Get ready to be "In the Know!"

Acupuncture Chick – Your Expert on Chinese Medicine and All Things Health

Jessica Tatieze, Licensed Acupuncturist at Zara Clinic, LLC

www.zaravancouver.com

Is anyone else shocked that it’s actually 2013? I mean seriously, where does the time go! And here we are nearing the end of January, so it’s time for even procrastinators like me to get on the ball and figure out my resolutions—for Zara Clinic that is. As I talked about in my last blog post, I don’t believe everyone has to have a resolution, but I do think a brand new year is a great time to reflect and have intention about certain goals and directions we want to go in for 2013.

PART 1- THE WHAT

Of course as any good business owner should (right?! J), I have made specific goals and plans for the business side of Zara Clinic in 2013. But when it comes to an overall goal for Zara Clinic and our patients, I am excited to announce “Project In the Know.” What does this mean? It means that we want everyone in our community to KNOW about Chinese Medicine and what it can do for them. Whether or not they seek treatment or decide if it’s for them or not—that is up to them! At Zara, we have found a passion in education- we love sharing Chinese Medicine, health, fitness, lifestyle, and inspiration with people that they can use in their daily lives to improve their wellbeing. There are so many ways this applies, and I’ll explain a few of them as we go here. The reason this is so important to me is because I have come to realize that even though acupuncture and Chinese Medicine have become more and more popular in the US over the years, and even though our area is saturated with practitioners, there are still SO MANY people who could benefit from it if they only knew more about it.

I personally have a passion for educating people—I’m thinking it could have something to do with the long line of teachers in my family, including both of my parents! But more than that, when reflecting on the last year I realized how many of my patients come in and say things like “I wish I had known this would help my back pain 3 years ago when it first started,” or “I didn’t know my insurance covered acupuncture. I always assumed I couldn’t afford anything like that to help reduce my stress and neck tension,” or “I wish I had known how thin the needles were and that acupuncture doesn’t hurt. I have a fear of needles and that kept me from trying it sooner.” I cringe whenever I hear patients say things like this because I just think “Why?! Why don’t people know!” Well, wondering won’t get us anywhere, so I have decided to take action!

PART 2- THE HOW

Now that’s great that I want people be educated about Chinese Medicine and know how acupuncture can help them, but HOW will we do this. Well first let me say that education does not have to be boring, and here are some of the super fun and easy ways we plan to bring education to the Vancouver area. If any of them intrigue you, join in, or if you know someone who would enjoy these, let them know about it!

First Friday Educational Events at Zara: These are probably my favorite because they are so fun! The first Friday of every month Zara Clinic will host an open house with snacks, drinks, and guest speakers. It won’t always be information about Chinese Medicine, but it will always be something fun that will help you make your life even more radiant! Keep your eyes out on Facebook and our website to see the upcoming events!

Informational Presentations/Demonstration Treatments: We will volunteer our time at local events and businesses to offer FREE demo treatments as well as informative presentations about health and wellness. We hope this will be a great experience for people in our community to try acupuncture, ask questions, and learn more. Anyone interested in having us at an event or your business, just call or e-mail us!

Monthly Newsletter: We are starting a monthly newsletter—who doesn’t have one right? We get tons of them in our inbox come the beginning of the month, and I find that some are useful and some not so much. Well we promise ours will have great information, and this is one way we can get great information straight to you. Plus, ours will come in the middle of the month when you aren’t slammed with so many! J Sign up for our newsletter here, and spread the word to your friends!

Blog/Social Media Posts: For any of you already following Zara Clinic on our blog or social media, thank you!! To help us fulfill our Project In the Know resolution, we’ll be even more focused on giving you only the best info on our social media pages, and we’ll be ramping up our efforts here on the blog. Oh and for all you Facebook followers, I am bring Thursday Q&A over to our page, so send us any questions you have about acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and we will answer one each Thursday!

So watch out world, everyone (well at least everyone in the Vancouver area) will know more about acupuncture and wellness by the time 2014 rolls around! (2014…doesn’t that sounds incredibly strange?! It will be here before we know it!)

Looking forward to getting YOU ‘In the Know’ very soon!

Whether You Love or Hate Resolutions, Do Something!

Acupuncture Chick – Your Expert on Chinese Medicine and All Things Health

Jessica Tatieze, Licensed Acupuncturist at Zara Clinic, LLC

www.zaravancouver.com

The New Year is a great time to reflect on our lives and make resolutions or goals to change things we want to improve on. However, so often these resolutions are forgotten too soon without a lot of progress. I notice that many of my patients choose resolutions that are actually lifestyle changes, but if we don’t think of them as lifestyle changes, results don’t last. My hope through this event is to give you connections to great local businesses who can help give you the tools and services you need to make these lifestyle changes that we like to call ‘resolutions’.

Not big on making a traditional resolution? Here are 10 alternative options that might be right for you:

1. Make your goal a game, with yourself or include friends and family.

2. Pick one positive word/phrase/idea as a theme for you for the year.

3. Create a specific habit rather than a temporary resolution.

4. Make a list of everything you are thankful for in 2012.

5. Pick just one thing to stop doing.

6. Make a vision board or a mind map.

7. Focus on the positive. Example: Instead of saying your goal is to ‘lose weight,’ change that to ‘feel good’ and ‘get healthy’ then you can find a variety of specific things to help you meet that goal.

8. Make a list of all the things (big and small) that you’re looking forward to in 2013.

9. Write yourself a letter from your future self from January 1, 2014 telling your present self about everything you did to make 2013 your best year ever.

10. Do you find that come January each year you always have the same things on your list of resolutions? Make it your goal to never need to set the same resolution again.

If you do decide to make a goal, make sure it’s a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Focused, and Time-Bound). And as always, no matter what goals you set, don’t forget that the importance of ‘balance’ emphasized in Chinese Medicine is just as important in all aspects of life!

Wishing you great health and happiness for 2013!

Jessica Tatieze

Licensed Acupuncturist, East Asian Medicine Practitioner

Zara Clinic Owner

Are You Ready to Fight?

Acupuncture Chick – Your Expert on Chinese Medicine and All Things Health

Jessica Tatieze, LAc

Fight Cold and Flu Season Before it even Begins!

Jessica Tatieze, Licensed Acupuncturist at 2bwell Clinic

September 2012 2bwell Newsletter

It is hard to accept that summer is ending, but kids are going back to school which means fall is just around the corner. While many of us do look forward to the crisp air, delicious warm drinks, and the changing of the leaves, it is also the time of year when many find themselves curled up in bed with cold or flu symptoms. Many patients and friends say they dread the fall because they always get sick around the same time every year. They are often surprised to learn that acupuncture and herbal medicine can help prevent these ailments.

What is it about this time of year that makes these viruses so prevalent? In Chinese Medicine, many cold and flu symptoms are related to environmental factors such as wind and cold. Research in Western medicine has also showed that the cold temperatures may play a role in the spread of these illnesses. As the cooler weather forces us to stay indoors more this gives viruses the chance to easily transfer from person to person.

While Chinese Medicine can’t keep you from being exposed to viruses, what it can do is help strengthen your body and immune system in order to effectively defend you from respiratory virus infections. By treating each person’s individual constitutional imbalances, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine strives to put the person in their healthiest state. This alone puts the person’s body in a good position to fight off viruses they encounter. Beyond that, there are also specific acupuncture points and herbal formulas that can benefit those who are prone to certain symptoms or illnesses.

With preventative acupuncture and herbal treatments, some patients make it through the cold and flu season without catching any viruses, while others notice they get sick less often, are able to recover from the illnesses more quickly, or have less severe symptoms. These results can be very significant to patients, translating into less missed work and more holiday fun! One patient, who was prone to frequent colds in the past, wrote this after using acupuncture to help her endure last year’s cold and flu season sickness free:

 

“I've been a preschool and kindergarten teacher for 6 years. I love my job, but the downside is that I'm constantly exposed to a multitude of germs. Each year I catch 2 to 3 colds and 1 or 2 other bugs. Last year, I started monthly acupuncture treatments, and I haven't been sick once, not even a cold! Acupuncture has totally strengthened my immune system.”

Other ways you can keep your body strong and prevent illness this fall are: wash your hands frequently, get plenty of sleep and exercise, keep stress levels low, and eat healthy foods including plenty of vegetables. As with anything, it’s always important to listen to your own body. If you start to feel symptoms coming on or feel run down, take the time to relax and get plenty of rest before it turns into a full out illness. From a Chinese Medicine prospective it is also important to protect yourself from the wind and cold with hats, scarves, and warm clothing, and by limiting time spent directly in these elements.

So while the cooler weather is inevitable and fall will come whether we are ready for it or not, we can start preparing now to make it the happiest and healthiest season yet!

 

Don’t miss out on other great articles from 2bwell practitioners. Sign up for the 2bwell Clinic monthly newsletter by e-mailing office@2bwell.net.

Thursday Q&A: Side Effects of Acupuncture

Acupuncture Chick – Your Expert on Chinese Medicine and All Things Health

Jessica Tatieze, LAc

 Acupuncture is known for getting patients great results with very few side effects, but that’s not true because there are side effects. However, unlike the end of a TV commercial for any pill, the majority of the side effects of acupuncture are GOOD! I wish everyone in the world knew all the great ‘side effects’ of acupuncture treatments! Many patients come in for one specific thing and then find out that since Chinese Medicine is a holistic approach they see other positive changes in their health and life. The Thursday Q&A from a few weeks ago talked about this same idea, and it also reminded me of this Huffington Post article I saw online about the five most common side effects of acupuncture:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-calabro/acupuncture-effects_b_1778901.html. Check it out and see if you are in need of any of the side effects of acupuncture.
 

Thursday Q&A:
Q: How can acupuncture help me in my daily life?
A: Good question! There are many ways acupuncture can help that a lot of people don’t realize. Besides patients’ specific complaints, a few of the most common improvements patients see in their lives are: less stress and feeling more relaxed, better sleep, more energy, less foggy-headedness, smoother digestion, better circulation, less food cravings, and strengthened immune system.


Have something you've been wondering about acupuncture or Chinese Medicine? E-mail questions to jessica@jessicatatieze.com and each Thursday a new question will be posted with the answer.

Health on the Job

Acupuncture Chick – Your Expert on Chinese Medicine and All Things Health

Jessica Tatieze, LAc

When it comes to health, my sister Marcy and I tend to know more than our husbands. After all, we work in a wellness clinic while neither of them work in the health field. We’re always bossing them around about what they should or shouldn’t do when it comes to all things health. So you can imagine our surprise when one of them mentioned their stretch routine at work, and the other said they actually lead stretches for their coworkers every morning! Who would have thought, a great idea that we actually did not give them! J I often recommend this to patients with pain, but it is even better if you can use stretching throughout the work day to prevent injuries and pain before they happen.

Here are just a few benefits of stretching:

Reduce muscle tension
Improve circulation
Reduce anxiety, stress, and fatigue
Improve mental alertness

Decrease risk of injury

There are many ways you can get moving and prevent injuries in the workplace, and your needs may vary depending on the type of job you have. Check out a few basic stretches for the workplace here:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/339931-basic-exercises-stretches-for-the-workplace/

 

Stretching is something so simple, but just taking a small amount of time to do it can make a huge difference to your workday and your health. Try it for yourself and I bet besides preventing pain and injury, you will find you are much more efficient and focused in your work.

Thursday Q&A: Ahhh Needles!

Acupuncture Chick – Your Expert on Chinese Medicine and All Things Health
Jessica Tatieze, LAc

I don’t know a lot of people who love needles, in fact I don’t even like most needles! But when it comes to acupuncture needles, most don’t realize just how tiny the needles are. People are often reluctant to try acupuncture simply because of their dread of needles, but in most cases the fear itself is actually worse than the actual needles. Last Thursday’s Q&A was a question I hear often and I think if more people knew just how unintimidating acupuncture needles are, they may be more apt to try it.

Check out last Thursday’s Q&A:
Q: How big are the acupuncture needles?
A: The needles are much smaller than most people realize. They are about as thin as one human hair and I hear that up to about 7 acupuncture needles can fit inside one ordinary 14 gauge hypodermic needle. The length can vary based on which area of the body is being worked on and depending on the practitioner’s style, but I rarely use needles longer than one inch and each needle is inserted about ¼-¾ of the way in. Most patients are pleasantly surprised at how tiny the needles are and they can hardly feel them. They are tiny compared to the needles we see used on us to draw blood or give shots.

Have something you've been wondering about acupuncture or Chinese Medicine? E-mail questions to jessica@jessicatatieze.com and each Thursday a new question will be posted with the answer.

Don’t let fear keep you from trying something that could change your life for the better!

 
“I'm afraid of needles, except acupuncture needles.” Catherine O'Hara