Central Path Blog

It’s no secret that many people in the Boston area suffer from low back pain. Lower back pain can stem from numerous causes and can affect sleep, eating habits, but most importantly your overall quality of life.

Acupuncture is very effective at treating lower back pain. In fact acupuncture might have grown so popular in recent years because of its unique ability to form a multi-pronged attack against low back pain.

In essence, acupuncture is able to provide general pain relief, anti-inflammatory effects, increased blood flow and relaxed supporting muscles while also helping to create proper structure within the body.

As an acupuncturist one of the main things that I do every single day with every single patient is to analyze the structure of their body to see if they are aligned correctly. Without alignment we are like a poorly designed building waiting to fall to the ground with a 1.2 scale earth quake. In order to have optimal performance of your body we must strive to have optimal alignment in our body.

Right as you are reading this article grab your t-shirt, sweater, or whatever garment you are wearing and pull down in the area around your navel towards your feet. What do you see?

If done correctly you will see lines in your shirt – these lines are what happens when the fascia or connective tissue in the body is misaligned. As a basic review ligaments connect bone to bone, tendons connect muscle to bone and FASCIA connects EVERYTHING to EVERYTHING. It is one of the most important factors in correcting posture and alignment problems.

Here’s the good news – acupuncture has distinct influence over fascial planes. Many acupuncture points on meridians are located on or over fascia planes in the body and can help trigger symptomatic relief.

And that’s not all. With proper acupuncture care beyond symptomatic relief acupuncture can help change the structure of your body and your alignement. We are able to as we say, “treat the roots and the branch of the tree.” Without watering or addressing the underlying CAUSE of your lower back pain symptomatic relief my occur, but long term it’s very likely to come back.

If you’re in the Boston, Waltham, Newton, Lexington or other metro west areas I strongly encourage you to give my office a call.

PS
Here’s an acupuncture secret that can help ease your lower back problems: the ear.  Check out the list of points in the ear and find a tender area using a q-tip or cotton swab - and press for 30 seconds?  Can you feel the pain relaxing?

How to Achieve Vitality in your Life with Acupuncture

Vitality is a word that conjures up images of strength, endless energy and whole-body-health.  Ideally, living a life of wellness goes far beyond living without pain or symptoms, it means living a vital life.

Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine can help you along the path towards optimal spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health.  Along the way it is sometimes helpful to identify the various stages of this process.

Symptomatic Care:

Most patients begin acupuncture because their symptoms have simply become too overwhelming.  Whether it’s pain, an internal disorder, emotional disorder or you know something in your life has to change, this stage of care focuses on alleviating your symptoms.  Each visit builds on the next and symptoms begin to dissipate.  Usually the longer or more chronic the condition the longer it takes to treat.  Other variables to consider include age, gender, lifestyle, and your overall constitution.  After symptoms are reeled under control you enter into the corrective care stage.

Corrective Care:

During this stage of care your signs and symptoms have been drastically reduced and treatments help to maintain your level of vital health.  Some flare-ups may occur, but it is important to realize that this is also the time when many long-standing health issues or underlying causes of your condition are being addressed.

Preventative Care:

During this stage of wellness you enter fully into living a vital life.  Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine treatments occur less frequently or even on a maintenance basis.  Many patients come in for monthly tune-ups simply because life with acupuncture helps them feel great.

In some villages in China the acupuncturists were only compensated when their patients continued to be healthy. Sun Tzu the famous military strategist never sent his troops into battle without proper training just as your body needs proper adjustments and training from time to time to run at optimal performance.  Along with a healthy diet and proper exercise many of our patients find that acupuncture is an invaluable resource and must-have part of their vital lifestyle.

Structural integration of the body is of paramount importance to multiple problems in the body – to name a few allergies, depression, sleep apnea, chronic back pain, adrenal disorders, pelvic pain, knee pain and / or other lower body extremities are some common examples. It’s important to almost think of our bodies as a tower or skyscraper; if one segment of the body is off it can cause many problems throughout the spine.

This is one of the reasons why chiropractic therapy is so effective – because they are aligning the spine and with proper alignment, fascia, nerves, muscles, ligaments can all relax release and act naturally – which is by the way relaxed, efficient and effective. Our bodies were not made to hold stress and tightness – it’s just our modern day habits that cause these behaviors – like sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours per day.

If you observe animals you will see their natural movement. Have you ever seen an awkward cat? Perhaps – but more often then not their movements are precise, coordinated, and controlled – in a sense they are natural.

The pelvis is of paramount importance to the entire structure of the body. What do you do when you build a house? You start with the foundation. The pelvis is the interface between lower extremities and the spine for shock absorption, and load transfer. It’s the body’s center of gravity (specifically the center of gravity is generally found in front of the 2^nd sacral vertebrae – right in the heart of the pelvis. The pelvis is a frequent culprit for referring pain into the lower extremities. It can manifest as hamstring pain, knee pain, calf pain ect.

Aligning and relaxing the muscles in and around the pelvis can solve a host of problems because of its propensity for tightness. In a sense malalignment affects the entire kinetic chain. Hard falls, muscular imbalances, birth, postural problems can all lead to pelvic imbalances, as can weak abdominals muscles or tight hip flexors. Sometimes muscles that control sacro-iliac joint can go into spasm on one side that shortens that leg. Imagine walking around on a short leg all day – don’t you think that will cause problems in the mid and upper back – yes!

So what now? How do I know if I have pelvic imbalances or structural problems? Easy – come into Central Path Acupuncture and Wellness and we can help access leg length, PSIS height, and scapular equality and diagnose postural problems. If you’re in the Boston, Waltham, or Newton area check us out! We promise you’ll feel better.

So what is the #1 Chinese Herbal Tea (of course in my humble opinion) that you can make yourself for Optimal Health This Winter?

3 Simple Ingredients:

Chrysanthemum, Mint, and Honeysuckle. Mix these herbs in roughly equal amounts and strain or soak with slightly less than boiling water. These tea tastes great AND is a phenomenal tool to help you ward off those mid-season colds and flu. Not only that but it tastes great.

Drinking tea is highly underrated. According to Chinese Medicine, tea warms the digestive system, which helps your body “cook” and extract valuable nutrients. Plus we all know that our medicine is made from the extracted ingredients of herbs and other medicinal plants and objects from the natural world. Why not get your medicine and like it!

More about the ingredients:

Chrysanthemum, known for it’s pinyin name Ju Hua or it’s more common American name Mums, is mostly a Holiday or decorative plant in the western world. However in China is well known to improve vision, soothe the eyes and relax headaches.

Mint or Bo He is an ancient herb in China dating over two thousand years. Probably many of you have mint tea in your cabinet right now! Mind can help cool bothersome blisters, cold sores, canker sores, and soothe an upset stomach.

The last herb, Honeysuckle or Jin Yin Hua, is probably the least known medicinal of the three. This herb dates back to a medical text written in 659 AD. This herb also helps to relieve heat and cool the body.

So where can you get these 3 herbs in a nice little baggie? Easy – Central Path Acupuncture and Wellness.

Various Differences Between Japanese and Chinese Acupuncture

One of the questions that people ask often – at least those that have had acupuncture before – is what type of acupuncture do you practice. This may seems like a strange question to some because isn’t acupuncture just well you know acupuncture? Well yes and no.

Acupuncture Needle Guide Tube

Recently I had a conversation with a 43-year veteran physician who is enrolled in the course I help teach at Harvard Medical School: Structural Acupuncture for Physicians. He was astounded to learn that UNLIKE western medicine there are great differences the way that acupuncturists approach problems.

One acupuncturist may decide to (in our language) tonify the qi of the kidneys while another may emphasize dispersing the stagnant liver blood. In reality acupuncture styles are as variant as types of cuisines! Many styles existed in ancient China and other East Asian countries and the predominant acupuncturists were often known for a specific specialty. Acupuncture was and is still a familial medicine with generations and generations passing secrets down inside the family. Other Chinese Medical practitioners might decide to apprentice with a known master for several years before branching out on their own. Therefore we are left with many different styles and many different treatments.

It’s often said that in acupuncture and Chinese Medicine the same disease can call for many different treatments and many different treatments can treat the same disease.

Chinese acupuncture that is taught in the west is principally what we call TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine. This form of medicine was synthesized by our beloved Chairman Mao in the 1950’s. He took a group of PHYSICIANS that also practiced acupuncture and threw them in a room for who knows how long and out came this standardized version of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. As a result the TCM acupuncture is very much an herbal version of acupuncture. Many of the family secrets and differences in style were thrown the to side in favor of a unified front that could be taught as the one acupuncture.

Acupuncture in Japan is a different story. For one classics from the Han Dynasty were often favored in Japan. Also even to this day acupuncture is a profession for the blind. As a result many styles of Japanese acupuncture are heavily reliant on palpation and do not emphasize tongue diagnosis. The insertion tube was invented in Japan to aide blind practitioners in painlessly placing needles in the body. Another difference that exists between Chinese and Japanese acupuncture is thinner needles that are generally inserted much more shallowly.

Whatever your case is I believe the most important aspect of acupuncture style is to find a system that resonates with you – for the practitioner and for the patient. Acupuncture is an energetic mechanism and there always exists a dynamic interplay between patient and practitioner. First and foremost this dynamic should be comfortable, safe, and an element of trust should exist. After that acupuncture styles can come into play in terms of helping you find the acupuncturist that will help you gain maximum results.

Many people that come into my office complain that during the winter months their bodies shut down and go into hibernation. With today’s modern world many people struggle with this biological habit of our body, but don’t know what to do. Here is a brief explanation of how you can eat according to the season and specifically eat for winter.

It goes without saying that one of the conditions I see the most in my office is adrenal exhaustion, which in Chinese Medicine is intimately connected with the kidneys. Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine do a GREAT job of strengthening the adrenals and the kidneys so if you are suffering from seasonal affect disorder or simply the winter blues try this diet and come in and get some treatments! You’re body will know the difference. I digress…

The tastes of the winter season are salty and bitter. In the 5-element theory the kidneys and the element of water rule winter. Salty and bitter foods promote sinking and centering – which bring nourishment to the lower abdomen the area we call the Dan Tien or Tan Tien. Caution though – excess of salt creates tightness and weakens the organs of the heart and kidneys.

Examples of bitter foods include lettuce, watercress, endive, escarole, turnip, celery, asparagus, alfalfa, carrot top, rye, oats, quinoa, and amaranth. Citrus peels are also bitter and are a commonly used Chinese Herb. They make a pleasant tea or flavored warm water in the winter.

Some salty foods include miso, soy sauce, seaweeds, salt, millet, barley, and any food made with the addition of a moderate amount of salt.

If you are the type of individual who always has cold extremities or is always cold in the winter it’s a good idea to add warming foods. You need to nourish your yang energy. Warming foods could include adding black pepper, hot peppers, chili powder or a nice curry. Other foods which you can try are garlic, onions, chives, scallions, leeks, chicken, lamb, trout, and salmon. Indian foods are great for nourish your yang during the winter months – try fenugreek seeds, fennel, anise, dried ginger, and cinnamon bark. Many of these ingredients can be found already pre-mixed into a nice gram masala. Making your own is easy and fun.

Try this out:

• 4 tbsps coriander seeds

• 1 tbsp cumin seeds

• 1 tbsp black peppercorns

• 1 ½ tsps black cumin seeds (shahjeera)

• ¾ tsp black cardamom (3-4 large pods approx)

• ¾ tsp cloves

• ¾ tsp cinnamon (2 X 1” pieces)

• ¾ tsp crushed bay leaves

All of these spices are considered warm and when you mix them together you can then lightly brown them using olive oil or a high heat high quality oil (safflower for example) and / or butter or gee (clarified butter). Then you can grind these herbs or add them to a soup, stir fry, or use a rub for a lamb or chicken (if you eat meat!).

Yum.

To actually achieve benefits from this diet you must follow it true to form during the winter months. You can’t just eat your normal salads after a week of yang tonifying and kidney nourishing. In general soups, cooked foods, roasted foods and baked foods are far better to eat than raw foods during the winter months.

Additionally you can try taking vitamin D, vitamin A and vitamin B12. These rich nutrients can aide against adrenal disorders, stave off seasonal affect syndrome, and some say promote jing – or the vital energy of the kidney.

Other vital foods include making your own almond milk (soak blanched almonds overnight and use a blender to create a delicious milk adding honey or agave as a sweetener) or even eating Royal Jelly and bee pollen. These honeybee products are incredibly concentrated in vital nutrients.

Finally sometimes we must just embrace the season. Too many times we feel the resistance of nature and it causes us internal strife. Realize that winter is a time for relaxation, enjoyable but not extended time outside, sleep, recuperation and enjoyment of the quiet months of yin before the crazy busy summer yang months are upon us.

I recently came across a great new article in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health concerning nausea and pregnancy (click here). It’s entitled Evidence-Based Approaches to Managing Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy : Conclusion and written by Tekoa L. King, CNM, MPH and Patricia Aikins Murphy.

I will summarize this article and add some relevant points concerning acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine.

Nausea during pregnancy can range from being mild discomfort to significant on the floor I can’t do anything debilitating type of why did I get pregnant! If you didn’t know that you are pregnancy nausea and vomiting are among the early detecting signs of pregnancy. According to this article at least 50–80% of pregnancy women experience nausea or vomiting during their first trimester. This condition generally peaks at 8-12 weeks and resolves at or around 18 weeks for most women.

What’s the deal with morning sickness when I have this all the day anyways? Most women experience nausea and vomiting regardless of whether or not it’s in the morning. Bad name I guess. In fact in a study that required 160 women to keep daily journals (by Lacroix et al in 2000) concluded that 74% of women reported nausea and “morning sickness” occurred in only 1.8%; 80% reported nausea lasting all day. Nausea affects the ability of pregnant women to work and perform normal daily tasks! And what’s worse news – nausea and vomiting may actually be a sign of a healthy pregnancy. Studies also show that if nausea ain’t present is actually associated with spontaneous miscarriage. Yikes.

So what is all this nausea caused by anyways? Well according to an article published in the Journal of Gynecology (Goodwin, TW, 2002) endocrine, gastrointestinal, vestibular (hearing), and olfactory (smelling) factors; possible genetic predisposition; and responses that are modified by behavioral cues, support (or lack thereof), and psychology are all causes. Yikes again.

What’s more it seems that nausea probably also stems from your bodies changes in hormonal levels – specifically that beautiful hormone with all love – estrogen.

Kindly this article does also mention that alternative treatments include: herbs, dietary restriction, hydration, psychotherapy, psychotropic medication, and total parenteral nutrition. Historically, treatments have also included cervical dilation, leeches, sensory deprivation, and vocal exercises. Well thank you. However – on to more specifics.

Diet:

1. Eat a diet of many or several small meals and if there is a time of day that you tend to be more nauseous try keep a small amount of food in your belly!
2. Try and eat foods that have a lower glycemic index – meaning that your bodies digests them slowly
3. Try and see if your prenatal vitamin is causing some of the nausea. Although scary as it maybe go off your vitamins for a few days and see if your condition improves

Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture

1. Regular acupuncture treatments before pregnancy and during pregnancy can greatly reduce nausea and vomiting. Acupuncture is able to adjust hormone levels and produce harmony within the body. We call this balancing yin and yang.

From a Cochrane review published in 2003[4] one can conclude that compared to no treatment, acupuncture remedies significantly reduced nausea.

1. Use Chinese Herbs. Ginger, chamomile, peppermint are all traditional Chinese herbs that you can find as teas everywhere. Drink, drink, and drink these teas. You can add small amounts of honey or agave nectar if you deserve a little sweetness. Studies have compared the use of ginger with vitamin B6 and found that ginger is at least as effective. You can find ginger in capsule form at any Wholefoods or natural food stores.

Hypnosis, behavior modification (be the free and easy wanderer (okay that’s the name of Chinese Herbal Formula – but you get the point right?), and Psychotherapy are also options.

So to conclude there is no one therapy that is the best thing to do. As always you should stock your tool belt with a plethora of hammers, nails, and tape measures throw them all at the wall and see what sticks – i.e. See what works and use that combination.

Happy pregnancy!

About Applying Acupressure:

Simply apply gentle constant stimulation to the acupressure point for :30 - :60 seconds more if symptoms are more severe.  Application a few times a day maybe necessary.  Dosage is a funny thing - sometimes less is more and sometimes constant application is king - play around and see what works.

Pericardium-6

• Chinese Name: Nei Guan (Inner Pass)
• Location: about an inch and half from the palmar side of the wrist inbetween the two tendons
• Function: a main point for nausea, upset stomach, anger, irritability, and anxiety

Large-Intestine 10-11 Area

• Chinese Name: Qu Chi or Pool at the Bend
• Location: when lying on his or her back with arms placed along body, face up find the end of the crease of the elbow (towards the outside of the body) and come down about a half inch – try to find little tiny gelosses or “gummies.” Often these points are tender
• Function: enhances immune system, improves lymphatic circulation, allows the body to release heat and / or aides with high fever

Spleen-6:

• Chinese Name: Sanyinjiao or 3 Yin Cross
• Location: about 3 fingers up from the middle ankle bone (3 of the patients fingers) between the calf muscle and the tibia bone
• Function: great when use with PC-6. Moves and circulates blood, soothes irritability, calming, helps fatigue or drowsy feeling especially after eating, reduces stomach aches

Yin Tang:

• Chinese Name: Greater Yin (the 3^rd Eye Point)
• Location: between the medial ends of the eyebrows
• Function: soothes and calms the spirit, helps insomnia, reduces stress, stops headaches, opens nasal passages

Governing Vessel 14

• Chinese Name: Da Zhui or Great Hammer
• Location: underneath the 7^th Cervical vertebrae, also when patient is sitting up where a necklace would naturally fall. Great Hammer is named because generally it’s the biggest of the upper neck vertebrae
• Function: very important point when used with L1-10-11 area to reduce heat, fever. It is the meeting point of ALL of the yang meridians and is very powerful. Main point for colds, spontaneous swests, upper back / neck stiffness,

Lately I’ve been thinking about the differences between Tai Chi and Yoga and why yoga dominates Tai Chi in popularity even though they are both mind-body exercises. As a practitioner of yoga for almost ten years and a Tai Chi practitioner for over five years I’m often puzzled at this question myself. I for one am not able to stop either exercise as I love the benefits I get out of both. Here is a basic run down of some of the advantages that I have found by practicing Tai Chi and yoga.

Tai Chi

In the beginning I was drawn to Tai Chi because it was a martial art – or so I thought. I now believe that I was drawn to it because it teachers us to move differently. The first time I took a Tai Chi class I was amazed at the energy I felt moving through my palms and arms. Later I learned that the Tai Chi is not the “Qi” or energy that we think of most in Chinese Medicine rather it translates to Grand Ultimate Fist. However, after practicing Tai Chi and working as an acupuncturist and I do realized that it is a sort of martial Qi Gong (which literally means Qi Work).

After a few weeks of regular Tai Chi practice I began to realize that Tai Chi allowed some muscles to relax in my body while others began to strengthen. This is particularly true of some of the posture stabilization muscles like the paraspinals, multifidi, and rototores group. This muscles along with some of those in the pelvic bowl and the abdominal muscles allow us to stand straight as a flag poll.

The importance of this as follows: correct posture and alignment help move our bodies into what I call optimal functioning alignment. Did you know as little as a 3-5 mm shift in our occipital bone (back of the lower skull) can cause chronic headaches, and partial hearing loss. Imagine what happens when our hips shift forward and up. Imagine if you are standing with incorrect posture even three hours and day and once you fix that how much more energy you’ll have.

Now imagine that your body in optimal functioning alignment is a perfectly aligned machine. We don’t allow our cars to ride on the road with balancing them right? Well why do we go around with 1 shoulder higher than the other or one hip all jacked up? (Try it look in the mirror – or have your friend, wife, mother ect check your leg length by lying down and pulling your legs together and see if one is longer than the other).

Imagine your body’s alignment focusing so that both the pelvis and the sphenoid bone (an amazing facial bone) are balanced and then your breathing becomes open – not in just one nostril but both. We don’t breathe out of one lung do we? Imagine that with correct alignment we can start to move with purpose, strength, power, and more natural and fluid movements. Good God (said ala Will Farrell) we’re very awkward in some many movements.

Tai Chi teachers us to move naturally using positions that use share movements through our bones, our tendons, ligaments, and joints. It allows for proper circulation so our hands and feet and other extremities (do we have any others?) are actually warm and relaxed.

Tai Chi teachers us to move fluidly and allows our bodies begin to feel – not think relaxed, but feel relaxed. There’s a difference. You’d be surprised how many people think they are relaxed and during an acupuncture treatment they find out how tight they are!

When weight lifters get that “pump” from lifting around iron – yes think Arnold – what is happening is that more muscles fibers are activated then normally. Eventually as muscles become toned – more muscles fibers cycle through an excitory process than a relaxed process – creating that look and feel of a pumped up body all the time.

In Chinese Medicine and in sports for that matter – this is not where true power and strength come from. It comes from relaxed, loose muscles with proper alignment! Just look at sprinters and swimmers two of the biggest power sports out there – what are they doing before they get ready to compete – shake, shake, shaking that booty. Well maybe at least their arms, legs, neck ect.

Tai Chi is amazing. It’s taught me the value of natural strength, how to move like a tiger, fly like a crane and walk like a turtle. Okay well maybe not all of that, but the next time your out check out the natural movement of a squirrel as it looks down from above running on a telephone wire – perfect natural movement.

After about 50 years maybe I will begin to understand it more. This is typical of the Asian mentality towards true mastery. As a side note what other sport can you do for 70 years and be way better than you were at 20. Isn’t this something we should all invest in! I digress…

Yoga

My yoga education actually started when I was in 6^th grade with my gym teacher Jennifer Minter ran a 6-week session for us. I still remember trying my first arm balances and my head hurting after a :30 second headstand.

In my early late teens I attended a few more classes and I began for the first time to feel how my body could be more open and relaxed than it was. Especially living that college lifestyle eating pizza, drinking cheap beer, and pumping as much iron as I could – more is better right? Wrong.

After I graduated college my mother – a long timer practitioner of yoga – started teaching classes. I decided that it couldn’t hurt to try a class at my local gym and I feel in love with yoga. My muscles – once closed, taught, and wound began to unravel.

In my few decades of living on this Earth it was hard to believe how many memories, frustrations and stuck emotions were hiding in my hips, hamstrings and shoulders. I began to understand what it meant have alignment and my woeful posture slowly began to take proper shape.

Yoga opens, relaxes muscles, and teachers your body alignment in differing postures. Now you’re saying alignment and natural positioning – isn’t that like Tai Chi?

Bridging Both Practices

As I near my 10^th year and perhaps eight year of consistent at least once per week yoga practice it dawns on me that without the Tai Chi and yoga I would be missing something. While Tai Chi has taught me how to move naturally and in a fluid manner yoga has opened my body in a way that Tai Chi didn’t. Sometimes I think to myself how can I do both of these practices and truly achieve mastery in either one of them? Maybe I can’t, but I love them both so much I will continue on my path.

Are you one of those people that are what I call coffin sleepers – do you wake up in the same position that you went to sleep in without even so much as a wrinkle in your comforter?  Or are you one of those people who sleep like you’re rolling down a hill as a little kid?  I’m the coffin type and I want to share these six tips can at least help you prepare your external environment so that your internal environment (your body and mind) can be quiet and sleep.

First of all (yes this is my plug) let me say that acupuncture and Chinese Herbal medicine can definitely help you get better sleep.  So many of my patients – especially first time clients report back that they slept amazingly for the first few days after sleep – in time this becomes their regular sleep pattern and often times they aren’t even aware that they aren’t sleeping that well.

However, acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine should always be secondary to creating the proper environment to sleep.  Preparation is key.  It’s just like you wouldn’t go to your wedding in some old jeans and a Midnight Oil t-shirt – or maybe you would.  Preparing your external environment will train your body, your mind, and your energy to rest.  When infants are born they must be trained to follow a proper sleep schedule.  Sometimes we as adults because of one reason or another fall into bad habits and therefore we need to remove all external distractions so we can retrain ourselves to sleep.  So….

1.    No TV, laptop, movies or anything else in the bedroom.  The bedroom is reserved for the act of sleeping and well (is this a G or an R-rated blog)

2.    Wash and change sheets, duvet cover, ect. once per week.  This will cleanse your room and allow you to get a fresh start weekly.  I find this is particularly nice to do on a Sunday night – fresh sheets to start the week – awwwwww yes!

3.    Make sure the room is as quiet as possible and if you live in a noisy place use white noise.  Sleeping with a fan or a white noise machine can greatly increase your ability to sleep.  Your body is trained like that of an animal.

I know that if the gate outside my house creeks my dog is alert and

ready to pounce on an intruder in a second.  However, it’s not necessary for our sympathetic nervous system (fight and flight part of the nervous system) to be so alert as in today’s modern world we are generally safe at night tucked in our 300-dollar Pier One 300 count Egyptian cotton sheets. Using a noise machine can help rest your ears and quiet your fears at night.

4.    Sleep with a room at a temperature below 70 degrees, but not with a window wide open.  In Chinese Medicine we have both yin and yang.  Yang is the energy of activity of sunlight and of day time.  Yin is the energy of night, cold, and rest.

During the night we have to nourish the yin without damaging the yang.  A cool room will help encourage the body to rest while a cold room or a cold body – including head, feet and hands creates constriction and tension.

5.    Position your bed correctly.  This means position it at the master position of the room.  Do not place the bed next to the door in the “shopkeepers” position – this is where the shopkeeper would sleep and if he had someone come in he would jump out of bed and be ready to serve them.

Do not place the head of the bed towards the door.  This is the “endangered” position.  It doesn’t allow for the sympathetic nervous system to fully relax because your subconscious mind cannot fully let go because it is more susceptible to someone ie. the local caveman bully attacking you.

6.    Clean your bedroom and organize everything THOROUGHLY.  This is my last requirement, but I am also emphasizing that this is the most important.  This means all closets, drawers, and bedside tables.  There should be no more than 3 items on any surface.

There should be absolutely nothing on window sills.  Nothing on the floor, and ESPECIALLY nothing under the bed.

7. Believe in yourself and it will happen

Your body will obey your external environment meaning that if there is external clutter there will be internal clutter.  You job is to make everything quiet, clean and relaxed.  

May you find your path towards a deep, full and relaxing sleep!