Are You Ready to Thrive?

If you're ready to live without the hindrances of smoking (shortness of breath, incessant coughing, the dependence on a substance to make it through your day), give acupuncture and Chinese medicine a try. It won't do the quitting for you, but it can help ease you through the transition to living and breathing freely.

Your acupuncturist will likely use a special set of points called the 5 Needle Protocol (5NP, for short). The protocol consists of 5 needles placed in each ear on points to treat the Liver, Lung, Kidney, Sympathetic Nervous System, and a special point called Shen Men which translates to "Spirit Gate."

These points have been used with great success in many patients who are addicted to a wide variety of substances. Many state programs to help people get off drugs use these points! 5NP will help calm the nervous system as well as build up the energy of organs that have been damaged by the addiction. So not only do you get relief from your withdrawal symptoms and cravings, you will start feeling better from deep inside and you'll have more energy which will lessen your need for the nicotine. It's like a two-for-one deal!

So when you're ready to start living your life under your own terms, talk to your acupuncturist. Though you do have to make the decision to quit smoking on your own, you're certainly not in it alone!

For more Living and Breathing freely tips, feel free to download this list of ideas to help you through!

Cupping is probably the most recognized of the lesser-known Chinese medical techniques. If you watched swimming during the Olympics, you may have seen Chinese swimmer, Wang Qun, with her Cupping marks.

Your acupuncturist will light a cotton ball that has been soaked in rubbing alcohol on fire. Using a hemostat to hold the lit cotton ball, they will hold it in the cup for a moment, remove the cotton ball, then quickly place the cup onto your skin. The burning cotton ball burns the oxygen out of the cup which will create a vacuum when placed on the skin.

Like Gua Sha, Cupping is used to pull toxins through the skin out of the body. And like Plum Blossom, Cupping helps to release pathogens that are trapped within the body. This is a great technique for muscle tension and soreness, as well as colds, flu and skin rashes.

Because of the suction that is created, there is the possibility of bruising. These bruises are not painful. As with Gua Sha, please talk to your acupuncturist about whether the time is right to have Cupping done (be prepared for questions if you're going swimming or wearing a backless dress!)

Plum Blossom is another lesser-known technique that can be used by an acupuncturist to treat such complaints as colds, influenza and skin rashes. In Chinese medical theory, each of these is caused by a pathogen that is trapped in the body, usually just beneath the skin. To get the pathogens out of the body so that a patient no longer has symptoms, a Plum Blossom (see picture at left) may be used to gently tap the skin, opening the pores, giving the pathogen an escape route.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "It looks like a medieval torture device! You're not using that thing on me!" but I assure you, there is very little force applied to the tapping, and most people describe it as just that - a tapping sensation. Though there are needles on the head of the Plum Blossom, very rarely is any bleeding experienced.

I have found that the Plum Blossom is very good at cutting short the length of a cold or the flu. I like to use it on the upper back where the pathogens that cause cold and flu like to lurk.

When Plum Blossom is used on skin rashes, while it won't necessarily cure the cause of the rash, but it can be very useful in relieving any itching, redness or swelling in the area. To treat a skin rash, you must, address the underling cause, but it's important for a patient to get some immediate relief as well!

What the heck is Gua Sha and HOW do you pronounce that??

Gua Sha (pronounced gwah SHAH) is a neat technique for ridding the body of toxins as well as relaxing muscles. Gua Sha translates to "scraping sand" in English. Gua Sha is extremely good at getting muscles that have been tight for a long time to relax. It can also be used for more recent injuries, under the right conditions.

According to Chinese medical theory, when our muscles get tight and crampy, the Qi does not flow properly through the area, so toxins will be trapped in the area. These toxins contribute further to the muscle tightness and cramping, continuing the cycle.

From a biomedical standpoint, these "toxins" are the natural byproducts of normal muscle action. When a muscle cramps, these byproducts are unable to be flushed from the area due to a decrease in blood flow.

If Gua Sha is the right technique for you, your acupuncturist will use some sort of a tool such as a coin or a Chinese soup spoon to quickly and repeatedly scrape your skin that has been lubricated with some sort of greasy ointment (usually a Vaseline-type product). Because your skin has been lubricated, the scraping isn't painful.

After several minutes of Gua Sha (the repeated sensation can be annoying to some people, so tell your acupuncturist if you need a little break occasionally), your skin will begin to get a "sandy" texture to it (hence the "sha" part of "Gua Sha"). This is the reaction of your pores opening to let the toxins out that have been locked away in your muscles. Many people will also get some bruising which is another indicator that the toxins are being released. These bruises aren't painful, merely colorful.

After a Gua Sha treatment, make sure to drink lots of water. The toxins that have been released from your muscles can bring on flu-like symptoms if they're not flushed from your system. Also make sure to keep the area covered, as your skin will be more sensitive than usual to temperature changes and the sun.

Make sure to take into consideration who may be seeing any bruising from the Gua Sha. Always tell your partner that you've had it done, so there won't be any surprises. And if you're going to be wearing a fancy evening gown, where the bruises might show (and you care if people think you've been in a bar brawl!), you can always put off a Gua Sha treatment until a later date!

I've decided that I need to help people change the way they feel about their bodies. Living in a society where biomedicine is the norm, it seems like when people get sick, they decide their bodies have failed them. Biomedicine has changed and evolved by pulling the body apart, looking super closely at its parts and trying to figure out every mechanism by which it works. Because of this we've gained some REALLY great techniques for saving and bettering lives! Look at all that biomedicine is able to do! Transplants, surgeries to repair ALL kinds of things, in vitro fertilization, cloning and SO much more is on the horizon. Science and biomedicine are pretty freakin' cool!

My problem with biomedicine comes when it leads people to think of the body as a bunch of replaceable parts - like your car. Our bodies are not machines that are prone to breaking down. Our bodies want to function properly! They strive to be healthy, even with all of the unhealthy things that are thrown at them!

Our bodies are incredibly stoic, and when they finally cry out for help, it's because the situation has become too much for our bodies to deal with. This is a time when we need to take a look at the lifestyle choices we've made. Do we consume alcohol? Do we consume lots of sugar? Do we smoke? Do we not exercise? Are we living an incredibly stressful life?

I'm not saying not to get biomedical help. Quite the contrary. Once a body has cried out, it's important to do whatever is necessary to reverse the situation. What I'm saying is that we need to be more proactive and preventive about our health, to prevent our bodies from having to cry out in the first place. We also need to change the environment that caused our bodies to cry out, so that it doesn't keep happening.

I want you to start by respecting your body and it's ability to persevere. Give it what it needs to function well. Don't give your body anything that won't allow it to flourish. But most of all, I want you to love your body and everything it does for you!

We all make New Year's resolutions. They may be concrete and written down, or they may be kept secretly in our heads. Heck, I made some and told you all about them. I'm going to propose today that we not make New Year's Resolutions, but Springtime resolutions.

Think about it. It's not until spring that we experience that desire to get up and get out. It's called Cabin Fever or Spring Fever. Why would we want to make changes in our lives during a time of the year where animals all around us are in hibernation? Don't you want to hibernate during the winter too? I know I do! I go to bed earlier, I wake up later and really would like nothing better than to sit all snuggled up in front of a crackling fire with a steaming cup of hot cocoa (don't forget the mini marshmallows!) I find it funny that we have created the beginning of the year that doesn't correspond with any changes in nature. It's a new year, but the same old icky I-just-want-to-sleep-in weather.

We should match our aspirations for change with the changing of the seasons. Spring is the time when animals come out and play after the long winter. Spring is the time when trees begin budding again and bulbs start popping their heads up out of the ground. Spring is when our energy is ready to wake up and start growing and changing.

I'll get this ball rolling:

This year I'm going to get back into shape for triathlons.
This year I'm going to start teaching people to change the way they feel about their bodies and their health. Our bodies KNOW how to be healthy, sometimes we just need to remind them!
This year I will get a REAL start on all of my New Year's Resolutions!