I’ve been talking to a number of you this week and a common theme is we are all experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions – anxiety about how long this will last, will I get ill, will someone I know get ill, financial worries, grief, sadness, missing things – missing things we took for granted, as well as gratitude for the respite from the busyness of life. I always say to you in the treatment room, whatever you are feeling, allow yourself to feel it, you feel what you feel. It’s also okay not to feel okay – there’s a lot to process at the moment. Often, I think there is the worry that we will get stuck in an uncomfortable / painful emotion.
This is a great acupuncture point on your foot between your big toe and 2nd toe to massage, I often use it on you to help move your emotions if you’re feeling stuck in a certain emotion. The nickname for this point is “Happy Calm”
I have to share a funny story about my emotions this week! I have basically been feeling okay, I’ve been keeping busy, catching up on things I was very behind on doing and everyday going out for a walk. However I had a couple of days when I hadn’t been out for a walk and on Monday I was sending in forms on my computer and I couldn’t upload something and it was really frustrating, I just wanted to be finished with what I was doing and not be on my computer. I suddenly felt like what I needed was to have a good cry. Many of you cry when you’re in my treatment room and I say it’s good for you, it’s an emotional release.
Well I’m very private and I didn’t want my kids to see me crying so I snuck into my basement to have a cry and feel better. And as I’m sitting in my basement, having a good old cry, up pops a text from a friend saying “Feeling a bit overwhelmed / depressed at the moment – got anything uplifting to send my way?” It was so ironic, it just made me smile. Rather than texting her back I called her because I felt at that moment maybe she, and maybe I, needed human connection, rather than a back and forward text. And I felt much better after I’d spoken to her. If you’re having moments when your emotions are up and down and you need someone to speak to / connect with, please feel free to reach out to me.
Exercise / Self-Care – I realized how important my daily walks are for me. They are good for me both physically and spiritually. The day after feeling frustrated / sad I thought I must go out for a walk. By the time I was ready to leave the sky was ominously dark and I knew it would rain, I put on my rain jacket and thought I’m going out for my walk, rain or no rain. It poured with rain, I got soaking wet! But as I was walking and the sky was really dark, suddenly the rain stopped, the sun started shining and I was really excited that I would see a rainbow. I absolutely love rainbows, I find them so magical. So I’m walking around excitedly looking for a rainbow, thinking it’s a metaphor for life and I’ll take a photo of this amazing rainbow and put it in my newsletter. I was thinking about you all a lot on my walk, thinking about things that I wanted to share with you that might be helpful. Unfortunately, I saw no rainbows, but I walked some extra steps for you to a neighbor’s house where there was this beautiful offering, to take a rainbow rock! So this is my rainbow for you! Metaphorically Rainbows offer hope and something beautiful after the storm, we will get through this! 
Uplifting – I love music, I think it transcends things and always makes me feel good. I was so excited last week to discover NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert on YouTube, 15 minute concerts featuring incredible musicians and singers, they make me so happy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyW5Zz0w1zg
Book – I’m very excited to let you know that I’ve written a chapter in a book about acupressure. Some of my patients see the wonderful Laura DiFranco for Physical Therapy. Laura is also an amazing author, having published several books, and is launching a new book called “The Ultimate Guide to Self-Healing”, which consists of 25 healers writing about their healing modalities and teaching the readers tools that they can use at home. The book will be available on Amazon in May and couldn’t come at a more perfect time. If we are still in lockdown there will be so many useful things to try at home to make you feel better.
Recipe – I was telling my son that I was sending out a newsletter with health tips, immune boosting things and he said you have to send out the immune boosting soup recipe. I was actually given this recipe by a patient and my family loves it. You can find the recipe here.
Qi Gong for Anxiety – Here is a 16 minute video for you on Qi Gong for Anxiety. I want you all to have a selection of tools to help you emotionally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCicH-iz1oU
Lastly, last week I started seeing some of my patients remotely for telehealth consultations. If this is something you might be interested in then please let me know.
I miss you all immensely! It’s been lovely connecting with you. I wish you all a peaceful and joyful week. And as the Inimitable Maya Angelou said “May we all be a rainbow in someone’s cloud”.
Nikki