Taking up Space

In my practice I notice that many people have a hard time taking up space. They have a hard time even taking their own space. I don't mean retreating away from people to take your solo time to recover. I mean taking up your physical and emotional space, owning it.

For some reason there seems to be a common disconnect from feeling things and allowing yourself to feel those feelings. Often times it seems to be from some internal concept that it is hard to take up space. That if we take up space we take away from someone else.

However there is a truth to taking ownership of yourself and your space. There is a deep truth that honors who we are and what we feel. That truth can unlock so much power, drive and infinite wealth of possibilities I think that we fear what is within.

This is all abstract, sub conscious. But if we can point our conscious effort towards taking up our space then we can move towards that. Help our abstract, subconscious self take up that space and own our physical space. Stand up straight, breathe, speak loudly, enunciate. And our emotional space, feel our feelings and express them.

Honor & Surrender.

Sometimes the honor to touch someone, to needle them, to help them is overwhelmingly beautiful.

I am human. Which translates to, no matter how much I always deeply love treating people, sometimes it takes some internal persuasion to get excited about it ahead of time. Other times, I can't wait to get to work, I can't wait to connect with people who are in pain, to alleviate them, to find relief to dis-ease. At the very high points, I feel a bursting quality of energy expanding from me to the people I work with and to the world, creating deep relaxation, ease and knowing.

Sometimes I feel unsure as a practitioner and as a regular patient of acupuncture. I always trust the medicine at its core, but I can be unsure about my diagnosis, about my treatment when I play the role of a practitioner. As a patient, there are times I feel unsure if I need it, if it's helping me, what is happening. There is an the unsure is an unknowingness that can be gnawing, wanting to transform into knowing. That same unknowingness can be transformative in unexpected ways. If willing, as a patient or a practitioner, to surrender to the unknowingness of what might happen, what transformation could take place, or not, big things begin to happen. In a treatment, this is sometimes very physical, very tangible. It can be bringing sleep to a sleepless person, relief of pain, release of stagnation, strengthening from deficit. As a patient, it is often to present your symptoms, but also to give yourself away, truly trusting your practitioner. This trust is hard even in the most intimate of our relationships so how can we do it with a person who is merely a fraction of our lives? How? I'm not really sure, but trying to surrender, to the treatment, to your practitioner opens the door for a depth of healing that is always breathtaking.

It is my honor to have this role, as a practitioner, to ask people to surrender, to trust. I am honored each moment that this happens. These are the best days, the best moments.

Laughter.

Lately I find a smile creep across my face or sometimes laughter in a response to a situation that may not deem it quite the norm. Although my laughter can represent humor, happiness and silliness it has seemed to evolve into a mechanism for expressing acceptance.

I find that there are so many things in life that we yearn for control over. We search high and low for answers to unsolved questions from our pasts, from our bodies. Mysterious pain, illness and health complications send us in many directions. The search, the grasping for an end, a finality, can end us. Ironically, life can unfurl more challenges at us harder and faster when we grasp. There is a peace that comes with acceptance, and a difference between acceptance and dormancy. We can try hard in life, keep moving forward, but with less attachment, with more acceptance there comes ease. With more ease can come more laughter, and with more laughter can come more healing.

Metal Men

Today was about the Lungs in Chinese Medicine and what they are attached to. In Chinese Medicine the Metal element relates to the Lungs and Large Intestine. Although seemingly very different the Lung and Large Intestine are connected through various functions and provide balance to each other.

All my patients today were men. They were dealing with common colds, grief, insomnia, headaches and muscle tension.

Cold Weather Treatments

As the air in the bay area finally starts to cool down, I am yet to see coldness in pulses or yang deficiency. However, the pulses are getting deeper and people who are dealing with blood deficiency have many physical manifestations. Wind invasions are entering their bodies, or muscles ache more, fatigue, headaches after a long work week and even hair loss are starting.

To nourish your blood in Chinese Medicine there is much work to do before being diagnosed as anemic.

Bone broth - partially the warmth of soup and bone broth can be deeply beneficial, but bone broth absorbs many of the nutrients that are carried in the bones and marrow of animals. This is one of the most nourishing foods and can be eaten medicinally as two dosages per day. It can me added to stir fries, soups and roasts.

Dark Green Veggies - dark green veggies carry iron and nutrients that help nourish the blood in Chinese Medicine.

Nettle Tea - nettles are a western herb that are a simple and great blood builder

Goji Berries - Very strengthening for the organs of the Liver and Kidney in Chinese Medicine. They can be great for blurry vision, anemia, dizziness or tinnitus. They can also help early graying of hair, sore back, painful knees. Long term dry cough. They are great to add to oatmeal, or add into tea that you brew for a long time.

Fall crisp

With the sudden change of weather there is a chill in the air to match. As the nights begin earlier our bodies natural rhythm is to be inside and rest more. It's a great time for rejuvenating acupuncture. This does not mean that acupuncture will bring instant energy and immunity. It means it will support your body's natural rhythms of the season to help you sleep when your body wants to sleep to have energy for the shorter days.

Energetically the qi is not as surface as it was even a week ago. I tend to needle deeper and use heat lamps and warming techniques to treat patients. 

Time to eat more cooked food and use delicious warming spices to aid in digestion and seasonal health.

-ginger

-garlic/onion

-cinnamon

-nutmeg

-pepper

Are great additions this time.

Gan Mai Da Zao Tang, Emotional Glue

Herbal formulas have many different purposes. Even within one formula there can be a variety of symptoms that it can treat. Formulas can have the same name and ingredients, but varying dosages of different herbs therefore creating different effects. I love what formulas can do, and how they feel in my body. One of my favorites is a very simple formula with a complex function.

I prescribe this formula and use this formula in times that I feel like I am coming unglued. There are a variety of sensations that go along with that. Sometimes it's uncontrollable tears. Other times it is anxiety, palpitations. It is a restless sensation due to the fact the it feels like some piece of our world is crumbling. This can be due to external events adding up and becoming overwhelming. It can be due to internal strife finally becoming strong enough to slowly unglue any feeling of stability that had come to be normal.

This formulas is called Gan Mai Da Zao Tang. With just three simple ingredients, red date, licorice root and wheat, this formula is extremely calming and grounding. All the ingredients are food herbs, which generally means they are on the gentle end of the spectrum.

Although this formula is not usually a permanent solution and is not the right fit for everyone with those sensations, it can gently, strongly help a person survive a tough patch without depleting them greatly. If you are feeling unglued, get acupuncture, take herbs. They can be greatly supportive in times where all someone needs is a little bit of comfort to keep going.