Spring Cleaning & You!!

There are green sprouts bursting up and out of the ground.

Its happening, it has arrived!! S P R I N G !! oh joy!!!!

ah ah ah AHCHOOOOO.. Oh. Joy. Spring has arrived..

Its okay, this is natural this is how it works. Our bodies (ie, nature) is busting out of the winter cave/cocoon it has nestled into.. and this dusting off of the Qi doesnt always feel great. There is a restlessness, a tension surrounding it, and along with that everyone's noses and eyes are itchy and watery, or they're coughing..

Yeah thats your body, spring cleaning.

People in the clinic (including myself) have been complaining about a certain acheyness, muscles wanting to be stretched, a tiredness that feels.. frustrating..

FRUSTRATION!!!! What was that we just spoke of in a different post? Ahhhh, yes, the emotions and organ systems.

Welcome to Liver.

What I hadn't mentioned was that the organ systems also are connected to the seasons.

Again, welcome to Liver.

Spring is all about the movement, the growth, the spreading of the wings. This is Liver's job within us- it is in charge of moving qi. Well, it tends to get bent out of shape when it has obstacles and shaking off winter is one big huge obstacle! Sooooo, the Liver qi gets a little stuck, stagnant, and this creates.. FRUSTRATION!!!

But it too shall pass.

A great thing to do when feeling this type of angsty frustration is to sit, put your hand just below your belly button, and breathe so that your breath expands where your hand rests. This is breathing into your lower abdomen. And here is a cool thing.. Kind of blows my mind actually.. It is impossible to hold onto a frustration, an anxiety, or to be pissed if your belly is soft with breath.

Try it.

With each breath, it moves out, if just for a moment. That moment is often long enough for us to remember that there really isn't anything going on except our qi is trying to move. It is having a hard time and thus- we are frustrated.

Yawning is the body's natural way to try to move qi, so imagine how if we really focused on our breath being even and steady, down into the belly instead of shallow only at our upper chest, how much qi we would help move..


Ok back to Spring Cleaning..

Here are some ways to help move qi

• exercise, particularly stretching, running, pilates. You don't need too much, you don't need to break a big sweat.

• meditating, when your mind is still and your breath is even qi can move quite easily without your mental/emotional obstructions

• GREENS!!!! Arugula, Kale, Mustard Greens with Lemons! Delicious.. With every meal have a leafy green. These are very very tonifying for the Liver & the Spring system. Light steaming or sauteing.. Lemon water in the morning upon waking is great as well

• Oh yeah, ACUPUNCTURE!! I mean, this is what acupuncture does. It moves qi, unblocks obstruction.

So we are offering a Spring Cleaning Treatment! $35 and it will really help your body restart, get the motors running and help your system clean up and get ready to move!!


Enjoy Spring! Breathe! Eat! Smile!!

Be well,

cm

Emotions emotions emotions

We love em, we hate em.. wait.. we have emotions about emotions.. they're everywhere. All the time. And sometimes they are problems. Often, actually, they linger in a big way.

So in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) all of our organ systems have a correlating emotion it is in charge of. Actually, more like, it is supposed to keep in check. And when an emotion seems to run amok, it points us towards the correlating orghan system to look for imbalances.

So, if one tends to anger easily, gets frustrated & short tempered often, we look at the Liver system and how its running. Lots of over-thinking and worrying, thinking about the what-ifs, thats Spleen. When there is a large sense of grief and saddness that cannot be shaken, we look towards the Lung. Fear is controlled (I use that term loosely) by the Kidneys, and here is the weird one.. Joy is ruled by the Emperor, the heart.

Now, when I say Joy, I mean that frenetic uncontrollable laughing nervous joy that scares the crap out of everyone else. The manic joy. Not Joie de vive of the everyday.

So we have emotions and these emotions help us, your friendly acupuncturists, to diagnose where your underlying issues may reside. Now when a friend or family member dies, obviously there will be grief, and that is normal. The Lung system can be boosted to help you to move through that grief, or if it feels that the grief is lingering longer than one is comfortable with, we help the system to move the emotion through. It is of course, a process.

All of the emotions are valuable as long as they come and then go, like a summer rain. When it lingers and soaks everything it begins to affect other organ systems.. Often more than one system is involved.If you are feeling a bit, off kilter.. a bit, oh i don't know, EMOTIONAL, and its kind of making you bonkers, your partner, also, bonkers, and there is no real rhyme nor reason to the lingering state, acupuncture may very well get you back on track, back to that lovely place of neutral. That place where we have emotions.. but they don't have us.

be well!

cm

Anxiety and its symptoms

We have all had anxiety at some point in our lives. Sometimes it is brief, and other times it lingers way too long. When this happens physical manifestations occur, often in the form of tummy troubles.. Doctors call it IBS, another amazing term for 'we have no idea but it involves your gut & poop'.. OH!! That! Obviously there is a pill for gut-poopitis, yes?

nope.

Because it is rarely due to a physical issue involving your stomach, intestines, gall bladder, liver.. it usually stems from those pesky things called thoughts & emotions..

So, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Spleen system is a pretty important guy.. The Spleen helps build blood, turns the food we consume into qi (its called gu qi, yes as in Gucci..) its work partner and best pal is the stomach, and like all organ systems, it is in charge of an emotion.

guess which one.. go on, guess.. A N X I E T Y !!

worry, rumination, over-thinking, nail-biting 'what if what if oh no oh no..' Yep, that's the Spleen system..

So, ok. We over think, we have anxiety, we are stressed.. and then suddenly our stomach is in a knot, we have a mixed bag when it comes to number two, and our appetite seems to also go all over the place.

Eventually the taxation on our Spleen-Stomach system gets to the point that we are not processing food properly. Eating now comes with its own anxiety. And that's just not okay.

So here is how TCM looks at this.. Your Spleen system is simply out of whack. It needs to be adjusted, it needs a boost. It needs help. It needs to be reminded what its job is, so that the stomach can do its job properly, so that food can be digested properly.

Acupuncture lowers anxiety. It just does. It brings your body back to neutral, back to the harmonizing place it wants to be. When your body, your qi, is flowing properly, the systems work well. Your Spleen can take the qi from the food, your stomach can process the food, and you can breathe easier because your anxiety levels are lower. Your anxiety levels are lower because your spleen is balanced so it doesn't have to over-think thoughts, which becomes anxiety..

This isn't A treatment tho. You wont walk out of the clinic with everything right as rain for ever and ever. Maybe for the day, maybe even for 3. But your body's imbalances are probably pretty big if it has brought you to the acupuncturist. So it may take a bit, but with each session, the anxiety will lessen, the digestion will get smoother, the bloating will minimize, and you will know you aren't doomed to hating the idea of eating for the rest of your life.

Be well, breathe deeply, smile.. the sun is out, and there is always a ray of hope..

cm