Yanaroot Art of Health, 608 Baker Street, Nelson, BC (2025)

03/20/2024

At this time of year, it is very obvious how long the days have become. Vernal Equinox (March 20) marks the equality of night and day.

Greens are sprouting, birds are singing, and people continue to celebrate the joy of spring with flash-fired pea sprouts, savoury taro rice, and more pungent flavours like garlic and onions.

Earth season is in the air!

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03/18/2024

Stress is vital for a healthy life, it's not all bad.

There are some stressors which are considered "good stress", or eustress, like the type you feel when you are elated, excited. When you have this experience, your pulse becomes more rapid, hormones surge, and many parts of the brain and body are stimulated in a positive way.

On the other hand, "bad stress", or stress that becomes chronic has a negative impact on our health and wellbeing. It can feel like the gas pedal is stuck to the ground and you no longer have any control inside your own mind and body.

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03/15/2024

Also known as "rosy retrospection".

The Good Old Days bias is a psychological phenomenon of recalling the past more positively than it was actually experienced.

The nature of human memory is highly unreliable. Research suggests that not only do we recall the past as more positive than it was, negative emotions are exaggerated in memory just as much as positive ones.

Most research on the topic is around people who have experienced a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI, concussion), and preliminary results suggest that people with an injury often underestimate past problems, which can impact their perceived level of current problems, recovery from injury, and return to work/sport/play.

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03/12/2024

It always feels shocking to me how biomedicine can be so slow to catch up. While there were hints of this concept in modern medicine for the past 20 years, this concept has been around in TCM for thousands of years.

Did you know that our gastrointestinal (GI) tracts evolved with their own nervous systems, which we call the "Enteric Nervous System"? It is often suggested by functional medicine practitioners that this is actually the primary 'brain' because it evolved before the brain and spinal cord.

Have you ever been so stressed out suddenly that you lose your appetite, or have loose bowels? This is an obvious relationship between the stress response on our gut-brain axis. It would be pretty inconvenient if you had to p**p while you were running from a tiger, don't you think?

It seems obvious that what happens in our guts is vital to our survival, and thus the entire body needs to be aware.

For example, if our digestive system is empty it is important that our brain sends signals of hunger so that we feed ourselves. Or if there is a problem with the processing of what we ingest, we need to be made aware so that we can fix the problem.

Stress is known to influence the permeability of intestinal lining; this means that bacteria can have easier access to places they shouldn't be.

A study done using food-borne pathogens provided evidence that bacteria in the intestines can activate stress circuits by directly activating the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system that runs from the brain to the large intestine. It is the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, safety, and energy conservation).

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It's important to remember that the microbes were here before humans existed, so we have evolved with these 'friends with benefits' – John Cryan (professor of anatomy and neuroscience)
~

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03/08/2024

Neuropuncture is a fusion between Medical Neuroscience and Traditional Chinese Medicine concepts. It incorporates modern research on neurophysiological effects of acupuncture and specifically electrical stimulation of acupuncture points on specific neural tissues.

I don't personally consider this Chinese Medicine, and I wouldn't even call it Acupuncture per se, but it is a method that is evidence based and clinically reproducible. It involves specific prescriptions, electrical dosages and treatment plans that can address all sorts of dysfunction in the body.

Research suggests that neuropuncture and electrical stimulation is an effective treatment for mental emotional health, neurodegenerative diseases, chronic pain and injuries, sleep and hormonal disorders, internal medicine (digestion, hypertension, diabetes), immunity and autoimmune disorders, sports medicine and orthopaedics.

I use electric stimulation in my clinic often when working to reduce inflammation, repair soft tissue injuries, strengthen musculoskeletal system or when I want to target specific nerve pathways that influence particular regions of the brain and body.

I like to joke (not joke) that acupuncturists are the electricians of the "inside" world.

Trust me, it's not as Frankenstein as it sounds.. most people are able to relax enough that they fall asleep or sometimes even forget its there at all.

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03/05/2024

The word Jing Zhe 惊蛰 means the awakening of hibernating insects.
Jing 惊 is to startle
Zhe 蛰 means hibernating insects

Traditional Chinese folklore says that during Jingzhe, thunders will shake the hibernating insects up from their winter slumbers, which implies that the weather is getting warmer.

While warmth is increasing, the weather is still wet and cool. It is important to stay warm at this time; wear clothing that is warm enough, enjoy warm cups of ginger tea and hot sesame soups.

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03/03/2024

In TCM we say that our blood houses and anchors our mind. This would mean that our mind is everywhere our blood is.

Our experience of being in our body is not a direct one. It is a multi-sensory interpretive experience - it is constantly moderated by our perceptual intake of information, influenced by internal information (interoception, proprioception and vestibular input), and recalibrated through stored implicit and explicit body representation (body memory).

We humans are wired to respond to our environments - action often precedes awareness. This is vital to our survival, so that we can make quick decisions about whether or not what we are experiencing is a threat or not.

When we determine there is no threat, in normal circumstances we experience a rebalancing and orienting return to baseline. In circumstances where someone has experienced trauma that has not been resolved, they might not experience the rebalancing process to return to baseline. This means that their nervous system is stuck in the ON position, and they move into a state of threat preparedness (fight, flight, freeze), even if it is unnecessary in the moment.

Trauma symptoms develop when our nervous system isn't able to recalibrate into equilibrium.

It can take time to renegotiate the trauma response in our bodies to relearn how to restore healthy reorienting responses, so that they are in the appropriate amount for the appropriate duration at the appropriate times.

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02/29/2024

Preventative care is the gold standard. The choices you make every day matter!

TCM emphasizes “prevention before disease and prevention of disease exacerbation”.

How are you choosing to take care of yourself? What does your prophylactic self-care routine look like? If your healthcare practitioner isn't asking you about these things, you need to find a new practitioner!!

I spoke with an MD recently who strongly believes that treatment outperforms prevention, adding that people are more willing to pay for treatment than invest in prevention.

It was hard to hear. It felt like a statement that steals power from people, that leaves them relying on someone else to save them. If you have been to any medical clinic recently in BC, you've probably noticed that you will be waiting a long time for someone to save you.

Prevention is grossly underfunded when compared to treatment, at least here in Canada. But there are choices we make daily that could be considered prevention, like the things we consume (food, drink, to***co, drugs), or the way we move our bodies, or how we choose to engage our minds.

Prevention through self care is the best kind of medicine.

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02/26/2024

"Qi is the root of a human being. It is the basis of all phenomena in the universe." -Giovanni Maciocia

It is not "life-force", "vital energy", or simply "energy".

It is the relationship between structure (yin) and function (yang), energy and matter.

Qi is universal. Life is a culmination of Qi.

‘It is from, calm, indifference, emptiness, and non-desiring that true qi arises. If the spirit is harboured inside, whence can illness arise? When the will is at rest and wishes little, when the heart is at peace and fears nothing, when the body labours but does not tire, then qi flows smoothly from these states, each part follows its desires, and the whole gets everything it seeks’ - The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon

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02/23/2024

In most circumstances its not about what is actually happening that keeps us where we are.. Its the self-blame, the fear of being vulnerable, guilt, shame, the thought of instability - all the potential pain we associate with what we want, consciously or subconsciously - that keep us in the same cycles, with the same people, the same cravings, the same patterns, and the same frustrations, even though we are whole-heartedly wanting something different.

Dwelling on the past means resisting the opportunity to live beyond the limiting walls of our pain boxes.

Let's dwell deeply in the present, just for a moment. Try it on for size, and then try another.

The present looks good on you ♡

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02/19/2024

Unless you live in Nelson BC... and is been raining for weeks... ;)

Inclement, wet weather is a sign that Rainy days (~ February 19) have begun.

The rain awakens the outside world while some people take this as an opportunity to rest before the true expansiveness of springtime season arrives.

Lanturn Festival (3rd week of February) lands on the first full moon and the end of the two week Chinese New Year period.

Stir fried vegetables, sweet rice balls 汤圆 (tang yuan) and steamed fish 蒸鱼 (zhēng yú) dinners are common.

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02/16/2024

"Ka mua ka muri" is a well known Māori whakataukī that translates to "walking backwards into the future".

Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Whakataukī are Māori proverbs.

This whakataukī speaks to following in the footsteps of our ancestors, learning knowledge and wisdom passed down from them, while at the same time navigating the present as we live and move into the future.

In this way, our ancestors are always with us, existing both within the spiritual realm and in the physical, alongside the living as well as within the living.

I get the most humbling feeling inside of myself while holding that thought. Within this constant cosmic movement, time has no limits – it is both past and present.

Each of us is a descendants and also an ancestor. Honouring our obligations to both, as well as the ever changing world around us, is a huge responsibility!

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02/13/2024

"The « art of the heart » is to empty one’s heart of desires and passions, of tendencies which are not recognized as inherent to the original nature, in order to let the spiritual brightness develop and make the mind balanced and harmonious.

The communication between what masters life - the heart –and what is the interface with the origin – the kidneys - is essential.

In modern Chinese, the expression formed with the spirits of the heart and the will of the kidneys shen zhi (神志) means the mind, consciousness, the ability to know and to reflect on what is known."

- Elisabeth Rochat De La Vallée

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02/10/2024

A new moon, a new year. Happy Lunar New Year!!

2024 is the year of the Wood Dragon.

Did you know it is considered bad luck when your zodiac year comes around? According to ancient Chinese superstition, in your birth sign year, you will offend the God of Age, and will have bad luck during that year.

I sure hope the God of Age is forgiving to me this year...

Even though it is winter, Chinese New Year is popularly known as the Spring Festival in China. Because it starts from the Beginning of Spring (the 1st of the 24 terms in coordination with the changes of Nature), it marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. [[happy dance!!]]

Chinese Dragon is de facto an imaginary animal, also the only fictitious creature in the 12 zodiac animals, which is composed of 9 animals, including the body of a snake, the horns of a deer, the head of an ox, the mouth of a crocodile, the claws of an eagle, and the scales of a fish. The Dragon enjoys a very high reputation in Chinese culture and it represents auspiciousness and imperial power since ancient times. It is the token of authority, dignity, honor, success, luck, and capacity

I love learning about the mythology in Chinese culture. There are several variations on the mythology behind Lunar New Year celebrations. Most concern the story of an nasty, bloodthirsty monster named Nian.

The monster Nian would appear on the last night of each year to wreak havoc in villages, destroying them and eating people.

A wise elder advised villagers to scare Nian away with loud noises and bright flashes of light. That night, they set fire to bamboo, lit fireworks, and banged their drums.

The monster, afraid of the loud sounds and bright lights, ran away to hide in its cave.

On the first day of the new year, villagers celebrated, greeting each other with the words Guo Nian, which mean “survive the Nian.” That tradition has continued to this day, with Guo Nian now meaning “celebrate the new year.”

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02/07/2024

Bilateral stimulation is a technique used to enhance communication between the brain's hemispheres, most often used to help with the reprocessing of stressful and traumatic memories.

When we experience overwhelm and relive a traumatic event, our pre-frontal cortex (involved with executive functioning and intelligent decision making) gets overpowered by the more emotionally driven amygdala and hippocampus. When this happens, the rational thinking part of your brain can’t control the emotional part of your brain. This is why when you get triggered, you can’t think and you feel overwhelmed.

Memories that are stuck in the more emotionally reactive parts of your brain can feel as though they are still happening in your body. These are considered "unprocessed", because the "digestion" process was not completed. This process typically happens during sleep, specifically during REM sleep when our eyes are moving back and forth.

This particular eye movement helps move these stuck, unprocessed events out of the amygdala-hippocampal complex so that they can be processed by the rest of the brain. This is one of the reasons we feel so much better after a good night’s sleep.

Research suggests that, during bilateral stimulation (sounds, tapping, or eye movement), the alternating left-right pattern activates both hemispheres of the brain, allowing them to communicate more effectively with each other.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of therapy that works with these methods to help people who have experienced trauma or other life distressing events.

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02/04/2024

While westerners place the beginning of Spring in March, the Chinese calendar marks time by relative daylight.

As the days are now getting longer, we are in the time of everything beginning to wake from Winter’s slumber. Myself included ;)

The darkest and longest nights are now 6 weeks behind us, and in only another 6 weeks we will be at the Equinox – half way to when the days will get shorter again.

The Arrival of Spring (February 4) is the most joyful seasons in the Chinese Calendar. Chinese New Year coincides with this time.

We all know the best celebrations are with family, friends and a delicious feast!

Hot pot (huǒ guō 火锅), sweet rice balls (tang yuan 汤圆), spring rolls (chūn juǎn 春卷), longevity noodles (cháng miàn 长面) and Chinese dumplings (jiǎo zi 饺子) are all very popular, some even symbolic towards a prosperous year ahead.

“Disobey the natural Qi mandate of spring and it will harm the Liver (wood, the organ of spring).”
-Neijing 黄帝内经 (475-221 BC)

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02/02/2024

Trauma is a response, not an event. It's often the result of too much, too fast, too soon.

Studies show that trauma increases your risk for anxiety and depression by an astounding 400% and can even lead to a 20-year reduction in lifespan.

Peter Levine goes on to say that trauma "happens when the organism is strained beyond its adaptational capacity to regulate states of arousal. The (traumatized) nervous system disorganizes, breaks down and cannot reset itself. This manifests in global fixation, in a fundamental loss in the rhythmic capacity to self-regulate arousal, to orient, to be in the present and to flow in life.”

Trauma is everywhere. We all carry trauma of some kind with us. It can look like anger, depression, chronic pain, chronic procrastination, constant boredom or feeling like things are basic, etc. Trauma has many faces.

Trauma therapy can have many goals, but typically focus on improving symptoms by soothing the nervous system, teaching you skills, and restoring self-esteem, confidence and overall mental wellbeing.

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01/31/2024

Oath of Sun Simiao
OATH OF CHINESE MEDICINE HEALERS

I promise to follow the way of the Great Physician, to live in harmony with nature, and to teach my patients to do the same.

I will strive to maintain a clear mind and hold myself to the highest standards.

I shall look upon those who are in grief as though I myself have been afflicted, and I will respond with empathy.

I shall develop an attitude of compassion, of benevolence, and of care for all patients, regardless of their particular circumstances.

I promise to perform my responsibilities carefully, thoughtfully, and to the best of my ability.

Above all, I will maintain a peaceful presence and an open heart.

~Based on the Oath of Sun Si Miao (c. 581-682), King of Chinese Medicine

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Yanaroot Art of Health