Corona Virus – You can still contact me

Hello dear friends

These are indeed strange and unusual times.  All across the world people are confined to their homes and not permitted free movement nor normal social contact and this is very challenging.  It also means we have time – a lot of time – to tune in with ourselves and to let Nature take a pause from all our human busyness.

Skype or phone consulations

I returned from Catalunya in early March and arrived straight into the situation that is called Covid 19.  I was able to see a few clients and then made the decision to close the practice for the duration of this emergency.   However, although I cannot physically meet with you at the moment, and we do not know when this will change, I am still very much available for skype or phone consultations.

For my existing clients and for  anyone who has attended my clinic in the past, I offer this, for the moment, free of charge. I want to be available for you if you need to talk, or to ask advice about acupuncture points that could help you with your self care. If you have never been seen by me in my clinic then do get in touch and we can discuss how to proceed.

Acupuncture points can help with many problems

There are many things that we all can do to help ourselves and others in our household. Acupuncture of course is a powerful tool in our kit if we just know where to press, or massage or tap.  I am here to help if you need advice on points.

For example to help disrupted sleep patterns, to help digestion, to ease pains in the back or hips or shoulders or neck. For headaches, for anxiety, for coughs and colds.  For all symptoms of mind or body or spirit, there are acupuncture points that we can use ourselves.

Please don’t hesitate to send me a text or an email or leave a comment here.  If you would like to speak with me on the telephone let’s arrange a time for a chat.

To contact me

1/ Use the form below

2/ Text   0779 6000 712

3/ Email: admin@thedanceofqi.com

Please remember – if there is some way I can help you then you just need to get in touch. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need someone to chat with.

Keep well, stay safe and don’t forget to breathe!

with love

Kate

PS I will be adding some videos here –  useful acupuncture points,  links to other web sites, and also posts with my thoughts on the situation and how we can best get through this together.  Any suggestions or questions please do leave them in the comments section.

 

 

Sugar Cravings – Can Acupuncture Help?

alt="sugar and treats"My father had a sweet tooth. He loved apple pie and custard, toffees and barley sugar, and ice cream. He kept a box of choc-ices in the freezer and a tin of sucky sweets in the car.

I must have inherited a ‘sweet tooth’  gene as I also like sugary treats – bars of chocolate and puddings of every sort.

Our family had a ‘Sunday chocolate’  ritual, meaning that along with the Sunday newspapers my father bought us a large bag of chocolate bars. Every week my mother ordered bottles of fizzy drinks like Lemonade, Limeade, Cola, Iron Bru. When we were thirsty this is what we drank.

I remember a school friend whose mother filled a drawer full of sweets – they were carefully rationed but it was normal to have some every day at tea-time.

My mother used to meet friends for coffee and took me along pre-school. I was allowed to dip sugar lumps from the silver bowl into tea and suck on them. Over and over again.

Sugar!   It was an important part of my childhood

Tooth decay was also a normal part of life.

What about you?  Was sugar a large part of your childhood?

Try as we might to reduce the amount of refined sugar in our diets, many of us are irresistibly drawn back to the sugar bowl.

Can acupuncture help?

We need the sweet taste in our lives – just as we need bitter, and salty and pungent foods.

But we don’t need refined sugar and we certainly don’t need such a lot of it.

In Chinese Medicine the desire for too much sweet food means an imbalance in the Spleen energy.

The Spleen is an important energy system with more functions than the biological spleen which mainly filters blood.  It regulates digestion, and menstruation; it helps our bodies convert food into energy.  It balances our emotions and allows us to feel caring and cared for. It helps us feel at home in our bodies and our lives. It connects us to natural rhythms such as appetite, sleep, rest and activity.

alt="sugar cravings make you tired"
I’m so full!

When the Spleen energy is out of balance there is tiredness

And poor digestion, menstrual problems, excess weight, doing too much for others and not looking after ourselves.

What things damage the Spleen energy?

Too much studying or computer time, too much information that we can’t absorb, a poor diet, eating when stressed, eating too much, living in a damp home, feeling unloved or lonely.

Feeling unloved can play havoc with the appetite – have you ever stopped eating because you are unhappy? Or eaten too much? Or told yourself that you need a treat and so turned to sugary food?

When your energy is low, you eat more sweet things and weaken your vital energy even more.

What can you do to support your ailing Spleen?

  • Treat your Spleen with love and kindness. Eat good food in a calm and mindful environment. Make meal times special. Put out  flowers, light a candle, use a table cloth and a napkin and create a new rhythm to your eating.
  • Eat more fresh healthy food and seek out the most natural foods you can find that are grown locally if possible. Go food shopping with an eye for freshness and vibrancy and let your body respond with a yes or a no about eating it.
  • Of course sometimes your body will say Yes to a doughnut or a chocolate bar. Accept this too and eat them with full awareness rather than zoning out and eating a whole bar of chocolate without noticing.
  • Eliminate as much refined sugar as possible from your diet. Get sweetness from honey, dates, raisins or sweet vegetables. Let your body tell you when it wants sweet and offer options rather than automatically turning to refined sugar.
  • Avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague. Don’t let them past your lips. If you are going to have sugar, have sugar and be done with it.
  • Meditate before eating. It doesn’t have to be a big drama. Just do something simple like three breaths and a smile as recommended by Thich Nhat Hanh
  • It will get easier to resist cravings.  You don’t have to stop sugar for the rest of your life. The idea is to change your dependence on it and to allow your body to express what it really wants and needs. If you actually need sleep and you are eating sugar to give you energy, you need to sleep more and stop treating tiredness with the wrong medicine.

Acupuncture can help strengthen Spleen energy and support you in this new way of life. We all grew up with sugar as a powerful emotional reward system and we need to be kind and loving and understanding about how important it has been in our lives. Eating less sugar is a new choice, not a punishment for old mistakes.

The great gift that the Spleen can give us when it is functioning well is that we can truly come home to our bodies.  Your body is your true home on this planet so give yourself the gift of feeling loved, nourished, nurtured and energized at home in your body.  This is the best present you could ever receive.

What part has sugar played in your life?

Please share your memories in the comments section.

Has anything helped you reduce sugar in your diet?

For more help in cutting back your sugar intake look at this fascinating post!

Sign up to receive posts from this blog straight into your inbox.  There are so many ways acupuncture can help you understand your life and your body.

Tension Headaches? Try this

alt="tension headache and acupuncture"
Oh no!

You’re getting yet another tension headache and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

There is so much to do and people are depending on you but that familiar tightening in your neck has started and you know that pretty soon the gnawing head-pain will make life difficult.

You don’t want to take more pain killers and you just don’t have time to go to bed and rest discover here.

So what can you do? Continue reading