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.

Don't settle for mediocrity

I went to an event at a wonderful, temporary space in SF called Freespace. At an event/discussion titled "Don't Settle for Mediocrity, A Discussion about career transitions and finding meaningful work"

I was on the fence about attending since I am on the road to meaningful work as a Licensed Acupuncturist. But I am in a career transition in the respect that I have my career chosen, I just don't have my career yet.

Acupuncturists aren't exactly recruited by the top five clinics in the U.S. during their last year in school. We aren't met at the gates with signing bonuses, big salaries and health benefits. However, we have chosen meaningful work which can be fulfilling for a lifetime. I really appreciated this talk, because it acknowledge the scary parts, the challenging parts and the community of people that work to find meaningful work. It may not immediately be financially stable. It may not be a road with a path that is easy to follow. Yet there is meaning in this work and it took work to get here. Here is a list I got from the workshop. As we wound the discussion through different people's experiences we covered these points on how to make the transition. (As life seems to be one everlasting transition, this list seems pretty apt for a lifetime of meaningful work). I thought I would share. Maybe it can inspire you to, #6, take a tiny tiny step, towards whatever meaningful work you can imagine. I hope you can join me and we can share a life of work that is meaningful together.

1. Listen to that VOICE within

2. Lean INTO fear, be vulnerable. Name your fears.

3. Excuses: distinguish your voice vs. other voices

4. Find believers, not haters

5. Take your ideas seriously, SHARE THEM

6. Take a tiny tiny step

7. Embrace the journey

8. Balance $ + meaning (some venn diagram of SKILLS/IMPACT/LIFESTYLE)

9. Don't waste time!

Tea As Medicine

I bought a local food package over the holidays as a gift for my partner and recently found this tea laying around. Made by an Oakland company, Sky Tea, it was Tangerine-Ginger. Recently, after carting it around and never giving it much thought, I took it out and read the ingredients:

• Hibiscus
• Tangerine Rind
• Schizandra berry
• Dried ginger 

Three of the four ingredients are commonly used Chinese Herbs! I love having food as medicine, herbal teas to me now usually mean some odd tasting powdered herbs mixed with hot water or long boiled raw chinese herbs to form a strong tasting tea. But this is a tea that is marketed to taste good, not for medicinal purposes, those are just a bonus.

If you are interested in the herbal details, I break it down after the photo. This is the tea covered in hot water, and secondly backlit by the sun. Look at that amazing magenta color that hibscus gives, beautiful!

 

Ok, so if you are still reading, I want to talk about the medicinal herbs included in this tea and what they do.

Hibiscus - is not in the Materia Medica that we use, but has lots of modern research of health benefits, the most common being that it reduces inflammation

Tangerine Rind aka 'Chen Pi' or Citri reticulatae Pericarpium - This type of tangerine peel is aged and known for "regulating qi". This is a commonly used herb to balance out a formula that can be strengthening but doesn't have enough movement qualities. Tangerine peel also has great effects not just on moving but on drying dampness and phlegm. Aka, this is a great hangover cure! Some symptoms it can help are: 

• feeling of fullness in your upper abdomen and chest
• indigestion
• vomiting
• hiccups
• belching
• flatulence
• poor appetite
• diarrhea
• loose stools
• productive cough

Schizandra Berry aka 'Wu Wei Zi' or Schisandrae Fructus - this is at type of Astringent Herb. These herbs help pull qi and or fluids together when things are dispersing too much. It is also known to be very sour, but the translation is called "five flavors seed". The herb can help:

• chronic cough/wheeze/asthma
• diarrhea, spermatorrhea, nocturnal emission, leukorrhea, frequen urination, enuresis
• spontaneous sweat, night sweat
• thirst
• diabetes
• palpitations
• insomnia
• irritability

Dried Ginger Root aka 'Gan Jiang' or Zingiberis Rhizoma - this is a type of warming herb. It can be great for lots of digestive issues that have a Chinese Medical diagonsis that is 'cold' and other issues as well.

• chronic diarrhea
• vomit
• pain in upper abdomen
• cold feeling in abdomen
• low back pain
• spontaneous sweating
• cold sweat
• cold extremeties
• cough
• dyspnea
• frothy sputum