Insurance, Daylight Savings & Early Autumn 2024
Autumn in 2024
Photo credit: Just2GuysCreative@gmail.com
Here’s what’s covered in this newsletter ~
Insurance Updates
First, I am happy to share we have been admitted to Kaiser’s HMO Plan as of 10/01/2024. That means we are in network with Kaiser’s PPO and HMO. That said, there are all kinds of plans that have exceptions so checking benefits prior to starting treatment is important.
Second, Do you have Acupuncture benefits on your plan? This is a gentle reminder to make the most of them. I often hear people express disappointment for not having taken advantage of their insurance benefits before the year’s end and deductibles re-set.
Next, Whole Health, which is the clearing house for Kaiser and Aetna, accidentally cancelled Tacoma Acupuncture’s contracts when I submitted an update for the new address in July. That is now fixed and the contracts have been re-instated. If your visits were denied during that time we are getting them resubmitted. Please reach out to me if you have concerns.
ND and Massage
I’m happy to once again be sharing space with Jeff Harris ND! He will be in our office one Thursday a month. His next day is Oct. 10th. Jeff specializes in neural therapy and is a gifted practitioner.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have massage available at our office? I am looking for a body worker or masseur to join me. If you have someone who you think does great work please send them my way.
Daylight Savings & Sleep
Lately I find myself yawning around 7:30 or 8 pm. Have you noticed how much darker it is at that time? We have about a month until day light savings when our clocks will fall back at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. This can throw some people’s circadian rhythms off making it difficult to get up or fall asleep. Here are some things to help with the transition, support your sleep and thus your energy:
- Gradual adjustment: A few days before the time change, start going to bed and waking up 15-20 minutes earlier to ease your body into the new schedule.
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Consistent sleep schedule: A regular bedtime and wake-up time, even on weekends (I don’t manage to do this but you could), will help your body maintain a consistent sleep pattern. This is also inline with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which aims for moderation and consistency.
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Limit screen time: About 45 – 60 minutes before bed time avoid bright screens like phones and TVs that emit blue light which can interfere with melatonin production.
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Relaxing bedtime routine: Establish a calming routine before bed to signal to your body that it’s time to sleep.
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Hydrate (you know this): Drink water throughout the day, but avoid large amounts of liquid close (at least 2 hours prior) to bedtime.
Early Autumn
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers some nutritional principles to help us adapt to the changes of season. Dividing Autumn into early, mid, and late gives your diet some guidelines and specificity to maximize your body’s potential for health in all its aspects. Let’s start by taking a look at early fall.
Early Fall
As we see summer shrinking in the rear view mirror, up ahead the leaves are beginning to turn colors (here in the PNW) and the sweaters are coming out for an added layer of warmth. TCM says this is the time to strengthen the spleen. In TCM the spleen helps digest food and absorb nutrients, it supports fluid metabolism for the body but especially to the lungs and kidneys. It supports our concentration, clear thinking, and ability to form intentions and decisions. Further, the emotion connected to the sleep is worry. To much worrying can damage the spleen, this includes overthinking and circuitous thinking, we call this Spleen Qi Deficiency. Spleen qi deficiency is common in our culture and especially during this time of impending political change and international wars.
In Western Medicine the Spleen filters blood, removes old or damaged red blood cells and destroys microorganisms. The spleen controls the levels of red and white blood cells, and platelets. It produces white blood cells and lymphocytes (white blood cells that fight infection). It also stores blood and iron for future use.
Tea remedy for the beginning of a cold
Do you think you’re coming down with a cold? Don’t wait, even if your not sure, go ahead and enjoy this tea. There are many variations like adding cayenne or honey but here is the base recipe.
Ingredients:
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3 spring onions, white parts only, chopped roughly (nourish the lungs and yang)
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2 slices ginger (more ginger = more spicy, nourish yang)
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2 sprigs of mint (cooling and releasing the exterior, neither yin nor yang)
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2 cups of water
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil until the liquid approx. 10-15 minutes. Discard the herbs, keeping the liquid.
If you think your getting sick drink the tea as soon as its cool enough, get into bed or bundle up to enhance sweating and help the body sweat the cold out. If you feel damp after sweating change into dry clothes and then rest.
Porridge
Does this sound boring… maybe, however it’s easy and accessible and with some new flavors can be a great way to liven up a traditional breakfast food. Oats are a warming Qi tonic for the the Spleen and Stomach. Adding in tahini, apples, and pears will help nourish and strengthen the yin, add fiber to your diet, and can be helpful for constipation.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup oats (nourish qi and blood, help to circulate qi and calm the spirit)
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2 ½ cups water
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Tahini (nourishing yin, nourishes the blood and supports the kidneys.)
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Apple (cooling, moistening, and nourishing yin)
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Pear (cooling, moistening, and nourishing yin, esp. for the lung yin)
Method:
If you have time soak the oats overnight in the cooking water in the cooking pot covered. Cooking time will depend on the type and thickness of your oats. While cooking, add the chopped apple and/or pear. Cook to desired fruit doneness. Apples take longer to cook than pears so you may want to start them first and smaller pieces cook faster than larger ones. Add the tahini at the end so it integrates and is warmed. Bingo! A simple yin nourishing breakfast. (I like to add some walnuts (KD & Lung yin), a bit of cardamom (yang) and cinnamon (yang) in mine).
Does this feel like a difficult time? For me, the war in the Middle East, the Ukrainian/Russia war, and our up coming Presidential election can leave me with tangible and existentialist fear. I see many people frayed at the ends, their patience and good will in shorter supply. The need to fill that discomfort with the likes of distraction (TV, scrolling), food, hermiting, or other such things are coping mechanisms which sometimes create their own stress. How to find emotional stability when you feel unempowered? That answer is often unique to the individual but there are some things that are considered to help calm the parasympathetic nervous system (pns). Curiously, I recently learned that touching your lips activates the pns because the lips contain parasympathetic fibers. Exercise works well for me. I have found focused breathing to be helpful – where I take a minute or two and give my breath my full attention, slowing it down and taking a deeper fuller breath. I try to do this a few times a day or at least when I notice when I need some help. It also feels good to let your shoulders drop away from your ears on the exhale. Perhaps this would benefit you?
It’s ok to let people know you could use some support. That could look like holding hands for some skin contact that creates oxytocin which can help reduce stress and anxiety, or being able to verbalize your fears out loud and being witnessed. Earlier this summer on a mountain with a steep decent and loose shale and rocks I found myself having a panic attack as my fear of the terrain took on monstrous proportions. I waited for someone coming along the trail, and told him I was having a panic attack. I truly lucked out, he stopped and talked with me for 10 or 15 minutes, mostly about nothing in particular, until I felt calmer and could go on. After I felt calm I could have berated myself but it was easier to be gentle with myself. I like to think of it as giving myself grace. It feels like I’m treating myself the way I want to treat others. It’s a practice, sometimes I remember, other times I remember a bit later.
Good luck. I’m here if you want to some acupuncture to take the edge off or for stress and anxiety. I’ve read it can help with that 😉
– Romi
Autumn in Tacoma
Hello!
Autumn marks the rise of the yin cycle. The amount of light each day is decreasing. We have moved into less than12 hours of daylight in the 24 hour cycle, meaning the dark (yin) is beginning to dominate the light (yang), at least until Spring when the light will, again, dominate the dark marking the start of the yang cycle.
This is the beginning of the moving inward energy that becomes more pronounced in winter. This applies to both the your emotional and physical being. Here in the PNW I find that many people are still active getting outside doing things like taking a stroll, a paddle, or however they enjoy our mild Autumn weather. Even with this activity the emotional and physical body is beginning to quiet down. If you are finding the end of summer to be especially difficult some acupuncture could help smooth the transition into autumn. The acupuncture can help both the physical and emotional body which often affect each other.
So what can you do for yourself in the fall? Well, a process that promotes deep breathing is going to get a little extra boost by practicing it now because autumn is the time of the Lungs. You may want to try out a Chi Gong video, do a few minutes of conscious deep breaths, or perhaps make part of your walk a bit more vigorous to increase deeper breathing for a few minutes.
For Autumn the classical Chinese Medicine texts advised people to go to sleep early and rise with the crowing of the rooster. They want you to prioritize getting good and enough sleep. This is the perfect excuse to put that pre-bed screen time policy back into action. What you wear can also have an impact on your Lung health. The Lung is the uppermost organ in the body and is thus considered to be more susceptible to wind and cold, aka catching a cold. The back of your neck and your uppermost back is called the Wind Gate. Keeping the wind gate covered is another way to support and protect your body, and Lungs, from unnecessary stress.
The Wind Gate area is part of the Window to the Sky which encompasses the neck and the upper most chest and includes a dozen or so acupuncture points that are all located in this area. These points share an additional function of helping to open the communication between the head and the body or the heart and the head. By protecting the Wind Gate, your neck, you are also supporting the communication between the heart and head.
Lastly, Traditional Chinese Medicine is all about moderation. For autumn the addition of moderate amounts of pungent foods are considered to promote lung health and improve circulation. This is the time to have some ginger or peppermint tea. Here is one recipe for supporting Lung health and below is a small list of some pungent foods.
Feel free to share your adventures with breathing and cooking for this Autumn season, I would enjoy hearing what is and isn’t working for you.
May you be showered with more than enough health, laughter, and peace in this life.
– Romi
Whatsoever you have done is nothing in comparison to that which you can do. And nothing is whatsoever you can do in comparison with that which you are.”
– Yoda