Spring Wind Workshop April 18

Join us for a workshop all about Spring Wind.

Wind, like Cold, is a climate that can invade our bodies in the Chinese way of seeing things. When Wind that comes in from the outside is called External Wind. (Chinese Medicine also an category of Wind called Internal Wind. This workshop is only about the External variety.)

External Wind causes allergy-type symptoms. Stuffy noses and sinus headaches are attributed to External Wind. Wind likes to move around. Itchy eyes and rashes that come and go are Wind symptoms. Wind tends to move upward, and most often it is evident in the the upper body, especially the head and neck.

External Wind is easy to avoid, and it’s fairly easy to take care of in the early stages. In this workshop we’ll talk about how to recognize Wind symptoms and what precautions we can take to avoid it. We’ll have some teas and tinctures, and a Spring Wind Kit available to purchase.

There’s no reason to be afraid of Wind. You can use Chinese Medicine to help you enjoy the season, and we’ll show you how.…

Modern Cupping Class in Hudson, NY

A Chance To Study Master Level Cupping

Cupping April 27-28 ~ Gua Sha April 29, 2013

Three years ago, Andrea Elliot and I had Australian cupping expert Bruce Bentley teach three-day Master Classes in Traditional East/West Cupping in New York City and Groton. Both classes filled immediately. Very hands-on and lively, these workshops changed my attitude towards cupping. Most of my patients know what a big fan of cupping I am. I use both cupping and gua sha regularly now – almost daily, in fact, in part because of my studies with Bruce.

We were very excited to hear that he was visiting the USA again, and Andrea  is hosting him in Hudson. (Andrea moved from Mystic River Acupuncture to Hudson, NY a few years ago to set up her own practice.) This time he’ll present a two-day workshop in Modern Cupping, followed by a day of Gua Sha. Bruce has studied cupping extensively around the world and gives a very interesting perspective in this ancient technique.

 

Cup With the Best In Beautiful Hudson, NY

 

This is a real opportunity for acupuncturists to further their cupping and gua sha skills while obtaining NCCAOM CEUs. Hudson is very beautiful, about 27 miles west of  Great Barrington, MA and 135 miles north of New York City. Andrea has lots of good suggestions for lodging, including the WON Buddhist retreat center.

While this class is geared towards acupuncturists, it is very hands on and practical, and Licensed Massage Therapists or other professionals with cupping in their scopes of practice are welcome. Bruce combines cupping & gua sha with bodywork in his own practice. Class content strongly reflects this.

 

CONTACT

Join us for a rare opportunity in a beautiful setting. Contact Andrea Elliott at elliandrea@gmail.com or visit healthtr@iinet.net.au You can also call Andrea in Hudson at  518-610-0047

Or contact me, Kathleen, at ktp01@mac.com or 860-448-6766.

USA Modern Cupping flyer ’13…

A St. Valentine’s Treat For You

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day together than with acupuncture and massage?

 

In the past our acupuncture – massage combos have been very popular. For this year’s Valentine special, you and your honey can enjoy the combo at the same time. Schedule with a friend or loved one for a therapeutic massage/acupuncture combo session. While you enjoy massage, your special someone will be receiving acupuncture. When you’re done, it’s your turn for acupuncture while they experience a deeply relaxing massage. If you’ve planned a romantic evening, this will get you off to a good start.

These sessions can either be simply stress-reducing or we can target problem areas and health issues. Your acupuncturist and massage therapist will coordinate your treatments. Both acupuncture and massage are great modalities for sleep problems, muscle pains, fatigue, and anxiety. They enhance immune function, especially this time of year. It’s an excellent combination to add to your stay-healthy routine. Acupuncture and massage together offer superb relief for all manner of things. They enhance each other. You will reap the benefits of a deep sense of mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

See what it’s like to experience acupuncture and massage in one session. Take advantage of this opportunity to introduce a friend to these therapies. Consider a few weekly sessions if you have specific concerns. Stop by or give us a call at 860-448-6766 to schedule.

Through March 1st, this combo is only $90 per person for 30 minutes of massage followed by acupuncture. Upgrade to a combo with a 60 minute massage and a full acupuncture treatment, front and back, for only $140/person.

Acupuncture – Massage Combo Gift Certificates are available so you can say “Be My Valentine” in the best of ways.

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Winter Warming Workshop: Thursday, Feb 21, 6-7:30 pm

It’s easy to catch what’s going around in the cold weather of winter or spring.

Join us for an evening class where you’ll learn about the Chinese concept of Cold as a pathogenic influence and how to keep your immune system strong against it.

There are lots of opportunities for Cold to “invade” your body this time of year. Shoveling snow, catching a draft, being under-dressed on an unexpectedly chilly spring day, or eating cold foods all contribute to Cold as a pathogen.

We’ll talk about what this Chinese pathogen does to our bodies and about how to dress, what to eat, warming herbal teas, and what you can do at home to keep your body toasty warm inside and out. We’ll also cover things you can do once you’re under the weather because of the weather.

“Beat the Chill” kits will be available at a special workshop price of $25 (usual cost is $50). Each kit contains a box of moxa, a hand-made microwaveable rice pillow, an herbal tea to use if you are exposed to the cold, and a fomentek water bag plus a coupon to upgrade your next therapeutic massage to a hot stone massage. In class you’ll learn how to use these items to stay healthy through the cold seasons. (If you want to purchase extra kits for friends, call ahead so we can have them ready for you.)

Winter Warming Workshop

Thursday, Feb 21, 6-7:30 pm

$10 advance registration

(add $25 to reserve a Beat the Chill Kit)

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Holiday Open House And Book Signing

Come to our Holiday Open House and Book Signing Event!

 December 2 from 2-4pm at Mystic River Acupuncture

 

We are excited to introduce Mystic River Acupuncture’s NEW Retail Section.

Here’s a Menu of Open House Specials we have for you:

When booked and paid for during Open House: 

•  Initial Evaluation and Acupuncture session – $100 ($30 savings)
• Cupping Seesion - $50 (Save $30)
• Chinese Herbal Evaluation – $50 (save $30)

(appointments must be scheduled before Jan 15)

Other Open House Specials

• 60 minute Hot Stone Massage - $75 through Jan 15 (Save $15)
• $5 savings on Fomentek Water Pillows – $18
• A signed copy of Mystic Seafarer’s Trail – only $10
• Special Pricing on Holiday Baskets (We have an assortment to choose from.)
• 20% off all services (purchased during open house and excluding community acupuncture and specials)
• Chair massage $1/minute

We have some great Door Prizes, too. (Must be present to win.)

• Gift Certificate For One Acupuncture Session
• Gift Certificate For One 60 Minute Massage
• Gift Certificate for One Herbal Evaluation
• A Comfort Basket” donated by Julie Russell, MSW, LCSW
• A kayak tour with Cindy Modzelewski
• A signed copy of Mystic Seafarer’s Trail

 
Author Lisa Saunders will sign a copy of your book.

Lisa’s latest book, Mystic Seafarer’s Trail, chronicles her life as a newcomer to Mystic. An adventure/walking tour/plain good story, this book describes how Lisa discovered the treasures of our area while she made new friends. She devised a walking trail, devoid of hills, that takes in the Seven Wonders of Mystic.

Lisa will be on hand to sign her book, for sale at a special holiday price of $10, and you can meet the some of the characters described therein.

Copies of Lisa’s books Anything But A Dog, Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife, and Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator also will be available.

 

We say goodbye, and we say hello……

This is a good opportunity to meet our new receptionist, Maureen Connaughton, and say a sad good-bye to Barbara Swec who is retiring.

And we say welcome back!

Those of you who know and love our beloved retired office manager, Anne-Marie Q., will be happy to hear that she’s back for the day.

 

PLEASE NOTE OUR PARKING LOT IS SMALL AND ON-STREET PARKING IS AVAILABLE.

HOWEVER, BE CAREFUL NOT TO PARK ON THE YELLOW CURB LINES NEAR THE FIRE HOUSE.

The fire trucks must have full access.

 

 

 

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What’s In the Back-To-School Herbal Kit?

Through Oct 15 we’re offering you a Back-to-School herbal kit with three patent remedies for just $20.

“Patent” remedies are easily available in China where they are household medicinals. Patents are similar to many of our over-the-counter medicines. Most patents are centuries old formulas, and as such are tried and true recipes for healing common ailments. Most patents contain very safe herbs, and all of the ones in this kit are safe for children. A normal adult dosage is 8 little pills three times a day. (One of my good friends calls them “the eights“.) For children, reduce the dose by at least half, if not less. Patents are inexpensive and convenient.

Here’s what’s in your back-to-school kit:

Gan mao ling: This is a standard formula used in the early stages of a common cold. When you feel that pre-cold achiness, fatigue, beginning sore throat & stuffy nose, that’s the time to take gan mao ling. Unlike “the eights” this remedy comes in a bottle of 100 flat tablets. Recommended dosage is 3-6 tablets 3 times per day. I prefer to have my patients take 2-4 tablets every four hours when they are symptomatic, and then resume the dose as directed on the bottle once they feel a little better. Gan mao ling may not cure the common cold, but many people do think it alleviates their symptoms.

If the cold develops into stronger symptoms with a fever, then you’ll need more than gan mao ling.

 

Curing Pills: Curing pills are famous. This is one of the patent remedies Americans are more familiar with. They are easy to get and are good traveling companions. They are used for all kinds of minor digestive problems, like motion sickness, over eating, plain old tummy aches. Curing pills are very safe. The herbs in them are said to disperse accumulation, or excess in the stomach. They are used in much the same way we use Tums. People looking for an herbal option will want to try curing pills. This is one of the remedies I always packed family for vacations or feasts.

Although the dosage on the bottle recommends 2-3 capsules 3X/day, most of the time this remedy is taken as needed. Three or four capsules after eating or when you have a stomach ache may provide relief. These pills also are not in the eight-pill format. They come as gel caps containing many tiny pills. this makes it easy to reduce the dose to half a capsule for young children who are old enough to swallow tiny pills.

 

An Shen Bu Xin Teapills: While this patent is often put into the sleep-aid category, it is not a sedative or sleeping pill. An shen bu xin teapills “calm the spirit,” which is an Asian idea of settling the system. Shen, loosely translated as “spirit,” is considered to be a very real part of our total beings. The spirit, or Shen, needs to be rooted in its …

A “Moxa Boost” Deal for Back-To-School

Back-to-school, late summer, early fall and, yes, sniffles and runny noses. At any season’s change our immune systems are vulnerable, but it seems that this is especially true at this time of year.

In a post last February I wrote about keeping your neck covered against cold weather. This is good to remember now, as summer ends and fall begins. It may not be cold out, but the weather is changing. Keeping “wind points” covered helps protects you against inclement or windy weather.

Moxibustion, the application of heated mugwort onto or over the skin, is another way to protect a vulnerable immune system. For the “moxa boost” advertised this month we will warm up some points along your shin and at the base of your neck. This is a classic treatment. The specific points used are St36 and GV14. I always like to include the area around the points because the warmth feels so good. When my children were young, I used to do this for them when school started, before they were exposed to viruses that go around.

Come In For A “Moxa Boost” for $25 in September and October. Or let us know you want one with your acupuncture and we’ll add it in free of charge!

We also have a back-to-school herbal kit for just $20 with herbs to keep handy for sleeping, colds, and tummy trouble.

Now that we are back to our regular schedules it’s important to make time for exercise. People are less active when summer activities end. Try to be conscious of your activity level. Simply walking is an easy and inexpensive way to keep your energy flowing. Gyms often offer promotional discounts this time of year.

With a new schedule and perhaps new projects or schoolwork that have deadlines attached, remember to get enough sleep. A regular bedtime helps. Have a little fun by making time for some of those last summer festivals or concerts. With a new schedule it’s good to lighten things up with play.

calender art by jazmin cruz at www.thepigtails.com…

poison ivy treatment 25% off

Poison Ivy is abundant this year. It grows in fields, yards, woods, gardens. It’s pretty hard to avoid.

Chinese Medicine can be a real asset when it comes to poison ivy relief. We’d like to show you just how much it can help, so through Sept 15 treatment and herbs for poison ivy will be 25% off.

Acupuncture can have an immediate effect on itching. Emotionally it will calm any agitation accompanying your itchy outbreak. Either a quick visit to community clinic or a more extensive regular acupuncture session can give prompt relief.

In China herbs are often used for contact dermatitis and all manner of dermatology issues. They are boiled up to make a soothing wash or compress. Herbs also can be made into a medicinal decoction or tea.

Come try acupuncture or herbs when you find yourself with that unpleasant telltale rash. We try to get people with pressing problems (and this is one of them) in as soon as possible.

If you are allergic to this invasive plant, you can get herbs to brew up ahead of time and freeze them. The next time you run into a patch you’ll have your remedies handy to defrost and use. We’re just a phone call away if you’ve forgotten how to use them or aren’t sure if you need acupuncture.

People affected by poison ivy and related plants (poison oak, sumac, etc.) will almost certainly benefit from Chinese herbs and acupuncture. While poison ivy is usually inconvenient, in some cases it can be dangerous. Anyone who is highly allergic or has a severe case must consult their doctor.

Read this Hot Topic item for tips on dealing with poison ivy.

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Two Days of Teaching in St. Louis

 

This past June the Acupuncture Association of Missouri (AAM) invited me to give a two-day seminar on Meridian Energetic Acupuncture in St. Louis. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and made good use of my time there.

My friend Michael Max and his wife Tracy Wang graciously invited me to be their house guest for the first couple of days. I’d never been to St. Louis. Now I would see this city from a resident’s point of view and Michael and I could continue our conversations about the practice of acupuncture. An added bonus to this was that Tracy is a superb cook.

 

 

The day after I arrived we went sight seeing. This included the amazing City Museum – I won’t even say anything about it other than, yes, I did slide down the 10-story spiral slide. Wow! You just have to go! And of course we visited the Arch, an awe-provoking piece of architecture situated in a downtown park on the banks of the Mississippi River. My tour of St. Louis included a visit to Sump’s for the best coffee in town, if not the country, and eating ribs outdoors at a delightful street-side restaurant.

The next day it was back to work. I had the pleasure of assisting Michael in his clinic. This was a good opportunity for both of us. I admired Michael’s calm way with his patients, his willingness to share his knowledge with me and his eagerness to have me jump in to consult with him on some of the treatments. It’s always rewarding to work in another acupuncturist’s clinic. Michael and I (and Tracy) met in China, and we’d already had many discussions about acupuncture protocols, the peculiarities of our respective clinics, ethical marketing practices, and herbal medicine. Finally we were working together.

I moved to the hotel the evening before the AAM conference began. This afforded me the luxury of being able to plan and adapt my lecture content according to the needs of the class, in real time and without distraction.

What a fun bunch of acupuncturists! They came mostly from Missouri and Kansas while some hailed from places as far away as Iowa to attend the AAM seminars. We kicked the conference off with a cocktail party whose purpose was, as Michael put it, “so we can size up the teacher and buy her drinks”. (Worked for me!) I had the chance to meet most of the participants before the seminar began.

The next two days were intense, yet I found them energizing rather than draining. These weren’t novice practitioners attending the workshop. I do believe I learned as much as they did. It was a lively two days with lots of input from the students, lots of case examples and demonstrations. In between class we had many discussions. We chatted over lunch, talked over dinner, and explored in depth this medicine we love late into the night. We shared anecdotes, techniques, and stories …

Wear your scarf and keep out the Wind-Cold!

What is Wind-Cold and why should you avoid it?

In Chinese Medicine, one of the ways we describe illnesses is in term of climates. Climates can be internally generated by a disease process (internal pathogenic influences), or an excessive climate in our environment can invade our bodies (external pathogenic influences). Wind, Cold, Damp, Heat, and Dryness are the most common pathogenic influences. This way of describing the disease prices does not negate the concept of germ theory, but exists  alongside of it. It’s another way of describing what happens in the body.

For instance a person with arthritis resulting in red, swollen joints that feel hot and are worse in rainy weather might be said to have “Internal Damp Heat” in the joints. Someone who catches a cold, especially after exposure to inclement weather, has an “External Wind-Cold” invasion.

March weather in the Northeast can be quite windy and cold. These are the pathogenic influences from which we need to protect ourselves this time of year. Pathogenic Wind causes itching, symptoms that come and go, watery itchy eyes, sneezing, and rashes that move around. Pathogenic Cold can be responsible for muscle aches, chills, aversion to cold, and runny nose. Many of the symptoms of the common cold are External Wind-Cold symptoms.

There are “Wind points” through which External Wind likes to enter. Many of them are at the base of the skull and near the neck and shoulders. Hence the advice to wear a scarf and keep buttoned up when you go out in any kind of bad weather. The External Wind actually enters these acupoints and lodges in your body. It is said that External Wind does not travel alone, that it likes bringing another pathogen in with it. In this case, External Wind opens the Wind points and enters, making it easier for the External Cold to accompany it.

Wearing a scarf or turtleneck, or keeping your coat collar up will effectively block the entrance of this Wind. Should you find yourself exposed to these pathogenic influences, you can use medicinal ginger tea to help expel them. You can also apply heat to the nape of your neck and upper shoulders with a heating pad or a rice bag heated in the microwave. Rest and sleep will help, too.

If you need stronger medicinal help, usually just one session of acupuncture will help you turn the corner or even prevent the cold from developing. Community Clinic is a good venue for this. Cupping and moxibustion are also very effective ways to expel External Wind-Cold. There are a number of herbal formulas that manage different stages of Wind-Cold invasion (i.e. the common cold).

So, if you do find yourself sneezing with the snuffles, achy muscles and feeling chilled, there is no need to suffer. There are plenty things you can do for a speedy recovery. If you do need our help, we try to schedule you as soon as possible if you have a Wind-Cold invasion.

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