by Nicole Johnson, MFA, CHHC | Adrenal Fatigue, Anti-Inflammatory, Covid-19, Fatigue, Health and Wellness, Immune Health, Kidneys, Pain Management, Prevention
We are living through stressful times. It’s time we elevate our lifestyle to incorporate a foundation of health that will keep us healthy, grounded, and centered in our everyday lives. If we follow this three basic practices, we can come back to center as we navigate through our everyday experiences. If we get triggered, we can come back to center. With a simple daily practice we can bring these into our everyday lives helping to keep us healthy, our immune system ,strong and our spirit resilient. It’s what we need in these times.
The three essential components to staying conscious, mindful and at ease are
- Breathing
- Hydration
- Sleep
The breath is the Organizing Principle. Proper breathing allows the body to extract Qi (Chi) from the air just as we extract nutrients from food. When we practice mindful breathing we connect the brain and the heart with the kidneys and all the organs can communicate. We feed our life force. Now more than ever, we need to recognize the shift from self-care to essential practice.
A Simple Way to Begin.
- At night before sleep, while resting in bed, place one hand on the belly and one hand on the heart.
- Take a deep cleansing breath and exhale strong. We are ready to begin,
- With your hands still in place, breathe in slowly into the abdomen, feel the belly rise. Inhale to 60% capacity.
- Exhale long and slow. The exhale should be double the length of the in-breath. (Want to know why? In stretching we stretch deeper, we release on the exhale. In Martial Arts we kick or punch on the exhale. The action or the release happens on the exhale.)
As you practice nightly, you allow your body to come into the Parasympathetic state (rest & digest). This was considered self-care prior to 2020 and it is now essential.
You can also watch this Video: Qi Gong Breathing: 7 Minutes to calm body and mind
Proper Hydration is critical for all of the functions of the body. When dehydrated, the fibers of the muscle look like a dry lake bed. They lose their conductivity. This makes pain feel worse and can hinder or delay recovery. Even if sub-clinical, dehydration can cause muscle pain and tightness. Even if you drink water regularly, you can become dehydrated.
How much should I drink?
Everyone’s hydration’s needs are different. But here is a general idea from what The Mayo Clinic recommends:
Around 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids for men
Around 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for womenAn easy way to get your water in is to pre-fill your bottles of water for the day and make your way through them. Often we need electrolytes as well so as not to over tax the kidneys. Always be sure to drink clean, purified water without chlorine or fluoride.
Now, more than ever we need adequate sleep. Life is stressful in a macro way, not just a micro way as it used to be. We are all affected by what’s happening in the collective, we need to sleep, to rest and to recharge our body, mind and spirit. Everyone’s sleep needs are different. Some need 8 hours, some need 10 hours. Experiment and see what helps you feel well-rested in the morning.
See what bedtime works best for you. Often climbing into bed by 10pm allows for deeper rest even if reading for 20 minutes. For a good night’s rest, be sure that all cell phones are off and out of the room. Turn off the wifi in your home. Disengage from electronics, news and other stressful events 30min to 1hr before rest. Try some gentle yoga stretching with the lights low, drink some warm decaffeinated tea, practice deep breathing and then rest and repair.
If you’d like support with a breath work daily practice, learning more about hydration or help with better sleep. Call us, we can help.
by Chad Johnson, MS, L.Ac | Acupuncture, Adrenal Fatigue, Covid-19, Fatigue, Health and Wellness, Kidneys, Prevention
In Traditional East Asian Medicine, the body’s physiological processes can be viewed through the lens of Five Phase theory.
Each phase relates to a major organ, an emotion and a season.
All things can be viewed through this lens for easy discussion and healing discoveries.
The heart and lungs are relatively higher in the body away from the earth. They process blood and air every second of every day.
The liver and spleen are physically just below the diaphragm in the middle. They process food and blood on a daily or in some cases weekly cycles.
The kidneys are the lowest of these five.
They rule events in life such as birth, puberty, child bearing.
These processes are slow.
In the last 40 or so years the speed of our lifestyles has increased exponentially. Mother Earth is still telling us all to slow down – more.
In 2020 I went from 50 patients per week to 22. It wasn’t by choice. But it was most certainly better for me. More time for conscious breathing, exercise, and hydrating.
Kidney Deficiency usually manifests in the low back and the knees.
This past year has been challenging, heart-breaking, and difficult to varying degrees for each of us. As we press on into this third wave, it is important to understand the stress this has on the kidneys. We are all to some degree in fight or flight. We are in survival mode. Every social pattern we have known has been disrupted and changed. As we move through this transition, the healthiest thing we can do is to acknowledge how this affects the kidneys and support ourselves accordingly.
In the kidneys resides essence or Jing and our will to live.
The connection between the kidneys and the heart is important to understand. If you look at the diagram, you may notice that this is the axis of fear and joy. Water and fire. This is a spectrum. The antidote for fear – is Cultivating Joy. The adrenals and kidneys are directly connected. We want to nourish our kidneys and support our essence. We can do this in the following ways:
- Turn the TV off
- Take a holiday from social media
- Go outside. Make a fire, talk a walk, tend to your yard- connect with the natural rhythms of nature. Feel the wind, see the stars, you get the idea.
- Get plenty of rest at regular intervals
- Hydrate well and often with good quality
- 20 min Gentle movement necessary during the day – yoga, qi-gong or pleasant walk in the park (not a 3 mile run)
- Plan to do less
- Practice self-care
- Drink bone broth or mineral broth if vegetarian
The Kidneys…
- are at the deepest level of all the organs (this operates on the levels of mind, body and spirit)
- control your entire blood pressure system
- regulate Blood cell production
- regulate all the water in the body (regulate the salinity of the water through the advanced filtration system)
- are related to the element of water and are in affinity with the colors black and blue (where these colors to support the kidneys!)
- In the Kidneys we find the will – including the will to live – the will to move forward and conversely, fear. Kidneys out of balance will be an experience of stuckness/frozen in fear. It is like the roots of the tree are all dried out.
Winter is the time of a deep going within, it is the season of the kidneys, so having loving intention in this direction can amplify our process.
If we can find the gifts, the silver linings and perhaps even find the joy in places and moments we can proceed in that direction, slowly, mindfully and heal.
by Chad Johnson, MS, L.Ac | Acupuncture, Covid-19, Health and Wellness, Immune Health
Covid-19 Safety Measures
Your Well-being is Our Top Priority.
Updated March 14, 2022
Please Read Our Updated Clinic Covid-19 Safety Protocols in Effect to Keep Everyone as Safe as Possible:
- Covid is Airborne. Because of this, we emphasize our focus on cleaning the air and keeping it clean.Please wear a good quality mask (KF94, KN95) into the building and during your treatment.
- If you need a good quality mask (KF94, KN95) we are happy to give you one for free during your treatment.
- All employees are required to wear masks.
- We use HEPA air filters in each room.
- We use a CO2 monitor that lets’ us know when the air needs to be refreshed from the outside, bringing fresh oxygen into the treatment room.
- The HEPA air filters cleans the air 5x per hour in the treatment room
Other Standard Sanitary Practices
- Sterile Needles: Clean Needle Technique (CNT) always used.
- No linens – treatment rooms completely sanitized between each patient and filter set to high between patients
- 30 minutes between each patient for thorough sterilizing & cleaning of treatment room, treatment table, all touch surfaces, and both bathrooms
- Ample hand sanitizer available in treatment rooms and waiting area
- Digital files – no paper to clean and sanitize – just an iPad and phone
- Screening questions prior to appointments
- Waiving of cancellations fees – we encourage you to cancel even if last minute if Covid related.
We are partnering in trust with you – our community- in order to support each of you. We ask that you stay open and communicative with us.
(We will still offer Telehealth sessions on Saturday- which have proved highly beneficial. If you aren’t feeling well, we can assess over the phone whether you should come in, wait, or if you might benefit from a Telehealth consult.)
When coming into the clinic please observe the following:
- Bring and wear your mask – We have masks available if you have forgotten or need one
- Please wear clean, loose, comfortable clothing for your acupuncture appointment
- We keep a closed waiting room. Come on up 5 minutes before your appointment. Chad will come out and greet you.
- Wash your hands in the bathroom beforehand
Preventative Medicine – Keeping Your Immune System Strong
The preventative component of Holistic Medicine is where Natural Medicine really shines. We are offering 90 minute treatments only at this time so that each person can gain the most benefit during their time in the clinic.
- More Immune support – We want to be able to layer on extra immune support
- More Nervous system support
- More Thyroid support
- More Adrenal support
- More Relaxation time
- More Self-care time
- More time for TuiNa massage
- More moxa
- More ability to access Acupuncture’s preventive medical applications
- Less Patients per day = less exposure for both YOU and Chad
Call Us 828-333-5087 to Discuss Your Case
