By Angie Hooray for the first day of Spring! Spring is a happy time. Bunnies hop about. Flowers emerge in long forgotten corners of your garden. The birds return and sing so loudly they wake you in the morning. Spring should not be a time to be angry. But according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, being angry is exactly what you can expect if you don’t balance your wood element.
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By Angie Think about your favorite scent for a moment. How does it make you feel? Happy? Relaxed? You probably already know that aromas can have a major impact on your mood. Aromatherapy takes this a step further and uses scents to affect a person’s physical and mental health and well-being. Aromatherapy is a natural treatment system based on the use of aromatic essential oils. Essential oils are extracted from flowers, fruits, leaves, bark, and roots by methods such as steam distillation. Specific oils are used based on each individual’s needs. He or she may dilute these essential oils and massage them into the skin, put them in diffusers so that the vapors can be inhaled, or prepare them in a solution designed for ingestion. Below are a few symptoms that appear when a Spleen/Stomach disharmony is present. If you say yes to a few of these, you may want to look into using some of these aromatherapy oils to support your Spleen/Stomach, and possibly also schedule an acupuncture tune-up: By Angie You settle into a warm, comfortable bed, close your eyes and even though you are tired, nothing happens...you just can’t fall asleep. Hours go by and still you’re awake, feeling increasingly frustrated at your inability to drop off. The next day you feel tired, grouchy, and unable to focus. Does this sound familiar? Sleepless nights happen to almost everyone at some time, but ongoing insomnia can indicate a deeper issue and could lead to further health concerns. Unfortunately, a common approach to treating insomnia includes prescription sleeping medications, which can cause side effects or even dependence. That’s one of the many reasons to consider an all-natural approach to treating your sleep problems. Acupuncture can be a very effective way to improve your sleep quality without side effects, but here are some tips for healthy sleep that you can try tonight: By Angie This is one of the many little tidbits that I share on Affordable Acupuncture's Facebook page, but I thought it would be good to share it here too! Make sure you 'like' us on facebook if you like inspiration and information like this. If you are feeling stressed or anxious, try this acupressure technique: Use the tip of your index finger to apply gentle but firm acupressure on YinTang, also known as "Acupunctures Chill Pill", located between your eyebrows (see photo). Close your eyes, and focus on making your breaths slow and deep whilst you maintain pressure on the point. If you like visualisations, you can imagine white or golden light entering YinTang on the inbreath, and suffusing through your body on the outbreath. Aim for 10 breaths, although you might enjoy it so much you want to do it for longer! You should feel calmer and more balanced afterwards. Enjoy. By Angie Did you know there is one simple thing you can do, anywhere, any time, that can significantly affect your health, happiness, relationships and even your career? That one thing is to practice gratitude. Although the benefits of a grateful mindset have been extolled by various spiritual traditions for thousands of years, the practice of gratitude has recently begun to receive unprecedented attention in the field of positive psychology. This is due to its scientifically proven effects on people's health and wellbeing, with studies around the globe demonstrating significant improvements in variables ranging from happiness levels to quality of sleep, relationship health and decision making. By Angie At Affordable Acupuncture, we want to help you think about your whole health and empower you to make positive changes in your life. All aspects of your life are interconnected and affect your overall health in different ways. We have designed this worksheet for you to take a look at your current state of health and happiness in a holistic way. This will help point you in the direction of what areas of your life need a little TLC. With winter well and truly upon us, and a greater incidence of colds and flus about, its important to look after ourselves to boost our immunity and get in tune with the natural rhythm of the season. Winter is the season of stillness and conservation. It’s a period of hibernation and our time to rest, slow down and revitalize our reserves. Winter is a great time of year to reflect on our health, replenish our energy, conserve our strength and heal on a deeper level. The “downtime” that winter provides gives us an opportunity to slow down, check in and take account as to how our lifestyle supports or detracts from our health, and to recharge our battery. Here are 10 easy pointers on how you can support and promote your own health this time of year: By Angie Do you, or does anyone you know suffer from asthma? Did you know that there are some simple strategies using the wisdom of TCM that you can use to bring relief to your symptoms? Here is a self-help worksheet for you to download, print out, and keep somewhere handy for regular use. It includes acupressure points, a specific meridian stretch for asthma, and a range of essential oils, including a recipe for a natural chest rub. You can use these tips in between attacks, to strengthen your Lungs (in TCM, this includes both your Lung organs and your Lung meridian system). You can also use these acupressure points and essential oils during an attack in addition to your standard medical care. They should help the attack pass more quickly and less intensely. Can a shower curtain be harmful to your health? It can if it contains phthalates. Phthalates are just some of over 800 chemicals that are labelled as endocrine disruptors. These chemicals are toxic for a number of reasons. They can mimic oestrogen, androgen or thyroid hormones and cause your body to respond to them inappropriately. Or they may block, stimulate or inhibit these hormones. By interfering with your hormone system, there is growing evidence that these chemicals are responsible for a wide range of health problems. Endocrine disruptors can be found in many products. These include laundry detergents, bleach, cleaning products, air fresheners, dryer sheets, sunscreens, shampoo, conditioner, cosmetics, pesticides, sandwich bags, flame retardants and vinyl shower curtains. By Angie Do you, or does anyone you know suffer from headaches? Did you know that there are some simple strategies using the wisdom of TCM that you can use to bring relief to your symptoms? Here is a self-help worksheet for you to download, print out, and keep somewhere handy for when the next headache strikes. It includes acupressure points, a specific meridian stretch for headaches, and a range of essential oils. Remember that acupuncture is a treatment that may help you get to the root cause of your headaches, so contact us for help if this is a recurring problem for you. In the meantime, I hope these tips help you nip your next headache in the bud. Take good care of you. EDIT: Please note in the handout below, it looks as though the acupressure/acupuncture point "BL-10" is on the front of the neck, but it is actually opposite, on the back of the neck at the same position. Think of it as an X-Ray view of that particular point. |
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