Continuing from last week I’m going to do another Mother’s Day pampering gift idea that you can easily implement at home at very low cost. This week I’m going to share a foot bath with head, neck and shoulder massage. This will be a better option if you don’t have a bath tub at home or if you live in a severe drought-stricken state like California and you need to conserve water.
First, let’s prepare the neck warmer. If you already have one, microwave it according to the instruction. And put it on your mother’s neck to warm up the neck muscles. If you don’t already have one, you can make your own with rice and sock. Here I have 3 cups of rice. Put all the rice in the sock. You can add few drops of essential oil like lavender to the rice. And microwave it for 30 seconds at a time so you don’t over heat it. When it’s warm enough put it on your mother’s neck.
While her neck muscles are getting warmed, prepare a foot bath. If you have a fancy foot bath it’s a perfect time to use it. This make a great gift too. If you don’t already have one you can make the homemade foot bath with a tub and hot water.
Pick a good place for relaxing for 10-20 minutes. Keep a towel handy or put a tub on the towel.
Here are some foot bath recipes you can explore.
Epsom Salt foot bath: Add a quarter cup of Epsom Salt. The magnesium and sulfate in the Epsom salt will help soothe the muscle aches and eliminate toxins. It has anti-fungal properties and will remove foot odor and soften the feet too. If you have diabetes, do NOT soak in the Epsom salt bath.
Milk foot bath: Add a cup of milk. As I mentioned last week Cleopatra enjoyed her daily milk bath. If you use the real milk, opt for a whole milk for the fats and proteins which will help moisturize your skin. Milk foot bath is especially good if you have dry, scaly feet. Lactic acid in milk helps shedding dead skin cells revealing newer skin.
Rose foot bath: Sprinkle some rose petals like the Ancient Greeks and Romans did to perfume their baths. Rose doesn’t just look pretty and smell nice. Rose is also anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, moisturizing, and has mood-lifting properties. If you don’t have rose in your garden, head to the grocery store or florist. Sometimes you can find rose flowers and petals without stems cheaper than the bouquet of roses. It’s a perfect option for making a fancy rose bath.
You can combine all these recipes to enjoy all the benefits at once.
While she is enjoying the foot bath, massage her head by gliding your fingers all over the head making circles and straight lines.
Hold the forehead with one hand and knead her neck by squeezing your palm. Do not squeeze past the ears because it will cause a choking feeling.
Do not do the following technique if the mother is pregnant because there are acupressure points on the top of the shoulders that would induce labor. Angle your forearm to target the shoulder muscles right behind the top of the shoulder. Roll the forearm from the neck to the shoulder. Stop right before the shoulder bone because bone on bone hurts. Start with the palm facing down. If you start with the palm facing up, there’s not much room to roll. Make sure your hand is relaxed.
If you want to learn more neck massage techniques I have video books available on Amazon. After the foot bath is a great time to give foot massage too. You can find links to all the things that I’ve mentioned below.
4-27-15 DIY Mother’s Day Gift Ideas 2 – Foot bath with Head, Neck and Shoulder Massage
http://bit.ly/mm-042715
Links on Amazon:
Neck and Shoulder Wrap http://amzn.to/1b9kRdC
Foot Bath http://amzn.to/1P1Jo1E
Epsom Salt http://amzn.to/1Eie5wE
You Knead Me Video Books http://amzn.to/UweK5c