modern acupuncture

An Acupuncturist Goes to PA School

An Acupuncturist Goes to PA School

My last major update was during the early months of the pandemic in 2020. Much has changed since then. When I closed my practice in February 2020, I thought I was going to continue as an acupuncture practitioner. The pandemic forced a change in those plans, as it made so many of us confront new realities and reassess our priorities.

Here I explain a bit about how I got to where I am now, studying to become a Physician Assistant (or PA, also known as a Physician Associate), and where I hope to be headed next.

Best Books for Learning About Acupuncture

Best Books for Learning About Acupuncture

Whether you’re a patient or another medical provider, you’ve heard the benefits of acupuncture, maybe even experienced them yourself, and want to learn more. You don’t have to spend four years in a masters program the way an acupuncturist does and you don’t have to dig deep into the theory, though that may interest you as well. This collection is in response to one of the most common questions I’m asked: “What can I read to better understand acupuncture and Chinese medicine?”

Here are four very different book options (with a few bonus suggestions) that I recommend to anyone who wants to explore this beautiful and effective medical system as it works in and beyond the treatment room.

Avoiding Bruising During IVF Injections: Tips from an Acupuncturist

Avoiding Bruising During IVF Injections: Tips from an Acupuncturist

I’m an acupuncturist who has been supporting fertility patients for the last several years and I recently finished my own first round of IVF. Having gone through the onslaught of multiple daily injections, I realized I may have an approach to injections that the average fertility patient may not know could help them. So here’s how I avoided bruising during my treatment and you can too.

The basics? Palpate, ice, alcohol swab, let the alcohol dry, distract, inject, sustained pressure, ice again.

Let’s go over this in more detail including why these steps are helpful:

Herbal Recipe: Sesame Orange Cookies

Herbal Recipe: Sesame Orange Cookies

Now that you’ve made your own food-grade herbs in the form of dried orange peel (see previous post with directions), here’s an idea of how to make something tasty with them! These black sesame, cardamom, and dried orange peel cookies are a wonderful treat to support digestion, nourish us in this yin time of winter, and open the new year.

Bonus: the ingredients help move and counteract some of the stagnation from heavy holiday meals (so these would also make a great dessert for Thanksgiving or December cookie swaps). Enjoy in moderation, of course.

Make Your Own Herbal Medicine: Orange Peel

Make Your Own Herbal Medicine: Orange Peel

Plenty of herbs in the Eastern traditional medicine pharmacopeia (collection) are very familiar to us: what we call food-grade herbs. These are items most of us have in our spice cabinets, vegetable drawers, and fruit bowls. Using some or only these ingredients in a formula can make for some seriously tasty medicine!

Herbal combinations don’t have to be administered only in tailored treatment for a condition. Cinnamon, fennel, ginger, and black pepper are only a few of our food-grade herbs, which means we are supporting our digestion almost every time we eat. Just as we reach for mint for cool refreshment in the summer, turning to some wintery staples is a great way to nourish your system even while enjoying a sweet treat or hearty meal. Understanding the functions of our food-grade herbs helps us understand why some of our food traditions exist and why choosing one taste over another makes us feel better at a particular time.

Despite the wide variety of ingredients and tastes, the stereotype of Chinese herbal formulas unfairly persists as bitter and unfamiliar concoctions. The best way to counter this is to make and use your own herbs and familiarize yourself with them. Since food-grade herbs are incredibly safe (we eat them all the time), there’s a lot of room for experimentation and finding your own experience.

One of my favorite ways to use food as medicine is with homemade chen pi or dried tangerine peel. Satsuma or mikan (aka California Cuties or those little peelable oranges) are a big New Year’s food in my Japanese-tradition household. It’s easy to make use of the peels so this is a true no-waste food!

Self Care Tips for Menstrual Cramps

Self Care Tips for Menstrual Cramps

Cramps are the worst. Among the common symptoms we complain about when we bleed, this one ranks among the highest. But just because painful periods are common doesn't mean we have to accept them.

Patients sometimes ask me about the most surprising thing I learned in acupuncture school. I was definitely the most blown away by learning that you don’t have to be in pain during your period. You don’t need to have any symptoms, in fact. Just bleed, stop bleeding. That’s it. “WHAT?!” I thought. “Why doesn’t everyone know that? What do I need to do? Sign me up!”

While I was in grad school I had acupuncture treatments every week and took a formula daily for a year. My periods shifted dramatically and my pelvic pain (pain with intercourse or what’s medically referred to as dyspareunia) disappeared. I was in awe. I felt I had been given a key and I wanted to share it SO badly.

Trying to Conceive: Is Your Lube Getting In Your Way?

Trying to Conceive: Is Your Lube Getting In Your Way?

When you’re trying to conceive (TTC) there are already so many things you’re told you can’t do. And things no one tells you that could be getting in your way. And then on top of that you’re not supposed to stress out about it!

If you’ve been diagnosed with unexplained infertility, you’re trying to figure out what you could do to improve your chances of conceiving. Whether you’re continuing to try naturally or as you add in assisted reproductive technologies like medicated cycles with Clomid or Letrozole, IUI, or IVF, make sure these simple tips are on your list:

Spring Energy

Spring Energy

Happy First Day of Spring! Spring is when new green shoots rise, tendrils reach out for the next hold, and the world gets a bit warmer and brighter. I hope holding that image in your mind helps you find what the majority of my patients said their goal was for this year: more energy.

I think we're so tired in part because we're expected to come out of the gate of the New Year bursting with energy for new projects and self improvement. I've never been one to make New Year's Resolutions, but this year it felt especially off, setting us all up for failure. It's just not the right time. Winter is when we want to curl up in front of a fire with a good book, a blanket, and a hot beverage. No wonder we fail so routinely at most of our resolution setting and everyone coming in in January was so incredibly fatigued!

Can Acupuncture Treat ...?

Can Acupuncture Treat ...?

It's a very common question: "Does acupuncture treat …?" The short answer is YES!, no matter the condition, because acupuncture is a complete medical system.

While it’s tempting to hear that as equivalent to a specific drug being touted as a panacea, it’s really like saying all of medicine can address a wide variety of ailments. We’re much more comfortable with that concept. Western or allopathic medicine can help with lots of things to varying degrees. It’s much the same with acupuncture. That’s one of the reasons it’s more accurately referred to as a complementary medicine, rather than alternative medicine.

What Autumn Holds for You

What Autumn Holds for You

Seasonal change isn’t instant. Especially here in the Bay Area, it’s gradual. 1 step forward, 2 steps back, until it isn’t. It takes a special focus to notice it as it shifts. We may yet get our warm Late Summer days that often show up in late September/ October, but Autumn has already been happening. There’s that chill in the air. A certain crispness. A lot of complaints of dry throats.

Eastern Medicine takes its cues from the natural world. As it is in nature, so is it in our bodies and emotional landscapes. Spring and Summer both have an energy of new growth and expansion. There’s a fullness and flourishing. In Autumn, we start to draw back into the interior.

There are five elements (sometimes also called Five Phases) in Eastern Medicine: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. The Five Elements have corresponding seasons, tastes, channels, energies, diseases, and so much more that there is an entire school of thought in Chinese Medicine defined by this focus.