Chinese Medicine and Self Care for Seasonal Allergies

Chinese medicine for seasonal allergies

During certain times of the year, I see an increase in patients who are suffering from similar conditions.  In the late fall, I tend to see more patients who are struggling with seasonal depression, and around the holidays I see an increase of patients coming to acupuncture to be treated for stress.  I also . . . → Read More: Chinese Medicine and Self Care for Seasonal Allergies

How Your Acupuncturist Chooses Points

How your acupuncturist chooses points

 I am frequently asked by my patients how I decide which acupuncture points to use during their treatment. It’s a complicated process, but the first thing to know is that all acupuncture points work like “on and off ramps” to your body’s energetic pathways. By needling into various points, your practitioner can access both . . . → Read More: How Your Acupuncturist Chooses Points

The Healing Modalities of Chinese Medicine

Acupuncture and moxabusion

Whenever someone asks me what I do for a living, I tell them that I’m an acupuncturist.  This is a half-truth, as I am really a practitioner of Chinese medicine.  To most people, this may feel like nit picking, but in reality there is a big difference.  That’s because acupuncture is only one method . . . → Read More: The Healing Modalities of Chinese Medicine

What Your Symptoms Mean to Your Acupuncturist

If you visit an acupuncturist for a specific symptom, you might be surprised to be asked all kinds of questions that seem to have absolutely nothing to do with what brought you in.  In fact, you may become impatient as your practitioner asks you about your digestion when you’re there to be treated for acne.  What’s . . . → Read More: What Your Symptoms Mean to an Acupuncturist

Why Your Acupuncturist Feels Your Pulse

If you’ve ever been to an acupuncture clinic, chances are your acupuncturist felt the pulse on your wrist as part of their exam. In Western medicine, your doctor or nurse feels your pulse to determine it’s rate. However, in Chinese medicine, pulse diagnosis is far more complicated.

In Chinese medicine, the quality of your . . . → Read More: Why Your Acupuncturist Feels Your Pulse

A Comparison Between Chinese and Western Medicine

One of the first things I learned as I began studying Chinese medicine was that I should not try to think of Chinese medicine in Western terms, and for good reason. Both systems of healing have their benefits and drawbacks, but they are otherwise nothing alike.

Western medicine is based on scientific study, and . . . → Read More: A Comparison Between Chinese and Western Medicine

Cupping Therapy in Chinese Medicine

In acupuncture circles, we still talk about a picture that appeared several years ago in People Magazine of Gwenneth Paltrow in an evening gown at some awards gala. The back of her gown was cut low, and on her back were several large, perfectly circular marks that are a tell-tale sign that Gwenneth had been . . . → Read More: Cupping Therapy in Chinese Medicine

Your Health and the Color Purple

Throughout the world and its many cultures, different colors have meaning. In Chinese medicine, various colors offer up clues to the state of your health. For example if you have a rash that is very red, you can assume that there’s some heat to it. If you know someone who is very pale, it . . . → Read More: Your Health and the Color Purple

Teenage Mental Health and Chinese Medicine

At Acupuncture in the Park, we have found that treating pre-teens, teens, and young adults to be some of the most satisfying work that we do, primarily because they respond so quickly to the acupuncture, and the results can be life-changing.  Not only have we treated our share of young patients with aches, pains, . . . → Read More: Teenage Mental Health

Twitches, Tremors, and Dizziness and Chinese Medicine

One of the best things about practicing Chinese medicine is explaining how it works to people who have never had acupuncture. Most people understand my explanations about Qi and Yin and Yang, stagnation and depletion. However, a couple of times in the past week I have tried to explain the pathogen called wind, only . . . → Read More: Twitches, Tremors, and Dizziness and Chinese Medicine