Spring Salads

Spring Salads are a wonderful way to feel the freshness of spring and to enliven your body with minerals and vitamins.    This one was created out of whatever I had left in the fridge and so I remembered reading about an avocado, orange salad and thought okay I can add some extra color with strawberries and radishes, cucumbers and fresh herbs and hidden believe it or not is some steamed collards.  I splashed some balsamic vinegar over it and yum, after one bowl I wanted to devour another but couldn't quite do it.   So I have another bowl for lunch today.   Salads like this nourish our body's yin and blood and hence superb for good egg quality.  Whereas the Winter Stews because of their warming nature support spleen and kidney yang and help with keeping progesterone levels and the luteal phase of the cycle.

Good Doctors Learn From Their Patients

Just as all good teachers learn from their students, all good doctors learn from their patients. I am forever grateful for all that I learn from my patients. They teach us far more than we often give to them. This might mean learning what we can give and what is too much for the patient to process. Our bodies, mind and emotions, can only process so much, especially if we already have a lot going on in our lives. This might apply to how many acupuncture needles, or herbs I choose to use, or new information to convey. I have learned over the years, less is often more. I think my patients who have been with me, know I can deliver the "QI". I am passionate about what I do, blending that with humility compassion and wisdom is where true healing begins. Whether we are the recipient or the giver, we each grow.

I Basal Thermometer

http://www.fairhavenhealth.com/ibasal-thermometer.html?cmp=froogle&kw=ibasal-thermometer&utm_source=ibasal-thermometer&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=froogle&gclid=CML_08yr-rUCFQ7znAodgRYA5w
Check this thermometer out.   Even has an alarm built in to awake you.

Pregnancy Loss and Miscarriage

Recently I have been consulted to write a chapter for a book on Fertility, Pregnancy Loss and Miscarriage and as I was reviewing my patient files I became aware of how many of my women have had a previous history of miscarriage.  Not just one but even three.  Miscarriage typically occurs before 13 weeks.  Often women will miscarry early as in week 5 or 6 with no heartbeat, others will get a heartbeat at 6 or 7 weeks and then by 9, no heartbeat and they will begin spotting to eventually getting their period.   I see so many at 9 weeks; the woman is delighted to have gotten the ultrasound heartbeat, it was good and strong, only to find out by 9 weeks there is no heartbeat or she will begin spotting or bleeding.  Devastating to say the least.   Most of the women receiving acupuncture after they had a prior history of miscarriage do not miscarry again.  However, if they have never gotten pregnant but they do conceive after receiving several weeks of acupuncture and then miscarry it is a sign their Qi or Blood was not quite strong enough yet, but they did conceive and that is the key.   Now, it is essential they maintain their treatments for the first 12 weeks especially with a history of miscarriage, because the likelihood is always greater with a previous history whether it be miscarriage or any of the list of adverse events that can occur during Pregnancy, this is also true for those with the tendency toward Preterm labor (anything after 20 weeks but before 37 weeks).  Acupuncture helps to contain the QI, calm the fetus, quiet the spirit of the mother and support the spleen whose role it is to transport and transform the food we eat so our blood and yin our nourished better, this is why it helps with miscarriage.

Chapter 8 of the Ling Shu Says:  "According to the principle of acupuncture, one must examine the patient first and then treat according to the conditions of his spiritual activities."  Chinese Classics say that the superior doctor treats spirit first.

Grace and its Wisdom to Trust our Inner Guidance

All unfulfilled desires and hardships such as infertility, illness, loss of any kind brings us deep sorrow and to the depths of our being but when we can bring the peace to these moments, grace will fill our hearts with love and open doors we never thought possible. It is then each cell in our body electrifies with life. When you feel the "peace that passeth all understanding" then you know a deeper knowing, a trust that there is no need to figure out what to do or how to do it, it just presents itself because we have been enlightened from within, we can see clearly again. God, Spirit whatever you deem fit shows us the way. Each and everyone of us is guided from within, without seeking outwardly, the way presents itself. Pain, sorrow, fear are not comfortable but they help us grow. They become portals into our deeper wisdom, our connection to God and our spiritual self. If we are afraid to go deeper into our own emotions they can often dominate us, scare us but when we see them as an awareness into our body and our deeper selves or what our spirit longs for, or is trying to teach us, then this awareness as an observer transforms our whole being and our outlook. From this place of awareness, it is easier to open up to what is, to accept the moment as it is. Then there is no more struggle from within and so without, which brings us back to Grace. I embrace all my women and men I work with, with love and goodness and peace but most of all grace. The Grace to go through this journey knowing there is something deeper within you, longing to come forth and trusting that it will, in its own way no matter where you are on this journey to health.

Warming winter stews

This cold weather has prompted me to make some warming stews. So last night after my lamb chop bones(no meat on these btw that had been eaten last week) had slow cooked in the crockpot for 24 hours I made lamb stew and used the liquid from the bones as the stewing liquid for the stew itself.   This stew has apple cider in it for the deglazing liquid that I put over the sauted vegetables and then browned saratoga lamb, butternut squash, pearl onions and prunes.  Spices included tumeric, cinnamon, cumin and fresh ginger.  So it has a warming but sweet flavor about it, excellent for the spleen and kidney yang and good for my women who have a history of miscarriage or luteal phase defect, plus you get the nourishment from the bone broth itself.

Take care and enjoy this cool weather but be sure to eat something warming.  I added the collard greens when I reheated it for lunch today.  The greens give us the minerals and help to balance out excess hormones and stagnation in our body and cool down any heat.