Emotion comes from the latin word meaning “to move.”  Emotion – whether it be joy, sadness or grief- is calling for action.  We are not meant to stay in one emotion for too long, and the feeling is calling us to move something: sometimes it’s our diet, the need to exercise, the call to forgive someone, to surrender defeat, to find a new job, change a relationship, to “spice things up!,” etc.

Why do acupuncture and herbs help our patients so much and so quickly?  Because they move energy.  If you are a patient of our’s, you have already experienced how just minutes after your acupuncture needles have been inserted, you are already feeling more calm and have less pain; and how just days into your herbal regimen, you notice your anxiety is reduced, you are sleeping better, and you think more clearly.

This movement of emotion/energy is integral to your health and well-being.  The movement is what prevents emotional and physical symptoms of depression, anxiety and other physical ailments.  Emotions are important and purposeful, but we must remember that like waves of the ocean, they are meant to come and to go.  Nature is our teacher.  The trees of Autumn instruct us in letting-go.  Trees have properties that allow them to conserve the nutrients produced in their leaves before they let them go.  This allows the tree to be fit and ready to grow in the following season.

And so with us.  Now is the time for reflection and acknowledgment- for all that has been good and for all that we’d like to see change. What may feel like grief, sadness or anxiety in your body, is a call to let-go of some aspect of life…

If you can do this, you can move into the Winter season with less angst, and act like the trees- conserving energy and growing within in preparation for the Spring, when you can  emerge with energy, vibrancy and growth- a new you/new project/new baby!  And if not, there is a chance you will carry this grief through winter where it may get worse, and unfortunately prevent you from achieving your goals.