Please enjoy the hundreds of articles that Dr. Borten has written over the past 20+ years. There’s something for everyone, including explorations of spirituality, learning from the natural world, exercise and stretching, nutrition, psychology, posture, breathing, pain management, Eastern medicine and philosophy, and much more.
What do you write about when you don’t feel particularly inspired or creative? Winter in Portland can certainly be a challenging season for many of us, I know it is for me. It’s times like these I try to remind myself of the simple pleasures…
This week at the airport, we celebrated our first anniversary of our Portland International Airport location with an Open House and free massages. In February of 2010, the Dragontree was chosen to be the first, and only, full service day spa at PDX. The spa,…
As I take my daily walks this time of year, I am filled with delight at the tiny signs of spring popping up, reminding us of the regenerative power of nature. The Daphne flowers are starting to open up, filling the air with deliriously heady…
Working at the airport I am consistently reminded of and continually amazed by how little time it takes to make a big difference. Time is so valuable especially when travelling or working and it is truly gratifying when you can see the positive impact that…
I think the first thing I (and many others) always forget in living this life is self -compassion. I’ve been through A LOT the last few years. There is very little that has been consistent and most of the change has happened suddenly and harshly….
In the movies, when a person sits down to write something epic, they start with a few good, but not good enough ideas. Jotting down just a few sentences before it comes to them, looking up at the camera, no, just beyond the camera realizing, “they’ve…
I’m sick. Who’s with me? I work full time, am a mom to a (germ carrying) toddler who goes to pre-school 3 days/week, and I’m also a wife who tries to keep the house clean and healthy dinners ready for my family.All of that running…
I keep hearing a tremendous amount of discussion about ‘detoxing’ and ‘cleansing’ over the past few weeks. I suppose the start of a new year gets people in the mood to start fresh and make some self improvements. I know I certainly could use a…
In Part One I discussed what vitamin D was and how it’s produced in the body. In Part Two, I’d like to talk about some of it’s sources, health benefits, and appropriate levels for your body. Vitamin D is available in some food sources such as…
Why must we wait for the new year to make significant changes? There is something about the flip of a year that we as humans can comprehend a bit more? I watched a movie the other day called “Touching the Void” about a climbing incident…
I challenged myself to write a blog in 15 minutes. Can it be done? As if it was an assignment. It actually reminds of an exercise I did in a community creative writing class way back when. A mere 13 years old I hesitantly approached…
In my earlier days, I used to be a gardener here in Portland. It was a terrific experience working on lovely estates and perennial gardens in neighborhoods I don’t normally have a chance to linger too long in. I learned a valuable lesson back then,…
I love that this is the time of year that I don’t have to feel overly guilty about staying in and getting cozy. It’s the perfect time to get caught up on movies and even do a little marathon TV viewing. Of course, along with…
Until recently, vitamin D was known primarily as a secondary nutrient to calcium in helping build stronger bones by helping calcium move from the stomach to the bloodstream and then into the skeletal system. The major biologic function of vitamin D is to maintain normal…
Music has always been an undercurrent of my life. I grew up on classical music. I was fed canned pop through the radio and then I stumbled upon alternative music and punk rock. Alternative music was actually an alternative in the late 80’s. College radio still had…
Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the spa is so delightful… And since we’ve no place to go- let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!Give yourself a little more time We know to-do lists don’t shorten with the daylight hours, but your body…
Having personally experienced most of these recently, I am so excited that our PDX location is adding new services and package options to our menu. Here are a few of my new favorites… THE DRAGONTREE MASSAGE Begin with an aromatherapy foot bath, and then retreat to…
As we begin to settle into our wet and chilly winter, we Portlanders could benefit from taking a page from the Finnish national tradition of saunas. The sauna dates back as early as the 5th century and were originally considered to be spaces. The first…
Where do we find inspiration? Sometimes it is so illusive. I was struggling with finding inspiration for this blog while inspiration itself was staring me in the face. Remember when almost everything was inspiring: A pile of leaves as a child, the local hangout as…
Last weekend, the reminder that it is flu and cold season hit me over the head- literally- and put me in bed for a couple of days. I had been too busy with work, errands and other matters to take my vitamin consistently through out…
Part of my job here as the retail manager for the spa is making the Dragontree products. We sell a variety of massage oils, body scrubs, bath fizzies, salt baths, milk baths, aromatherapy sprays and more. And over the past few months I have learned how to make them all. Most items…