Spring Liberation

Spring Liberation

By Kidada Fields

This past month we continued with the Seasonal Health Series: Wood. We designed this series to help folks live in better harmony with the seasons by discussing the related elements, how energy shows up in humans, and the associated Acupuncture points. Spring resonates with the Wood element of the five phases; an element that has to do with movement, planning, action, discernment, justice, choices, courage and creativity. Because Chinese Medicine is nature based, “as above, so below” guides its philosophies. What is happening outside is also happening inside you.

As our environment has moved into Spring, inside we have also shifted. Do you notice any internal shifts when the seasons change? Take a look outside for insight. With Spring, the Earth has woken up from its deep winter rest; bulbs are popping, birds are singing. There is more movement. How does this feel in you? Ready to get going, exercising, moving on a plan you have set? Or are you stuck and frustrated about being stuck?

If you're motivated to move. Let the movement start slowly, so as not to hurt yourself. To ensure flexibility, stretch your muscles first before going for that run or walk. Move forward with your plans with focused intention, with a clear vision of where you wish to go.

If you are not motivated to move, that is ok too! Be flexible with yourself. Start gently. We had an intense winter navigating life during a pandemic. Maybe start internally by lightening up your food, moving away from stews and more into lightly sautéed or steamed greens; add more greens to your diet; add chlorophyll to your water to get more oxygen to your blood. You can even start with your mind and your third eye. Meditate on what you want, see it, believe it. Wood energy brings vision. What do you envision for yourself? What do you envision for your community? The planet?

Applying pressure at GB1 - The Bone Of Fresh Innocent Eyes or Pupil Foramen (Tongzilao) can help with issues of the eyes and vision, headaches, heat and wind. On another level, here is where we can support looking inward and outward at plans, with fresh and innocent eyes. It is where the Gallbladder primary channel begins. The Gallbladder Official "empowers the creative growth of our inner plans into the world ", Jarrett.

On a larger scale, we are in a season of protesting, standing up against injustices and pushing against oppression, and it is intense energy. Once stagnant energy that has been building gets moving, it is powerful and shows up as a lot of emotions. The emotion of wood is anger, while its gift is benevolence. Appropriate anger can be moved into positive action. Yet, stuck and unexpressed anger can cause irritability, frustration, tension, stress and foster disease. When we stay in these emotions, we often cannot see a clear way out. Step back, take deep breaths, get grounded and come back with fresh eyes.  

Liver 3 - Supreme Surge Forward, Supreme Rushing, Happy Return (Taichong) is a commonly used point. It eases constraint and thus helps with tense stuck energy throughout the body. It also addresses headaches, menstrual cramps, muscle cramps, shoulder tension and overall stress. It is nourishing and grounding at the same time.

Located in the flesh below the meeting of the 1st two metatarsals. Often tender, gently apply pressure for 20-30 seconds, repeat a few times, both feet.

FULL ON SPRING

HI all,

Ugghhh I do not want to write this email.  I feel stuck, lazy, and kind of pissed about it too.  I am going to do an acupuncture experiment right now. I'm going to give myself a treatment and see what happens.I'll be right back. 

****Insert: Wood Horary Treatment (Liver 1, Gallbladder 41) and  added Liver 14, Gallbladder 2 and  and DU 20 (for any curious acupuncturists out there)****                                       

OK, much better. I can catch a deep breath now and so I will just start writing. What is a Horary treatment you might ask? 

If you are only going to get acupuncture a few times a year for "tune ups" as some people call them, these Horary treatments are those times. In these treatments, we do the elemental point on the elemental meridian at the peak of that element's season (and at that element's time of day if you are really hard core).  Around the Winter and Summer Solstice for Water and Fire respectively, around the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes for Wood and Earth respectively, and sometime when things get really stark in November for the Metal element. Usually the week leading up to and after those holidays are good times to do the treatment. Last Saturday was the Spring Equinox so I have been doing Wood Horary's on mostly everyone and just realized that I really needed it too!  

Spring used to be the time I would get really depressed. The light was so bright, the birds so loud, I felt so exposed and I just totally was not ready to take off layers and get in the game.  I no longer get depressed and I quite love the spring actually, but this year I do feel a slight taste of that paradox of energy rising and resisting. Apparently this manifests for me these days as a tight chest, trouble taking a deep breath, lots of sighs, cramps, and being very easily and thoroughly agitated.  That treatment just opened my chest right up.  My eyes watered unemotionally (always a sign for me that Qi is moving) and somehow I now have a bit more clarity to start writing after procrastinating on this email for days! 

The Liver meridian runs from the big toe up though the groin and chest and the Gallbladder meridian runs from the "ring toe" right though the hips, zigzagging its way up the side of the body and the head, ending at the outer corner of each eye.  During the treatment just now, I felt a bubbling in my inner thigh and a relaxation through my hips that reminded me that this spring season requires ALOT more stretching and moving than in winter.  

The Qi of Wood likes to move!  Its tendency is to go up and out and when it meets with any perceived obstacles, its innate momentum creates a stagnation that manifests in certain kinds of pain and moodiness, usually NOT subtle.  It is so important to keep these meridians and organs free and easy flowing to allow life to flow through us in all the ways, all the way. 

Stretches that open the sides of the body, the hips, and the diaphragm (like triangle pose, pigeon pose, fish pose, and breath of fire in the yogic tradition) are great for this time. Also, stretching the jaw and mouth as well as keeping the scalp and hair loose is important.  The classic Chinese medical texts prescribe for the springtime "walking briskly with arms loose and hair down" and many of the herbal formulas that help with freeing Wood Qi are based on a formula called "free and easy wanderer." You get the point...

This is the season of resurrection after all. It's quite a thing to transition back from the dead of winter so be gentle with yourself and others (I'm reminding myself). Easter and Passover are the celebrations of Freedom, and as we know from the history of these holidays; it don't come easy. Recognizing the places we have faced and overcome obstacles and recognizing that in each other cultivates a healthy esteem and solidarity.  Life is not for the faint of heart; and we are all doing it, step by step.

Please join me next Saturday and Kidada on the 17th to explore more about the Wood Element in the:

Seasonal Health Series | Spring

Sat April 4th, 4-5 PM with Sarah Chase Natan

Sat April 17th, 4-5:30 PM with Kidada Fields

Explore the Five Elements in real time through the year. We began with the Metal element in Autumn, dove into Water in Winter, and are emerging now in Spring to learn how to align in health with all that the seasons offer.

Part I : Sat April 3rd 4pm-5pm: Sarah will review the five element tradition, explore the virtues and themes of the Wood element and its organ associations, and offer some basic Qigong exercises and herbal support for the spring months. 

Part II: Sat April 17th 4pm - Kidada will teach how to locate, apply pressure and use moxabustion (heat therapy) and/or essential oils on choice Acupoints along the Liver & Gallbladder meridians.

Tickets are $25

Sign Up Here

See you there!  Until then, may the path be clear and open before you.

With Love on this Full Moon,

Sarah Natan MAcOM
founder of BAP 

SPRING IS HERE…IT’S TIME FOR SOME NUTRITIONAL DETOX

Is detoxing worth it? There is an ever-growing debate with regard to cleanse or detox diets in popular social groups around the globe. They are the latest trend. Eliminating toxins and waste from your body sounds like an excellent solution to lethargic and stagnant energy along with excess weight. That being said, despite all the positive benefits of doing a detox, the response on how worthy this journey is will be absolutely polarizing. I personally believe that detoxing is a must! Please read on and decide whether or not doing a detox is right for you. 

For the past two months, I have been contemplating what type of detox I should do. A few weeks ago, a very close friend and colleague of mine, Juan Torres, suggested I do a Moong (Mung) Bean Detox alongside him. He informed me that it is an ayurvedic medicine detox. It has anti-cancer/anti-inflammatory properties that aid with certain health conditions such as diabetes, glaucoma, goiter, hypertension, and high cholesterol.

Juan and I began the detox journey two weeks ago. I decided to do the detox for fourteen days. On the first day, I consumed mung bean soup throughout the day. I felt somewhat hungry, so I snacked on a handful of organic cashews. On the second day, I realized my appetite decreased. I ate the mung bean soup three times that day. I actually felt more energized. For the remaining days on the detox, I had the soup three times a day. If I felt a bit hungry or developed a hunger headache, I would snack on organic cashews, peanuts, or a granola bar. Overall, my experience from the detox was wonderful. I have more energy, lost 6 lbs., and grew energetically on a higher vibration. 

If anyone is interested in doing this detox which can be found in the book “Ancient Secrets of a Master Healer” by Dr. Clint G. Rogers, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

▪       1 cup of whole green dried moong beans or mung beans (soaked overnight)

*if you found sprouted mung beans that’s ready to cook- no need to soak overnight; you can find this at Wholefood’s)

▪       2 cups of water and 1 ½ tsp. of salt

▪       1 Tbs. of pure cow’s ghee or sunflower oil

▪       1 tsp. of black mustard seeds

▪       2 pinches of hing (also known as asafoetida)

▪       1 bay leaf

▪       ½ tsp. of turmeric powder

▪       1 tsp. of cumin powder

▪       1 tsp. of coriander powder

▪       1 pinch of black pepper

▪       1 ½ of fresh ginger, finely chopped

▪       ½- 1 tsp. of fresh garlic, finely chopped

▪       2 more cups of water which is added to make the soup after the beans are cooked

▪       3 pieces of Kokum (dry jungle plum)

▪       Salt to taste when served

▪       Optional: 1 cup of chopped peeled carrots, 1 cup of diced celery

Preparation Steps:

1.  Rinse and remove any debris, then soak the beans in water overnight

2. Drain the beans, adding the indicated amount of water and salt, then cook the beans in a pressure cooker until tender (if you have the sprouted mung bean ready to cook- no need to put in a pressure cooker, just boil the beans in a deep pot).

3. It will take about 40-45 minutes for the beans to be fully cook. When the beans are cooked (slight crack on beans), add kokum, carrots, and celery after 25 minutes (low heat with lid on).

4. After 20 minutes, while the beans are cooking, heat the ghee or sunflower oil in a separate deep pot on a medium heat until melted. Add the mustard seeds.

5. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add hing, turmeric, bay leaf, cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic, and a pinch of black pepper and stir it gently mixing well.

6. Turn the heat to a low setting and simmer for about 10 minutes (do not burn).

7. Transfer the cooked beans with 2 more fresh cups of water into the pot with the simmering ingredients.

8. Bring to boil then simmer for about 5-10 minutes. It can be served with basmati rice.

*Some other delicious vegetables you can add to the soup are spinach and butternut squash.

By: Stephanie Destina

Happy New New New Year

Dear Acupuncture Family, 

Tomorrow is the New Moon and Chinese New Year. As reflected upon in our last newsletter, the year of the Yin Metal Ox is upon us.  The Ox represents the Liver which is the energy of revolution, new growth, hard work, and the very beginnings of spring. It also happens to literally be the very beginnings of spring as we speak and even though it is still cold as &*$# out there, the sap is actually beginning to rise deep in the earth. The light is returning (in so many ways) if we continue to meet it and do the work. 

In the spirit of the Liver, like roots busting though concrete, I want to celebrate the literal roots of acupuncture in our great city and the dedicated folks who fought the good fight to make the healing possible. 

The Young Lords & Black Panther were the first to bring Acupuncture to the South Bronx with their grassroots movement. From it, came the NADA practice of placing five small needles into the ear. In the 1970s, the Lincoln Project was in dire need for alternate methods of detox then prescribing  methadone. The Black Panthers & Young Lords  brought  acupuncture to the clinic resulting in  the current 5-point NADA protocol.

 Long-time staffer at NADA said,, “It was the clients that wanted something else besides methadone. We had old methadone users—I’m talking 30, 35, 40 years, which is old in addiction – and they wanted another method of detox, because they didn’t like the methadone. They were really dead set on us finding another method for them to detox and stay clean. That’s how we really got into acupuncture.”

Video is the trailer for the documentary film "Dope Is Death."


We use the NADA treatment every day for helping people get free from addictions of all kinds. 


*


I will also remind you of a wonderful offering through BAP the happens tomorrow, and every New Moon. 

Aquarius New Moon Reiki Manifest 

with Lupe Torres

A powerful workshop where the energies and astrology surrounding the new moon in Aquarius, on both personal and collective levels will be discussed. No astrology knowledge is required. Learn what area of life this new moon activates according to your astrology. Receive astrology inspired journal prompts. Embody affirmations through movement.

Once individual intentions are embodied, the Reiki healing portion of the workshop will begin. Receive a breath focused guided meditation to prepare the mind, body, and soul to receive healing. Lupe will connect to each participant and transmit the Reiki (universal life force energy) to the group for about one hour. Discussion time will be set aside to allow participants to share anything that came up during Reiki.

Create a comfortable laying space where you will be uninterrupted for the Reiki portion. Make your space as serene as you wish using candles, incense, or crystals.

In addition to being an astrologer and reiki practitioner, Lupe is a yoga teacher, pilates certified instructor, and personal trainer.

Tickets are $25 - Sign Up Now

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Thank you for all the ways you are busting with verdant new growth through the concrete in your own lives. For the ways that you are choosing, step by step, to align with the healthiest way. Thank you and Onward! 

Happy New Year to each and every one of you! 

Sarah Natan 
founder/owner at BAP 

Wee Hours of Spring

Dear BAP Community,

Today's Full Moon is the last full moon of the Metal Rat year in Chinese cosmology. The Rat is associated with the Gallbladder organ/meridian and is said to be the pivot between dark and light. The time of day associated with the Rat is midnight when the heavy dark Yin energy transforms into the initial phases of light bright Yang rising up again. Hallelujah!

On February 12th, 2021 we will enter the year of the Yin Metal OX. The Ox is related to the Liver organ/meridian and the time of 1-3 am. Both the Gallbladder and Liver are Wood element organs and thusly the associated years are also governed by Wood. Wood makes things happen. It is the energy of all things green and growing, roots busting through concrete, creative revolution, and clear vision. Wood is onward and upward all the way while the the Yin Metal (Lung) influence this year brings an inward and downward counterbalance.

In Five Element theory, Metal "controls" Wood which means it keeps that upward energy from getting unruly; much like trimming back a plant so that it can grow healthier. The interplay between Metal and Wood is a good one! Wood can get frustrated with perceived restrictions but like an Ox with an entire field to plow, the organizing principles of Metal can make the work more efficient and effective.

We sure do have our work cut out for us this year so good thing these cosmic arrangements are on our side!

At BAP, we are here for you with time tested tools to help support and maintain the energy needed to play your part in the larger force of healing needed now. Whether it be herbs to help you sleep better, a class to teach you about self care practices, an acupuncture treatment to unblock your sinus', or a body work session to free up your low back; taking care of your self IS subtle activism. If you are feeling better you are thinking clearer, finding more compassion, having the resilience to reach your goals, and spreading that good energy far and wide. This is precisely why we are here doing what we do!

Please lean into us for support this season as we move out of the deep Waters of Winter in to the wee Wood hours of Spring. THIS is the time to treat to prevent spring allergies. This is the time to strengthen your entire system for the year to come. This is also the time to support your body whether or not you choose to get the vaccine as acupuncture/herbs/nutrition can ameliorate any possible side effects AND we are VERY successfully using herbs for COVID prevention and treatment. Just ask!

Thank you all for your kind attention and have a wonderful full moon! Today is also Tu B' Shevat (the birthday of the trees) in the Jewish tradition and the New Moon/Chinese New Year will also be Imbolc or Candlemas (when the sap begins to rise) in the Celtic traditions so...we're on to something up in this hemisphere! In the rhythms of the natural world, there is always something to celebrate and learn from.

WIth Love,

Sarah Natan
founder/owner at BAP

New Year New World

Dear Acupuncture Fam, 

About one year ago, I made a commitment to write a newsletter on the New Moon and Full Moon of every month. Prior to that, I was only writing when there was something very important to say and/or when the spirit moved me. The challenge to write something no matter what the news or the mood has been a good one. 

For a few days, I have felt that I have nothing to say.  My words when I speak them are a bit jumbled and don’t really get at what I am thinking or feeling.  It feels like some kind of void; like a tide just went out and the new tide is coming in but which way is what  is not so perceptible. There are many prophesies about this time as the beginning of a new era and so I suppose this is what it feels like when we are in between dimensions in a way.  It seems like it could be awkward, scary, interesting, exciting...but all those words are not even accurate and naming what is happening feels somehow impolite (maybe not the word) to the mystery that is unfolding here. 

I think I’m getting schooled in the Water element. Formlessness, spaciousness, trust in the unknown, making my way in the dark. What do I know? Not much. What can I see?  Not much.  My mind is relatively quiet, there is not much emotional charge present; I am just here, listening. Thoughts and words seem extra loud and obsolete; like there is nothing to say or think that the silence doesn’t already convey.  I’m not sure this makes any sense but it is it what is present and so somewhat of a disclaimer about this email :) Here I am writing to advertise about my class on the Water element coming up in less than two weeks and I have nothing to say! 

Since this will be the last email before the class on the 9th, I will just say that I do hope you will join me there to explore the virtues of the Water element and what we can learn from in it in this deep winter time.  How do we move through life rooted in the great mystery. How do dark times strengthen our inner light and how do we be light bearers in a dark time. These topics and more concrete information like how adaptogens and certain herbal formulas can been helpful to draw back the bow for the year to come, some simple Qi Gong to strengthen our Kidney and Bladder organ systems (which includes our endocrine, nervous, and reproductive systems), as well as brushing up on what seedless mediation is are all topics that may be covered.  How do I transmit the wonder of the night sky in winter and the awe of depths of the ocean that Water element is? I don’t know yet :) 

Kidada’s teachings on the 23rd will go into specifics of particular acupoints on the Bladder and Kidney meridians, how you can find them yourself, and how you can use moxabusion at home. She brings all of her passion for and wisdom of this medicine with her and therefor her classes are amazing. I often refer people to Kidada and always say to them that if I could be a fraction of the healer she is in this lifetime, I would be happy.  She is a lighthouse and deep teacher. 

Seasonal Health Series | Water

Saturday's 1/9 and 1/23 at 4 pm 

with Sarah Chase Natan & Kidada Fields

Explore the Five Elements in real time through the year. We begin with the Metal and delve deeper into Water.  Learn about the elements and how we can connect and align in health with the them.

Part I : Sat Jan 9 at 4pm - Sarah will review the virtues and themes of the Water element, organ association, and offer some basic Qigong exercises and herbal support.

Part II: Sat Jan 23 at 4pm - Kidada will share learnings about choice Acupoints and how to connect to them using acupressure and moxibustion. 

*

Also coming up in exactly two weeks on January’s new moon is Lupe’s class New Moon + Movement Manifestation.  She will be teaching a yoga class on every new moon so we can get our bodies and minds aligned with the times, literally.  



New Moon + Movement Manifestation

Wednesday January 13th, 7-9 pm 

with Lupe Terrones 

Join Lupe in this 2 hour workshop to discuss the energies and astrology surrounding the new moon in Capricorn. Being the first new moon of the year we have an opportunity to set powerful intentions for the year ahead. Journal prompts will help illuminate our path ahead as we set powerful intentions according to our astrology and our practical needs.

We'll learn how to wield the Capricorn wisdom for the benefit of our long term goals and discuss what makes a goal tangible in energetic terms. We'll conclude with intuitive movement inspired by the energy of Capricorn. A new moon achieves little until we root our intentions into our physical body.

Plant your intentions within the physical realm using the wisdom of the cosmos and join me on this afternoon that's full of potential!

In addition to being an astrologer and reiki practitioner, Lupe is a yoga teacher, pilates certified instructor, and personal trainer.

Tickets are $35 - Sign Up Now

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Thank you so much to Jonathan and Lev for their awesome IChing and Sound classes respectively. The practices are so huge yet you both made them so accessible and fun!  They will be back with more in the coming months.  

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Lastly and so importantly, Saruh Lacoff is facilitating another Me and White Supremacy workbook group this month. I am finally doing it. I have known I want/need to do something to look into my own contributions to the state our world is in and reorient my thinking/acting but I wanted to see who was truly in it for the long haul after the dust settled media wise. This group is it.  You can email saruhworkbookgroup@gmail.com for more information and to join a group. 

Thank you all for listening and for the ways that you are allowing the new to move through you. 

Love, 

Sarah Natan MAcOM
founder/owner at Brooklyn Acupuncture Project 

Seasonal Health Series: METAL

This season more than ever, people want to know how to care for and strengthen their Lungs. Join us as BAP kicks off our Seasonal Health Series. Learn the gifts of the seasons, the five elements and how to connect and align with each, for better health. With Autumn upon us, we start with Metal - the element associated with the Lungs and Large Intestine. It may seem like a strange pair, yet understanding their functions physically and energetically, one can obtain valuable self-care guidelines.

Saturday Nov 7th, Sarah Chase Natan will gracefully open by sharing the themes and virtues of Metal along with choice Qi Gong movements & Herbs for support. Return in two weeks for more jewels in Part 2, taught by Kidada Fields. We will connect to the Lung and Large Intestine channel systems thru choice Acupoints using Acupressure, a crystal, and an essential oil. This is an interactive class. Come prepared to use your hands and show your arms.

You will leave with jewels to help you and your loved ones awaken your self healing + connect to your sacred space within. Register here.

We look forward to seeing you on zoom, the new meeting place :).

Summer Solstice Healing

Dear BAP family, 

Above is a detailed picture of the surface of the sun!  I never knew....   
Gold nuggets and sunflowers and interconnection. What else do you see? 

Today marks the peak of Yang energy as it makes its ascent from the winter solstice. What a year we have had since December 21st!  Indeed all the phenomena of Yang: fire, activation, rapid movement, rapid change, heat, intensity, transformation; are wildly at play.  

Today on the Summer solstice, we can align with the pure positive energy of the sun and how it informs and reminds us of the ONE thing we all are.  We are deep in the season of FIRE now and just like that all the flowers turn to fruit and the long hot days activate and slow us down at the same time.  Starting today, the Yin energy begins its decent back around into the darkness and just like that, we will be back in winter. 

However different they look  (newsflash!)  Yin and Yang are  ONE THING! 
The characters of Yang and Yin depict the sunny and shady side of one hill respectively. We use these terms to depict different phases and and phenomena of the same movement of Life. 

Today, we can tune into the healing that Yang and Fire have for us humans. Let it burn through all illusion, all separation, all turbid structures in our minds and bodies and in our world.  Like that golden Sun, present and shining no matter what weather may obscure, we find that place inside of us that is connected to all the light inside all the life around us.  This day rings the tone of ONENESS. Let it move through you.

*

We are up and running at BAP and our amazing team is shining and active as ever!  BIG SUMMER SOLSTICE SHOUT OUT to these amazing healers. Here are the days they are in the clinic. 

Monday: Jamil 
Tuesday-Mona
Wednesday-Donna
Thursday-Kidada
Friday-Tim 


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In the name of oneness and healing; I want to share a list of resources I have been working my way though as one white person responsible for how the world goes right now. It is only a fraction of what is out there working on culture like only the fires of purification can.  

Read

• For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies - Courtney Ariel (Sojourners article)

• The 1619 Project - Nikole Hannah-Jones (NY Times Mag issue)

• My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma & the Pathway to Mending our Hearts & Bodies - Resmaa Menakem ( This is the book that Stephanie and John and I are currently reading)

• Me & White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, & Become a Good Ancestor - Layla Saad

Listen

• A Decade of Watching Black People Die - Code Switch (NPR)

• Seeing White -  Scene on Radio   

• Revolution Playlist - Rachel Cargle (Spotify)

Watch

• When They See Us - Ava Duvernay (Netflix)

• 13th - Ava Duvernay (Netflix)

• Fruitvale Station - Ryan Coogler 

• The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution - Stanley Nelson, Jr.

• St. Louis Superman - Bruce Franks, Jr. (Al Jazeera: Witness)

Learn Online

• Racialized Trauma e-course - Resmaa Menakem (free)

• 30-day #dothework course - Rachel Cargle (free - Instagram)

Act Locally - compiled by Ngozi Musa & Sophia Magnolia Hunt (Instagram)

• Research your local District Attorney, Mayor, & City Council (and other local officials). 
  Do you agree with their positions?  Why or why not?

• Have conversations about police brutality with your friends and family.

• Check out Campaign Zero & see how your state is doing. 

• Subscribe to your local newspaper.

• Research local organizations working on issues of racism

Thank you all, bless you all, and see you soon at BAP!  

Love,

Sarah 

Opening Monday In Solidarity

Dear Community,

We are in this together until the end.

Until racism is eradicated from every cell of every human being on the planet, we are ALL IN.

BAP has always been and will always be a safe place for all people. 

PEOPLE. All colors, all walks, and all ways.

PEOPLE.

Our human family.

We support the Black Lives Matter movement and stand for uprooting the systemic racism, price brutality, and ongoing injustice in our county experienced by People Of Color for generations. 

We recognize that these issues are not new and that any real change will take continued commitment from each of us as individuals and as a community. 

Breath by breath, step by step, treatment by treatment; We stand for LIFE.

There is so much work to do. Healing within, healing without, transforming the way we live on this planet. No small task and the TIME IS NOW. 

Together as ONE. We are Unity in Motion. 

Like that.....

WE OPEN TOMORROW! 

Acupuncture is one of the ancient medicines with the power to connect us to what is most important. With so much whirling in chaos and change, it is indeed ESSENTIAL that we stay open to support you in finding the center of your own truth and strength so that you can show up as one doing the work necessary.

Due to the COVID-19 regulations on our profession, we have had to change our pricing structure. We will only be treating three people an hour, sanitizing everything in between, and conducting screening before treatments. Our practitioners will be doing all of this as we will not have reception.  We ask that you pay ahead of time when you book online and will be sending you a prescreening email once you book. We will continue our virtual herbal, acupuncture, and reiki consults as well. 

The low cost sliding scale has been at the core of BAP’s mission since opening our doors in 2008 and it has been hard to wrap my head and heart around changing this. The way community acupuncture has always worked is that people pay what they can afford and receive the same great care. We are a project rooted in community care and honesty. Those who can pay more allow people who need to pay less to receive treatment. This is still the case. We offer the options here as a way of keeping costs down AND keeping our doors open. Our primary goal is making acupuncture affordable for you, paying our practitioners fairly, and staying open for the community during this challenging time.

Please also look at our safety precautions.

Thank you again Kidada, Jamil, Mona, Donna, and Tim for navigating opening with me and for being the true healers you are. Thank you N'neka, Kate, and Marie for all your support! Thank you to all of you for staying tuned and patient and for showing up for yourself and the health of your community and world.

In Love, Light, Solidarity, and Good Health, 

 -Sarah Natan 

Reopening and Love for the Bees

Dear friends, 

Two days ago was "international bee day."  I was so happy to learn that there is a day dedicated to these amazing creatures who tirelessly serve, leaving sweetness in their wake.  Critical pollinators, bees are a keystone species (a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically) and as such, have much to show us about what is important in life. Eat food? Thank a bee! 

In Ang Roell's short talk "What honeybees can teach us about shaping change," they touch some of the essential lessons humans can learn from bees to inform the change necessary to survive the self-created extinction we are in.  In the past ten years bees have been experiencing what is called "colony collapse disorder" due to rapidly changing climate, overuse of pesticides, loss of habitat, and rapidly spreading virus'. Sound familiar?  She shared that when people ask her what they can do to help the bees she says "change the way we relate to the natural world and change the way we relate to each other."  

Small is beautiful. Cooperation. Power sharing. Building consensus. Building trust. These tenants of bee life have been deep in my heart as we look at how and when to open the clinic after two months of mandated closure. BAP has always operated with these values and now more than ever, the survival of our practice depends on it.  

We are looking to open within the month and are navigating the changes. Here are the updates so far:  Each practitioner will be there one day per week and there will be no overlapping of people coming and going as treatments will be spread out in space and time alike. All payments will be done before hand online to decrease surfaces being touched and all surfaces will be sterilized after each use. We will require everybody to wear a mask and encourage gloves as well. There will be a simple screening before the appointment including asking about symptoms and taking temperature. Currently, new AND existing patients may need doctors referrals for acupuncture, through there is a strong movement to change that. All of this will be clearly laid out before and during opening.  In the meantime, we are open on Wednesdays for herb pickups. 

SO yes indeed it is s a changed world. I am grateful to Kidada, Mona, Jamil, Tim, and Donna for their willingness to come back and serve and for their participation in the "hive mind" it takes to make these decisions. We are sorry to say goodbye to Jasmine Stine who brought so much skill and sass :) to the clinic over the past few years and grateful she will stay on for herbal consults with Jonathan Edwards and myself on the virtual team as well. 

Just when I thought I couldn't love this medicine anymore; seeing it provide so much help through the pandemic has deepened my respect and awe for it and its practitioners.  As discussed in the last newsletter, herbs and acupuncture are powerfully protecting people preventatively, giving great relief and recovery, and ushering people back to optimal health (as they always have and always will). When we open, what BAP has to offer will be just the right thing for recalibrating our nervous systems from the collective trauma of the last months.

We will keep you posted with our reopening plan in the next few weeks and will let you know about some pre-paid packages that will be instrumental in keeping our hive alive! It is going to take all of us to make it happen. Already, at least three community acupuncture clinics in the city have closed and we want to make a different decision. We know BAP is a keystone species in the health of our community.

With the bees as teachers, we carefully step into this new era. As  Ang says in her talk:  "We can take lessons from inside the hives to build resilient communities."  With collective care, decisions, resources, and hope; we will survive and thrive in this new world. BAP is a pioneer of the Community Acupuncture movement in NYC and we will continue to set a tone for creating, as Ang says, "new pathways to change (that) take back our humanity, intimacy, and shared understanding." 

Thank you for your continued support and solidarity,  

Sarah Natan LAcMAOM
founder/owner at BAP

How To Cope During a Crisis: My journey through COVID-19

Step one: 

Completely Obsess Over the Crisis. 

Let’s face it. It's pretty much all around you, everywhere you look you see the words pandemic, you feel the fear that mob mentality incites. People are buying supplies in your local stores in a panicked state. The news outlets are delivering scarier and scarier news by the hour. You try to avoid it for as long as you can but finally you succumb. You pick up your phone or remote and it begins, the flood of information. Go ahead and binge, on all the things you think you’d want to avoid. Throw yourself in head first. Get as deep in conspiracy and controversy as you can. The scariest thing in life is fear of the unknown. Allow yourself to absorb the information, but take it as it is, just information. Trust me, once you get to that lowest point of fear in your mind, there is nowhere to go but up!

Step two: 

Giving Into the Feels

Lie in despair (be it literally or figuratively) if that’s what you want. Listen to yourself, what your subconscious is telling you. How are you going to express the emotions you feel? Find a healthy way to let it out. Throw on some songs you like and sing your soul out. There is nothing wrong with feeling all of your feelings. No one likes to feel sad but it's a part of life. Everything vibrates. If you go up chances are you will have a down period. The trick is to find a balance. There is always beauty in life, even when it’s the hardest to find. I challenge you to find something beautiful in your day. So feel your feels but know once you are at your lowest, there is nowhere to go but up. 

Step three: 

Finding a Support System

Human beings by nature are social; we need to feel connected to others. This experience as a whole is unnatural. Having to be separated from our loved ones for the greater good, it’s heartbreaking and as a result we are suffering in more ways than just physically. Be strong! This too shall pass! It’s important you find someone or something that brings you joy during this time. It's 2020 and we have many forms for connecting and communicating. I know people who have daily/weekly video calls with friends/family as a method for raising their spirits. Reach out to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, reconnect. As a people we’re forced to slow down, forced to reflect on the activities or people we may have taken for granted. It's not too late. Be kind to one another, we are all in this together and know in your heart that there is nowhere to go but up!

GUIDELINES: How We Are Working With the Community and COVID-19

First and foremost,  it is time to sure up your own immune system. At the clinic, we carry both Chinese herbs and immune building mushrooms. Also vitamin C, elderberry, echinacea, and zinc (with meals) are high on the list. Of course, maintaining a healthy diet and exercising outside are a must.  I will also say here that staying centered, grounded, awake, and cautions but not swallowed by fear, is also a huge boost to health. 

In Chinese medicine, this illness is predominantly damp so it’s a great time to cut out dairy, sugar, refined
foods, alcohol and avoid moldy damp areas. Also, not eating from hot bars is recommended. 

These measures in addition to the actions below are what we are recommending now. As the situation shifts
and changes, we will respond accordingly. 

 Follow general flu prevention measures: 

• Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds, and/or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or sleeve when sneezing or coughing — do not use your hands.

• Stay at home if you are not feeling well, reschedule out two weeks and/or book a phone or video consult.

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick or have traveled recently. 

What we're doing at BAP to reduce your risk:

• We have significantly increased our cleaning and disinfecting frequency of high-traffic areas including bathrooms, doorknobs, benches, counters, shelves and all other high-touch surfaces and locations.

• Wiping down tables and chairs before and after treatments 

• We have  hand sanitizer dispenser to use right when you get off the elevator and have multiple pump sanitizers throughout the office, including one by each treatment table

• All of our staff has been educated on preventative measures and have been made aware that they must stay home if they are sick.

• We are asking folks with any respiratory symptoms to stay home at this time and if there is a question, please call. 

We will continue to closely monitor information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and New York City Department of Health (DOH) and will follow their guidelines to protect and keep our environment safe, and will provide you with updates when necessary.

Jumping on the Lent Wagon

A client informed me last week that Wednesday (February 26th) would be the first day of Lent. I'm no Christian, but being thrifty with willpower and thriving in community, I've always wished the Muslim holy month of Ramadan had a choose-your-own-adventure feature to it. I've often thought, wouldn't it be nice if I could fast at night? And wouldn't it be cool if I could design a fast to support my specific health goals? I should do that when Ramadan's over.

Now comes the willpower part. I'm not likely to really observe a month-long fast unless it's mandated by a higher power. It's not that I lack willpower. Rather, I choose carefully how I spend it.

Lately, I had been waking up tired and craving sugar and tea throughout the day. At first, I thought, “I need to stop eating sugar for a month.”  But that would take a ton of will power, and I've got enough on my plate as it is. 

So, I decided to just set myself up to crave less sugar. I'm doing a brief intermittent fast every day, eating during a 9 to 10-hour window and fasting 14-15 hours. I've chosen to go easy on myself. If you’re into ketogenic fasting, you know that this is not that.  

People are often advised not to fast for more than 15 hours when menstruating. I’ll probably be even more lenient when that time comes because I think that that will be good for me. 

To my surprise, on just the second day of this lightweight intermittent fast, I actually ate less sugar and had a higher energy level. On the fourth morning, I found myself up and out of bed. I didn’t remember waking up. I was just … up. Are my days of lying in bed in the morning over?

Are you familiar with the term, drafting? Drafting is what cyclists do when they position a bike just inches behind another bike. That rear bike faces less resistance from the wind because it's taking advantage of the path of the bike ahead of it. Ducks do the same thing when they fly in a V-formation.

I’m taking advantage of this holy time—when millions are making changes to bring themselves closer to the divine and to their own true nature—to make some much needed changes in my life.

I’ve heard tales of others using lent to abstain not from food, but from behavioral patterns. One congregation recently abstained from complaining. Others, from watching TV. In addition to what one chooses to do, there’s also a fast from eating meat on Fridays.

Lent started Wednesday, Feb 26th and ends April 9th. Would you like to join me? Or is it your bandwagon I’m jumping on? What modification might you make for the next few weeks? Please share your thoughts; you might inspire someone else.

What Exactly Is Sliding Scale?

What exactly is sliding scale?

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Community acupuncture is based around the principles of providing accessible and affordable acupuncture and often other holistic health services to the public in a group setting. At the core of it is intersectional justice work. Private acupuncture sessions in NYC can be out of reach for a majority of people ranging broadly in price from $100-350 a session. Sometimes insurance will cover acupuncture benefits allowing for easier approachability for those that have such plans. However that leaves a lot of people unable to even conceive the idea of seeking out acupuncture as not everyone has insurance or plans that cover these services. Another thing to consider within that is that acupuncture is cumulative and works best with consistency, so often ongoing treatments are recommended depending on the severity and duration of the conditions. If this is cost prohibitive, then it is more difficult to realize the true efficacy of this medicine. The community setting allows such opportunity for a wider range of people to try acupuncture and other holistic modalities as well as receive them regularly when needed. Anyone who is already utilizing acupuncture in their healthcare regiment knows the absolute power and magic of this medicine. Healthcare in this day and age is extremely complicated and in need of some major overhauls. The community acupuncture model serves as an action-oriented solution already in working process.

The sliding scale payment system is a part of the community acupuncture model that allows for that accessibility of offerings to a wide scope of people. Sliding scale is an alternative payment method that allows for multiple price points adjusted in order to meet the needs, circumstances and incomes of a variety of individuals as an exchange for services. Often an income model is used as a guide for people to make their choice of payments at time of services. At times it seems if people are confused or misinformed about this part of the process. Income models are not fully comprehensive but a simple method utilized for convenience. At times it can even be stressful or confusing for people to choose what to pay. One of the major intentions of this blog post is to help elucidate any mysteries or misconstrued ideas around this topic so that everyone involved can move from a more educated and expanded concept about each person’s role and involvement in such a structure. Sliding scale does not really work if all levels of the pricing scale are not used. In other words if the top portion of the scale is not helping to fill out and offer some balance with the lower end, then there remains some big gaps. In a capitalist society money is a bottom line for the sustainability of anything, so this reality and that part of the conversation cannot be omitted even from the best of intentions.

You, the clients are a huge consideration in this wheel as you are the ones keeping the business flowing with your patronage. Everyone deserves health care, and it should not be a luxury to have access to that. Again the basic laurels of community acupuncture hold this premise high and work from this basic standpoint. Everyone also has complex socio-economic statuses, which at times interfere with accessibility to healthcare. Community acupuncture is not conducive for every person’s needs, but it does address these inequalities within our society and provides an important service for those that seek it out. At times people choose this style of offering to just check out acupuncture or because they don’t know who to go to for acupuncture. Again a myriad of reasons are behind why one would come to such an establishment. You are all complex humans who also have basic needs to be met. You are asked to pay on a system that reflects your current economic standing in this world. This is a multi faceted placement.

At BAP we do not ask for income verification and rely on the honesty of each individual to self-select their payment. An income guide is offered as a basic indication of what you should pay. However that is more complex than just the actual income in a number of ways. There are a lot of questions within this guide that are left out such as:

Who else are you supporting? Are you supporting kids, dependents, family, etc? Who else is supporting you? Do you have family money and inheritances available to you? What kinds of debts (personal loans, student loans, health care debt, mortgages, etc.) are you working with? Are you working/not working? Is working a choice (versus a necessity) to you? What are your life expenses? How many of those expenses are necessities versus non-necessity items/services/expenditures? How are you spending and budgeting your money? What levels of privilege to earning do you have (ie race, class, sexual identity, gender, education, able bodied, etc)? How frequently do you need acupuncture or other services to maintain your health? What other costs are involved in your healing process such as herbs, supplements, medications, healthy food ,etc.? What is your personal budget for health care related things?

So the time comes for you to pay for your session and there are all these questions and contemplations to take into account. This can look a little different every time, but it needs to be an ongoing conversation as an integral part of the community model. You are choosing to seek out affordable and accessible acupuncture and other holistic health services for yourself so you need to pay in a way that serves you. However, it is not just about you when you are a part of a community. It is not enough to only take into consideration the business, the practitioners, and the workers that keep it going which is of vital importance in this examination, but it is necessary that you also consider the other patrons as well. If you are paying at the low end of the scale but truly are able to pay on the middle or higher end, then you are doing a great disservice to the community itself by limiting access to those that truly have need of financial adaptability as well as the integrity and viability of the business itself. You might be that person in need someday so in a way it is also a way of paying forward for yourself and others. Sliding scale relies on and works optimally when people are being honest, mindful, respectful, and accountable.

To simplify even more I will offer a few ideas to work from. Keep in mind these are working examples and nothing is absolute.

Higher end payments- This reflects the actual cost (in a group setting) of the service without a sliding scale. These are for people who have higher incomes, financial flexibility, assets, investments, inheritances, trust funds, adequate savings, little to no debt, property ownership, car ownership, recreational travel, eat out frequently, spend money lavishly, buy new items, have access to health care, and have access to resources when in need.

Middle end payments- This reflects a discount on services. These are for people who have median range incomes, no major stress about basic needs being met, access to healthcare, some savings, some resources available to them if in need, manageable debt, financial support from family or other sources, have some levels of expendable money, buy some new items, and are somewhere in between the other levels of payment.

Lower end payments- This reflects the biggest discount on services that the business is able to extend. These are reserved for people who struggle to have their basic needs met, have no savings, have no safety net of financial support or resources available to them, are concerned about housing and food stability, have trouble covering the cost of transportation to work or childcare, cannot afford vacations or any non necessity activities or expenditures, qualify for government assistance and programs, are unemployed or underemployed (not by choice), have tremendous debt, and are generally scraping together the cost for the low end of the scale.

Again this is a very generalized and basic way to check in, and this is an ongoing dialogue. This is healthcare you are accessing and it has great worth. Your input and accountability for your own participation will have a greater impact on not only the community model itself but also on your own healing process. If you are moving from a place of honesty and integrity then you are providing more alignment for your own personal healing journey. We tend to place value and worth monetarily on things, whether it is a conscious choice or not. This is a part of the reality of capitalism and of a society that promotes such values. What are acupuncture sessions worth to you? Recognizing your own part in this narrative and holding yourself accountable is not only a necessary approach to this specialized form of care but can also elevate your own health and well being outcomes.

The Medicine of Ten Thousand Approaches

How old is Chinese Medicine? 

Old. 

As with a lot of information in China’s history,  the exact facts are clouded in metaphor and time. Emerging from and generated by the Tao, Chinese Medicine is no different. There have been centuries upon centuries upon centuries of culture, climate, and though leadership shifts that have shaped and molded the medicine through time. 

It is generally said that Acupuncture and Chinese herbal remedies date back at least 2,200 years. The earliest known written record of “Traditional” Chinese Medicine is the Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic) from the 3rd century BCE. Thank goodness someone wrote it down! 

Of course the use of natural medicines are as old as the humanity itself; and even before humans!  Animals knew where to find the remedies throughout the year and there were timeless and countless men and women who knew the plants and the art of healing far before anything was written. I love imagining those people. Long bearded men collecting roots on a craggy mountain.  Beautiful grandmas cooking the soups for their daughters wrapping the bellies of their sisters with herbs after births.  

Medicine of the Earth is timeless. To learn It requires a concentrated focus on natural law and a reverence/ reciprocity for the treasures that come from it.  Now we can pay a bunch of money go to school for four years to learn the points, learn the names of herbs and formulas but to really learn the medicine is a lifelong journey. 

All of the practitioners at BAP are on their own individual journey of the art and science of Chinese Medicine. This is why you may observe that when you see different practitioners the treatments look and feel different. Many of us come from a Traditional Chinese medicine background which is basically a very synthesized and sometimes very “westernized” teaching that developed in and after the cultural revolution. As with so many of the collected ancient wisdom traditions of China at that time, the medicine was stripped of much of its power and left us with still very effective but often a devoid of magic kind of approach. I loved my education AND it really only began after I graduated and especially when I started studying the elemental phases and the IChing. A few of us have been lucky to tap into what is considered “Classical Chinese Medicine” which has a bit more depth and complexity rooted in some of the texts and teachings that were saved. There is also the so called “Five Element” tradition that a few of us have delved into that is a fairly new system collected from many of the classic teachings. Then, of course, there is the reality of acupuncture and Chinese medicine coming to the U.S. and morphing once again to fit an entirely different worldview. With this, much of the medicine is being mapped onto more allopathic approaches. No matter what, there has been much lost in translation.  

There are many pulse taking and other diagnostic methods and many, many, many different ways of treating.  The amazing thing is…they all work! That is the Tao for you :). There are as many ways to treat as there are people treating. This is why I would never in a million years tell someone else how to practice. Even teachers of the medicine can not teach what will be each practitioners unique cultivation. Each person IS their own medicine. At BAP we all teach each other and it has been wonderful to see and hear about how folks are thinking about cases. 

Sometimes someone will come in and say how much they loved the treatment they got from so and so last time. I will look at the chart and contemplate but even if I did do the same exact thing, the treatment would be entirely different because it was administered by a different practitioner at a different time to a person who is different in that moment than the last moment. This  is a difficult thing for people used to protocol to grasp.  

At the same time, you can have ten different people coming in with the same western “diagnosis” like arthritis, diabetes, IBS, insomnia, anxiety, depression, or lower back pain for example; and each case could be treated differently depending the tongue and pulse reading. There are very few protocols in Chinese medicine and that is where the art of the practice lays. The practitioner needs to be acutely aware of the individual persons presentation and underlying patterns to make the right choice for points and herbs. For example (and very simplified) some arthritis can be due to heat and some due to cold. You can imagine how giving cooling herbs to someone who is already suffering from cold trapped in the joints would work out!  Unlike western medicine who would generally prescribe a certain medication for a certain ailment, in Chinese medicine we are looking at the entire picture to determine the best way to approach each case.  

We are so fortunate at BAP to have practitioners from various schools of the medicine. We are all going for the same result but can take various routs to get there. 

If you haven’t already; it is worthwhile to see different practitioners from time to time to explore what a different set of eyes and hands has to offer your journey in health. 

In Good Health, 

Sarah Natan LAc
Founder/Owner at BAP 

Oxygen: Through Art and Heroes

In the midst of our world, seemingly whackadoodle at times, there must be a way to center our selves and find new beginnings. I will always be an artist at heart and I am moved by the art reaction out there. Poets, both contemporary and ancient, continue to make fresh ideas happen and are very much AWAKE.

On the weighted subject of the earth’s CLIMATE and FERTILITY, I turn to the writings of Jules Michelet, who more than 150 years ago was able to romanticize the cycles of our ocean with responsibility and scientific accuracy.

“What is sea mucus, this viscous, whitish element found in seawater? It is none other than life itself. We do not know the constitution of water anymore than we know that of blood. Our best guess, as far as seaweed mucus is concerned, is it is as much an end as it is a beginning. Is it the result of the vast remnants of death, which are then donated to life? Undoubtedly yes, this is a law of nature. But in fact, in this sea world with its rapid rate of absorption most creatures are absorbed while still alive. Death is not a prolonged state for them, as often happens on land, where destruction is slower. The sea is an extremely pure element. War and death take care of everything and leave nothing behind.

Life continually molts and secretes, thereby eliminating itself of unnecessary excess. We, terrestrial animals constantly shed, This shedding of skin, which can be seen as a partial but daily death, fills the world of the seas with gelatinous richness, that instantly benefits nascent life. Nothing descends to an inorganic state, but rather is quickly integrated into new organisms. There is no animal or plant that does not absorb or produce this sea mucus in the first stages of life. The ocean’s children seem like foetuses in their gelatinous stage. They absorb and secrete mucus matter filling the waters with it, thereby endowing the sea with a gentle fertility like that of an infinite womb where new children continually come to swim as if in warm milk.”

Other BOOKS:
Any of the book on Wabisabi by Leonard Koren have infinite wisdom around the Japanese concept of organic decay in its purest beauty.

If you haven’t read “Frog and Toad” by Arnold Lobel recently, give it a whirl.

On MUSIC:
A few weeks ago, I heard Billy Bragg, English leftist rocker perform in the city. Coming from a long music career in punk, union protests and solidarity, his politics are timely and optimistic. He makes it possible. His charisma and sweet musicality holds a crowd transfixed by his wise and friendly vision. “Socialism is the new accountability.” Check out “California Stars.”

In the classical world, Esa-Pekka Salonen is making fresh magic happen. His compositions are layered and contemporary in concept, yet miraculously melodic at the same time. In a musical decade when it seems as it has all been done before, he breaks new territory and it is stunningly beautiful.
DOLLY. Anything this woman does lifts the world around her. Her feet are planted in truth as her spirit is festive and buoyant. Her history of rising from poverty to stardom is empowering for women everywhere. “The way I see it. If you want rainbows, you got to put up with the rain.”

On HEROES:
My grandmother turned 99 years old this week. She always wants to learn something new. Love. Curiosity. Faith. Lust for LIFE! No sad music.

It matters how you walk the earth. A good friend was severely burned in an accident and was in a coma for three months. While he was asleep, thirty grand was raised for his medical needs. I recently went on a steep hike in Cold Spring with him. He was trying out his new lungs for the first time. He paused to lean on a tree or two on the way up forcing me to take in the majestic vistas of the Hudson River. I would have scrambled up like a mountain goat and missed the oxygen if it weren’t for his brave climb. Life is about these suspended moments in time. And OXYGEN.

Fatness and Health

Fatness and Health

By: Saruh Lacoff

In our society, as is the norm in many societies, we have come to equate health with being thin. Conversely, we equate fatness with “disease” and being unhealthy. This phenomena is called “fat phobia”. For decades, doctors have been citing scientific research that posits that being overweight, fat, or obese, is a medically unhealthy, if not dangerous condition. Ask any fat person you know, and they will likely have at least one story of a doctor dismissing a health concern as the need to lose weight. In some instances, they will have stories of a doctor misdiagnosing a potentially life-threatening condition because of their fatness. Many will likely have at least one story of a doctor telling them that the answer to all of their health problems is to lose weight. While doctors and scientists have operated with the understanding that "fat=unhealthy", studies have been demonstrating that this notion is untrue. With this new information, it is critical that we reexamine our personal and societal relationship to fatness and fat phobia in order to create a world where fatness is de-stigmatized and subsequently normalized.

De-stigmatizing and normalizing fatness enables people to live without judgment, scrutiny and shame. Many people will experience resistance to the idea of normalizing fatness because we have spent our entire lives learning that fat is bad, unhealthy, and unattractive. Many believe that doing so will normalize an “unhealthy lifestyle”. In some ways, we associate fatness with a threat to our survival. The threat of not being seen as attractive and thus not finding or maintaining a partnership due to fat phobia, the threat of difficulty finding a job due to biases in the work place, and thus the threat of poverty. Our resistance to accepting fatness is a defense mechanism against these survival fears. As was previously mentioned, there is no current science to back up the view points at the root of our societal fat phobia. The reality is that we have been sold a harmful, even deadly idea, by the diet industry, which profits off of our unhappiness and self-consciousness, and it is not rooted in scientific fact. 

So, if we know there is no scientific foundation to the idea that fatness is unhealthy, it is imperative that we change our thinking, actions, and cultural relationship to fatness. As we all experience internalized fat phobia, the work we will have to do to change our behaviors and thought-processes will be very involved. In many cases, it will involve a gradual and complete overhaul of thoughts, actions and institutions. In spite of how daunting of a task this seems to be, it is imperative that we do the work to make the shift. Not only will it create a better quality of life (and liberation!) for fat people, but it will also have the same positive effects on the thin community. Thin people are also victims of fat phobia and the false beliefs we have toward fatness, because it creates pressure to remain thin. Thus, liberation for fat people is liberation for all shapes.

Being aware of the dangers of our unfounded beliefs and biases is only the first step in unlearning fat phobia. The next step is figuring out what we can do to shift ourselves and our society so that we stop harming fat people. Here are some examples of personal and institutional changes we can make to make the world less fat phobic, and subsequently, more fat-friendly. 

PERSONAL LEVEL

1. Refrain from commenting on weight loss or weight gain. Oftentimes, we congratulate weight loss. Doing so perpetuates the idea that "thinness=good", and "fatness=bad".

2. Refrain from using fatness as a negative descriptor. Oftentimes, we use language around fatness to indicate laziness, ugliness, evilness, poor character and generally negative physicality. Doing so perpetuates the idea that fatness is disgusting, and a sign of poor character.

3. Refrain from policing your food and body. This is a harder one for us to wrap our heads around and fully embrace. Allowing yourself to gain weight without judgment is one of the hardest things we can do. Allow your weight to fluctuate without judgment and reactionary dieting.

4. Refrain from speaking negatively about your body to yourself and to young children. Children learn both positive and negative body associations from the adults in their lives. The less they hear fat phobic ideas, and the adults in their lives speaking negatively about their own bodies, the less they will internalize those beliefs about themselves.

5. Refrain from categorizing food as “good” and “bad”. There are no true definitions for “good” and “bad” foods. The science around what foods are "healthy" is ever-evolving, and makes categorization incorrect. Eating cake once a week is fine. Eating cake everyday is fine. Avoiding the notion that some foods are “bad” and to be avoided as much as possible goes a long way toward fat acceptance in our society.

6. Refrain from correcting fat people when they refer to themselves as fat. Fat is not an insult in the world we are trying to create. Fat is just a descriptor with no inherent negativity and positivity.

7. Refrain from disparaging your own weight gain, or perceived fatness. Referring to yourself as fat is not an insult inherently, but is insulting to people who are fat because of how it implies you view fatness.

8. Refrain from saying things like “I shouldn’t eat that”, “I’m being bad”, or “I’m rewarding myself” when referring to certain foods. The notion that certain foods are bad is rooted in the fear of fatness. Some alternatives are “I want to eat that”, “I am going to enjoy this cake!”, and “I love how this tastes”. Reframing your relationship and thus your language to “bad” foods helps de-stigmatize fatness.

9. Remember that large-bodied fat people experience greater oppression and marginalization than smaller fat people, and thin people. Although there can be stigma against all body types (even skinny bodies), it is critical to remember that the larger a person is, the more likely they are to be denied medical care, jobs, and other benefits that smaller folks take for granted. Everyone’s struggle is valid, but acknowledge where your privileges are, and where you fit on the spectrum of marginalization in order to be the best supporter of the movement that you can be.

INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL

1. Support doctors with fat-positive views and practices. Ask your doctor if they are aware of research indicating that being fat is not an inherent issue. Ask them their perspective on fatness and challenge their fat phobic perspectives and practices.

2. If you notice fat coworkers being treated differently, speak up. Let them know that you see what is happening and that you are committed to working with them to improve working conditions. Ask them what you can do to be of help, and when appropriate, bring up concerning behavior and practices to human resources.

3. Stop dieting. Diets are the creation of the weight loss industry, and scientific studies have shown time and again that they do not work. Recognize the political weight of divorcing oneself from the predatory diet industry. It is critical to undermine this industry and thus, eliminate it. Research has shown that children are beginning diets at younger and younger ages. For many children, diets begin before puberty, and can wreck havoc on the developing body and hormones. Putting the diet industry out of business is imperative if we are going to create a fat-inclusive future for ourselves and our children.

4. Understand where you fit in this movement, especially in relation to more marginalized bodies. Refrain from taking up space in the Body Positive Movement if you are not fat, a person of color, LGBTQ+, and/or differently-abled. While the body positive movement has been coopted by white, fit, cis-gender, heteronormative women, the movement was created to provide a platform for marginalized people and their bodies. In a world that does not positively represent the bodies of fat people, people of color, LGBTQ+, and differently-abled people, the body positive movement is a space created for that representation. While the phrase “body positivity” resonates with so many of us because of how we have all been conditioned to view our bodies as an enemy, the body positive movement was not, and is still not for non-marginalized identities. It is important not to take up space in movements that don’t belong to us. The self-love movement is a great alternative for those of us who do not fit the identities previously mentioned, but who want to celebrate the awesomeness of our identities. We all deserve to celebrate our bodies, and to divorce ourselves from the harmful institutions of fat phobia that affect everyone, but it is important to always think critically about where we take up space, and who may need certain spaces the most.

5. Amplify the representation and availability of fat content, products, art and people. It is one of the best ways to normalize fatness and create access to more resources for fat people. We have seen time and again the importance of representation of marginalized groups, and fat bodies are no exception.

6. Support movies, shows, music, visual art that treats fatness as normal and avoids fetishization and stereotyping.

7. Support brands that make clothing for large bodies. Encourage brands that don’t support size inclusion start expanding the sizes they offer.

8. Support media that does not stigmatize fatness, and call out problematic expressions of fatness where you witness them.

9. Follow the multitudes of body positive activists who have spent time and emotional energy educating the public about fatness and the intersections of oppression that fat people face. Not only is it educational, but celebratory. Following people who celebrate their fatness helps shift our own perspectives on fatness.

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This essay is merely the tip of the ice berg when it comes to unlearning fat phobia. Unlearning fat phobia and embracing fat-positivity may likely be a lifelong process that is never finished. Regardless of how much work it will be, it is critical that we begin the work so that future generations don’t have to endure the marginalization and oppression that we have experienced in our lifetimes. 

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For more ideas on how to shift toward a fat-positive perspective, here are some great articles and social media accounts to check out. 

51 Ways to Make the World Less Hostile to Fat People
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mb4e7n/how-to-treat-fat-people-ally-fatphobia

Fat Bias Starts Early and Takes a Serious Toll
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/well/live/fat-bias-starts-early-and-takes-a-serious-toll.html

Instagram:
@virgietovar
@Nerdabouttown
@iamdaniadriana
@ihartericka
@thefatsextherapist
@sassy_latte
@fatgirlflowfam

Fascia and the Channels Of Acupuncture

I feel like “fascia” has rapidly become a buzzword and frankly it totally deserves it.   It’s pretty amazing stuff and it connects all parts of our body. Fascia is a thin membrane that wraps muscles, nerves, arteries, organs, bones — virtually everything.  Wherever you look in the body fascia is there. Earlier in medical history when doing cadaver dissections, anatomists used to cut it out of the way to get to the stuff they were looking for, a specific muscle, an organ, a bone.  Part of this lack of knowledge of fascia could be the reason western anatomy has a tendency to compartmentalized and keep things separate. Now that fascia itself is under the microscope its showing connections to all parts of the body.  In some cases these connections are very similar to the pathways of the acupuncture channels laid out 2000 years ago in the Ling Shu, one of the oldest medical texts in human history and the foundation of the medicine we practice here at BAP.  It just may be that fascia plays an integral part in the way Chinese Medicine works and why we acupuncturists do the things we do.

There’s a lot of data that’s being transmitted through fascia, its like if you had a taut suspension cable, tap one end and the vibration will travel to the other.  Every time a force is applied to the body it is transmitted through this web to be processed. Where the fascia is and it’s thickness determines what it is referred to. For example “retinaculum” is used to describe the fascia of the wrist and is involved in the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome, or “aponeurotic” tissue which can be found over the low back and is associated with that achy back pain of yours.  It’s all ways of classifying the fascia. It’s in these tissues where a lot of free nerve endings exist that are constantly monitoring the body, where, for example, the wrist is in relation to the elbow. How one muscle is contracting so its opposing muscle can relax in order for things to move smoothly. 

Fascia helps your body know where it is in space, something known as proprioception.  Think of it like a big net full of GPS sensors sending data to the brain so it can calibrate where all your limbs are in relation to each other.  This allows complex movements that we take for granted such as picking up a glass of water to drink or opening a door.  A lot of this information is gathered in dense accumulations of fascia. Most of these accumulations occur around the joints, where the limbs come together with the trunk, the low back, down the center of the chest and abdomen, and the back of the neck.  When you think about it, it’s often where we acupuncturists place our needles. There’s even fascia that entangles our organs and holds them in place by suspending them from the spine. So if you ever hear a practitioner say they’re treating your internal conditions via your back, there’s a theory that this is how that works.

In order for fascia to communicate effectively across the body this tissue has to be smooth and free.  If not the result will often be pain and poor range of motion. Often if you take someone in pain and examine the fascia it looks clumped up and knotted, it could even throw off the body’s sense of where things are and in turn affect how you move.  Think about those little GPS sensors, if they’re not in their right place they will send the brain distorted information. A “knot” in one area can in turn affect distant parts of the body. Take the clothes you’re wearing as an example: find a spot and twist a knot in it, that knot pulls the fabric from every corner of the garment.  This can happen in the body, too, when the fascia in one area is tight and clumped together, it’ll pull on the regions its connected too, in some cases far away. It’s why if you come in with low back pain I may end up sticking needles in your legs and feet. Wherever the problem is, the back say, everything that connects to it can be affected, such as the lower limbs.  

This is why Chinese Medicine can be so effective.  It has been studying these lines (we refer to them as channels or meridians) for generations.  Seeing how they all connect and work together. Even when you look at someone doing the exercise known as Qi Gong, which can be used in Chinese medicine as physical therapy, all the movements involve the whole body.  There’s an appreciation for everything being connected. Nothing is ever isolated to just one muscle. This is a reason why your practitioner may put needles far from the area in pain, not just locally where it hurts.  

I was trained to combine Tui Na (Chinese Medical Massage) and Acupuncture to treat pain and discomfort.  Through bodywork and touch, one can get a sense of the fascia and how it reacts, by physically moving and manipulating it, it’ll begin to relax and smooth out.  In Chinese medicine, we refer to this as opening the channels to allow the free flow of Qi and Blood. The acupuncture then continues this treatment allowing the body to relax into it and return to a neutral state.  This allows for the body to move freely and without pain and discomfort, as all the channels of communication are now open and free. It’s pretty amazing to read these ancient texts describing where the acupuncture channels go, how they’re described as starting in the foot, knotting around the knee, going up the leg and into the back etc.  Then reading modern anatomy texts on fascia and seeing the same trajectories but with more detail and photos to show it. To me, it’s the same thing, a progression of the same concept that started 2000 years ago and keeps getting more and more detailed as we look closer at the body. For more information I’d recommend looking up Carla Stecco, author of Functional Atlas of the Human Fascial System, or Dr. Helene Langevin who studies acupuncture and its connection to fascia.

The Dérive

Exploring the Bronx and Pelham Bay Park, New York City's largest public park.

Now that Summertime is upon us, I'm sure many BAP patients and employees have exciting trips, near and far, planned for the coming months.

Recently, I have been thinking about how travel is an opportunity to expand our worldview and better understand one another. I want to share one of my favorite ways to explore a new place and meet locals while traveling - wandering without a destination!

These women approached me on the beach in Mumbai because I looked so ridiculous covered in paint from the Holi celebration. They cooked me dinner and taught me how to make chapati.

Beginning in the 1950s, a group of avant-garde intellectuals, artists and political theorists called The Situationists developed a theory about living in, exploring and moving through the urban environment called psychogeography. In 1958, a member of the group wrote about a method proposed by psychogeographers called the dérive.

"In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there… But the dérive includes both this letting go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psychogeographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities." - Guy Debord, Theory of the Dérive.

My interpretation of the dérive is to take a day or two while traveling to explore without any real plan or destination. Sometimes I walk whichever way the crosswalk turns green. Sometimes I try to be directed by intuition or I will people watch until I see something or someone interesting to move towards. A lot of times it doesn't lead anywhere but sometimes it pays off and blossoms into a great experience. This lies at the heart of psychogeography and the dérive - instead of being guided through a city by the structures of capitalist consumerism, one is guided by their own curiosity and chance encounters. On the best of days, it leads to meeting interesting characters, unlisted local events or even just a glimpse of everyday life in a new locale.

I asked this friendly looking guy for a suggestion of where to eat in Shaxi, China and he invited me to his tea shop, where he and his girlfriend taught me about green tea and we chatted about life. Check out their site about tea and mindfulness at teaslowly.com

Of course, traveling far from home is a privilege that requires access to time and money, a luxury that not everyone has. The great thing about the dérive is that it can be practiced anywhere. It's so easy to get stuck in our day to day routines. Sometimes, on a day off, it's fun to explore a neighborhood you've never been to or take the subway to a station on the map that, for some reason, always catches your eye. This way of exploring is an opportunity to get a taste of life all over the city and develop an appreciation for the similarities and differences of people's lives all over. We are so lucky here at home because New York City is exceptionally rich in diversity and culture. Every part of the city has something different or unexpected to offer.

Happy exploring!

New York City, a great place for a dérive!

Organs Vs. Officials

Organs Vs. Officials

Or the Key to Understanding Your Acupuncturist’s Unusual Anatomy Talk.

Author: Jasmine Stine

Have you ever come in to BAP for a treatment and heard something like this: “Well your Liver isn’t moving so great” or “Your Kidneys could use a little extra juice” or “Cold foods are hard on the Spleen”? Hopefully this didn’t send you into a tailspin of worry over your biological liver, a large lobed organ in the upper right quadrant of your abdomen; or keep you up at night fretting about your biological spleen, the tiny immune organ that processes dead blood cells. Because, you see, when we talk about organs in Chinese medicine we are really referring to a much bigger concept than just the discrete anatomical organs of Western medicine. We call this bigger concept “the Officials.”

In Chinese medicine there is a significant difference between, for example, the Liver Official (capital L) and the liver organ (lower case L). The Liver Official includes the anatomical organ (the liver) plus the entire Liver energy channel that runs from the big toe up to the rib cage, as well as a host of essential functions in the mind, body, and spirit that the Liver is responsible for. This means that a disharmony in the Liver doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a biological problem with the liver in the Western medical sense. There could be a issue anywhere along the channel (inner legs, genitals, abdomen, hypochondriac area) or in one of the many functions the Liver is responsible for.

Are you still with me? 

Let’s explore this concept a little further by taking a look at an Official which, like the Liver, is associated with spring: The Gall Bladder. You know the gall bladder to be a tiny little sac under the liver that stores bile. Bile breaks down fats, and when the time is right the gallbladder empties its contents into the small intestine to aid with digestion. As acupuncturists, the Gallbladder does all this and so much more!

According to classical Chinese medicine texts, the Gall Bladder is responsible for that which is “just” and “exact.” The whole being depends on it for both action and discernment. It works closely with the Liver, which is in charge of visioning and developing a life plan that is inline with who we really are. The Gall Bladder takes the vision empowered by the Liver, then sets goals worth achieving and executes the plan accordingly. It is also intimately involved in the Liver’s functions of storing the blood and dreaming at night. Because it empowers perspective, courage, and decisiveness, it supports the capacity for balance - intellectually through decision making, emotionally through compassion, and physically through proprioception. 

On an energetic level, a healthy Gall Bladder will manifest in a clear sense of direction, the ability to move in alignment with one’s purpose, the capacity to discern our path, and the courage to take a stand for what is right. Conversely, an imbalanced Gall Bladder might manifest as chronic indecision, excess rigidity, floundering about in one’s life, imbalance in judgement, or physically as unilateral pain or complaints within the body. Sometimes the Gallbladder takes on the processing of excess anger becomes inflamed. 

The Gall Bladder channel begins at the lateral corner of the fourth toenail, travels up the sides of the body, zig zags back and forth across the sides of the head, and terminates at the outside corner of the eye. The criss-crossing of the channel on the head especially speaks to its role in logical thought and decision making. Your acupuncturist might choose to treat points on the Gallbladder channel if you have eye complaints, lateral headaches, tight shoulders, trouble twisting your torso, or sciatica. Some common Gallbladder points include GB-37 Bright and Clear, which is good for eye issues but also supports the capacity to make sound decisions, and  GB-24 Sun and Moon, which empowers perspective and balance, and can help a patient see other points of view.

So next time your acupuncturist mentions, say, your Pericardium ask them: Is that the organ or the Official?