Uncategorized Archives - Mittica Acupuncture

February 3, 2020

Case Study: Change Your Environment – Change Your Health

Back in the fall, a patient of mine who is in their late high school years came in for a treatment (please note they and their parent gave me permission to tell their story). She were not in a good space. School had become an extremely toxic environment, normal outlets like sports had lost all their fun, and friends had turned on her for reasons that can be simplified as “jealousy”. She was being bullied. This patient and I had a decent relationship that dated back about a year and we’d had many treatments before that had produced solid results. I also had a good relationship with the family. This particular treatment felt different. This wasn’t the same person on my table. She was obviously depressed and was working with a primary doctor and the school counselor to fix it. We talked about her situation and I performed some cupping […]

January 28, 2020

Do Your Possessions Stress You Out?

I’ve been reading a good book recently called The Nature Fix by Florence Williams. In it, she explores many of the different aspects of nature and how it relates to health. I am not that far into the book yet, just a few chapters, but it is rather fascinating. The second chapter follows her journey into the western desert of America with a bunch of brain researchers to brainstorm ideas on how to research nature’s effect on stress and the brain. The following quote really spoke to me, as she quotes it from author Daniel Levitin in The Organized Mind: “ The average American owns thousands of times more possessions than the average hunter-gatherer. In a real biological sense, we have more things to keep track of than our brains were designed to handle.” (Williams p.46) It’s a great point both authors bring up. As nomads, we would have owned […]

January 23, 2020

Acupuncture Systems vs. Acupuncture Philosophy

When talking about acupuncture, the difference between a system and a philosophy can be vast but also greatly blurred. The easiest way to explain this is through the five elements. The law of the five elements is an acupuncture philosophy that mirrors life. It is thousands of years old and predates acupuncture as a medicine. The five elements follow the cycle of the seasons, and break down the year into five phases of time that have five different types of energy flow. The cold absoluteness of winter (Water element) is energy that flows straight down, like rain. Water energy represents the life stream where all energy begins and ends. It’s where ideas germinate and conclude as wisdom. It helps knowledge move forward from generation to generation. The exciting burst of growth of spring (Wood element) is energy that forcefully goes out from the center in opposite directions, like how a […]

January 21, 2020

Are Hufflepuffs Misunderstood?/The Blind Side

I’ve watched my wife cry while watching The Blind Side about three times now. It’s one of those movies that she just NEEDS to watch once a year, especially since becoming a mom. The story of The Blind Side is based on a true story about a kid named Michael Oher, who grew up in a bad part of town. After getting a chance to attend a private school, Michael gets adopted by a family who has other kids who go to the same school. The mother, played by Sandra Bullock in the movie, takes care of Michael like he was her own. He plays football and is a man among boys at the high school level. He ends up playing in the NFL for seven years as an offensive linemen. Remember that the average NFL career is around two to three years. What does he or the movie The […]

January 16, 2020

Acupuncture Systems vs. Theories of Energy Flow

When talking about acupuncture, the difference between a system and a philosophy can be vast but also greatly blurred. The easiest way to explain this is through the five elements. The law of the five elements is an acupuncture philosophy that mirrors life. It is thousands of years old and predates acupuncture as a medicine. The five elements follow the cycle of the seasons, and break down the year into five phases of time that have five different types of energy flow. The cold absoluteness of winter (Water element) is energy that flows straight down, like rain. Water energy represents the life stream where all energy begins and ends. It’s where ideas germinate and conclude as wisdom. It helps knowledge move forward from generation to generation. The exciting burst of growth of spring (Wood element) is energy that forcefully goes out from the center in opposite directions, like how a […]

January 13, 2020

New Years – The Holiday of Rebranding

writer’s note* This article was supposed to be posted closer to Jan 1st but technical issues caused the delay. It was 7:05pm on New Year’s Day and my wife and I were about to make the hardest yet most unimportant decision of the day. What should we watch tonight? We had been up late the night before and out all afternoon visiting family with our two young children. They were just in bed and for a rare moment, we snuggled and spaced out looking at our phones. We both wanted that movie that hit the spot; the one that was stupid enough AND we had already seen. This way, we didn’t have to pay attention to every detail but could still enjoy it. We settled on Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle as it checked both boxes, plus, it had been enough years since our most recent viewing that […]

November 27, 2017

The Large Intestine Official: The Cleaning Crew

Or simply “the cleaner.” The Large Intestine has one of the simpler jobs yet it’s an incredibly important one. Have you ever seen the house of a hoarder either in person or on tv? It’s shocking. Understanding when to throw something away and when to keep it is a delicate line that you want to ride carefully. Trash cans need to be emptied… And in a timely manner. The cleaning crew should be on duty every day. Taking the garbage out and making sure there’s room to put more trash in the bin. For bowel movements, we have a simple rule. Less than one bowel movement a day is constipation, and more than three times per day is too loose. There are exceptions like when you are fighting a stomach bug, doing a detox, or travelling on a long trip since colons tend to get shy. If you consistently reside […]

November 1, 2017

The Lung Official: Head of Human Resources

The head of human resources plays a vital role at any company. The workers need a safe haven and someone they feel is solely on their side. In a way, the workers and the company are in a battle against each other over time and money. The worker wants more money and less work while the company wants to pay less for more work. The human resources department is the one person whose whole job is to look out for the employee, making sure they are not being taken advantage of. The Lung Official like to follow orders… And that’s a simple difference between the Heart and the Lung, who is also known as “The Minister or Chancellor.” The Owner (Heart) is an individual who has no one above them. They also play by their own rules, and that’s why they started the company in the first place. The Head […]

October 2, 2017

The Spleen Official: Office Administrator

Any office needs someone whose job it is to run the office: Make sure workers have the supplies they need, that the coffee is filled and working, that the holiday party gets organized and has the right food, that birthdays are recognized. They also have the important role of making sure various items don’t pile up around the office. That there is processing of all items coming in. Note that in Chinese Medicine there is no pancreas. The Spleen Official encompasses both pancreas and spleen. Our bodies need nourishment so we can nourish each other… And it’s the Spleen Official’s job to make sure that our bodies get the nourishment they need. That’s why it’s known as the official of “transformation and transportation.” Transform food into energy and other nutrition and then direct transportation to the areas of the body that need those materials. The stomach helps, but the […]