Healthy Living

We often like to share acupuncture points with you because it gives you the opportunity to try it at home.  Using acupressure, you can find these points and stimulate them with finger pressure to relieve various symptoms and pain.  Try using acupressure on Spleen 6 today.

Located on the inside of the leg, about 3 inches about the ankle bone (medial maleolus) this point is an effective point in regulating the menstrual cycle and achieving pregnancy. Spleen 6 is the meeting point of three meridians (Spleen, Liver and Kidney) and is an essential point for tonifying yin and qi. We often combine spleen 6 with points on the lower abdomen to help initial ovulation in women coming in for fertility.  Spleen 6 is a point on the earth meridian, therefore it is a very stabilizing point and can also be used to treat mood disorders. Read More

It is cold outside.  It has been cold outside, and it will continue to be cold outside.  I was talking with a client today about the weather.   Even though the beauty is all around us, it is hard to find when it feels too cold to go outdoors and we feel trapped by our surroundings. Fatigue and depression can be all too common in the winter months. The tendency to feel tired and sad or depressed occurs when we try to fight the natural rhythm of our environment. Chinese medicine looks at winter as a deep dark time of stillness and renewal.  It is the time to nurture our bodies through rest and warmth.  I encourage you to honor and listen to your body.  Make a cup of warm tea, stay home more often, and tuck into bed a little earlier.   Winter can be a time of great warmth and renewal. Read More

The days are starting to get a little shorter, the air crisp and cooler.  Autumn has come.  While many use this time to start mourning the end of summer, winter is not here yet and fall is a wonderful time of year.

In Chinese medicine we often speak of how our internal environment is reflected and responds to our external environment. When the season starts to change you may notice a change in your own energy as well. Autumn is a time where the energy of the earth starts to turn inward. After putting forth all effort to grow and expand, to create and collect energy, now is a time to begin storage of that energy.  As the energy of the earth prepares to enter winter, so do our own bodies.  Many people start feeling the desire to slow down a bit more, wanting to go to bed earlier and sleep in later.  We start craving warmer foods, soups and stews.

According to the five element theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine fall is associated  with the lung and large intestine.  Just as summer was the time of fire, fall is the time of dryness.  It is common for those with Read More

Summer is a time of growth, and we have definitely felt that at Selby Acupuncture!  We have launched a new website and Sara Gillet, one of our acupuncturists, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Judah Robert.  Keeping yourself in balance during times of change and growth can be challenging, and we can attest to that ourselves.

There is a very ancient Chinese medicine text written by Sun Si Miao, a first century TCM physician.  In one of his writings he talks about the Yang Sheng translated as Nourishing Life.  It talks of living in balance both within yourself and your environment.  The ideas that come from this are intuitive and common sense, but a good reminder for all of us as we try to maintain our busy lives.  Here are a few that I find very helpful;

• Live in balance with the yin and yang:  Of course we talk of yin and yang, and the depth of conversation around it can vary greatly.  In general, since summer is related to yang, and yang to change and growth, be bold, move your body and be open to change.  Wake up early, take up or increase your exercise routine, and