuss your goals, and make a plan for your forward movement. Let the joy of your first step happen now!

Thrive Wellness, LLC
Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, RM
Available By Appointment
480-452-3086

How Massage and Touch Support Wellness

Studies continue to roll in with more and more evidence that touch is vital to our wellbeing and that massage has real benefit to our wellness. Here are just some of the reasons massage and touch are so important to us.

Benefits of Massage:

-Offers drug-free humanistic support, based on the bodies natural ability to heal itself.

-Facilitates personal growth.

-Increases circulation, allowing the body to pump more oxygen and nutrients to tissues and vital organs.

-Provides healthy touch and nurturing.

-Stimulates the flow of lymph, the body's natural defense system, against toxic invaders.  For example, in breast cancer patients, massage has been shown to increase the cells that fight cancer.

-Enriches quality of life.

-Increased circulation of blood and lymph systems improves the condition of the body's largest organ- the skin.

-Offers holistic approach to wellness and thriving; mind, body, and spirit.

-Can enhance body image and self-esteem.

-Has a balancing effect on hormones; decreasing stress hormones and increasing relaxation hormones, thereby having contributing to overall wellness.

-Relaxes and softens injured and overused muscles.

-Reduces spasms and cramping.

-Encourages sound sleep.

-Increases joint flexibility.

-Assists with shorter labor for woman, shorter hospital stays, and decreased medication.

-Reduces recovery time, helps prepare for strenuous workouts and eliminates pains of the athlete at any level.

-Releases endorphins - the body's natural painkiller - and is being used in chronic illness, injury, and recovery from surgery to control and relieve pain.

-Reduces post-surgery adhesions and edema and can be used to reduce and realign scar tissue after healing has occurred.

-Improves range-of motion and decreases discomfort for patients with low back pain.

-Relieves pain for migraine sufferers and decreases the need for medication.

-Increases physical performance.

-Provides exercise and stretching for atrophied muscles and reduces shortening of the muscles for those with restricted range of motion.

-Reduces occurrence of injuries.

-Helps people live longer and feel better.

Benefits of Touch:

Simply having touch in our lives has innumerable and amazing benefits. And you don't need to be a professional to give and receive this life enhancing gift. In a nut shell, know that science and human experience have found volumes of reasons why touch is not just wonderfully enhancing to life, but vital to it. Beyond massage and body therapies, and perhaps more importantly, are the powerful and affirming everyday types of touch. The brush of a hand as you receive your change at the market. A friendly pat on the shoulder. Holding a child. Giving a "high-five". Petting your dog. A warm-hearted, "bear"  hug (one of my favorites). Holding hands with a loved one. Touch simply, easily, and often.  Enjoy!

More inspiring findings about touch:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/wellness/health-benefits-of-touch

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/touching.makes.you.healthier.health/index.html

http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=13623

Thrive Wellness, LLC
Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, RM
Available By Appointment
480-452-3086

Nurtured by the Nature All Around Us

Here is an invitation for you to take a moment to just be. Right now. Ever so briefly. A moment to commune with nature. Even if you're in an office, twenty floors up, with no window, the nurturing touch of the natural world is there for you.

Close your eyes and feel the air on your skin. Feel your aliveness just for this moment. Notice the sensations your skin takes in all around you. 

Now bring your awareness to the rise and fall of your chest. Feel your breath fill lungs and belly like a wave. When you're ready, let your breath out fully, engaging the belly a little allow yourself to be completely empty just for a moment. When it feels right, take in the new breath, and continue breathing, fully, in....   then out...  in a way that feels good to you.  

As you sit, let your face feel relaxed and open. Let your checks soften, your jaw be loose, your forehead be smooth, your scalp let go, your ears, eyes, neck... and continue to let your breaths come and go with fullness and ease.   

Ahhh...

So often when we think of retreating to a healing spot in nature, idyllic images of waterfalls or beaches come to mind. Perhaps we play recordings of nature sounds like crashing waves or exotic birds tweeting. Or imagine ourselves in a far away Eden as a means to unwind. These can all be restorative for sure. But when we also remember to connect with the nature that is around us everyday, something wonderful happens. It allows the world we spend the most time in to become something that can offer soothing and reassurance, calm and restoration everyday.

During a healing arts treatment, imagining a peaceful natural place can be an empowering tool for unwinding and promoting wellness. 

Our breath and sense of touch are perhaps the most basic elements of nature we always have wherever we go. Like a forest of sensation and potential, our ability to feel can be an affirming reminder of the nature that is always right there for us, with the ability to empower healing. 

In addition to through body and breath, you may find connection with the natural world by thinking of what the sky looks like where you live; an inspiring sunset, a vast blue canvas. Beneath your feet recall the feel and sound of the stones you regularly enjoy. The cool curl of a breeze that greets an opening door may invite serenity. Here in the Sonoran Desert, even in the heart of the city, one can often smell the pungent freshness of the Creosote Bush when it rains. 

Bringing to mind the the sights, sensations, and fragrances of local nature can be profoundly effective when we are visualizing a peaceful place during a massage, meditation, or simply when we are taking a moment for ourselves.

Why? Because if what surrounds us is part of what we imagine when we are relaxing and restoring ourselves, our day to day environments can become a  healing force in our lives. Instead of only some far off paradise coming to mind when we think of letting go of stress, the sky that we walk under everyday, the sun that shines down, the trees that we pass on the way to the mail can become tangible reminders each day to relax, be present, and feel cared for. Reminders of the nature and healing all around. Reminders of abundance that is available to us all.

Thrive Wellness, LLC
Carrie Smith-Hardee, LMT, RM
Available By Appointment
480-452-3086