It’s different when the tables are turned. When I’m the one on the table as the patient, rather than being the clinician. Not that I ever really stop being the clinician, but it is a different experience. When I am the one waiting for results. When the pain is mine and the struggle is with […]
January is notorious for people setting goals based on changing their bodies. Don’t get me wrong, I love when people are motivated and inspired but often when it comes to our bodies, this laser focus can be more like tunnel vision. People set lofty goals with their mind but expect their bodies to just follow […]
Get excited about your cerebellum. Wait, what? If we are really to harness the power of our brain, we must also understand the systems running behind the scenes so we can train them to their optimal capacity. Classically thought to be only for motor coordination and balance, the cerebellum is now recognized as a driver […]
As people across the country are getting vaccinated and the economy is starting to re-open after a long hiatus, many people are beginning to wonder what our new normal would look like. Some might be excited to pick up where they left off, while others may be hesitant or anxious to return to the busyness […]
Balance is a fundamental law of nature – a universal force, a state of being that everything essentially works to achieve. We inherently strive to achieve balance within all spheres of our being as does the physical world around us. As Newton declared, for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. He described […]
How stressed are you? You may not think you are that stressed because many people function at a high level of stress on a daily basis and this becomes their new normal. Stress is a natural response to pressure when faced with challenges. Illness, work deadlines, or misfortune are examples but it can be brought […]
If we want to know how acupuncture can help improve brain health, it is important to first understand how the brain is viewed in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). When I first started studying acupuncture, I struggled to reconcile my existing knowledge of common Western medicine theories with those of classical Eastern medicine. I was often […]
Anxiety is certainly at the top of our minds during these unprecedented times. Life is unpredictable and uncertain – this creates anxiety and stress in people. But when there are collective world experiences that bring greater uncertainty in our daily lives, this can fuel and perpetuate our anxieties even further. During these times of heightened […]
Have you ever experienced that sensation of butterflies in your stomach? Or feeling a pit in your stomach when you are upset or stressed? These are simple ways we can see the gut-brain axis (GBA) in action. Our digestive system is known as our second brain because it has its own nervous system, called the […]
Movement is medicine. Wrong. Movement is life. Movement is what separates us from plants. While they exogenously produce chemicals to keep predators away, we have the freedom to move. In our most primitive form, we had the flight or freeze response—that is something that we share with other mammals. The fight response emerged later as […]
