Being authentic is the ability to be true to oneself. Living an authentic life requires the ability to be true to our own wants, needs and desires and not live our lives by the opinion of others. Being authentic is the ability to make self-honoring choices and stand firmly in who we are in our core. Being true to ourselves gives us the insight and compassion to see others for who they are, not who we expect them to be. It frees us up from the judgment of ourselves and others and it gives others the freedom to be themselves as well.

~ Victoria J. Reynolds

Would you like to cozy up with a great book in the company of like minded women?

Are you ready to tap into your feminine self? Your authentic self?

Explore your authentic self in this series of discussions with Noreen Cerqua, LCMT. We will meet 7 times beginning Sunday, March 25 continuging through May 20th at 5:30PM at MetroWest Whole Health. (Taking breaks for Easter and of course Mothers Day!) Come as we gather women together to find connection to ourselves with the support of other women.

Our book and compass through this exploration is The Wild Feminine by Tammi Lyn Kent. With advanced training in multiple bodywork techniques and the ability to read energetic patterns of the body, Kent has developed holistic pelvic care for women to bridge the gap between modern medicine and feminine wisdom. Through a series of stories, visualizations and exercises, physical therapist and holistic healthcare professional Tami Lynn Kent helps women tap into their core feminine energy to restore creative flow and overall health. We will follow along her path on this great exploration.

Wild Feminine offers an entirely new approach to women’s health with applications for relief from pelvic pain, menopausal symptoms, postpartum healing, decreased libido, trauma recovery and more. It reveals the amazing power of the female body to create, heal, and transform. The mother of three, Kent practices women’s health physical therapy in Portland, Oregon.

Wild Feminine is available at MetroWest Whole Health for $15.00. There is a limited number of spots in the reading group so do not wait to sign up!

Email Us to reserve your spot today

Related Information

“Nine Ways Women Self-Sabotage” by Jenna Goudreau, Forbes, Feb. 2012

Defining Your Authentic Self by Dr. Phil

MetroWest Whole Health is part of a larger network of community acupuncture clinics.  A truly visionary and invigorating social experiment! We’re a bonafided member of a cooperative called the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture… or POCA for short. POCA has more than 300 member clinics: clinics, individuals and acupuncturists from all over the world!

MetroWest Whole Health to many of us, feels like a one-of-a-kind thing. Well, it is definitely a special place. But it’s actually part of an international movement of acupuncturists and community acupuncture clinics who are committed to changing the way health care is created and sustained in our world. We’re very excited to introduce you to POCA. POCA is a multi-stakeholder cooperative.  It’s mission is to ensure acupuncture is available to regular folks with ordinary incomes.  We’re working to open and grow clinics throughout the country.

And you can join too, if you choose!

“What else is in it for patients, besides bringing Community Acupuncture clinics to new communities?” Free stuff!!!

• Each patient receives 3 FREE treatment cards to give to their friends or family, to be redeemed at POCA-member-clinics!
• New patient paperwork fees are waived (FREE) for POCA-members at all POCA-member clinics.
• Every POCA-member receives FREE acupuncture on his or her birthday!!!
• Patient members will receive the FREE POCA newsletter Sticking Together, which will soon have more articles written for patients.
• POCA patients will have the opportunity to vote in POCA elections.
• Patients can offer hands-on support for the organization POCA and/or their local POCA clinic.

More POCA Information:
Patient and Community Memberships range from $25 to $100 annually
To sign-up…
Call (971) 400-8739
Or just tell us and we’ll get you an application

POCA’s Mission

The purpose of the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture is to create a stable and sustainable economic foundation for the delivery of affordable acupuncture, and to establish and maintain structures to that end.

POCA is a Cooperative owned by patients, acupuncturists, students, community acupuncture clinics, and their supporters, that organized collective investments of time energy, participation and money, to further its vision.

POCA serves a variety of member interests, including access to affordable, quality acupuncture and the creation of living-wage jobs in the acupuncture profession.

POCA contributes to vital, healthy communities by providing hands-on member support for the success of Community Acupuncture clinics from schooling to start-up to success.

By joining the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA), you show your support for this groundbreaking organization, and will be an integral part of this exciting new step in creating accessible and affordable healthcare together.

Membership Types: Details, Benefits & Fees

Patient/Community Member: $25 – $100

One free treatment the week of your birthday, 3 referral cards good for a free treatment at any POCA clinic, waived new patient fees at any POCA clinic, the ability to contribute directly to POCA clinics by volunteering for one of POCA’s many committees and projects, and by providing hands-on support to your own local community acupuncture clinic.

Acupuncturist/Student Members: $45 – $90

Access to the famously comprehensive online forums for community acupuncturists and the new CAN 101 wiki; a free CAN membership, 1 free treatment the week of your birthday, 3 referral cards good for a free treatment at any POCA clinic, waived new patient fees at any POCA clinic, the ability to contribute directly to POCA clinics by volunteering for one of POCA’s many committees and projects, and by providing hands-on support to your own local community acupuncture clinic.

Clinic Members: $50 – up to 1% of clinic’s annual gross income

A listing on POCA’s Locate A Clinic page.  The ability to receive the time, talents resources and energy that Patient/Community Members and Acupuncture/Student Members choose to invest in Clinic Members.  Access to a national hiring network for community acupuncturists. Materials and support to help Clinic Members create jobs and be good employers.  Access to programs that POCA will develop, such as microloans for Clinic start-up or expansion; bulk purchasing; collective marketing; and transition support.

Organizational Members: $100 – $1000

Organizational Members receive the opportunity to advertise in POCA’s monthly newsletter, “Sticking Together”, and to market their goods or services to POCA members.

Contact Information for POCA

3526 NE 57th Ave., Portland, OR 97213
971-400-8739

pocacoop@gmail.com
pocacoop.com

This is a traditional dish served for the Chinese New Year.

Aduki beans (also called azuki or adzuki) have a natural sweetness and combined with the delicate, nutty chestnuts and the soft, warm squash you get a festive winter meal. The combination of these foods will provide you with good stamina and an even temper.

This dish is cooked in a pressure cooker for efficiency and nutrition.  (For more on pressure cooking see this great site.) You can adjust the cooking times if you’d rather cook it in a large soup pot.

Serving size: 4 – 5
Cooking time: 55 minutes (not including soaking beans overnight)

Ingredients
1 (1-inch) strip kombu seaweed (available at Whole Foods Market)
1/2 cup dried aduki beans – sorted & rinsed
3 cups winter squash, cubed
1 cup short grain brown rice
2 1/2 cups filtered water
Cooked chestnuts , diced (Wegman’s has pre-cooked organic for less than $2!)
1 tbsp shoyu/tamari
Kim chi

Here’s how
Place kombu in bowl. Pour beans over kombu. Add enough water to cover beans and soak overnight.

Put the rice in a separate bowl and add enough water to cover.  As with the beans, soak overnight. (Soaking and rinsing grains removes the phytic acid which interferes with absorption of nutrients.)

2-8 hours later… Strain and rinse beans. Tear kombu into 1inch squares and place in pressure cooker.

Rinse and drain the rice.

Add beans, squash, rice and water to the seaweed you’ve place in your pressure cooker.  Close its lid to seal and bring to full pressure over medium heat.  Reduce heat and place on a flame deflector under your pressure cooker; cook on low for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pressure to reduce naturally.  Open and stir mixture to create a creamy texture.  Add cooked chestnuts.

Garnish with shoyu or tamari and your favorite Kim Chi.

Transfer to serving bowls and enjoy!

Adapted from “Cooking the Whole Foods Way” by Christina Pirello.

Ready for something new?  Exciting?  Imagine the changes as we embark on the Year of the Dragon! The Chinese dragon is the fabulous beast that is the most powerful sign in the Chinese zodiac.  Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.  Monday, January 23rd we leave behind the Year of the Rabbit and begin a new Lunar Year: the Year of the Water Dragon. I love Chinese New Year because it perks up the dreary post-holiday winter days with bright colors, mythic stories, tangerines and yummy soups!

When I think of Winter I often think of the Solstice… dark, deep, sleepy times, heavy with snow and long nights.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine now is the time for us to recharge and restore.  With Winter now in full swing, the calendar enters the Lunar new year period — January 23 to Febrary 6 — and we begin to see changes in the quality of daylight and length of our days.  Here in New England, you’ll see snow drops and narcissus peaking up through the snow in the next few weeks. It may be cold, but the hint of Spring is just ahead.

In Chinese Medicine the period of change between the seasons can offer a prediction of our health and well being for the coming season.  It’s said that if we catch a cold during the two weeks when the seasons change, those symptoms will linger.  Our bodies work to adapt as the season changes and this effort can leave us vulnerable.  Classic Chinese literature admonishes us in the midst of Winter to stay warm and rest,

“Winter is the season of shutting and storing. One should be kept warm in the room, dress warmly and take strict prevention against the cold so that our inner heat is not disturbed. One should go to bed early in night and get up late to wait for contacting the sunlight; keep the spirit hiding and subsiding.”
~ Huang di Nei Jing
written in China 475-225 BCE

Here’s some more info to help you find ways to ring in your own most healthy New Year.

Custom dictates that most families begin the first day of Chinese New Year with a vegetarian meal to counteract the effects of the feasting and holiday parties: Here’s my favorite recipe for Pum Buk.

Learn more about celebrating Chinese New year: traditions and practices

Explore the tradition of mandarin oranges and tangerines. Tangerines and oranges are given as gifts, as their Chinese names sound like “gold” and “wealth”: Learn more

For more recipes and inspiration see this nifty site: Weekday Vegetarian: 45 Recipes for Chinese New Year

Now would be a good time to schedule your next acupuncture visit!

Castor oil, castor beans and leaves

Healing with
Castor Oil
December’s Topic

Sunday, December 11, 2011
6:00-7:30PM

Join us for the December session in our ongoing workshop series designed for women seeking to improve their health and wellness.  December’s topic is using castor oil packs.  Whether this is a new experience or something you’ve done before, this 1.5 hour session will deepen your understanding of how to conveniently and effectively use castor oil packs.

• If you struggle with painful abdominal symptoms or discomfort, this class is for you.
• If you are dissatisfied with traditional methods of treating abdominal symptoms, this class is for you.
• If you’re looking for a new way to cope with PMS, other menstrual or ovulation symptoms, this class is for you.
• If you want a better connection with your body, and a sense of balance and well-being, this class is for you.

Learn how to help heal your abdomen through this therapeutic self-care workshop. It’s a wonderful opportunity to connect with this often neglected area of the body.

Sunday’s workshop is the second self care workshop in our series led by Noreen Cerqua, LCMT. Noreen, an advanced Arvigo™ Practioner of Maya Abdominal Therapy, will share a variety of healing therapies throughout the series.

You will learn how to do castor oil packs and have a castor oil pack applied to your pelvis/belly while guided through a meditation. Castor oil has the ability to heal cysts, break up adhesions, help with Candida, bacteria, viruses and congestion in the pelvis.

Arvigo Techniques™ of Maya Abdominal Therapy was developed to bring relief for a variety of uncomfortable symptoms: discomforts ranging from constipation, abdominal bloating, fertility, PMS, and urinary incontinence, to pelvic pain and recovery from childbirth.

Throughout this workshop series, you will learn self care techniques inspired by traditional midwives and healers in Belize and Guatemala. The Arvigo Techniques™ of Maya Abdominal Therapy are founded on the ancient Mayan practices of non-invasive, external abdominal massage that repositions internal organs that have shifted.

Call to register: 508-533-0808

Noreen Cerqua, LCMT

Healing with Castor Oil
November’s Topic

Sunday, November 20, 2011
6:00-7:30PM

MetroWest Whole Health is offering a workshop series designed for women seeking to improve their personal health and wellness.  Arvigo Techniques™ of Maya Abdominal Therapy was developed to bring relief for a variety of uncomfortable symptoms: ranging from constipation, abdominal bloating, fertility, PMS, menopause, urinary incontinence, to pelvic pain and recovery from childbirth.

At this workshop, you will learn self care techniques inspired by traditional midwives and healers in Belize and Guatemala.  The Arvigo Techniques™ of Maya Abdominal Therapy are founded on the ancient Mayan practices of non-invasive, external abdominal massage that repositions internal organs that have shifted.

November Session

Join us Sunday, November 20th for a self care workshop led by Noreen Cerqua, LCMT. This session we will explore the healing properties of castor oil.

If you struggle with painful abdominal symptoms or discomfort, this class is for you.

If you are dissatisfied with traditional methods of treating abdominal symptoms, this class is for you.

If you’re looking for a new way to cope with PMS, other menstrual or ovulation symptoms, this class is for you.

If you want a better connection with your body, and a sense of balance and well-being, this class is for you.

Learn how to help heal your abdomen through this therapeutic self-care workshop. It’s a wonderful opportunity to connect with this often neglected area of the body.

You will learn how to do castor oil packs and have a castor oil pack applied to your pelvis/belly while guided through a meditation.  Castor oil has the ability to heal cysts, break up adhesions, help with Candida, bacteria, viruses and congestion in the pelvis.

Call to register: 508-533-0808

Noreen Cerqua, LCMT

Education Appreciation Week: August 14-20!

Teachers & Support Staff receive FREE acupuncture at MetroWest Whole Health this week!!

Call to schedule your appointment 508-533-0808 or schedule yourself online

Thanks for all you do. ♥

(Scheduled appointments only, please.)

The New England Community Acupuncture Network is a sponsor for this year’s Blissfest.
Come for the day and have acupuncture in our outdoor clinic.  Listen to great music, do yoga, shop the vendors, and enjoy this beautiful New England summer day!

Blissfest - July 30th

Community Acupuncture Network (CAN) is a non-profit organization of practitioners, patients, and supporters whose goal is to make acupuncture more affordable and accessible by promoting the practice of offering acupuncture in community settings for a sliding scale ranging within $15-40 a treatment.

There are now over 200 clinics across the country who are official members of CAN.  Over 13% of the nation’s community acupuncture clinics — that’s 27! — are located here in New England.

Join community acupuncturists from around New England at Blissfest:
Saturday, July 30th in Millis

Call for your tickets today!
508-376-4525

After 33 years of consideration, the Food and Drug Administration took steps last month to sort out the confusing world of sunscreens, with new rules that specify which lotions provide the best protection against the sun and ending claims that they are truly waterproof.

New FDA rules

•    To call itself “broad spectrum” protection, sunscreens must protect equally against two kinds of the sun’s radiation: UVB and UVA.
•    UVB rays cause burning; UVA rays cause wrinkling; and both cause cancer.
•    No more “waterproof” or “sweatproof” because such claims are false. Instead, they will be allowed to claim in minutes the amount of time the product is water resistant, depending upon test results.
•    And only sunscreens that have a sun protection factor, or SPF, of 15 or higher will be allowed to maintain that they help prevent sunburn and reduce the risks of skin cancer and early skin aging.

Risks associated with Sunscreen

The Environmental Working Group recommends against using any product containing the ingredient oxybenzone. Though oxybenzone is one of more than a dozen ingredients approved by the FDA, “we know it’s absorbed significantly into the body,” said Dr. Alan Greene, the author of “Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care”.

Oxybenzone is an organic compound that has been shown to penetrate into the skin where it acts as a photosensitizer. This results in an increased production of free radicals under illumination, possibly making this substance a photocarcinogen.  Further concerns stem from a small body of research indicating that oxybenzone, which blocks ultraviolet light, may mimic the effects of estrogen in the body and promote the growth of cancer cells. One study found that rats eating high doses of the chemical experienced side effects like abnormal uterine growth.

Sunscreen protects against two common forms of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma, and several sunscreen ingredients protect against tumor development in photocarcinogenicity tests in mice. However, there is some evidence, largely arising from correlational studies and in vitro experiments, that particular sunscreen ingredients (such as oxybenzone, benzophenone, octocrylene, or octyl methoxycinnamate) may be linked to increased risks of malignant melanoma, a rarer but more deadly form of skin cancer. It has also been linked to vitamin D deficiency.  The broad areas of concern are:
•    potentially carcinogenic properties of some sunscreen ingredients
•    vitamin D deficiency caused by reduced exposure to ultraviolet light
•    incomplete protection against the full ultraviolet spectrum combined with increased time spent in the sun

Sunscreen Tips

• Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide-based sunscreens that do not contain nanoparticles are generally thicker and whiter than those that do. Avoid nano-sprays or powders altogether, especially near the face, because the particles can be inhaled into the lungs.
• Once your baby is 6 months old, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends products with a rating of SPF 30 or more with a broad-spectrum sunscreen, or one that protects against both ultraviolet A and B rays.
• “Avoid products that combine bug repellent and sunscreen,” said Dr. Michael Smith of Vanderbilt. Bug repellent isn’t known to be safe for frequent application — but you do need to reapply sunscreen to avoid burn every 1 1/2 hours. And use enough: 3 teaspoons for an average toddler, 6 teaspoons for an 8-year-old, Smith said.
• Check out the EWG website and look up your sunscreen to see how it compares to others
• Use your sunscreen enough and apply often.  See this LA Times article for advice on natural sunscreen.