Take a Hot Ginger Bath During the First Stages of a Common Cold

November 10, 2011

As we have hit cold season full-force, the past couple weeks I’ve been focusing on what we can do to keep our immune systems strong, and herbs we can take if we’ve come down with a cold. Today I’d like to share another tip, which can be used right when you first feel the cold [...]

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Chinese Medicine and your Immunity: Boost your Wei Qi Now to Stay Healthy This Winter

November 2, 2011

  I hope you’ve all been staying warm and cozy through our first couple snow storms of the year! As the weather gets colder, many people come to me for a few seasonal “tune-up” treatments to prepare their body for winter and ward off illness. While Chinese medicine has its own theory for why acupuncture [...]

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What We Learn from the Leaves, As they Leave…

October 26, 2011

As I write this, I am gearing up for our first big snow of the season…by the time you read these words, our city will likely be covered in white. While I know the snow will be magical and beautiful, I must admit that I already grieve the loss of the dazzling colors that grace [...]

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It’s Asian and Oriental (Chinese) Medicine Day!

October 24, 2011

Today is AOM day!  AOM stands for Asian and Oriental Medicine, another term used to describe the group of modalities included in Chinese Medicine, which includes acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, Asian bodywork, Qi Gong, and Chinese nutritional therapy.  AOM day is part of an effort designed to increase public awareness of the progress, promise, and [...]

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Metal Season: The Time for Learning we must Let Go, but that what’s of Value Remains

October 19, 2011

  The air is pungent with the quieting of the seasons. Everywhere around us we feel the downturn of energy, as leaves shine their last dying blasts of color before departing this world for their fall into the earth. Now is the time of letting go, of releasing—of bringing inward the scattered energies of the [...]

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Time to Inspire!

October 5, 2011

  We have reached an interesting time of year here…is it fall yet? Are we still in late summer? While the leaves are surely beginning to change color, the weather has still been very warm. Yet undeniably, something is stirring outside…the days are suddenly noticeably shorter and there’s a crispness to our nights that wasn’t [...]

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Beyond Nourishment: The Key to Feeding Yourself without Food

September 21, 2011

Last week, I sent out perhaps my most important email of the year (if you haven’t read it, it’s worth going back and reading now!).  As it pointed out, we are now in the season related to the Earth Element, and during the Earth season, the most important thing to focus on is nourishing your [...]

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It’s Pear Season! A Great Late-Summer Recipe for those Farmer’s Market Pears.

September 14, 2011

The pears are here, the pears are here!  I just saw the first of the season last Saturday at the farmer’s market, and excited I am!  Last year, for the first time I canned up many different kinds of jams, jelly’s and butters.  But none could compare to the delicate smooth Pear Butter that I [...]

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The Earth Turns ‘Round, the Harvest Abounds…Time to Nourish your Qi!

September 14, 2011

The end of summer is upon us, and the bounty of the earth’s harvest is pouring in. Traditionally, this was the season for building our stores of nourishment for the coming months, and hours would be spent toiling in the kitchen putting up the summer bounty.  While modern agriculture has eliminated the need for this [...]

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Out of the Fire and Deep Into Earth

September 7, 2011

For those of you who have been my patients for some time, you’ve heard me talk a lot about the seasons and how they relate to our health, the foods we need to eat, the types of issues we are likely to be dealing with, and in general, what we can do to stay balanced. [...]

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Peach and Lavender Butter Recipe

August 31, 2011

Adapted from: Canning & Preserving, by Ashley English Due to copyright laws, I cannot give the recipe in its entirety, so if you don’t know how to can already I would suggest either looking online, or getting a general canning book that will explain all the steps and necessary safety precautions.  By following this recipe [...]

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A Powerful Recipe to Nourish and Cleanse your Heart/Fire Element

August 3, 2011

The ingredients for this week’s seasonal recipe are not foods, but instead words.  After an impactful event which occurred this week in my life, I am inspired to focus this week’s email on the connection between our words, or what we communicate, and our Heart/Fire Element. The good news is, the ingredients are free, completely [...]

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So Inspired! My weekend at AlterMed Research Foundation’s Integrative Medicine Conference

July 20, 2011

This weekend, I was honored to participate in the AlterMed Colorado Integrative Medicine Conference. I walked away from the conference with many ah-ha’s, some of which I am excited to share with all of you because I wish to convey to you how powerful your choice to care for yourself with Chinese Medicine has been. [...]

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What to Eat now that Summer is Here

July 13, 2011

  Many of you have asked me “What should I be eating now that it’s summer?”  While of course this is going to depend on your individual Chinese Medicine diagnosis, there are a few overarching guidelines that most people can follow. In my general article about the Fire Element and Summer, I addressed the topic [...]

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Proof that Relaxation, Fun, and Intimacy are Essential to our Health

June 29, 2011

Now that you’ve all read about the Fire Element and its relationship to the heart and Summer, lets talk about some specifics of what I see in the clinic when people don’t have enough fun, relaxation, and intimacy in their lives. I’m hoping that reading about the symtoms that occur will serve as a reminder [...]

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This week’s success stories in the clinic: Digestion, headaches, and fatigue.

June 19, 2011

Several weeks ago I had the idea of sharing the high moments I experience with patients every week in my acupuncture clinic, on my facebook and twitter pages.  Then I decided, why not blog about them in detail so people can really get to see the depth of the types of things we work with [...]

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Out of the Wood and Into the Fire: A look ahead at the theme for staying balanced over Summer

June 15, 2011

  We made it through the Wood season! According to Chinese Medicine, we’re now in the season related to the Fire Element, to the Heart, and to Summer.  As opposed to the Wood season, which was all about setting goals, independently forging ahead through whatever blocked our dreams from coming to fruition, and steadfast discipline; [...]

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American Association for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Releases it’s Position on “Dry Needling”

June 9, 2011

Over the past several years, several non-acupuncture professionals, including Physical Therapists (PT) have started performing the insertion of needles under the name of “dry needling”, or “trigger point dry needling” (TDN).  While it is basically performing a technique of acupuncture known as “ashi point” needling (or, needling a local point of sensitivity) it has been [...]

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The Long Awaited GREENS Experiment…DO Try this at Home, Folks!

June 8, 2011

Is this another shameless plug to try to get you to eat more greens? You betcha! Many of you know I’ve been trying the whole “local eating” this past year.  While it is turning into a huge international movement born out of the need to eat more sustainably, it fits perfectly in with ancient Chinese [...]

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That Feeling When the Rain Comes…Let the Raindrops Nourish your Liver.

May 11, 2011

Let the falling rain soothe your liver.. I don’t know about you, but I just love the rain. I know some people complain about the rain, and for those with SAD (seasonal affective disorder) too  many days without sunshine can definitely bring them down. But luckily we’ve had sunshine in abundance lately, so for this [...]

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