(By Grace Rollins, MS, LAc) Antibiotics may have saved my life as an infant, when I had an infection in my neck that necessitated surgery. After that, probably much like many of you, I was on antibiotics as a kid every year, if not multiple times, for strep throat or bronchitis. And in a way that had nothing to do with fighting infections or saving my life, I also consumed antibiotics as part of my conventional American, fast-food diet, since approximately 70% of our antibiotics are used to accelerate growth in livestock and end up contaminating our meat and farmed fish. 

Sadly, the unnecessary antibiotic saga continued: while in college, I contracted a serious gastrointestinal infection while traveling abroad, and underwent a course of a powerful antibiotic called Cipro (part of a class known for major side effects and now partially banned in Europe). After it didn’t help my infection symptoms at all, the doctor decided to run a simple stool test that determined I had a parasitic protozoan called Giardia, not a bacterium susceptible to antibiotics (a proper, if belated, diagnosis that finally led to a proper treatment). 

As with many young people who grow up on a diet of antibiotics (and are exposed to innumerable other microbiome disruptors, like pesticides, herbicides and processed food additives), I was plagued with allergies and acne from the time of puberty well into adulthood. Becoming a vegan in those college years opened my eyes to a lot of new foods, but since I was still also eating a lot of junk, including artificial sweeteners, sugar and conventional grains laced with pesticides, my symptoms stayed pretty much the same. The allergies and congestion were just a way of life for me. But eventually, sick of drenching my face with benzoyl peroxide every night, after I got out of college I finally saw a dermatologist about the acne. The doctor immediately prescribed an oral and a topical antibiotic for me to use daily... indefinitely. ​

Unsurprisingly, as puberty set in during that first year back in the States, I started to gain significant weight. By eighth grade I was almost as tall as I am now, but thirty pounds heavier. I also developed inflamed, embarrassing cystic acne. Given the tender age and my family difficulties, my self-esteem was in the pits. 

​My early teen years gave me a window into how anyone could be crushed into utter hopelessness and self-defeating behavior under the mental strain of body image issues. It probably made all the difference that my academics were strong, keeping my self-esteem above water. I made it on scholarship into a prestigious boarding school for the remainder of high school, and eventually landed at an Ivy League college. In these environments I had access to an unparalleled education, top athletic facilities and quality food, and an increasingly diverse group of peers that modeled other ways to eat and live.

Even then, it was no Shangrila-- I also witnessed at close hand peers with serious eating disorders, or those making desperate attempts to "eat healthy" according to the certain norms and finding their mental or physical health falling apart. I had a few misfires myself and had to course-correct various times. ​Gradually, through my late teens and early twenties, I honed my diet, shifting myself away from processed foods and sugar, widening my palate to include a more diverse array of foods, normalizing my weight, improving my skin.

Though I was in pretty good shape by the time I made it through college, it was only later, when I dove deeper into studying acupuncture and natural medicine, that it really clicked into place and I started to restore my metabolic health--and overall health--on a deeper plane. I began to shape my diet increasingly around not just avoiding the junk, but incorporating the array of nutrient-dense foods our ancestors would have prized. To better help my patients since beginning clinical practice, I furthered my education, diving deep into literature and post-grad trainings which helped me to gain mastery over the hormonal characteristics of macronutrients, the broad arsenal of micronutrients, and ways to rehabilitate the gut and the microbiome. Over the years I’ve further expanded on this knowledge base to include the metabolic effects of lifestyle patterning concerning types of exercise, sleep quality, circadian rhythms, stress management and more. 

Though I’ve taught nutrition classes to my patients before, it only recently occurred to me to share my own story of healthy weight loss, because to be honest, I still have a raw vulnerability about it. That teenager, afraid of judgment, is still inside of me begging to keep it a secret. I told this story to a patient the other day and looking at me, she didn’t believe it. By cloaking my own vulnerability perhaps I do my patients a disservice, because they think that health is something you’re born with, or not. ​

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the milestone we have hit this year as a practice, and remark on its significance to me personally. I have a natural inclination to keep my cards close to my chest, but I have come to realize that in my current role, to share a little of my own trajectory can sometimes serve as a source of inspiration.
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To put it bluntly, I come out of a difficult, unhealthy family background. My parents had a bitter divorce when I was six, and my siblings and I suffered from extensive psychological abuse as small children. My father voluntarily ceased to be part of my life from the time I was eleven. From that time on, I grew up amid financial instability, substance abuse, and increasingly, the mental and physical illness of my family members. Eventually, those closest to me were all in significant distress and either self-medicating or on medication. The wave of un-wellness threatened to pull me under, too.

The key thread right now is that of looking back on how far I’ve come. I don’t identify myself by my traumas and struggles, but rather, by the ways I’ve overcome them. Though I take nothing for granted, I can in this moment say with confidence that at age 43, I’m the healthiest and fittest I’ve been in my life, and the most emotionally centered. I’ve financed myself through graduate-level education, I’ve grown a small business that supports my own livelihood and those of several employees, and last year, I was able to buy and renovate a dream space for the practice. These would all be fine accomplishments no matter what, but I feel proud given the circumstances I emerged from.

No doubt, I’ve had many lucky breaks and many privileges, some of them stories for another time. One of the key privileges I will name has been the support of this community. I feel immensely grateful, a little tearful, to bring it up. This goes out to all of you, from those first “legacy” patients who came over ten years ago to my first Doylestown office (Broad Street, anyone?), to those who braved the pandemic to continue receiving care, to those who mustered the trust to come out for a first treatment just last week. And everyone in between!

I’ll also name one of the lucky breaks—the day I got a call from a guy named Paolo, who was trying to find an unpaid acupuncture internship. Some of you already know the story… Paolo ended up working at my side the entire three years he was in graduate school, and then came on as an acupuncturist at Bridge. This summer marks ten years of our working together! After so many years, Paolo remains my brother, my accomplice, and for all of his unique qualities, my teacher. Without a doubt he has made the spirit of Bridge what it is today, and I’m so grateful.

There are many others for me to thank. My partner Eric of nearly fifteen years, my incredible acupuncture teachers and mentors, our awesome support staff members, the contractors who helped rebuild our amazing space, and now, the talented new acupuncturists we added during our expansion, Misook Lee and Brian Yang. How lucky I feel to have the support of these people in my life, and to have come this far.

I see our mission here at Bridge Acupuncture as helping others overcome their perceived limitations. This can mean helping someone find new hope in healing from a difficult, perhaps "incurable" situation. This could also mean helping someone find a path to changing their supposed genetic destiny (whether physical, psychological or spiritual).

​We all have the power to transform ourselves, to heal, to change our karma. It’s amazing what we can do when our true nature is allowed to thrive.

With much love and appreciation,
Grace Rollins, MS, LAc

​Instead of icing, as acupuncturists we are trained to use time-tested herbal formulas, some of them dating back many centuries to the early days of Shaolin martial artists. The herbs are selected to work synergistically and come in a wide variety of topical preparations-- soaks, poultices, salves and liniments. Formula actions include promoting natural blood and lymphatic flow, breaking up stagnant blood, calming pain, and stimulating tissue repair.

One of our most most-used products in this category is an artisan-produced version of one of the most popular sports medicine herbal formulas in the world, Zheng Gu Shui (translated as Evil Bone Water by our producer). This stuff is like "tiger balm" on steroids. The version we used is made using the highest grade herbs in a small-batch facility, and we just love the potency of it! We keep a bottle in all of our treatment rooms since it's a useful application for a wide variety of muscle, tendon and ligament pains and injuries of both "hot" and "cold nature"-- even arthritis. This formula has analgesic (pain reducing) properties but also blood moving and tissue regenerative herbs.

​In addition to herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping, gua sha and moxibustion are brilliant for sports injury recovery. Whether you are a backyard frisbee thrower or a triathlete, consider us part of your first line of care if you get banged up this summer. We love being in your corner!

(By Grace Rollins, MS, LAc) As I write this it's the last day of April, but I only just learned this month is considered National Foot Health Awareness Month. Well, there are a few hours left in the month so it's not too late to draw attention to the importance of foot health. 

Why do foot issues impact us so much? First off, they impact our mobility. If your foot hurts, it can be really hard to exercise or do the daily walking we know is vital for our health. Since so much about our health depends upon physical activity, a foot injury or repetitive strain can create snowball effects. 

Secondly, the health of our feet impacts our entire musculoskeletal system. The key word here is system. Our bones, joints and muscles work together in a coordinated fashion, and no one part is separate from the movement and functioning of the whole. In particular, the way we use the many joints and muscles of our feet (or the way we don't use them) has ramifications all the way up your anatomy chains. Your feet alone have 33 joints, 26 bones, and more than a hundred muscles, tendons and ligaments. Why would nature design us with so many tiny joints and muscles in the foot? If you guessed to serve as an active, intelligent interface between the body and the terrain, you win! (The prize is a barefoot walk across the yard.) When such a complex structure loses mobility, strength, sensory input, tissue integrity, or becomes inhibited by pain and deformity, it changes the way we interact with the terrain and impacts the body from toe to head. 

A third reason foot health impacts us so much is that feet are sensitive, yo! 

Depending on whom you’re spending time with, you may feel more joyous, more stiff, relaxed, guarded… all with different impacts on your physiology. Maybe that news program or violent, suspenseful show affected the quality of your sleep, which the next day affected your hormones, your exercise and eating choices, and even your self-esteem. This principle extends even to the habits of your inner monologue. We all know if you are anxious, your entire body feels different than when you are excited, or when you are in love. It’s all information you can pick up on, if you can be mindful of it. 

One of the beauties of acupuncture is that it doesn’t add anything– it just communicates with the body’s own intelligence, helping it find a better way to organize by giving a hint here and there. The same thing goes with other “suggestions” one can receive from the environment. What is your contact with the ground, or your emotional environment, or any other information telling you right now? Are you giving too much of yourself? Are you not moving your body enough, or in some cases too much? Are you relaxing? Having time in nature or with activities you enjoy? Are you eating what your body truly needs? These are not questions of judgment, but questions sometimes your body already knows the answer to, if you can find a way to tune in and listen. 

Once I heard a story of a traveler who journeyed to meet a master that lived as a hermit on a mountaintop. When the traveler finally arrived he found the master sitting under the shade of a tree. The man humbly walked over and said, “Master, I have traveled a long way to be here. Can you give me any guidance for my life?” The master looked up at the man and with his finger wrote in the dirt: “Awareness.” 

The traveler reads the word and a bit puzzled asks, “What does that mean?” The master just wrote, “Awareness means awareness.” 

The traveler was frustrated to have come all this way for such a simple message. “I came a long way. Surely you can elaborate a bit more than that!” The master looked again at the man and wrote in the dirt, “Awareness means awareness means awareness.”

The other day my son and I were talking with a few people around a table, at one point he whispered in my ear, ”Daddy, relax your shoulders, they're all the way up to your ears.” Later I told him I was proud of him that he was aware of my posture and even how I was feeling emotionally about the situation around the table. I felt like that traveler in the story– my whole life I had been journeying up that mountain to find wisdom, but all the advice I needed was a kid saying, “Awareness.”    ​