Notes From Aculand December 1, 2008
Dear Friends,
Here’s wishing you a happy holiday season and a new, somewhat simpler version of my Notes From Aculand. I will, in these newsletters, share snippets of the wonderful conversations that transpire during the course of treatment, offer seasonal health tips, and share excerpts from the book I am co-writing with Judith Fischer, a dance therapist friend and colleague.
I would also like to let you know that I am now, and until the end of January, offering an “acu-pak.” of discounted acupuncture sessions. My line of reasoning goes like this. Many of us are exploring ways to maintain good health while being conscientious about our budgets. I am of the opinion, oft repeated by those who receive regular acupuncture treatments that acupuncture not only addresses the concerns we bring to each session, but by stimulating that good qi, helps to raise and maintain a generally better level of health. This in turn, saves money as less is spent on medications, less time is missed from work and one’s overall quality of life improves. That overall, hard to describe, lovely “side- effect” of acupuncture that goes something like…. “I just feel better…” without medications or surgery, distinguishes this type of health care from many others.
So, by encouraging people to receive acupuncture treatments at some sort of regular interval, weekly, monthly or seasonally, for example, I hope we can support our collective wellness.
I am also offering this now, because some people have money left in their health savings accounts and face a use it or loose it option. By purchasing acupuncture treatments ahead of time, those folks can use their own hard earned dollars and receive the treatments when they are most needed.
So, until the end of January, anyone wishing to pre-purchase treatments will receive 10% off of each treatment. Call me for details.
And here’s my newest favorite line, spontaneously shared with me by a delightful young woman I recently met… “Nothing has to be wrong to go to acupuncture. After 45 minutes on the table, the world is a whole different color!”
Notes from the table…In acupuncture diagnosis, the time something occurs is very important information. There are all sort of biorhythms going on in nature, like when the sun goes up and down, how the seasons seamlessly change character and temperature and how we naturally wake up and go to sleep. Many more subtle rhythms are happening inside of us all the time. Every two hours, according to the acu-clock, a different function of the body goes into its prime, and the opposite function “sleeps” or goes into a rest phase. This is useful information in cultivating health as well as determining the nature of a disease or disturbance.
The daytime, for example is the Yang time. It’s the time of movement, activity, sun, warmth, productivity. As the sun goes down, it becomes the Yin time, the time of rest, cooling down, darkness, restoration. They are completely dependent upon each other and in health, should be honored equally. Specific restorative functions happen at night that happen best at rest, for example. People who stay up late into the night, for many nights in a row, may discover that they are tired or dragging during the day. They may not have gotten what they need, when they needed it, to fuel the activity of the day.
Some folks think that if they sleep enough hours, say from 2am to 10am, that they should be rested, but they know they don’t feel right. From the acu-perspective, it’s not just getting sleep; it’s getting sleep at the right time that matters.
Many people start winding down around between 9pm and 11pm, even if they are trying to resist it. (Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone, but check it out!) Many people get tired between 3pm and 5pm and perk up and notice an urge to be social at around 7pm. For weight management, it’s good to know that the digestive time is in its prime between 7am and 9am, supporting the common advice to start the day with a good breakfast, and the digestive function rests after 7pm at night, again supporting the good advice not to eat too late. It goes on and on. It’s very interesting. Ask me more when we are together!
And here’s my own newest line….Thinking of New Years’ resolutions and such…If you put it off until tomorrow, when you wake up, it’s today again!
And again, here’s wishing you a lovely holiday season, and a special New Year.
All the best, 
Karen
Karen Johnson L.Ac, RN
7505 Lilac Sea
Columbia, MD 21046
(410)381-3495