Part of my job is to be empathic. I have to get into the story of a persons life when I work with them. It often doesn’t matter whether I am doing an acupuncture session for a painful body part, or if I am doing energy work or if I am doing a reading. I have to listen and identify with what the problem is so we can find a solution. I am quite empathic in my work and I often experience other people’s emotions and sometimes even their physical pain.

There are advantages and disadvantages to having this level of empathy. I have met with many people over the years who have been so overly empathic, they find it difficult to be in large crowds of people.

Some of them get headaches or start to feel physically ill when in shopping malls or at parties. It can be pretty overwhelming. Some people don’t even know why they have such reactions. People may go through years of avoiding crowded places because of the discomfort they experience. Fortunately, with some awareness and work, sensitive and empathic people can usually learn to filter out their own emotions and physical issues from those of others around them.

In my work, the advantage of having some empathic skill is that I can often tell what kind of treatment the person needs. I begin to feel their areas of tension in my own body as I work on them. I will feel their emotions, so I can identify with what kinds of upsets are impacting them and lend a sympathetic ear. I will often see the energetic clogs in their system that need to be addressed. I will use this information to do energy clearing work and help to release the mental and emotional stresses associated with their issues, so they can cope more easily with the challenges they are facing.

I also have to be careful to release the energy of each person I see. After each session I consciously let go of the client and reestablish my own energy field boundaries. Clearing and grounding exercises are very helpful. One of the workshops I attended called it “Your daily energy hygiene”. If you practice these kinds of exercises daily, they become faster and easier to do. They become second nature and they make a big difference to me with my health and emotional wellness.

Try the free grounding meditation on my website if you like. It is just to the right of this screen.

Great article on headaches here.

I have noticed a common theme in people’s lives. Everyone is trying to figure out why they are here and what they are supposed to either get from this life or what they are supposed to give to it. Some are much more interested in the “get” and some far more involved in the “give”, but I think you get the picture.

Of course I focus more on this kind of thing in my role as a psychic reader than in any other part of my life, but I am someone who likes to make connections. We are all connected if only because we all live on the same hunk of rock or because there is some sort of spiritual connection beyond that. I am open to everyone’s beliefs, but I don’t think any one way of thinking has all the answers, and none of us are really going to find out until after we die. So let’s just do the best we can with what we’ve got while we’re here!

Acupuncture regulation is a bit confusing for the consumer right now as acupuncturists are registered under several different organizations. There is currently a government process underway to create a single organization that will govern all acupuncturists in Ontario. When this process is completed I will be registering with the government organization as an acupuncturist in the province of Ontario.

You can claim acupuncture on your extended health care benefits from your employer, but it does depend on your insurance carrier. Some insurance carriers will cover any acupuncturist, some will only cover acupuncturists registered under certain organizations, and some will only cover acupuncture if the practitioner is a Registered Naturopathic Doctor. Be sure to check before you come for treatment, so you will know if you can claim the expense. I will provide you with the receipts you need to submit to your carrier.

My designations for acupuncture are D. Ac, and C.A.H.P. (Diploma in Acupuncture and Certified Acupuncture Health Practitioner.) I am registered with the Canadian Examining Board of Health Care Practitioners and I carry malpractice insurance.

Acupuncture can be a very effective way to alleviate headache pain. Acupuncture works for headaches the same way it works for muscle pain and tension. It brings blood flow and oxygen to constricted areas and stimulates tense muscles to relax.

Although there doesn’t seem to be any scientific certainty about the causes of headaches, the most common theories point to muscle tension and stress as the likely culprits for common headaches.

There are several kinds of headaches; tension headaches, migraines, cluster headaches, low blood-sugar headaches and hormonal headaches among them.

Since headaches are often caused by stress, tense muscles, hormonal imbalances or digestive problems, and acupuncture greatly aids in treating some of these issues, you may want to give it a try.

If you suffer from headaches, your acupuncturist will discuss your symptoms, the frequency and triggers for your headaches to try and establish the right treatment for you. Not only will you be benefiting from the reduction of headache pain, you will be working together to identify the causal symptoms and helping your body to correct them as well; “feeding two birds with one scone”, as they say.

Although acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for all types of headaches, it is important to rule out deeper physical causes as you seek relief from pain.

You can never be too cautious with your health. You can continue to use acupuncture for the pain, but you should also see a doctor if you have any of the following symptoms:

• You have had a blow to the head
• If you normally have headaches but the pattern, frequency or character of your headache worsens or changes
• You don’t normally have headaches and you suddenly start to have them
• You experience confusion, vision problems or have trouble speaking or moving around while you have a headache
• You have a severe sudden headache

There are also several lifestyle changes you can make to try to prevent headaches.

They include:

• Remind yourself to take deep breaths several times a day. Set an alarm if you have to
• Avoid sugar, caffeine and other stimulants
• Keep a food journal and review it to see if certain foods trigger your headaches
• Exercise regularly, especially while outside
• Get enough sleep (acupuncture also helps with insomnia)
• Eat regular meals
• Take time each day to relax, meditate or concentrate on your breathing
• Seek help to balance your hormones. (An acupuncturist, nutritionist or natural health practitioner can help with this.)

Here are some links with more helpful information on headaches:

Medicine.net

Canadian Living

Wikipedia

Headache Expert

This is a really long one and I am pontificating, but read on if you like. My intention with this entry is to stimulate and encourage so that we can all move forward in health and happiness. I hope I make sense to someone out there!

I have the opportunity to meet many people from all kinds of different backgrounds in my work, and in my personal life. I have held many different kinds of jobs in my years and have been able to meet people with very different opinions and philosophies. I love to listen to their stories, learn all about them and see what makes them tick. I learn great lessons from so many people. I feel grateful that I’ve had the chance to meet an interesting cross-section of society.

I started writing today because I am noticing how people can react very differently to the challenges that we are so often confronted with in our lives.

I have been observing several people in challenging situations lately. Sometimes it brings out their best, and sometimes their worst. There seems to be a lot of change in the air, and it is manifesting very quickly in many peoples lives.

Change usually brings challenges with it. Many of us are not comfortable with change or with challenge. We like safety and security. We like our comforts. We don’t want to have to work harder or reach deep down inside to make ourselves better and learn more. We may just want to close the door and stay inside, not open the mailbox, look in our emails or answer the phone. I know I often look up at the sky and ask, “Haven’t I learned enough already? Can I just have a little breather please?”

Ignoring our challenges doesn’t make them go away. Every time you have a new challenge, you have a choice. You can hope it will go away, or you can step up and deal with it. I try not to judge those who hope it will go away. I have that reaction myself as often as anyone else, and I’ve had to face my fair share of challenges on many levels. I won’t get into the gory details, but someone forgot to tell me that life could be so hard! I try not to give in to the impulse to moan about my own issues to everyone I meet. Just like anyone else, I have been known to cry on the shoulder of a friend or better yet, get an energy healing session when I have my troubles, but I don’t think it does anyone any good to get too caught up in your problems. I think it is far too easy to allow yourself to dwell in the drama and self-pity that can easily take over.

There is something I would like you to think about. When you dwell in the negative parts of your challenges you are missing the best part of the picture! You are giving all your strength and energy to the negative parts and missing out on the positive side.

Each and every challenge is an opportunity! Yes, each and every one. If you can wrap your head around it you might even be able to see a challenge as a gift. Even if you get to the other side of it and wonder what the heck you could have learned from that nasty situation, you will at least have learned that you didn’t like that situation and you can take steps to avoid repeating it.

Little children sometimes don’t learn the meaning of “hot” until they have touched the stove. You can tell them over and over, but they just don’t get it until they have had the experience. We are still the same as adults. We have to experience things that hurt so that we can learn what we need to avoid.

Here’s another piece of the puzzle. Could we think for a moment of others? I know we are a selfish society but we have to remember that we have benefited because someone who came before us had the will to face a challenge. We have electricity because Ben Franklin had the guts to go stand out in a thunderstorm with a kite. We have the light bulb because Edison kept trying over 10,000 times until he got it right.

Look around the world today and see some of the challenges that people are facing. Turn on the news and look at Egypt and Libya. The Palestinians have been fighting for as long as I have been alive for their own little piece of dirt. Agree with the politics or not, you have to admire people who are willing to fight for what they believe is right. People right in our own communities are dealing with loss and grief or fighting devastating illnesses. Millions of those who share this earth with us struggle on a daily basis just for the basic necessities of life.

Could you allow some of these people to inspire you? We are all human and we are all capable of great deeds! Allow those that have real difficulty in this world to inspire you to do better. In every tough situation there is something that you can learn. There is some way you can get stronger. There is some way you can participate in making things better and set an example for others. And hey, if you pass on what you have learned, perhaps you can help someone else not to get hurt. You may not always be successful, and you will make mistakes. You don’t have to change the world by yourself, but doesn’t it feel good to contribute what you can?

In 10 years do you want to look back at your life and be able to say, “Hey, I beat that challenge and I am stronger and smarter for it!” or do you want to look back and see how you avoided and hid from it. How you missed a chance to change your life or to grow? Or, do you at least want to look back and say, “It didn’t quite turn out how I hoped, but I did my best.”

I know I am getting really cliché, but do you want to live your life or let it pass you by? Do you want to dwell in the self-pity or do you want to take the bull by the horns? Do you want to learn from your mistakes and move yourself forward in life, or do you want to still be in the same place years from now because you were afraid to take a chance?

Do you want to hide inside, or travel far out of your way to avoid every storm? Or do you want to batten the hatches and take the harder path, whether the storm and come out of it all feeling indestructible?

None of us are ready to do the hard work all the time, but the next time a good challenge shows up on your doorstep, perhaps you might want to try looking at it from another angle. Find the opportunities that are hiding inside of it and go for it!

In our modern world, we often reach for the quick fix to cope with pain. We want the magic pill that will take the pain away. We know those pills have side-effects and that they are only a temporary fix, but sometimes we use them anyways.

I understand the need for relief from pain. Sometimes circumstances dictate the use of pain killing medications and we are thankful that they are there when we need them. If you’ve just had an injury, surgery or a broken bone, chances are you want a pain medication.

We can do better in terms of long term pain management and acupuncture is one way to do this.

Acupuncture works for pain by increasing the circulation of blood, oxygen and endorphins in your body. This is why we use needles in the area closest to your pain.

It also works with the concept of “pain-gate theory”. When you are experiencing pain, a part of the brain is sending pain signals through your spinal cord to the site of the pain. Your skin is a major defensive mechanism that works to keep your body safe. When your skin and muscle tissue is punctured by the acupuncture needle, this starts a major response in your brain. The brain thinks that the body is under some sort of attack as it is receiving several tiny injuries. These injuries are not really causing you any real discomfort, but your brain doesn’t understand this. It believes that there is some kind of emergency going on and it shuts down the pain-gate to give you the extra energy you need to defend yourself. The pain signals can no longer travel past the pain gate in your brain and through your spinal cord to the area of injury because their route has been cut off.

This is part of the reason why some acupuncture points we use are no where near your area of pain. After thousands of years of study, acupuncturists can pin point (pun intended!) the areas of your body that will stimulate the best response from your brain for your particular problem.