CLINICAL PRACTICE
8A Main Street, Bristol Vermont
Thank you for your interest in Chinese Medicine ~ right now as a reader and perhaps as an experiential participant! What follows is a general outline of what I offer with my interpretation of the different modalities and therapies and their benefits.
First, an initial consultation session allows me to collect information through both conversation and diagnostic techniques. A recommended plan emerges that includes a combination of Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Taiji Quan and Qigong exercises (and classes), meditation, guidance with diet, and bodywork to above all cultivate participation in your own health. In this way we allow "medicine" to ultimately be preventative care and that which awakens us fully to life.
Acupuncture, one of the modalities of Chinese Medicine with a history of over 2,000 years, is a profound inheritance into our culture for it is an opportunity to imagine a different way of perceiving the body and to believe in and experience what we cannot see yet feel: streams of "qi" traversing the body with special points along these pathways that when activated adjust and regulate flow and circulation. Receiving acupuncture not only alleviates symptoms but is an experience of connection - feeling how a subtle sensation from a needle in one area sends a message to the whole body. And then from a greater perspective, we can imagine how healthy changes within ourselves - small ecosystems within the larger ecology of the earth - affects the balance and wellbeing of all around us.
I practice with a particular focus on the Five Elements or Five Phase Theory in Chinese Medicine: the dynamic relationship among wood, fire, earth, metal and water. This model, filled with rich imagery and metaphor, illustrates how our physiology relates to the natural environment, and teaches how to live from the center of the circle of constantly changing patterns of thoughts and emotions so we may respond to life with spontaneity and virtue. Though acupuncture has become increasingly familiar in our culture, there are many bridges of understanding yet to be built. Towards this end, I welcome collaboration with Western medical physicians and other specialists.
Chinese herbal therapy is one of the pillars of Chinese Medicine and offers an important way to understand "medicine". Whereas Western drugs often control symptoms, they do not alter the disease process (antibiotics eliminate bacteria but do not improve a person's resistance to infection; diuretics rid excess fluid without enriching kidney function). Chinese herbs treat the underlying condition and have a balancing or regulating effect on the body, and rarely cause unwanted side effects. Different parts of plants such as the leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and seeds are used based on their action in the body. They are usually combined into formulas and can be taken as teas, capsules, tinctures, or powders. Chinese herbs along with dietary changes are exceptional for both acute ailments and chronic imbalances such as allergies, gynecological disorders, respiratory problems, and pain syndromes. I am always pleased to converse with medical doctors regarding the use of herbal therapy alongside of or in lieu of pharmaceuticals.
While acupuncture offers a somatic experience of integration by tapping into and restoring the body's natural circulation, medicinal plants similarly deliver essential information for the sake of regeneration and transformation.
Taiji Quan and Qigong are then the form practices of this healing process. Through the slow, relaxed and steady repetition of intentional movements and postures, we align to the fundamental truth of the self as the interplay between earth and sky, continuously deepening our sense of interconnectedness, liberating our capacity for responsiveness and care.
Dietary Changes and Recommendations
When it comes to cultivating health, the willingness and interest to examine one's relationship to food and eating offers a tremendous opportunity. Here we look not only at the integrity of the digestive system on the physical level but also cravings, appetite and hunger, and the tie between emotions and eating. For, while relieving an overburdened or weakened digestive system can rectify so many ailments, making lasting changes requires noble effort as food is so connected to our cultural inheritance, social activities, comfort and pleasure. So, in my practice, while nutritional needs are considered, more time is devoted to explore the question, "What is nourishing?" And, if we look at the ingestion of food and drink as a metaphor, are we properly digesting and absorbing what we need and eliminating what no longer serves us? As part of this exploration I share information on proper food combining, elimination or addition of particular foods throughout the seasons, and mindfulness meditation exercises around eating for as we become increasingly mindful and aware of what we eat and why we eat, fullness and emptiness, we cultivate the capacity to be present and awake to life itself.
Meditation
Devoting time during each day to sit quietly and observe the coming and going of thoughts, emotions and the stories we follow and beliefs we hold is a practice that helps us learn to release tensions often subconsciously connected with this internal movement of the mind and narratives in which we're entangled. An initial visit includes guidelines for beginning and/or maintaining a sitting meditation practice as a tool for life-long transformation.
Location and Fees
My clinical practice is located at 8A Main Street in Bristol.
Initial Consultation, Acupuncture Treatment, Bodywork, Dietary and Herbal Medicine Recommendations, Qigong exercises and meditation instruction: $135.00
Follow-up Acupuncture Visits: $85 - $105 (sliding scale).
Herbal Medicine and/or Dietary Consultation: $50
Private Taiji and Qigong lessons: rates vary depending on content and duration of lessons.
Payment plans and special rates for families, students and elders are available. Insurance accepted.
802-355-9306
breathingin23@gmail.com