Thinking back to the very beginning of my journey into acupuncture, I return to the early 2000’s when I, on a whim – because a book had jumped off a shelf at the bookstore at me – decided to take my Reiki level 1 training. I was travelling through New Zealand on my Odyssey Path, with an intention of where to go next with my work in Outdoor Ed. And since I was off on an adventure – why not try something that my midwestern raised self thought of as too woo and out there for my down to earth, farm raised self?
This seeded the exploration into the sensation of qi, between my hands and in the space surrounding me.
I came home from New Zealand and enrolled in shiatsu school in Boston, not really knowing what I was stumbling into, leaving outdoor education behind me.
As a shiatsu student, we were immediately introduced to finding the meridian pathways in our bodies through stretches, movement, and qi gong. In these practices, I found that sensations between my hands began to wake up – there were magnetic sensations of pushing or pulling, the air felt thick around me, like molasses, my body would tingle and relax, shake and tremble through stagnation and agitation, then settle into a deep sense of solidity and connectedness.
What is Qi Gong?
Qi Gong is a meditative movement with breath, like the familiar form of Tai Chi, that can be found in many practices and movements that open the flow of qi anywhere in the body. While clearing out stagnation and tension, it also is a beautiful form of cultivating energy reserves and increasing your body’s vitality and healing.
The Hun Yuan Primordial Qi form is one that I started practicing in Putney VT with Thomas Garbarino, a student of Ken Cohen, a China scholar and qi gong grandmaster. The work that I did as a shiatsu practitioner began to go more deeply, with new sensations waking up in my hands as I was working with individuals. The fields around individuals, when I tuned in to the qi, became palpable. I could feel where an injury wanted more energy, sometimes six inches from the body, sometimes further out at twenty inches or more.
What will we do?
These are a rich series of exercises that move through movements of cleansing and cultivating. We will start with the foundation of qi gong principles and the first movements and then build on the form with each class.
As a white, cis woman, practicing an Asian medicine, I think often about my responsibility to the awareness of appropriation and to the culture that we have learned from. These are beautiful forms that I look forward to sharing. I don’t have the answers to the questions, but I honor the teachers and the lineage of the forms, along with all I have learned and the skills I have gained over the years.
Please join me for this series starting in January.
Class size is limited. Please add yourself to the waitlist if registration is full so we can gauge interest and consider moving to a larger space.
A Mini-retreat with the Full Moon Acupuncture, Meditation, Creative Play, Spirit Tending 6:00-8:00 on a Monday or Friday closest to the full moon: check the schedule here.
Each month, on an evening near the full moon, we are creating space for practitioners, teachers, caregivers, those in leadership, those facing and moving through transition, or those feeling stuck, to take a moment to recharge and tune in to a place of alignment with a deeper sense of self. This is a space to gather in community, settle into meditative quiet, a place for restorative attunement with a sense of spirit, a place to explore creative expression from deeper within.
This is an evening retreat, attuning and aligning with deeper aspects of self, in connection with community and in alignment with the full moon. Powerful acupuncture treatments allow you to turn inward, while creative expression provides the perfect outlet for any arising insights. This retreat strikes a balance between contemplation and connection, with space for both silence and sharing. We gather in the warm, cozy community space of The Quill’s Nest at Deep Roots Acupuncture, where tea and art supplies are provided. If you’re looking to support your authentic self and tap back into your true potential, this is the place for you!
What happens when we allow our deeper selves space while gathering with others?
What happens when the spirit is given space to express itself in new or different ways?
What is it like to enter healing space in community with others?
How does the rise of energy with the full moon help carry us into deeper aspects of self – carry us in its swell into new aspects of BE-ing in alignment?
We gather at 6:00, taking a moment to set intentions and create a sense of space for the evening, calling in the directions, elements, or ancestors to be with us during this time. Acupuncture is offered (optional*) with a focus for a deep release of tension and stress. These simple treatments have a profound ability to help tap into a deeper quiet, for the authentic self to have a chance to surface, to dream, to allow for healing.
(*Acupressure beads to stimulate these points are available. For those who would prefer, opting for meditation without needles is an alternative option during this time.)
Following these treatments, we then move into reflective, mindful, creative space with journals, meditation, collage, drawing, as led. There is a library with poetry, or books about healing. There are tarot decks to draw from. There are candles, and an altar, and calling in the directions and the five elements. This is an open time to move into space of exploration and expression.
To do this in the presence of community is really exciting to me.
This is not: A group therapy session A place to process with others An expectation to CREATE ART (although art may emerge)
This is: A place to gather with others A place for self reflection and exploration A place to tap into aspects of self that want to be heard and witnessed but often don’t have a chance because of all the other demands that are pulling in every direction A place to cultivate resilience A place to explore creative expression A place to allow new neural pathways to form, to help heal old wounds and traumas A place for curiosity and spirit to play A place for tending grief, burnout, exhaustion, stuckness A place to honor transition and celebrate movement
These are scheduled monthly through the spring, aligned with the cycle of the full moon. By donation: $10-$35 as you are able.
To Register: Tap In & Tune In at The Quill’s Nest at Deep Roots Acupuncture, 1222 Rochester Ave.
This is a mask optional event. Please bring a journal, pen, blanket, cushion, and any other art supplies or ritual tools you’d like to incorporate.
I would welcome your presence and involvement. Please share with others you think might be interested.
When things are feeling rocky, how do you maintain your balance?
You can feel the sensation of tension in your body. The stress is intense and your shoulders and your belly and your neck are all involved in trying to keep up, trying to not break down and trying to meet everyone’s expectations, not the least of which can be your own high expectations of how you want to present to the world, how you want people to see you: competent, strong, steady, on your game.
The tension leads to a headache, it leads to loss of appetite, or to comfort eating (ice cream, cookies and potato chips, please). Your body feels buzzy, like your blood vessels are filled with seltzer water. As long as you keep on moving, then it’s easy to keep a smile on your face, even if your patience is getting more and more frayed around the edges.
How familiar does this sound to you? Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to restore some sensation of balance and equilibrium?
Learning to Surrender
Over and over, I am struck by how images from nature can lend much insight into health and wellbeing. For example:
(This is Ireland, not Maine, but it lends a flavor to the scene, no?)
I remember sitting on the edge of a granite ledge on an island off the coast of Maine. I’m age 7, hanging with my big sister. We are out after a thunderstorm and the sky is still dark and a little eerie as the sun peeks out through the clouds on the horizon as it moves towards sunset. The Atlantic is stirred up, more choppy and stronger surf than I recall having seen before. There are many days where it is just gentle swells with the sun sparkling off a smooth surface.
As we sit on the edge of the granite outcropping, we are watching the surf crash up and over the granite ledges on the island across the channel. The crashing spray soars up and over the ledges and I can feel my fear settle in. This is a scarier sea than I am used to. I grew up in the midwest; I am not accustomed to the different faces of the sea.
As my sister tries to reassure me, a giant wave crashes into the ledge we are perched on – we are a good ten feet above the surface of the ocean. The spray soars over our heads, drenching us in its arc. I am so surprised by this moment, and the spray is so innocuous, I burst out laughing. What was so scary from afar is not really scary at all right here where we are. It’s not as if the entire wave was surging up over our ledge to pull us out into the current. We are just caught in the line of spray.
Decades later, I find myself in the gentle swells of surf in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. Here I learn that as the wave comes towards you in a curl, you can be swept underneath it – hold your breath – you’ll be out of the water again in a moment, especially as your feet are still touching the sand. The curl of the surf can tug at you, make you lose your stability, can feel overwhelming and trigger the racing adrenaline of fear. If, however, you dive into the wave, you pop out the other side and you can swim further out beyond the surf line where the swells lift you up off the ground, carry you along, and then drop you back down, with your feet back on the sand. Out here it is calm. There is no curling wave, just these gentle swells that advance, hide the horizon from you, pick you up and then set you back down.
There is a surrender to letting the water carry your body like this.
Now, let it be noted, I grew up in the midwest. My ocean adventures continue to be very limited. I’ve never been out on a surfboard. There are many who may know all sorts of other dynamics about the ocean. I am not speaking of riptides or rogue waves, and other true dangers of the ocean. That being said, these experiences lend some beautiful insight to the emotional terrain within.
Passing through the Waves
I learn about deep emotion in my life; after heartbreak, during times of transition, during times of stress, conflict or worry. I want so badly to be seen as strong, confident, and capable that I am not able to make space within myself for any sign of weakness.
I can feel the tension build, and I do whatever I can to contain it, push it down, to not let it out. I don’t realize I am doing it at the time, but I do know that our society doesn’t approve of such expression and it is safer to ignore it and try to make it go away. My shoulders are tight, I cave my chest in, my diaphragm is tight.
I find great catharsis from reading Ring of Endless Light by Madeliene L’Engle, sobbing in my rocking chair in the kitchen in my Boston apartment one winter, letting the tears from her story release the tears unshed from within myself.
Years later, I learn to make peace with strong emotions like grief and anger and sorrow. As I let them course through me, I find they become less scary, less overwhelming. In fact, once the emotion passes, I come out the other side and there is sunshine and laughter and ease. This is so very different from trying to not feel these unfamiliar, scary emotions. I realize that in trying to not feel them, I create a pressure cooker environment – this intensifies and complicates the original emotions.
The emotional landscape becomes familiar, the waves of emotions wash over, pass through – they may feel big and unending, but in the surrender, you let them carry you towards greater peace and authenticity. In these moments of passing through waves of emotion, the heart washes itself clean, becomes more vulnerable and open in the world.
In this place, there is strength, there is compassion, there is a solid steadiness. To quote myself, “In my brokenness, I am more whole than when I am chasing okay-ness.”
And again, let it be noted, there are ways to be present to the depth of emotion on your own, with beloveds or with close friends (or friends who are not yet close, but in opening to the depths with them invites that closer connection), that are very different than falling to pieces publicly, crashing through boundaries in questionable ways. This is a finesse to tune into – when and how, yet celebrate the journey as the current carries you.
To offer some fortune cookie wisdom of my own, “It is a gift to feel deeply. To know great joy is to also know great loss. They are two sides of the same coin. Do not fear feeling great joy in order to avoid feeling great loss. It is a gift simply to feel deeply.”
“I believe I’m in the right place at the right time. This wave is crashing down and it’s the one for me to ride. Crazy world, crazy time – Gonna let go of what oughta be and hang on for the ride. Ebb and Flow, Rising, Falling”
The HOW to reopen is becoming clearer – I’m collecting supplies and getting new systems in place for welcoming people back into the clinic in a safe way. The WHEN is still unclear. The numbers of daily infections statewide are increasing at an alarming rate still. Johnson County cases, however, seem to be slowing at the moment. In the upcoming weeks, I will continue to watch these numbers and start making plans to return to seeing patients in person at 30-50% capacity. I believe it is safe to do so with safety precautions in place. If the data changes for the worse, then we will reassess at that time.
I remain available for phone consults, distance treatments, and herbal support during this time. Please reach out to schedule a time to connect in one of these ways if you like. health@deeprootsacupuncture.org
As we continue to move forward through these seasons, what I observe most is how we continue to adapt to new realms of normalcy.
Here is a list of changes to note in how we are reducing risk of exposure in the clinic.
I will meet you in the parking lot. If you arrive early, you can wait in your car until I come out to greet you. In the parking lot, we will do a temperature and blood oxygen screening. If temperature is elevated or blood oxygen levels are low, you will be referred to your primary care physician and encouraged to quarantine until symptoms are improved.
The waiting room will not be open to others during your treatment.
I will be wearing a mask, and if you would like to come inside, you will be wearing a mask.
I will escort everyone in and out of the clinic and treatment rooms so that door handles will remain untouched.
Upon arriving, unscented hand sanitizer or use of the bathroom sink to wash hands will be available.
There are HEPA air filters in each room. Surfaces are cleaned with high quality, unscented sanitizer in each room following each treatment. Each room remains unoccupied for a minimum of an hour between treatments.
All credit card payments will be handled through Square Invoicing or a card on file to avoid unneeded cross contact. Cash or check will still be accepted as forms of payment.
Table linens will be converted to easily cleaned surfaces.
Blankets and drapes are no longer available for draping around needles. Please dress with layers that are easy to adjust around legs, arms, and abdomen. Please feel free to bring your own blanket or drape with you. Sweaters and jackets can also be used to drape around needles. I will keep the rooms warm to help with comfort levels.
As COVID-19 continues to unfold through the region with initial cases of
community wide spread appearing, we will plan to move currently
scheduled appointments to phone consults or an online telehealth
platform (in the works). If you have an appointment scheduled in the
upcoming weeks, we will be in touch to reschedule.
Online scheduling is unavailable until after we have a chance to work current cancellations back into the schedule.
In the meantime, I continue to offer care via the phone, and as I have
systems setup, support through an online telehealth platform.
Bottom line, we may not be able to meet in person until there is more
clarity about the progression of the coronavirus, but I remain
available. Our sessions are often more than just the needles. There’s a
lot we can still do over the phone if you are interested. Please let me
know and we can schedule a time.
Ways to support us during this time if you are able:
Tend to your own self care and help slow the spread of the virus.
This is a very interesting time. Breathe deep, stay in the present
moment, and I’ll see you on the other side! Let me know how I can be of
service to you.
Tis the season of colds and flu’s circulating through the community. With a little care and attention, you can shorten the length of your cold and reduce the severity of the symptoms. Sounds good, hmm?
Step One: Radical Rest
One of the best things you can do for yourself when fighting a bug is getting radical rest. I mean Radical Rest. Recently, I was running a low grade fever – I went to bed on Wednesday evening at 6:00 and got up on Friday at 11:00. I was up for an hour here and there, but then went right back to sleep. We often feel like we have to keep on going, and sometimes circumstances do get in the way, but in whatever ways possible, Radical Rest lets your body dedicate all of its energy to the immune system fighting the viruses and bacteria.
Step Two: I’ve Got Herbs for That
At the very early stages of not feeling well, foods and herbs can be really helpful for fending off a cold or bug, reducing symptoms, or shortening the length of being sick.
There are a number of fabulous foods and herbs with strong anti-bacterial and antiviral properties. Garlic, elderberry, echinacea, goldenseal, olive leaf, and honey are some of the common ones that people may be most familiar with.
There are several fabulous Chinese herbal blends that I work with all the time that are absolutely fantastic for cold symptoms. These include ingredients like indigo, cinnamon, forsythia, or honeysuckle.
Favorite Go-To Blends
Gan Mao Ling: At the very first stages of a cold – swollen glands, or general body aches, and malaise. In combination with rest, this one can be really helpful for keeping a cold at bay.
Cinnamon Twig Soup (Gui Zhi Tang): This one is excellent when your nose starts dripping – you know that moment when its as though a faucet is turned on and you can’t even really blow your nose ‘cuz it just keeps on running? And maybe you’re a little bit chilled as well. This one has cinnamon, of course, and dates, date seed, ginger, and licorice root (but it doesn’t taste like licorice, more like cinnamon!)
Yin Qiao San: This one is for when you have a firey sore throat and are feeling a little feverish. Forsythia and honeysuckle help to vent heat out of the body while fighting the bugs.
What to Do?
Aside from clearing your schedule and embarking on some Radical Rest?
Give me a call and let’s get you some herbs that would be the best match for your symptoms. Or if you would like to have a bottle on hand for when the unwelcome bugs first appear, let me know. We can arrange for you to pick up a bottle here at the clinic!
Immune Kick Start Kit
More details to come – but I’m working on a kit with a mix and match of good herbal first aid blends to choose from – buy 3 for $5 off. Contact me here for more information.
And, lastly, thank you for keeping your germs at home!
Illness is the best reason to not come in for a treatment. My 24 hour cancellation fee is waived for illness – especially if you have projectile snot or a hacking cough. Thank you for helping to keep the clinic space germ free for others and for helping to keep me well enough to keep on treating everyone on my schedule! We’ll get you back in the schedule as soon as your symptoms have calmed down a bit. Questioning whether you should come in? Give me a call or send an email! I look forward to hearing from you!
As we move into the cold season, our food choices can shift alongside the weather.
I love those moments when someone tells me they are trying to eat well, but they just don’t feel like eating a salad every day. The only time, I say, to be eating a salad, especially in the cold weather, is if you are craving a salad. The myth of a salad every day being the healthiest thing for you is my favorite one to shatter.
If you are looking for yummy ways to cook for this season, think about the warming soups and stews, using produce that is harvested in late fall – the root vegetables and the winter squashes. Your body spends less energy breaking down and digesting food that is warm and cooked. The natural sugars in these foods are so good for the body, and what your body actually needs when you are craving sweets.
One of my favorite recipes is an Autumn Vegetable Soup by Mollie Katzen from her cookbook Still Life With Menu. You may be familiar with her most well known book, The Moosewood Kitchen.
The beauty of this soup is that any of the vegetables can be switched out for any others. Ingredients of your choice can be added to make it into any kind of dish you’d like for deep winter nourishment. This soup is essentially how I start any recipe these days, and you wouldn’t necessarily recognize the end product anymore.
Autumn Vegetable Soup
by Mollie Katzen, Still Life With Menu
2 tablespoons of butter 1 1/2 cup chopped leeks 1 1/2 cup quartered Brussels sprouts 1 large carrot chopped 1 stalk of celery chopped 1 large potato chopped 1 cup peeled chopped acorn or butternut squash 3/4 teaspoon salt freshly ground black pepper to taste cayenne to taste (but not too much!) 2 large crushed garlic cloves 3 cups stock or water 1 cup spinach (Mollie uses Swiss chard or collard greens) 1 large firm tomato chopped 1 bell pepper chopped 1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill 1/2 teaspoon marjoram 1/2 teaspoon basil 2 teaspoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cup of sour cream or yogurt (optional) sunflower seeds (for garnish) minced fresh parsley (for garnish)
In a large pot cook the first 11 ingredients over moderate heat (covered) for 10-15 minutes, stirring intermittently.
Add stock or water. Bring to boil, lower to a simmer. Cover and let cook slowly until everything is tender (20 minutes)
Add spinach (or greens) tomato chunks, and chopped bell pepper. Simmer 5 more minutes.
Add herbs, soy sauce, and lemon juice and continue to simmer another 5 minutes.
If you choose to add in the sour cream
or yogurt, stir in just before serving. Garnish each bowl with
sunflower seeds and parsley.
Yields 6 servings.
As I said, I make this all the time, but it doesn’t actually look anything like the original recipe anymore. Have fun adapting it to the vegetables and seasonings you enjoy most!
What better time to change one’s logo than when one is also changing one’s location, address, business cards, letterhead and all the rest, right?
The vision for this new logo arose last fall and I’ve enjoyed the process of working with a graphic designer to turn it into what it has become.
My previous logo was one I designed back in 2005 when I was starting my first private practice in Brattleboro, VT. The image of sitting in meditation, finding the stillness and quiet within, listening for the inner voice of internal guiding wisdom spoke to me at that time.
My practice these days has been holding a different message. More often, in the work I am doing with individuals, we are moving from places of stuckness, stretching into new growth, embracing new aspects of life, and growing into one’s full potential. This is beautiful work that I get to witness on a regular basis. The previous logo doesn’t communicate that as well.
One of the things I’m enjoying with the new logo is all the different aspects that people are seeing in it. A good logo, I believe, has many levels of meaning. What do you see? I look forward to hearing how it speaks to you.
I look forward to sharing the new home of Deep Roots Acupuncture with you! Please come to an Open House on Sunday, September 22 to see the space and celebrate the move!
There are three portions of the day – come for all of it, or just for part. It will be a joy to see you.
2:30 Supporting the Immune System in Preparation for Winter
In what ways can we prepare for cold and flu season starting now? How can we nourish and support our immune system so we are less vulnerable to the bugs surrounding us? Seats are limited, please RSVP here.
3:30 Tour & Refreshments
Drop in anytime and see the space, enjoy some nourishing snacks! Celebrate!
4:30 Mini-Treatments
Anyone who would like to a relaxing and grounding treatment using auricular (ear) points, can come by. This is a simple set of points to help with deep relaxation and grounding. Seats are limited, please RSVP here.
