This is a way to conceive of polarities not as oppositional– like light and darkness in a battle for supremacy–but rather as complementary. Light and dark complete one another and co-exist within each other. In the world at large, we see how...

So what is moxibustion, how does it work, and why has it historically been given equal importance to needling, while remaining mostly unknown to the general public in the West? At the heart of east Asian medicine and philosophy is the theory of "Yin-Yang", signifying that all things which appear opposite are in fact working together in dynamic relationship…

Here at Dragon Rises, we do not utilize a gold needle for a particular acupuncture point per se, but rather for an entire class of acupuncture channels. This class of channels is called the Eight Extraordinary Channels. They assist us in working on aspects of our body’s physiology that came to be during our early childhood — or the first cycle of 7-8 years of life.

“This is a time to digest the experiences of the year so far and make sense of how we got here, and how we feel underneath all the rushing forward and outward appearances.”

Welcome to the Month of the Dragon!

As the natural world buzzes with activity, we too find ourselves drawn to social connection and outdoor pursuits. This season invites us to reawaken connections, both with nature and each other…

For those of you that haven’t experienced a remote acupuncture treatment firsthand, we hope you enjoy learning a bit more about it today! In order to describe how remote acupuncture works, let’s first talk about how in-person acupuncture works.

In the practice of Chinese Medicine, we are always protecting the Heart. We use other channels and pathways to divert pathology away from the Heart. One of our foundational classical texts, the Su Wen, states: “As the Heart is the monarch in the organs, it dominates the functions of the various viscera, so when the function of the Heart is strong and healthy, under its unified leadership, all the functions of the various viscera will be normal, the body will be healthy and the [person] will live a long life, and in [their] life long days, no serious disease will occur.” When we experience joy, the Heart sings, and all other organs/ channels benefit. 

I say these words often during this time of year; there is so much that comes up for me during winter time. Everything in nature goes dormant around us, the days are short…and here in the Pacific Northwest it is colder than many of us would like. I find myself missing the people I wish were still here to celebrate the end of another year with me — people who have passed away, or people who I am no longer in regular contact with.