One of the most commonly asked questions we get when educating about acupuncture is, "What Can It Treat?" This is not always an easy question to answer because in theory acupuncture can help most anything since it has an overall balancing, pain relieving, calming and anti-inflammatory effect on the entire body. But, of course we do see many different conditions at the clinic and have success in seeing certain conditions in particular. So below is our top 10 list for conditions we treat successfully here at Open Circle Acupuncture! Hope you enjoy it and please as always reach out to us if you have questions or would like more information! The World Health Organization released a report, Acupuncture: Review of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, which endorses the use of acupuncture for over 200 symptoms and diseases (low back pain, headache, nausea/vomiting, allergic rhinitis, depression/anxiety, side effects of chemotherapy and induction of labor to name a few) and the US National Institutes of Health issued a consensus statement proposing acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention for complementary medicine. Below are the top 10 conditions we see and treat with a high level of success in our clinic. A 2012 meta-analysis combining data from roughly 18,000 individual patients in 23 high-quality randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for common pain conditions conclusively demonstrated that acupuncture is superior to sham for low back pain, headache, and osteoarthritis, and improvements seen were similar to that of other widely used non-opiate pain relievers.
"Earth is a stabilizing force during times of transition. After all the activity of spring and summer, nature’s time to grow and bloom, earth can help us get centered and balanced in late summer as we organize ourselves for the autumn harvest and begin to prepare ourselves for winter, the season of rest." I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news for some of you, but fall is coming! With kids looking towards going back to school and the slightly shorter days, it’s time to turn our minds towards fall, but also starting to prepare our bodies for the seasonal changes that are ahead. Anyone around you starting to get some late summer colds? Believe it or not, fall has started to creep into the acupuncture clinic, and so we feel it is our obligation to give you a heads up! 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after the fall equinox is a crucial time for boosting your immune system in preparation for the winter months. This is especially true if you have small children, a compromised immune system or fall allergies. So even if you are feeling great (and we hope you are!), it's important to refocus on making sure your body and mind are as healthy as they can be. You probably thought there were four seasons right?! Well just to make things even more confusing, Chinese Medicine went ahead and added a fifth season, LATE SUMMER. Late summer is dominated by the EARTH element and harvest time. It starts the third week of August and goes until the fall equinox the third week of September. Being healthy according to Chinese Medicine is all about being in-tune with the season you are in. Most of summer is dominated by the fire element and is a time of long days, cooling foods and lots of activities. Late Summer is dominated by the earth element, where we begin to strive for balance between being an extrovert and the beginning of turning and tuning inward. When earth is balanced, digestion is strong and emotionally we feel grounded. Out of balance it can present as the tendency to worry and feel anxious as well as having low energy and digestive distress. These symptoms can become especially unbalanced in late summer and because they are related to a seasonal imbalance, often respond very well to acupuncture and herbs during this time of year. It is a time to reap the harvest, nourish the body with amazing foods, refocus our efforts on taking supplements and herbs to strengthen the body and tuning inward with more frequent acupuncture sessions. It's an incredible time to spend outdoors, to breath the fresh air and contemplate where life will be focusing our energy this fall. Revisit your intentions and plans, and write down some new goals. Buy a new journal and start writing, while still going out swimming and playing with friends. So just to re-cap your late summer to-do list, for those who may be skimming this article....:) 1. Go to the farmers market and enjoy the local foods that are so abundant this time of year 2. Try to start getting more sleep as the body becomes more grounded and inward focused. 3. Receive regular acupuncture to boost the immune system and keep the earth element in balance. 4. Start herbs and/or supplements if needed for allergies, immune, digestion or other imbalances that may occur for you during this time of year. 5. Go for walks outdoors to directly connect with the earth element and breathe/contemplate plans for the coming season. Enjoy and be present for every moment of your summer, but keep an eye towards where you are heading and your fall will be vibrant and healthy! "What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?" The above quote is so New England isn't it? Anytime we want to complain about the heat, there's this little voice whispering in our heads, "You remember when it snowed in April right?!" And then we appreciate the summer a little more and want to enjoy it while it lasts! But the above quote also explains a lot about Chinese Medicine and the balance of yin and yang. When it's cold out we need to warm up and vice versa, but it's not always how you think. When I was 25, I spent 6 months living in India where day by day the temperature kept gradually getting hotter and hotter, until we were regularly in the triple digits on a daily basis. It was so hot and with the approaching monsoon season, more and more humid. But I noticed that everywhere I went everyone was still drinking hot chai; a warm beverage with 'warming' spices like ginger, black pepper, cardamom and cinnamon! So I started asking around, why isn't everyone drinking ice tea if it's so hot outside? They all seemed to know that drinking hot beverages actually does a better job at cooling you down than the cold ones! I was very confused to say the least! So I started reading a book about Chinese Medicine that someone gave to me called, "Staying Healthy with the Seasons," by Elson Haas where he had some very interesting things to say about staying balanced during the summer heat. This was before I knew ANYTHING about the topic, and it was very eye opening. He said that while it's really healthy to focus on a LIGHT and COOLING diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in the summer, that including some herbs such as cayenne and ginger can induce sweating, open the pores and actually have a cooling action on the body. WOW I had to admit, it made sense, and I was really noticing, that even without ice cubes and air conditioning, I was managing quite well in the heat. In fact, we had a meditation room (called 'the cave' although it was not an actual cave) that was the only place at the ashram I was living in that had air conditioning. And while that air conditioning was amazing, and definitely motivated my regular meditation practice, I always noticed that I felt extra hot when I came out of the air conditioning and back into the outside world. The extreme contrast had the effect of making my body feel less balanced and not more. So, I realized that the more I ALIGNED with the natural energy of the season, the healthier I would feel. So here are a few tips for finding your equilibrium this summer! 1. Enjoy lots of colorful, fresh fruits and vegetables that are ENERGETICALLY COOLING for your body: When something you eat is cooling, it does not mean that it is a cold temperature. PEPPERMINT is cooling, even if you drink it hot, and GINGER is warming even if you drink it cold! COOLING FOODS:
2. Add some spice to your life: want some of that spicy salsa or even a hot cup of chai? Adding some spice to get you sweating will attune you with the heat of the season and can actually lead to you feeling cooler, not hotter. The heat in your body gets drawn up to the surface and more closely mirrors the summer climate, making you less effected by it. Obviously this should be in balance and agree with your body in terms of digestion. If the spices are causing heartburn or digestive upset, please go easy! WARMING FOODS AND SPICES FOR SUMMER:
3. Eat lighter and eat less: eating a heavy diet with a lot of meat can drag the body down in the summer. When the temperature gets high, let your diet get a bit lighter and focus on hydration. 4. For heat stroke symptoms try using food as medicine: if the heat really starts to effect you, some of the symptoms might be fever, excessive sweating, thirst, shortness of breath, irritability and weakness. Some cooling dietary remedies include the cooling foods above plus RADISH JUICE, BITTER MELON SOUP AND WATERMELON JUICE. And definitely make sure to see your doctor! 5. Cool down with essential oils: you can create a spray bottle to cool you down in the summer by filling it with water and adding a couple of drops of cooling essential oils. The best choices are peppermint, eucalyptus, any citrus blends and a little lavender for calming if you want. You can also diffuse the oil in your house if you have one and get a similar therapeutic benefit. I hope you get some value from these tips and are enjoying your summer to the fullest! (You'd better, the snow will be back before you know it! LOL) Between vacations and spending time with the kids, we hope you can swing by the clinic for your self-care! "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." -William Morris Spring is my favorite time of year. It is a time of rebirth, the sprouting of new ideas and fresh inspiration. This past winter felt extra long and extra cold, so this year spring feels extra sweet. So, the question is, how are you going start off this season feeling fresh, inspired and new? Spring cleaning is an intuitive urge for many of us. Open up the windows, let in the fresh air, clean house. From the book, 'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up," by Marie Condo, she encourages us to ask this question when cleansing your home, "DOES THIS SPARK JOY?" I love this question and have used it many times when cleaning out my closet, buying new clothes, or cleaning up my kids' toys (many of those the answer is NO, haha!). What if instead of focusing on the external environment of your house, we also turn inside and focus on the body? What do you want to take into your house? I used to think of spring cleaning as mainly focusing on cleaning up the diet and doing a 'cleanse'. Cleansing the body with a healthy diet is very important, but what about our thoughts? Our intake of negative news and social media? Is our house cluttered with so much stress that we are walking around all day overwhelmed? If the answer is yes, then spring is a great time to set some goals for cleaning up your inner house. From my experience and study of how transformation happens, it is always by very small changes done consistently over time that lead to be biggest changes in the long term. My advice is to finding something you want to add to your life, and something that you want to subtract. Make the change very clear and straightforward. Write it down, tape it up on the wall, and even better, find an accountability partner that's ready to change with you. Here are some spring cleaning ideas for things to add and things to subtract. ADD:
SUBTRACT:
Hope this post got your inspiration flowing to implement some healthy lifestyle changes this spring! Be well and hope to see you soon:) "But in all of the sadness, when you're feeling that your heart is empty, and lacking, you've got to remember that grief isn't the absence of love. Grief is the proof that love is still there." -Tessa Shaffer Last week, I had a nice blog post planned about ways to help prevent the flu and boost the immune system, but this week really changed the focus of my heart in a big way. On Monday we had a dear friend pass suddenly. Dinner was filled with tears, moments of silence, sharing our disbelief and all holding each other just a little bit closer. Then of course the events of Wednesday's school shooting in Florida, led to the entire country feeling the same way. I've been crying watching the news, feeling angry when I think of something like this happening and all with an ache deep in my heart. Loss is so painful and heart opening at the same time. Our entire being can become very vulnerable and it can be hard to know how to cope and also stay healthy with the array of emotions. Because I wasn't sure how to cope myself, I decided to do what I often do, look in my books and learn from the wisdom of the five elements. I'm going to take each element one by one and share some ways to keep your mind and body well in the midst of this difficult time. 1. FIRE: The fire element is intimately connected with the organs of the heart and pericardium. The heart is where our feelings of love, joy and optimism arise. The pericardium is a membrane that covers the heart and in Chinese medicine it is known as the heart protector. When these two organs are in balance, the heart can be open but it is still protected from being overly exposed to external negative influences. It's important to have an open heart, but when we are too vulnerable to every emotion, then we can tend towards anxiety and 'taking in' every emotion around us. Ways to help keep this balance of openness and protection, is to be careful how much information you are taking in about the news of the day when it is this emotionally challenging. I can struggle with this balance, but when the news is making you cry and Facebook is making you angry, then that is a clear sign that it's time to unplug. 2. EARTH: Just as the planet earth carries us through the darkness of space with security and stability, so too does the earth element signify, mothering, altruism and groundedness. If a person is dominant in the earth element, they are going to want to nurture and take care of everyone around them when times are tough. The urge to 'mother' others during times of grief will come naturally to an earth. Donating their time and money to the causes they care about will help them to feel like they are 'doing' something. My first inclination when I heard of my friend losing his husband was, 'we should cook him a meal.' When nurturing others though, don't forget about the nourishing of the self. Many people find it much easier to give support, than to receive it for themselves, but this is an important part of healing and keeping your earth in balance. 3. METAL: The metal element is the one most associated with grief. The season of metal is the transition of fall to winter, when the days get shorter, colder and eventually go into the stillness of winter. When this element is in balance, there is a healthy transformation of loss and grief into acceptance and inspiration. Yet because this element is intimately connected with the lungs and the breath, many times the immune system can find itself compromised during this process. When going through times of grieving, take care to protect your lungs, meditate and take some lung strengthening herbs. My favorite choice is Astragalus (Huang Qi), which builds our Wei Chi (protective Qi) and will strengthen the metal element and support it during times of grief. 4. WATER: The water element is the season of winter and represents the root or core of life itself. The water element represents the power to transform fear and doubt, into wisdom and trust. This can be a very challenging endeavor during times of loss and especially a traumatic event. Fear is a powerful emotion, and not so easily tamed. The water element is connected to the kidneys and adrenal glands. The adrenals control our 'fight or flight' response which is why fear can so easily lead to anxiety and becoming ungrounded. Ways to help keep your water element balanced, is to prioritize quiet time and draw upon the wisdom of others to stay inspired. 5. WOOD: The wood element is the season of spring and so when it is in balance it is a serious 'go-getter'. Those dominant in the wood element are the one's already lobbying congress for stricter gun laws. But when the wood element is not in balance, the emotional tendency is to feel irritable, angry and constrained. Their body gets tight and their jaw is clenched. The wood element feels angry at the unfairness of life, but instead of getting 'stuck' in that place, a balanced wood will begin to take action to help correct the injustices. Clearly articulated anger and frustration can be very powerful, but be careful not to keep those emotions trapped inside the body, but expressed in a healthy and clear way. During times of grief, the wood element needs to move, exercise, dance and stretch, or they will really start to get 'stuck'. I hope reading this helped you as much as writing it did for me. Take care of others, take care of yourself, and we will all move our world forward with as much love and grace as we can muster! xoxo |
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