“There exist no miraculous methods in the world, only plain ones, but the perfection of the plain is miraculous.”
Fei Boxiong 1863
“Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, all must be tasted”.
Chinese proverb
“Taking medicine but neglecting diet wastes the skills of the physician”
Chinese proverb
“When eating stop when you are seven tenths full”
Chinese proverb
Article: How Acupuncture Treats Concussion and Brain Injury
Article: From Pills to Pins, Oregon is Changing How it Deals with Back Pain

Here’s an article I wrote which was published in the local Lotus Guide for Healthy Living, Jan-Apr 2021 issue, upon the re-opening of my business in February 2021, in Paradise, Ca (I lost my business in Paradise due to the Camp Fire on November 8, 2018):
Herbal Medicinal Treasures in Paradise
This article is to point out that powerful plant medicine can be used to help yourself heal and can be found even where it may not be expected, in a small mountain town that is being reborn!

This is a handout for a brief talk I did in April 2019 at a Butte College yoga class:
Natural Medicine for Digestion, Stress and Trauma. It is only an brief introduction to the subject of easily accessible herbs for digestion, stress and trauma, geared towards the college student or lay person.


Spring seems to be my favorite time to talk about Chinese Medicine Food Therapy and how one can tailor their diet to the season for healing. In May 2018, I did a lecture on this topic and am posting my notes and recipes here:
Spring: Time to Tame the Liver
Summary Table of Spring Foods discussed
Five Element Chart
Recipes, etc.
Anti-Aging Brain Mix recipe
Raspberry-Lime Aqua Fresca
Ban Lan Gen Chong Ji
Dandelion Flower Syrup
Stir-fried Watercress with Almonds and Ginger
No-Cook Mint Syrup
Mint Syrup (cooking required)
Rose Hips Lemonade (with Hibiscus)
Note:
References for recipes are in the documents themselves.
This is an update to notes in my Spring 2013 Newsletter.
Wow! UC Davis School of Veterinary School of Medicine using acupuncture to help burned bears!! (And they were able to be returned back to the wild too!)
Pregnant Burned Bear in California Fire Gets Acupuncture and Fish Skin Paws
Vets Use Fish Skin and Acupuncture to Treat Burned Bears

Research into the importance of and benefits from an integrated model of health care has been recognized at the federal level for at least 20 years now with the formation the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). (NCCAM was renamed to National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) in 2014). One important indication of integrative medicine’s increased acceptance is NCCIH’s recent educational campaign geared towards veterans and military personnel discussing such topics such as managing chronic pain, PTSD, stress/anxiety and insomnia using ‘complementary practices’. A recent new analysis (3/17) of a National Health Interview Study, which was conducted by the CDC from 2010 to 2014, shows that veterans are in much more pain on average than non-veterans, and the ‘NCCIH is partnering with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense on 13 grants to research military and veteran health with a focus on non-pharmacological approaches to pain and related conditions’. The Veterans Health Administration has used acupuncture and chiropractic treatments for many years now, amongst other complementary practices, such as massage, hypnosis, meditation and yoga. The Veterans Choice program, which began in 2015, also allows veterans to go to local acupuncturists and chiropractors for pain management treatments, with prior authorization, so that a veteran does not have to wait more than 30 days for an appointment or drive more than 40 miles to the closest VA facility. For Butte County residents, that includes every veteran needing such services for pain management, given VA authorization or approval.
Originally published April 2017 in the ‘PARADISE RIDGE Lifestyle & Resource Guide’, a Paradise Ridge Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau publication.
New Guidelines Say Exercise, Yoga, and Acupuncture Beat Medications for Back Pain.
Other article links on this blog about acupuncture and back pain.
Smell Test Outperforms Brain Imaging in Predicting Dementia
Research showing the link between loss of sense of smell and Alzheimer’s disease dates back as far as 2002, with this small study showing a “classification accuracy of 95%”. Sounds like an easy, low-cost tool that the medical community should routinely use to help patients and their families prepare to prevent and/or treat this increasingly common health tragedy!
Please note that natural medicine, especially including nutritional support1 (which is much more comprehensive than just your ‘diet’ and what you food you eat), exercise2, and Traditional Chinese Medicine3, all offer many benefits for preventing dementia.
References:
A sampling of Traditional Chinese herbal formulas for brain and cognitive function.
UC Davis Pediatric GI MD Uses Acupuncture on Children for Stomach Pain
Other article links on this blog about acupuncture and IBS.

Menopausal Symptoms Helped by Acupuncture
From the conclusion of this study: “We found that a course of acupuncture treatments was associated with significant reduction in VMS, and several quality-of-life measures, compared with no acupuncture, and that clinical benefit persisted for at least 6 months beyond the end of treatment.”
Note: VMS is vasomotor symptoms, or hot flashes.

Cupping Therapy is a tool I use almost daily in my office along with acupuncture treatments. I primarily use it on certain types of pain, or for post-stroke syndrome (i.e., paralysis), but it can be used to ‘release the exterior’ (as we say in TCM) for an upper respiratory infection, for COPD (especially phlegm in the lungs), and many other health conditions. Research on Cupping Therapy:
Effectiveness of Cupping Therapy on Chronic Neck and Shoulder Pain
Photo Credit: Sheryl Sanchez, L.Ac., in Chengdu, China, 2000.
P.S. Don’t let the photo frighten you, it is a completely painless technique – it just looks a bit odd at first glance! Most patients love the procedure and especially the results – pain reduction!!

This is a very good article about the benefits of Cupping Therapy:
Have a Stubborn Injury? Cupping Therapy May Help
This is another article about Cupping Therapy by a teacher and scholar in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) published in the August 2016 of Mayway Corporation’s Newsletter. (Mayway Corporation is the manufacturer of the Plum Flower brand, a premier traditional Chinese herbal line of formulas, which I use in my office). This article is geared towards the TCM professional, but may be of interest to the public:
Ancient Art of Cupping
Photo Credit: Sheryl Sanchez, L.Ac., in Chengdu, China, 2000.























