Treating Moodiness and Anxiety the Natural Way

Despite the bright, hopeful energy of springtime, many people may find themselves suffering from moodiness, frustration, and anxiety, as these feelings are tied to the health of the liver qi, the system associated with this season. Because of our renewed sense of energy and eagerness to push forward, many of us may notice our limitations that much more, making it difficult to accept that change is gradual and that we are constantly in transition.

Another factor is stress—a lot of us are even more stressed out than we realize! While everyone gets irritated or moody once in a while, but sometimes these emotions can evolve into more serious conditions like anxiety and depression. They can also feed into other health issues such as digestive problems, a weakened immune system, and trouble sleeping.

In the west, many doctors and patients are quick to turn to anti-depressants and other drugs to help combat these conditions.

In traditional Chinese medicine, however, the underlying cause of emotional issues is addressed. The liver is responsible for the smooth flow of qi throughout the body and for balancing our emotions. When the liver’s function of moving qi is disrupted, qi can become stuck, or stagnated.

As stagnation of liver qi is one of the main causes of disharmony reflected in anger, irritability, and frustration, we can improve our health by moving our qi.

Acupuncture is an excellent way to relieve liver qi stagnation. Marie and I see patients all the time with this condition at Five Seasons. To treat irritability and moodiness associated with liver qi stagnation, we focus on moving the qi and supporting the liver and spleen organ systems with acupuncture, lifestyle and dietary recommendations and perhaps an herbal formula, if appropriate.

There are other things you can do to get your qi moving.

Stretch. According to Chinese medicine, the liver stores blood during periods of rest and then releases it to the tendons in times of activity, which maintains tendon health and flexibility. Make a habit out of a morning stretch and try yoga or tai qi.

Waterfall Pose. This yoga pose, also called Viparita Karani, is incredibly relaxing. Lie down on your back with your legs up against a wall. Hang out in this pose anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Here is a step-by-step explanation of the pose:
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Eye Exercises. The liver is said to open into the eyes. Although all the organs have some connection to the health of the eyes, the liver is connected to proper eye function. Remember to take breaks when looking at a computer monitor for long periods of time and do eye exercises.

Eat Green. The color green is associated with the liver. Eating young plants like fresh, leafy greens and sprouts can improve the liver’s overall functions and aid in the movement of qi.
Some other good foods to eat to move your liver qi include celery, cabbage, mustard greens, scallions, beets, peaches and miso soup. Mild spices like ginger, rosemary, and basil can work well too.

Try Something Sour. Foods and drinks with sour tastes are thought to stimulate the liver qi. One of the simplest ways to incorporate this flavor into your diet is to put lemon slices in your drinking water. You can also use vinegar and olive oil for salad dressing and garnish sandwiches with a slice of dill pickle.

Sip Milk Thistle Tea. Milk thistle helps protect liver cells from toxins and encourages the liver to cleanse itself of damaging substances, such as alcohol, medications, pesticides, environmental toxins, and even heavy metals such as mercury.
Peppermint tea is also helpful.

Limit junk foods, processed foods, and dairy. These foods can clog up your system, so it’s best to avoid them if you are concerned about stagnant qi.

Get Outside! Outside air helps liver qi flow. If you have been feeling irritable, try going for a walk or bike ride.

Consider Herbs. Xiang fu, chuan lian zi, he huan pi, he huan hua, and qing pi are all herbs that move liver qi.

Get Acupuncture Treatments. Acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine can help improve the overall health of your liver as well as treat stress, anger and frustration. Regular treatments can tonify the inner organ systems and can correct minor annoyances before they become more serious problems.

Meditation in the Park this Weekend!

This Saturday, May 9th the Chakrasambara Buddhist Center is hosting a Meditation in the Park with Kadam Morten.

The event is scheduled from 1-3 pm in Central Park. Kadam Morten will guide participants in a meditation on the clarity of the mind, emphasizing in particular how we incorporate all the sounds of the park into our meditation. The meditation will end with a heartfelt dedication for world peace. The meditation itself is likely to go from 1:15 until 2 pm and will be followed by a potluck picnic.

The meditation is free and open to the public. In the case of rain, it will be held at the Center, which is located at 322 Eighth Avenue, Suite 502 in New York.

More information, including the exact location of the meditation, will be posted soon on the Center's website.


See www.meditationinnewyork.org for more details.

Bean Burgers—great blood-strengthening fuel!

And now for Part Two of our post-partum haircare episode...

Foods rich in iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12 can help fortify the blood, promoting optimal health in new mothers and anyone else who needs to strengthen their blood.

Beans are a great source of iron, B-vitamins and protein (another key nutrient). These bean burgers, when paired with a salad of leafy greens and sprouts (for folic acid) and sliced tomato (for vitamin C, which aids absorption), are a tasty way to boost your intake and say hello to renewed energy and shiny, healthy hair!

Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked beans
1 carrot, diced
1/4 onion, diced (optional)
1 tablespoon herbs*
1/2 cup bread crumbs, whole wheat flour, or cooked grain
Sea salt to taste
Toasted nuts or seeds


Directions:

Mash beans
Mix ingredients together and form patties or small balls.
Fry or bake at 350oF until browned (approximately 30 minutes)

*Some herbal combinations to try:
Coriander, cumin, ginger (lentil, black, aduki)
Sage, thyme, oregano (black, pinto, lentil, kidney)
Dill, basil (lentil, garbanzo, split pea)
Fennel or cumin (pinto, kidney)
Mint, garlic (garbanzo, lentil)

—recipe courtesy of Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

Post-Partum Haircare

After giving birth, when hormone levels return to normal, new moms often experience many physical and emotional changes. One of the most frustrating is hair loss. Just as you’ve gotten used to enjoying the thick, healthy hair you had during your pregnancy, it starts to fall out, sometimes in clumps! There’s no need to panic, though—It’s completely normal and temporary. Hair loss usually begins three to four months after the baby’s birth, but within a year, your hair should be back to its vibrant self.

Normally, most of the hair on your head is growing and the rest is in a resting stage. After the resting period, this hair falls out and is replaced by new growth. An average woman sheds about a hundred hairs a day. When pregnant, however, fewer follicles are in the resting stage, so she enjoys thicker, more lustrous hair. After giving birth, your estrogen levels fall, causing more hair follicles to enter the “resting” stage, so you may notice more hairs in the shower drain or hairbrush.

Before you reach for the scissors, though, there are plenty of ways to help promote healthy hair growth. As a new mother myself, I definitely plan to try them out!

Through birth and breastfeeding, women literally give energy to another life. They need to make sure that they get enough nutrients so they have plenty to pass on to their baby without draining their own supply.

Chinese medicine has been treating hair loss for hundreds of years with acupuncture and herbs. As Paul Pitchford explains in his book, Healing with Whole Foods, “In Chinese medicine, hair is said to be an extension of the blood and therefore influenced by the health of the spleen-pancreas and kidneys.” To help restore hair to its healthy state, you need to nourish the blood qi. After giving birth, mothers are encouraged to take blood tonifiers for overall benefits (not just hair loss).

There are two general approaches to enriching and building blood through nutrition. First, you want to increase absorption of nutrients and secondly, you also should add nutrients that generate healthy blood.

The nutrients most often needed to cure blood deficiencies include iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12. Getting enough protein is also important.

Legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds are all good sources of iron, especially when eaten in their raw forms, as protein, copper, and B vitamins needed to aid absorption are still intact. It is also helpful to combine these foods with vitamin C to further enhance absorption.

Folic acid can be found in micro-algae, sprouts, leafy greens and other chlorophyll-rich foods. However, you have to be careful not to lose those nutrients by overcooking, so it may be best to eat these foods raw or lightly steamed.

One of the most convenient ways to obtain adequate levels of B12 is to use bacteria-derived tablets. Grains, legumes, sprouts, green foods, and vegetables are also good food sources of this key nutrient.

In some cases, animal protein may be necessary, as it is a more direct source of these nutrients.

At Five Seasons Healing, I use acupuncture treatments and herbs such as sangshen, he shouwu, and heizhima. to help encourage absorption, by building spleen-pancreas qi and reducing any damp/mucus conditions.

Something else you might want to try is an armotherapy oil blend tested by Scottish dermatologists at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. In a clinical study, patients massaged their scalps for two minutes every evening with the a blend of thyme, lavender, rosemary, and cedarwood oil mixed with a carrier oil—a combination of jojoba and grapeseed oils. They wrapped a warm towel around their head afterwards to further enhance the absorption. Patients were advised to use this treatment every night. After seven months, forty-four percent of the patients using the aromatherapy blend had improvement, compared to fifteen percent in the control group.

To promote health hair growth, try this aromatherapy blend:

Cedarwood 2 drops
Thyme 2 drops
Lavender 3 drops
Rosemary 3 drops
Jojoba oil 1/2 teaspoon (carrier)
Grapeseed oil 4 teaspoons (carrier)

This is great to try if you’re suffering from post-partum hair loss or simply want to add some life to your locks! I’ll keep you posted on my results!

Unbuttoned

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, breastfeeding rates in the United States have increased significantly within the past two decades, rising from 60% of infants born between 1993 and 1994 being breastfed to 77% of infants born 2005-2006. Human milk is the ideal food for most infants, as it provides infants with anti-bodies that protect against infection in the early postpartum period. Aside from being less expensive than formula feeding, nursing a baby can help a mother get back to her pre-pregnancy weight sooner. Perhaps most importantly, breastfeeding is one of the simplest, most natural ways in which she can bond with her child.

However, people have many different opinions about breastfeeding, both positive and negative. In Unbuttoned (Harvard Common Press), a collection of essays edited by Dana Sullivan and Maureen Connolly, 25 women share their thoughts and feelings about breastfeeding, all from the standpoint of personal experience. Their stories are, by turns, enlightening, entertaining, moving, and thought provoking.

Read more about Unbuttoned here.

Acupuncture for Allergies

While the spring brings with it warmer weather and a sense of rebirth, for many, it also brings on the dreaded seasonal allergies. As a result, millions of dollars are spent every year on allergy medications and shots, which often provide only mild relief.

Allergies are caused by an over-reactivity of the immune system to certain allergens such as wind-born tree, grass, or weed pollen. Sneezing, nasal congestion, runny nose, headaches, fatigue, coughing, wheezing and watery, itchy, or red eyes are common symptoms. In addition, when allergens and antibodies react nasal mucosa becomes swollen and may obstruct drainage from the sinuses causing sinusitis in many people.

Western doctors may prescribe antihistamines. Unfortunately, these remedies only treat the manifestation of the condition. Not only that, but many of these medications cause side effects such as dizziness, fatigue, insomnia, nervousness, dryness, and gastro-intestinal issues.

From a Chinese medicine point of view, allergies are due to an imbalance in the immune system, namely, a deficiency of the body’s Defensive-Qi, combined with the presence of chronic "Wind" or external pathogen in the nose and eyes. A practitioner will use herbs and acupuncture to clear the Wind, reduce congestion, open the nasal passages, relieve itchiness and clear the eyes. This is treatment of the manifestation of the condition. But Chinese medicine does not stop there. The real strength of the medicine is its ability to address the underlying root of the condition, namely, the weakness in the immune system in the face of such overpowering external stressors: the allergens. Together, both the root and the manifestation of the condition are treated to produce lasting results. Receiving acupuncture treatments during the season in which you suffer from allergies can diminish your symptoms and shorten the duration of or eliminate altogether the allergy season. There is also a special classical Chinese medicine treatment administered at the height of the summer heat to help strengthen the lungs and immune system. This treatment addresses longterm asthma, seasonal allergies, and chronic colds. Please be sure to schedule appointments in mid July to early August to catch this short window of time!

Acupuncture for Addiction

In the spirit of spring cleaning, this can be a particularly positive time in regards to detoxifying the body, especially since the season of spring is associated with the Liver system. According to Acupuncture Today, there are currently 5000 National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA)-trained clinicians worldwide, and more than 800 programs within the United States.

Since 1974, when the first US acupuncture detoxification clinic opened at the Lincoln Memorial Hospital in the South Bronx, acupuncture has steadily increased in popularity as a treatment for many addictions, ranging from drug and alcohol dependency to less serious addictions involving smoking and overeating.

Clinical evidence shows that acupuncture works very well to control addictions and curb cravings and behavioral issues without any side effects. It is considered a preferable way to bring relief from withdrawal symptoms and promote relaxation and improved sleep. Acupuncture helps raise the level of endorphins, the same “feel-good” chemicals released during exercise that also act as the body’s natural painkillers. Patients have reported experiencing a very calming effect and a feeling of peace and well-being. Being in a positive frame of mind helps patients deal with the mental, emotional and physical obstacles that arise during their recovery. Rather than treat symptoms in the way, say, methadone does, acupuncture addresses the deeper imbalances in the body and work with the root problems, detoxifying the body of chemicals that trigger additive behavior.

An acupuncturist treats points outside the ear to nourish yin, the cooling, nurturing fluids of the body, by inserting short, thin, sterile needle at three to five points. The patients then sit or lie comfortably for about forty-five minutes. Three of these five points help to strengthen the liver, kidneys, and lungs, organs that are often most damaged in addicts, due to the high-volume stress of eliminating toxins from the body. Patients addicted to hard drugs are advised to receive daily treatment until clean and then gradually scale back to a few times to week to help them remain so. Alcoholics also need daily treatments at the beginning of their recovery.

However, it is important to realize that while acupuncture is part of recovery, no one type of treatment cures all addictions for all individuals. Patients are encouraged to build a supportive network of help, including practices such as psychiatric treatment and group therapy.