Acupuncture Victoria BC - Ingredients

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:12:26 -0700

Since we moved into our new house I haven’t been frequenting downtown as much, and thus only yesterday did I discover this really great new Health Food Store Ingredients Health Food & Apple Cafe! located just past Capital Iron on Store Street.

I popped into the store today to investigate and was very pleased with what I found. The layout is very organized, there’s a huge bulk food section with a wide selection of organic food, a produce section, fridge and freezer and grocery section with natural skincare and natural cleaning products. There’s also a cafe with a nice looking selection of food and seating like a coffee shop for meeting with friends. Upstairs there’s an open area that is used for talks and classes, things like Yoga and QiGong. How fantastic!

An added perk is that if you want to avoid all the little bags that accumulate from getting groceries, you can bring your own containers and weigh them before putting your bulk food inside. The first health food store I ever worked at did this, and I really love it. It’s a great way to eliminate extra garbage and plastic. (of course, I didn’t know this when I went to investigate so the photo above of the stuff I bought is all in plastic! But I know for next time! )

Anyhow, What a great new community resource. Go check it out if you haven’t yet!

Acupuncture Victoria BC - Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Fri, 6 Apr 2012 12:10:47 -0700

Here’s a video that is well worth sharing. It is an hour and a half long, but if you want to understand exactly what sugar is doing to your body, this is the goods. I want to point out ahead of time that this doesn’t just include white sugar, but anything that has been removed from it’s fibrous home as a whole food. That’s right, even freshly squeezed fruit juices from organic produce that you spend $8 a glass on at a trendy health cafe. As my friend Sandra Froher at Muscle Lines always says: “Don’t drink your calories”. But this goes one step further to show it’s not just about calories, it’s actually about the way your Liver metabolizes fructose. No other organ in the body can metabolize it and the biochemical process ends up turning fructose straight into fat cells. So if you are eating a high sugar diet, you are actually eating a high fat diet!

So what do I mean by sugar? This includes all refined sugar (white, brown, molasses, etc), high fructose corn syrup (in pop and most processed foods), honey, agave, maple syrup, and fruit juice of any kind. They’re all the same: Sucrose, which is half glucose and half fructose with additional fructose in some cases.

Glucose is good: It’s the energy of life. All carbohydrates contain glucose - grains, beans and legumes etc

Fructose on the other hand is bad news once it’s separated from the Fibre of a whole fruit or plant. If you want to see why, a very interesting biochemical explanation of the hepatic metabolism of glucose, ethanol and fructose starts at 45:00. However, it’s well worth it to watch the entire program.

Have a wonderful easter weekend, everyone :)

Acupuncture Victoria BC - Qi Gong at the Park

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:27:57 -0700

I had a wonderful Qi Gong session up at Gonzales Hill Park yesterday. While I was there I snapped a few photos of some of the flowers that are blooming already! Of course we’ve seen a lot of snowdrops, crocuses, and now daffodils, but I hadn’t seen these little beauties before! The vibrant green moss in the photo above also caught my eye and I couldn’t resist sharing it here.

Acupuncture Victoria BC - Frolicking Spring Qi!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:19:25 -0700

Look no further than nature to show us the changing of the seasons! Here’s a quick video of deer playing and having fun in the backyard today! Can you feel your own Qi responding to Spring in this way? Most people are definitely poking their heads out of their winter hibernations and starting to feel more lively at this time of year.

Have a wonderful Spring!

Acupuncture Victoria BC - The Importance of Stomach Acid

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:10:40 -0700

I attended a very interesting seminar with Dr. Jake Fratkin http://drjakefratkin.com/ this past weekend on Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal strategies for treating Digestive disorders such as GERD. One of the subjects that I wanted to share was the idea of increasing the HCl (stomach acid) in patients with these types of digestive disorders. We’re so used to hearing that if you have heartburn you need to neutralize stomach acid, but in fact, a strong amount of stomach acid triggers a tightening of the esophageal sphincter, and it’s in fact LOW stomach acid that causes the acid reflux because the sphincter is weakened. So if you or a loved one has acid reflux, have them take a TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar in a half glass of water in the morning to help increase stomach acid, you can slowly introduce HCl in capsule form later as the sphincter becomes stronger. Another point of particular interest was the connection between this low ST acid state and symptoms like Hay fever and itchy skin.
Rather than write up a whole post explaining it, here’s an excerpt from an article by Donna Gates at Body Ecology that I found online http://bodyecology.com/articles/low_stomach_acid_symptoms.php.

The multi-billion dollar antacid industry has you believing that stomach acid is bad for you.While you may use antacids for heartburn relief or indigestion, they are not a cure for what causes these problems in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, indigestion is usually caused by low stomach acid - also called hypochlorhydria - and it affects up to half of our population. Treatment that further neutralizes stomach acid can make your digestion worse.
Why Stomach Acid is Good For You
Stomach acid or hydrochloric acid (HCl), is a very powerful digestive agent, and much more important than you realize.
HCl's important functions include:
■ Breaking down proteins into the essential amino acids and nutrients your body needs in order to stay healthy.
■ Stimulating your pancreas and small intestines to produce the digestive enzymes and bile necessary to further breakdown the carbohydrates, proteins and fats you eat.
■ Preventing disease by killing pathogenic bacteria and yeast normally present in food.
As you age, your stomach acid tends to decrease anyway. Add a poor diet of processed foods and you may find that you have both digestive and immune problems.
Low Stomach Acid: A Vicious Cycle
There are two main consequences of low stomach acid:
1. You become protein malnourished. When your stomach acid is low, you are not able to digest protein.
■ Improper digestion of protein creates toxins in your intestines that can set the stage for illness and disease.
■ Improper digestion of protein also creates acidic blood, since protein is by nature acidic.
1. You become mineral deficient. As your blood becomes more acidic, it will look for minerals from anywhere in your body, in order to get your blood to its more ideal alkaline state. Acidic blood robs your body of minerals, even taking minerals from your bones (which is important to know if you want to prevent osteoporosis).
Low stomach acid eventually creates a vicious cycle: low stomach acid = low minerals = acidic blood. This cycle continues because acidic blood further creates low minerals and low stomach acid.
Once this vicious cycle has started, there is a cascade of consequences:
■ You could eat plenty of protein and still be protein malnourished. This raises cortisol levels (stress or death hormone), thereby raising your blood glucose (blood sugar levels). Elevated cortisol adversely affects your behavior and temperment.
■ Eventually, your adrenals become depleted (adrenal fatigue) and DHEA, the youth hormone, is suppressed, leading to premature aging.
Low DHEA and high cortisol affect your brain and behavior, but that's not all. The vicious cycle of low stomach acid affects your inner ecosystem too. Low stomach acid can lead to more bad guys (pathogenic bacteria, candida and viruses) than good guys (healthy microflora), thus lowering your immunity.
Symptoms of Low Stomach Acid
Here are some of the common symptoms and disorders caused by low stomach acid:
■ Bloating, belching, and flatulence immediately after meals
■ Heartburn (often thought to be caused by too much stomach acid)
■ Indigestion, diarrhea, or constipation
■ Undigested food in stools
■ Acne
■ Rectal itching
■ Chronic candida
■ Hair loss in women
■ Multiple food allergies
■ Iron deficiency
■ Weak, peeling, or cracked fingernails
■ Chronic fatigue
■ Adrenal fatigue
■ Dry skin
■ Various autoimmune diseases
Increase Your Stomach Acid, Heal Your Digestion

Here are the 3 KEY ways to increase your stomach acid:
1. Reduce or eliminate sugar. Replace mineral-depleting sugar and sweeteners with stevia
2. Add fermented foods and drinks to your diet. Fermented foods and drinks keep you looking and feeling healthy from the inside out. Some of our favorite fermented foods and drinks are:
■ Cultured vegetables - a delicious, vitamin, mineral and probiotic-rich, raw, fermented food.
■ Young Coconut Kefir- full of minerals and probiotics, this is a fermented drink you can easily make at home.
■ Potent Proteins - thought of as one of the "world's healthiest foods," the fermented spirulina in Potent Proteins is a perfect protein and an almost immediate energizer anyone suffering with adrenal fatigue.
1. Eliminate processed foods.
As you eat a healthy Body Ecology diet, you will find your digestion improving. You may notice that you experience heartburn relief, less indigestion and improved energy. Or perhaps, if you have had long-standing digestive problems, your journey to health may take a bit longer. Be patient as you go step by step towards true health.
There is no reason to suffer the vicious cycle of low stomach acid. So start by healing the root cause and watch your energy and vitality improve, naturally!
WHAT TO REMEMBER MOST FROM THIS ARTICLE:
Did you know that indigestion could be caused by low stomach acid, which affects over 50% of the population?Using over-the-counter antacids can neutralize stomach acid and actually make your digestion worse, leaving you at risk for malnutrition and mineral deficiencies. The key to improving your digestion is in increasing your stomach acid by reducing sugar in your diet, eating healthy fermented foods and beverages, and cutting out processed foods. When you couple that with Body Ecology’s digestive enzymes, you'll be able to kick indigestion to the curb and finally have the health and energy you have been hoping for!

Sources:
1. Stomach Acid Imbalance: Overview, Symptoms, Causes, Natural Treatments and Medicine http://www.jigsawhealth.com/articles/stomach_acid_reflux.html
2. Adrenocortical function in experimental protein. PubMed 1979. malnutrition.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=109732&dopt=AbstractPlus
3. Kennedy M.D., Ron, Hypochlorhydria. Doctor's Medical Library http://www.med-library.net/content/view/177/41/

Acupuncture Victoria BC - The Nei Jing Tu or “Inner Landscape”

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:40:08 -0700

Here’s a beautiful colour painting of the Nei Jing Tu. The Nei Jing tu is an illustration meant to represent the Inner Landscape and to explain how the body (the microcosm) relates to the natural world around it (the macrocosm). It is a very important picture for any Daoist alchemical practices. What do I mean by “alchemical”? Well a common definition is the idea of transmuting a common substance to something of great value. This is true for the inner landscape as well: Learning the ways of correct breathing and eating, as an example, to create Qi and Blood for your body. This also plays a huge part in any meditation, Qi Gong, or Tai Qi Chuan practices. Cultivating your Qi truly is an elixir of life and longevity. (continued below)

The picture itself shows the torso and head. Each aspect of the landscape corresponds to our own internal landscape: Yin and Yang, the 5 Elements, and so on.

Here’s a quick example from one piece of the illustration: Notice how at the level of the mouth there’s a rainbow that doesn’t connect. There’s also an old man, seated (Lao Zi) and his young apprentice reaching up towards him. This is a visual reminder of a very important idea in almost all forms of meditation. When you are meditating, they tell you to touch the tip of the tongue to the bony palate behind your upper teeth. But why?
Well, There are two meridians that connect here: The Ren Mai (Conception vessel) which originates in the uterus or lower abdomen, emerges at the perineum and runs from the perineum up the center of the body in the front and ends at the lower jaw, and the Du Mai (Governing vessel) also originates in the lower abdomen and emerges at the perineum, but runs up the center of the back of the body, over the head and ends at the upper palate. When we touch the tongue to the roof of the mouth, we complete this circuit and Qi (your life force) is able to flow along these pathways. This is called Xiao Zhou Tian “Small Heavenly Circle”, also commonly refered to as “The Microcosmic Orbit”
The young apprentice is the moveable tongue which reaches up to the upper palate, the unmoving, stable as a mountain Lao Zi. This connection is one of the keys to doing any Energy cultivation properly.

Perhaps down the road I’ll endeavour to explain more parts of the picture and what they mean, but for now, I’ll just post it here for your viewing pleasure.

I went to a wonderful seminar this weekend taught by Peter Firebrace about aspects of this illustration. I believe he will have a book coming out soon, and when he does I’ll post it up here for those who want to learn more.

I hope this will inspire you to start your own Qi cultivation!

Kristy

Acupuncture Victoria BC - Origins of QiGong: the Dao Yin Tu

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:46:14 -0700

Here’s a fantastic picture of the Dao Yin Tu (“Dao-yin Illustrations”), a piece of silk cloth painted with various Qi Gong poses that was discovered in 1974 by archaeologists who were excavating the tomb of King Ma (ca. 168 BCE) near the city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. The relic itself was found in one of the coffins, half soaked in water. Over 2000 years old, this is the earliest drawing of dao-yin postures.

Some particularly cool things about this relic is that the images show young and old, men and women, rich and poor. Daoist scholar Patricia N.H. Leong says that the “varied mode of dress seems to indicate that therapeutic exercises and aspirations for longevity were not the province of only one class, but were the interests of a broad spectrum of society”

Secondly, if you look at the characters beside each figure, some describe names of exercises and others have the names of illnesses beside them, suggesting that exercise is beneficial for the disorder mentioned, things like kidney disease, flatulence, lumbago, and others.

For a closer look I’ve chopped the image in half:

I’d like to thank Ken Cohen for sharing this photo and knowledge with us at the Canadian Oriental Medicine Symposium this past weekend, as well as delving further into it in his fantastic book “The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing”. You can also check out his website at http://www.kennethcohen.com/

Acupuncture Victoria BC - A New Clinic Room!

Thu, 9 Feb 2012 11:17:14 -0800

Some exciting changes for me as of this past weekend: we had a room shuffle at the clinic and I have a wonderful new room! This room is a little more spacious than my last and I’m really enjoying working out of it so far. The flow in the room is really working for me and I’ve been feeling very inspired in treatments. Here’s a few snapshots of the space, but feel free to come check it out for yourself! Acupuncture is a wonderful way to regain balance and encourage the energy flow of your body where it may be blocked or weak. Try it for yourself! It is also a wonderful gift for a friend or loved one.

Hope to see you all soon

Love Qi from
Kristy

Acupuncture Victoria BC - Water Dragon Blessings

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 23:20:54 -0800

Welcome to the Year of the Water Dragon! An exciting time to be sure. I just received a newsletter from Master Wu www.masterwu.net, who I will be doing some training with in May of this year, and I’d like to share some of what he had to say about the coming year:

“Happy RenChen 壬辰 (Water Dragon) Year!

Chinese Dragon is also a symbol for great transformation. As such, the Water Dragon Year will be the best time to commit to your inner cultivation practices. Spending some time everyday with your Qigong practice and other inner cultivation techniques will help you maintain well-being and recover from sickness or imbalance. In Chinese, we have a saying - ShiBanGongBei 事半功倍 - which means achieve better results and exert only half of the usual effort. This year, Water Dragon Qi will make your Qigong and other spiritual cultivation practices more fruitful, thereby allowing you to reach your goals with much less effort compared with other times. I hope you will take advantage of this rare opportunity to spend more time practicing your inner arts and make a great change in your life.”

So, as Master Wu says, take advantage of the energy for this year! If you’ve been thinking you’d like to start a Qi Cultivation practice, now’s the time.

Acupuncture Victoria BC - The Art of Feeling

Sun, 2 Oct 2011 10:56:12 -0700

So.. this is a little exploration, I basically just want to share some things I think about quite often and perhaps it will give you something to muse over.

One thing I’ve been enjoying lately is *feeling* the transition into fall. There’s a certain sense in the air .. a couple weeks ago it was just subtle, like a slight chill or the hint of the smell of fallen leaves, you weren’t really sure if summer was quite done, but you had a feeling it was so. Last week was a lot more frank and to the point about it. There was a definite chill, even on a beautiful “hot” day, there was still this underlying nip to the weather. In the midst of these environmental changes, I was noticing changes in my own body as well - a shift in the sorts of foods I wanted, starting to wear my slippers around the house 24-7, etc. The neat thing about all of this is that I could *feel* the shift, the transition from summer to autumn, in a different way than just the obviousness of the fallen leaves. It’s these transitions that fascinate me. I don’t know exactly what it is that I’m feeling, but I love taking the time to feel it. A lot of philosophy behind acupuncture is based in this idea that the microcosm is the macrocosm, that we are connected to all around us, and with seasonal transitions I find I get a really good sense of this connection. Spring is probably much more obvious to people, the first few shoots of plants start poking their heads out, and so do we! There’s a definite waking up of all our energy, we feel excited, we feel inspired, it’s very refreshing after winter. Fall is different tho, I find it’s got a more gentle quality to it, more subtle, it’s a shutting down, rather than an opening up, so we perhaps pay less notice to it, but there’s such a beauty to it. I love the feeling of fall.

Anyways, just wanted to share a few thoughts, hope you are all enjoying this transition as much as me :)

Kristy