When you don't know what to do... return to the basics. 

So, let's review some basics concerning self care in the face of something simple and ubiquitous-- stress. Stress is going to raise your cortisol, disrupt your sleep and suppress your host immunity. Here are four tips-- so basic yet so important-- on tackling stress effectively.

Breathe!
A method we always go back to here at the clinic is helping our patients find their breath. This link takes you to a helpful video on diaphragmatic breathing, a proven way to calm your body and mind and improve immunity.  

Move
Exercise is essential to healthy lymphatic and immune function. The light, fresh air and sunshine as well as the exercise will also do wonders for your mood and stress. At minimum go for some nice long walks each day. Also do a little stretching, yoga or Qi Gong at home every day.

Sleep
Set aside enough time to get sleep each night. All that diaphragmatic breathing and exercise certainly should help! Drinking alcohol will actually disrupt your sleep (causing that early am wake up) in spite of our cultural beliefs to the otherwise, and also is known to really suppress your immune system. Avoid screens and bright lights during the couple of hours before bed.

Laugh
It's a time-tested stress buster and disease breaker. Play with your dog, your friends or kids, and go for the comedy and the light heartedness when seeking entertainment or reading material.

Just remember, when push comes to shove, don't abandon these basics-- they really work. 

In Japanese, the characters 鍼灸 that we commonly translate as "acupuncture" actually refer to both "needles" and "moxa." Many Westerners have never heard of moxa, even if they have received acupuncture, since modern clinics often forgo it due to the inconvenience. But you will notice the moxa aroma right away upon stepping into Bridge Acupuncture. Why do we love fire medicine?  

In chemistry, a catalyst is an agent that is needed for a chemical reaction to take place. The right elements might be present for the reaction, but due to a lack of energy they will just keep hovering near each other indefinitely, satisfied with their current stable arrangement... until a catalyst shows up and "pow!" gets the action started. Moxa is like a catalyst in the context of acupuncture treatment, adding that energetic momentum needed for things to start changing in the body.

(By Paolo Propato, LAc) Having suffered from life-long sinus issues, I found myself at age 24 sitting in a dark room in Florence, Italy as a heavy set man with a big mustache burned moxa cones. The room filled with the strange smell of mugwort smoke. My thought was, “I am paying this guy to help with my sinuses and he is making smoke.” After the session he was smiling and said, “I can help you. It may take some time and you have to do some dietary changes but I can help you.” I still don’t know why I made another appointment, but in the end it saved me from my doctor's push for surgery.
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Fast forward to a few years later in Bucks County, when I found myself calling every acupuncturist in the tri-state area asking if I could hang out in their office. As fate would have it the only one kind enough to invite me in was close to home. Grace let me observe and eventually took me on as her assistant as I began to attend three years of grad school in northern New Jersey for acupuncture.

The nights studying, long car rides to school, odd jobs for extra cash-- although tiring and stressful, there was never a moment I thought of stopping. All I wanted was to go deeper into this medicine. The more I stood by Grace's side and watched patients heal, the more I was fueled to keep going. The smell of moxa, so strange years ago, had infused into my cells.

Certain moments stand out that have affected the way I practice. During my time at the student clinic in Montclair, NJ, I treated many cancer patients. CANCER: the word itself makes people shudder. Most of my classmates were much like myself, from lupus to colitis, they'd had some health issue and it was this medicine that had turned it around, inspiring them to study acupuncture. From my faith in their experiences and in Grace's clinic, I asked to take on these patients. I knew acupuncture could help, and it did.

I remember a patient of ours with cancer who did a tribal African dance for a classmate's baby shower.