Danielle Kravitz

Across many traditional cultures, warm water was, and still is, considered a simple form of care. It is not a cure- all by any means, but it can be a small, accessible ritual that offers comfort when the body feels “off”.

Educational purposes only, not medical advice🤍

Over the last 20+ years, researchers have looked at 37 different acupuncture points using brain imaging techniques, with some really interesting insights👏🏼

The most frequently studied acupuncture points are LI4, ST36, PC6, LV3, and GB34. Maybe you are familiar with some of these points!

Interestingly, different points showed distinct and overlapping patterns of brain activity.

There is still so much to learn, but modern research gives us an intriguing look into some of the mechanisms behind acupuncture and how it may interact with the brain and nervous system. Pretty amazing to see modern science beginning to explore something practitioners have observed for centuries..

Peaceful Sunday..☕️🙂‍↔️

The Neuro-Science: Brain Wave Shift🌀

When you lay down and receive acupuncture, your brain leaves its predominantly active and alert state, known as the Beta wave state. The treatment flips your nervous system into “rest-and-digest” mode. Your brain waves slow down into Alpha, and then into Theta waves. Theta waves are the frequencies present in the hypnagogic space.

The TCM View: Yang Rooting into Yin🌀
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, falling into this state is a beautiful sign of balance. It represents your active, bright, and moving Yang energy gently anchoring and sinking down into your restful, nourishing, and cooling Yin energy. Your nervous system stops fighting the world and turns its focus inward to repair, restore, and move stuck Qi.

May not be what you think!!
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What the research finds across prospective cohort studies, adults who report higher purpose tend to have:

•Lower subsequent rates of depression, loneliness, negative affect, and sleep problems, plus higher life satisfaction, optimism, and social contact. In one nationally representative U.S. study of adults over 50, people in the highest purpose group had a 43% lower risk of subsequent depression over four years compared with those in the lowest group.

•More protective health behaviors, including a greater likelihood of remaining physically active, maintaining healthier sleep, using preventive care, and in some studies having healthier diets and lower smoking risk.

•Better physical-health indicators over time, including fewer functional limitations and lower subsequent risks of stroke, lung disease, cognitive impairment, and multiple chronic conditions in observational data.

•Lower mortality risk. A pooled analysis found that a high sense of purpose was associated with roughly one-fifth lower mortality risk and lower cardiovascular-event risk after statistical adjustment.

What are you going to get on your calendar next?

Your posture can influence the way you breathe, which affects your acupuncture channels!

When we find ourselves slipping into that inevitable “tech neck” posture, the rib cage and diaphragm get compressed and have less room to move freely. Over time, this can create shallow, upper-chest breathing.

In Chinese medicine, the Lung is closely associated with breathing, the strength of the voice, and the body’s ability to take in and distribute what we need from the air. Chronic poor posture is one of the ways these functions become under-supported, and we may see patterns such as lower energy, a weaker voice, mild shortness of breath, or a tendency to catch colds more easily.

You don’t need to have perfect posture all day.. but you can provide your body with frequent opportunities to breathe better.

If you’re sitting at a desk for a while, try:

• Getting up every 30–60 minutes and move for a few minutes.
• Unround your shoulders and let your rib cage expand in all directions.
• Walk / move regularly and in a variety of ways because movement naturally encourages deeper respiration.
• Set up your workspace so your screen is closer to eye level and you aren’t constantly folding forward.
• Notice how you breathe when you’re stressed or concentrating.. holding your breath is more common than we realize, you might notice that you sigh a lot too
• Acupressure points on last slide can help!!!

Alaska has been so magical! One of my favorite things has been learning about the indigenous tribes who have long been in this region and how they’ve used the native plants as medicine. It was my first interaction with Devils Club! The Tlingit (pronounced Kling-kit) revere this plant as one of the most sacred, powerful, and culturally significant! Aside from the top of the leaves, it’s completely covered in razor sharp needles. In Chinese herbal medicine, when plants have this type of exterior, it alludes to its function - which is to pierce through stagnation, making Devil’s Club powerful for treating pain. I tried some of this salve in a gift shop on my wrist where I’ve had a really stubborn injury for a while now. I’ve tried so many things for it with no real resolve, and within a few minutes I felt a big difference in the pain. I’ve been applying it since yesterday, and feel such a significant improvement. Soooooo psyched to leave Alaska with the knowledge and gift of this Devils Club salve and so many other wonderful experiences.

One other cool thing is that the Tongass National Rainforest is covered in Banana Slugs which produce a very thick slimy mucus which allows them to glide across the thorns of the devils club without any injuries to it at all. So cool. Our tour guides initiation into the forest was to lick one of these guys, and I kind of regret not asking if I could have licked one too just for the lore