AcuHerb Community Circle

12/29/2025

For the woman who keeps wondering, “How can I feel this off when I’m doing so much ‘right’?”—this is for you.
So many of the things you’re blaming on willpower are actually your nervous system running a long-term survival pattern: holding tension, disrupting sleep, tightening digestion, and quietly layering shame on top of an already overloaded body.
On January 11, 1–2:30 pm ET, I’m teaching Out of Survival Mode, a live online workshop where we’ll map what survival mode actually looks like in a woman’s body, how late‑winter Water energy sets the stage for spring’s Wood push, and how to start shifting with seasonally intelligent, doable practices instead of another round of self‑critique.
You’ll experience gentle qigong, a few acupressure points, and a brief coherence practice you can return to when your system starts to tip back into “just get through the day.”
If your body feels more like an alarm system than a home right now, you’re invited.
Save your seat for Out of Survival Mode – link in bio.

12/27/2025

Kujichagulia. Self-Determination. The will to remember the self.

This second principle of Kwanzaa calls us to define, name, and create ourselves from within—living by the rhythm that sustains us, not the systems that shape us.

Western medicine and modern culture tell us that health is a set of numbers to manage and optimize. But nature isn’t linear or efficient. It breathes, cycles, and transforms like weather. When we force ourselves to fit the metrics, we drift from our body’s own knowing and lose access to the wisdom that keeps us well.

In Five Element medicine, healing means coming home to your original nature.
Water finds balance in stillness.
Fire in connection.
Earth in care.
Metal in refinement.
Wood in growth and movement.

But modern life demands that we all act like Wood—constantly striving and producing. Over time, that pressure fractures the harmony we’re built to live by.

I once treated a patient whose Wood constitution struggled every fall. Digestive upset, headaches, tension. The season of Metal (autumn) was asking her to let go, but in our culture, stillness feels unsafe. Beneath her anger was grief she’d never been allowed to feel. When she finally exhaled, cried, and softened, her body found alignment again. Words were the needles that day, and her body did the healing.

That’s Kujichagulia: the courage to live by the laws that govern your being.
It’s radical healing through restoration.

Core philosophy:
Align with nature, the seasons, your constitution, Yin/Yang, and organ relationships.
Resist overriding the body with numbers, restrictions, and symptom suppression.

Kujichagulia asks:
Who are you when you stop forcing and start aligning?

📸 Me and my cousin, 1994. I was deep in my Earth element back then and didn’t even know it. Work with me at 5emethod.com

12/24/2025

It has been a long time since I created an online event. However, the women in my clinic are seeking support this season, so I know others need it too.

They are feeling tired, tearful, and overwhelmed. Winter is supposed to be the time we restore and nourish for a new year ahead, but instead, we are pulled "every-whicha-way"!

So I am offering a free, live online workshop where we’ll connect the dots between seasonal rhythm, your nervous system, and the way your body is functioning right now.​ Join me on Jan 11.

Checkout page for Out of Survival Mode Exclusive Online Event.

12/10/2025

I had a patient ask me yesterday about cupping — and yes, I absolutely love cupping.
I use it regularly in the spring and summer.
But in winter, I don’t offer it. And here’s why:

Winter is the Water season in Chinese medicine.
It’s the time for nourishment, storage, rebuilding, and conserving your deepest reserves.
Not releasing.
Not clearing.
Not pulling things out of the body.

Cupping is a dispelling therapy — it moves, releases, clears, vents, and opens the surface of the body.
That’s perfect in spring and summer, when the Yang is rising and your system is ready to let go.
But in winter, your body is trying to hold on, build strength, and protect the Kidney system.
Opening the surface too much this time of year can weaken what your body is trying to store.

So if you have chronic pain, tightness, or stagnation — we will address it.
But we will do it in a way that honors the season you’re living in.
Winter treatment focuses on warming, nourishing, grounding, and rebuilding so that in spring, when your body naturally rises, cupping can work so much more effectively.

We are nature.
When we follow seasonal medicine, we get better outcomes in pain, digestion, mood, hormones — in everything.
Your body heals best when we work with the season, not against it.

If you’ve been feeling the call to rebuild your energy this winter, this is the perfect time to come in.

💙 Book your winter acupuncture visit — let’s nourish what your body is asking for right now.

12/03/2025

Sugar feels comforting this time of year, but winter makes us more sensitive to it.
Your digestion slows down, your adrenals have fewer reserves, and your Kidneys are in their deep yin, restorative phase.
A little sugar + stress + cold weather + a busy schedule can feel heavier than it normally would.

I’m sharing this with love — not to judge, but to help you understand your body in a kinder way.
Your symptoms aren’t personal failures.
They’re signals.
They’re your body whispering, “I need warmth. I need rest. I need gentleness.”

Here are some winter supports that make a big difference:
• warm cooked meals
• less sugar, more nourishment
• a slower pace
• earlier nights
• keeping your neck, low back, and feet warm
• honoring your own limits

When you soften your rhythm, your body softens too.
Winter is the season for rebuilding, not pushing.

If you want a gentle place to start,
💬 Comment WINTER
and I’ll send you my free Winter to Spring Transition Guide — a simple, nurturing way to care for your digestion and energy this season.

Be kind to yourself.
Your body is doing its best to take care of you. 💙

11/30/2025

Winter is the most yin point in the year — the place where everything drops down, quiets, and returns to its source.

But most people keep sprinting through December and January like nothing has changed.
And that’s why they end up sick, exhausted, mentally scattered, and emotionally thin by mid-winter.

Your body isn’t failing you.
You’re just out of rhythm with the season.

I created a Winter Survival Guide with simple home practices to help you move with winter instead of fighting it:
– How to slow your system without losing momentum
– Rituals that warm and protect your qi
– Ways to anchor your emotions when the days get dark and heavy

Want it?
Comment WINTER and I’ll DM it to you. ❄️

11/26/2025

Let’s just get right to it, because you need to hear this before your body forces you to:

1. Sugar hits WAY harder in winter.
Your digestion slows, immunity drops, adrenals get strained, and your mood tanks faster.
That “holiday sugar cycle” you think is harmless?
It’s the reason you feel inflamed, anxious, puffy, and exhausted right now.

2. Winter is not the season to detox, shred, or restrict.
Your body isn’t built to cleanse in the cold — it’s built to conserve and rebuild.
Forcing weight loss in winter backfires every time.

3. You’re doing too much — and it’s burning you out.
This is the deep yin season.
If you don’t slow down voluntarily, your body will slow you down involuntarily.

4. Rest is not optional in winter — it’s biological.
Earlier nights, slower mornings, real pauses.
If you skip this, you’ll feel it in February and again in early spring.

5. Staying warm is medicine, not preference.
Cold on your neck, low back, knees, or feet drains Kidney Qi.
Cold drinks, cold foods, bare ankles — all of it chips away at your energy.

6. Your menstrual cycle suffers when you ignore winter rhythms.
Your period is your monthly “micro-winter.”
If you don’t rest, warm up, and nourish, your cycle will show it — with cramps, clots, fatigue, mood swings, or irregularity.

7. If you don’t protect your energy now, spring will call you out.
Winter is the season of storage and repair.
Whatever you skip now, your body will remind you of later.
And yes — acupuncturists can help!
Winter is not the season for hustle.
It’s the season for rebuilding the foundation you’ll stand on for the rest of the year.

💙 Respect the rhythm. Your body will thank you.

KidneyQi SeasonalLiving RestIsHealing SugarCrash HolisticHormones StopOverdoingIt

11/25/2025

Winter is the deepest yin season, and your body needs warmth, minerals, and nourishment — not restriction, cold foods, or detoxing.

In Chinese medicine, the flavor of winter is salty — not table salt, but natural mineral-rich foods that strengthen the Kidneys, bones, hair, and adrenals.
These foods anchor your energy and rebuild what’s been depleted all year.

Here’s what your body wants right now:
• bone broth
• seaweed
• black beans
• walnuts
• mushrooms
• miso + fermented salty tonics
• dark leafy greens
• sesame seeds
• root vegetables
• warming spices like ginger, cinnamon, clove

Why this matters:
• Cold + raw foods weaken the Kidneys
• Ice drinks shock digestion
• Detoxing drains reserves you need right now
• The body naturally loses weight better in spring, not winter

Winter is for building — not breaking down.
It’s for gathering energy, not burning it up.

When you feed your Kidney system well in winter, your hair grows stronger, your hormones stabilize, your bones feel sturdier, your mood evens out, and your energy actually rises.

Your food is your medicine this season.
Warm it.
Slow it.
Salt it — the right way.

YinSeason BoneBrothBenefits HolisticNutrition SeasonalEating

11/24/2025

Winter is the most important time to protect your Kidney energy — because cold weakens what the Kidneys are responsible for:
your hormones, fertility, adrenals, bones, hair, libido, and long-term vitality.

In Chinese medicine, the Kidney channel runs through your neck, low back, knees, and feet.
When these areas stay warm, your whole system stays stronger.
When they’re exposed to cold, your body spends precious energy just trying to stabilize itself.

You’ll feel it as:
• low back soreness
• fatigue
• cold feet
• weaker digestion
• increased urination
• menstrual cramps
• brain fog
• anxiety or feeling “ungrounded”

Simple protection goes a long way:
• Cover your neck — the Wind Gate is wide open this season
• Keep your low back warm (Kidney area)
• Wear knee-length coats
• Socks and slippers on cold floors
• Avoid going outside with wet hair
• Say “no” to ice drinks, cold foods, and bare ankles

You’re not being dramatic.
You’re being wise.

Warmth preserves Kidney Qi.
Kidney Qi preserves your energy, mood, hormones, and metabolism.

Winter is when you store your power.
Protect it.

ProtectYourEnergy YinSeason