Massage Envy member Maryam Webster extols the benefits of massage

When your cell phone runs down, the only way to get it working is to recharge its battery. The same goes for people. That's why Maryam Webster makes time for massage and yoga.

She practices yoga for an hour each morning and throughout the day as needed. She's also found that standard hour-long massages just aren't enough. One and a half to two hours each week at the Redwood City (Calif.) Massage Envy clinic is her minimum; two to three times per week is more typical. "No matter how stressed I am, they always have me melting into the table by the end of a session," she says.

For Webster, massage isn't a luxury; it's a tool for maintaining health and well-being. "It's nourishment for the body and soul," she explains. "If you don’t stretch your muscle fibers, they ‘rust.’ Stretching helps muscles operate optimally. Both yoga and massage increase the flow of lymph fluids that take away toxins and decrease lactic acid, which causes aches and cramps."

If it sounds like Webster knows more than usual about relaxation and overall health, you're right. She's a psychologist, energy coach and author of Everyday Bliss for Busy Women (New Harbinger, 2008).

Webster teaches clients how to have the healthiest lifestyle possible by maximizing what she considers the world's most underutilized source of renewable energy: the energy inside our own bodies. She developed the energy therapies and techniques she teaches while recovering from a car accident that left her paralyzed for three years.

"Doctors told me I'd never walk again," she recalls. "Now I dance and hike. Nobody has any business telling you what you are capable of. We are all truly unlimited beings." —By Rebecca Douglas