Reiki for your fur babies!

I met Ming a while back on Twitter. It was a natural match, she's a pharmacist who has discovered the power of Reiki and uses it to treat pets!

What is Reiki? Well here's how Ming describes it: "Reiki (pronounced Ray-key) comes from the Japanese Rei and Ki meaning spiritually guided life energy. Reiki for pets is a form of spiritual healing that helps harmonize the mind, body and soul of your pet. It can be used as a treatment for relaxation as well as a tool for releasing negative emotions and limitations. Reiki is not a religion."

She has had great results working with pets from all over the world (yes, Reiki can be performed at a distance!). Because this is a spiritual medicine, she doesn't need to be present for your pet to feel SO much better! Check out her website for some examples of the incredible work she has done! www.ReikiFurBabies.com

There are so many ways to help our pets (and ourselves) become the healthiest they can be and not every method is perfect for every complaint. Maybe your pet would enjoy some Reiki today?

Acupressure you can do on your pet at home!

Most pets like acupuncture, but everyone loves acupressure! Acupressure is like very specific petting, which pet wouldn't love that? Today I'm going to give you a few safe, but effective points that you can massage on your pets at home! Leila, my cat, LOVES to have these points massaged!

Before starting any acupressure on your pet, make sure that both you and your pet are in a relaxed state. Talk to your pet, tell them how good this is going to feel and how awesome they'll feel afterward! Always start VERY gently - barely touching the pet - gradually increasing pressure to no more than just the natural weight of your hand. Remember, this is subtle stuff, it doesn't take much to get your pet's energy activated! If your pet doesn't appreciate the acupressure, don't force the issue. It's possible that the points aren't quite right for your pet, or that they're sore. It's amazing how great pets are at knowing what's right for them!

1. Bai Hui (pronounced "by way") is located on the top of the head half way between where his or her eyebrows would be and the base of their skull where it meets the neck. This point is located between the ears. Bai Hui is great for helping calm your pet. If things have been stressful at home, or you just want to help make sure your pet is relaxed as possible, give this one a try! Massage this point using small, gentle circles.


2. Back Shu points (pronounced "shoe") are a set of points that are located all along the spine of your pet. These points are located about 1/2" to 2" (depending on the size of your pet) from the center of the spine on both sides. I like to think of these points as the dorrbells to the internal organs. When you massage these points, it's like saying to the internal organs, "Hello! I'm here and we'd like for you to come out and do your work! Help Leila be as healthy as she can!" Massage these points by stroking from between the shoulder blades down along their back to the base of their tail.


3. The insides of the ears contain what's called a micro-system. The entire body is represented in points located on the inner surface of the ears and rubbing them will activate all the systems of the body. Maybe this explains why some dogs LOVE to have us rub the insides of their ears? (Hopefully they don't have too much ear wax!) Feel free to gently rub all over the insides of the ears, avoiding the ear canal of course, and see how your pet appreciates it!


These are a great way to relax and improve the general health of your pet and it's a great way to bond to boot!

The path that led me to acupuncture

I was a non-believer. The active ingredient in acupuncture MUST have been the placebo effect. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the placebo effect, the mind is our most powerful healer, but surely that was the only thing powering acupuncture.

Then I started having horrible eye "dryness." I could no longer wear contacts because they were so dryly uncomfortable. So I started wearing glasses again (which I wasn't particularly happy with) and this helped for a while, but within a couple months the dryness came back, even without the contacts. For those of you who do or have worn contacts, it was similar to the feeling you have when you have slept with your contacts in. They're dry, they're sticking to your eyeballs and you can't WAIT to get those suckers out!

The ophthalmologist checked the amount of tears that I was creating. I tear more than the average person, so that wasn't the problem. When he looked at my eyes more closely, he found little bumps on the surfaces of my eyes that happen with allergies. We tried every eye drop known to mankind. Prescription, over the counter, under the counter, around the counter, you name it, I tried it. Nothing was helping longer than 5 minutes! I couldn't stand to keep my eyes open because they would feel like they were drying out, and I couldn't stand to keep them closed because it felt like there was sand in my eyes. I was left squinting and rubbing my eyes constantly.

The only suggestion from the poor doctor who had tried everything he knew of to help me finally suggested I take Benadryl everyday for the allergies. While in theory this was a great idea, in practice, not so much. I was working 20 hours a week while going to college for my undergraduate degree. I couldn't stay awake through any of my classes!

In comes acupuncture. I was desperate! There was an acupuncturist who shared an office with my chiropractor, and at this point, I was willing to try ANYTHING, even if it was just placebo! Within 2 weeks I was finally able to stop squinting, but still wasn't completely comfortable. Within a month I was feeling 100% again! How's THAT for a placebo effect? For a while I still had to see her every month or two for a tune up, but I was completely better, and now I haven't had any symptoms for about 5 years.

During one of my acupuncture visits, we talked about school and my plans to become a veterinarian. When she said, "Don't forget acupuncture for animals!" it hit me hard. Duh! I needed to use acupuncture to help animals regain their health! I needed to learn this medicine that had helped me so much!

Along the way my plans have changed a little. I didn't attend veterinary school, I attended acupuncture school instead. Through school I learned to treat humans, through my vet I learned how to use this medicine on pets.

I'm a very lucky girl; I get to help the WHOLE family return to health!

Why you have to be careful with home herbal remedies

I was pregnant. I was nauseous. I wasn't so nauseous that it would have gone any farther (you know what I mean!), but I was nauseous enough that I was dying for some relief!

I had always heard that ginger was good for morning sickness (and why do they call it that? It's not just in the morning!). I heard this both before going to school to become an acupuncturist and herbalist and while in school. Ginger is the miracle herb for mothers-to-be!

So I went to the store and got myself some really good, natural-ginger ginger ale. That stuff was good! So tasty and it really did help the nausea!

What I didn't think about was the possible consequences of all of my ginger ale guzzling. All of a sudden I was having insomnia! I was physically exhausted, but was absolutely unable to sleep. What the heck?? At first I assumed that it was just another side effect of being pregnant. But later the dots were finally connecting (it actually took a couple weeks to figure out what was going on!).

In Chinese medicine, ginger is a "hot" herb. It has properties that will help warm the body. If you've ever thought about the flavor of ginger, you've probably realized that there is some spice to it that most would call warm, right? Unfortunately, for me at the time, pregnancy will also help warm the body! So what was happening was that I was getting super-heated. You know how it is in the summer when it's super hot and you have trouble sleeping? The same thing was happening to me internally, even though I didn't feel overly warm. As soon as I made the connection between ginger ale and my insomnia, I stopped drinking the ginger ale and was able to sleep again.

Not all herbs are right for all people all the time. Consider if a woman in peri-menopause with hot flashes was to take a "hot" herb - how much more miserable could that make her? It's important to consult with an herbalist prior to starting an herbal remedy. It may be a great choice, or it could lead to unforeseen and uncomfortable, if not dangerous, side-effects.

What is this acupuncture stuff? How does it work?

This is your standard-issue picture of the acupuncture meridians and acupuncture points. Many of us have seen this picture, or something like it, hanging around. The lines are the meridians and the Qi (or that stuff that means the difference between being alive and being not-alive) travels through them. The dots on the lines are the acupuncture points and we can access the Qi flowing through the meridians at these points. But still, how does it WORK?

I like to explain to people that meridians are like a freeway system and our Qi is like the cars on the freeway. When we're healthy and pain-free the cars are driving around fine, there's no traffic, no accidents and no road-rage. It's when accidents (a broken bone, a bruised elbow, an arthritic knee), the evening commute (an imbalance of Qi with too much in one meridian, and not enough in another), or road-rage (stress) occur that create symptoms in us.

For an accident example, you sprain your ankle playing basketball and it's doing all of the classic things that ankle sprains do: the area starts swelling (the Qi cars are getting backed up!), it is painful to the touch, let alone to walk on (the people stuck in the traffic jam are starting to get cranky!), and it's turning all KINDS of fun colors (the Qi cars aren't allowed past the accident). For treatment, an acupuncturist is going to play the role of the Department of Transportation. They are going to open the meridians and move blood (get the Qi cars involved moved to the side of the freeway to allow the cars to pass) and remove stagnation (get some of the Qi cars to exit the free way and take another route). All of these actions will allow for the swelling to come down and for the Qi to get to and from the area in a proper, organized fashion to promote healing.

For an evening commute example, you're exhausted constantly and really have a hard time getting yourself to do much of anything. You don't have quite enough Qi to spread around (there are too many cars on the road, instead of working or running the house - doing the things that help our society function), so you see a noticeable decrease in your ability to multi-task. Multi-tasking here includes the action of being alive, not just all of the things we say we're doing when we're multi-tasking such as exercising, painting the house, making dinner, keeping the kids entertained, etc. An imbalance is created because we need to use our Qi to stay alive and keep our bodies functioning, but there's not quite enough left over to do the fun stuff (or the not-so-fun-but-necessary stuff!). Treatment will be to increase your amount of Qi, while making sure that it is distributed properly. If our Qi levels aren't kept high and the distribution is uneven for very long, our bodies will start cutting back on it's functions - this is when unhealth happens.

For a road-rage example, you're stressed out. Work has been too demanding; NO human can do what they're asking! You think and worry about it incessantly and it's even disturbing your sleep! Stress really messes with us, yeah? So what's going on energetically is that when we get stressed out, our energy flow becomes ragged instead of smooth (erratic driving), which then leads to getting irritated easily (that driver sure seems angry!) and our Qi going against it's normal flow (the one committing the road-rage may even go so far as to follow someone off an exit that wasn't in their pre-planned route!) often leading to sleep disturbances, heart burn, appetite changes and such. Acupuncture will help calm us and promote the proper movement of Qi, allowing for health and happiness to return.

So in short, Qi is what makes us alive, the meridians are the pathways that Qi travels through to get to the different areas of our bodies to do it's work and acupuncture points are the access points to influence our Qi and it's proper amounts, distribution and flow.

Treating Allergies with Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs

According to a study published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Acupuncture might ease hayfever symptoms. Though this study was done with humans, I've found that I get GREAT results with pets as well! In fact, I find that pets in general respond much quicker to energy medicine than their human counterparts.

Tilly is a Boston Terrier - English Bulldog mix who came into my office with REALLY red, itchy skin. She was entirely covered with inflamed skin. She'd needed to be on prednisone since she was a puppy because of her grass allergies. According to Tilly's owner, the prednisone helped a little bit, but Tilly was still so miserable.

We treated Tilly with Acupuncture and a Chinese herbal formula that matched her presentation perfectly. When Tilly came back the next week, her itchy skin had disappeared from most of her body! All that was red anymore was her belly and under her chin! To tell you the truth, I was surprised that she got such huge relief that quickly! Usually allergies, especially those present since childhood (or puppyhood in this case!) take time, sometimes as long as 2-3 months, to see results. Over the next couple of weeks we were able to get Tilly complete relief! Now I only see Tilly a couple of times a year for a "tune-up."

If you or your dog suffer from allergies of any kind, consider acupuncture and Chinese herbs!

New Year's Resolutions 2009

Okay, so we're getting a little bit into the year here. I'm sure you're saying, "It's about time, don't ya think?"

Well here are mine, finally:

• Eat better. No more refined sugars for me. I feel SO much better when I stick to fruit sugars. I've done this before and kind of regret letting myself slip. This one is always tough because it takes a good solid two weeks to stop craving the sugar! I just make sure to have lots of fruit around to snack on when I start wanting the bad stuff.
• Drink more water. Again, I always feel better when I make sure to drink lots of water.
• Be more frugal with our money. The "Debt Diva" has some pretty simple ideas to start with. http://www.bnd.com/542/story/600856.html
• Build my practice. With a young daughter and a young business, I've experienced the eternal struggle of balancing work and home. I'm setting my goal at one new patient every week this year. Universe, let it be heard, I am going to have one new patient every week this year. Now, to continue getting my name out there to the world!

Alright, those are my goals! I'm sure the list will evolve as I go through the year, but it's a start, and they're now out there for the world to see! :)