Char Marie, L.Ac.

01/12/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/17FoaoxRJt/

🌙 As night falls softly around us, we wish you restful sleep and a peaceful heart. May you wake tomorrow feeling refreshed and ready to meet the day with mindfulness and peace. Rest well.

May you and all beings be well, happy, and at peace.

01/06/2026

Just a little bit of a p.S to my last post about the flu...

Cleaning surfaces that people frequently touch can be super helpful as well.Especially if you have small children around. Bathroom sinks and doorknobs and fixtures in the bathroom. As well as just around the house, counter services and refrigerator doors et cetera. The cleaner you keep it the better.

Positive inspiration to stay well.....

💪 💪

01/06/2026

Because it is flu season and our state is one of the most active and contagious states right now, there's a good chance you're going to see me wearing a mask in the clinic. As usual, I have the hepa filter running and clean between every patient.Allowing adequate time to turn the air over in the room two or three times.

I'm glad I put this precautionary system in place during covid because it's very useful when things like the flu come around. Obviously I won't be changing my clothes between people as I was in the beginning of the pandemic and wearing a shield, but we know more now than we did then. And that is why knowledge is a good thing.

A few of you may remember that I had very strict precautions.

Anyway, everybody stay healthy and be sure to wash your hands, keep them away from your face and get enough sleep and eat healthy foods even maybe consider avoiding alcohol or high sugar products in order to keep your body nice and balanced during this time. Alcohol and sugar tend to promote inflammation, which is why it makes more of a challenge to stay well.If you should happen to get sick.

Lots of good advice out there from the primary care physicians and other primary care providers right now as well as public health.

I just thought I'd let everybody know so that you can feel confident when you come in. And of course, if you are not feeling well and you have a fever or any upper respiratory symptoms or body aches, or whatever, I am always happy to reschedule you.

Don't come in if you're sick.There's no worry about canceling and I'll hapilly see you when you're feeling better.

Take care of yourself and stay healthy. 🙂

01/05/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C5VkJkMFj/

Flex and flow with life...

01/05/2026

It's hard in our modern world to stay peaceful. The one thing that upsets me sometimes the most is that being peaceful is very important for good health, and yet, all around us, we see what are many, many obstacles to being peaceful.

It's so easy to get afraid and upset in our world.

I really do feel that everyone needs a place that they can look or connect to or feel a sense of belonging and peace. I love the ocean for this reason but for many other reasons as well.

When Hurricane Sandy came and my home and business/clinic was destroyed.I will never forget how heartbreaking it was.But at the same time, that very day, literally moments after I got home to see all the damage, I was photographing long island sound right across the street and all around town. This will always amaze me because it was a very scary situation and I lost everything pretty much, and you would think that would have crushed my spirit. All around me, I saw my neighbors who were shocked and trying to clean things up and rebuild.

Of course, many of them rebuilt, but many moved away. It was different for everyone.

But I remember in spite of seeing all of this and having tears in my eyes, I remember a sense of awe and inner peace that was very interesting.

Sometimes when I tell people about this, they don't really understand but I guess you would have had to be there to know what I mean.

I remember a feeling of being very tiny. I remember growing respect for the ocean and its power.

I did not fall out of love with it, but I fell into love more deeply on that day.

It took me a long time to find a place to live because things were expensive after that, hurricane and I lost everything and also I was lucky to have a friend who would let me stay with her until I found a place. Very grateful for that and always will be.

Everywhere I went I took my camera.

I took photos in Branford and in Milford mostly. I kept looking out at that water and feeling a sense of completion and wholeness that I had never felt anywhere else.A sense that there was something more powerful than all the darkness that can sometimes be in our world.

As time went on and I continued to work and find new places to live along the way, I never stopped loving the ocean.

I still went to it for peace even though it destroyed my home and my business. It still felt like I was getting all of the answers I need right there.

During the pandemic, I began to go to rhode.Island and take a lot of photos there. I was going through some very deeply heartbreaking things at the time and struggling, like many people were. Sometimes I would spend eight or ten hours just sitting and walking on the beach.And it was still not long enough for me.

I remember the first photo I took when the borders opened up, and I went and discovered a beach there that I had been reading about. I stood there for the longest time and there isn't word to describe it. You can't describe that feeling of connection and awe and deep respect.

Today I wake up to news, a lot of scary things going on.. Without details, I was feeling stressed out about a lot of things. I was actually thinking, I just don't feel like meditating.It's too too much to think about being quiet right now.

And I put on my t v on youtube and watched a video on one of the waves channels where they have many beautiful ocean waves and surfers and just amazing photography and videos. I was watching, and suddenly I noticed that all the stress dropped down and out of my body.

It had become a natural process.

Over time, we can cultivate this type of connection where we simply look at something or smell it or hear it and we feel better.

Suddenly the biggest problems in the world felt like they didn't even exist.

There's something bigger and better. And yes, it is humbling and yes, it is strong and powerful enough to destroy... And strong and powerful enough to lift.

As I was watching the video I noticed that just right to my t.V on the wall was a photo of that very favorite beach that I saw the first time I went to the ocean in rhode island during the pandemic.

I just knew everything would be okay in that moment.

I'm so very grateful to all ocean photographers and videographers and surfers and water people who get out there and share these things with all of us. It is immensely healing and inspiring at the same time.

I really need to go up to the ocean very soon and take a new batch of photos, even though it is winter.

It seemed like all the meanness in the world, everything that we can't even process at times, suddenly it felt quiet and invisible.

Together, we can cultivate this very quiet energy that is also very powerful.

My lesson this morning is learned, and I feel very thankful for that. 🙂

Have hope, but more than hope. Become that hope for others. Grow energy, and look out for each other.

Enjoy this photo of sunrise in rhode island a few years ago when I was swimming.

01/03/2026

During the pandemic, I used to do a lot of healing walks and I would record them and post them on here for people to enjoy. During the healing walk, I would usually be at the ocean or near the long island sound or in the woods, taking photos or video and talking while walking. The purpose was to be encouraging and to share happy thoughts that were uplifting to get us through difficult times.

To bring good energy.

I haven't done any of those in a while.But I think I will do one soon.

I'm doing my healing walk while I am drinking coffee this morning warmly inside. You are only limited by your mind to where you want to go...

So use your imagination and imagine being maybe on a warm beach with a seventy five degree day and sunrise, having this healing walk.

I find the ocean to be so very healing. I'm so very grateful to be close by enough to do these things. Today, i'm not physically at the ocean, but within reasonable, reach with my mind.

You can use your mind to imagine the beautiful ocean and the warm sand on your feet as you ground yourself, taking deep slow and easy breaths. This practice will help to center you and put your energy into the ground as well as your body sharing in the benefits of the air of the ocean as well as the ground beneath your feet.

When you connect to the energy of nature in this way, then you can actually create a better state of health in your body.

Without diving too deeply into the science today, which I will do another time... It's no secret that breathing ocean air feels instantly healing and we can clean our body energy very quickly by just breathing relaxed deep, slow and easy breaths.

Many people like to do qigong meditation or movement or even yoga or other kinds of meditation on the beach because of this reason.

But you don't need to know those methods in order to benefit. Simply being present and appreciating everything around you brings you into that state of connection and sharing of energy. Most of the most powerful techniques of practice in qi meditation of any type is so simple that most people overlook them as being powerful because they are simple.

My teacher taught me how to meditate with trees so many times I cannot count. Some students would be irritated that he was repeating the material, but they don't understand how to learn energetically. There is always something new from the most simple practice and I always welcomed learning it for many, many times because each time I came away like it was brand new.

With the ocean, it is this way for me. I consider the ocean to be my teacher. I have deep respect, and I don't turn my back and I follow all the safety procedures to go to the ocean and practice safely of course, because you should be safe. It's a powerful teacher and requires deep deep respect and understanding, and that only comes with time.

Even if you are home and far away from the ocean, you can practice things that will help you benefit from these energetic gifts.

You can listen to the sound of waves and watch videos of the ocean and let your mind be carried to that place and feel your feet on the ground, feel the warm sand and the gentle breeze and the sound of the waves breaking at your feet.

Some people prefer it to be more peaceful. And maybe they would like to be under a tree nearby where they are far from the waves and can safely observe from a distance.

Where your mind goes, the energy goes. This is a very fundamental part of qigong practice.

Keep your mind in a good place with good energy.

The healing walk, you take within your mind can be beautiful. And for many years, I was far from the ocean, and I would drink a cup of coffee at the local coffee shop in the city I lived in. When I heard a seagull going for the scraps in the dumpster, I would imagine that seagull was flying along the ocean waves. I would close my eyes while drinking my coffee and imagine just over the horizon of houses that there was a beach with ocean waves.

You can do this too, and imagine get the healing energy of the ocean air is all around you as you breathe in. When you breathe out, you can imagine that anything that is troublesome or heavy energy can go out and be absorbed back into the universe over the ocean.

This way of practice will help you feel like you are right there.

If you don't live by the ocean, you can put a salt lamp in your home as a reminder of salt air. They also feel good.

You can incorporate artwork of the beautiful ocean for power or tranquility. One of the reasons I really started diving into ocean photography is because I wanted to share those energies that I felt were so beautiful and powerful and mysterious with everybody who wanted to have them in their home. I also have them all over my office for this reason.

So take your morning healing walk along the ocean, with these things in mind, even if it's winter or you can't be close by to the ocean beach.

You can put reminders in your home of ocean energy. You can put shells or stones or artwork.

Anything that helps you to connect with the healing energy of the ocean.

Very soon I think I'll take a ocean walk and make a recorded healing walk like I used to do during the pandemic. But for now, use your mind to go there.

Have great days and look out for each other. 🙂

12/24/2025

On Christmas Eve I want to say thank you to everyone who comes to my practice and trust me with their care. Happy holiday to everybody, whatever you celebrate and may it be prosperous and healthy and safe and beautiful for all the new year and all to come.

Stay healthy and look out for each other and always keep your energy strong.

I chose to include a silvery photo of Branford point from this past week, after our windstorms, that knocked out the power for so many. We have so many gifts in Branford, and in the surrounding areas. This particular harbor is a place I enjoy going sometimes just to have coffee or walk around and enjoy the good energy.

Peace and healing and great energy to all.

12/04/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14PQTqWE6pj/

I love this story very much. 🙂

The Dàoist of Láoshān
We are including some new material as we redesign our website for next year. One new "series" is about strange tales from ancient China. We just posted one of the stories on our current website for everyone to enjoy while we work on others. This popular story "Liaozhai Zhiyi" was written around 1679 by Pu Songling.
See it here at: www.qi-journal.com/3489

11/23/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BU5sC6aT8/

"The Lost Human Posture"
In much of Asia, the deep squat is an ordinary resting posture. People wait for trains, chat with friends, play cards, stretch their backs, or work close to the ground with their feet fully planted and torso upright. In the United States, most people lose this natural ability by adolescence. Chairs, cars, and soft couches replace floor-level movement, and the body gradually adapts to sitting at ninety degrees. We assume this loss happens because of aging. In reality, it begins decades earlier through disuse.

Read our 2 part article at: www.chinesehealth.com?id=159