Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite

I treat a lot of mums in clinic, I love it, I can so relate to everything they are going through. I even have a handful of mum patients that sit down in the treatment room and we just wax lyrical about kids and mum stuff for about 15 minutes before we remember they are there to get acupuncture.  Its all part of the service and actually makes my day.

As a practitioner I’m awesome at giving these mums simple take home tips and strategies to carve out some ME time, stressing the important of self-care, downtime and balance.  What I’m really crap at is taking my own advice!! Hey, I’m not perfect, and I certainly don’t expect my patients to be. But the truth is that I’m really bad at looking after myself.  I catch myself stressing the small stuff, getting anxious over something menial, feeling stretched between being the mum I want to be and having the career that really lights me up.  On top of that being a first-class wife, dog mama, daughter, friend…the list goes on.  Thing is… this mum gig is TOUGH. For all of us, and I’m certainly not immune.

The thing that I am learning to be really good at however is ‘awareness’. Sounds really simple, maybe too simple, but I’m talking about actually asking yourself regularly, “How am I doing?” and “what do I need” and then speaking up and letting those nearest and dearest know where you’re at. I know this doesn’t sound like rocket science, but as a mum, when do we have the time to really check in with ourselves and ask these questions? 

The definition of self-awareness is “being aware of different aspects of the self, including traits, behaviors and feelings. It is a psychological state in which oneself becomes the focus of attention.” As a working mum of the 3-year-old I’m hard pressed to find half an hour most days to “focus attention on oneself”!!! So, while this concept seems simple, in mum reality its super challenging.

So, what can we do? Start by finding 5 minutes in your day wherever you can, I find in the car on the way to or from work works for me. Take 5 long slow deep belly breaths to relax and become present.  Then ask yourself those two magical questions, “how am I doing” and “what do I need”.  Sometimes the answer is simple (chocolate!!), sometimes it’s more complicated than a quick trip to the shop!  But it always comes back to awareness.  So even if you don’t act on anything you at least practiced some awareness and like any practice, the more we do it a habit is created and that’s when the magic happens.

So I may be a hypocrite but I’m definitely aware of that, because none of us are perfect, but I’m trying my hardest to pave the way for all the beautiful mamas out there so that we can all be the best versions of our imperfect heroic selves.

Are your hormones to blame?

Are your Hormones to blame?

Lets get them back in balance

Period pain, PMS and irregular cycles are not normal. These things are your body‘s way of telling you that something is out of balance and the odds are that your hormones are to blame.

Stress, poor diet, overwork, over exercise and environmental toxins can all contribute to a hormonal shit storm. And we are not just talking PMS, in a lot of cases this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reproductive health concerns. There is a growing occurrence of PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid issues, adrenal fatigue and unexplained infertility.

As an acupuncturist with a keen interest and background in women’s health I regularly treat the symptoms of these health conditions. In most cases the presenting symptoms can be varied and at times complicated, however they can mostly be treated successfully naturally or in conjunction with medical interventions. But it takes time, a multifaceted treatment approach, hard work and an appropriately qualified practitioner.

I’m a firm believer that we can’t expect the outcome to change unless we change our behaviours. It’s the small things that we do each day that impacts our health, not the sometimes things.

I could write a very long book on this subject, but today I just wanted to share with you my three top tips to kick start good hormonal health.  And they are easy peasy!!

Diet

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or make things complicated with your diet.  Start by adding some more green vegetables from the cruciferous family into your diet (broccoli, spinach, collard greens, cabbage etc) or get a good greens powder.  Also sprinkle some seeds on your salads or add them to smoothies – flaxseeds, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, hemp seeds etc. These foods help to support good hormonal balance.

Stress

Life is stressful, we can’t avoid it, the trick is to learn to manage our stress. Good hormonal balance comes from a happy and calm adrenal gland, so start by consciously winding down from your day with a solid evening routine – turn off the screens, read a good book, take a hot bath with epsom salts and lavender oil (yass!), do a yin yoga class, start a journal or gratitude diary or relax with a ten minute mediation before bed.  Anything that gets you calm and breathing deeply will make a world of difference to your hormonal health and the bonus is a good night’s sleep!

Environmental toxins

They are the hidden villain when it comes to hormonal health.  They can wreak havoc with your hormones, and this is very much and increasing issue in Womans health.  Start by doing some simple swaps with your household cleaning products and personal care items.  You don’t have to move to the country and grow an organic veggie garden, but you can start by making good choices when it comes to the products that you consume, put on your skin and breathe in every day. There are options for every budget, do your research, get interested in the ingredients in the products you use and limit chemicals where possible.

If you feel like you need further support in this area book in for a Chinese Medicine consultation, Acupuncture is amazing for hormonal balance, plus we can help with individualised diet and lifestyle advice and recommend supplements to get you back into balance.

Is all the doom and gloom effecting your health?

Are you sick of reading doom and gloom all over the place?  And do you think this is, in fact, making you sick?

I was pondering this just now while I was trying to write a blog post on stress and the effects that too much stress can have on our health.  You see, I was busy reading up all about how stress impacts the adrenals, the adrenal cortex, cortisol regulation and how messing all that up can lead to all this bad stuff. And I while I was totally absorbed and interested I noticed that I started to feel really bad, I got a headache, felt a bit lethargic and basically just wanted to retreat to my couch with a blanket and a puppy.

That’s when it occurred to me that reading about all this stress was actually making me stressed! Like having all this information at the tips of our fingers can sometimes not be an awesome thing for our health. Knowledge. It’s all great until it starts to mess with your head. Too much of a good thing may not be so great after all.

Have you ever Dr googled your health symptoms and noticed that literally every symptom can take you to a cancer diagnosis? Got a runny nose, it could be cancer. I’m not trying to make cancer funny, because it’s not, my point is that in our quest for all this knowledge we may be creating a whole lot of paranoia along the way.  And I’m not sure that’s helping anyone.

So what do we do?  Good question.  Very good question.  And I honestly think it’s the one thing that most people just don’t really have a handle on these days.  The shear rate of information getting thrown at us from all directions these days is quite astonishing when you think about it. And I’m playing catch up on this as much as the next person. But there are some things that I find helpful.

Awareness. Identifying what drains my energy is a good place to start for me, like the blog writing today, obviously researching health and wellness is part of my job, but that doesn’t mean I have to go in depth and write about the bad stuff, so changing my mindset is something I really try to work on and hopefully by doing that I am creating a positive blog space for you all to enjoy!

Minimising is key for me. Once you work out what drains you then minimise your exposure. I don’t watch the news, read newspapers or generally get involved in conversations around current affairs, it makes me worried, sad and sometimes angry, so I choose not to expose myself to too much of that sort of thing. Life just feels better for me like that. If I do get exposed to something and start to worry about it, then I do my best to shut down any negativity and paranoia before it takes hold.

Choose the positive. Find ways to expose yourself to more and more positivity. I try to practice gratitude daily which I find helps. Also, Social media, it gets a bad rap a lot of the time but it’s something that I personally find helps me a lot.  I choose only to follow brands and people that are uplifting, inspiring and funny. I limit scrolling as much as possible and try not to do it of an evening. On the flip side I know that the socials can be quite draining for some, so it’s all about finding your own awareness around all of this and navigating through this digital age with purpose.

So while I go off and find a couch and puppy to cuddle, hit me up with the things that you do to lift yourself above all the doom and gloom….

What is the difference between Acupuncture and Dry Needling?

This is a question I commonly get asked in the clinic, so there seems to be a lot of confusion over it! Are Acupuncture and Dry Needling one of the same or a totally different treatment approach? We thought we would clear up any confusion for you!

Acupuncture uses Traditional Chinese Medicine principles to address both systematic internal conditions as well as musculoskeletal conditions. It uses thin flexible needles that are inserted into specific points on the body, either locally or distally, along energetic channels using a variety of techniques and needle stimulation. Acupuncturists use appropriate diagnostic techniques and point selection to resolve obstruction to the flow of qi and blood in the channels, balance and harmonise yin and yang and treat the underlying cause of a condition or disease which then benefits a person’s overall health and wellness.

A qualified Acupuncture practitioner has completed a four-year Bachelor of Health Science degree which includes a minimum of 500 hours of hands on clinical experience plus biomedical anatomy and physiology knowledge. They are registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency (APHRA), just like your GP, and adhere to strict industry standards, guidelines and code of ethics.

A treatment using Dry needling involves using a thin flexible needle, similar to acupuncture, and inserted into a myofascial trigger point to achieve a localised twitch response which aims to release muscular tension and pain in that area.

The Benefits of dry needling is that if preformed correctly it can quickly and effectively relieve acute muscular spasm by resetting the muscle fibers, reduce pain and improve mobility.

Dry needling can be preformed by your Acupuncturist as part of your overall treatment however can also be performed by Practitioners such as a physiotherapist, osteopath, musculoskeletal therapist or massage therapist.  It is usually an adjunct to their core treatment modality and qualifications are generally obtained in a post graduate short course and the practice is not regulated by any governing body.

So basically apart from using the same kind of needle, Acupuncture and Dry Needling are totally different treatments, are used for very different reasons and require varied qualifications for the practitioner.

It is important when seeking treatment of any modality to check on your therapists qualification and experience in their field, but also to ask questions to make sure that the treatment you are getting is suitable for your needs.