It's the last night of our trip to Charleston to visit my brother and his family and Zephyr (5 years old) is not cooperating with bedtime. I'm tired and ready to be done parenting and finish packing for our early morning flight.
Zephyr is practically bouncing off the walls.
I notice my nervous system getting more and more charged and can tell I will eventually snap and loose my temper.
"Zephyr, I'm feeling myself getting upset and am worried I might loose my temper if you don't cooperate with bedtime."
In the moment I feel proud about my communication, but later I realize this is kinda a sneaky backhanded threat. I'm essentially saying, "If you don't behave, I'll yell at you." Not exactly my best parenting move, but not my worst either.
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Last week while driving Hazel home from school I was startled to see a plume of smoke rising up from what looked like our backyard. I called 911 to report it, they were aware. As I got closer to home I realized that indeed the fire was a stone's throw away from our home. I called Rachael to let her know and so she could join me in the pack-up.
It's not the first time we've done the runaround. Gathering irreplacable items. An heirloom Martin guitar. Photo albums from before the digital age. Art. All while doing our best to tend the impressionable nervous systems of our young children.
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First and foremost, we want to extend our hearts to everyone navigating the impacts of the recent wildfires. There’s no way to describe the breadth and intensity of experiences people are going through right now. We need each other now as much as ever.
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Things don’t always go as planned. The fact that they sometimes do, feels like a miracle. Our kiddos had the week off after a week of trading places on the sick bed and the interruption to our flow is no joke.
Sometimes it feels great to get a break from the monotony of the weekly rhythm. Other times it feels like the weekly rhythm is a third heartbeat, one that ensures proper circulation for the energy of the family system. When it’s interrupted, it’s like the family system is having a mini-heart attack.
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So if you’ve read our past couple of blog posts on beauty, they were pretty poetic (if we can say so ourselves). And that’s great and all, but we want to get a little down to earth. We know what it’s like to look in the mirror in the morning and think to ourselves, “Wow, I look pretty haggard today, wtf happened to my face?!”
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What makes a person beautiful?
Is it a perfectly symmetrical wrinkle free face?
Is it voluptuous shimmering hair?
Is it wisdom, deeply etched into skin over years of experience?
Perhaps its a certain shimmer of knowing glistening in the eyes?
Maybe it’s something the glows from deeper within and can be seen more in the actions that define a person’s character, then in their face.
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his is the third in a series exploring Self-Regulation: Read Part 1 and Part 2 on the blog.
How to Find Calm Amidst Wind & Fire of Emotions
If you’ve read the articles or anxiety or depression, you’ve started to catch on to the fact that Chinese medicine works with “Patterns of Disharmony” - we treat the pattern, rather than the symptom.
When it comes to pyschoemotional disregulation, aka “losing your sh*t”, there are a number of different possible patterns at play. For a practitioner, identifying the pattern is essential for treatment. I’ve found that understanding what’s going on can also be useful for many of the people I work with. So I’m going to share a little about some of the common patterns that are involved in emotional turmoil.
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I fell in love with my wife for the first time before we were even dating when she took care of me while I was sick. It was a cold wet day in Brooklyn, and she came over with hot chicken soup, comforted me, and made me lots of tea while we watched a movie together. Her nurturing care soothed my aches and melted my heart. I got better quickly. Over the course of the next couple years it became evident my immune system wasn’t as strong as it should be. Winter after winter I would get colds and coughs while others glided through the season uscathed. Fortuitously, I had just begun acupuncture school where I was learning how to take care of myself and build up my immune system and improve my vitality in new ways. Acupuncture and herbal medicine have uniquely powerful immune boosting capabilities that work preventatively to help you avoid getting sick or hasten recovery during cold season whether you live in Boulder or in Shanghai.
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As an acupuncturist in Boulder, CO specializing in mental health I work with a lot of people managing anxiety. No two cases of anxiety are the same. Because my approach to treating illness is holistic, I focus on the unique needs of each individual. Also, acupuncture inherently works towards resolving the underlying issues causing the symptoms a person is facing, rather than just alleviating the symptoms and therefore requires a personal approach.
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“Can Acupuncture treat <______>?,”
is a question I hear and answer a lot. Many people are surprised to hear that acupuncture is part of a complete system of medicine with the ability to diagnose and treat almost any malady or disease. It may sound too good to be true, however given over 365 acupuncture points which work with all of the different organ systems including the nervous system, the immune system, and the musculoskeletal system, it’s not that surprising. Fortunately, there is a growing body of research and evidence to support these claims.
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