Many high functioning people can’t eat, sleep or poop with ease or contentment. Weird. These are basic biological functions. How have we drifted so far from balance to miss out on these simple joys? Why do we think it’s normal to have difficulty in these essential areas of life? We actually need to do all…
Plantar fasciitis – also called a heel spur – is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. This tissue is called the plantar fascia. It connects the heel bone to the toes and creates the arch of the foot. When inflamed, it causes pain at the heel that varies from sharp…
Xiao Yao Wan or Free and Easy Wanderer is one of the most famous herbal formulas available to help regulate your Liver, Gallbladder and Spleen Organ Systems, bringing about a balanced feeling of emotional and physical harmony. We prescribe this formula to many people and have seen widespread improvements to their individual issues. The Liver…
Lupus is an autoimmune disease causing inflammation of the connective tissue. Western medicine doesn’t understand the cause of this difficult disease that mainly afflicts women. Men can also get this disease, but 9 in 10 people with lupus are women. Ninety percent of patients complain of joint pain, and 40% of patients have skin conditions and…
Variscite – Authenticity and Truth Variscite is beautiful stone. When I look at it rough, I want to pick it up and hold it. It is formed through a sedimentary process on the Earth’s surface with the help of aluminum-rich rock and rainwater containing phosphoric acid. It fills in the cracks as it is deposited….
Your femoral artery is located at the inguinal area where the thigh meets your groin area. By massaging this artery, the goal is to increase fertility. This massage increases the blood flow to the pelvic organs, providing more nourishment to the uterus and ovaries, testes and penis. By increasing blood flow to the area, the…
The best vitamins for our bodies come from real, whole foods. It would be a sweet life if our foods gave us everything we needed and we made all the right food choices everyday. I would eat a rainbow of colors. My foods would never be processed, always be organic and always be grown in…
Many women believe that painful periods are something that they will always have to suffer through. The most common western treatment for most things regarding a menstrual cycle is hormonal pharmaceuticals, such as birth control pills. Not every woman wants to be on the pill for years, due to concern over the long term use of…
(This post was originally titled Taking Care of Each Other – Election 2016. However, it seems that the point of this post still reigns true, so we updated it a bit.) We can easily start to believe our world is falling apart with the ceaseless barrage of soundbites and rhetoric that media outlets have been…
“The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” -Aristotle, Metaphysica In holistic health, we speak about treating the whole person. It makes sense. We are complex beings with emotions, thoughts, and body parts. Each choice we make affects the whole of our being. We have made multiple choices to be who we are…
Bladder and Pelvic Pain: Reduce Symptoms with Acupuncture and Pelvic Floor Health This post was originally written and posted in 2011, but the information is still accurate! There are many causes and types of pain that affect the bladder and pelvic region. Interstitial cystitis or Bladder pain syndrome is a chronic, severely debilitating disease of the urinary…
The tradition and clinical application of Chinese herbal medicine is dynamic and time tested. The first written documentation on Traditional Chinese Medicine is the HungDi NeiJing or Yellow Emperor’s Cannon of Internal Medicine. HungDi NeiJing is the oldest medical textbook in the world, how cool is that?! Different opinions date the book back to between…
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) viewpoint, infertility is described as the inability to conceive after two years of having regular intercourse without contraception. This may allow some of you to breathe a sigh of relief! In the US, we are normally only given one year or less to get pregnant. TCM and acupuncture encourage…
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat. A diagnosis of PTSD is becoming more common. After…
Lyme disease is tricky. If the person is lucky, they present with an obvious bulls-eye rash and overt symptoms that easily lead to a quick diagnosis. A course of antibiotic therapy to rid the body of the pathogen, followed up with acupuncture and herbal medicine to help the body return to balance, is usually an…
Stress effects all of us. The more tools we have to reduce stress, the better we feel. Some tools work better at certain times than others and some aren’t always available. The more options we have, the more prepared we will be. So what can we do for ourselves to feel better and reduce stress?…
This week marks the astrological beginning if springtime. Spring is the time of the cleanse. We do our Spring Cleaning in the house and more and more, through advertisements and media, we are encouraged to do some internal cleansing as well. But what is a LIVER cleanse? What does it mean? Are all liver cleanses…
There are many ways to use natural products in attempts to gain and keep our health and vitality. I believe that herbal medicine is People’s Medicine and that we have rich traditions that can address most of our complaints while they are still in the beginning stages. One of my goals is to share simple…
To make an Herbal Infusion, use the delicate parts of the plant, like flowers and leaves. If you are using roots or branches, you will simmer it, which is a different process. Simply boil water, pour the water into a quart jar with about one ounce of herbs (or about 1 cup of water to…
Lower back pain is a common complaint. You can have acute low back pain from lifting something; hopefully it’s only a muscle spasm. You can have chronic back pain from pelvic instability or herniations of discs or the narrowing of your spinal canal or … there are so many options. Too many options. Acupuncture does…
As the temperatures fluctuate and our bodies try to discern how to respond to the outside weather conditions, we can take some steps to ensure our immune system and general wellness don’t take a hit. Step one: Dress like your grandma is watching. My grandma always told me to keep my neck covered and in…
About 15 minutes before arriving, as I am driving down the winding country roads of central Massachusetts, I start to get nervous. Fifteen minutes of nerves is more desirable than days, for sure, but I start asking myself why I thought it was a good idea to try my first silent retreat? Why would I…
Anxiety, Depression and Acupuncture Anxiety and depression are very common in our communities, but people do not share their experiences very often. As an acupuncturist, I see stress, at the very least, as one of the common causative factors in many health concerns. Some of us experience anxiety and depression as our stress builds and…
How Acupuncture Can Support Your Care Plan. *Note: This blog post was originally published to our original blog on 10/16/2009. The information shared in this post is still accurate and is quite important to the current functioning of our clinic space. Thanks, and enjoy. In June of 2009 I was able to attend an integrative…