Piggybacking on Cortnae’s article from last week… GUILTY: I have definitely been feeling the pinch to lose this last 10 pounds of baby weight that I accumulated, now that Worthy is 1!! If someone could find me the instant-body-shred secret, that would be great. Jokes aside, my excuses for eating everything have run out. 

The impending summer means I can’t hide in my sweaters anymore, so I have been determined to get moving and really hone in the diet.

“How to get fit in time for summer!”

We can all understand that this is not realistic, or sustainable for the majority of us…..but we still end up reading these articles trying to glean any hacks or tricks that we have yet to try! I invite you to shift your mindset from getting sliced and diced to setting a simple intention to have a more healthful summer. 

Since May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, we've been talking about how acupuncture can be used to help treat anxiety. A common question that we get asked is, “How many acupuncture treatments do you need to help manage anxiety?”

This is such a great question.

Acupuncture is cumulative. This means that after each treatment, the goal is for you to feel a little bit better, for a little longer, until you get to a place where you can manage your stress better. Then we can start spacing the treatments out, to see how you feel.

Did you know May is National Mental Health Awareness Month? Anxiety is one of the most common mental health struggles that we see in the clinic. Fortunately, acupuncture is wonderful for reducing anxiety, and there’s a surprising amount of research on the topic.

How does it work?

I have been getting a lot of questions about the Celluma, which we are using for the Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture, one of which is “Can I use that during my regular appointments?” To which I say why not? Let’s give it a shot. So, for the month of May, we’ll be offering a Celluma add-on for just $30 to any acupuncture treatment. Now, we only have one Celluma, so it’ll be a first come first serve thing, but if it’s available at your appointment time feel free to give it a try. 

Read on for what the makers of Celluma have to say:

One really common question I get about acupuncture for arthritis (and acupuncture in general!) is: “How many treatments do I need?” 

A typical course of treatment for acupuncture is once a week for 6-8 weeks. Acupuncture is cumulative, meaning its effects increase over time. So the goal is for you to feel a little better for a little longer after each treatment. 

After a series of weekly treatments, we would evaluate how you’re feeling and try to space out the treatments. For example, trying to go two weeks between treatments and seeing how you feel. 

Did you know that acupuncture can help reduce the pain associated with both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis? 

These two types of joint pain have different root causes, but research shows that acupuncture can be helpful for both. 

Research supports the use of acupuncture for reducing pain and improving mobility in both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. 

In a 2019 randomized controlled trial, acupuncture was found to reduce pain and improve mobility in osteoarthritis of the knee, together with usual care (biomedicine, typically NSAIDs), compared to usual care alone.

A couple of months ago, I had to email a selfie to another practitioner for a healing session so I snapped a shot, took a peek and went “EEEEK!!!!” I couldn’t believe my eyes! Did I have Bell’s Palsy? What happened? After a couple of smiles and winks, I convinced myself that I was okay. I took another photo, working to open my right eye and relax that side of my mouth at the same time. HA! What a disaster. After a few more tries, I got the picture you see on the left. Just a little smirky, not too bad, but definitely not as even as I had hoped, given the effort I was putting in.

So I decided it was time to see Cortnae for some facial rejuvenation acupuncture to see if she could even me out.

Spring is in the air, and so is allergy season!

So many of my patients are already feeling the shift in weather through allergy symptoms like itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, and even skin symptoms like itching, dry patches, redness and hives.

How can you manage these symptoms? Or prevent them if you’re prone to allergies but not experiencing them just yet?

My whole life I’ve been asked repeatedly: “Are you ok?” “What’s wrong?” “Are you mad?” “Are you mad at me?” “Smile!” Can YOU relate??

I’ve seriously considered having a shirt made that says: “I’m Fine!!!!! I’m not mad, or sad. Yes, I do like you. No, I’m not judging you….well maybe not this time…and by the way, I am smiling.”

As masks are starting to come off, and we are seeing everyone’s wonderful faces again I thought I would offer this list of perks for my RBF cohorts out there:

For most of you, I have used Chinese herbs for one thing or another over the years. Whether it be a cold or allergies, hot flashes, stress, and anxiety, cycle issues, etc., etc., I have probably tried herbal medicine to help your condition. Recently, I’ve been doing some really fun stuff with herbs and watched it work miracles, so I wanted to tell you about it!

After sharing my embarrassing story last week, I’ve had a number of people ask me if acupuncture can also help chronic knee pain too. In many cases, the answer is yes!

A lot of people think that chronic pain is just something they have to "get used to." Especially if the pain has been going on for a decade or more, they start to assume it's part of their life now.

But acupuncture can be incredibly helpful in reducing daily knee pain as well as flare-ups.

I have to tell you about my recent knee injury. It’s kind of an embarrassing story, but it turns out alright in the end.

On a beautiful winter day, I went skiing solo. I love being up there, just me and the great outdoors, with nothing to think about other than what fun run am I going to do next.

In the last newsletter, Sarah talked about our immune system, and I thought I’d share my two cents and more information on my biggest obsession…

When it comes to keeping our immune systems healthy, one of the most important factors is also one of the most overlooked: sleep. That was a big factor in my health back when we started sending the kiddo to daycare. Sure, he was bringing home bugs left and right, but admittedly, my biggest failure was not getting enough sleep to combat those meanies. And that is one place that I have certainly improved!

Well, it certainly has been a couple of years full of concern about our immune systems and external pathogens. After dealing with a sick kiddo last week, I thought I’d take a moment and dive into what that all means for us.

What is the immune system exactly? It’s not an organ or a meridian like we use in Chinese Medicine. So what is it?

What:

Following in the steps of many healthcare providers, we are moving to an updated 48 hour cancellation policy for all of our appointments.

Why:

This increased timeframe will make it more likely that we can fill canceled appointments.

We would rather be helping people than collecting missed appointment fees!

Collagen has been part of the wellness buzz for a little bit now. It comes in many forms: from bone broth to powders to gummies.

I have had several of my facial rejuvenation patients ask me what could they be doing at home to support anti-aging, and they’ve asked if collagen is worth taking. I can tell you YES it IS worth taking, and here are some of the benefits that can be backed scientifically.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that the days are getting shorter and colder. For some of us, we are starting our days before the sun is even up, and arriving home well after the sun has set. The shortest day of the year has crept up on us, and happens to be today. These short days can take their toll on us. The holidays can stir up feelings of anxiety, loneliness, overwhelm, and grief for many of us. We can feel like we are moving in slow motion, or downright stuck.

Are you feeling rested? No? Maybe it’s not just a simple sleep deficit. While sleep is the most obvious type of rest, there are additional types of rest that keep us going. Here’s a breakdown:

Physical Rest

This is the rest that we all know about, but there are two subtypes here - passive and active. Passive rest is sleeping and napping, while active rest is taking part in activities that rejuvenate us, like a restorative yoga class, massage, reflexology or acupuncture.

Here is one of those truths that always seems like a contradiction - in order to boost productivity we need to take breaks. I think that many of us have realized that vacations benefit us in this way - when you get back from a nice, restful holiday you have more energy and focus and feel interested in your work again. However, more and more research is showing that we need shorter breaks during the day as well.