April Updates

Hello!

Today is Fireweed Acupuncture’s second anniversary! So much has happened in the past two years! If you’re curious about some of the behind-the-scenes stories, check out this blog entry - I shared some photos of the clinic when it was under construction and a bit of the story of how I found the clinic space!

I’m excited to see the daffodils and magnolia trees starting to bloom! Noticing the season changing has been a great way to destress a bit lately. Send me your spring flower pictures - I love to see them!

In this newsletter, I have a bit of info on how Wind and Spring are seen in Chinese medicine, with a few tips on helping to protect yourself from Wind. I’ve also included a mix of links to articles and books that I have been reading lately!

Take care,

Kate Thomas, LAc

P.S. If you’d like to jump to a specific section of the newsletter, just click a link below!

In this newsletter:

• Clinic Updates

• In The Community

• Website Updates

• Spring & Wind in Chinese Medicine

• Recent Reads

Clinic News

• There’s one new patient spot available in April for in-person appointments! Click here for appointment availability.

• Every Acupuncture + Holistic Facial Rejuvenation appointment in April gets a free LED light add-on! Find more information about the appointment here (in the second row, on the left 😊). Just mention the newsletter at your appointment!

In The Community

• There’s an upcoming Repair Cafe at the Franklin Library on Sunday, April 13! Bring small appliances, bikes, clothes, and more for free help with mending/repairing.

• Dara of DM Wellness & Yoga has an upcoming retreat that looks amazing! It is May 8th - 11th in St. Charles - click here for more information! You can stay on site or just come during the days.

Website Updates

Spring & Wind in Chinese Medicine

In Chinese medicine, each season has an aspect of the weather that is seen as the most prominent or influential aspect for our health. In Spring, Wind is the most influential aspect of the weather, which I didn’t truly understand until I moved to Iowa and experienced the spring wind here! Windy days can feel chaotic, messy, and frustrating - and that is how the inside of our bodies can feel this time of year.

Quick Wind primer: In Chinese medicine, external wind - or wind in the environment - can lead to things like allergies and colds (which are viewed similarly in Chinese medicine - read more about that here), skin rashes, “wandering” joint pain (pain that moves from joint to joint), and more. Internal wind, or wind from inside our bodies, can cause symptoms like headaches and migraines, tremors and twitching, dizziness and vertigo, and more. (There are other causes for these symptoms, too, but wind is one of the potential explanations!). Emotionally, wind can make us feel a bit overwhelmed and easily irritated. If you are someone who is prone to “Liver” patterns, your symptoms may be worse this time of year!

There are a few things you can do to help protect yourself from wind and help calm the internal chaos this time of year:

• Rest. When we feel run down and tired, we’re more likely to experience internal wind, which can show up as more frequent migraines, joint pain, and more. It can be complicated to prioritize resting, especially when we compare our energy level to others, but everyone’s needs are different! I like this article, which talks about the different kinds of rest we need.

• Wear a scarf, hat, and shoes and socks. Essentially, we don’t want much of our skin open to the wind, but covering the back of your neck is the most important. Protecting your body from wind “invading” is a key way to keep the body healthy.

• Practice creativity. I wrote in last year’s Spring newsletter about how creativity is tied to Spring - read that here! You don’t need to be an expert - it can just be for you!

• Stay warm! Even when you’re inside, remember to keep warm. Even though it’s warming up, most of your food and drinks should still be warm. Lately, a favorite drink of mine has been hot water, lemon, honey, and a bit of fresh ginger. (Lemon is great for the Liver, which is one of the organs associated with Spring.) Warmth is particularly helpful for people with joint pain!

If you enjoy seasonal health info, stay tuned for my upcoming classes! I have a Spring class alllmost ready to release, and Summer is not far behind.

Recent Reads

Here’s a mix of online articles and books (and one podcast) I’ve been enjoying lately:

• Ness Lab’s city-friendly tiny nature experiments talks about small ways to incorporate nature into your day-to-day, which can help lower stress and improve mood.

• March 31st was Transgender Day of Visibility, and CNN had this feature on the new “Freedom to Be” quilt - a great project to celebrate joy! Finding joy in resistance, which they mentioned in the article, feels very necessary. This reminded me of a book I am reading on-and-off, Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit (which I highly recommend reading), where she says, “When you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated, and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection.”

• This Ologies podcast on Memory was great! Ologies always has something interesting - the episode on pain is also a must-listen.

• Related to absolutely nothing at all, I have been reminding myself regularly lately of a recent study that found that ranting/venting does not decrease anger - it tends to increase it. Instead, activities like “slow-flow yoga, mindfulness, progressive muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing, and taking a timeout” do. (Original study)

  • If you’d like to try it out, here’s a video on progressive muscle relaxation, and here’s a qi gong breathing exercise, ‘Natural Breathing technique’. (In my experience, acupuncture can help too!)

• I recently started adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy, which has been on my to-read list for a while. I need a book club to discuss this with others! Let me know if you’ve read it (or want to read it together).

• I recently came across Howard Zinn’s “The Optimism of Uncertainty” essay again - it has been years since I’ve read it, but it seems as fitting now, if not more so, than when I read it back in 2004.

• Garrett Buck’s newsletter has been a really lovely read lately, and I especially liked his “Every week, I fall a bit more in love with strangers” piece.

That’s all for now! I’m off to take my own advice and rest a bit. 😊 As always, feel free to email me back with any thoughts or questions - or book suggestions and spring pictures!

Take care,

Kate