I’ve been teaching breath work to patients with astounding results, and want to send it home with you al
I hope I’m not jumping the gun, but I do believe we’re turning a seasonal corner. I love the excitement and possibility that comes with Spring and how little surprises pop up on different corners, a daffodil bud here, a light green burst of growth on the brown branches, some pink flowers on trees.
On this topic of new growth, some of you have been hearing of my recent seminar travels lately to expand the scope of my practice. This month I traveled to San Antonio, TX to learn a powerful treatment protocol for Fibromyalgia and any layered chronic pain and fatigue syndromes. It was with the consortium of practitioners that I collaborate with, forming a system not unlike the mayo clinic aspect in which everyone in our group benefits from the collective experience and wisdom of the others. So many Chinese medicine practitioners go it alone and I think I and my patients greatly benefit from this association. The video below was created and commissioned by my colleagues at Khoo Wellness in Albuquerque who have been employing this protocol, learned and widely used in China, and now finally spreading out around this country. The protocol can be administered at home, via phone or video chats with me, or via office visits. It’s pretty versatile. Take a look and if you or anyone you know is suffering from this or similar pain and fatigue, share it with them as well.
As I mention above, a large part of it involves breath work that can be categorized under the heading of Medical Qi Gong or Tai Chi. Breathing is obviously good for everyone, but there different types of breath work for different types of people. Have you ever gone to a yoga class or a meditation class, or simply been told to breathe deeply or slowly and evenly and gotten a head rush or felt anxious, or had your blood pressure rise afterwards? This is because those breathing techniques were not for you. I will tell you the secret right now, and you don’t even have to come in to benefit from this: emphasize the exhale more than the inhale. Heave a great big sigh. If you find yourself feeling tense or anxious, or with a tension headache, the best thing you can do is to SIGH. Not just once, but repeatedly. Trouble falling asleep? Before bed, give yourself anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes to continually sigh: remember, a sigh has that quick and forceful exhale. When are you done? When you yawn or break into a sweat. If the latter, dry off and go to sleep, don't shower. Done consistently and with purpose, you will start to see changes.
A few of my heacdache patients this month have seen a dramatic decrease using sighing and breathwork. Our bodies are capable of so much, we just have to learn how to nudge them in the right direction!
I’ve been giving out some other tidbits, stretches and information on my social media accounts: on Instagram I am ab_acupuncture_nyc which get fed to my Facebook page (AB Acupuncture – Annalisa Brown, L.Ac) as well as Twitter (@ABacuNYC) Please like/follow my pages if you are on social media so I can spread the word locally.
I wish you all a happy Passover and Holy Weekend and hope that the promise and joy of Spring stay with you for the coming months! Breathe it all in! (or out!)