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Monday 10am - 8pm Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm Wednesday 10am - 8pm Thursday 8:30am - 2:30pm Friday 8:30am - 12pm

Karas Smith Registered Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine

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Karas Smith Registered Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine

Registered Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine practice serving Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

08/09/2023

Summer in TCM 💐🔥❤️

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective the Summer is a season associated with the element of Fire & Heat 🔥, the organ and channels of the Heart & Small Intestine ❤️, the emotion of Joy and the colours of Red & Pink 🌸 🌺.

While summer can seem like such a fleeting season, especially where I live in Ontario, TCM philosophy reminds us to literally stop and smell the flowers. In all the action of the Yang season of summer, while going from activity to activity try to take a moment to pause, enjoy the present and create a lasting memory of that Joy. The goal is to imprint some of the joy and warmth and creativity of summer on your Heart to carry with you into the Yin-Hibernation seasons (aka. The cold ones we don’t talk about right now).

Here’s some snaps of things that have brought me Joy so far this summer
1. Summer Farm Markets - this bounty brought to you by
2. BBQing - especially BBQ vegetables. I’ve been eating this meal on repeat - BBQ veg & protein with cold soba noodles, topped with sesame oil, soy sauce & chili oil. 🍜
3 & 4. Flowers inside & out.
5. Nature & Getting outside wherever you are, backyards and front porches count too.

Go find some Summer Joy.
Sincerely,
Your Acupuncturist

12/05/2022

Starting January 3rd, 2023 there will be a price increase for all services offered by Karas Smith - Registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner.

$150 for Initial Acupuncture- 90 min appointments
$100 for Follow Up Acupuncture - 60 min appointments
$130 for Facial Acupuncture- 75 min appointments
$60 for all 30 min appointments, including Fire Cupping, Moxibustion, Gua Sha or Reiki sessions.
$60 for 30 min Chinese Herbal Medicine consultations + the cost of herbs.

Thank you for your continued interest and support of Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine. It’s an honour to practice here in Waterloo region and be a member of this community.

Sincerely, Your Acupuncturist in

12/04/2022

Giving Back this Holiday Season to one of my favourite local charities - The Foodbank of Waterloo Region. Last year 40,530 unique individuals and 1 in 14 households required access to the Foodbank of Waterloo Region.

Want to help? The Foodbank of Waterloo Region is in need of …
1) Food - physical food donations are always welcome. Want a fun family activity to inspire the spirit of giving back this holiday season, try the Foodbank’s Reverse Advent Calendar. It’s 15 days of giving mapped out for you and utilizes the Foodbank’s most needed items. (Individually packaged snacks, dry beans, juice boxes, canned fruit, meat or fish and rice).

2) Funds $ - I prefer to give a cash donation instead of donating physical food because the resources of the Food Bank and their Community Food Assistance Network can stretch a dollar a lot father than I can. (I mean have you seen grocery store prices lately). The Foodbank can make $1 = 3 meals thanks to their Community Food Assistance Network. Amazing! Plus they can buy exactly what they need fresh or frozen to maximize food hampers.

3) Volunteers - There are many volunteer opportunities available at the Foodbank including Brand Ambassadors, General Warehouse, Food Sorting and Volunteer Drivers. Some volunteers roles are available for those as young as 15 years old and those young at heart.

Visit www.thefoodbank.ca to learn more and help feed Waterloo Region this holiday season.

11/25/2022

🍐 Baked Pear Oatmeal & Warm Breakfast Season 🍐

Got a lingering cough or phlegm rattling in the sinuses? According to Traditional Chinese Medicine principles Pears & Apples are the fruit to nourish the Metal elements in the body - the Lungs & Large Intestines. They are great at scouring phlegm and clearing heat while guiding phlegm out of the body. Pears also help to moisturize the lungs, intestines and mucosal membranes.

I was gifted a beautiful bunch of Ontario Bosc Pears from a friend (Thanks ). I turned them into this baked oatmeal dish, inspired by recipe for Baked Steel Cut Oats.

This recipe is very adaptable and easy to modified based on what you have available to you. I used a Hazelnut flavoured almond milk instead of dairy milk , because that’s what I had. Also I wasn’t really a fan of the hazelnut flavored milk on its own, so it felt great to repurpose it into something new. I also omitted the maple syrup from the recipe because of this, the hazelnut almond milk was already very sweet.

Steel cut oats, an egg, milk of choice, vanilla, cinnamon, chia seeds, flax seeds & local Pears become the star of the show.

Pears in any form are great this time of year, but my preference will always be baked pears or apples. I think the four legged sous chef approved this dish as well. 🐈 👩‍🍳

Stay cozy!

Sincerely,
Your Acupuncturist

10/31/2022

🍃Autumn in TCM 🍂

Welcome to Autumn the Metal Element’s Season in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It’s the inbetween season, a transition between the ultimate Yang of summer the the ultimate Yin of winter. It’s a bit of both and unique in its own right.

I was reminded this year that autumn is a unique pause … a moment of suspended animation between Summer and Winter. A time to stop, reflect and then react as we prepare for what is next, letting go of what we don’t need for winter along the way.

The vivid , long lasting , colourful autumn leaves solidify this reminder - the leaves are about to let go and be free to decompose (as Yin), but before they do they are suspended in this final colourful display left over from the bounty of summer (as Yang).

If like me you were in awe of the beautiful vibrant leaves this year more than in years past, scientists agree with you - this year was a remarkable year due to ideal cool but not too cold temperatures and adequate rainfall in Ontario. Check out this article by CTV To learn more about the science behind autumn leaves. 🍁

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/here-s-why-ontario-s-fall-leaves-are-extra-colourful-this-year-1.6114040

Take some time to pause and enjoy this colourful Autumn, wherever you may be.

Sincerely, Your Metal Acupuncturist

08/26/2022

Late Summer in TCM - The Bounty of Summer Produce…

With the peak of summer produce amongst I hope you are enjoying the best tasting vegetables of the Summer season. 🍅 🍆 🌽

According to the cycle of the 5-elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Fire of early Summer ☀️ nourishes the next element in line the Earth element of late summer 🌏. Fire also controls the rigidity of the Metal element of Autumn 🔗, keeping it from being too rigid. This cycle of nature can be seen in the bounty of summer produce starting to appear this time of year.

Thanks to a Summer Produce Share from , I am flush with bright and delicious locally grown vegetables weekly.

This week I put the multiple eggplant and zucchini to use in a lasagna inspired by ‘s Lentil & Eggplant Lasagna recipe. Boosted with some lentils for protein & fiber and smooth cottage cheese in place of tofu. I then added some beautiful gems of basil from my window sill garden 🪴. Assisted by the feline sous chef as always 🐈. Overall a delicious dinner with ample leftovers for lunches during the week.

Make some space to embrace the Joy in the Fire element of Summer this time of year. It will help to nourish your Earth energies (aka. your digestive system) and prep your Metal energies (aka. your respiratory & immune system) for the next season ahead - Autumn. Because in nature the only constant is change ☯️.

Happy Late Summer!

Sincerely,
Your Acupuncturist

05/06/2022

✋I’m 5!

This week marks 5 years of self-employment as Karas Smith Registered Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine.

I’m in awe of how fast and how slow the time has gone (thanks COVID).

When I graduated from Acupuncture School I always knew I’d want to work for myself , but with others at the same time. Working independently within a multidisciplinary practice has been a great fit for me.

Keeping this business going for 5 years was always a milestone I had in my mind that I was determined to accomplish. A global pandemic might have made that a little harder over the last few years, but creativity and resiliency are skill sets I’m happy to continue to nourish.

Thank you so much to the community of Kitchener- Waterloo & the surrounding region for welcoming me in. I moved here 5 years ago to set up shop and didn’t know many of you. But now I’m honoured to be apart of this community.

I’m happy to offer up a comfy treatment table for you to have an acupuncture nap, a musical meditation, an audio book listen and to hear your stories and share in your highs and lows. It’s a genuine honour you let me into your lives to help anyway I can.

I can’t wait to see what the next milestone holds. In the mean time you know where to find me.

💻 Online booking available at www.karasrtcmp.com
☎️ 519-745-3231
📧 Karas.rtcmp@gmail.com

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Sincerely, Your Acupuncturist

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

05/06/2022

- Cinco De Mayo Edition …

*hint it’s still soup. 🍜

As we enter spring and the days start to get longer , we might yearn for summer and it’s bounty of summer foods. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine , Spring is a Shao Yang season of change and shift, with one foot in summer and one foot still in winter (minus the snow hopefully). Spring is a season focusing in on the colour Green, the organs of the Liver & Gallbladder, the muscle tendons and eyes. 💚🌱💪👀

So while It may look sunny & warm outside , don’t let the Canadian Spring fool you - that sun may change to clouds , wind or rain quickly. Best to dress in layers, protect your neck from the wind and eat with the season - ie: still warm cooked foods and more green vegetables.

Enter my favourite green Soup - Mexican Pazole Verde

I adapted this recipe from Sylvia Fountaine of to become Vegetarian Pazole for some and Chicken Pazole for others by swapping out the chicken broth with vegetable broth , adding mushrooms and black beans to the mix and keeping the chicken on the side for the meat eaters to add in afterwards.

Both vegetarian and chicken pazole verde are delicious though. Use what you have and experiment. I used canned tomatillos and canned hominy without issue.

This soup is traditionally served for holidays in Mexico or large family gatherings. It’s really all about the garnishes and it reheats really well for leftovers.

https://www.feastingathome.com/mexican-posole-verde-soup/

💚Green foods for the Liver
- spring onions, cilantro, tomatillos, cabbage, jalapeños , avocado and limes!
🧅🧄🌱🫑🍋🥑

Cheers to Spring!

Sincerely,
Your Acupuncturist

03/09/2022

🙏❤️☯️ Thank you! ☯️❤️🙏

Thank you all for your letter writing, petition signatures and messages of support - We did it!

The Ford Government has decided to officially remove Section 5 from Bill 88, which means Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine in Ontario gets to remain regulated healthcare. The Ontario regulatory college of TCM (the CTCMPAO) gets to remain in place to protect the public. And the government and the college have stated they will work together to allow Chinese language entrance examinations for new practitioners.

I’m so grateful for the support of this community both near and abroad. It’s incredibly humbling to see how fast this Bill was put in action, and how fast the community stood up against it.

Thank you to all the MPP’s for your support and communication.

Thank you to those TCM practitioners who stepped up to lead the charge, both the social media savvy practitioners, elders & students alike.

And so many more!

I’m so happy to remain a dedicated healthcare practitioner , serving the community with Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine for another day.

From the bottom of my heart, Thank you.

Sincerely, Your Acupuncturist

03/03/2022

☯️❤️‍🩹Please Read ❤️‍🩹☯️

The Ontario Government is trying to De-Regulate the practice of Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine in Ontario.

De-regulation means there would no longer be a Regulatory College to oversee the practitioners and protect the public from unskilled, unprofessional practitioners. Meaning anyone can ‘practice’ this medicine…

For reference I spent 4 years, 3500 hours and wrote two different sets of board examinations to prove my skill and knowledge at this craft.

This may also mean your insurance no longer covers the medicine.

This deregulation is hidden within Bill 88 ‘Working for Workers Act’ under a guise of helping more people enter the profession, most of whom are immigrants.

So instead of offering the regulatory examination in languages other than English & French, the government wants to get rid of examinations and public protection altogether?

This piece of legislation is not in the best interest of the public nor the practitioners that work hard to legitimize and make this medicine safe , effective and approachable.

Our healthcare system is under enough pressure already. Why add more strain by deregulating 2500+ TCM practitioners who are helping take some of that strain off the front line?

Please sign the Petition and consider writing your MPP. Links are in the bio for these action items.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Your Acupuncturist & Advocate for Safe, Regulated Healthcare.

01/21/2022

Warm Breakfast on a -16C morning.

Savoury Oatmeal inspo from !

🥣Steelcut oatmeal (leftovers)
🍳Sunnyside up Egg
🌭Pork Sausage (leftovers)
🌶 Green Onion, Garlic-Chili Oil,Soy Sauce topping
🥬with a few spinach greens hiding underneath
🍵 and a side of Bone Broth to sip on.

Nourishing that digestive fire 🔥 ready to take on that winter weather ❄️ or hibernate inside, also allowed. 📖

Stay cozy friends. ❤️

Sincerely, Your Acupuncturist

Address

101-487 Riverbend Drive
Kitchener, ON
N2K3S3

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 8pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 8pm
Thursday	8:30am - 2:30pm
Friday	8:30am - 12pm

Website

http://www.karasrtcmp.com/

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