Julia-Zhu•Ya Gabriel Balance Acupuncture

12/31/2025

✨ Happy New Year ✨

I’ve been quiet here for a while — a lot of personal things happened toward the end of this year, and I needed some time to step back and recover.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I’ll be gradually posting articles and updates again as I regain my rhythm.

Wishing you a peaceful and healthy start to the new year.

Julia

09/18/2025

Are You Really Drinking Water Right?
We all know we should drink water…
But are we doing it in a way the body can actually use?
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), water isn’t just poured into the body — it must be energized, transformed, and circulated through your fluid transport network (called the San Jiao).
✅ Learn:
Why warm water hydrates better than cold
How water flows through your organs
What happens when water circulation gets stuck (phlegm, swelling, even pain)
🫖 This article reveals the TCM blueprint for water metabolism — and how small changes can help your body absorb water more effectively.
📖 Read the full article: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/how-to-drink-water-properly/

balance balance and absorption system circulation function function and liver detox

Maximize your hydration with tips on how to drink water properly. Understand water's journey in your body with TCM insights.

08/24/2025

Radiation therapy can shrink a tumor—but its effects reach far beyond the cancer itself.

Take the story of a 58-year-old man undergoing his second round of radiation for facial gland cancer. Even at a lower dose, the treatment brought severe pain, night sweats, loss of appetite, constipation, difficulty swallowing, and life-threatening complications.

💡 Two ways to see the same story:

Western medicine acts based on tests, imaging, and emergency signals. Interventions are often reactive—focused on measurable crises like bleeding, low oxygen, or lab changes.

Chinese medicine observes subtle early warnings: night sweats, dry mouth, fatigue, bowel changes, tongue and pulse patterns. These signs indicate Yin-fluid depletion and energy imbalance, allowing proactive support before emergencies occur.

Key lesson: Supporting fluids, energy, and organ balance during radiation is essential to prevent complications and improve recovery.

This isn’t about choosing one approach over the other. Western medicine saves lives, while Chinese medicine can help detect and support the body before crisis, giving patients more tools and choices for care.

📖 Read the full case and learn how whole-body support can make a difference:
👉 Read the full story: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/radiation-therapy-side-affects/

Explore the radiation therapy side effects and their impact on whole-body health during cancer treatment and recovery.

08/12/2025

Radiation: Two Views — One Whole-Body Truth

Western medicine sees radiation as a targeted weapon to kill cancer cells.
Chinese medicine sees it as intense heat-toxin that can also harm your body’s Yin, Qi, and Blood.

In my new blog, I share:

The Western vs. TCM perspective on radiation

Why the body must be treated as a whole system

Why extra caution is needed if your body is already weak — especially if cancer has returned

An easy way to understand Yin (body fluids) and why protecting them can be a matter of life

If you’ve been through radiation, or are considering it, this is an important read.

👉 Read here: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/how-radiation-affects-the-body/

Note: This post is not about replacing or refusing medical treatments like radiation. It’s about looking after the whole body — through rest, nutrition, and supportive care — so people can tolerate treatments better and recover more smoothly.

Explore how radiation affects the body in both Western medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine for a comprehensive understanding.

07/31/2025

Ringing in the ears, nausea, fatigue — all at once?

This was the reality for Mr. Myhre, a 66-year-old patient who came to me with persistent tinnitus, dizziness, and digestive issues — all of which worsened after COVID.

Through acupuncture and a Five Element Chinese medicine approach, we looked beyond the symptoms and treated the root pattern.

✔️ Sleep improved
✔️ Digestion normalized
✔️ Afternoon fatigue lifted
✔️ Tinnitus reduced

What caused it all? His Yang Wood constitution, combined with post-viral imbalance and long-standing energy disharmony.
And yes — things started shifting within just a few sessions.

In Balance Acupuncture Clinic, we don’t chase symptoms — we restore balance.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/acupuncture-for-tinnitus-case-study/

Fatigue

Explore the potential of acupuncture for tinnitus relief. Discover how it might help alleviate your symptoms and improve well-being.

07/24/2025

New Post: A Real Case of Chronic Constipation & Chinese Medicine Insight

Struggling with stress, digestion issues, or constipation that just won’t go away?

In this case study, I walk through how we approached a 29-year-old woman’s IBS-C using the Five Element framework in Chinese medicine. Her stress, hormones, and gut were all speaking the same language — and acupuncture helped anchor her system back into rhythm.

💡 Learn how:
✔️ Liver–Spleen–Kidney disharmony was at the core
✔️ Acupuncture points like LU7, PC6, ST36, SP6, LV5 were used to move Qi and regulate hormones
✔️ Her bowel movements and stress levels shifted steadily after each treatment

👉 Curious how Chinese medicine addresses chronic constipation, stress, hormonal imbalance, and more?
Click to read the full post now: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/acupuncture-for-ibs-digestive-issues-stress/

Explore the benefits of acupuncture for IBS through a real case study focusing on stress and chronic constipation.

07/14/2025

🥔 Pasta makes her tired.
🕔 She feels cold around 5pm.
🌅 She can’t get up in the morning.
Weird?

Not really — in Chinese medicine, these clues form a very clear pattern. In my latest blog post, I walk through a real case of a 65-year-old woman with Hashimoto’s and chronic fatigue — and how tongue diagnosis helped us discover the real root behind her food sensitivity and energy crashes.

Curious what your body might be trying to tell you?
Read the full post here: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/hashimotos-fatigue/

Explore Hashimoto’s fatigue through a real-life case. Understand how Chinese medicine approaches energy and well-being.

07/09/2025

Have you ever felt exhausted, inflamed, or stuck — even when doing "everything right"?
Sometimes what looks like discipline is actually emotional over-control.

My latest blog explores how holding emotion too tightly shows up in the body as stagnation or fatigue, and how softening into awareness can create space for breath, flow, and ease again.

👉 Read now: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/mind-and-body-connection-and-over-control-restoring-flow-through-the-five-elements/

Explore the mind-body connection in Chinese medicine and learn how emotions affect your health and well-being.

06/28/2025

Ever wondered how emotions like anger, sadness, fear, or overthinking are actually part of your body's energy system?

I just published a new article:
"Emotional Patterns and Control: Restoring Flow Through the Five Elements."
It’s all about how Traditional Chinese Medicine views emotional regulation—not as suppression, but as restoring flow using the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water).

✨ You’ll find:

How one emotion can balance another (like grief softening anger)

Practical ways to work with breath, movement, warmth, or reflection

And how to start building your own map to emotional resilience

🔗 Check it out here: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/emotional-balance-and-control-restoring-flow-through-the-five-elements/

I’d love to hear your thoughts—feel free to comment or share your own ways of working with emotions!

Discover how to achieve emotional balance through Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Five Elements philosophy.

06/14/2025

🥬🍵 Your kitchen is more than a pantry — it’s a medicine chest.

In Chinese medicine, we don’t just nourish what’s weak — we regulate what’s too much.

Feeling puffy, restless, bloated, or overwhelmed? You might be dealing with elemental excess.

✨ Use the Five Element Controlling Cycle to guide your meals:
🌳 Too much Earth? Add sour greens or lemon water (Wood to regulate)
🔥 Too much Fire? Cool it with seaweed and lotus seed (Water to anchor)
🌍 Too much Water? Warm up with millet, ginger, or cinnamon (Earth to dry)

It’s not about elimination — it’s about direction.

💡 Cook with intention. Balance through flavor. Heal through daily habits.

Click here to read more: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/chinese-medicine-food-health/

Explore how Chinese medicine food health can nourish your well-being and prevent depletion for a balanced life.

06/05/2025

Feeling stuck or overwhelmed? The Five Elements may have the answer.

📣 Just published: “Balancing Daily Life Through the Controlling Cycle” on the blog!

While we often talk about nourishment and growth (the generating cycle), true health also depends on knowing when to say no, when to rest, and how to self-regulate.

Discover how Chinese Medicine's Controlling Cycle helps us deal with excess — like worry, insomnia, tension, or emotional shutdown — by creating structure and clarity in our daily rhythm.

✨ Learn how to:

Calm overthinking

Ease emotional heat

Move through stuck tension

Gently ground and reset

🔗 https://balance-acupuncture.ca/chinese-medicine-for-health/

Learn about the Five Elements in Chinese medicine for health and how they support vitality and self-regulation in your body.

05/29/2025

🌊 Male Aging Starts in the Kidneys — Not Where You Think
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, men don't just "get older" — they age through the Five Elements, starting from the Kidney (Water).
That low back ache? Nighttime urination? Tight hips or vivid dreams?

These are signs that Essence (Jing) is being used faster than it's being replenished.

👉 In my latest blog, I break down:

The 5-element cycle of male aging (Water → Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal)

A real case showing how deeper systems decline in order
What you can do now to slow the cycle with food, movement, and mindful choices around s*x

📖 Read the full blog here: https://balance-acupuncture.ca/chinese-medicine-for-mens-health/

Let’s redefine how we look at men’s aging—from the inside out.

Discover how Chinese Medicine for men’s health focuses on the Kidneys and their role in vitality and aging.