Photo by Tambako the Jaguar

It’s now the Year of the Tiger, according to the Chinese calendar, and the Year of the Ox has moved on. I’m posting this late as I spent today preparing for the New Year by cleaning and painting a room in my house- whew! Tradition is that you do these things before the New Year begins, but we had a last start. On the topic of traditions for a proper Chinese New Year Celebration, read some great posts for ideas on the new year – it’s not too late to celebrate!

Kim Knight, LAc wrote a post about the traditions of this New Year on her blog:

It is traditional that the New Year be celebrated with a lot of the color red. Lamps, costumes and other items will be flashed red today. The deities of the Heaven and the Earth will be welcomed, after cleaning the house and it is traditional to exchange gifts in the form of a red envelope containing money, generally in amounts of even numbers and giving the amount of 8 is considered particularly auspicious because the word for eight is a homophone for “wealth”.

Jennifer Dubowsky, LAc wrote about the characteristics of Tigers-they sound like fun people to spend time with! In the spirit of Valentines Day, here is a section from her post about Tigers as partners:

Tigers make interesting partners – they are creative, passionate and will never bore their mates. They’re expressive, polite and trustworthy, but watch out. Partners need to have a high energy level and a sense of adventure to keep up with a Tiger.

A few colleague’s sent me this 2010 forecast from Dr. Maoshing Ni, complete with exercise and diet tips!

I wish you a safe, happy, and most of all healthy year of the Tiger.

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar

Acupuncturists Without Borders, a non-profit group that travels to places where disasters have occurred and treats those in need at no cost. The most recent group traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to help with pain management, stress, and emotional and physical trauma.

Watch the video below to see the work they are doing over in Haiti with great results.

To help out, donate, or for more information, go to www.acwb.info. This is a great organization who is doing important work all over the world!

Photo by christyscherrer

Call around your local yoga shops, and keep in mind that it’s best to bring your own mat- most yoga studios have some to lend out, but having your own is nice.

Photo by enfad

If you aren’t having any luck finding a prenatal yoga class in your area, there a lot of CD’s available to pregnant mamas that will walk you through the poses. CAUTION: There are yoga poses that should be avoided during pregnancy, so be sure to check with your practitioner and only practice prenatal yoga poses. The Health and Yoga site shows women poses for each trimester with pics and an explanation of how to do each pose, along with the benefits of each one. Or you can check outThe book Yoga for Pregnancy by Judith Lasater, PhD, is a good beginning book for those of us who are new to yoga. There are simple explanations, and a few poses to get you started. Preparing for Birth with Yoga by Janet Balaskas is another highly recommended book, and there are explanations of each pose, and meditations to help with labor, and even techniques to use during delivery.

Photo by {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester}

There is a lot of speculation around what a woman should or should not be exposed to while trying to get pregnant. For example, caffeine consumption, tuna fish, processed sugars, and refined flours are all to be avoided when trying to conceive, and only fresh, organic foods should be consumed (which is all true). However, did you know that your environment can also harbor several unknown hazards?

A recent article came out about a research study on fire retardant chemicals and their affect on the ability to conceive :

Researchers looked at data on 223 pregnant women participating in a study specifically studying chemical exposure and any effect on reproductive health. What they discovered was that women born outside the U.S. had lower levels of PBDEs (Polybrominated diphenyl ethers) in their blood than American-born women. And when the researchers looked at data on women trying to conceive a child, they found that women who tested with high levels of the flame retardant in their blood were 50% less likely to become pregnant in any given month than women with lower blood levels of the chemicals.

There is also a need to be aware of not only of which foods you consume, but the chemicals added to the foods during the packaging process. What you find may surprise you! This Times Online article discusses how chemicals used during food packaging are also linked to fertility problems:

A study of 1,240 women has found that those with higher levels of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in their bloodstreams tend to take longer to become pregnant than those with lower levels.

To avoid perflourinated chemicals, check out this article from the site Pollution in People. It has great tips on how to avoid these chemicals that are added to packaging in foods and other consumer products. Look for the words “fluoro” or ”perfluoro” and avoid anything with the word Teflon in the packaging.

Reading the packaging carefully, and trying to eat fresh foods made from ingredients that you either made yourself or cooked at home. Prepare your own meals and take care of your body by eating whole, fresh foods. Organic fruits and vegetables, and preparing homemade soups, stews, and sauces to have on hand is a great way to avoid frozen and prepackaged foods.

Photo by christyscherrer

A few more articles to check out to improve your fertility and avoid toxic chemicals are: 5 top fats for fertility by Dr. Nishant Rao at WellWire.com, and on Natural Baby Pros, a great article from Lorne Brown- Natural Fertility: Boosting Fertility with Chinese Medicine.

Photo By leojmelsrub

The global spread of Chinese Medicine is taking place before our eyes! Acupuncture is becoming more accepted into the mainstream every day – it’s a great time to be an acupuncturist, and I can’t wait to see where we are in 10 years.

*If you are interested in more acupuncture articles, go to WellWire.com and look in the ‘News‘ section. WellWire has a stream of new articles and ideas posted daily on the site, written by naturopathic doctors, acupuncture practitioners, top herbalists, and a lot of other amazing authors! I’m honored to be a part of this project and be connected with other practitioners who also love what they do.

*The economy needs acupuncture to heal itself. Well, not exactly in those words, but pretty close! The New York Times posted this article discussing how we need to prevent instead of treating the symptoms of the problem, which is exactly what Traditional Chinese Medicine does. We help prevent injuries to that already unstable knee, take care of the imbalance within the body that is causing digestive problems or difficulty getting pregnant, and preventing colds and coughs. Prevent the crisis you see coming BEFORE it happens!

*I know this has been in the news for a while, but women who are undergoing treatment for breast cancer and are using the drug Tamoxifen often suffer from hot flashes as a side effect. Acupuncture has proven to help with these side effects safely and effectively – read more about the study in which two treatment groups were divided into either the anti-depressant drug Effexor (the standard treatment) or acupuncture alone. The results were that the women in the acupuncture group experienced less side effects and had relief from the hot flashes.

Acupuncture is becoming more widely used, it prevents problems we can’t foresee, and it really works! These are just three great reasons to give acupuncture a try this year!

Photo by amona

Sullivan (Sully)

While browsing through the millions of pages on Facebook, I discovered a wonderful veterinary acupuncture site that many of my peers already knew about- Four Paws Acupuncture in Massachusetts. Jeanie Mossa Kraft, the owner of the site, has fantastic posts on the blog- I love the latest one about stray dogs riding the subway in Russia! She also has a recipe for healthy doggie meatballs, as well as a protective winter wax for dog paws (in case we actually see snow here in Portland again!). Her site is also full of information for feeding dogs appropriate foods (no onions!), acupuncture and other alternative care ideas.

Maggie

Frontier Veterinary Hospital in Hillsboro offers acupuncture to the patients, and the Veterinary Acupuncturist is Dr. Lisa Yung. Read this great post on the My Life With Dogs Blog – it’s a story about a dog named Bruiser who received acupuncture when it was discovered there was a problem with the a disc in his spinal cord. Be sure to read the story, and check out the  list of resources listed:

Becca Seitz, LAc treats pets at her clinic, Thrive Acupuncture, in Northeast Portland

Dr. Brenda Brown at Cedar Hills Vet Clinic now offers acupuncture as well

Dr. Prouty practices in Clackamas, Oregon at NW Vet Specialist

Massage/Integrated Touch:

Animal massage: Heal NW with Ruby Sullivan (I attended one of her seminars at Rose City Veterinary Hospital last year- she was amazing!)

Lauren McCall, The Integrated Animal- Uses TTouch technique to promote healing- read more about it on their informative site.

Other resources:

Dove Lewis – Portland’s main emergency veterinary hospital

Animal chiropractors – Dr. Chattigre’ at Cascade Summit Veterinary Hospital in West Linn, Oregon

Portland Veterinary Medical Association: A great resource for pets of all sizes

Pet ramps – include some Web sites: Orvis.com or KVVet.com

Asia in 'Downward Dog'

If you are interested in learning more about veterinarians in the US and Canada, check out the site for the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture.

Photo by Serge Arsenie

The longest night is now behind us with the passing of Winter Solstice, and the days will slowly become brighter. Now that winter has officially arrived, we can start to treat our bodies and minds with the Chinese Medicine knowledge that has been around and practiced by many for years.

This is the season where we are told to meditate more, sleep in when possible, and take care of our fatigued bodies. This is what we call the Yin (cold, dark, slow )time of year, as opposed to Summer’s Yang (warm, bright, energetic). Winter here is definitely Yin, with the cold, dampness, and dark days (unless you are in Australia…). It is the time we eat a little more, sleep a little more, and nourish our bodies for the coming spring.

Chinese medicine is a great way to keep your body cold and flu-free. Practitioners often use moxibustion this time of the year for its power to keep dampness (which is that heavy sensation we may feel in our bodies, along with a lack of energy). Moxibustion is a powerful tool, and it keeps cold out of the body (this is especially a problem here in the Northwest). Acupuncture points are chosen to keep the immune system in check, and also to keep your energy at a balanced level.

Speaking of energy, you may notice that you don’t have the same amount of “get-up” you do in the summer, which is a good thing. Not that you should be feeling lethargic, but life is a little slower in the winter- take your cues from nature. The ground is cold, animals are hibernating- life is building up to slowly burst forth in the spring. Not that we have the luxury of taking a few months off to sleep as the animals do, but our general nature should slow down.

Acupuncture practitioner Diane Joswick, MSOM, wrote this great excerpt on the acufinder site (I think it embodies a great deal of the TCM philosophy):

“Winter is ruled by the water element, which is associated with the kidneys, bladder, and adrenal glands. According to the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine, the kidneys are considered the source of all energy (Qi) within the body. They store all of the reserve Qi in the body so that it can be used in times of stress and change, or to heal, prevent illness, and age gracefully. During the winter months it is important to nurture and nourish our kidney Qi. It is the time where this energy can be most easily depleted. Our bodies are instinctively expressing the fundamental principles of winter — rest, reflection, conservation, and storage.“

Photo by James Jordan

A few thoughts on making the most of food during the winter:

-Time to stop drinking iced teas and coffees- go for the warm versions of these (I recommend a nice herbal tea, as coffee increases dampness in the body).
-Choose warm and nourishing soups and stews over cold summer salads. Be sure to choose good quality meat and fish for these meals- know where your ingredients come from.
-Eat more root vegetables, such as potatoes and yams. They are a great base for soups and stews.
-Make your own food instead of eating out- it will warm your house as well as your heart. Use a slow cooker to simmer nourishing meals for yourself and those you love.

Happy Wintering!

Watch this clip with Dr. Sami David and Jill Blakeway, LAc, discuss their book Making Babies:A Proven 3-month Program for Maximum Fertility on Parents TV.

Dr Sami David is a reproductive endocrinologist who has been working with Jill Blakeway, LAc for several years. Dr. David discusses concerns about IVF and why acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine are a healthier alternative to fertility drugs. Jill Blakeway explains the types of people who come in for treatment, and how they have come up with a way to find the “type” of people who come in for treatments.

1.Tired
2. Dry
3. Pale
4. Stuck
5. Waterlogged

Jill gives specific advice about each type, and explains that in Chinese medicine, we treat each person individually. Each type and each person will have specific treatment plans tailored exactly to what they need. Jill also reminds couples that it’s not always the woman who may be the reason a couple is unable to conceive, and that men should also get checked out. If you are curious about your “type” go to the Making Babies Program website and take the test (I took it- it’s easy!). I also recommend checking out the YinOva blog for a great post on how men can boost their fertility potential.

photo by davhor

Why oh why is it called “morning” sickness? For so many women, this part of an otherwise joyous experience lasts all day, sometimes through the night, and occasionally in the afternoon. Many women I’ve spoken to say that they either had no symptoms, a little nausea, a lot of nausea, or were just constantly sick. The consensus seemed to be that the majority of the nausea was over by around 12 weeks, but for some it lasted 20 weeks (halfway through the pregnancy).

There are often changes with the symptoms as the levels of hormones change, and the body begins to adjust to life with extra hormones and blood. The hormone HGC (human chorionic gonadotropin) is said to be the possible cause of the heaving and nausea. Others say the shifting hormones make you out of balance, which is very close to the way we see it in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In the early stages of pregnancy, a woman’s body is Yin. When egg is fertilized, it begings to bring more Yang into the body, which in turn causes something of an upheaval and imbalance of the Yin and Yang within the body, leading to nausea.

Acupuncture practitioners have wonderful tools to help ease this sometimes difficult transition. Besides using acupuncture needles, a common formula for nausea is Gui Zhi Tang, which contains cinnamon bark, red dates, white peony, and ginger- a great combination to warm and ease the stomach as well as help balance out the struggle with the Yin and Yang of the body. Once this balance is achieved, the nausea should improve. There are other formulas that may be helpful, and acupuncture treatments are very safe and effective if you are worried about taking formulas or anything besides prenatal care. Also, keep in mind that this formula may not be for everyone- ALWAYS check with a practitioner before taking formulas during your pregnancy.

Common tips from women were:

-eat small meals frequently,

-try to eat a little protein in the morning

-keep crackers, dry toast, and clear soda near the bed to avoid getting hungry (which may lead to nausea)

-take prenatal vitamins on a full stomach

*If you experience a fever, or are vomiting so severely you cannot keep food or liquids down, contact your health care provider immediately*

I welcome any more tips for discussion! Chinese Medicine is a great tool, and I feel that sharing the wisdom passed down from women is the best way to learn more about how we can help each other at this special time. Also, check out Blossom Clinc’s recommendations for morning sickness!

I can’t say enough good things about the Acupuncture Relief Project.

The project, which just celebrated it’s one year anniversary, has finished the first six weeks of practitioners in Nepal, and now a new group is on the way in to treat. Acupuncturists from all over the US are taking time out of their lives and practices to come to Chapagoan, Nepal and treat at a free clinic.

Here is a short excerpt from the blog:

One year ago, November 11th 2008, the Acupuncture Relief Project (ARP) helped open the Vajra Varhi Natural Healthcare Clinic, in Chapagoan. The day before the doors opened we sat around wondering if anyone from the village would even show up to our clinic. How would this community embrace us and our strange medicine? Now a year later the ARP has provided over 10,000 acupuncture treatments to this rural Newari and Nepali village. The clinic continues to grow and serves upward of 400 patients per week. Some walking up to 5 hours to reach the clinic. In addition to acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, the clinic now has practitioners who practice Tibetan herbal medicine and homeopathy. The clinic has also hosted two dental camps.

Recently, ARP has joined up with Saathi Samua Care House and is now treating people with HIV and those who are trying to rehabilitate from drug use. Check out this short video of practitioners in action in this clinic:

Saathi Samuha: Acupuncture Relief Project Partnership

ARP is open to practitioners, and is always in need of donations, no matter the size. Go to their blog and have a look at the beautiful photos and see the faces of people they have helped.