I’ve been listening, learning, and reflecting. What an expansive time this is where we can choose to tap into quality feeds of information that raise collective, compassionate awareness. With this in mind and as a privilege, my traditional Chinese medicine education and empathetic nature has trained me to constantly scan environmental energies and our relationships to this web of life.
Through this lens I can see what collective extremes and deficiencies require further support: the earth as a macrocosm (pandemic), racial injustices, social inequalities, imbedded addiction crises, and rising suicide rates. Within my acupuncture practice I listen to mass levels of these stagnancies ripple into forms of sadness, anxiety, fatigue, and pain. The yang within this yin is that when we reach these mass levels of stagnancies it becomes increasingly clear that these are wake up calls for taking responsibility toward healing actions on a community and global level.
So I’ve been asking, how can we strengthen support systems already in place while creating innovative foundational and re-integrative initiatives to build upon resiliency? Increasing accessibility to mental health support, self care education, local business and ecological support, art and nature therapy, trauma informed yoga, community acupuncture and gardens, to name a few, all have a nurturing ripple effect. Through resource streams as these the flow of kind connections creates roots for the cultivation of health now, the greater good, and for generations to come.
I realize that the city I live in, Victoria, B.C., has an abundance of supportive organizations in place. So with
this I’ve been asking, how can I make a difference? How can I act to strengthen systems already in place?
Supporting the Support Network
One of our ongoing goals at Victoria Community Acupuncture & Spa is to support the support network, which includes mental health, social, and outreach workers, along with counsellors and nurses. We believe they deserve the loving care that they’re continually giving out into the world, to prevent burnout, to ease stress tension, and to replenish clarity and focus for the sustenance of your sense of purpose. As an ongoing offering, I am offering a “Supporting the Support Network” promotion. If you are an outreach, mental health, or social worker, counsellor, or nurse, you can receive $20 off your initial acupuncture private table session or $15 off initial community acupuncture with me. Go ahead and set some self-care time aside to visit our beautiful, relaxing space. All you have to do is book a treatment, mention this promotion, and show up!
Health offers the gift of increased energy and clarity, which directly and indirectly benefits loved ones, one’s workplace, the community, healthcare resources, and the health of our environment.
How can acupuncture help you?
Acupuncture works to initiate innate healing and preventative mechanisms, removes blockages within energy meridians, cleanses the emotional body, and soothes the nervous system. Balancing treatments facilitate the strengthening of grounded, centred, present energy and buffers the stress response so that you may do your beautiful work with greater ease. Specific imbalances we can work on include but are not limited to: fatigue, immunity, sleep, anxiety, stress tension, pain, and hormone balancing.
Medical Herbalism
Herbal medicine has a unique ability to nourish frayed nervous systems, soothe unhappy GITs, provide a sense of focused calm, balance hormones, and more. With a formula created specifically for you, we can address your symptoms while also keeping an eye on the underlying causes of any dysfunction to bring a body back into balance. Herbal medicine is a great adjunct to acupuncture, and the two can work synergistically together, especially in situations where the body doesn’t have enough resources to find its own way back to health.
Please visit www.vcaspa.com to learn more about what we do.
With time, hard times become healing times, if we choose.
Tips for transformative times. . .
Act, but also rest.
Feel the pain, but also acknowledge gratitude in the good.
Educate with facts, but also with authentic stories + art.
Initiate conversations, and give space to listen within.
Be innovative + diverse, while supporting supportive networks in place.
Give to local businesses + fundraisers. Receive thanks with humbleness.
Allow for mistakes + healthy criticism.
Learn + let go.
Love, encourage one another, + be kind.
With love & gratitude,
Hayley Stobbs, RAc, CNC