We’re approaching the longest day and most yang time of the year, the Summer Solstice. What is yang? It’s associated with the sun, daytime, summer, light, heat, activity, joy, the fire element, and the masculine. Yang qualities are revered in our society. The value placed on productivity in your workplace and free time may give you the impression that you’re never doing enough. Do you even feel pressured to have fun plans for the weekend or your summer vacation? Instead of making you feel happy, this constant energy output can leave you burned out and unable to do anything. The burnout cycle i ..read more

Curious about how you can perform self-acupressure, anytime you need it? Join me for an hour-long introduction to acupressure on Saturday, June 29 at 10 AM in my San Rafael office. Learn how to locate and activate 6 points that relieve headache, insomnia, improve digestion, and increase energy that you can take home for yourself and your family. Feel free to come by yourself or bring your loved ones with you. Class will include demonstration, hands-on instruction, and an opportunity to practice on yourself or anyone you bring with you. To help support you during class and at home, you’ll get a ..read more

Springtime check-in: How are you doing? Many patients I’ve seen in my San Rafael acupuncture clinic recently report feeling more irritable and less patient than usual. As we’ve worked together, some recognize these feelings as a sign they’re not getting their needs met. I’m so proud of them as they both ask for more external support and set boundaries to care for themselves. Feeling temporarily uncomfortable and irritated, recognizing that something needs to change, then taking action to shift your behavior. This is healthy growth associated with harmony between the wood and earth elements in ..read more

Let the equinox, one of two days a year when (yin) and day (yang) are exactly equal and in balance, be a reminder that balance is constantly changing. So often, we speak of balance as a 50:50 set point that you strive for and cling to once find it. However, developing the ability to experiment, fail, adapt to challenges, and regain your balance are critical to finding harmony. In East Asian medicine, health is found and maintained when yin and yang are in harmony. Appropriate balance of yin and yang, however, changes with the season. As the seasons change, yin and yang exist in different propo ..read more

Here are five ways to help you achieve inner harmony as we enter the season of renewal. Move RegularlyThe energy of spring supports movement, literally and metaphorically. The element associated with spring in East Asian medicine, wood, benefits from regular exercise. Moving your body also helps strengthen your muscles, immune health, and cardiovascular system. If you haven’t worked out in a while, start slowly with some gentle walks around your neighborhood or a dialed-back version of your previous routine as injuries can occur when you jump in too fast. If you don’t know where to start, Mari ..read more

The first week of daylight savings can be jarring. In a world where you wake up with an alarm clock and not the light of the sun, moving the clock ahead (or back in the fall) profoundly affects the rhythms of your life. It disrupts your sleep cycle, and shifts when you eat, work, exercise, and spend time with your friends and family. This sudden shift in your routine can leave you feeling tired, and irritable, and affect your mood and mental health for weeks around the time shift. Changing the timing of your daily habits throws off your body clock from an East Asian medicine perspective as wel ..read more

Looking for a flavorful, easy, and quick-to-make spring meal? This asparagus, chicken, and pasta dish fits the bill! Did An Acupuncturist Seriously Just Tell Me to Eat Pasta? Yep. Seasonal eating in Chinese medicine includes not just the fruits and vegetables currently being harvested, but also specific types of grains and meats. It’s recommended to eat wheat and chicken in the springtime. Why? If you’re reading this and you live in the U.S., you likely have access to asparagus, carrots, wheat, and chicken year-round.  Historically, though, these have been available only in the spring in ..read more

Please arrive at the office with your mask (preferably a KN95 or N95) over your mouth and nose. Wear your mask for the entirety of your visit, even when you are alone in the treatment room. When in doubt, switch to a virtual visit if you or someone you lives with have any of these symptoms: nasal congestion headache sore throat coughing diarrhea vomiting fever loss of taste or smell I know that some of these conditions can be caused by things other than COVID, but I have to be careful in protecting my patients and myself. If you are experiencing one of these symptoms and suspect it is not CO ..read more

In the Northern hemisphere we just passed the most yin point and longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice. Now is an excellent time to rest, nourish yourself and those you care about with slow-cooked warming foods, and take nurturing baths. However, for most of us, the holidays are filled with stress, endless tasks, and last-minute running around. This behavior is strongly at odds with the balance of Yin and Yang, often resulting in people getting sick around the holidays. Yin is associated with resting, receptiveness, night, the moon, the feminine, wintertime, and the water element. Yan ..read more

It’s amazing how much you can tell about someone by looking at their tongue! With training, you can see when someone is not sleeping well, experiencing anxiety, having trouble digesting their food, is irritable, or fighting a cold. How can you know all that by looking at someone’s tongue? In East Asian medicine, the tongue is divided into different regions that represent the 12 meridians of the body. Discoloration, swelling, inflamed papillae (taste buds), thickness and color of tongue coating can indicate areas of imbalance in the rest of the body. For instance, in this picture, you can see t ..read more