​​The chirping of the alarm barely rouses you enough to pry one arm out from under the blanket.  Your hand automatically navigates its way to the bedside nightstand and inches its way to the alarm clock, a move ingrained by years of repetition.

​Despite your best intentions of arising on time, not only do you sleep through the first alarm, but somehow manage to hit the snooze button twice more, rationalizing to yourself that you don’t need that much time to get ready for work anyway.

Finally, the Critical Alert goes off in your head.  GET UP NOW OR GET FIRED!

You shower at hyper-speed, grab breakfast on the run, and you’re out the door.  If only you can beat your boss to the office…

The bad news:  The boss man is already waiting for you at your desk.
The good news:  You don’t have to worry about your alarm in the morning.

The problem in this scenario is not that you ignored your alarm, but that you did it day after day after day; until finally your whole life was thrown so far out of balance that you simply could not recover once you hit your tipping point.

Unfortunately, the same story is played out every day by those of us who ignore our own internal “alarms”, otherwise known as ​symptoms.  You see, symptoms are your body’s warning systems, built in to alert you of a potential crisis. 

What are your options when symptoms arise?

First, you could choose to do nothing, which is what most people do-at least for a while.  Many hope that by ignoring the problem it will somehow go away.  Even if the pain eventually subsides, the underlying cause rarely resolves on its own.

When ignoring the problem proves ineffective, your next course of action might be to pop a pill.  This is what most of us have been encouraged to do (mostly by the kind-hearted souls who make the drugs).  Drugging a symptom is like hitting the snooze on the alarm.  It just delays the inevitable, which is the fact that you eventually have to wake up and address your problem in a sensible, effective manner.

That brings us to your third option:  Acupuncture.  The focus of acupuncture care is to remove meridian system blockages and imbalances within the body, allowing the free flow of the bodies energy and to express 100% life.  Symptoms don’t exist in the absence of an underlying imbalance.  Eliminate the cause and the symptom goes away once and for all. 

​You have probably heard acupuncture referred to at some point as “alternative medicine.”

The term itself consists of two very off-base implications.

First, it implies that acupuncture is a runner-up or a contingency plan to turn to when medicine inevitably falls short, or should one choose not to utilize medicine in the first place. 

Second, it implies that acupuncture is a type of medicine, albeit an alternative type.

To set the record straight, acupuncture stands alone in the detection and correction of the body’s innate healing energies to bring about balance within the body and to maximize its full expression of life.  Acupuncturists are the only healthcare professionals specifically trained to detect and correct the imbalances in the meridian systems.

Acupuncture is not a specialty of medicine, nor is it an alternative to anything other than pain and suffering.

The focus of medicine is and always has been primarily on the treatment of symptoms and disease.  Think about it.  Most of us were raised to essentially ignore our bodies until they begin screaming out at us in the form of pain, numbness, indigestion, insomnia, weakness, fatigue, or any other number of unbearable symptoms.  It’s the classic knee-jerk reaction.

When we can no longer stand it anymore, we simply take a drug - an artificial chemical substance - and swallow it, inject it, rub it on, or drop it in, and hope that the symptom magically goes away.  With that magic comes plenty of side effects and the same underlying state of ill health that you started with.

Acupuncture, on the other hand, is not concerned with the treatment of symptoms or disease, but with determining the underlying cause of a particular problem, and restoring the normal balance with the body’s meridian system, which is often the underlying cause of outward expressions of sickness. 

Life is expressed in the body through the meridian system, and healing is orchestrated from removing energetic blockages within the body. When meridian system pathways become kinked or out of balance, they dampen down the quality and quantity of energy flowing throughout the body. Less flow equals less life.

The logical course of action when confronted with a health challenge should be to support and enhance the body’s internal balance and let true health and healing run its natural course.

When you have acupuncture working for you, who needs an alternative?

​

The holidays are a big part of the fall and winter months. This is often a time to reconnect with family and loved ones, to attend social events, and celebrate your beliefs.

­Unfortunately, it can also be a time of extra commitments, nonstop activity, and pressure to get it all done. This can result in a lot of stress both mental and physical.

Everyone feels stressed occasionally, but when it continues for a long time or gets overwhelming it can take a real toll on your health. The immune system is particularly sensitive to the effects of stress, which means that ongoing stress can leave you vulnerable to colds, flu, and other illnesses.

The good news is that you can take charge of the stress in your life. One way to do that is to set realistic expectations for the holidays. Spend some time thinking about what’s important to you. Rather than concentrating on making everything “perfect,” try to focus on enjoying yourself whether that means spending time with family, volunteering to help others, or taking a vacation.

​Another good strategy is to set boundaries. Don’t take on more than you can handle, say “no” if you have to, and ask for help if you need it.

Other ways to beat stress include:

Eating right: Remember to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and try to keep your intake of sugary holiday treats to a minimum.

Rest: Get plenty of sleep, even if you have a lot to do, to keep your body and mind healthy and energized.

Meditation: Take a few minutes during the day to sit quietly and simply focus on your breathing.

Exercise: Try to work exercise into your schedule. It’s a natural energy and mood booster. Yoga is an excellent choice this time of year.

Talking to someone: Share your thoughts and feelings with a friend or a counselor. Expressing yourself may make you feel better and you might even find solutions to stressful situations.

Vitamins and herbs: Be sure to take a daily multivitamin, and consider taking extra vitamin C to help strengthen your immune system. Herbs such as ginseng can help you adapt to stress and valerian can soothe and calm your mind.

Additional methods include treatments such as acupuncture and massage, which can help relax both mind and body. With a little preparation and adding some new coping strategies, you can make this year’s holiday season happy, healthy and stress-free!