Water in Summer

Water in the Summer

In the heat of the summer what helps you cool off? Water. At this time of year we are finding any excuse to get in the water - at the pool, the creek, the ocean, the sprinkler. Our bodies are also busy managing our internal balance of water - vital for temperature regulation as well as basically all other functions.

So, even though the season associated with the Water Element is winter, it’s also really important at this time of year. We all have all of the Elements functioning in us all the time. And it’s interesting to see how they interact with each other. In this case, as we say in Asian Medicine, “Water Controls Fire” and we can feel that as we take a dive into the pool on a hot day.

What we learn from the Water Element during its season of winter, is how to manage our resources well. We need to wisely conserve our resources to get ourselves through times of cold or scarcity.

And in the summer, we can often be helped by tempering some of our excitement and summer celebrations with some of the wisdom and conservation that our Water Element provides.

Listen to your body when it tells you that you’re tired. Respond to your thirst with plenty of cool (not iced) water or other fluids. Enjoy your activities and gatherings and summer events - but leave time to rest and catch up on sleep too.

Hoping that you are enjoying your summer, and finding times to enjoy the water, and the Water Element too.

Happy, healthy healers make the world a better place!

Hi there!

It’s been a while since I’ve been in touch! I’ve been working on two things. One is simply that my practice has been busy! There are many people in need of healing work right now given the stress and change that has been happening this year.

The other is that I’ve been working on a way to support other healers. I have been blessed to have found my way to the place where I am today. I love the work that I’m doing and am thriving in it. But there have been times when I’ve struggled to make my practice work, and wished for the companionship of other practitioners to talk about how to keep our hearts and energy clear in doing the work we do.

And I have a feeling that the kind of stress that folks are under will continue. In one form or another, we are facing changes in the world and within ourselves. And when that happens, boy do we need our healers! Whether it’s bodywork, acupuncture, therapy, Tai Chi, meditation, Qi Gong or any other method that provides a heartfelt way to find some calm and integration - this is a great time for everyone to be getting some support. 

I know I’ve benefited from many healing sessions from practitioners of a wide range of modalities. I am so grateful for their work which has helped me to keep my energy clear and my heart open. I’ve learned many tools to help me do my work in ways that are healthy and grounding for me. At this point, I leave the end of a day at the office feeling better than when I went in! So it feels like time for me to give back.

If you consider yourself a practitioner of a heartfelt healing method, keep your eye out here for more info on this upcoming online support group for heartfelt healers. I will share what I’ve discovered about how to stay healthy and thriving. We will tell stories about the ways we’ve struggled to find our path. We will offer support to each other to keep growing and getting stronger as we offer our important work to a world in need.

If you are not a practitioner but would still like to learn some of the grounding and balancing methods that we practice to keep ourselves in good energetic shape, keep your eye out as well. I am planning on offering some pop-up Tai Chi classes this fall.

And in the meantime, take a moment to think of the last time that you were on another practitioner’s table, or otherwise held in a healing space by a caring person. Remember that feeling, and bring some of it with you into your day. If you get a chance, write that person a note to remind them that they made a difference for you!

Wishing you all the best,

Doren

How to stay hopeful...

STRENGTH OF SPIRIT

That’s what we need to get through times like these. And, wow! - this world can really take a toll on our spirits. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to strengthen ourselves and each other to have heart in these soul crushing times?

Surprisingly - and this is still mysterious to me after many years of practicing - acupuncture can bring direct support to your spirit. Let me explain. By spirit, I don’t mean spiritual. What you believe, or don’t, is not the issue. In acupuncture, we see spirit as one of the innate aspects of being a human. It is that part of you that engages with life. 

How much spark do you have to face the day when you wake up in the morning? 

Does something in you rise to meet the challenges you face? 

That aspect of each of us, is what we call "spirit", and early in the discovery of acupuncture, it was found that certain acupuncture points strengthen and help build a person’s spirit. I see it happening everyday in my practice.

Oftentimes, this can make the difference between someone recovering from an illness or symptom or not. It has been known for all time, in all kinds of medicine, and proven through research, that the level of hope and good outlook a patient has directly affects their outcome. The hidden gem within Five Element Acupuncture is the ability to support and stoke that inner sense of hope and spirit.

We all need this so much. This is what got me into practicing Five Element Acupuncture in the first place - I saw the difference in someone’s spirit before and after their treatment. I couldn’t fully name it at the time, but I knew there was light in their eyes where there hadn’t been before.

IT IS TIME TO SHARE THE SECRET.

I love doing this work in my private practice, and I’m happy to help the people who come to me. I love to teach it at the acupuncture school and support new practitioners to include this perspective in their work. But it is time for this to be available to more people. You might like to understand how to use this for yourself. You might want to be able to help your friends and others who need support. Not everybody can go to acupuncture school. But this kind of support should be available to everybody.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN?

I’m considering developing an in-depth course for those who would like to practice healing in this way. If you are interested please be in touch with me to hear more. To begin with, please join me for an introductory course on the special points that support and strengthen the spirit.

SPIRIT STRENGTHENING
six points for restoring the spirit

November 14th

 4-6pm on Zoom

$50  (scholarships available)
To register, send tuition to me at PayPal (dorenday@yahoo.com) or Venmo (doren-day) and you will be sent a Zoom link

We need all of us to pull together, to stay strong enough to envision and work towards a better world. Maybe it is time for you to step into your own healing, and perhaps to offer healing to others as well.

With heart,
Doren

The time for change.

There are many troubling things happening with this pandemic. There are also some positive things. One of them is that it is showing our capacity for change. None of us would have chosen this reason for change,  yet it's a bit exciting that many things which seemed set in stone have turned on a dime.

With all that is astir in the world, you may find that your emotions and patterns are stirring up as well. Challenging!  But also a huge opportunity for making change within youself. Maybe things don't have to be the way they always have been... in the world and in us.

I hope that you have good support as you are making changes and dealing with the emotions that arise. If I can be of help in that way, I am available for telehealth sessions at this time. You can also find support in getting outdoors, reaching out to friends for talks and connection, taking good care of your physical body with food, rest and movement.

One thing that helps me is Tai Chi. I'm offering Tai Chi classes on Sunday mornings at 10am EDT through Studio 34. The Zoom meeting code is: 192 784 391. Payment is by donation, please don't let money stop you from coming if you would like to attend.

As a client said after her telehealth session this week, "I'm getting to know myself better during this time. And these sessions are helping me deepen and strengthen that understanding, so hopefully I can keep it when we go back."

Wishing you grounding and stability, as well as courage for change.

Warmly,

Doren

On the edge of my seat!

"Find in your body the irrational thing that just says, "Live. I'm alive. Live." This is what will keep up walking through the darkest of times."
-Thea Elijah

I’ve gotten where I am today by following a call to find something deeper. The next piece of growth for me always seems to have a feeling that combines scary and exciting. I’ve come to recognize that feeling, which although it may be uncomfortable, tells me that there is good and important growth around the corner.

Following that call is what got me to study meditation and mysticism. That’s what got me into acupuncture school. That’s what continues to fuel my learning and growth as a practitioner. This year has been particularly rich and full of study and expansion of my understanding and skills. I have found an acupuncture teacher who really inspires me, Thea Elijah. I’ve been to several of her classes and have been reading her work.

Now, I’m thrilled to say that she is coming to my practice to mentor and support me in treating two clients on Thursday, April 9th. Thea is a Five Element Acupuncturist and also a Sufi teacher and practitioner. She is traveling with another Sufi healer, Nur Preston, a bodyworker and a highly skilled intuitive spiritual healer of the Shadhiliyyah Sufi tradition. They are offering these healing and mentoring sessions together with me. Click here to learn more.

This could be an amazing opportunity for you to move towards your next step. These healings will be powerful. There are only two spots for clients to be seen at this time. If you are interested please respond to this email and I will be in touch. Two names will be drawn from those who reply.

What is the next step for you that feels scary/exciting/important for your growth? Take a moment to ask yourself that question.  It might be to put your name into the hat to be chosen to receive one of the sessions from Thea, Nur and me. Or maybe you want to start with a smaller bite, but are ready to challenge yourself to come out and experience some engagement in person - for you a Tai Chi class or Yogapuncture or Sound Bath might be calling. It might be something completely different! If you listen inside, you will find where you feel called. Or if nothing is showing up yet, you can commit to keep listening for that next thing - book, class, person, experience - that resonates with an inner part of you and calls you forward.

I celebrate that mysterious and irrational part of you, and me, that says, “Live!” Let’s see how much we can let it guide us this season!

With a shining heart,

Doren

Solstice balance

Can you see the light?

We are in the darkest part of the year. Today we celebrate the return of the light. But it doesn’t seem very light yet, does it?!

You may be familiar with the image above, called the Yin Yang symbol (or Tai Chi symbol). The purpose of this design is show that there are always opposing factors in life, and that they balance each other.

Yang, represented by the color white, is more active, forceful, bright, light, warm and masculine. Yin, represented by the color black, is more passive, dark, quiet, cool, gentle, feminine.

But the cool part is the dots! They show that when the Yang has reached it’s peak it contains within it the seed of its opposite. When we are most active, say running in the sunlight, shouting and playing we are at the same time creating the need for rest, for quiet and sleep in order to restore.

The solstice is a good example of the dot of white/yang within the most intense darkness of yin. In winter, with long nights and cold temperatures, we are hopefully sleeping more, staying inside more, turning inward. And yet this is when we remember and celebrate that although we are still in the darkness, the light begins its return today. 

Yin and Yang are in a constant swirling dance, as the years turn, as each day goes from light to dark, as we each move through our lives and their varying needs, moods and experiences. A big part of acupuncture is helping each person find a healthy balance between yin and yang within their lives, bodies and selves!

Tai Chi is also an excellent way to help support your own balance - both literally (Tai Chi has been shown to reduce falls) - and energetically. I’m teaching Tai Chi on Saturdays at Studio 34 at 2pm. Just reach out if you’d like more information!

Or come in for a session to get support finding the balance of yin and yang within yourself. 

Wishing you a joyful solstice and happy holidays as we share this special time of year!

Vibration and Resonance

SO much of life is created and affected by vibration. We could go deeply into Quantum Physics or into ancient East Asian Medicine understandings and find everywhere the importance of rhythm and vibration.

Whether it's your heartbeat, nerve signals, brain waves, or the atoms and molecules that make up your body and world, it's all vibrating. Sometimes acupuncture and other types of energy healing are called Vibrational Medicine.

Have you ever had a song change your mood? Have you sat on the beach and felt the pounding of the waves and noticed a shift in yourself? The sounds, words, and vibrations we are exposed to have a direct effect on our state of being.

Here's something you can try right now: take a deep breath and hum. Feel the vibration right in your chest. Now do it again. See if you can make even more vibration so that you really feel it. Now one more time - how long can you make the sound last? Sit for a moment in the silence after those three hums. See what you notice in your body and your self.

This is the effect we are playing with when we do a Sound Bath. While you lie comfortably, Sean Youngman gently plays a wide variety of bells, gongs and magical sounding hand pans. Mary DiMeglio sends healing intent with Reiki and I provide some calming and balancing acupuncture to get you in tune. It is a healing vibe, for sure!

I hope you are surrounding yourself with good sounds, good songs, good words and thoughts. 

Sending you my best,


Doren

What sounds good?

Here’s a picture of today’s harvest from my garden. I  believe I will start with the raspberries. In fact, those don't usually make it as far as the house!

Do you listen to your body about what it wants to eat? I mean, really listen? It takes a bit of attention to get past the noise of being rushed and depleted, responding to images or habits on auto-pilot.

When was the last time you felt truly hungry for something, and then had it, and felt satisfied? I believe that is the healthiest kind of eating we can do.

There are so many schools of thought about what to eat and what to avoid. You may have lots of judgements and programming inside yourself about it. Not to mention that we are all exposed to constant advertisements meant to manipulate our appetites. Get out of your head!

You may have to stop running for a bit and just sit with yourself, maybe hold yourself, literally put your hands on your belly. What does your body really need? Give it time, maybe first you just need to sit quietly for a while. Got a porch or a quiet corner by a window? Some answers can’t be rushed.

I am not telling you what to eat. Or what not to eat. Please don’t use this message to feed those old voices of criticism and judgment. Go back to listening. And resting. Not rushing. Giving time and attention to nurturing and caring for yourself. Your body will begin to tell you what it needs. And listening to that is a true form of nourishment.

This may feel challenging for you. If so, that is something that we can work with. A client of mine came with debilitating stomach pain and lack of appetite. Through the course of treatment, her pain went away except for occasional bouts and her appetite returned. In fact, she began to listen to, and trust her body's messages, which ended up being a big benefit that went beyond eating and digesting food!

Trust to open.

Walking up to the train station, I’m hit by a wave of hauntingly beautiful scent. The smell pulls on my heartstrings and speaks of elegance and romance and inspiration. Where is that coming from ?!? I don’t see any flowers at my feet. Then I look up and see the magnolia tree above me, with its large creamy, fragrant flowers.

Suddenly I’m struck by the trust that it takes for a tree to put forth all these flowers. A lot of effort and resources into these delicate, vulnerable creations. It has to trust that the cold is over. It has to believe in the summer warmth fully enough to put forth it’s vulnerable beauties. And once they are out, there’s no taking them back.

When do I do that? When do you? Do you sense when the conditions are right (enough) to put forth your beauty? To share your heart? Yes, those flowers are going to face some wind and rain, maybe even some hail. It will not always be safe or easy. But they are not holding back. They are not “half-flowering” to hedge their bets. They are stretching their petals wide and sending their scent out into the breeze.

Do you fully expand into your expression of who you are, opening yourself and trusting that you will be met with warmth? Or do you hold back and hide out? Do past hurts keep you from fully opening now?

Granted, as humans we have a lot more variability than trees. We can open our hearts now, and retreat later, and that’s a good thing! Our surrounding conditions are not always right for us to be totally open. And we can get hurt, so it’s natural to want to protect against that. But to live life fully, we need times when we spread our arms, open our hearts, raise our voices and BE!

This kind of open-heartedness relates to our Fire Element, which relates to summer and is governed by the Heart. When your Fire Element is out of balance or depleted it becomes a lot harder to find the trust to open yourself up. Or to know when to close and protect. We can begin to feel a lack of warmth within ourselves and fall into unhealthy patterns to try to make up for that. 

Getting Five Element acupuncture treatment helps to bring the Fire Element into a healthier flow. Then we easily open and share from the heart when the time is right, and naturally set boundaries and protect when we need to. As I work with clients, it is so good to see the empowerment and peace and self-expression that grows when they have support in this area. It is literally like watching someone blossom! 

Maybe we will have a chance to work together sometime to see what can happen for you? For now, the next time you are out in the sun, raise your face to the sky, allow that radiance and warmth to come into your heart and feel how you might expand and be more fully yourself in this moment.

I look forward to seeing you shining,

Doren

Walking on the Veranda

Walking on the veranda.

That's the name of one of my favorite acupuncture points. This spring I've been teaching a class at the local acupuncture school about the meaning of the points. Each one has a particular gift, a name and a purpose. Maybe I've shared the meaning of a point with you during a treatment sometime? I find them very inspiring.

Walking on the Veranda is a point we use when someone is recovering from a time of illness or difficulty that has kept them inside - or inside themselves - for some time. When they are just starting to feel better, we use this point to encourage their energy to come forth in a safe, protected way. It is like stepping out into the sun for the first time in a while, and also feeling safe and contained. It brings energy, hope and a fresh perspective to your ongoing rebuilding.

We've all been enjoying the spring sunshine when it shows up. Those first few warm spring days, when you are soaking up the sun after a long winter, give you an idea of the quality of this point. Next time you feel that, try taking an extra moment to really enjoy it. You might also offer another breath to send that energy to someone who still feels in the dark for whatever reason.

I feel it is a gift and an honor to be able to offer help people in this way. If you or someone you know is feeling in need of this kind of support, contact me for a free consultation.

Wishing you all the best this spring,

Doren

I wish you could feel this.

I'm meeting you where you are.

There is something special about the type of touch we are taught to use in Zero Balancing. Have you noticed? The idea is that I am meeting you right where you are. Not sending energy into you, or blending, not "correcting" something. I'm not even trying to make a change, although change - and relaxation and readjustment -happens most times.

But the magic is that I'm not "doing" it. I am simply bringing presence and attention to that area. And it's your body that makes the changes, remembers to relax, readjusts if it needs to. It's so cool to feel that happening under my hands! I wish you could feel it. (You could take a class and learn to do Zero Balancing yourself! www.zerobalancing.com)

And I've been finding lately that by using that type of touch, those changes can begin to happen pretty quickly. There's even a two-minute seated Zero Balancing, that can be done anywhere. (Need me to come to your event?)

I'm also creatively adding it to the yoga and acupuncture workshops I'm doing.
Want to see how that feels? Come to our next workshop combining Restorative Yoga with Carolyn Poerio and ZB and Acupuncture with me. We will help you find ways you can continue to use to restore yourself fully when you need some deep rest.

Nurture and Ground
Sunday, February 10, 12:30-3:30 $55
Wake Up Yoga Rittenhouse

https://www.wakeupyoga.com/workshops/

Reaching Up.

"So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars. Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies. Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears. Let’s claw ourselves out from the graves we’ve dug. Let’s lick the earth from our fingers. Let us look up and out and around. The world is big and wide and wild and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable, and full of meaning. Oremus. Let us pray.” -Pádraig Ó Tuama

Often as we go through a healing process we find ourselves drawing closer to our spiritual resources. In fact, this work - Five Element Acupuncture - is known for treating the spirit. That does not mean it is a spiritual program or that is has anything to do with what you believe. It has worked well for people of all religions and no religion.

By spirit in this case, we mean the part of you that engages in life, the level of enthusiasm you have for the day when you wake in the morning - the animating force. In modern times, the way we live, and the world we live in, can wear down our spirits. Amazingly, acupuncture points were discovered thousands of years ago that support and uplift our spirits.

One of those points is part of the reason that I became an acupuncturist. It is called Spirit Burial Ground and it helps when you have come to a time when you feel buried under the weight of judgement, or internalization of negative messages.

When treated it helps you reconnect to the Light within, the love, the gratitude. It helps us “claw our way our of the graves we’ve dug,” as it says in the poem above. We don’t often use this point, but when it is needed it can be a lifesaver.

Although it's not the only way, one method to support your spirit, is by finding, or reconnecting to, your own spiritual resources. For some, this might include prayer.

Prayer. It can mean simply yearning for something larger than ourselves, larger than our own minds. Or it can be as wordless and profound as gratitude for the simple unsung gifts that make up our days. As Annie Lamott has said, “Here are the two best prayers I know: ‘Help me, help me, help me’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Lately I have been using prayer more often as a way of getting out of my own head.

Whatever methods you find, or beliefs you hold or don't, we can each hold fast to what takes us closer to peacefulness. Maybe for me it’s prayer. For someone else, it’s taking a shower and remembering to wash away not only the day’s dirt, but also the grime of their judgements and smallness and fears. What is it for you?

Wishing you wholehearted peace,

Doren

p.s. Please feel free to share this with others, or to invite them to sign up for my mailing list.

Not. Feeling. It.

It's summertime and most of us are happier. We are more open, more social, making connections, having parties, having fun!

But sometimes in the middle of all this enthusiasm you are just not feeling it.  You may be experiencing what we call Lack of Joy. In Five Element theory, summer is connected to the Fire Element, whose emotion is Joy. But, if your internal fire is feeling low and your heart just isn't in it, you can end up feeling alone and lonely even in the midst of a group of friendly people.

Lack of Joy is different than sorrow or grief. It's different than worry or self-comparison. Lack of Joy feels particularly flat, low affect and like you have no spark. Things that you usually enjoy don't make you smile. Or they do, but it only lasts a moment - the spark can't hold. We all have felt this at one point or another. For some of us, it is more familiar territory. It could be a temporary state, or it could set in for a longer time. Are we talking about depression? Well, that depends how you define it. As an acupuncturist I would say, sometimes Lack of Joy is connected with depression, sometimes it's not. In either case, acupuncture treatment that helps rebuild your inner Fire and spark can be a real help towards feeling better - in combination with other counsel you receive and steps you take.

Everyone needs Joy in their life. Having heartfelt connections, laughter and an occasional sense of play and fun is essential for your health and well-being. If you, or someone you know, is struggling in this way, please seek to get help and support in whatever ways fit for you - counseling, connecting with friends, getting bodywork, good nutrition, activities that make you laugh and lighten up - and consider adding an acupuncturist to your support team (and honestly, we all need support).

If you are in the Philadelphia area, I would love to welcome you to my treatment table. If you'd like to hear more about the Fire Element  and how to support it, here is an article about it, and my friend's blog post. Also, I hope you take a moment to open your heart to the sun and warmth of this season and to some of the warmth and love of the people around you from strangers to your closest loves. We need warmth and the light of love to grow and thrive!

Coming home.

It’s about coming home.

It’s been a season of many changes for me, and now I am about to move my home (locally). I seem to get a certain sense of stability from my home and stuff - do you? That’s why packing it all up and changing location has the potential to throw me off. But at times like this, I have a method, that I am going to share with you today, to help me stay centered and calm.

So much of our stress - wether we are moving or not - is rooted in a need to come home. To really feel that we are in a place that is safe and where we belong. When we feel at home, there is an ease and presence that supports all our other endeavors. We feel supported, rested and capable.

But even if we are physically at home, we may not feel settled and at ease. Sometimes we feel unsettled, ill-at-ease, or lost, even when external signs don’t show that. Not being able to truly feel at home (regardless of where we are) prevents us from ever fully resting, from being able to recharge and reduces our access to the support we need.

On the other hand, we can be away from our domicile and feel completely rooted and grounded - at home in the world. That's the feeling I try to help my clients find in each session. Not just as an idea, but as a felt sense. And that brings us to the method I’m sharing with you for staying grounded, even when challenges arise.

Using visualization or imagination you can create a sense of being grounded. Visualize yourself putting down roots, and setting down your burdens. Let yourself be supported by the most reliable thing ever-  the ground that holds you up. Our true homes are our bodies and the earth beneath our feet - always there for us- but often in the stress and rush of daily life, we forget about both of them!

Taking a short time whenever you need it, to set down your worries and tension and recharge by grounding can make all the difference. I’m attaching an 8-minute guided meditation for grounding and recharging. I’ll be using this technique throughout the process of my move (and whenever other stress arises). I know from experience this will help me to arrive in my new home already feeling at home!

Please try this meditation and let me know how it works for you. If you’d like a little more help in letting go of tension and finding that grounded, supported feeling, schedule a session with me in my Philadelphia office.

PRACTICE NEWS !

In June I will be adding another location in Philadelphia. On Mondays and Tuesdays, I will be practicing at the Integral Life Center. I will continue at my current location at the Medical Tower on Wednesdays and Thursdays:

Mondays and Tuesdays:

Integral Life
419 S. 19th Street (at Lombard)
Philadelphia, PA 19146

Wednesdays and Thursdays

Medical Tower
255 S. 17th Street Suite 1502
Philadelphia PA 19103

Looking forward to seeing or hearing from you soon!

Truly,

Doren

I Can't Meditate

I’ve had many clients over the years tell me, “I can’t meditate. My mind is too active, it just doesn’t work.”  It is easy to get the impression that meditation is supposed to be peaceful- sitting calmly with no thoughts or struggles. Well, if that’s the case, I can’t meditate either! But I do anyway.

Meditation - any version of it - is a way of training the mind. Think of it as training a puppy (and my mind is at least as undisciplined as a puppy!). If you tell the puppy to sit, you don’t except that you will only have to say that once. The process of training involves repeating the instruction over and over and guiding the behavior repeatedly. And, at first, success can be measured in the puppy sitting still for a very short time. In fact, our minds are even less trainable than a puppy, because our thoughts are going to keep coming even after we’ve trained for a very long time - because that’s what the mind does. It thinks.

So once, you get the idea that it’s not a failure if you sit down to meditate and end up thinking about your obnoxious co-worker and their latest insult, or any other of a million distractions, you will begin to feel more settled with the process of simply returning to your focus to the breath after you find you’ve wandered away on a thought.

The breath is the focus for most meditation because it is the intersection between our conscious and unconscious self. You are able to consciously control your breath, but on the other hand, breathing happens whether you think about it or not - thank goodness! By bringing our attention the breath, it naturally slows and deepens. This creates a balance in our nervous system that we can feel benefits of right away.

I find that, for me, if I have spent 10-20 minutes quietly breathing earlier in the day, it is easier for me to recover my balance later on when things have gotten stressful. When I find myself reacting with tension, I can take a few breaths and touch back into that centered place I visited when I was meditating.

Want to try it? Or try again? I suggest getting the free mediation app, Insight Timer. You can time your meditation with a nice bell, or choose from many guided meditations led by wonderful teachers. Meditations are available on all sorts of topics, from dealing with pain, to getting better sleep, to letting go of emotional stress. And you’ll get a sense of the thousands of other people around the world that are seeking the benefits of training the mind with you.

Do you ever feel like getting an acupuncture treatment is like a meditation? I sometimes do. I leave feeling more centered, quiet inside, relaxed and insightful. Often I feel some of that after giving and acupuncture treatment (or Zero Balancing)!

So, I’ll meet you in meditation or in the treatment room. We can accept that it won’t always be peaceful and “thought-free” and know that we will feel better because we got there.

Ever Since...

Ever since that time when...

Things have not been the same ever since...(fill in the blank here with a time when you were overwhelmed physically or emotionally). Since then you have not slept as well. Maybe you've put on weight. Noticed you're just strung a little tighter, harder to find times when you really feel at ease.

It's different for each person what started it. For some it's a particular event. An accident. A work crisis. A death in the family. For others, it wasn't just one thing, but maybe a series of hits too close together. You were holding up against the storm for a while but then it got to be too much. At some point you went into survival mode, and parts of you haven't come back since.

But by now you barely notice. All of that is pretty normal, isn't it? You've gotten used to this pattern and don't really expect it to be any different. But your body remembers. When we experience an overwhelming situation, our body gets us ready to respond by shifting into fight-or-flight. That works really well if the challenge is one that we can physically run from or wrestle with. But if it's an ongoing emotional stress from which there is no where to run, our stress response can get stuck. 

And over time that can begin to feel like the new normal. But in the background, our heart is still a bit elevated, and our breathing shallower. Our muscles are chronically tense, and we might get headaches, insomnia, digestive problems and stress. These are a lot of the reasons that people come to me for treatment. And often we find that there is some underlying stress that also resolves or calms down during the course of our work.

Five Element Acupuncture and Zero Balancing are so good at helping you find balance and calmness again after the storm. I know they've helped me through many a tough time. I love to be able to help people reset their stress response cycle and bring more peace!

Here's one thing you can do for yourself right now: If reading this made you remember a time when you were overwhelmed, take a moment to feel your feet on the floor. Now take a breath and remind yourself that you made it through that time. You survived! Take a few moments to appreciate that. You already have an innate tendency towards being balanced - otherwise you wouldn't be here. 

So with appreciation for your innate balance, and with the offer to help you deepen and tune it up when needed, I wish you a happy fall!

All the best,
Doren

A little bit of magic...

Some Moms are not easy. And some are just plain difficult. The death of a parent is always an emotional challenge, but the loss of a challenging parent can be really complicated.

One of my clients recently helped her mother through a difficult dying process. Things had never been easy with her. As my client lay on my treatment table, grieving, but pretty ok with how things went, I sensed so much energy swirling around her head. I put a few needles in and something told me to leave the room and let her have some space (I usually stay with my clients the whole time).

When I came back she had tears welling in her eyes and an amazed, relieved look on her face. While lying there she had felt and seen each painful episode she’d had with her mother pass before her and be released. “It was like they just went into the hands of God,” she said. “I feel so much peace now.”

Sometimes the most amazing work happens when someone is in a really tough place. I always feel honored to be with someone who is working through a challenge, and it is a privilege and a joy to be ‘along for the ride’ as they come through that experience and find more peace and balance.

I never know when such healings are going to happen, but they do. On a regular basis. And I’m so grateful to get to help that happen.

We're about to melt.

It’s been a slow cool spring here on the east coast, but summer is coming now and before you know it, we will be melting. The Fire Element, which relates to summer, reminds us that sometimes it is important to melt! When we open our boundaries, we expand into larger states of consciousness, into greater connection with others and the divine, we…. warm up and open up. We feel the warmth of love flow within us - what better feeling is there??

Maybe because love is such a wonderful and needed feeling, it reasons that we would end up with lots of issues around it. In search of love we can open ourselves to people and situations that are hurtful and harmful to us. Or in response to that hurt, we close up and make walls that seem to protect us, but end up leaving us lonely and blocked. It’s tricky to find just the right balance of being open to love and joy and yet still maintaining healthy boundaries and self-awareness.

It’s much like keeping the house at the right temperature. Without a good thermostat and a responsive HVAC system, we end up suffering the miseries of being too hot or too cold - neither of which leave us in a good mood from which to relate, work, think or be at ease.

Our Fire Element is like our thermostat. It creates the right balance of a working temperature, helping us easily determine how open we should be in any given situation or relationship, when we should wrap up a little and when to throw the covers off and dance!

There’s nothing like Five Element treatment to help keep your Fire Element in balance and support healthy temperature in your body (literally - hot flashes anyone?), in your mind, in your emotions and in your relationship with other and yourself (have you been hearing some rather cold self-talk lately?). I’d love to see you in my treatment room and help support good flow through your Fire Element and all the other Elements too.

Also, I’m teaching a workshop on keeping your balance in Summer and with the Fire Element:

Open Your Heart to Summer: A Workshop on the Fire Element

Friday, June 23, 6:30-8:30 at Nava Yoga at the Navy Yard $30 

I’m going offer a treatment with moxa and give you some for home use!

learn more and register here

In Joy,

Doren

Spring forward.

This short video explains the issues that can arise with the Wood Element - which is associated with the season of Spring...

I'm still learning...

Spring is a time when things come alive. I want to keep growing and coming alive too! I do that by learning new things. Seeing a new skill develop is like watching the flowers come up in the spring soil. What new skills are you cultivating?

Here’s an example of a new Zero Balancing skill I’m developing.. working with babies.

I was invited to assist my teacher, Judith Sullivan, with a Zero Balancing session on twin premature infants. I was observing her carefully as she worked with the more difficult case. I was working on baby “M”. He was doing pretty well, except that his mother mentioned he hadn’t been turning his head to the left. He would track her around the room but not when she was on his left.

My hands found his collarbones and noticed some energy releasing there. It felt just like when energy moves on my adult clients that I treat each day. As it released from one area, I would move further along the bone and hold it as more energy released there. After I got to the outside edges of his collarbone, baby “M” turned his head all the way to the left! We were all surprised and pleased to see him do that, and he seemed to just want to hang out there a while. I still have a ways to go before I feel fully confident and proficient at working with babies, but that was an encouraging experience.

I’m also taking a class to learn more about how trauma can resolve through acupuncture treatment. This has been a passion of mine for a while now, and while I’m still learning, I’ve seen some good results already.

What are you learning or wanting to discover? Have you had any encouraging new beginnings lately?

Spring is the season associated with the Wood Element in Five Element Acupuncture. The Wood Element is responsible for our growth and movement as well as our planning and creativity. 

Want to plant some new ideas?

I'll be teaching two workshops on Spring and the Wood Element, come to either or both! Saturday, April 15, from 1-2:30 at Healings Arts Collective or Friday, April 21 from 6:30-8:30 at Nava Yoga. Let me know if you are interested and I'll send you the link to register.

As Spring comes in, it can be a big adjustment for our own energy. Do you get spring fever? Feel a certain agitation or even overwhelm? Or do you get uplifted and just want to make the most of an influx of ideas and motivation? Five Element treatment can really help you find your flow and make the most of this season and it’s possibilities.

Happy growing!
Doren