Healthy Lifestyle

What is aromatherapy? Basically it is the use of highly volatile (ie easily evaporates) compounds derived from plants for a therapeutic action. Most commonly used through diffusion and inhalation but it can also include topical applications. The oils may come from a variety of different plants and plant parts including flowers, aromatic grasses, roots, wood resins, and spices. They have been used for thousands of years in many different cultures, for medicinal and spiritual uses, and were often considered very valuable (think Three Wise Men with frankincense, myrrh, and gold).

For me aromatherapy is just an extension of herbal medicine which I already incorporate in my treatments. The herbal formulas I prescribe will sometimes have the same plants used in aromatherapy but in their whole state, not the isolated essential oils. Some of my patients are familiar with topicals that I use which do make use of oils such as peppermint, cinnamon, and tea oil. The main difference is between traditional herbal medicine and aromatherapy is how they are used. Internal (taken as a tea or in capsules) versus inhaled (usually with a diffuser), with topical use being the main overlap.

In many instances essential oils just offer another option to herbal medicine. Some patients already take a lot of pills and don’t want to add one more, some know they are forgetful and won’t be good about remembering their doses. For these types of patients using an essential oil may be a better option. However, because they are predominantly used by diffusion/inhalation I believe essential oils offer a better option for the treatment of certain conditions. First and foremost of these would be any respiratory or sinus issue. Getting a therapeutic substance directly into the sinuses and lungs makes more sense then ingesting something that then has to be processed/metabolized in the body. Secondly is for emotional issues. Aromatherapy presents a good option because our sense of smell offers us a direct pathway to our central nervous system and has a strong association with our limbic system, the part of our brain that controls emotion. Therefore aromatherapy can be a great way to deal with stress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, etc. and can be combined with acupuncture and herbal medicine for an even better effect. Essential oils also have a long history of use in various beauty products. If you are a “do-it-yourself-er” type then you can make your own products such as skin creams and bath salts (the kind you actually bathe in). Or you can add a drop or two of an oil to the products you already use. Essential oils also have a natural anti-microbial effect and can be used to make household cleaners and other products. Some of them can even be used as natural insect repellants! So as you can see aromatherapy offers many potential benefits and help me expand what I can offer to my patients.

The next big issue to tackle with aromatherapy is which oils to get? Obviously each oil has it’s specific functions but there is also a lot of overlap. So making that decision is a personal one and is merely about which smells you prefer. The biggest decision is actually about which brands to use. There are many essential oil companies out there and not all are created equal. Some companies buy their product on the world fragrance market, using big distributors instead of buying directly from the producers/distillers. These products may be less expensive, but they may contain adulterants or low quality oils. Price is not the sole indicator of quality, however. One of the most popular essential oil companies is Young Living. Their products are certainly of good quality, but are very expensive because they use a multi-level marketing (MLM) model for their business which inflates their prices. I have decided to carry and use a line of products called Floracopeia at my office. Floracopeia was started by an acupuncturist (clearly a plus in my book) and they support a lot of enviromental/ecological efforts for the plants that are used in aromatherapy as well as trying to support the small scale farmers/distillers (some of which come from a long line of essential oil producers). Floracopeia gets their oils direct from the source, instead of on the world market, which allows them to ensure quality. And since they aren’t a multi-level marketing company their prices are reasonable, often half the price of the Young Living oils. Another nice bonus is that Floracopeia offers tester sized bottles of their oils. So you can either buy a smaller bottle to try, or you can stop by my office and smell them before buying a full bottle.

If you are already familiar with aromatherapy and have a favorite oil you’d like to purchase you can go to www.floracopeia.com/discount and enter CaseyLewisLAc to receive 25% off your first order through the website.

Qigong – some of you have heard me talk about qigong before. For those that haven’t you’re probably looking at it trying to decide how to pronounce it (it’s pronounced chee-gung, don’t let the q fool you). Whether you have a passing familiarity or are just learning a fantastic new Scrabble word I hope by the end of this post you are interested in trying qigong for yourself.

So what is qigong? Qigong is the name for a wide variety of health promoting practices from China that combine deep breathing, aligned posture, and mental focus/meditative techniques to promote health and well-being. It is based on the same principles as Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is itself a part of Chinese medicine (one of the 5 pillars along with acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition therapy, and tuina/massage). The main idea is that it develops and strengthens the energy, or qi/chi, of the body, circulates the qi through the meridians, and boosts and harmonizes the functioning of the internal organs. The movements used are gentle and are coupled with deep breathing, proper posture, and emptying of the mind. By clearing the mind it also has a meditative action. Therefore it’s effects are on both the physical and the mental/emotional aspects of the body. It is a form of exercise despite not looking much like the types of exercise we are used to. Though it may not cause us to break a sweat or get short of breath it can be just as beneficial to the body as any other form of exercise, and it doesn’t cause wear and tear on the joints and muscles. It can be a great starting point for those who aren’t getting much exercise currently, or a great addition to an existing exercise regime.

A daily qigong practice can have many beneficial effects on the body. The most obvious are stress relief, improved sleep, increased energy, and an overall sense of improved well-being. It can also be beneficial for many health conditions. These benefits can start to be felt within a few days of only around 15 minutes of daily practice. It also has some major benefits over the more well known practices of yoga and tai chi. In qigong most of the forms are done standing (sometimes sitting) and does not require any special equipment or clothing. They can be performed anywhere you have enough space to swing your arms around and not knock anything over. This gives it an advantage over yoga since you don’t need to bring a mat with you and where you might be limited where and when you can do it. The movements are easy to learn and done in repetitions. This gives it an advantage over tai chi that can take months to learn the specific sequence of movements/steps and which requires a lot more space to maneuver around in. There are also hundreds of different forms you can learn which can be mixed and matched to tailor to your needs and tastes. For example I like the forms that have a lot of movement over the ones that are predominantly still. I can even just do one form during a few minutes of down time when I need to relieve stress or perhaps a little mid-afternoon “pick-me-up”.

The many different movements of qigong all have different effects on the body, though there is a lot of overlap between them. Some focus on the arms and shoulders, some loosen and align the spine, while others get the legs pumping. The common thread between all of the different forms is deep breathing, proper posture, and mental focus. Breathing is something we all do daily yet few of us do it well. Obviously none of us are doing it “wrong” or else we’d pass out, but most of us don’t do it optimally. Many Americans breath shallow into their chests. In qigong we learn to take deep, slow breaths into our bellies. This allows much more oxygen into the blood stream while simultaneously slowing our breathing rate. More oxygen means more fuel for our bodies (oxygen is used to produce ATP which is the fuel burned by all of our bodies’ cells) which means more energy and improved mental function. A slow respiratory rate also causes us to slow our heart rate. A proper posture helps make deep breathing easier while also alleviating much of the physical stress we put on our joints and muscles. Mental focus makes qigong a meditative exercise. It allows us to slow down or stop the constant mental chatter that most of us have. This provides stress relief and mental clarity.

There are many ways to learn qigong. The best way is to learn from a teacher and I encourage any one who is interested to find a class nearby. Unfortunately, there are not many teachers in the area, and the cost and commitment of taking a class can make it difficult. There are also many books and websites about qigong. You can also find many different videos (free and not free) that show different exercises. If you have never done qigong before it is important to learn the basics before just following along with a free video on YouTube. If you are interested you can contact me for some more information to help get you started. Or even better  CLICK HERE to go to a website that offers an online class. This is a 22 week program that shows you the basics as well as a complete set of qigong movements. While trying to weed through many different resources for my patients (and myself) I settled on this one because it is a complete product, and it offers a 2 week trial for only $4.95. That way you don’t have to shell out a lot of money only to find you don’t particularly like it. I hope you find it enjoyable and can share the many benefits that I have found by doing qigong.

If you’ve found the idea of an easy to do and easy to learn form of exercise intriguing I hope you seek out more information as there is much more to discuss about this topic (maybe I’ll have more posts in the future). But the best way to learn more about qigong is to actually try it. I suggest starting out with the 2 week trial mentioned above.