Gratitude Acupuncture

I’m so happy to see this article from a major news outlet discussing how Long COVID patients are finding relief for their symptoms with acupuncture and East Asian medicine.

For some long Covid patients, acupuncture and other Eastern remedies offer relief Many people with long-term Covid symptoms say they've improved with acupuncture, meditation and ancient herbs.

A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications looked at 154,068 individuals receiving treatment at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Patients who’d had COVID were 36% more likely to be experiencing long-term gastrointestinal upset that they did not have prior to the onset of the infection.

Long Covid is a complex disease that is negatively impacting the quality of life for many people out there. In many cases Chinese medicine can offer significant relief.

Long Covid and Gastrointestinal Issues: How Chinese Medicine Can Help - Gratitude Acupuncture & Wellness For individuals who have contracted Covid, the symptoms of burning reflux, abdominal bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation are not uncommon symptoms to continue to experience even a year after the onset of the infection. A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications lo...

A recent picture from Engaging Vitality’s Module 1 at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine (SIEAM) of EV Developer Marguerite Dinkins guiding participants in a practice session.

Engaging Vitality teaches an approach that applies some principles from the osteopathic tradition to the practice of acupuncture and East Asian medicine that leads to better clinical results for our patients.

EV classes introduce participants to a toolbox of palpation skills, as well a mindset that helps practitioners navigate confusion and unknowing when it comes to encountering complex clinical presentations and how best to be helpful with the application of our medicine.

EV intermediate classes incorporate this approach with working with the visceral organs and cranium. Many acupuncturists incorporate craniosacral therapy and Barral manual therapies into their practices. EV seminars provide a way to think about how these therapies can be optimally integrated together to improve clinical results.

It’s our goal to offer a Fundamental Module Series every year in Seattle, Washington. We hope you can come out to practice with us!

www.engagingvitality.com
YouTube: Engaging Vitality Media

PS - EV is part of the core curriculum taught to students at SIEAM. Students have a chance to receive individual instruction in this approach for 3 years!

Greetings from beautiful northern Colorado, way out in the sticks. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted on the IG.

Since moving out of Denver at the beginning of the summer, my husband and I have been living a few miles away from the Wyoming border in unincorporated Larimer County. Toto, we are definitely not in Denver anymore!!! If you’ve never been to this part of the state, it’s definitely worth visiting - especially if you are into beautiful scenery, quietude, and wildlife - bobcats, moose, elk, mule deer, antelope, golden eagles (!!!) and bald eagles (!!!!!). Totally spectacular to see.

I’m also very happy to report that I’m seeing patients in the Fort Collins area during the week. If you’d like more info on how to set up an appointment, please reach out at [email protected]

I look forward to popping on here more often to share about the benefits of East Asian medicine. It’s good to be back! ☺️

Denver is giving us a gorgeous morning for our last one here in the city. Enjoying a little coffee in the backyard before the movers come.

“At the end of the day, doctors want their patients to feel better, and many people are looking for non-pharmaceutical paths for wellness,” Menard says. “Depending on the condition, those little needles can make a huge impact.”

Why Acupuncture Is Going Mainstream in Medicine Here's what research says about the complementary therapy

Gratitude Acupuncture is moving to northern Colorado!

Like many folks, the last few years have brought on a lot of life revisioning and a desire to be closer to our immediate family. It’s a bittersweet time.

Many many thanks to my wonderful and very dear patients in Denver. It has been both a tremendous joy and privilege to get to work with you.

Denver is home to some really fantastic practitioners who deliver high-quality, effective, and compassionate care.

I encourage anyone looking to continue care to reach out to the follow practitioners:
• Jennie Luther
• Macushla Hobin
• Serena Shaw
• Patti Polman at Jing Japanese Acupuncture
• Melati Stevens
• Zack Gutman at Great River Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine
• Melissa Durgin at Five Roads Acupuncture
• Billy Quintana at Vibrant Pearl Acupuncture
• Katie Altneu and her crew
• Tolley Sink at Live Well Acupuncture
• Adrienne Kim at Denver Community Acupuncture

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any assistance in finding a practitioner who feels like a good fit.

Once I’m settled in the Fort Collins area and have begun seeing patients in a new space, I will send out an email (you can sign up for the email list at www.gratitudeacupuncture.com) with information on where I’m at. I’m anticipating re-opening at some point in early to mid Fall, after some downtime and travel to visit friends and family out of state.

And if you need any support at all now or in the future with your health, you can always always find me at my email address. I’m here for you!

Hi TEAM colleagues 👋 Today is the last day to register for Engaging Vitality’s webinar on Qiological Live. It’s taking place tomorrow morning and it’s going to be a good one!

This is a follow up to the webinar we did a while back on Qi Signal Assessment (QSA).

QSA is based off of the work of French osteopath Jean-Pierre Barral and his discovery of Manual Thermal Evaluation.

QSA uses off-the-body sensing - using the palmar surface of the hand about 7-8 inches off the body - to gain valuable info that can aid in getting a more effective response to our acupuncture.

QSA can be used to assess the health of the 3 Jiaos, locate active acupuncture points, and let us know if we’re approaching “overtreatment” - which happens when we give the body more stimuli than it can properly integrate and assimilate at one time (overtreatment accounts for what is going on when patients can feel maxed out, exhausted, and wonky after an acupuncture treatment - sometimes called a “healing crisis” which is not an accurate way to frame what is going on).

So QSA is an extremely useful palpatory tool for us acupuncturists.

Registration to participate live or to watch a recording of the webinar is available at the website.

Hope to see you there!

"Women, you may have heard, are born with all the eggs they will ever have. It’s one of those factoids that gets repeated ad nauseam in medical textbooks, health magazines and high school biology classrooms.

Sometimes, it is used to awe and inspire: Is it not incredible that at one point, a woman pregnant with a female fetus carries not only her daughter but also the eggs that could one day become her grandchildren — three generations in one body? Other times, it’s used to illustrate the bedrock differences between male and female biology: Ovaries are degenerating organs, prone to exhaustion and fatigue, while te**es are hotbeds of renewal, pumping out s***m long into old age.

But what if there is more to the story?"

Opinion | Ovaries Are Prone to ‘Exhaustion’ and ‘Fatigue.’ Or Are They? Is it time to rethink the potential of a much-maligned female organ?

"I had put my writing, my ambition, and my success over not just my health but my experience of life."

Many individuals come to find that economic and career pressures, as well as a desire to succeed in their chosen field can oftentimes come at the expense of their health and well-being. The intensity of overworking takes a toll on the body, begging to be acknowledged in the form of nearly unbearable pain - migraines in the case of the author.

Forging a sustainable path of engaged and productive work as well as an ability to listen to the needs of the body takes creativity, courage, boundaries, and a willingness to accept and embrace personal values and limitations, as the author explores in this article.

The High Point of My Career Came With a Physical Breakdown Chloe Benjamin, author of The Immortalists, on prioritizing her body over her ambition.

Yes to this - via

A Sunday lunch salad made with Trader Joe’s very delicious vegan Cesar dressing, tomatoes, red onions, kale, spinach, and butter lettuce.

Artichokes are full of Vit K, magnesium, phosphate, and B vitamins. And also protein! 3.5 grams per serving!

They also contain a kind of fiber called inulin which is fantastic for your gut. Inulin is a prebiotic fiber that slows down digestion, bulks up the stool, enhances absorption of vitamins and minerals, benefits the immune system, and supports blood sugar regulation.

Crazy to note - Americans eat only about half the recommended amount of of fiber that’s recommended per day.

Bottom line: Artichokes are super easy to shop for, store, and toss into a quick and nutritious salad. And they’ll make your gut super happy! 😀

This year Gratitude Acupuncture & Wellness was named one of the best acupuncture clinics in Denver by Expertise.com! It's such a privilege to be able to offer high quality, individualized, and compassionate acupuncture and East Asian medicine to the amazing folks who come to Gratitude Acupuncture!

22 Best Denver Acupuncturists Find and connect with the 22 Best Acupuncturists in Denver. Hand picked by an independent editorial team and updated for 2022.

You Gui Wan is one of my favorite formulas to use when working with fertility challenges.

Also known as “Backing to the Right Formula” or “Restore the Right Kidney Pill”, this formula is specifically indicated for infertility in both men and women.

In East Asian medicine, the Kidneys (which includes both the actual organ and endocrine function, including the pituitary gland) are considered foundational to the body’s vitality and ability to support healthy conception.

Kidney vitality (also called Kidney Yang and Kidney Yin) can get diminished by illness, overworking, excessive stress, and the reality of aging.

The herbs in this formula help to warm and tonify Kidney Yang, replenish Essence (which is a way of thinking about supporting cellular function) and helps to nourish the Blood - which is incredibly important for healthy conception as the body requires increased blood volume as pregnancy progresses to support the growing baby.

I find this formula to be really useful in many clinical situations:
🌱 Lack of menstrual cycle altogether after getting off the birth control pill
🌱 Irregular ovulation - especially in cases of mild PCOS
🌱 Diminished ovarian reserve due to normal aging
🌱 Certain cases of male infertility
🌱 Unexplained infertility

I also love to use this formula for patients who have gone through multiple egg retrievals and are taking a little bit of a break to support their body’s reserves before going into the embryo transfer procedure.

Worth noting: Patients who also really benefit from this formula often have cold extremities and cold feet specifically. As all the hormonal meridians start at the feet, cold feet is a clinically useful symptom to pay attention to. The cold feet often go away as patients start to make progress on this formula.

I’m getting ready for my last in a 4 day training on supporting subtle structural work via the craniosacral system and my brain is loaded with so much good info from the past few days.

Acupuncture and craniosacral therapy are very complimentary because they both work to free up restrictions and supporting healthy physiological movement within the connective tissue or fascia.

Fascia is like the Saran Wrap of the body. It surrounds EVERY structure of the body, from nerves to blood vessels to muscles and all the internal organs. It is intimately connected to the brain and nervous system.

Healthy fascia is smooth, flexible, fluid-filled, and glides along both vertical and horizontal pathways throughout the body (like the acupuncture meridian pathways).

Complex restrictions can form in the fascia system from injury, repetitive movements, lack of physical activity, stress, and engrained posture patterns.

Over time, these fascial restrictions have a de-vitalizing and diminishing effect on the entire body and overall health.

You know how amazing you can feel after a great yoga class? Well these therapies are like yoga for the deep internal pathways of your body.

The second picture is an image of a transverse sheath of fascia known as the pelvic diaphragm. Working to support the movement of this diaphragm can support the low back, urogenital, and reproductive health.

One of the big ways acupuncture works is by helping to restore flexibility in the nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system has two major divisions: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

In modern life, the sympathetic nervous system is constantly being activated over and over, and not given opportunities to sufficiently discharge the accumulated energy that gets stimulated.

Heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, spasticity in the bowels, digestion slows down, the stomach can tighten, and blood flow is diverted away from the vital organs and to the muscles.

The parasympathetic system (“rest and digest “aspect of the nervous system) constantly tries to bring in balance, but becomes maxed out in the face of accumulated activation.

This is how functional disorders such as IBS and chronic fatigue can develop, as well as fertility can be impeded.

It’s also how imbalances within the mind/body such as burnout, depression, and anxiety start to manifest.

Acupuncture helps to discharge the accumulated nervous system energy and restore flexibility within the autonomic nervous system, leading to feeling of calm, grounded, and well.

Acupuncture offers a comprehensive and multifaceted way of addressing many kinds of pain.

The experience of pain is subjective in nature. It's associated with tissue damage and is mediated by nerve fibers that transmit electrical impulses from the tissues to the spinal cord.

Pain can also have a psychological component in that it can be exacerbated by depression, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness.

Many conditions that involve pain can be quite tricky because of an issue I've discussed on here before, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐦(𝐬) 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧.

An example of this is neck pain. Neck pain can be due to constriction and tension in the local anatomy of the neck. It can also be related to tightness and restriction in the sternum on the front of the chest. Or it can be related to imbalances in the pelvis. It can also be related to Lung channel pathology involving restriction in the thoracic outlet, squeezing on the pleura of the lungs - this is why the acupuncture point Lung 7 is called the Command Point of the head and posterior neck.

Searching for effective pain relief solutions is very consequential for patients. There is the potential to receive inaccurate diagnosis, temporary solutions that mask the symptoms but don't get to the root of the issue, pain medications that can cause more problems than they solve, and even the possibility unneeded surgical intervention.

Getting checked out by a skilled acupuncture practitioner can make all the difference!

What we eat can have a huge impact on our mental well-being!

What you eat influences the health of your microbiome - the collective of microbes that inhabit the human intestinal tract.

Imbalances within this collective amongst the pathogenic and symbiotic organisms are associated with a wide range of health conditions including diabetes, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, thyroid disorders, Crohn's, irritable bowel syndrome, AND depression.

Eating whole foods nourishes the health of the microbiome and can improve overall mental health.

The Best Brain Foods You’re Not Eating For this week’s Eat Well Challenge, try some new foods that have been linked with improving your mood.

This was a really worthwhile read on the most up-to-date science on the decline of s***m counts in the Western world.

Shanna Swan Phd and her team conducted a meta-analysis (a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies) and found that between 1973 and 2011, s***m concentration dropped more than 52 percent in random men in Western countries. Total s***m count fell by 59 percent.

Normal s***m concentration in human beings ranges from 15 million to greater than 200 million s***m per milliliter of semen.

The World Health Organization has deemed a concentration of fewer than 15 million per milliliter to be "low".

But Swan cites a well-regarded Danish study that found that men with a s***m concentration of less than 40 million per millimeter are considered to have an impaired likelihood of conceiving.

In her own research, Swan found that in 1973 the average man in Western countries had a s***m concentration of 99 million per milliliter. By 2011, it had fallen to 47.1 million per milliliter.

This is important and consequential information for couples having difficulty conceiving.

Lifestyle choices play a crucial role in supporting s***m health. Dr. Swan cites many practical ways that individuals can protect and preserve their fertile potential, including:
🌀Avoiding smoking altogether
🌀Curbing use of alcohol
🌀Avoiding pesticides, phthalates, Bisphenol A, flame retardants
🌀Getting a grip on toxic stress
🌀Eating healthfully
🌀Movement/exercise

If you love eggs, you’ll love shakshuka.

Shakshuka is a dish that’s popular in the Middle East and North Africa.

It’s a one skillet dish with eggs poached in sauce.

The version above has red pepper, onion, feta, tomatoes, cilantro, cumin, and sweet paprika. Found on the app - which is an excellent recipe app.

Eggs are considered a top fertility food in Chinese medicine.

Consuming eggs nourishes 𝘫𝘪𝘯𝘨, which can be thought of as the deep foundational energetic reserves of the body.

Eggs contain choline, which is an essential nutrient for cellular health.

Choline is incredibly important for supporting fertility. It supports fetal brain development, preventing neural tube defects, and supporting placental function.

Shakshuka is one eggcellent (ah - couldn’t help it! 😜) way to consume this nutritional powerhouse!

Putting together a raw herbal tea for a patient working through anxiety, mild depression, and difficulty sleeping. Drinking tea through out the week is a way to continue to support the treatment process in between acupuncture treatments. I believe that the whole ritual of making tea and tending to yourself in a really intentional way really helps to catalyze the whole healing process as well. 🌀💜🌱



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I thought this was such a sweet idea when I first saw it, and still totally worth starting halfway through January. 😊

Repost

A major component of East Asian medicine involves paying attention to fluid physiology in the human body.

As you probably know, our body is made up of about 60% water. Pretty incredible, right?

These fluids take the form of blood plasma, saliva, vaginal fluid, lymph, bile, cerebrospinal fluid, sweat, tears, urine, gastric juices, semen, cervical mucous, breast milk, sebum, synovial fluid, amniotic fluids, and many more.

Are they flowing properly? What is the relative quantity - too much or too little? Is there healthy viscosity?

We ask lots of granular questions to get a sense of the health of the fluids in the body.

Part of what can happen when fluid physiology gets off track is that the fluids can start to get stagnant, slow moving, and gunked up.

Fluid physiology is also really relevant to fertility challenges.

When an egg first gets released from an o***y, the secretions in the fallopian tube are meant to be quite thick. This keeps a potentially fertilized egg from traveling too fast down the fallopian tubes and reaching the uterus before the embryo has matured enough and is ready to implant in the uterine lining. The release of progesterone eventually causes the secretions to thin out.

But if the secretions are too thick in general, this can throw the timing off and impede conception altogether.

Signs of disrupted fluid physiology can look like cloudy urine, lots of sinus congestion, excessive vaginal discharge, sticky and dry cervical mucous, oily sweat, mucousy menstrual blood, and accumulations like lipomas or cysts. We call this "phlegm accumulation" in East Asian medicine.

Picture of Slimer from Ghostbusters for added effect!


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"Tragic optimism" is the search for meaning during the inevitable tragedies of human existence, and is better for us than avoiding darkness and trying to "stay positive."

The Opposite of Toxic Positivity “Tragic optimism” is the search for meaning during the inevitable tragedies of human existence, and is better for us than avoiding darkness and trying to “stay positive.”

Happy New Year from (thankfully snowy) northern Colorado. So heartbroken for what my fellow Coloradans in Boulder County are going through right now. 😔

Wishing you and your nearest and dearest peace, ease, well-being, and a fresh start in 2022.

If 2021 brought much desired changes, redirection, and reorientation towards your values and what you care for most deeply in your life, I hope 2022 is a chance to continue on in this incredible new way.

If 2021 felt like a nearly impossible year, and a time of tremendous challenge, uncertainty, and groundless, I hope 2022 will be an opportunity to make a new start. And know that my heart is with you. For many people I know this has been one of the most challenging years of their lives.

I am grateful to work with you, and I send you warm wishes, goodness, healing, good health, peace of mind, stability, ease, happy vibes and whatever you most need to keep on rockin’ on in 2022.

I’m so very very grateful to be finishing out another year in my little corner of the world, still getting to help folks find some respite, heal, ease pain, get reacquainted with their intrinsic sense of well-being, have babies, take a load off, decompress, feel better, and recharge their batteries so they can continue to show up for this crazy, difficult, constantly changing world.

During a time when so many small businesses are struggling to stay alive, I never once take it for granted that I’m still here and get to do work that I deeply care about.

I’m going to be logging off for a while over the holidays to refill my own tank. I wish everyone some delicious downtime and a chance to go into 2022 feeling replenished, with open hearts, ready for whatever may be. 💜💜💜

Repost from : This is a fun opportunity to learn about some unique palpation tools that can aid us in our practice of acupuncture and East Asian medicine. It’s a live online event taking place Saturday, January 8th. I’m really looking forward to helping out my dear colleagues Dan Bensky, Velia Workman, and Jack Radner with this event. Registration is available at :

https://www.qiological.com/engaging-vitality/