Healing Roots Acupuncture

Late summer → Autumn 🍂

Happy Harvest!

In TCM, each season has a different relationship with the body. As we move from late summer into autumn, we begin shifting from the outward, active energy of summer toward a more inward, restorative season.

This is a time to support digestion, immunity, the lungs, energy, and our ability to adapt to change.

It’s also a reminder to slow down when you can, nourish the body, and prepare for the months ahead.

Your body is always responding to its environment and sometimes a seasonal shift is the perfect time to check in with what it needs.

A gentle reminder:
there are about 3 months left before many extended health benefits reset. If you have benefits available, this can be a good time to look at your needs and make a plan for care through the end of the year.

It’s not just needles. It’s not just pain. And no, you don’t have to “believe” in it.

There is thousands of years of clinical experience behind TCM, alongside a growing body of modern research trying to understand exactly how acupuncture works.

And honestly? That’s one of the things I love most about what I do — getting to work somewhere between ancient medicine and modern science.

Save this for the next time someone tells you acupuncture is “just placebo.” 😉

Acupuncture has been researched for far more than musculoskeletal pain — including migraine, nausea, osteoarthritis, menstrual symptoms, fertility and more.

It’s one of my favourite things about TCM: we’re not limited to treating one symptom at a time.

You don’t have to believe in acupuncture for your nervous system to respond to it.

Research comparing acupuncture with sham acupuncture has found meaningful differences in outcomes — which is one reason the “it’s just placebo” explanation is a little more complicated than people think.

Your headache doesn’t exist in isolation. Neither does your period, digestion, sleep, stress, or energy.

This is one of the foundations of TCM: we look at the whole pattern, not just the loudest symptom.

Two people can walk into my clinic with the same diagnosis and receive completely different treatments.

Your symptoms, constitution, tongue, pulse, history, and what’s happening in your body right now all help guide your treatment.

There is no one-size-fits-all acupuncture treatment.

Acupuncture has been shown to influence the autonomic nervous system — the part of your nervous system involved in things like stress, heart rate, digestion, and your body’s “fight or flight” response.

Sometimes people come in for pain and leave saying:
“I don’t know what you did, but I feel SO relaxed.” or
“I can’t believe I fell asleep with a whole bunch of needles in.”

Acupuncture needles are extremely thin — often around 0.16–0.25 mm in diameter.
(Like the width of a human hair)

For comparison, a standard hypodermic injection needle is substantially thicker.

You might feel a tiny pinch, warmth, heaviness, tingling, or a dull sensation — but “painful” isn’t the goal.

Okay, l

Hey all! I think my blurb on pricing got cut off as I have received some questions! Here’s the updated photo!

❤️❤️❤️

A little piece of the story behind me, my work, and why water had to be part of these photos. 🌊✨

Somewhere along the way, water became my healing home.

And I think I’m still learning to trust the current. 🤍

Doing what I love ✨

So grateful to have these photos to capture this season of my life, and SO grateful to Jo for making my little Acu fairy woodland dream a reality. 🤎🧚✨

And yes… I will absolutely be using these everywhere. 😂✨

Captured so beautifully by Jo Parenteau - YQL BASED PHOTOGRAPHER 🤍

If I could write prescriptions for those little moments, I probably would.

Not because they’re a cure for everything, but because they’re often the things we stop making time for when life gets busy.

I hope you find a few glimmers this week and remember that life isn’t just something to get through. It’s something to enjoy. 😌🌞✨

Happy August 💛

Taking time away from the clinic always reminds me how important it is to slow down and reflect.

I’ve always done some of my deepest healing in nature. But this weekend at Wild Roses Festival showed me something I didn’t realize I was missing: community and genuine connection with other women.

At the beginning of the weekend, we were asked a simple question:
“What are you passionate about?”

I found myself without an answer.

There are so many things I love—my garden, my dog, being in nature, swimming, concerts, my friends—but passion feels different. It’s that fire in your belly. The thing that keeps calling you back.

So every day, surrounded by the trees, I kept asking myself that question and really listened.

Years ago, I hosted women’s circles and gatherings. They were small, but they were intentional. Every month I’d dream up a new theme, plan the evening, and create a space for women to come together. It started with a few friends, then friends brought friends, and before long we had a little community called Moon Sisters.

And I realized… I miss it.

Wild Roses Festival is six hours from Taber, and it only happens once a year. The whole weekend, I kept thinking, Taber needs something like this. Not a festival with a thousand women in the woods—but intentional spaces where women can gather, connect, learn, and simply be together.

So I’m putting this intention out into the universe.

I’d love to begin creating something like this again.

If this speaks to you—whether you’d like to collaborate, have ideas to share, or you’d simply love to be part of it—I’d love to hear from you. ✨

And with that, my heart is full, my cup is overflowing, and I can’t wait to see everyone back in the clinic on Monday. 🤍

Wild Roses Festival
Alice Nguyen

"Main Steet" Taber Alberta, 1930s and 2026. ➡️➡️

📸 The Then photo is thanks to the UofC Archives and they rough dated it the 1930s. Later that decade, we think, is more probable based on the cars seen. Our shot is from 2026.

Today, what was Main Street in Taber is now 47th Avenue. At some point after the original photo, the town changed from named streets to those with numbers. At the same time streets (or steets 😜) became avenues and avenues became streets.

Who ever titled the photo was not the best speller, but given our horrible track record, we're not casting stones.

Many buildings appear in both photos, including most noteworthy, the Palace Hotel, back left. Most data suggests it's from the 1910s, and it remains open today. That's a good run and to see a full photo of it, go to the comments.
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Greetings from Chris & Connie - unique content from Team BIGDoer since 2012!