Are You A Super Giver?

Lately I have been thinking about some patients that I have and how they are super givers. These are some of the nicest people you can meet. They take amazing care of their family and home, plus they are excellent employees or business owners. They care about community, ethics, the importance of parenthood, and the happiness of others. They have another thing in common, they don't give to themselves.

• Are you one of these givers? 

• Do you have a family that you support in many aspects? 

• And a job that wants 100% of you? 

• And a house that has never ending dishes and laundry?

There is a lot of pressure on women especially to be perfect at everything and the givers of the world. They give until they are drained.

Well I am here to give you permission to give to yourself. And you know what? You will be a better giver to others by making sure you are taken care of. I often ask patients to spend just 15 minutes daily plus 1 hour a week on yourself.





There are so many things you can do in 15 minutes. Here is a short list: meditate, give yourself a mani or pedi, do a facial, take a short walk, play with a pet, read a book for fun. I would love to see other ideas you have, so please leave comments.





For the hour weekly you can come get acupuncture and decompress from the past week. Let someone else take care of you for an hour! Acupuncture is fantastic at nourishing the mind, body, and spirit to rejuvenate you. With balanced Qi you will once again feel like yourself able to go out and nurture others. Some other ideas you could do for an hour are get a massage, take a yoga/tai chi/exercise class, or a pottery/painting class, how about an uninterrupted hour of planning a dream vacation... really the possibilities are endless.

Just like practicing any new healthy habit you will get better over time taking care of yourself. In the beginning it may seem hard to give your self permission to take the time, so that is why I am giving it to start. If you would really like to supplement your support beyond this permission letter then regular acupuncture treatments are highly recommended. Also, let your family know what you are doing and how it benefits them too. So you can be a better listener, a better homework helper, a better chef, and mostly able to love greater because your needs are met too.


I wish you all great gifts of time to yourself! I give you permission! You deserve it Super Giver!

-Jennifer P.

5 Ways Acupuncture Can Improve Your Life

Acupuncture is a pretty amazing Alternative Therapy and only a small percentage of people have tried it in America. Here are a few reasons to help you see how it can improve your own life. The great thing to remember about acupuncture is that it can only help or do nothing at all, it cannot make your symptoms worse or cause further problems. So why not give it a try. 

Here are 5 ways acupuncture can improve your life:

1. Relieve Pain - So many people suffer with some kind of pain, either from an old injury or something recent that will go away easily. Either way, acupuncture can help. The number one reason people try acupuncture in America is for pain. Many are in chronic pain and let's be honest a life high on pain medications is no way to live. Chinese medicine usually says pain is a result of stagnation of either Qi and/or Blood, in order to reduce or clear pain we move Qi and Blood. 
2. Increase Happiness
   
   Acupuncture will help you find balance in your life, your emotions, your thoughts; you will feel more clear. A lack of balance is exactly what acupuncture addresses. The practitioner listens to your pulses and finds areas of imbalance, either excess or deficiency such as a lack or energy flowing, and restores it by placing needles in certain acupuncture points. Acupuncture studies have been proven that particular points release serotonin and other happy endorphins to change your attitude. 
3. Remember what Relaxed Feels Like - Acupuncture is great at changing your autonomic nervous system from flight or fight to rest and digest. Many people forget what rest and digest is with all the electronics and demands of today's world. However, it is an important part of your day to make this switch. It may prevent a future heart attack or other serious ailments.
4. Improve Sleep
   
   There are hormones that you produce only in REM sleep and if you areunable to achieve REM then you are missing out on your bodies ability to function at its best. One of the best side effects of any acupuncture treatment is a great nights rest. Plus we can simply work on improving your sleep; whether the problem is staying asleep or falling asleep. 
5. Strengthen Immune System - Also a strength of acupuncture and herbs is the ability to improve your immune system. Many patients report hardly ever getting sick when they come for treatments regularly, even when their kids bring home really nasty colds. In Chinese medicine we call your immune system Wei Qi and this is what we boost in your treatment to keep you healthy. 

Are You Stressed Out?

Stress is a killer. 

It truly is. Americans are more connected to their electronics and hectic lives than ever before. Do you know anyone who does not own a cell phone today? When was the last time that you spent five minutes and focused only on your breathing? Are you aware of how much caffeine is too much?
You might find it surprising too that young adults are the most stressed out of all Americans!

75% of adults reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress in the past month and nearly half reported that their stress has increased in the past year – American Psychological Association

So we are all getting more stressed out and feeling more anxiety, but yet we are still spending more and more time staying busy. Busy isn't all that it is cracked up to be. "Sorry, I can't hang out, I'm super busy with yoga, work, getting the kids to school, taking a cooking class, cleaning the house, feeding the dog,  and running a marathon...all while constantly checking my Facebook, posting to Twitter and Instagram." Sound familiar? If you are nodding your head or laughing than you might just be plagued with busy. Don't worry! We can help!

First, start by putting down that second iced venti carmel macchiato. Second, close your eyes and spend 5 minutes just breathing. Focus on each breath going in and out and how it feels in your throat, lungs, stomach. Hopefully that helps for a little while but for the long term we have great news: acupuncture can help relieve stress!

Chinese medicine will tell you that stress is usually liver qi(chi) stagnation. What acupuncture does in general is to balance out your entire system: the mind, body and spirit. While stress disturbs the spirit which can make it hard to sleep and lead to insomnia or leave you feeling like you are rested. Stress also keeps your body in a fight or flight response which increases your cortisol levels. If you stay in that response long enough your cortisol cannot go back to normal levels which creates that flattering belly fat that doesn't go away no matter how many sit ups you do. Being in that fight or flight response long enough with high cortisol levels also turns off that switch which allows your body to chose fight or flight or rest and digest. Acupuncture gives you back the ability to have that switch and chose which way it goes. It gives you the ability to change your autonomic nervous system.

Being in a constant state of fight or flight makes it so you forget what relaxed feels like. It is common that after leaving your stress focused acupuncture treatment, you will feel what jokingly we call "acu-stoned." You will feel so relaxed and almost as though you are floating, be careful driving home! This might be a foreign feeling to your mind but really, this is what relaxed is supposed to feel like. Our mind and body just forgot.

Now that acupuncture helped your body find that on/off switch again so you can feel rest and digest instead of fight or flight it will be easier to do this on your own and stay relaxed at the appropriate times.

When you come for treatment for stress we will discuss your diagnosis thoroughly and help you find out what you can do to continue balanced health and wellness. Since you might leave feeling a little out of it in your "acu-stoned" state, we will give you a folder with instructions and reminders on living a less stressful life for you to reference later. Until you feel again balanced again, we suggest getting weekly acupuncture treatments.

Also here is some helpful info about staying relaxed after your weekly treatment:

• avoid watching tv or playing computer/phone games the rest of the day. This activates the fight or flight response in your brain. 
• avoid caffeine the rest of the day
• do something calming you enjoy such as reading a book, doing yoga or tai chi, taking the dog for a walk, cooking a meal, gardening.
• drink lots of water and eat a healthy meal to nourish your body
• schedule your next visit to stay stress free