Discover the peace zone...

Where is your peace zone? 

Where is the place where everything shuts off, where your mind can focus on a singular thing? 

Just breathe - no emails, no ideas or problems, no bills, no to do list or things to organize.

 ...just breathe in and out. Feel that life giving breath as your chest expands and oxygen fills your body. 

You can't hear or think anything else just the rhythmical breath and maybe the feeling of your heart beat. 

Five minutes in the peace zone can change your perspective, which can alter all the rest of the days decisions. 

You don't need to go to a course or do anything strange to get into the peace zone. It might seem hard in everyday life to go there but it dosen't mean it can't be done. 

If it seems impossible to find your peace zone in your world now, then go somewhere else - the beach, the forrest, a park, even get inside a wardrobe for 5 mins!

I find a simple change of position leads to a change of mental perspective that will amaze you.

Today I was going somewhere and happened to pass by an empty, silent chapel and went in. No phone on or ipad to check emails. Just sitting and allowing the silence to silence me. 

Before long 5 mins had gone by and I felt new ideas were already coming to me. The stress of the former part of the day was already passing. 

As an acupuncturist I often hear patients say they love coming in for acupuncture because it's the only time they can relax.

While it's great that acupuncture helps you to shut off your mind...and you can't exactly run off and do something when your pinned down to the bed, it's such a sad reality of our society that we don't relax well. 

Demands are always there, life will probably get more complicated and even after you die bills will still be coming in. I think we can benefit from all stealing 5 minutes in the peace zone!

If you liked this blog post, why not share the ways you relax in your peace zone below: 

Pregnant? The Chinese medicine and Acupuncture experience.

Pregnancy can be one of life's most amazing experiences, certainly each pregnancy is different and can have it's own different health problems as well as health benefits. 

From a Chinese medicine perspective, pregnancy is a "yin time"...yin and yang are two opposites in our body.

Yin is best described by  words like sedentary, building, solid, dense, rich, cold or cool
Yang is best described by - active, doing, dynamic, hot or warm

Processes in our body usually require yang and yin but there are times where we are more one or the other - Sleep is a time where it should be mostly yin. A disharmony of yin and yang here would be when there is an over activity of the mind or body at night when one should be quiet and resting.

In pregnancy, as the foetus is being "built" there is a greater consumption of yin (which is Blood and nutrients) in Chinese medicine. Eating more Yin foods is often necessary.  These yin tonic foods tend to be the more richer, heavier things like meats, grains and root vegetables. 

Acupuncture, Chinese Herbs and Diet Therapy are used for many discomforting symptoms which can occur in pregnancy including:
Morning Sickness, Swelling and fluid retention, pain - especially common is lower back pain and sciatica, promoting labor, overdue labor and foetus position correcting - Breech position is commonly treated with acupuncture and moxibustion.

In the coming weeks I will outline how Chinese medicine approaches some of these ailments and symptoms.

Many acupuncturists are in favour of doing a course of treatment from 36 weeks onwards to promote labour and smooth flow of Energy and Blood, which is intended to promote a normal labour. This type of treatment is called PRE BIRTH ACUPUNCTURE. In my practice, Metro Health and Medicine, I offer this treatment at once a week for 4 weeks up to the due date.

A recent study of patients who sought acupuncture during their pregnancy were asked by survey about their experiences of the birth and what benefits they reported from having acupuncture during their pregnancy.¹

Of 133 participants who gave qualitative data, there were five main reported outcomes (some gave more than one outcome). Effectively treated their chief concern (37,2%) Holistic benefit (22.9%), no benefit (20.61%), achieved desired birth (13.74%) and assisted in childbirth (5.73%)

A copy of this interesting study is available in our clinic's waiting area at Metro Health and Medicine.


REFERENCES:

1. Soliday E, Hapke P. Patient-reported benefits of acupuncture in pregnancy. Comp Therapies in Clinical Practice 2013;19(1): 109-113

USEFUL LINKS:

Debra Betts Website - A midwife and acupuncturist from New Zealand who has made an abundant amount of resource available:  http://acupuncture.rhizome.net.nz/ 

Download the PDF booklet about pain relief in Labor:  http://acupuncture.rhizome.net.nz/acupressure/download.aspx

Check out Marie's new Chinese Medicine Podcast...

Episode 4: Does Acupuncture hurt?

 

Answering the common question, "Does acupuncture hurt?", or what does acupuncture feel like? is Marie Hopkinson, Board Registered Chinese medicine practitioner from Perth Western Australia. Marie has been in clinical practice F/T since 2001...treating patients for over 10 years. Marie is a lecturer of Chinese medicine, and operates the practice Metro Health and Medicine in Maylands.

Stories from China...boy with bells palsy

Stories from China

When I was a new graduate, my first time in China I completed my internship in the Hangzhou Shi Zhong Yi Yuan - Hangzhou Chinese Medicine Hospital. It was a fabulous experience which forever shaped my continued love of Chinese medicine.

One day a boy with bells palsy came into the acupuncture clinic. He was around 5 years old and while his parents were keen for him to have acupuncture, the boy wasn't convinced! Not only was he scared from the sudden facial paralysis that had struck his face literally overnight, he was surrounded by patients with needles poking out from all parts of their body in the acupuncture outpatient clinic of this busy hospital.

It's quite normal in china for people to be treated all together in the same room. Some are seated with needles in their shoulder and face, others lying on beds being treated for back pain etc. While everyone looked quite relaxed and taking the treatment in their stride, the boy was rightly overwhelmed by the whole experience.

Bells Palsy is a condition which causes sudden facial paralysis. In western medicine, they don't know the cause although stress and sudden blast of cold wind to the face are agreed possible causes this conditions etiology in WM remains somewhat mysterious.

In Chinese medicine, we consider Wind - the external pathogenic factor; to be a culprit in causing the sudden contraction of the muscles of the face, resulting in one-sided facial paralysis. THere is often a lot of numbness, the person can't smile or close their eye properly. There can be moderate to severe pain as well.

Back to China...the boy with this condition was coaxed onto the bed by the doctor and they chatted in Chinese for a bit while I looked on and wondered if they would just force the kid to have the treatment? ...what would be the outcome of this situation?

The doctor, was Dr Zhu and was experienced over 30 yeas in his role. As he proceeded to calm the kid down, it was clear he had treated many children before. Taking an acupuncture needle he turned it around and tapped the points on the kids' face with the handle end, asking the kid if it hurt or not (Tong Bu Tong?). For each point the kid said (Bu Tong) "no" "no" "no". The kid's crying had now stopped and he lie there quite relaxed as the doctor cleverly quickly switched the needle around, inserting each point on the boys face quickly and painlessly.

He came in every day for 10 treatments. By the third day he was starting to look better, his facial paralysis was reducing he was able to jump up on the table and didn't need any coaxing to get the rest of the treatments. The doctor had given him a great first experience which caused him to accept the rest of the treatments.

PHOTO: Doctor Zhu and myself all the way back in 2001.