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Last night’s Wellness Event, hosted by PURE Yoga East was a huge success and loads of fun. Many thanks to all the wonderful folks who turned out, and to PURE for hosting such a holistic event in their serene space. A truly inspiring group! See a photo recap after the jump.
Ever thought that your morning muffin or stir-fry lunch contained not just sustenance, but healing properties? Ancient Chinese medical theory has ascribed certain energetics and functions to many common foods, that still remain true today. Such properties are very different from nutritional values (vitamins, calories, fats, fiber, etc), which came later in the evolution of the nature of food. Let’s take watermelon (Xi Gua) as an example of this idea: our analytical mind knows that this delicious fruit is sweet, refreshing and nutritious with its high water content and fiber. The energetics of this food according to Chinese theory are cooling and damp draining, and therefore can prevent heat stroke on a hot summer day and promote healthy water metabolism by ridding edema. A more relevant example for the winter season would be lamb (Yang Rou), which is warming to the system and promotes optimum functioning.
Food therapy is considered to be the number one treatment in preventative care and healing therapy. In modern China, there are special restaurants where one can go to receive tailored medicinal meals. After a visit with the Chinese medicine doctor, a pattern diagnosis is ascribed which can then be brought to the chef at such a restaurant. Food will then be prepared in accordance with individual needs – to nourish, eliminate or course any given imbalance. This notion contradicts the idea that one particular diet is best for everyone, but rather tailors nutritional choices based on individual need. What may help one person lose weight and feel energetic, may not be the right fit for someone else. I had the fortune of experiencing this model for myself at the medicinal food restaurant across from the hospital during my one-year clinical rotation in Hangzhou, China.
Chinese herbal medicine utilizes the combination of roots, barks, leaves, stems and berries to promote health and vitality. It only makes sense that Chinese Herbal Medicine and Food Therapy often overlap, with many herbal ingredients ending up on typical supermarket shelves. The following is a delicious trailmix you can make at home, as your own “herbal formula prescription.” In addition to curbing hunger between meals, or giving an energy boost before a work-out, this mix is high in antioxidents, essential fatty acids and protein. From the Chinese perspective, it is nourishing to the kidneys; promotes mental clarity, memory function; improves libido, energy and digestion. Enjoy!
Goji Berries/Wolfberries
Gou Qi Zi -Nourishes the kidney energy, enhances fertility, memory, and sexual function
Walnut Halves
Hu Tao Ren -Promotes brain function, mental clarity
Black Sesame Seeds
Huo Ma Ren -Nourishes blood, improves vision and sluggish digestion. Black sesame has the additional benefit of promoting lactation in breast-feeding women.
*I like Mrs. May’s Black Sesame Crunch Squares, they are slightly sweetened with honey that provides a great flavor and also aids digestion.
This post is a proud participant in the Kathleen Show’s Prevention Not Prescriptions Blog - a great place for other resources to stay healthy.
Depression affects the quality of life for many individuals year-round, but has a significant increase in the winter months. As the sunlight reduces, the weather gets colder, and the sky gets gloomier – we, too, experience these changes in our bodies and state-of mind. There are many natural things we can do to boost our moods and elevate seasonal depression (commonly known as “SAD,” or Seasonal Affective Disorder). However, as those of you who have experienced even slight depression know, the motivation to implement such changes can be difficult, if non-existent once the blues have hit.
Choose Your Support
So, what to do? First off, find the resources around you and seek help. Consulting with a health care professional is an important catalyst in transforming your blues into bliss. It can also help combat the isolation that often accompanies mood changes. It is my experience that with chronic or severe emotional distress, there is no “one” help and calling on a variety of resources yields stronger, more lasting results. Here are some tools you may want to try:
How Acupuncture Can Help
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), does not treat “depression” per say, but rather the person who is experiencing depression. Different individuals can experience the discomforts of depression from a variety of causes – or, as we call them, patterns. In treating depression, your acupuncturist first must find your unique pattern diagnosis and from there, begin to strengthen your system and ease discomfort. Acupuncture can help to greatly reduce emotional and physical stress and the somatic pain that often accompanies emotional upset. Best of all, it will not interfere negatively with any other therapy or prescriptions you may be receiving, but complement them by tapping into the root of your constitutional nature.
Herbal remedies may also be a good option for occasional slumps or mood swings. Unlike acupuncture, which must be administered by a licensed professional and usually done only 1-2 times per week, an herbal formula can follow you home and become a daily treatment. When prescribed by a licensed practitioner, herbal formulas are completely safe, and can help the body harmonize from the inside out.
For more information on how to incorporate the benefits of acupuncture into your emotional wellness plan, please contact us.
It is a mother’s worst nightmare and a huge set-back for adults. But the reality is, bones can break at any age – even strong ones. From a wrong step on uneven road to a high-impact sports injury, the severity of the break can only be determined through proper medical attention and X Ray. Although one never plans for such an event, it is good to know your options to promote the most optimum healing.
Trauma
Depending on the location and severity of the break, it may be difficult to determine if the area is sprained, fractured or actually broken with the naked eye. The first thing to do is elevate it, stabilize it, and get in for an X Ray to know the damage. There are various levels of breakage and degrees of separation of the bones. The image above is of a broken fibula (my current case – see more below), which occurred during a late-night ice hockey game. As you can see, the bone broke all the way through, but did not shift laterally leaving it in perfect alignment. The swelling that immediately took place is the bodies natural response to hold the bone and ankle joint in place.
With swelling always comes the risk for stagnation, a term in Chinese medicine referring quite literally to obstructed free-flow. Stagnation is not only detectable by visual swelling, but also by the severity of pain. It is safe to assume that the more pain there is with swelling, the more stagnation there is. Although some level of swelling – or stagnation – is good because it is the bodies natural way to stabilize the bone, we want to be sure that proper nourishment can flow to the trauma and that nothing gets trapped in the area as it heals. Unattended stagnation can lead to further pain down the road, reduced mobility, or area weakness. As the trauma heals, acupuncture and herbs can help circulate the area – allowing debris and toxins to to move away and nourishment to move in.
The first thing to do is distal acupuncture and application of the herbal liniment San Huang San. This will reduce any unnecessary heat or inflammation trapped at the site and promote healthy circulation. Because of its cooling effect, it should not be used for more than 24 hour post-trauma. The same goes for ice. (I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it…) but the main cause of stagnation in trauma-healing is the over application of ice. Ice constricts blood flow in the area and decreases circulation. It can cause debris and blood to congeal, and although it may provide temporary relief of the pain it may also cause more problems later on in the area. Remember to follow your own doctors advice and intuition, but also keep this in mind next time and see for yourself. Perhaps you will notice the increased mobility and strength of the injured area once it has healed after leaving the ice bag in the freezer during rehabilitation.
Bone Mending
Bone mending will occur on its own through the bodies innate healing potential. The first thing before bone mending takes place (whether naturally or with assistance of acupuncture and herbs) is to be sure the bones are properly aligned. If not, this will cause the bones to mend askew and may require setting or surgery. The X Ray above has perfect bone alignment for mending to begin, it was a lucky break (har har).
Acupuncture and herbal medicine can help promote healing and bone-mending in accordance with your body’s natural ability. Herbal medicine is a great first-line of defense when mobility is a problem and getting to an acupuncturist is not feasible. My colleague, Frank Butler, is a renowned orthopedic acupuncturist and has developed a whole line of herbal trauma medicine. These powerful pills come in easy-to-use chewable pills and recommended at various stages in healing. Like most Chinese Herbs, they aren’t the easiest flavor to swallow, patients will attest that eventually you “just get used to it.” Check out his whole list of Zheng Gui Tui Na products here.
Once you feel able to get in to your acupuncturists office, they can help tremendously to facilitate appropriate healing. Depending on the phase of healing will depend on the treatment. There is a common misconception that acupuncture is best when there is no more trauma and the patient feels better. Internal medicine and trauma treatment alike, acupuncture and herbs are most effective when used in conjunction with Western medical therapy and when begun right away. In the case of traumatic injury, repetitive and regular acupuncture is best. This will ensure the proper healing of the area now- it is a lot more difficult to undue improper healing later. Treatment every day in the acute phase is ideal if feasible, with a reduction in frequency as the healing process continues.
The Case
In the case above, the injury is a week old, and we have begun acupuncture surrounding the break site, combined with electrical stimulation. This is easy to do thanks to the removable cast used in modern trauma treatment (as opposed to the plaster ones of my childhood). The electrical stimulation mimics the current in the body as bone fibers begin to mend. This helps facilitate the process so that stabilization of the area can be achieved quicker. Other techniques include distal point prescription and opposite extremity therapy. I am performing acupuncture on the area daily, and the patient is taking the “Bone Knitting” internal herbs mentioned above (Zheng Gu Tui Na). Currently, the level of break is visible in the X Ray above and the exterior condition is as follows:
We shall see how he responds in the long run. Ultimately, his doctors expect the injury to take at least 6 weeks before significant improvement, and about 6-months to 1 year until completely back to hockey-playing strength. With the acupuncture and herbal treatment, we hope there will be no future implications from the trama. I will keep you posted as the healing process continues.
Please note that the patient being discussed has given permission to do so in this format, and all indentifying information is being kept confidential in accordance with HIPPA.
Knee and other joint pain is a common complaint for many people. The symptom itself can come from a variety of reasons, including inflammation, injury, arthritis, bone spurs, tendinitis, among others. Knowing the appropriate western diagnosis can help to increase the efficacy of alternative therapies like acupuncture. From a Chinese medicine perspective we can determine the appropriate pattern disharmony and affected meridians based on the nature and location of particular pain. Western medical diagnosis can give insight as to internal patterns of disharmony, adding another layer of specificity. After the jump are some ways that acupuncture and herbal medicine can be of help when rehabilitating from joint pain, and also some things you can try at home.
As women we are often taught that the menstrual cycle is just one of those annoying things about being female. It comes at the worst times, can plague a vacation and often is accompanied with a slue of uncomfortable symptoms. Some women experience PMS so bad that it lasts for two weeks before their period begins, leaving only one true week of discomfort-free days. It is no wonder that many women jump at the idea of birth control that reduces the number of times she menstruates per year, or even stops her cycle completely. Although this ‘treatment’ per say takes away many of the uncomfortable symptoms, it can often lead to a whole gamut of other side-effects like low libido, vaginal dryness, weight gain, breast distention, high blood pressure, increased appetite and depression. And to boot, it is not actually treating the cause of the discomfort, it is simply band-aiding it.
From breast pain to nausea to mood swings and back aches, such discomforts are more than just a nuisance, but signals from your body that something is out of balance and needs to be addressed. The only physiological components to a menstrual cycle should be moderate blood flow with the same number of days between cycles. Taking the time to address these symptoms now won’t only improve a woman’s quality of life, but also may prevent future reproductive problems. If you would like to take control of your menstrual cycle, understand it (and your fertility – to either prevent or promote pregnancy), Chinese Medicine has a variety of ways to alleviate common discomforts associated with menstruation.
Meet O, a very happy baby who benefits regularly from Chinese Medicine dietary advice and also happens to be one of my past doula-births. Just as Chinese Medicine benefits fertility treatments and pregnancy health, it can offer safe and natural relief for common childhood complaints. Acupuncture has a long history of pediatric medicine, and is a powerful adjunct therapy for patients who are trying to avoid taking additional medications or who are already receiving maximum medical treatment. Additionally, acupuncture works as preventative medicine and can help strengthen the developing immune system at any age.
The majority of healthy infants and children require nothing more than a loving mother and family to attend to their needs. However, even the most cared for children can develop uncomfortable symptoms. Some conditions may be helped by environmental or dietary advice, also an important part of childhood development. Acupuncture, massage and pediatric herbal formulas can help alleviate a variety of common complaints – offering less suffering for the child and peace of mind for the parent. Best of all, these therapies are completely natural, safe and have no side effects.
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