The holiday season is a time of joy and celebration, but it can also bring added stress, indulgent eating, and disrupted routines. These factors can take a toll on your physical health, particularly on your skin, gut, and body pain. Fortunately, acupuncture and Chinese Medicine offers a natural way to counteract these effects and restore balance.

The Skin: Holiday Stress and IndulgencesThe holiday season often means late nights, rich foods, and higher stress levels—all of which can show up on your skin. Increased cortisol from holiday stress can lead to:

• Acne and Breakouts: Stress and sugary treats can spike oil production, clogging pores and causing acne.
• Dull Complexion: Dehydration from festive drinks and lack of sleep can rob your skin of its glow.
• Worsening Skin Conditions: Eczema, psoriasis, and other inflammatory skin issues can flare up during stressful times.

Our facial massage and microneedling appointments can improve skin health by boosting circulation, reducing inflammation, and promoting relaxation. Combined with proper hydration and a simplified skincare routine, it can help your skin recover and thrive.

​Gut Health: Overindulgence and Stress. The holidays often disrupt healthy eating patterns, introducing rich, fatty, or sugary foods that can upset gut balance. Coupled with holiday stress, this can lead to:

• Digestive Issues: Bloating, indigestion, or irregular bowel movements become common complaints.
• Gut Microbiome Imbalance: Stress and unhealthy foods can disrupt gut bacteria, exacerbating conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
• Inflammation: Overindulgence and stress can weaken the gut lining, leading to systemic inflammation.

Acupuncture and functional medicine helps support gut health by regulating the nervous system, reducing stress, and enhancing digestive function. It can also stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, encouraging the body to rest and digest more effectively.

Body Pain: Tension and Inflammation from hauling heavy shopping bags to standing for hours in the kitchen, the holidays can take a physical toll. Stress and overexertion can lead to:

• Muscle Tension: Commonly felt in the neck, shoulders, and back.
• Joint Pain: Inflammation can flare up in those with arthritis or other chronic conditions.
• Headaches: Stress-induced muscle tension often triggers headaches.

Acupuncture offers relief by relaxing tight muscles, reducing inflammation, and improving circulation. Regular sessions can alleviate pain and prevent it from becoming chronic.

We offer a holistic approach that addresses the root causes of physical discomfort. Here’s how it can enhance your holiday well-being:

1. Reduces Stress: By calming the nervous system, acupuncture lowers cortisol levels and helps you manage holiday stress.
2. Supports Digestive Health: Acupuncture promotes healthy digestion and alleviates issues like bloating and nausea.
3. Eases Pain: Targeted treatments reduce muscle tension, improve joint mobility, and relieve headaches.
4. Enhances Overall Balance: Acupuncture encourages the body’s natural healing mechanisms, helping you feel your best.

​
Tips for a Healthy Holiday SeasonIn addition to acupuncture, you can take these steps to protect your skin, gut, and body during the holidays:

1. Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water to counteract the effects of alcohol and rich foods.
2. Prioritize Sleep: Rest is essential for recovery and maintaining physical health.
3. Practice Mindful Eating: Enjoy your favorite treats in moderation and focus on nutrient-dense foods.
4. Make Time for Relaxation: Incorporate meditation, gentle yoga, or a soothing walk into your routine.

By understanding the impact of the holiday season on your skin, gut health, and body pain, and by integrating acupuncture into your self-care routine, you can enjoy the festivities while feeling balanced and rejuvenated. Cheers to a healthy and joyful holiday season!

Eliminate Your Acne
Celluma Light Therapy has been shown to effectively heal acne breakouts and prevent them from returning. In addition to your custom skin care treatment plan at On Point, using Celluma Light Therapy at home can give you clearer, brighter, healthier skin faster.

Revive Your Skin
Celluma Light Therapy is a gentle yet powerful way to fight the signs of aging. The LED light therapy emitted by the Celluma device helps to heal the skin at the cellular level while stimulating increased collagen production for increased skin elasticity and fewer lines and wrinkles.
​
Relieve Your Pain
Celluma Light Therapy benefits are more than skin-deep! It uses near-infrared wavelengths to penetrate deep into the muscle and joint tissue to alleviate pain, increase circulation and reduce inflammation. It also gives cells extra energy to speed up the natural repair process of damaged tissue cells, improve new cell production, and restore balance within the body.
Cleared by the FDA for pain management and skin care, Celluma uses light energy to improve cellular health by accelerating the repair and replenishment of compromised tissue cells. While similar devices on the market claim to do the same, they often require you to buy multiple panels and accessories in order to treat specific conditions or accommodate different parts of the body.

HOW IT WORKS
In the same way that plants use chlorophyll to convert sunlight into plant tissue, high intensity light emitting diodes (LEDs) utilizing specific, proven wavelengths of light can trigger a natural biostimulatory effect in human tissue. Research has shown that phototherapy can increase circulation, accelerate tissue repair, kill acne bacteria, decrease inflammation, improve skin tone, texture and clarity, as well as ease muscle and joint pain, stiffness, spasm, and arthritis.

Research indicates that cells absorb particles of light (photons) and transform their energy into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the form of energy that cells utilize. The resulting elevation of ATP is then used to power metabolic processes; synthesize DNA, RNA, proteins, enzymes, and other products needed to repair or regenerate cell components; foster mitosis or cell proliferation; and restore homeostasis. Simply put, the LED light source provides compromised cells with added energy so the cells performance is enhanced. For example, fibroblast cells will increase collagen and elastic production in connective tissue.

The most common symptoms of digestive disorders include bleeding, food sensitivities, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, pain, nausea and vomiting.

​One of the key benefits of functional medicine for digestive problems is the creation of personalized treatment plans. Rather than simply treating symptoms with medication, functional medicine practitioners work with patients to address the root cause of their issues. This may involve changes to diet and lifestyle, targeted supplementation, and other interventions tailored to the individual patient. By taking a personalized approach, functional medicine can help patients achieve lasting relief from digestive problems and improve their overall health and well-being.

I was just notified that I'm able to pass on my practitioner discount to patients for the month of April.  This discount is only valid through April 30th, 2023. 

What can Celluma Light Therapy do for you?  

Eliminate Your Acne
Celluma Light Therapy has been shown to effectively heal acne breakouts and prevent them from returning. In addition to your custom skin care treatment plan at On Point, using Celluma Light Therapy at home can give you clearer, brighter, healthier skin faster.

Revive Your Skin
Celluma Light Therapy is a gentle yet powerful way to fight the signs of aging. The LED light therapy emitted by the Celluma device helps to heal the skin at the cellular level while stimulating increased collagen production for increased skin elasticity and fewer lines and wrinkles.
​
Relieve Your Pain
Celluma Light Therapy benefits are more than skin-deep! It uses near-infrared wavelengths to penetrate deep into the muscle and joint tissue to alleviate pain, increase circulation and reduce inflammation. It also gives cells extra energy to speed up the natural repair process of damaged tissue cells, improve new cell production, and restore balance within the body.

Cleared by the FDA for pain management and skin care, Celluma uses light energy to improve cellular health by accelerating the repair and replenishment of compromised tissue cells. While similar devices on the market claim to do the same, they often require you to buy multiple panels and accessories in order to treat specific conditions or accommodate different parts of the body.

HOW IT WORKS
In the same way that plants use chlorophyll to convert sunlight into plant tissue, high intensity light emitting diodes (LEDs) utilizing specific, proven wavelengths of light can trigger a natural biostimulatory effect in human tissue. Research has shown that phototherapy can increase circulation, accelerate tissue repair, kill acne bacteria, decrease inflammation, improve skin tone, texture and clarity, as well as ease muscle and joint pain, stiffness, spasm, and arthritis.

Research indicates that cells absorb particles of light (photons) and transform their energy into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the form of energy that cells utilize. The resulting elevation of ATP is then used to power metabolic processes; synthesize DNA, RNA, proteins, enzymes, and other products needed to repair or regenerate cell components; foster mitosis or cell proliferation; and restore homeostasis. Simply put, the LED light source provides compromised cells with added energy so the cells performance is enhanced. For example, fibroblast cells will increase collagen and elastic production in connective tissue.

​Digital Detox:
For those whose job duties include massive amounts of screen exposure, having time to live IRL is a must. Even if we don’t work in front of our computers, the lure of the quick dopamine hit, and a subsequent potential for addiction to that quick hit, may make us seek out that powerful, pocket-sized, magic-machine a little too often. 

Shopping Detox:
We might know that the over-consumption is an environmental nightmare. Post winter-holidays can be a good time to give your wallet and capitalism a rest. Keep it simple - don’t buy anything new for a prescribed period of time and utilize only the items that you already own or come second hand. Clothing is certainly on top of the list but no-buy detoxes can apply to items from housewares to electronics, etc.

Focusing on Perfection Detox:
Whether it’s exercise, self-improvement, or even “healthy” eating - balance is key to success. Taking a breather from our self-imposed “better, stronger, healthier me” routines can again, increase effectiveness, uncover underlying issues, or even just relieve any sense of boredom or obligation. Food can be trickier given allergies, gastrointestinal issues, or serious illness. 

Get some sleep.
This one was tougher to word because the point is not to give up on sleep but the lifestyle that keeps us from getting enough sleep.  Push aside late nights out, revenge staying up, and scrolling on the phone for hours.  Aim for seven to nine hours every night. Adequate sleep supports and maintains a healthy brain and studies continue to support the connection between amount of sleep and cognitive function.

How will you reset and refresh in 2023?

The Black Rabbit year is an extra special one because typically the Rabbit is the color white and in Chinese astrology when the animal is represented by another color, there is an even more auspicious meaning to the year. The animal itself is considered wise, a little mischievous and a very hard worker. The Black color of the Rabbit signifies the Water element and Yin. 

The Rabbit represents the Spring time of year when animals emerge from their hiding places and start creating the movement needed for Spring. This is the time when the powerful Qi grows from a dormant winter and expands into new energy. 

Spring is all about the energy of rebirth and renewal
Breaking its way out of winter and anticipating summer like a flower whose bud’s makes its way through the cold winter earth, shining its color upon a beautiful sunny day for all of us to enjoy.  This is the same idea with the notion of Qi in Chinese Medicine, which rises up in Springtime and surges through our bodies in its splendor. With this, comes an energy of immense growth and the motivation to push through and forward into planning and projects that may now come into fruition. 

Spring and the Rabbit are also represented in the Wood Element.
Wood gently penetrates the earth to bring forth water, the source of all life. Drawing from our roots, we find the energy to push forward with strength and firmness of purpose, always remaining supple, yielding, and true to our nature. Gentle, Wise, Persistent and filled with creative potential 
Spring is the time to move, be motivated and create. The Rabbit represents the month of March and the time 5am to 7am on the Chinese Clock. 

“Rabbits live in dens, hidden securely underground, allowing them to restore their lively energy. They possess great strategic qualities and know when to act or retreat, thus 2023 holds awesome potential for putting a plan into action. The nimble nature of rabbit empowers us to maneuver around any obstacles that arise in 2023. There can be old patterns or belief systems that hold you back and the rabbit’s agility enables you to let go of these and just do it! Fortunately, rabbits are not risk-takers or fighters, and their cautious nature allows you to move forward with care and cultivate progress while considering all various outcomes. The doors are open, and growth is quick.”  CT Holman

Black always represents the element of Water.
Water is also the most Yin substance which is why this is a Yin year. The nature of water is to flow unobstructed and change, bend and adapt to it’s environment. The water element gives us the energy to adapt and to expand into 2023 and also is associated with mystical, spiritual energies. Water has the ability to hold and absorb emotion and as most of us experienced, 2022 was an emotionally charged year. 

Water in Chinese medicine is also associated with the emotion of Fear.
Fear can create inaction while the movement of Wood wants action. “This would be like the flooding of a forest. Take care to manage emotion by connecting to the earth and bringing grounding qi to daily life which controls the emotion of water.” 
Yin is symbolized by going inward, the feminine, nighttime, the moon, retreating and resting.
“Yin represents Mother Earth and feelings of safety, being held, and nurtured, which allows us to navigate the expanding growth of 2023 with an inner stillness.”

Yin water is yin within yin, the most yin substance, emanating gentleness & softness.
The yin water also helps soften the hardness of wood, allowing ourselves to truly tune into our path and move forward with the both the force of the wood energy and the direction of water flowing within it’s own current. This allows us to take time to go inward, connect to the universe with the compassion and wisdom of the Rabbit.  

Happy Lunar New Year! 


*The reading above was summarized from the great Lotus Institute and from the teachings of Lilian Bridges that have been now passed down to CT Holman. To read the entire forecast please follow this link 

The mere fact that you eat food and have abdominal organs could alone can cause some bloating

What's not normal to have a completely flat abdomen all day long while you're nourishing yourself properly with enough calories to sustain good health.  So, now that we've gotten that out of the way. There are also some other functional, but not problematic reasons why you might be bloated.

Here are just a few of them:

• eating too fast
• eating too much
• diet high in sodium and carbs 
• drinking carbonated beverage 
• Menstrual cycle is about to begin

If you've crossed all those off your list and are still bloated, here are some other health-related reasons for bloating you can consider doing a deeper into:

• lactose or gluten intolerance
• constipation
• gut bacteria imbalance
• low in stomach acid
• food sensitivity

To know if one of the factors above are truly at play, working with our digestion specialist Dr. Bezjak will provide you insight, education, testing evaluation, and a treatment plan.  

​If there's a serious underlying cause for your bloating, these tips will only get you so far. But if they don't help, it can also be a litmus test that the issue is more complicated and its time to bring on a professional.  

Tip #1 - Dial in your good eating habits.
Bloating is often a result of your body struggling to properly and efficiently digest your food. When food moves through your digestive tract before you can digest it all, your gut bacteria get free reign at it, which can result in bloating. So to minimize this, make sure to engage your parasympathetic system (that good old, rest and digest) while eating. Don't eat on the run, taking 2-3 deep breathes at the table before eating, and chewing your food thoroughly 

Tip # 2 - Eliminate bloat triggers.
Unfair fact - some foods will cause bloating no matter who we are. Foods like gluten, dairy, sugar alcohols, and starches just tend to make us more bloated than other foods.  If bloating is messing with your day, try eliminating these foods from your diet for a time and monitor for improvement.

Tip # 3 - Determine what foods you're sensitive to.
If you have any underlying food sensitivities, those are bound to cause bloating. By using a food journal you can try to identity what sensitivities you may have. When you're sensitive to a certain food, eating it creates inflammation in your GI tract, leading to issues digesting and absorbing all your food, the symptom - bloating arises. 

Tip # 4 - Address underlying gut infections.
Imbalance in the microbiome is a prime culprit when it comes to bloating. Whether that's a bacterial imbalance, parasitic infection, or something else, figuring out what's actually happening in your gut and treating it is your best bet for clearing up that bloating. 

The last couple years have hit us hard. The motto of ‘work hard, play hard’ (which is already a fallacy) has been replaced with "work hard and then worker harder because playing and fun are hard to come by".

Burnout tends to affect both women than men due to the numerous plates we are supposed to keep up in the air. Our roles as a parents, partners, worker, child, friend etc…. are putting constant demands on us. in this hyper connected yet disconnected world. 

So that feeling of running on empty, whilst not giving ourselves the time to refuel and recover is an all too familiar feeling. 

• Exhaustion:  Feeling emotionally exhausted, depleted, and a loss of energy.
• Cynicism:  Having a negative attitude toward clients and those you work with, feeling irritable, and withdrawing from people and activities you once enjoyed.
• Inefficacy:  Experiencing diminished personal accomplishment, a perceived decline in competence or productivity, and expending energy at work without seeing any results.

While no gender is immune to burnout, research discovered that men and women process these burnout dimensions differently.  Women typically experienced exhaustion first, followed by cynicism, then inefficacy. The men, on the other hand, tended to experience cynicism first and then exhaustion.

Physical and Emotional symptoms

• Chronic fatigue, from being tired every day to full on exhaustion where you just can’t face the day ahead.
• Insomnia
• Lack of focus and concentration
• Physical symptoms such as chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal pain, dizziness, fainting or headaches (all of which should be medically assessed).
• Increased illness.
• No appetite
• Anxiety and depression
• Anger

In Chinese Medicine, there is a saying: “one disease, many roots; one root, many diseases.” The exemplifies how burnout can present in slightly different ways depending on the person.  In TCM the common root is a Kidney Deficiency. 

TCM aside, our Kidneys (combined with our Adrenal Glands) are one of our most important organs systems. Together, they connect our brain to our instincts and intuition. The Kidneys influence our hormonal rhythms and response to stress, shock, fear, and trauma: think, the release of cortisol and your body’s Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis.  That pathway is responsible for regulating your body’s sympathetic “fight or flight” response. 

In TCM, the health of the Kidneys are expressed through the brain, bones, ears, and hair. With that theory in mind, doesn't it makes sense that when our Kidney Qi declines that mild memory loss, osteoporosis, deafness, and hair thinning become more prominent. While this can all occur with age, environmental and lifestyle factors also weaken Kidney Qi. These include sleep deprivation, substance abuse, nutrient deficiencies (from poor appetite/diet/digestive issues), and long hours of physical/mental exertion without rest.

Sound familiar? 

On an energetic level, the Kidneys are the root of our body’s life force, they hold our reserves of Inherited Qi and Vital Essence (Jing). Think of the Kidneys as our body’s savings account, a reservoir that we too often take from but don't often replenish. 

When your Kidney Qi is abundant, you’ll have a healthy sense of self, direction, and will-power to pursue your goals. 

Acupuncture is a gentle, safe, and effective therapy that promotes your body’s own physiological processes which become weakened or pathological from chronic stress, trapped emotions, as well as long-standing illnesses and injury. 

Acupuncture reminds the body how to repair, regulate, and heal itself again.  

From a Western-scientific standpoint, it: 

• Down-regulates your body’s stress response by shifting it from a “fight or flight” state to one that can “rest and digest.” This is why patients fall asleep during treatments, hear gurgling/stomach noises during sessions, feel a deeper sense of calm, and report having better quality sleep sometimes in as little as one treatment. 
• Increases body’s natural feel-good hormones to reduce pain.
• Reduce cortisol and increase serotonin to alleviate anxiety, depression, irritability, and stress. 
• Promotes circulation to the brain to improve cognitive functioning as well as the viscera to regulate autonomic functions. Think - heart-rate: reduce palpitations, digestion: improve nutrient absorption, appetite, and energy levels; regulates bowel movements.
• Increases circulation to relax tight muscles and reduces joint stiffness 
• Enhances the body’s  the body’s immune system to decrease inflammation and reduce inflammatory processes 

For patients that come in during and in the aftermath of burnout, their appointments are their designated time to unwind, re-cultivate their energy reserves, and re-establish resilience to life’s stressors. It’s a time where you are not on high-alert so your body can heal in the ways it needs to. 

We can also pair this with functional medicine and herbal medicine for a knock-out combo.  

Cortisol, our main stress hormone and hormone of alertness, peaks at around 9am and then should drop to an absolutely low level at bedtime.  As the sun goes down and cortisol drops melatonin rises and our circadian rhythm is established. This basic rhythm is established by environmental and internal cues that have signaled our biology since the dawn of time.  Unfortunately, we had to come along with modern stress, technology, and a 2 plus year pandemic to muck it all up!

​So what happens to our sleep if this rhythmic release of cortisol is distorted?

• Feeling tired and wired when we lie down for sleep
• Waking up alert between 1 – 3am like clockwork
• Night Sweats so strong we need to change our t-shirt and invade our partner’s side of the bed!
• Waking 1 – 2 hours before our alarm with no chance of falling back asleep.

 
Luckily, correction of the cortisol rhythm (HPA-Axis) can be done by utilizing acupuncture and functional medicine.  With severe cases, we do recommend a simple salivary cortisol test to determine exactly what is happening with your hormones.  Once we know the unique nature of your cortisol disruption it can be treated with a combination of acupuncture, lifestyle changes and supplements that gently signal the body to release hormones at the right time and in the proper amount.  

Our ancient physiology still wants to exist in harmony with our natural signals.  If we proper align the HPA-Axis we enjoy alertness during the day and calm restorative sleep at night.  If you are struggling with insomnia and let’s reset your stress hormones and give you back the biological right to a good night’s sleep!