Joyful Spirit Acupuncture re-opens in Brattleboro, VT

April 2024 Update:

Joyful Spirit Acupuncture has reopened in a new home in Brattleboro, VT. Joyful Spirit Acupuncture is now in a spacious martial arts/community center, a remodeled church in West Brattleboro, at 11 Cottage Street, Brattleboro, VT. My contact information remains the same (717-706-4826, lkatelac@gmail.com).

I look forward to hearing from you!

Warmly, Lisa

     Every season ushers in changes. This fall, several changes are occurring in my extended family. For a while, I’ve been contemplating a sabbatical so that I may better attend to my family. I have a deep appreciation for my acupuncture practice while also accepting the reality of the timing needed.

     Joyful Spirit Acupuncture closed on October 17, 2022 in Silver Spring, MD. I may pick up my practice down the road in the Southern Vermont area, although this is to be determined.  

     My contact information remains the same (717-706-4826, lkatelac@gmail.com).

Warmly, Lisa

Relax into Peacefulness

“It’s very hard to grow because it’s difficult to let go of the models of ourselves in which we’ve invested so heavily.” — Ram Dass

Thank you Ram Dass for simply saying a deep truth. I could recognize this wisdom for my own life and be receptive to it because I recently had a retreat in New Hampshire, including sitting in a cool breeze visiting my friend and her husband in her garden and pond (in the above photo). I could not help but relax into peacefulness as I sat looking at the pond and plants. This garden reminded me that life change isn't an instant change, as nature can take decades to grow into full beauty.

I’ve noticed in myself and others that it is hard to find a daily rhythm where we balance giving out, our actions, with relaxing and replenishing our energy. Five Element Acupuncture excels at helping you find this balance. It’s a way of rebalancing that considers you as a whole person, healing and balancing the physical, mental & emotional, and spirit levels of your energetic nature.

Interbeing with Trees; Reflection turns to conversation

So Monday, Memorial Day, I went to the local Brookside Botanical Gardens, for reflection ... and wanted to share my experience with you: 

After a period of reflection, it felt time to pay attention to my body felt experience of nature. Weirdly, just sitting wasn’t cutting it. What I wanted to and did do was lay on a weathered wood park bench in the 87-degree shade and look up at the impressive canopy of mixed hardwoods. As I calmed and settled, I felt the trees' presence strongly. I thought about all the things trees do and their purposes, such as creating roots to help hold the soil in place and prevent erosion. That they shelter, birds, squirrels, and hundreds of insects, their leaves release oxygen and then fall and become part of the soil eventually, and they provide shade for other plants and animals. I have gratitude that they do all that and more, yet that is still not what I was experiencing.

What was so remarkable was their tree-ness. Stunning. It was the feeling I got from their presence. Just a heart-centered beingness. An I am. There was no sense from them of “last winter was tough and it feels hard to move forward from that,” or “no, I’m not full enough, I’ve lost some branches to the wind and weather, I’m not good.”

Although they have lost branches, evident in leafless half twigs sticking out here and there. And they all varied in the fullness of their crowns. No, I felt a sense of wholeness of trees that had nothing to do with that sense of lack and suffering I have, that most humans have. And I’m not saying that trees don’t suffer these days, just I was tuned into the wholeness of their presence. As I continued looking up, occasionally watching a loose leaf roll its way to the ground, or a bird fly over their canopy, I began to feel the wholeness of my presence, which likewise has nothing to do with my physical ailments or my haircut, or if I feel someone slighted me, or my growing up conditions. Just a sense of being present to the trees.

I began to feel the trees breathing, and became aware that I began to breathe with them. Now at this point, science-minded readers might say “uh, wait a minute..” The science-minded part of me says “Yes, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I began to experience my own breathing as if it were the trees breathing.” Yet time and time again people have expressed experiences with nature as that of oneness and harmony, of nature as a healing balm, as an experience that helps them to feel less separate and isolated in the world, as a source of inspiration, guidance, and wisdom. For me, on this hot day, the trees helped me reconnect with my heart-centered place within. A place where I know just how to move forward, how to choose, and how to live. 

So with a hug for the science-minded part of myself, this was a brief touching in with the experience of spirit, of prayer as a conversation, and I realize I have been monologuing a lot and missing the direct experience of conversing with spirit and the healing and gifts that brings.  

I hope you enjoy reading this, as I appreciate sharing it with you.

Photo credit: Valiphotos, Pexels.com

Happy Sleep Recipe

Do you want to be the person who says, “I get a great night’s sleep?”

This post is for you.

So many people really struggle with getting enough sleep. I often hear from people who try one sleep support after another, still not sleeping they feel defeated, as well as exhausted. We need to put a good number of sleep supports in place at the same time. Sleep supports work together, synergistically, not separately.

It’s much like baking cookies; all the sleep support ingredients need to be used and mixed together. Flour and water are never going to make tasty treats!  

 This Happy Sleep Recipe may take some time to prepare, and the results are well worth it!

Happy Sleep Recipe

This first step is like preheating the oven:  

Consult with your doctor to determine if a sleep study is in order or if there is a medical reason for your sleep issues.  

Next:

Gather these Happy Sleep Ingredients:

Blackout curtains (or dark fleece panels and curtain ring clips)

Thermostat (locate the one that controls the bedroom temperature)

Nightlights

Amber Glasses – they must block the entire spectrum of blue light. I use clip-on BluBlox over my prescription glasses

White noise machine – such as a small room purifier, fan, or sound machine

Headspace, or other guided meditation app

Lightbox

Starchy (slow-burning) carbs  

Relaxing bedtime routine

30 minutes of daytime activity

30 minutes outside

Directions:

Install blackout curtains or fleece panels on bedroom windows. Dark-colored fleece fabric is an inexpensive alternative to curtains. You can either tack it to your walls or purchase clip-on curtain rings.

If needed, change the thermostat settings so your bedroom is cool at night.

In your bedroom, remove things that glow in the dark, or reposition them so they can’t be seen – LED displays and other lights on your computer, alarm clock, TV, etc. One option is to connect electronics to a power bar and turn the bar off at night.

Negotiate with others in the household who may have a later bedtime than you, ask them to turn their sound down, or switch to headphones one hour before your bedtime.

In your bedroom, set up a small air filter or anything that makes white noise. This is for outside noise, like traffic, that you can’t negotiate. The white noise can give your mind something to focus on as well as help block out other sounds.

If you get up to go to the bathroom at night, install nightlights so you can see without having to flip on bright lights in the middle of the night.

Set your “lights out bedtime” to 8 hours before your alarm goes off in the morning.

Get outside for 30 minutes a day in bright sunlight, and use a lightbox for 30 minutes if the weather is cloudy.

Meditate daily for at least 10 minutes a day – use guided meditation from an app like headspace unless you already have a meditation practice.

Stop caffeine consumption, including dark chocolate, after Noon.

Be active for 30 minutes a day. No strenuous exercise in the late afternoon and evening.

Stop eating sugar after 3 PM.

Eat 30 grams of starchy (slow-burning) carbs with dinner. Such as a sweet potato.

Wear amber glasses for 2 hours before bedtime. Set an alarm on your cell phone to remind you to do so.

Stop looking at screens 1 hour before your bedtime.

Start a bedtime routine 1 hour before your bedtime – whatever relaxes you – self-massage, knitting, gentle breathing, reading, light a candle, listening to relaxing music, etc. Headspace and other apps have meditations for sleep that can be part of your bedtime wind-down if you want to try that.

Get in bed and turn the lights out at your bedtime.

Notes:

It is necessary to have all the sleep support ingredients in place to truly move into consistently good sleep night after night. If you need more structure, google “Sarah Ballantyne Go To Bed Quick Start Guide.”  This has a good calendar to slowly add in all sleep supports over a 14-day period.  Sarah’s Guide is my main source for this post.

If you are waking up in the morning feeling jarred and jangled, or in a stupor, then perhaps your alarm is waking you in the middle of a sleep cycle. A good remedy for that is a wake-up alarm clock. Check out https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/HF3520_60/smartsleep

Consider your circadian rhythm in choosing your bedtime and waking times. If you tend to be up early and go to bed earlier than most, or wake later and stay up later, see if you can work with that rather than against it. The Power of When, by Michael Breus, is a good read for learning about how circadian rhythms may be affecting your sleep.

Get help for stress! Stress, ugh! be it from too much exercise, eating too much sugar or fast-burning carbs late in the day, worries and anxieties, or strong grief, can keep us awake at night. Stress can cause our cortisol hormones to spike. Cortisol is the awake hormone and its presence at night is not welcome. Cortisol can also suppress melatonin, the go to sleep hormone.

Speaking of melatonin, some people just don’t produce enough of it, especially as we age. If the above recipe falls flat, talk to your doctor about the possibility of taking melatonin (.5 – 1.0 mg for sleep).

I am not affiliated with any of the resources listedin this post.

Welcome to Something Different

Lisa Kate, LAc., Dipl.Ac., Wheaton, MD’s Classical Five-Element Acupuncturist

December 2021

Welcome to something different. This is how my acupuncture career began. I studied Classical Five-Element Acupuncture at the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture, In Louisville, Colorado.  This small acupuncture school, continuing to this day, teaches the exact curriculum as taught by the late professor JR Worsley.

I am dedicated to this way of seeing health and balance, so much so that I recently participated in an in-depth comprehensive teacher training led by ITEA’s current president, Hilary Skellon, JR Worsley’s daughter, and one of my primary supervisors. Hilary recognizes the challenges of bringing the classical five-element acupuncture curriculum forward by utilizing styles of teaching suited to today’s learners. She is brave enough to pull together experienced classical five-element acupuncturists and look forward, together, to what the needs of today‘s students and patients are. I credit my acupuncture training with helping me learn a deep understanding and respect for the integrity of the human body, mind, and spirit as it exists in nature. It is the mission of the school, as well as my mission, to contribute to the health and well-being of current and future generations. If you wish to take a further look at this school, please check out www.itea.edu. “Welcome to something different” is something of a tagline for the Institute of Taoist Education & Acupuncture.