Rockaway Acupuncture

01/11/2022

Those of us who surf are not at all surprised that there is science showing that being around water makes us “happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what we do.” Swipe for the book that lays it out.
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I was listening to a meditation recently by Sebene Selassie where she says that even just thinking about nature can lower our blood pressure and make us feel more calm. I love how this tide and moon cycle clock provides an instant connection to the cycles of nature.
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The tide goes up and the tide goes down. The moon waxes and wanes. Spikes in caseloads go up and then eventually come down. The temperature dips and then rises. The only constant is change.
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Click the link in my bio to make an appointment. I can help you navigate change and help you reconnect to your true nature, which knows how to heal.

07/12/2021

Trying new needles with recyclable packaging for less plastic waste. Love that the guide tubes come separately so I don’t have to throw away unused ones. They have my favorite spring-wound handles for good grip and communication with the energy flow of the person I’m needling.
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I use a few plastic handled types for specific purposes, but they are not my favorite because they feel dead in my fingers when I work. So far, I like these new needles. Prior to these, I’ve been using the same needles as my main tools for about 13 years, time for a change!

06/08/2021

Happy World Ocean Day! The ocean has given me so much, and I feel incredibly lucky to live so close. The ocean is my muse, my happy (and sometimes scared or frustrated but always growth) place, where I go to study the permutations of yin and yang. I take the lessons I’ve learned in the waves and put that power into my acupuncture treatments. I wouldn’t be who I am without the ocean in my life and the role of the ocean in the lives of my ancestors. On this day I think about how I can do more to protect the ocean ecosystem and all beings who call it home. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

06/07/2021

I’ve been practicing acupuncture in Rockaway in some capacity since the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 at the pop-up clinic at Yoga on the Rocks (Lena’s old yoga studio above ). And I’ve been Rockaway Acupuncture officially since about 2016. But this week marks the 1 year anniversary of practicing on this lovely peninsula full time!
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Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all my patients, friends and followers. This past year, while extremely difficult in some ways, has been professionally one of my best. Spending time with you all in my little oasis treatment room in Rockaway Beach has been a balm. It’s such an honor to offer my skills to my beloved community.
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I had no idea, when I closed my busy clinic in Brooklyn in April 2020, whether my little side home practice would sustain me, but it has exceeded my expectations, thanks to you! While I miss the community of practicing in a busy clinic alongside other practitioners, I really don’t miss being a boss and all the endless tasks of running a huge enterprise. Slowing down and simplifying has been the silver lining of the pandemic for me.
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I used to treat multiple people per hour, always with the nagging feeling that if I only had more time, I could give a more thorough assessment and get even better results. That has proven to be true. The satisfaction of seeing someone who came in with 8/10 pain on the first treatment get up off the table after the second treatment with zero pain is incomparable. Here’s to more years of helping you unwind your patterns of pain and stress so you can keep doing what you love! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

05/18/2021

The acupuncturist’s bedside table. For a good night’s sleep, I recommend disconnecting from devices for a minimum of half an hour (an hour is better) before going to sleep. The blue light from electronics can trick your pineal gland into thinking it’s daytime, so it doesn’t secrete as much melatonin, a substance that helps regulate circadian rhythms and makes you feel sleepy.
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If you have to work late on the computer, I recommend installing an app like f.lux that cuts the blue light. There are also glasses you can get that do the same.
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I’m always in the middle of a few books at once so I can choose which one I’m in the mood to read. Here is my current rotation, courtesy of and Not shown: shelf full of nerdy herb textbooks and translations of 2000 year old Chinese medical texts for when I really need to fall asleep quickly. Wishing you peaceful dreams!
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04/22/2021

Happy Earth Day from my little corner of dirt to yours. How is your seed-sowing going, either literally or figuratively? Is this a season of languishing in the fallow field of your life? That’s okay, that’s how our inner soil regenerates.
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There are so many lessons to be learned by observing how nature works. In nature there are tides. Phases of the moon. Dynamic balance. Constant change.
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The more I observe and learn from my parent planet, the more I want to lend my care to this place, our only home. 🌱🌍🌿🌏🌳🌎🌱

03/11/2021

My second grader wants to tell you about acupuncture. This was an assignment for school, I swear I had nothing to do with her choice of subject matter.

03/10/2021

Thank you universe for bringing me so many shoulder cases this week! The theme has been asymmetrical scapular shifts. I always love treating shoulders, but it’s a treat (pun intended) to see so many different manifestations of this common imbalance juxtaposed so closely in time.
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In some cases there is a pelvic imbalance with one hip higher than the other or more tilted, causing compensation above. With some there is a history of injury causing muscle imbalance, or long-term wear from repetitive motion or body mechanics. Some have an accumulation of cold damp, and others more dried out blood-deficient musculature. Or both! Some have an imbalance between the heart and small intestine meridians (yin yang pair) or liver and small intestine (midday/midnight relationship) or pericardium and large intestine (jueyin/yangming).
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We’ve all been carrying a lot on our shoulders this year, and this trend of shoulder issues showing up in my office right now makes perfect sense. There is always more to learn about this complex joint and the yin-yang relationships of the agonist/antagonist muscles of the girdle and the meridians that flow through them. Thank you!!

03/02/2021

I’m really geeking out on the Complete Anatomy app. If you love anatomy as much as I do, it’s worth taking a look. No I did not get paid to promote it, I’m just really impressed. You can access all the features free for 3 days without having to give any payment details, and after that it’s a reasonable yearly fee for what you get. There are animated movements for each muscle, plus stretches and exercises. And I’ve barely scratched the surface of the depth of material here. Wow!

02/16/2021

At the heart of what I do is a revolutionary, indeed, heretical, idea: that the body is not just a machine with separate parts that can be dissected and treated as a distinct entity apart from the spiritual and emotional being. 
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At the heart of my work is also the idea that we are not separate from our environments or from nature, but that the microcosm of our selves reflects the macrocosm that surrounds us. Damp and cold affect our circulation and mood just as our adaptations to pandemics create new ways our bodies move (or don’t). Treatments during this time need to take these influences into account and will be different than treatments for the same complaint 2 years ago in the summer.
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Because if we perceive ourselves as separate from nature, then nature can be exploited without affecting our own health. Hopefully the falsity of this is self-evident. If we see ourselves as separate from nature, we lack understanding that we are actually permeable beings in constant conversation with our surroundings. This lack of understanding gives rise to ideas such as needing to be detoxed and purged toward some type of purity, when what we actually need is to strengthen our ability to process the influences that are always flowing in and out of us.  
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My wish for you is that you are in touch with your awesome internal power to heal. That you have a healthy processing of the influences around us: the cold, the damp, the pandemic times we find ourselves in. If you need any help with this, book an appointment with me via the link in my bio. Acupuncture and herbs are helpful tools for this. I love you all!

02/12/2021

I’ve got the biomat on the table, come get warmed up! It’s filled with amethyst crystals and emits infrared heat which helps melt away aches and pains along with the acupuncture needles. I’ve noticed that people are sinking even deeper into their acu-naps since I put this magical item on the table. There’s a fleece cover for extra comfy padding over it and then a vinyl cover over everything that can be wiped clean after each session. Bliss!

02/01/2021

Friendly reminder: lift from your knees, alternate sides. Don’t be one of the snow shoveling injuries I treat in my office every year. If you end up with back pain anyway, click the link in my bio to schedule an appointment for acupuncture. I can release spasms, reduce inflammation, balance out muscles locked long and locked short, and reduce pain.

01/24/2021

Looking forward to some orange elecampane bitters in a few weeks. This is adapted from a recipe by and contains lots of spices like ginger, cloves, and black pepper, so it’s warming for the digestive tract (where the bitter flavor is usually cooling), as well as combatting phlegm with the orange peel and supporting respiratory health with elecampane and liver health with dandelion root. Perfect for the winter season!
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I sometimes recommend bitters before meals to people with sluggish digestion or heartburn. It helps to be able to match the energetics (how hot/cold/dry/damp) of an herb formula with your constitution for best results.

01/17/2021

I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine today! If you zoom in and look really close, you can see that I’m tearing up from the emotions of happy gratitude. 
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I was not always so excited about this vaccine. I was initially unwilling, and then on the fence. I am neither pro nor anti vaxx. I am pro science and support making informed risk-benefit analyses. I’m not one to do something just because it’s the recommended public health dogma, and I support having more nuanced discussions than we often see presented. I like to investigate meta-analyses before I make these choices. I’ve also come to understand that cognitive biases can easily invade our decision-making. 
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In the end I chose the risks of the vaccine over the risks of the virus. I chose the vaccine for my patients, for my daughter, for my family and for my community. I’m so grateful to everyone who has worked so hard to make sure I have this choice.

01/11/2021

I love my HEPA air filter. It can scrub the entire cubic footage of air in my treatment room 12 times per hour, which is the minimum standard for an airborne infection isolation room in a hospital according to the CDC.
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Of course with COVID screening and temp checks plus mask wearing, I’m hopefully not treating airborne infections. But it gives me peace of mind in case someone asymptomatic comes in.
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Combine that with treating only one patient at a time with ample disinfection time between appointments, and I feel very safe here. Still, I’m excited to get my first dose of the vaccine on Saturday!
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12/13/2020

We’ve made it through the darkest evening. Starting today, the sun will set a little later every day. Though the longest night is not until solstice, our evening light is now returning. I’m celebrating with an old fashioned made by mixed with apple cider and extra orange bitters to aid digestion.
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12/12/2020