What's cupping?

I place a flaming cotton ball into a glass cup, which creates a vacuum. I pull the flame out, and quickly place the cups at select locations around the body. The suction pulls up superficial tissue. The cups can be quickly moved, left in place, or "glided" across the body with oil.
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Cupping promotes circulation and the release of toxins, tension, and stagnant energy. It encourages relaxation, and often helps relieve pain, especially along the back.
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Cupping can be a stand-alone treatment, or used in conjunction with acupuncture, or other modalities. I usually practice traditional Fire-Cupping, although there are also other forms, such as pump-suction, or silicon-cupping.
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Learn more about cupping or other treatments in a free 15-minute consultation, or come in for a treatment! Thanks for supporting my new woman-owned small business.

Olives

I started noticing them in early autumn, hanging enticingly on the trees, cajoling me to "come back in a month. Bring a bag, and bring your BF."

So, I came back with both. We gathered three huge bags of ripe olives that stained my bags light purple, and made them smell like, well, olive oil.

I brined them that night, individually washing each precious little olive jewel, and cutting down its belly to welcome the brine. They sat on our kitchen counter, smiling fat and purple from their glass jars, oozing slightly with salt and scent, for two months (with 1 brine-change and overseas adventure, in the middle).

I removed the brine last week, and added salt, vinegar, local herbs, and oil. The flavors sit and infuse now, and will be ready to eat shortly. We have enough to last us until the next harvest, next autumn.

I am so grateful for our local bounty.

Creating relationships with our local landscape by gathering, preparing, and eating local food likewise creates an internal landscape of joyful resilience. Plus, the food tastes and feels better. It's FUN.

What are you eating from your home landscape?

Does acupuncture hurt?

"Pain" is subjective. Distal points (hands and feet) are often more sensitive than points closer to the center of the body. Some people feel an initial small "prick," especially on the distal points, but others don't feel anything at all.
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You may feel a dull, achey, or "heavy" sensation around the needled point. This signifies "de qi," or "the qi has arrived." AKA, it's good. The acupuncture point is active, and the needles are doing their work.
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Most people fall asleep or enter a dream-like state during treatment, and come out greatly refreshed.
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Acupuncture needles are usually thinner than a human hair. Our thin filiform needles vary from 0.5 to 5 inches long. Our needle gage varies from 30 (thick) to 40 (thin), depending on location/ intention of the treatment. I mostly use gage 36 (thinner) for my 1-inch needles, and gage 34 (just slightly thicker) for my 1.5-inch needles.
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So no, acupuncture usually does NOT HURT. Come relax and feel better!

"Way of Tea" notes

Here's a few notes from last night's Way of Tea event. 

Tea/ 茶

• Read this article
  for more details about White Tea
• Want to brew with a gaiwan?
   Watch this video
  . 

Dao De Jing/ 道德經

• Click here
   for a list of free online "Dao De Jing" resources (see bottom of post)

Upcoming events

• Please join us for the next Way of Tea, Monday February 3! You can prepare a Dao De Jing passage that you wish to discuss, if you'd like. 
• Please join us for Community Acupuncture
   on Friday January 24. 

Welcome

• Contact me for acupuncture, herbs, and yoga consultations/ treatments! Find more classes/ clinic schedule on 
  my website
  . 
• Follow me on 
  Instagram
   and Facebook
   for beautiful photos + yummy Chinese medicine morsels. 

Have a wonderful first month of 2020!

Jiling 

PS-  Here's the reflection questions that I posed after reading passage 39

• When do you feel "in harmony with the Dao"? (give examples from the past month, or year) 
• How do you "interfere with the Dao"? 
• How do you "let yourself be shaped by the Dao"?

Jiling Lin, L.Ac. 林基玲

acupuncture . herbs . yoga

www.JilingLin.com

Journaling

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How do you process past experiences? How do you vision and plan future possibilities? 

Journaling is an embodied practice that connects mind and body by bringing pen to paper. This releases stored thoughts, memories, dreams, ideas, and more. The hidden potential of your subconscious finds a path into the world. 

This may be a cathartic release: let it out, let it go. 

Surprising new insights may emerge: organize your thoughts, create action items, then move your dreams into reality. 

If you are already journaling, then how can you enliven your practice? What areas of your journaling practice feel dead or outdated? How can you breathe fresh air into this area of your life? 

If you are not current journaling, then try it. Set the stage (see below), then commit to at least a month of daily writing. With so much stimulus in our daily lives, journaling offers solace, an opportunity to rest, reflect, and dream. 

Ritual

Create a daily journaling ritual by setting the stage, then committing to it:

- Choose a dedicated journal that feels good, and a smooth-flowing pen or pencil.

- Journal at the same time each day (I like first thing in the morning)

- Journal at the same location each day 

Stream of consciousness

Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” book calls for three pages of daily stream-of-consciousness writing, first thing in the morning, every morning. This is an integral process in Cameron’s process of sparking creativity, and living an expressive life. 

I commit to one paragraph, but usually fill at least one page. Do what feels best for you. If your time is limited, then simply commit to laying pen to paper for a few minutes each morning. 

Doodling

Stream-of-consciousness writing may include not only text, but also doodles. Sometimes, our thoughts are so unformed that no words arise; only shapes or colors emerge. Have colors on hand to simply make marks: small blots, large splotches, lines that go nowhere but everywhere… experiment, and feel into it. I love crayons: they make immediate marks, and are easy to use. Again, find what feels best for you. 

Prompts

If absolutely nothing comes to mind when sitting down to write, then here are some simple daily prompts:

- List three things that you are grateful for in this moment.

- List three things that you are grateful for that are coming (visioning the future).

- List three things that I saw/ heard/ felt yesterday (observational exercise)

- List three goals for today

Daily gratitude connects us with what is important to us, and a sense of connection and pleasure for what we have. It is particularly helpful to bring life into perspective during rough times: this life is a gift, and there is much to be thankful for. 

Manifestation includes clearly visualizing our goals and dreams as reality. We first internally mobilize our resources, before outward action/ transformation can occur. Listing “future gratitude” and daily goals can help set this in motion. 

The Journal

How can you personalize your practice?

I made a 4x5 leather cover out of recycled leather scraps. I make and insert 120 pages of fresh pages into my cover about 3 times a year. This creates a travel-friendly book that’s small and portable, and feels good: the natural oils of my hands lubricates the leather, which is shiny from daily use and years of love. I have used the same journal since 2008, and have stacks of inner booklets. 

When I feel moody, I may freehand pages of purging words and doodles with large crayons, then rip and/ or burn it. 

Create a daily ritual, then give it space to breathe. Adjust each day as necessary, but keep the basic structure: write everyday. Draw everyday. Choose one ritual activity that helps you intentionally clear the old and welcome the new to create more beauty, spaciousness, and joy in your life, and all the lives that you affect in your one wild and precious life.

Entering 2020

What were your highlights from 2019? 

What challenged you, in 2019? 

What are your yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals in 2020?

How do you track and hold yourself accountable for your goals? 

What is your life Purpose? 

Are you walking in alignment with your Purpose? 

How do your actions align with your intentions? 

Happy New Year.

Resources

- Book a session with me for acupuncture, herbs, yoga, and wellness treatment/ consultation. I incorporate journaling and other lifestyle protocols/ resources into your treatment plan.

- Integrate journaling practices with lunar cycles/ rituals