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Monday 8:15am - 4pm Tuesday 8:15am - 8:30pm Wednesday 8:15am - 4pm Thursday 8:15am - 4pm Friday 8:15am - 4pm

Laughing Tao Acupuncture

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United States
East Peoria, IL
Laughing Tao Acupuncture

Laughing Tao is a nonprofit healing center providing Chinese medicine acupuncture and herbal medicine in East Peoria.

We offer acupuncture treatments, herbal medicine, qi gong classes, and self defense classes.

01/19/2026

Night sweats. Rage out of nowhere. A nervous system stuck on high alert. This isn’t “just stress.” If you have early perimenopause symptoms, the body is asking for regulation, not endurance.

01/17/2026

Rest doesn’t always restore. Many people tell us, “I’m resting, but I still feel exhausted.”

From a Chinese medicine perspective, rest only works when the body feels safe enough to receive it. If Qi is still bracing, guarding, or anticipating what comes next, the system doesn’t repair - even when you stop moving.

This is why lying down doesn’t always feel restful. This is why sleep doesn’t feel refreshing, and why vacations don’t fix burnout.

In Chinese medicine, true rest happens when the nervous system softens and Qi no longer has to defend.

Acupuncture helps by calming internal vigilance, restoring circulation, and giving the body permission to let go, not just physically, but internally.

Sometimes the problem isn’t that you’re not resting. It’s that your system hasn’t felt safe enough to truly stop.

01/15/2026

If laughter is good medicine, then this is a double dose. We believe healing works best with a sense of humor. Gentle needles, thoughtful care, and a little laughter along the way. Welcome to Laughing Tao. ☯️

Mug says: "Acupuncture - because some people just need to be stabbed."

01/13/2026

You don't need more coping skills.

In Chinese medicine, we never assume the body is broken. But more often than not, we assume it’s been overextended.

Many people come into our acupuncture clinic already doing “all the right things”:

-breathing exercises
-meditation apps
-supplements
-morning routines
-gratitude practices

And yet they still feel wired, exhausted, irritable, or stuck.

From a Chinese medicine perspective, this isn’t a lack of tools. It’s a lack of capacity.

When your system is constantly responding to demands, even “good” practices can become another form of pressure. The body doesn’t just need more techniques. It needs fewer pulls on its energy.

In classical Chinese medicine, healing begins when your Qi no longer has to defend, brace, or compensate.

Acupuncture helps by reducing internal strain, restoring flow, and creating the conditions where the body can finally stop managing and start repairing.

Sometimes the most therapeutic thing you can do isn’t add another practice. It’s to subtract.

01/07/2026

More and more women in their late 30s and early 40s are coming in with symptoms they weren’t expecting yet:

😒 hot flashes
😒 night sweats
😒 sudden (and inexplicable) irritability or rage
😒 heart palpitations
😒 energy crashes
😒 vaginal dryness

While every woman receives individualized acupuncture and lifestyle guidance in our clinic, the most important thing we try to relay - more than anything else - is both very simple and very difficult:

ADJUST. YOUR. SCHEDULE.

This phase of life is full.
Aging/ailing parents.
Careers that no longer fit.
Teenagers pushing boundaries.
Relationships changing or asking to be re-examined.

So many women cope by leaning harder on caffeine, supplements, or the next “fix,” hoping for brief reprieve.

But here’s the truth: this can be a beautiful time in life. It just requires recalibration.

You cannot move through your late 30s and 40s with the same pace, expectations, or capacity you had in your 20s. Holding yourself to that standard often leads to guilt, resentment, and exhaustion - which only amplifies perimenopause symptoms.

In Chinese medicine, symptoms aren’t failures. They’re messages.

Your body is asking you to realign with your own rhythm, your own path, your journey - your Tao, as it were.

Acupuncture can help. But listening to yourself is where healing really begins.

01/04/2026

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE!

Our first community acupuncture event of 2026 IS HERE! We will be at Hope and Healing Wellness Center in Peoria on Friday, January 9 from 6 to 7 p.m. You will be guided into meditation as Debbie from HHWC lovingly curates an ethereal sound bath. During this meditation, each individual will receive 5 needles to support a smooth transition into the New Year. Cost for the sound bath is $25. Bring your loved ones!

Any tips you choose to give will directly support us as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your generosity helps cover the treatment costs for patients who are unable to pay the full fee for acupuncture due to financial hardship. The standard cost of a community acupuncture treatment is $20-$40. Any donation offered is sincerely appreciated not only by us, but your neighbors in need of holistic healing.

01/01/2026

New Year, new intentions. (And yes - that goes for me too… we just got a juicer. I’m convinced daily carrot-beet juice will change everything.)

But here’s the truth: tools are helpful, but consistency is what actually creates change.

The same is true for acupuncture.
It works best as a process, not a one-time reset.

If something in your body keeps showing up like tension, headaches, digestion issues, fertility struggles...your body may be asking for more than a quick fix.

Pic of my first glass of fresh OJ. After drinking most of it. Was making it quick? No. Peeling the oranges took what felt like forever. Delicious and worth the effort? YES.

Next up: carrot juice.

12/29/2025

I became an acupuncturist not because I wanted to “fix” people, but because I’ve always been deeply interested in how the body communicates - especially when something keeps repeating.

As a child, I was a keen observer of people. I noticed how they reacted to events, how they spoke, what they talked about (and what they avoided), and how they carried their bodies. I was curious about the space between what people said and what they seemed to feel.

I started writing stories about the people I observed. A teacher once told me I was good at writing and understanding human psychology, and that I should try marketing and communications. I did, for well over a decade.

But over time, something felt off. I missed the human part. I didn’t just want to observe people. I wanted to help them, in a way that felt real and grounded. I wanted to support people in understanding themselves better, not persuade them or push them.

Chinese medicine brought me back to that.

My work now is still about listening and observing, but with the intention of helping people help themselves. I pay attention to patterns: how symptoms repeat, how stress shows up in the body, how things shift over time when the right support is in place.

Acupuncture, to me, isn’t about forcing change. It’s about creating the conditions for change, and then walking alongside someone as their body responds.

If you’re someone who’s curious about your health, open to consistency, and interested in understanding what your body is asking for - we’ll likely work well together.

12/25/2025

Happy Holidays, Central IL! We wanted to pause and send a simple note of warmth your way. This time of year has a way of holding a little bit of everything: connection, nostalgia, fatigue, laughter. However you’re celebrating (or not), we hope you’re finding at least a few small moments of comfort, ease, and rest.

As we quietly look ahead to the new year, we’re holding space for reflection without judgment — and for whatever pace feels right. No pressure to “fix” anything. No rush to reinvent yourself. Just a gentle invitation to carry forward what supported you, and leave behind what didn’t.

PS - And yes, we got on the AI train. The photo bombing horse just really brings the whole holiday photo together.

12/24/2025

Merry Christmas Eve from your friendly neighborhood acupuncturists ☯️ ❤️ 🎁🎄 And yes that is Glenn putting me into some sort of martial arts hold.

12/22/2025

Recently we had a very… interesting weekend.
All in one day:

☯️ The ceiling caved in (yes, literally. Plumbing in an old house. It was bad. IYKYK).
☯️ I came down with the kind of viral cold that had me looking like Rudolph within 24 hours.
☯️ Because of the above, we had to cancel patients halfway through the day (if that was you — thank you for being so understanding).
☯️ We were billed $100+ over a usual monthly charge and had to put on our detective hats to figure out why.

And it kept going. You know those days where life piles on like it’s testing you for sport?

Yeah. Like that.

But here’s the part I really want to share: in the middle of the chaos, the ceiling debris in my kitchen, and the sniffles… I made a little space for myself anyway.

I cooked my favorite spicy soup to clear a cold. I worked on a puzzle. I made shrinky d**k Christmas ornaments with my kid (that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be). We ate ice cream sundaes to help soothe my throat.

And in that small pause, me and Glenn ended up filming a quick 2-minute congestion-relief acupuncture video — partly because I was miserable, partly because it felt nourishing to do something healing for me.

And honestly? That tiny moment of care shifted everything.

So this is your reminder (and mine):

You don’t have to wait for life to calm down to take care of yourself.

Make space inside the chaos. Even two minutes counts.

If your body could use the same reset — whether it’s congestion, stress, neck tension, or just needing someone to help you breathe again — we’re here.

Book your winter acupuncture session and make space for you.

PS - Pic of my cute lil robot shrinky d**k - this one was too sweet, so I put him on my keychain.

12/20/2025

Recently we had to say goodbye to an old, dear and furry friend. Apollo was Glenn's service dog when he got out of the army. Apollo retired eventually, but he remained Glenn's faithful friend for years after. We are so happy he lived a long, comfortable life with our family, friends, and patients, all who loved him dearly.

He was the sweetest pup and greeted every patient who walked through our door with a bark and a tail wag. He loved his chin scratches and belly rubs, and would often paw at us if we stopped petting him 🤣 Apollo truly was an important member of both Laughing Tao Acupuncture and our family. We miss him very much.

Goodbye, our furry friend, and may the next life give you peace, rabbits to chase, blue skies to bark at, and a steak dinner every evening for eternity ❤️

Address

209 Keayes Avenue
East Peoria, IL
61611

Opening Hours

Monday	8:15am - 4pm
Tuesday	8:15am - 8:30pm
Wednesday	8:15am - 4pm
Thursday	8:15am - 4pm
Friday	8:15am - 4pm

Website

https://www.laughingtao.com/

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