New year greetings & moving into autumn

Wishing you all a Happy & healthy New year

It’s the time of the Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and healthy new year. If you don’t celebrate the new year at this time, it is still a time of new beginnings. The start of new terms and academic years – new learning opportunities.

At this time of year, we celebrate by eating apple dipped in honey – apples ripening on the trees, harvest time and honey for sweetness. Pomegranates are also a powerful symbol in many cultures of fruitfulness, abundance in all its forms and fecundity – a ripe pomegranate when it is split open glistens with bright red lustre and is full of juice and vitality.

In the Jewish religion, as well as celebrating the start of the new year, it is also a time of reflection, on the year gone by. We use the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to reflect on our actions, our thoughts, our behaviour towards ourselves and others. It is a time to make amends and also to look ahead and to start afresh; an opportunity for new beginnings.

At this time, we also look at those around us, communities and individuals who are not as fortunate as we are (and sadly, there’s plenty that needs our attention!!). We look to see how we can support & empower others – giving of our time, resources and skills.

This week, temperatures in the south are due to hit the late 20s – certainly not feeling like autumn! Yet on other days, we can feel a little bite in the air.

Autumn, in Chinese medicine, is associated with the Lungs and Large intestine organs and meridians. A chance to be inspired – taking big full breaths of fresh oxygen and letting go through the out breath of carbon dioxide & on a symbolic level, anything that is no longer useful to us in our lives.

The Lungs are paired with Large Intestines, responsible for absorbing valuable nutrients from our food and eliminating the waste that our bodies don’t need. In Chinese medicine, autumn is the season of the Metal element. Grief is the emotion associated with this element. It is normal to experience loss, separation and grief. It is when our ability to adjust to this natural phenomenon in life is impeded that imbalance can result in excessive grief, inability to express grief and sadness or a general feeling of stuckness and inability to move on.

Supporting our Lungs at this time of the change of the seasons, is important for our immunity.

We can do this in many ways:

Healthy eating
Qi gong exercises for the Lungs
Other forms of exercise especially those that open the upper part of the body – yoga, pilates etc
Cardio-vascular exercise for lung and heart circulation
Rest and relaxation
Time for family and friends
Time for oneself
Time for reflection
Still time
Sleep
……and so much more….anything that gives you nourishment, fulfilment, a sense of being alive and engaged.

30 years in practice!!

It’s hard to believe, but this autumn marks my 30th year in clinical practice! It has been such a rich three decades and it feels like it’s gone so quickly. I have learnt so much from my patients, colleagues and teachers. It feels each year, like there is more and more to learn with new approaches emerging all the time.

I have studied in China, Japan, in Europe and the UK. I have worked in many settings – on the NHS, in private practice and for charitable organisations. General practice, HIV/AIDS work, fertility, pregnancy and children – has enabled me to engage with life from birth to death. I have taught in university, post-graduation courses and run continuing professional courses.

I integrate a number of acupunctures styles into my practice, with the gentle techniques of Japanese acupuncture forming the foundation of my practice. I also use moxibustion, cupping, dietary and lifestyle advice and manual therapy. Most importantly, I try to listen to my patients to support them on their journey to wellbeing.

As an Advanced EFT tapping practitioner, I am also able to teach patients to use tapping on themselves for self help and development.

I would like to thank all the people who have entrusted their health in my hands over the years.

For more information on tapping, please visit my website:

In research studies, tapping has been shown to significantly reduce cortisol levels in just one hour and also to improve a number of physiological markers:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6381429/

For more information, visit the EFT page of my website:

https://japaneseacupuncturelondon.com/treatment/eft-tapping/

Working with people with Long Covid

A while ago, I wrote a blog about treating people with Long Covid using acupuncture. Since the first lockdown was lifted, many people who have continued to have debilitating post-Covid symptoms have been turning to acupuncture to try to help improve their symptoms as there is not very much on offer out there by way of allopathic treatment. Having written an article for the British Acupuncture Council’s journal – several months further in, I am now re-working this material in preparation for publication for a Japanese acupuncture international journal. For some people, the improvements have been dramatic and for others it has been a slow steady upward trajectory, with the occasional dip, often due to stress or doing too much. Pacing and learning to listen to our bodies has been a key factor in enabling people to climb out of the fog and malaise.

Diet and addressing the mental health consequences of these challenges is also really important to address.

To find out more about how acupuncture or EFT tapping can help you or someone  you know who continues to suffer from Long Covid symptoms, please contact me on: m.fixler@japaneseacupuncturelondon.com