Five Stones Healing Arts & Wellness Center

Learn to incorporate fresh, seasonal eating into your weekly routine​​​​​​​​​Find new ways to increase strength and flexibility through balanced movement​​​​​​​​​Learn tools to manage everyday stress and maintain more calm, even when things are chaotic

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Lives get chaotic and messy, but that doesn't mean you need to feel chaotic and messy. Mindfulness practices help us to respond to life rather than react - there is a profound difference. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you're looking to feel more centered in life, take the Virtual Mindful Way. This is a self-paced 4-week course to help you tap into the energies of fall and find calm within yourself so that you can approach life with a full cup.

If you purchase before Sept 16th, get $20 off with code MINDFUL

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Are you keeping up with your health care? ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​As we head back to school and vacations slow down it can be a great time to check in with your health care team - be it a doctor, acupuncturist, massage therapist, nutritionist, etc.

Here at Five Stones we have a great health care team - and when you sign up for our membership you get the support you need to reach your health goals. Whether you are looking to heal from a chronic illness, lose weight, or balance hormones, we are here to help you reach you best, most healed self.

Give us a call today - 703-669-6118

Dr Martha Calihan is so honored to once again be voted Loudoun's Favorite Alternative Medicine Provider! Thank you to all who voted, and for all who put their trust in Dr Calihan to help them on their journey to wellness. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Functional Medicine Timeline has really transformed my practice. I am so honored to be featured on The Institute for Functional Medicine's page talking about it.

The functional medicine timeline is a cornerstone of the patient-clinician relationship. This tool allows practitioners to capture the patient’s important life events, family history, and genetic information from in utero to present day. In particular, the tool helps pinpoint antecedents, triggers, and mediators (ATMs) to help identify any role they play—past or present—in the patient’s disease. In the following video, Martha Calihan, MD, IFMCP (Five Stones Healing Arts & Wellness Center) describes the clinical connections that can be made using the timeline: https://hubs.la/Q01-DqCW0

Take a deep breath and send your awareness down into your feet. Where are they? Inside a shoe, on the floor, hanging in the air? Are they comfortable?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Take another deep breath and send it down to your toes. How are you? Where are you? Feel the breath fill your body, then empty.

We live so much in our heads, not noticing the body we carry around. Our bodies hold so much - pain, happiness, stress, joy, anger. When we learn to listen we understand better what they need to be in balance.

Find your balance with Five Stones at our Mindful Morning on September 30th. Head to our webpage (link in bio) to sign up!

Functional Medicine digs deeper: WHY are you experiencing symptoms? Simply medicating the symptoms doesn't solve the problem, it places a band-aid over it. And eventually that band-aid gets old and falls off and the original wound is still there. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Optimize your lifestyle, diet, and how you handle stress and you will eliminate symptoms as your body heals from the underlying imbalance, or cause of the disease.

Functional Medicine is a journey to a healthier you, and you are worth it.

Do you find meditation impossible? Are you trying to "think nothing" and instead thinking of EVERYTHIG? Maybe your thoughts seem to race and make you anxious when you even think about meditation. You are not alone, and this is actually very common. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​One misconception about meditation is that you must sit still and empty your mind and you will find bliss. This may work for monks in Tibetan monasteries, but it rarely works for people with busy lives.

The facilitators for Mindful Morning will create a safe space for you to explore what is coming up in mediation and teach how to meditate when you are busy with a busy mind. Because everyone can meditate!

Join us September 30th! --> Link in bio

Summer foods are best eaten raw, and have a high water content to aid in hydration during the hot months. Salads, hummus platters, and lighter proteins such as fish and beans offer cooling energy to balance the heat of summer. Curries and spicy foods are also energetically cooling, as they stimulate sweating. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Enjoy the bounty of the season by shopping at local farms or farmers markets and creating delicious meals to share with friends and family al fresco.

Staying Strong and Fluid in Healing I have been thinking a lot these past few days about a conversation I recently had with a friend about healing. We were talking about the need for strength; strength to heal, both physically, emotionally and spiritually, and strength to stay well. This is very much the message we receive culturally;...

Does it feel like you're racing around from commitment to commitment, from event to event, with no time to breathe? Are you grabbing convenient food to race back out the door and onto the next thing? ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​This September, give yourself time to breathe. At Five Stones Institute's Mindful Morning half-day retreat you will enter a safe, calm space in which you can let go. You will be rejuvenated with a gentle yoga practice, centered with meditation, and nourished by local foods.

Join us on September 30th and refill your cup.

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Are you tired of going to the doctor just to be given a prescription for your symptoms? Or even worse, told there's nothing wrong? ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​I became frustrated by this practice, both as a physician and patient, and that frustration led to my discovery of Functional Medicine. Functional Medicine is root cause medicine - it is looking deeper into what imbalance in the body is causing the symptoms. It is getting curious about how diet, lifestyle, stress, and history of trauma are showing up physically, and looking for the changes we can make to bring the body back into balance, thereby eliminating the symptoms.

These changes don't happen overnight. Much as we'd like to eat healthy one day and feel great the next, healing takes time, commitment, accountability.

Call us today to begin your healing journey!

Meal prep for the week!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​>Beet hummus
Beets are great for liver support, iron, and antioxidants.
>Asparagus Quiche
Great way to incorporate more veggies and good protein
>Veggie dippers for the hummus
Helps you reach your 4-6 cus of veggies each day

Often chronic fatigue is caused by multiple factors. The "normal" American lifestyle - being sedentary and eating highly processed foods - is a common reason that people suffer from low energy. This lifestyle leads to nutrient deficiencies and lowers immune system response which can lead to a high viral load that then make it hard to get your energy back. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​At Five Stones we address all of these factors and help get you up and enjoying life again.

Healing takes time. Chronic health challenges do not happen overnight, and the unraveling of the dis-ease does not either. The basis of functional medicine is to get to the root of your health challenges and figure out what uniquely works for you to heal and maintain health.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​We often notice patient's becoming overwhelmed with the changes they are trying to make and created this Membership model to support patients through their healing journey.

You have 2-3 appointments each month so you are always moving forward, being reminded of changes to be made, and given tips on how to fit changes into your lifestyle.

Call today for more information!

Did you know you should be drinking half your body weight in ounces of water per day? Water helps with detoxification, energy production, proper elimination, and so much more!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Try infused waters this summer to add flavor and get your water intake up!
--> Cucumber mint
--> Strawberry basil
-->Watermelon lime

Chronic Fatigue doesn't have to be your "new normal"​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Fatigue is often your body putting a lot of energy into healing, and sometimes it can be the latter effect of all that energy expenditure - when the body just has no more to give. But that doesn't have to be the end of your story.

Supporting adrenal function, immune health, removing inflammatory foods and bolstering the body with nutrients can help bring the system back into balance so you have more energy to do the things you love - and get back to life.

Call today to book your free 15-minute discovery call to learn how our Functional Medicine Practice can help you.

Today is in ! Five Stones Institute was founded by Dr Martha Calihan with the intention of bringing mindfulness to the community, which it has done through workshops and retreats focusing on mindfulness, movement and mindful eating.​​​​​​​​
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What other Loudoun non-profits are you supporting today?

Do you still burn scented paraffin candles at home? The scents contain toxic chemicals that can affect your thyroid and hormone signaling, as well as affecting the quality of your indoor air and compromising your lungs. Make the switch to essential oils for a cleaner way to scent your house. Lara's favorite oils to diffuse for spring is a mix of orange and lemon. What's your go-to scent? ​​​​​​​​
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Do you have pain in your gut, cramping or an upset stomach all the time after eating?​​​​​​​​
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It’s time to get to the root cause of your symptoms.​​​​​​​​
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If you have tried changing your eating habits or the foods you eat, and don’t know why your stomach is upset after a meal, it may be deeper than your diet. ​​​​​​​​
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Gut health is one of our passions here at Five Stones because it can affect so much in your body and in your daily life. ​​​​​​​​
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This month in our membership program we are going to be discussing leaky gut and how to heal it.​​​​​​​​
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Call the office today to learn more about our membership programs and to make an appointment! 703-669-6118​​​​​​​​
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A healthy cardiovascular system is dependent on many factors, and here are 3 important things you can do to reduce your risk of CVD:​​​​​​​​
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If you're a snacker, choose more raw nuts and seeds in place of animal foods such as cheeses and yogurts. Plant based foods are lower in saturated fats than animal based foods. You can also use raw nuts and seeds or avocado and olives on salads and as a side to main courses.​​​​​​​​
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Exercise is great for your cardiovascular health and you want to be getting in at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. Find a type of exercise you enjoy so you're more likely to stick to it! ​​​​​​​​
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Stress has a negative impact on the cardiovascular system, so mindfulness practices such as meditation, prayer and deep breathing are key to staying healthy.​​​​​​​​
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Heart month may be coming to a close, but you're going to want to keep up these practices all year-round. ​​​​​​​​
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Take some time to open your heart today! Most of our daily activities have us hunched over, closing off the front of our chest. This can create back pain, neck pain, headaches, and inhibit digestion. This supported back bend, where your upper body is resting on a bolster, pillow, or folded blanket and your shoulders are releasing down to the floor will gently open up through the chest and heart space, as well as the shoulders. ​​​​​​​​
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Listen to Dr Calihan explain our new membership options in this video.

Five Stones Membership Grid

The goal of Five Stones has always been to get and keep people well, no matter how complex their health challenges are. Over the decades, our services have continuously grown and changed to meet what we learn about health and healing through serving our patients. In reflection on the needs of our patients, we have noticed consistent trends.: ​​​​​​​​
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-> Patients need more time with their physicians during visits and more support in making changes in their health;​​​​​​​​
->As people gather in a community around shared solutions to their health challenges, motivation, accountability, and outcomes improve in ways that cannot be achieved in just the doctor-patient relationship;​​​​​​​​
->Patients want regular access to support and answers.​​​​​​​​
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To meet these needs for you, our patients, and to help you achieve even better outcomes, in 2023, we are offering a new option in our model of care: Five Stones Membership. This offer encourages the best success we can create and gives you abundant value. ​​​​​​​​
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Call the office to learn more about our Membership options and get started on your healing path today. (703)-669-6118.​​​​​​​​
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Heart health extends beyond eating well and exercising, which are definitely super important! Finding ways to manage stress and work through stuck emotions are also important components of a heart healthy lifestyle. ​​​​​​​​
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Mindful meditation is shown to reduce overall stress, bring blood pressure down, and even improve cholesterol numbers. Even just 5 minutes a day can begin to reduce stress and build a foundation for your mindfulness practice. Then perhaps you can increase the time you sit in mediation, or maybe your practice evolves into a walking meditation or an eating meditation. The opportunities for mindfulness are endless.​​​​​​​​
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Cocoa (or cacao) has the highest antioxidant content of any food, but is often mixed with so many processed ingredients that it is no longer a health food, but a candy. Enjoy this whole food, heart healthy hot chocolate and get the benefits of cocoa without the drawbacks! ​​​​​​​​
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Simply mix all ingredients together in a small pot on the stove and heat up. You can use less maple syrup if you want it to be less sweet, or a different milk (just make sure it is unsweetened!)​​​​​​​​
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Another practitioner intro post! ​​​​​​​​
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Lara Lattman, MS, CNS, LDN has been practicing Functional Nutrition for 8 years, 7 of them being at Five Stones. ​​​​​​​​
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Why did you want to study Integrative Nutrition? ​​​​​​​​
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"Integrative nutrition appealed to me because it combines thousands of years of practical knowledge with scientific, evidenced based practices. It makes sense to me to look at foods working synergistically with each other and the human body to support health without sacrificing happiness. I have personally experienced the healing power of foods and love helping my patients to experience it for themselves."​​​​​​​​
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January is a good time to re-introduce the practitioners at Five Stones. If you're new here, welcome! We are so glad you landed on our account.​​​​​​​​
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Dr Martha Calihan is the founder of our practice and a Functional Medicine Doctor. ​​​​​​​​
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Why did she move from Family Medicine to Functional Medicine?​​​​​​​​
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"The simple answer is that I knew I had to!​​​​​​​​
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The more rational answer is that I had had been introduced to Functional Medicine in some trainings, and the more I saw and understood the functional medicine approach, the more I was drawn to it. The understanding of the interconnectedness of people’s symptoms was compelling. The functional medicine paradigm does not look at medicine as a series of unconnected silos (cardiovascular, GI, endocrine, etc) but rather as a series of interconnected circles, like a Ven diagram, with the whole patient at the center. Gaining an appreciation and understanding of this paradigm made me convinced that this was the best approach for helping my patients heal, and I haven’t looked back."​​​​​​​​
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Turn your favorite (healthy) morning drink into a mindful moment:​​​​​​​​
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Make your drink and find a quiet place to sit. With each sip, notice the flavor, temperature, and aroma. How does this drink nourish you? Physically, emotionally?​​​​​​​​
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What's your favorite drink? How do you like to enjoy it? Leave your answer in the comments!​​​​​​​​
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Take a mid-week lunch break with Turi for this slow flow yoga class and re-set your system for the rest of the week

Winter Slow Flow Yoga Weekly yoga classes that create balance in the body through developing awareness, breath focus, flexibility and strength.