$50 preset acupuncture treatment for addressing the emotional & spiritual transitions of winter offered January and February 2023.
We’ve entered the winter season, the water element and the beginning of the five elements or five transitions cycle. Winter and the water element are about rest, slowing down and focusing on warming, restorative practices. Lorie Dechar reminds us in her book Kigo, “At this time of year, it is good to go down and in, to eat warm roots and bone broths, to restore ourselves through sleep and meditation as we wait for the quickening, the first stirrings of the possibilities that gestate in the darkness.”
Winter is also the start, when we plant the seed of creation and embrace the impulse to begin again. The spirit of this season is will or ambition, which is the force needed to start anew. To quote Russell Brown LAc, “It is the crucible saying I will begin again in the darkness. I don’t know where it leads to, I don’t know what comes. It is the season of faith. I am keeping faith that there will be light and I am just going to move forward into my intention to begin.”
Lorie beautifully explains: “Water asks us to listen deeply to the needs of our being. Yet is also demands that we take heed of our larger destiny as it is revealed through the conditions, people and events we encounter. Rather than wasting precious life essences fighting against the way things are, Water invites us to accept the ever-changing forms of life, to go with the flow and to trust that with every descent, there will be a rising; with every death, there will be resurrection.”
The Spirit Animal of Winter is the Two-Headed Deer (represented in the collage). She is a creature of opposites, embodying both yin and yang. She looks into both the past and future. Lorie describes that “She is the protector of the spine and Kidneys and gives us the courage to step into the darkness or to simply rest and wait patiently through the night until the morning light returns.”
I’ve created a preset treatment of eight points for addressing the emotional and spiritual transitions of winter, the water element. This treatment focuses on the impulse to awaken, planting the seeds of creation and beginning anew. To do this we need will or ambition, the drive to move forward & overcome fear. It is a time to rest, sustain your resources, go inward and in the darkness find a spark or faith that in Spring what you plant in Winter will bloom. This is the story & support these four points (used bilaterally for eight points in total) give us:
Kidney 3: Greater Mountain Stream - “From the Greater Mountain Stream, Water flows from the source, rising up from the ground in a gushing torrent of life force that quenches, nourishes and awakens us at the level of body, soul and spirit.” - Lorie Dechar “If it’s going to be dark, can it at least be sweet & nourishing” - Russell Brown LAc
Bladder 60: Kunlun Mountain - Like a mountain, it brings stability, peace and balance to the body and mind. As the fire point on the water channel, it can warm frozen water and help reignite the spark of life when there is burn out. It restores movement and flow.
Kidney 7: Returning Current - This point can clear a blockage in a stream so that the current can flow again. It’s the turning point that restores our faith to start anew. This point is metal on water, it helps us transition from fall (the end of the cycle) into winter, the beginning.
Kidney 25: Spirit Storehouse - This point is the storehouse of the spirit and will, we hold ourselves in the darkness until it is safe to grow. This point offers us safety, rest and relief. It gives us time to heal and to know when we can step back out into the light.
Available for booking now, only offered in January & February.