A Migraine Testimonial
Dear Amazing Healing,
Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs NYC. All about Chinese medicine, meditation, healthy eating & diet, acupuncture weight loss, fertility, health news & creating peace in our lives & the world, and more. Posts are written by Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac., Jessica Silver, L.Ac. or Michael Pingicer, L.Ac. Opinions are solely those of the posted author.
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Breathing seems pretty basic. You inhale… You exhale… You repeat.
It seems odd that one would need lessons on how to breathe, but more and more I am finding myself educating new patients on the importance of deep abdominal breathing.
Over the years, life in a crowded city with chronic pollution problems, lack of fresh air, stationary work environments and overall stress can result in the gradual shift from abdominal breathing to chest breathing. To figure out if you are breathing correctly place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. When you take a deep breath in, the hand on the abdomen should rise higher than the one on the chest. This insures that the diaphragm is pulling air into the bases of your lungs.
Instructions for proper abdominal breathing:
Inhale slowly and deeply through your nostrils into the bottom of your abdomen.
When you’ve inhaled fully, pause for a moment and then exhale fully through your mouth. Purse your lips and imagine that you are blowing on a hot spoonful of soup. As you exhale, just let yourself go and imagine your entire body going loose and limp. It should take you twice as long to exhale as it did to inhale.
Getting back to proper breathing isn’t hard but it does take practice. So, make it a point to integrate abdominal breathing at least two to three times into each day and you will see a transformation in your physical and mental health transform.
To read more about proper abdominal breathing and for some simple breathing techniques please click here.
To Schedule an Appointment at Aiyana Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs, Please call us 212-894-0767
Posted by Sharon Ann Wyse, L.Ac.
22,000 pounds of chicken have been recalled by four companies because they may contain the bacteria called listeria. Pregnant women should be especially aware of this danger (see details below).
Some symptoms of food poisoning are diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. Listeriosis symptoms also include fever, muscle aches and pains, and if it spreads to the nervous system could lead to headache, loss of balance, confusion and even convulsions. However, pregnant women may only experience mild flu-like symptoms.
According to WebMD, "In the United States, an estimated 2,500 people become seriously ill with listeriosis each year. In pregnant women, the infection can result in premature delivery, serious infection of the newborn, or even stillbirth.
Listeriosis affects mainly pregnant women, newborns, and adults with impaired immune systems. Healthy adults and children occasionally are infected with L. monocytogenes, but they rarely become seriously ill. Babies can be born with listeriosis if their mothers eat contaminated food during pregnanc."
Two of the local companies which recalled chicken products are Discover Cuisine Red Curry Chicken & Jasmine Rice and Gourmet Boutique of Jamaica, N.Y.
Be Well,
Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.
Jesse recently blogged about the mediocre efficacy of anti-depressants for depression. So, speaking of antidepressants, they don't help low back pain either.
A study published on January 23, 2008 by the well respected Cochrane Review showed that anti-depressants do not relieve low back pain despite the fact that about one in four primary care doctors prescribe them for such pain. The anti-depressants did however cause side-effects.
Clinical trials show that acupuncture relieves low back pain without causing side-effects. According to medicinenet.com, “In an analysis of 33 studies, published in 2005, acupuncture was found to be an effective short-term treatment for low back pain, even when compared with sham treatments using fake acupuncture,” says Eric Manheimer, MS, of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland. "Our analysis suggested that the benefits of acupuncture for low back pain are not due to a placebo effect," Manheimer tells WebMD.” Check out this video on WebMD that interviews a patient whose back pain was relieved with acupuncture.
How does it work? There is a saying in Chinese medicine, "Where there is pain, there is no free flow and where there is free flow there is no pain." The free flow is of Blood and Qi (pronounced "chee"). Health is when Qi and Blood flow smoothly throughout the body to nourish, heal and balance.
Your practitioner at Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs will spend a considerable amount of time with you during your first visit to discover where your Qi and Blood are stagnated or out of balance and why. The where and why are called a pattern of energetic disharmony. The acupuncture points and herbs chosen are appropriate to balancing your unique pattern of disharmony.
Every person’s pain pattern is different, so you will be treated based upon your individual pattern. One pattern may manifest as stagnation of Qi and Blood thus inhibiting flow into or out of the painful area.
A pattern common to chronic pain patients is that there is not enough Qi or Blood to circulate into the affected area which slows or inhibits healing. Therefore the treatment strategy would be to build, nourish and circulate Qi and Blood to that area.
In cases of acute pain, the pattern may be excess Qi and Blood stagnation in the painful area, so your practitioner will insert needles to move out the excess, thus relieving pain. These are just a few common clinical patterns which may cause pain.
How many visits will I need? Each patient's needs vary according to their pattern of disharmony. However, we often recommend that the patient come in for about 8 visits within a 2-3 week period. Many acute injuries only require about five to eight visits, whereas chronic pain patients will need more treatment. Most patients start to feel relief after the first or second treatment. Your acupuncturist will give you a tailored treatment plan during your first visit.
To learn more about how acupuncture can help your pain read our article Acupuncture: The Natural Pain Reliever
Call 212-894-0767 for an appointment.