It's all about the balance in life!
Your alarm goes off and all hell breaks loose. Get the kids ready for school, get yourself ready for work, race to get to your 9-5 job that really ends up being 8-6, get home, cook dinner, put the kids to bed, eek out a few sentences to your spouse before passing out for the night… then do it all over again the next day. This is the rat race that we have become accustomed to, but is it really creating the fulfilling life that you’ve always dreamt of? Do you wake up each day feeling excited for what’s ahead, pr are you full of anxiety and worry? Chances are life has become very routine with little time set aside for your own well being. I hear these stories so often from my patients, and I can certainly relate to it myself. I’ve learned some valuable tools to help me and my patients regain the balance that is so important for wellness and vitality. Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture are very powerful balancing and invigorating therapies. Yin and Yang, the basic principles for Acupuncture, are the emblem for peace, balance, wellness and vitality.
Because taking several vacations a year isn’t feasible for everyone, take a few moments to try and carve out time to get back to your happy place. And if you don’t know what your happy place, is, now’s the time to figure it out. Here are some tips to help you feel more at ease throughout your day...
Work-Life-Balance1
Be Present: When you are doing something that brings you joy, practice the art of being present. It sounds easy, but when there’s a to do list in your head that’s ten pages long, it’s often difficult to shut the chatter in your mind off. Try this technique that I often use when I’m having a hard time living in the moment. Take ten deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth, slowly and with your eyes closed. This will help to ground you and re focus your attention onto what’s happening right in front of you. It also leaves you feeling more peaceful and less anxious, and it has been proven to take the body out of its “fight or flight mode” which causes our minds to race and our anxiety to increase. When our bodies and minds are filled with clutter and are in this mode, this causes the "qi" (pronounced: chee) within our bodies to stagnate and improperly flow; this is referred to in Traditional Chinese Medicine as liver qi stagnation, or the blockage of energy in the body. Without proper qi flow it’s impossible to live in the moment without worry, anxiety or irritability.
mother-kids-crazed
Plan Ahead: Don’t wait for the opportune time for your life to begin, because likely this perfect moment will never come. If you want to take that trip to Upstate New York to go camping that you’ve been talking about for years, then find a weekend, find a babysitter and as Nike so eloquently put it “JUST DO IT!!” This energy is controlled by the Gall Bladder and Kidney and I often use acupuncture points on these meridians to support patients in planning and taking action. Carving out this time where you are carefree and happy will make you a more productive worker, a more patient mother and wife, and a healthier individual. Here at The Acupuncture Center of New Jersey, I’m always trying to put my patients’ lives into perspective for them, so they realize that life is meant to be lived and that there needs to be things carved into their busy lives to look forward to.
Work-Life-Balance
Pay attention to your health! This is a HUGE one that so many people neglect! The old adage “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” does not apply to this area of your life. Preventing disease and keeping your body strong, fit and healthy can be as easy as incorporating 30 minutes of exercise a few times a week into your routine, avoiding processed foods, and doing acupuncture to boost immunity and reduce stress. Acupuncture is one of the BEST ways to strengthen your immune system, bring down inflammation, alleviate aches and pains, and uplift your mood! The Acupuncture Center of New Jersey really is a one stop shop where you can walk out feeling like you did something fantastic for your mind and body.
Eliminate toxic people from your life. Just because they’re in your life now, does not mean they need to stay in your life. By allowing yourself to be subjected to constant negativity, you are inviting excessive stress, sadness, fear, and anxiety to take up permanent residence in your life. TCM holds that this situation injures the Heart and can create sadness, fear and hopelessness. I often use the acupuncture point Heart 7 or “Spirit Door” located on the wrist to stimulate this energy as my patients are letting go of toxic relationships. When removing these toxic people from your life, you take back control of your emotional happiness and prevent the stress from affecting you physically.
Be present, do what makes you happy, watch your health and get rid of those toxic people who are bringing you down! Sometimes it’s hard to get your life back on track without the help of others, but here at The Acupuncture Center all of us acupuncturists would be thrilled to help you become more emotionally, physically and mentally balanced. Life is short and uncertain, now go out there and make it a life worth living.