On Rest

When I talk about rest, which is quite often in my acupuncture practice, I speak on the kidney energetic. This is the Water element that represents stillness and depth, the winter and southernmost pole in the wheel of transformation.

However there is a need to elucidate; when most people hear the term “rest” they think of a nap or sitting immobile. There is an aspect of the Water element that goes beyond the idea of rest as sleep or hibernation.

Within the kidneys is housed our genetic code, deep in our bones, the unique blueprint of every element that conspired throughout history to create us, resulting in who we are today, a unique combination of DNA and ever evolving, dynamic matter.

The will of the kidneys can only be expressed through connected, capital P Purpose. The sensation of gliding through an activity or conversation that feels so natural, so perfectly in synch with what we want to be doing and saying that not only does it come effortlessly, it actually powers us through more trying moments. The kidneys are our storage of genuine self-sustaining fuel. They are our truth, we cannot lie to them by following someone else’s purpose, and chronic misalignment is a ticket to burnout. The beauty is that there is no recipe for alignment that exists quite like our own.

Alignment is a rest for our nervous system, it’s a break from the majority of our lives spent trying to force ourselves into someone else’s ideal, or what we believe will garner their validation. Stuffing our own emotions and truths down, feeling that they are not worth anyone else’s audience, is an inherently stressful and taxing experience for our bodies.

Even in injury recovery the age old acronym RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) names rest as fundamental for healing. Yet anyone who has experienced injury or works in an orthopedic profession knows that for true recovery “rest” really means only to stop what you are currently doing that is causing pain, take a beat, but ultimately find new ways of movement that engage the proper muscle groups. The more aligned structure is what we’re after, not inactivity.

Sometimes finding this alignment does require pause, silence and stillness, a recalibration. Sometimes this alignment is not an activity at all, rather a sensation and outlook that feels true to your nature and lets your body finally exhale the fear of whatever else you should be doing. Often it requires unlocking a reservoir of buried emotion and old pain occupying the space of your deeper truth in order to establish a trustful relationship with yourself. Like any training program this takes practice, eventually we begin to feel worthy of the space that our emotions take up and the time given to pursuits we actually enjoy. However once we can regularly give our nervous system the peace it deserves we are rewarded tenfold in fuel for body, mind and spirit.

On Water

Here we are in winter, season of the water element, the domain of the kidney and urinary bladder. 🌊

Emotion: fear

When balanced: will and purpose

The kidney energy runs deep. It’s housed in our bones and holds the precious and limited stores of “vitality” we are bestowed in this lifetime. It represents our genetic material or “essence”; where we come from which anchors us in the pursuit of where we are headed. To conceptualize this dynamic, think of the deep dark churning ocean. It is both terrifying and captivating. While there is so much unknown to fear beneath the surface, the ocean was once the home from which we evolved and remains the parent of all life on this planet. Honoring this history and our own lineage gives us a sense of purpose, propelling us forward with founded determination.

The urinary bladder channel spans the entirety of the back and backs of the legs, into the feet where it meets the kidney channel. Chronic lower back and knee pain can indicate a weak kidney energetic, something that is often associated with increased age as our essence dwindles.

Preserving vitality comes down to doing what the winter asks of us: less. Keep feet warm and covered. Bone broth, fish oils, mushrooms and other anti-inflammatory yin rich foods are key as the taste of this element is salty. The interdependent relationship between the kidneys and the adrenal glands which sit atop them explains to us how this organ regulates our blood pressure via balance of water and sodium as well as our stress response, potentially leading to what we call “burnout” when pushed too hard for too long. This is especially a problem of our modern world. Burnout often happens when we are not emotionally connected to our pursuits, when our authenticity or deeper purpose (water element) is missing from our day to day lives.

Trauma in particular impacts the kidneys as it severs this connection to and consolidation of our past. This renders us more susceptible to an overactive stress response, making it difficult for us to give in to rest and can eventually lead to adrenal fatigue.

It is not an easy thing to prioritize water, to submit to the cold, dark, stillness of winter but without this balance of looking deep within to discover what motivates us, the fires that follow lack control and ultimately hinder longevity.

On Metal: Archive Oct 24, 2024

We are currently in metal season! Metal serves the purpose of organizing and protecting us, a strong lung being the first line of defense in our immune system. The skin is the domain of metal as the most immediate protector of our body, giving us shape and order.

As the age of information reveals to us chaos and entropy in the world, our need for organization has us grasping for control wherever we can get it. This often means tightening up our jaw, fists and pelvic floors and shallowing our breath, trying to muscle and manage our way through experience. The lung and large intestine channels (running through the tops of the fists and arms, biceps, chest and into the neck, jaw and teeth) take on the brunt of this effort, pulling everything forward toward the sternum in an attempt to self protect (think hunched posture).

In digestion, the large intestine is primarily a receptacle for waste, what is no longer needed after nutrient absorption in the small intestine. This is the autumn of our digestive cycle. The longer waste sits in this holding space the more concrete and poisonous it becomes to our system. We’ve all heard the term “anal retentive” being used to describe someone controlling and rigid. The necessary action is to release, exhale, sob and grieve waste out of our body, using the yin lung to soften the yang large intestine.

What we are actually grieving is the ephemeral nature of existence. Our life instinct compels us to hold on to the familiar. If I can predict then I can control and therefore I can solidly quantify myself and others as static reality. Yet when we let go of the need for the corporeal (interestingly the spirit of the metal element is referred to as the “Po”), we allow the expansion of our relationship to the past into something free from structure and bindings. Letting go of a loved person/time doesn’t have to mean loss, it can permit its evolution into the spiritual and blissfully undefined.

Breathe deeply, exhale fully and consciously stretch open the chest. Watch the leaves fall and grieve them with all you’ve got 🍂

On Summer: Archive July 11, 2024

Summer heat got you flaming out? We are in the apex of 🔥FIRE🔥 season in the elemental wheel, the domain of the heart and small intestine. From the self discovery and introspection of watery winter, grew the visionary plan-making ability of spring’s wood, which set the ground for summer’s fire to burn, finally pushing us to action.

Joy, outward expression, unbridled passion, even mania are all characteristics of fire. Bitter tastes like coffee and chocolate belong to this element, all things best in small doses. Too much fire looks like inflammation in the body, typical of autoimmune cases where every stimulus causes the immune defenses to flare up, creating plenty of pain in their wake. Fire is a substance we revere, catching glimpses of its power before it burns out, or watching in horror as it incinerates all in its path.

So don’t burn it all at once! Harness the fire and let it sustain you all year long. With discipline and parameters we transform fire from that which endangers us into that which supplies us with life, warming our homes and bringing us joy in the more isolated winter months. Tamed fire brings passion and action to situations that have become stagnant and require momentum.

On Surrender: Archive April 18, 2024

In addition to the numerous biochemical and nervous system responses to acupuncture, there occurs a less measurable yet immensely palpable shift during a treatment that continues to fascinate me. This medicine enables surrender, a letting go of imaginary control over a situation that allows for true transformation to take place.

We have all heard the term “letting go” but what does it really mean? It is not to shunt our feelings aside, forget our upsets and forcibly “move on”. Rather it is a letting go of our resistance to discomfort, finding just as much meaning from our pain as from our gratification.

At the heart of one’s ability to surrender is a central ideological conflict: humans as separate from nature vs humans as part of nature. Perfectionism is a human against nature approach. In striving for perfection we try to avoid down cycles, attempting to overcome nature by always remaining at the peak of experience. A sky free from storms is not healthy for the planet nor does a wave form without heading towards its necessary break. In refusing to feel pain, many of us resist nature despite the fact that acknowledging and learning about our pain is what allows us to heal and move forward. Others stay stuck in a rut at the bottom of the wave, fearful of change and preferring to stay down and in control rather than face the unknown of what comes next. True Perfection as it exists in nature encompasses the entire spectrum of ups and downs. It is a complete circle that contains both storms and sunshine, joy and grief, life and death.

It is not the cycle itself but the fight against it that causes our suffering. It is uncomfortable to vomit, to cry, to let go of loved people and old comforts, but we do not truly heal until we allow space for discomfort.

Surrendering is about giving in to nature. Releasing the control grasp and allowing your body to partake in the natural current that propels everything forward. Practices like acupuncture and meditation give us the courage to peacefully face the downs, enforcing the trust that time will carry us through, better equipped, to the next phase of being.

On Mind/body Connection: Archive Feb 6, 2024

A situation I encounter often in practice is individuals with perfectly “healthy” lifestyles on paper who still feel unwell, unmotivated, anxious and bloated. “I eat clean, I go to therapy and I get plenty of sleep but I’m always exhausted” is a common sentiment. Many are confused by the information they have learned about health because they do not feel any better. Then they encounter Chinese medicine. Within this paradigm our mental health is not based on brain chemistry.

The primary organs of TCM do not even include the brain, rather the most important balance is held between the spleen, lung, kidney, liver and heart, all organs that reside in the greater trunk of the body. These organs respectively allow us nourishment, surrender, purpose, direction and joy.

Somewhere along our technologically focused trajectory we became so enamored with the electrical brain that we forgot how to listen to our bodies. The mind over matter mantra, while helpful in learning new behavioral patterns, has become another way to dissociate from the aspects of our bodies that typically house shame. We think rather than feel our way into dietary choices and out of emotional discomforts.

“I read online that beans are good for you so I eat them every day even though they make me feel sick”.

“I figured out the reason I’m sad in therapy so now I can avoid crying and move on”.

We find words to describe the why without actually connecting to the what. Over-intellectualization has removed us from the guidance our body is meant to provide, causing us to live mostly in our heads. Overthinking in particular weakens the spleen, which is responsible for transforming the food we eat into nutrients and energy. Shoulder, neck, jaw tension and headaches all indicate being stuck in the upper body, disconnected from the intuition, pleasure, will power and fuel derived from the organs of the trunk and lower body.

Eventually a body not listened to will start to speak with pain. Acupuncture can begin the conversation with your body, one that is usually not based on words at all but sensations, emotions, connection, release and relief.

On Cupping: Archive June 19,2023

🔘Cupping🔘

Chinese medicine theory is put into practice through many modalities. Cupping is one of my favorite vehicles for moving qi and blood, it was the modality I first fell deeply in love with when I began my studies almost a decade ago in 2014.

The cups work via suction, either fire is placed inside the glass cup to remove the oxygen before skin placement or a pump is used. By reversing the gravity in a given spot, the stagnation underneath (i.e. inflammation, scar tissue, chronic tension) is lifted to the surface where the body is signaled to remove it and begin to heal the area. Fresh blood flow arrives at the scene and opens up pathways for better blood and lymphatic circulation of the entire system.

Stagnant tissue acts like traffic within your body, congesting flow both locally at the site of pain and distally where it is needed. Similar to traffic packed cities, pollution and pathogenic heat start to build in the environments where flow is most idled and the ripple effect can be felt throughout the entire region and beyond.

I like to utilize cupping as part of most sessions unless contraindicated. The cups are powerful unblockers and the resultant marks act as windows into the state of our internal world.

Plus they just feel really freaking good.

On Yin and Yang: Archive May 16, 2023

The TaiJi diagram☯️. The yin/yang symbol that is recognized more often as a fashion statement than as a central tenet of ancient Chinese philosophy and medicine.

The dark and light sides represent duality in nature. In western culture, within duality we often find judgement, assigning positive or negative connotations to discern superiority. Happy is good, sad is bad, light is good, darkness is bad. Yet in eastern medicine, the concept of Yin and Yang does not focus on the dichotomy of positive and negative. Instead it emphasizes interdependence, wherein one pole only exists due to the presence of the other. It is this alchemy between opposites that generates all transformation and life- the electricity between two forces that creates reactivity and change. Neither pole is inherently good or bad, rather disease blossoms from imbalance between the two, an excess or deficiency throwing the cycle out of orbit.

In our masculine/yang dominant culture, the inclination is to define parameters. Yang needs to categorize and prioritize, shine light in every corner and discover hard fact. These are the principles that have birthed math and technology and allowed us to expand our range further out across the globe, into the ethers of our planet and beyond. However, in over-emphasizing this ideology we have abused and even vilified the necessary yin pole of our nature. Yin allows for mystery and the unknown. She calls for rest and accepts darkness, stillness and our painful emotions as essential for the exploration of our inner worlds.

Our bodies and our planet are becoming scorched in the pursuit of yang. Our kidneys (think adrenal glands) are the primary yin storage of our body akin to the iciest, stillest aspects of the ocean. As we burn through these fluids with constant need for production and expansion we are ignoring that our longevity depends on the preservation such limited resources.

Nourishing yin can come down to simply resting between bouts of yang activity. Part of the magic of acupuncture its ability to take you into deep rest without the shame cycle of our yang programming.

On Spring: Archive April 10, 2023

Felt like time for a long Chinese medicine Spring theory post.

This is the season of the Liver/wood element🌱🪜; the visionary, plan making, stubborn and anger prone organ that represents the force required for budding flowers to burst their way through the frozen earth of winter. The Liver channel opens to the eyes and governs the tendons, signifying our ability to envision the futures we desire and to move our bodies into them with ease.

Upward rising by nature, excess Liver Yang energy can lead to head and upper body symptoms like migraines, rhinitis and itchy eyes (think spring allergies), insomnia, anger/argumentativeness and upper body/neck/jaw tension, especially when not anchored by sufficient kidney yin 🌊.

NYC is a particularly Liver Qi stagnant place and it’s one of the most common aspects I treat in practice. Picture your body like a packed 4 train on the morning commute, just taken off from union square. The train rolls on and all seems fine enough while you’re moving steadily towards your destination. All of a sudden everything slows to a halt between 34th and 42nd st. Full stop. Fan shuts off. You instantly regret your decision to wear a puffy coat. A verbal fight breaks out at the other end of the car. This trapped feeling and the resultant heat that arises are the essence of how stuck Liver Qi functions inside your body.

From our tiny apartments to our concrete confined workspaces and our even more stressful financial pressures, NYC can often stifle us from all angles. It’s no wonder many of us gravitate toward alcohol and other liver stimulating agents to create a false sense of space and flow despite their pendulum effects on the withdrawal.

To course Liver Qi, diaphragmatic breathing and body movement (dance/exercise) are essential tools. Emotional expression, whether via talk therapy, conversations with loved ones or screaming into a pillow can do wonders to air out our stagnant spaces. And, of course, Acupuncture and cupping are stellar at moving Qi while allowing us time for rest and nourishing our anchors.

On Fall Equinox: Archive Sept 22, 2022

For the past few weeks, the most common chief complaint I have been working on with patients is anxiety. Clients who have effectively managed their emotional ups and downs for years are coming in with seemingly out of the blue panic attacks, waves of dread and sadness and uncertainty about their futures. The first comfort offered before treatment even begins is the explanation Chinese medicine has to offer for this destabilizing fluctuation.

Chinese medicine approaches our emotional state as a combined function of our physical organ system balance, our inherited constitution and the environment around us. Seasonal shifts are, at the best of times, moments when our bodies undergo an internal rewiring to keep up with what our environment necessitates. It is a time when imbalances can makes themselves known in stark and unavoidable ways. For those with trauma (aka all of us these past few years), for whom change becomes an imminent threat to safety, it can be an unbearable time of nervous system upheaval leading to anything from an increase in inflammation and hormonal haywire to a depleted immune system and contraction of illness.

The fall equinox in particular is a time when we are asked to let go of the summer, to mourn the death of the greenery around us and to turn inwards and prepare for winter. It is a big ask of our joy-and-light-loving bodies to accept such a seemingly dark and morbid new direction. However, it is also an opportunity to accustom ourselves with the natural death cycle that gives space for all of the future joys to come. Gaining mastery over our nervous systems at this time can be an incredibly powerful tool to navigate all of life’s binaries.