Some great articles from another blog about community acupuncture

Wow! The blog posts on The Community Acupuncture Network have been particularly juicy of late. Here's a couple we'd really like to share.
"Playful Poking", about laughter medicine.
"The Genius in the Corner of the Room", about how it's not some mystical, "genius" thing the acupuncturist is doing, it's just collective knowledge and love.
"Getting Acupuncture", about WHO acupuncture is for.

Community Bread

Local baker Michael "Challahman" Dolich talks about bread, bicycles and a sustainable local economy.
Watch this video.
Read this article.

Pregnancy and Chinese Medicine

Here's an article by community acupuncturist, Alex Rossan, of Grassroots Acupuncture Project in Santa Cruz, Ca. about the uses of acupuncture during pregnancy.

Are you pregnant?

As you may or may not know, acupuncture can be a super effective treatment for many of the “aches and pains” associated with pregnancy, as well as very safely and successfully treat other pregnancy related conditions that pop up as your body plays host to the growing baby inside and experiences profound changes. Sometimes these physical and emotional changes are uncomfortable, and the tools that used to be in your toolbox of self-care (certain types of exercise, over the counter medicines, and even some prescription drugs) are now unavailable as options. This is where acupuncture and even carefully prescribed herbs can help women to experience a joyful and pleasant pregnancy. Chinese Medicine can serve as a viable, safe, and effective pre-natal healthcare adjunct to the care you are already receiving from your OB or Midwife.

So, there is the frequently asked question of “when do I come in and for what?” Here is a brief laundry list of all the things acupuncture can help pregnant women with: Nausea and vomiting, heartburn, constipation (or other digestive complaints) varicose veins, edema, urinary tract infections, musculoskeletal issues (sciatica, carpal tunnel), fatigue, anemia, insomnia, anxiety, depression, sinusitis, colds and flu, pregnancy induced hypertension, and breech presentation.

Some of these, depending of course on the severity of the symptom, can be easily remedied by acupuncture and sometimes herbal medicine. In case of pregnancy induced hypertension and breech presentation, acupuncture is most effective when treatment is started shortly after the diagnosis has been made. For example, breech babies are usually diagnosed between weeks 32 and 34, and are more likely to turn before week 34. In cases of pregnancy induced hypertension, acupuncture can be most successful when treatment is started early – the optimal time to treat is when blood pressure reading begins to be of concern.

Acupuncture can also be used as a routine pre-birth treatment starting at week 37 or 38. Chinese medicine historically holds that the time before a woman is to give birth is an optimal time to balance her hormones and strengthen her organ systems. Studies have shown that specific pre-birth treatments can actually increase the likelihood of a delivering by the due date, shorten time spent in labor, ensure a smoother labor (less stop and go) and reduce medical interventions such as epidurals and caesareans. The points chosen will actually help the cervix soften and dilate, ready the uterus for the labor, and relax and soften surrounding ligaments in the pelvis. Even if a woman does go past her due date, these pre-birth treatments will make her respond more readily to induction – either through acupuncture or medicine.

What about acupuncture for labor inductions? There are several medical reasons why labor needs to be induced, including post-term babies, premature membrane rupturing, and babies getting too large in the case of diabetic mothers. Acupuncture for labor induction can be very effective, and treatments are recommended daily to maintain momentum. During the treatment, many women report contractions and increased movement of their baby. How many treatments you will need is dependent on how quickly you respond to treatment, but usually a labor will commence after 1 to 3 treatments.

All in all, working with an acupuncturist along side your midwife or OB can ensure a healthier and smoother pregnancy.

To see more of Alex's articles and to see more about Grassroots acupuncture Project, visit their website.

Salute to Benny "the barber" Augello

Sat, Jan 24 at 6:30, Salute to Benny Augello:
You can be part of an appreciation for Benny (celebrating his 50+ years of cutting hair at 4714 Baltimore Avenue). We will have a light dinner buffet and beverages at Abbraccio with remembrances and perhaps a retelling of some of Benny’s bad jokes! Nominal charge of $15 per person to pay for food/beverage at this event, plus cash bar. Reservations are suggested.

"Enoughness" by Bill McKibbon

"Nature, like close-knit human community, is designed to help us stay sane."

Read the whole essay here.

“Everything is made of fire,” claimed Heraclitus. What is fascinating about this ancient remark is how it turned out to be so improbably true. Werner Heisenberg, one of the twentieth century’s most important nuclear physicists, wrote in Physics and Philosophy that “modern physics is in some way extremely near to the doctrines of Heraclitus. If we replace the word ‘fire’ by the word ‘energy’ we can almost repeat his statements word for word from our modern point of view.” Twenty-five hundred years after Heraclitus, Heisenberg found his thinking much closer to modern physics than any philosopher who had followed him. Furthermore, Heraclitus did not try to separate himself from the natural world as philosophy has done from Socrates up to Descartes. It was Descartes, most profoundly, whose philosophy created a terrible sense of separateness between mind and body, human beings and the natural world. He destroyed the Logos, the gathering principle, by reducing the world to a set of objects that had little connection to one another.

Read the whole article here:
Notes from a Very Small Island
A practice in belonging to this world
by Erik Reece

Fiddle Workshop at PCA

Crossroads Music presents:

a fiddle workshop at Philadelphia Community Acupuncture.
Sunday, April 7, 11 am to 1 pm.
with APRIL VERCH BAND
Ottawa Valley fiddle and stepdance.

There will be a concert Saturday, December 6 at 7:30 pm
Calvary Church, 48th St. and Baltimore Ave. in West Philadelphia.

You can get all the event info and sound samples @
www.crossroadsconcerts.org.
Please look at the amazing series of music that
Crossroads Music brings to our neighborhood.