Aloha acupuncture community:

Happy Autumn Equinox! Wherever you are on this beautiful planet, I hope this email finds you happy, healthy, feeling vibrant and balanced.

I want to thank you for your support of Lee Acupuncture and Kauai North Shore Acupuncture Project and share some news. Also, I want to share with you some fun thoughts about living in accordance with the season of Fall according to Traditional Chinese Medicine principles.

FOR THE NEWS FLASH....

We will have new community acupuncture clinic hours in Hanalei effective Thursday, October 2nd in an attempt to include more of our community members who work the 9-5 work schedule to come in. So starting next week, our Friday 12 - 3:30 pm Hanalei community acupuncture clinic hours will be moved to Thursday from 3pm to 6:30pm. Schedulista, our online scheduler will reflect these changes immediately.

I am going to train with Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB) in Honolulu for a Healing Community Trauma: How to do Acupuncture for Traumatic Events class. AWB is also very interested in helping practitioners set up local acupuncture clinics for veterans, something I have always wanted to do. To learn about the wonderful work that this group does, read more here: http://www.acuwithoutborders.org/awb_in_the_news.php

Please help us spread the healing and write a testimonial about your experience with traditional Chinese medicine with me. Even today very few people know what acupuncture can do for the body.  And it is one thing for people to read about my take on what I can do for them, but it is another thing altogether when they are reading a testimonial that was written by a patient. Also, there are many wonderful healers on the island, your testimonial will help people to decide who is most appropriate for them. Anyway, I would appreciate any of your comments; the good, the bad and the ugly. This is a life-long journey for me and we are each others' teachers. Here is a link to access the 3-question form that'll live on my site: http://www.writeacustomerreview.com/Lee_Acupuncture. And this is Yelp's form http://www.yelp.com/biz/lee-acupuncture-hanalei. Mahalo!

I'm pleased to welcome to our healing space a wonderful woman, Helane Lipson. Helane will be giving psychic sessions in the office when I am not there on Saturdays and Mondays. A highly skilled and gifted advisor, astrologer, Certified Special Education Teacher, and Licensed Therapist, Helane has been offering intuitive individual, family and marital counseling services for over 20 years. With humor, insight and compassion she gently challenges the unnecessary limitations that people believe regarding who they are and what they can have. She has been honored to work with many individuals who have had the courage to face the challenging deep subconscious messages that guard the gates to the treasures of their real creative self. Please come say hello to Helane or check her out on her website at http://insightsbyhelane.com.

NOW, ABOUT AUTUMN....  

The Fall Equinox was on Tuesday, September 23 this year. According to traditional Chinese medicine 5-element theory, Autumn commands the Metal element which are the lungs and large intestines. Energetically the lungs and the large intestines are about sadness letting go, and courage. It is also an interesting time of the year in that it represents the ending of the Bright Yang of the year, summer. The heat of the summer sun has burned brightly for months and now energetically there is less. Body might even feel less energetic as it prepares to hunker down. Auspiciously this is the season to reflect on the more yin aspects of ourselves, a perfect time to process some of these emotions, and maybe pick up a new journal and express.

In Autumn we learn more about ourselves, perhaps, than in any other season. Having provided the harvest, Nature now makes everything bare. Leaves turn color and drop. The old leaves go back to the earth, enriching it to promote the coming of new leaves, a new harvest. The energy of this season, more than any other, supports our letting go of the waste, the old and stale in our lives, leaving us receptive to the pure and new, granting us a vision of who we are in our essence.

Welcome Autumn!

Suggestions for living in harmony with the autumn season:

• Go through your closet, desk, garage, medicine cabinet - any cluttered storage area-and discard what you no longer need. Then donate, sell, or otherwise circulate what might be of value to others.
• Do a mental inventory: Examine attitudes (prejudices, envies, hatreds, jealousies, resentments) stored within your psyche. When possible, contact those with whom you harbor old "stuff." Attempt to resolve the hurtful old issues, and then let them go. For issues you cannot resolve directly with others, or for old issues with yourself, write them on paper, being as specific as possible. Then burn the paper, symbolically releasing the content.
• Take time each day to breathe slowly and deeply. As you inhale the clean autumn air, feel yourself energized and purified. Feel the old negativity, impurity, and pain leave your body and psyche. 

Read more!: http://www.5elements.com/docs/elements/metal.html

For another yummy article about Autumn, click here: http://www.5elements.com/docs/elements/metal.html

Another lovely article: http://earthsky.org/earth/autumn-equinox-cycles-of-nature-and-chinese-philosophy

One last word about Autumn...

.....So to celebrate the autumn equinox as the Chinese philosophers did, you might do this …

Stand facing west, considered the direction of autumn in ancient Chinese philosophy. Just stand for a few moments and honor the “westness” of autumn. Consider your dreams and visions, and the path on which you’re moving forward through your life. Light white candles against the growing darkness of the season. Or place white flowers on your table. White is the color of autumn in the Chinese tradition. Allow yourself to weep for things you have lost. Weeping is the sound of this season, according to Chinese philosophy. Find the courage to face what’s ahead.......

Thank you, namaste, mahalo nui loa, in gratitude, xiexie. --

Linda