Thanksgiving Special - Food Stagnation and the Spleen Official by Grace Ganel I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. I really love this holiday, because it’s a time when we slow down and spend some time with our families. This is something we don’t do enough, as a society. When we take time to be together and to stop our normal routine for just a day or so, we give our bodies and minds the chance to recover from the constant pull to achieve and strive. A strong sense o

From the two, Yin and Yang, a further delineation can be observed into five distinct movements of energy, the five seasons. “Wait!” you say. “There are only four seasons!” you say, counting off the familiar cycle on your fingers. Did you ever notice how very humid and sticky the last month and a half of summer are? That’s called “late summer” - it’s the time of fruit and humidity. It’s the fifth season - it’s distinct from the high heat of summer (there's another way to hold

Education Series: Yin and Yang by Grace Ganel Chinese medicine is applied philosophy. Perhaps the most basic thing at the root of that philosophy is the theory of Yin and Yang. This theory describes two entities that are the part of the same whole, separated into the Yin and the Yang. Each corresponds to certain directions and qualities Yin: East North Cold Hard Wet Slow Heavy Earth Yang: West South Hot Soft Fast Light Heaven Yin and Yang are relative terms. So West is Yang i

Why do I need acupuncture? by Grace Ganel You may be new to acupuncture. Perhaps you don't know much about it at all. So you may be asking yourself: why do I need acupuncture? Acupuncture has literally saved my life. When I was a teenager, I had debilitating depression and mental illness. I found that I lacked the energy to do the psychological work necessary to heal. I tried several psychiatric medications under the care of a psychiatrist, and I found that I had all of the s