Here at ChamoFix we are delighted to have sourced the wonderfully delectable Tui Balmes & Waxes from New Zealand to be used for therapeutic massage treatments in Chamonix, Argentiere, Vallorcine and across the Mont Blanc Massif! Tui Massage Waxes are brilliant, and everyone in the Chamonix Valley deserves to get a pure Tui Massage Fix!

Tui Balmes & Waxes offer a range of a natural health care that is gently effective, nourishing and healing. A superb alternative to traditional massage oils, Tui massage waxes leave the massage client feeling delightfully moisturized rather than “oily” after a massage treatment.

Argentiere based massage therapist, Ruth Martin, reckons she was a convert when a fellow masseuse gave her a massage treatment with the Tui Lavender Massage & Body Wax. She had to get some for herself and get some for Chamonix! While a little goes a long way, the texture of the wax under the warmth of a Swedish massage feels amazing. It’s as lovely and relaxing for the client as it is practical for the massage practitioner.

Made in a small New Zealand community, , Tui Balmes and Waxes are nourishing and non-allergenic and ethically produced from organic beeswax, Propolis, pure vegetable oils, essential oils and natural vitamin E anti oxidizing extracts. The ingredients used in Tui Balmes & Waxes are either whole substances occurring in nature or directly extracted from a whole, natural source. Tui Balmes and Waxes are guaranteed free from any artificial or chemical additives, animal testing or genetic engineering.

New Zealand’s Tui Bee Balme Co-operative in Wainui Bay have been promoting and providing natural therapies and natural alternatives to toxic modern lifestyles for over 17 years.

To add to the (hopefully good) karma of importing Tui Balmes & Waxes for the ultimate Chamonix massage fix, apparently the profits earned from Tui’s supreme massage medium are donated to charities, including the Tui Spiritual & Educational Trust, a registered charity dedicated to promoting and sustaining more healthy communities in New Zealand.

Cool.. I’ve just added ChamoFix to SNOmobi… a mobile phone resort directory.

Cattle battle it out in Argentiere Tennis Courts

Well Argentiere is mellow with the still Autumnal chill that makes the Chamonix Valley seem so peaceful during interseason, with the added benefit of reduced cars up and down Argentiere’s main street.

Still there’s always something happening in the mountains, or else plenty to do. Yesterday was spent watching big black (and brown) be-horned cattle battling in out in Argentiere’s tennis courts… using their heads and horns rather than rackets… in the Combat des Reines. It seemed like the whole of the Chamonix Valley had come to watch the lovely mooing ladies strut their stuff daintily around a specially constructed sandy arena, then paw the ground intensively,  then butt heads powerfully, until a judge called out the winners and the losers. The losing cows seemed quite happy with their lot, content with a tickle on the chin and a pat on the flank from the stewards. Later in the evening, many of the cattle had to march up through Argentiere village and several cow fights were reported outside the Office Bar, Argentiere!

Bravo to finishers of the Aiguilles Rouges - Epic Endurance Race

In between the heats and the finals we managed to drive down to Les Houches to watch our friends and family finish the Aiguille Rouges mountain race. They’d started in Vallorcine at 5am and covered 51km (3300m climb). Epic effort. ChamoFix’s Masseuse, Ruth, was pleased to have massaged one successful participant the night before the event, gently loosening up any tensions in the calf, quadriceps and hamstring muscles. Next year’s Aiguilles Rouges endurance race, if I’m not racing it, then ChamoFix hopes to volunteer to massage at the finish line.

While a sports massage will help, and self massaging up your legs in a warm arnica-infused or salt bath is an excellent way of loosening the muscles and shifting lactic acid, here’s a good everyday stretch for the IT Band:

• Sit tall with legs stretched out in front of you
• Bend the right knee and place the right foot on the ground to the left side of the left knee
• Turn your shoulders so that you are facing to the right
• Use your left arm against your right knee to help ease you further round
• Use your right arm on the floor for support
• You will feel the stretch along the length of the spine and in the muscles around the right hip

The iliotibial band stretch is part of an excellent list of stretches found online at Brian Mac personal trainer website.

Keep an eye out on the ChamoFix website for more details about Chamonix’s yoga classes and advice from the fitness and flexibility gurus based in Chamonix!

After a Fix of adrenaline, your energy levels will be pumped!

In the Chamonix Valley, there’s plenty of extreme action, opportunities for life changing feats of human guts and endurance, plus alot of work to be done to sustain a lifestyle in the mountains and great outdoors. Often the mind is willing but the body is basically exhausted.

ChamoFix recommends four easy ways to keep ahead of the game and feel that buzz of health and general well being… not just through massage, though massage, of course, is one of the steps!

1. EAT YOUR GREENS

I’ve just had the best week ever last week, acheived loads more than normal and hardly feeling tired at all. The difference to usual: I just realised for the first time in months I’ve been making the effort to pack in the vegetables… and organic ones from the new shop down the valley in Les Houches! If you like your organic produce, try Chamonix’s organic farmers’ market in Chamonix Sud on Tuesdays 0830 - 1300h.

2. ST R  E   T    C     H   . .   .   .   . Use Chamonix’s Yoga Sessions

While it is sometimes the last thing you feel like after a long hike or climb, simple and *gentle* stretching of muscles and myofascia is a really important aid to quick recovery and rejuvenation of muscle power.

Muscle fibres shorten during exercise, tension and general usage, but in order to be at their most powerful and effective, muscle fibres need to be at their longest. You can help this by performing long stretches with each muscle group  (gently, slow and NOT to the point of pain). And it’s really motivating to see how those people who practice regular yoga have bodies that respond best to massage.  They are less likely to “seize up”.

Keep an eye out on the ChamoFix website for more details about Chamonix’s yoga classes. And to get started at your desk… check out this good list of static stretches at Brian Mac personal trainer website.

3. Breathe … breathe in Chamonix’s high mountain air.. but all the time

fresh mountain air - Chamonix Mont Blanc

There’s all sorts of literature and theories about the best way to breathe while doing sports… but my osteopath in Chamonix showed me a basic breathing technique that should be used all the time.. at work, rest or high-octane play. ”Belly breathing” is the term for it. Typically (especially amongst computer/ desk bound generations) we tend to breathe short, shallow breaths, only accessing the top of our lungs. Your chest raises but everything below that doesn’t seem to move. By trying to fill your belly with air when you breathe, you find you push your diaphram down lower, which brings in loads more oxygen. The added benefit is that various organs below your diaphram are shifted about a bit, which helps make space for clearing away stagnant waste materials to the lymphatic system. Breathing deeply not only give you more oxygen for extra power during exercise, but as the body relies on movement for elimation of toxins, deep (belly) breathing helps move the internal organs. A massage you give yourself with every breathe!

4. Adrenaline Fix! & Rehydration!

There’s nothing like a dose of adrenaline or exhilaration to get you motivated for more. Without always pummeling yourself, it’s simply good to keep fit so that those adrenaline-filled moments either flying in the sky or careering down a mountain pass end up rejuvenating you and emptying your head for reboot!

But for ultimate sports performance and recovery, not to mention work and social stamina, it’s crucial to keep rehydrated before, during and after, sports. If you can keep hydrated with the occasional adrenaline rush, then that energy FIX will stay with you for longer.

Myofascia is a 3D web of microscopic hollow tubules that extends uninterupted from top to toe, surrounding (to a cellular level) every bone, muscle, organ, blood vessel and nerve. This relatively thin, filmy tissue gives shape and support to the body’s musculature, as well as providing non-stop instant communication between all the cells in the body. The hollow myofascial tubules contain continuous fibres of elastin and collagens surrounded by a fluid called “ground substance”.

Fascial restrictions can result from traumas (accidents, injuries or surgery) or repetitive stress situations (such as poor postures & over-use). Any of these traumas can cause the fascial tissue to change consistency, often hardening, in order to support and make up for the stresses on the body parts.

MY MOST EXCITING LESSONS
I’m particularly interested in the medical science surrounding both myofascia release and trigger point therapy.

Myofascia is a 3D web of microscopic hollow tubules that extends uninterupted from top to toe, surrounding (to a cellular level) every bone, muscle, organ, blood vessel and nerve. This relatively thin, filmy tissue gives shape and support to the body’s musculature, as well as providing non-stop instant communication between all the cells in the body. The hollow myofascial tubules contain continuous fibres of elastin and collagens surrounded by a fluid called “ground substance”.

Fascial restrictions can result from traumas (accidents, injuries or surgery) or repetitive stress situations (such as poor postures & over-use). Any of these traumas can cause the fascial tissue to change consistency, often hardening, in order to support and make up for the stresses on the body parts.

To put it crudely, a myofascial trigger point is a localized area of intense pain (when triggered) caused by over-contracted muscle fibres, starved of oxygen & creating a localized energy crisis, where neuroreactive biochemicals are released to sensitize nearby nerves, which, in turn, act on the central nervous system to initiate the motor, sensory, and autonomic effects of myofascial trigger points.
Myofascial trigger points can be tracked by their characteristic spontaneous electrical activity (SEA), and also identified by the change in cell structures - which cause the “contraction knots” we all tend to find from time to time. These reactions (SEA and physical changes) are caused by excessive release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) from the nerve endings.
Working deep into these trigger points can cause a “release” and thus relief from the pain. Stretching the myofascia helps to release the correlated tensions stored around the body.

That’s just the start of it… but looking at the symptoms shown in various clients and how effective the trigger point treatment seems to be, it’s brilliant to be able to learn all about what specific treatment works best with each very different situation. My massage routines have taken on a whole new dimension, as I become more and more aware of the areas of tension (even before the client realises there is any tension at all). Massages have to be adapted according to what each client’s body requires, and paying attention to the myofascial responses, ultimately helps in a more effective treatment. My hands are vessels for learning intuitively how to effectively aid the client through the medium of massage.

*Before you arrive, the massage therapist sanitizes the stones and heats them in 120 to 150 degree water.

* The therapist uses traditional strokes of Swedish massage while holding a heated stone. As the stone cools, the therapist replaces it with another.

* The therapist might also leave heated stones in specific points along your spine, or in the palms of your hand, or even between your toes to improve the flow of energy in your body.

* If you have inflammation or muscle injury, cold stones are sometimes used.

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