Tag: UPSTATE NY
Gua Sha for Pain
Back in the spring, I demonstrated how to use gua sha to alleviate a cough or shortness of breath and to improve lung health. This tool also has the ability to alleviate muscle tightness!
In this video here, I have a patient who came in with ankle pain and lateral lower leg pain. The source turned out to be a trigger point in the Peroneal Longus muscle. Trigger point therapy can be very intense for some people, so gua sha is an excellent tool to use to loosen muscles up for those that are sensitive.
Gua sha smooths the fascia that encases the muscle allowing the muscle to expand and relax more easily and it pushes lactic acid out providing pain relief in the area. Gua sha also breaks up blood stagnation in that muscle promoting better blood flow to the area.
If you are highly sensitive to needles or trigger point therapy – that’s okay! Gua sha can be a great tool for you as it’s effective, but more comfortable.
Alyx Soesman, Acupuncturist
Tools We Use at Nirvana: Cupping
Most people are familiar with cupping because they have seen circular marks on the bodies of athletes who are receiving cupping as therapy to help their bodies perform (and heal from) peak athletic performance. In Chinese Medical practice we typically use cupping to “clear stagnation”. And most often, this stagnation manifests as pain.
When qi and blood does not flow smoothly through the body, the result is pain. Cupping can help to break up and bring that stagnation to the surface, where it can more easily leave the body for good. The marks, or bruising, is a great sign of therapeutic release.
I also use cupping for lung issues. I have a patient with asthma, difficulty breathing, and a pattern that we call “Phlegm in the Lungs”. Cupping is a great assistant to acupuncture and herbs because it can pull that stagnation (this time in the form of stubborn phlegm), up from the depths of the inner body toward the surface where it can more easily be removed. After a few treatments I have had patients tell me that they can more easily breathe and that they feel less congestion in their chest/lungs; one patient was even able to begin running again, which they had to stop due to the pain it caused on their lungs. Thank you to www.nicolemantilla.com
Gallbladder 40 (Seeing over the mountain with eyes full of hope)
Acupuncture points can be used to relieve stress, anxiety and depression – and most especially…COVID and election anxiety. Acupuncture points are a bit like prescriptions. Each point has a different function. These points impact not just the physical body but the emotions.
- Liver 3 helps calm the urgency of our planning – and the anger at our broken plans.
- Gallbladder 40 can clear the mind. It helps us have the courage to say is this what I really care about and re-examine our plans. It can give us a new perspective, more connected to courage and heart.
- Fear often stagnates Qi and blood flow causing frustration and anger. When we pair Liver 3 with Large Intestine 4 we smooth not only blood circulation but we enable our emotions to flow more smoothly. Also, Large Intestine 4 can expel the damage from wind, and in chinese medicine, change is a type of wind. There’s been so much change during the pandemic!
- Stomach 36 can help us digest and process our experiences, even when they are difficult ones.
- Anxiety and fear deplete yin, which is like body fluids. Spleen 6 is a point where 3 yin channels connect, so it’s a strong point to nourish yin.
- Liver 14 is called the gate of hope, and encourages the part of us that hopes to continue to dream of better things.
- Heart 7, also called “spirit gate” is able to stabilize the pulse so that it is easier for a person to consider what they care about most, instead of what others care about. As consciousness resides in the heart, it helps to feel more heart stability as a person considers a new perspective.
The intention I often have when I do this treatment is embodied in the point Gallbladder 40, known as “Spirit Mound.” The image is of someone climbing up a mountain, and as they look over the top of the mountain, instead of seeing a desolate blackened world that fills one with apathy, anxiety, depression, and stress… the world seems full of adventure and opportunities and love and friendships and things worth fighting for. When I do this treatment I want people to feel they have climbed a mountaintop and even though it has been hard they still feel life is beautiful. It’s so easy to feel stressed, anxious and depressed. It’s so easy to respond with anger or apathy. But having even just a little spring in your step, even just a little more hope in your heart can make all the difference. Especially when that difference has to be found within, not from without.
Acupuncturist Kat
PC: Unsplash, Joel Mott
Acupuncture Nirvana 