Lotus Center for Integrative Medicine

01/09/2025

We have literally lost count as to how many patients and loved ones we know have lost homes. We are so sorry to all of those affected. We’ve also had so many patients ask how to mitigate the toxic air pollution from structure fires dusting all of our surfaces in LA. Here are our current guidelines:

✅ Make sure you have an excellent HEPA air filtration system. The pictured IQ Air has gotten us through over 20 years of moxa smoke, Santa Anas and every single LA fire but there are lots of other great companies out there.
✅ Shower or at least change your clothes after being outdoors.
✅ We love our AQI meters to tell us what our indoor air quality is. As you see, our AQI even with a leaky door is 23. This is a good brand as is the one we listed in our highlights.
✅ Unearth those good quality COVID-era masks. Surgical masks have too many gaps so at least use an N95 when you’re going outdoors.
✅ Please don’t exercise in this weather. If the air quality inside of the home is poor, consider yoga or something gentle and avoid HIIT, running, cycling, etc.
✅ The Japanese like to gargle with green or black tea for pollution-induced itchy irritated throat.
✅ If you have a Tesla, drive in biohazard defense mode to activate the HEPA filter. BTW did you know this mode also eliminates gases, viruses and pollen?

Teas: White tea, phoenix mountain oolong tea (a good source is ), eucalyptus, mullein, chrysanthemum, loquat leaf (clean the fuzz and LA dust off first), mint, citrus peel/zest

Supplements: Antioxidants are your friend. Vitamin C, E, NAC are some examples

Foods: Juicy pears, almonds, persimmons, white sesame seeds, watercress, daikon and daikon sprouts, bamboo, cucumber, bok choy, white cloud fungus

Lastly, we heard from a firefighter that LA might be getting ready to shut down gasoline lines so in case this is imminent, fill up your gas tanks!

We are here for you if you need herbs or treatment. Please share this post with loved ones.

12/06/2024

You probably have a friend or family member who needs a nudge in being proactive about health. Consider a gift certificate for the holidays!

11/11/2024

Finally! An in-person event at Lotus. Please join us for an intimate Gong Fu style tea tasting with and next Saturday, Nov 16 at 6:30 pm with tasty snacks. Spaces are limited so RSVP soon. is a renowned tea expert and source master and always delivers the goods. E-mail wyu@lotuscenter.email to reserve your spot.

10/24/2024

Happy National Acupuncture and Asian Medicine Day! Our medicine stems from Taoism, a philosophy that emphasizes simplicity and living in harmony with nature. The Taoist proverb above means, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So regardless of where you are on your health journey, it’s never too late to initiate changes. It’s important that we are mindful of our actions and how they impact our mental and physical well-being, both short and long term. This is reflective of the tenets of modern day functional medicine which always explores root causes and reestablishing health through lifestyle intervention.

09/18/2024

We just found out we were nominated for best of Pasadena 2024 and votes are due tomorrow. Please help us out! We are on page 3 so you can skip the businesses and categories you aren’t familiar with. Thanks!

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08/23/2024

OMFG we are finally all in one room! This is your Lotus acupuncture team and we have been in NE Los Angeles providing Chinese medicine to our awesome community since 1999. Our enthusiasm is so palpable in this picture, isn’t it?

07/30/2024

As much as some of us don’t want to admit it, sarcopenia (muscle loss) is a real thing and can accelerate even in our 3rd and 4th decades. We have to think far ahead for this one. We need a thick layer of muscle surrounding our bones to protect us if we fall when we are older. Recently we’ve had a number of female patients in their 50’s who are already being diagnosed with osteopenia which is a precursor to osteoporosis.

Resistance training (with heavy weights) is a great way to combat this and it’s never too early or late to start. A few of our practitioners recently visited in Pasadena to see what they have to offer. What’s unique about their resistance training program is it only requires a single 20 minute session per week, which seems too efficient to be true. Each person is assigned is a trainer who is pushing you to your maximum capacity with heavy weighted equipment, something that honestly is difficult to achieve. If you’re working out by yourself. With this type of resistance training, you can see positive changes in DXA scans If you’re at the gym or working out at home, go heavier on your weights. There are also interesting studies that discuss weighted vests and vibration therapy to improve bone mass. PMID: 29388604, 36793830

Nutrition is an entirely different topic and extremely complicated so that might be a whole other post.

06/20/2024

We’ve done multiple posts and stories on all things plastic and we’re grateful that there is more attention being placed on it. Technology has been developed in recent years to detect it at extremely small particle sizes. Because of this, microplastics and nanoplastics have been found in testicles, semen (PMID: 36948312, 38466387) and lung tissue (34492918). Nanoplastics in ovarian tissue may cause granulosa cell death and affect other aspects of ovarian function, potentially having detrimental effects on fertility (37087970). It is emerging as a contributing factor in cardiovascular inflammation, cardiotoxicity (36473237) and kidney disease (34862106).

You may hear on media outlets that we should wait for definitive links to adverse effects on health but do we really want to wait? Plastics are ubiquitous and it’s hard to completely counteract them but we can at least try a few things:

Get an excellent water filter for your kitchen sink. Check with the manufacturer to see if the filtration system can address microplastics and/or nanoplastics. Another option that works especially with hard water is to boil your water for 5 minutes to remove up to 90% of microplastics. We don’t know if this applies to nanoplastics.
Convert your leftover containers to glass or stainless steel. We love and but there are many many other companies out there. Be that person who brings your own glass or metal reusable container to restaurants. Leave a few containers in your trunk. Many biodegradable to-go boxes are lined with plastic and certain establishments still use styrofoam (made from styrene, which is one of many chemicals tested in the studies listed above). Don’t forget about reusable straws and utensils!
If you must use plastic, do not apply heat to them to encourage their breakdown into micro- and nanoplastics. Don’t microwave in plastic, wait until your food cools down to put it in your plastic container and don’t wash your plastic in the dishwasher.

05/15/2024

Part 2 of microneedling Q&A! Leave any questions below and can answer them. Part 3 coming soon with recovery info.

05/13/2024

In honor of Mother’s Day, do you remember biology class and learning about mitochondria? This is the powerhouse of the cell and is responsible for energy (ATP) production. But what you might not have learned about this organelle is that it is inherited by your mother because during fertilization, mitochondria from s***m is usually destroyed. So thank your mom or egg donor for this!

Did you know that mitochondrial DNA can move between cells in mammals? Healthy cells can release mitochondria or mitochondrial fragments to be picked up by other cells that might be damaged or metabolically compromised (PMID: 16432190)! This reminds us of the forestry research pioneered by who often discusses the sharing of nutrients amongst trees in forests. Nature is terribly cool.

05/13/2024

We have treated many urinary tract infections in our practice using acupuncture and herbal medicine and we all know the most common culprits (wiping order, in*******se, etc). However we were blown away by a post by today about where E. coli from UTI’s are currently originating. Factory-farmed meat especially chicken has specific strains of E. coli that take up residence in the intestinal tract of humans and these strains are the ones that are found causing UTI’s. Yet another reason to stick with pastured, free-range poultry. Visit or .and.essentials if you’re in LA! For those outside of LA, can ship nationally. Try to stick with well-sourced poultry at home and consider only eating these items out on occasion. PMID: 22377351

04/30/2024

Many of you have been asking about microneedling. Rena Haley will be answering some commonly asked questions. Here’s part 1!