From the Roots

Since mid-December, my shoulder has been bothering me. Although I haven’t formally had it diagnosed, I’m fairly certain I’m dealing with periarthritis of the shoulder, or more commonly known as frozen shoulder. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it has a much more poetic, if not slightly humbling name:  “50-year-old shoulder.” Yay. Interestingly enough, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a noticeable number of people come into the clinic with very similar shoulder is

Today I had an acupuncture appointment. It was long overdue, and I really needed it. It’s been a long winter, and the time around Christmas felt especially heavy. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about two years ago. While this journey has taught me so much about presence and meeting each moment fully and wholeheartedly when I’m with her, it also takes a lot of emotional bandwidth. Grief like this isn’t loud or dramatic. It’s quiet, ongoing, and in my case, was carrie

A colleague asked me the other day if I do cosmetic acupuncture. It isn’t something I’ve ever been especially drawn to, but in answering her, it gave me pause. It made me reflect on beauty from a very different perspective. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we speak of  Shen . It’s often translated as “Spirit,” but that word barely touches its depth. Shen lives in the Heart. It’s our consciousness, our emotional life, our capacity for presence and connection. It’s the light be

Where Our Energy Comes From In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we are each born with a reserve of energy called Pre-Heaven Qi, the essence we inherit from our parents. Equally as important is what comes after. Post-Heaven Qi is the energy we build through how we live each day. It is shaped by how we eat, breathe, rest, move, and engage with life. It is something we have real influence over, and honestly, it is one of my favorite things to talk about. How Lifestyle Affects Energ