Chinese Medicine For Your Gut Microbiome
A Healthy Curiosity
You know we need a healthy gut microbiome in order to digest and absorb nutrients from our food – without pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea or constipation. It also plays a role in autoimmune disease, hormone balance, our level of energy overall, heart disease, kidney disease, brain fog, bone health -- the list goes on. With Chinese herbal medicine, we can encourage the body to release its own digestive enzymes and bile while supporting the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and intestines. On today’s episode you'll learn: What besides food affects the gut microbiome How the gut interconnects with...
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Lessons From 20 Years in Practice
A Healthy Curiosity
In September 2023, my Chinese Medical practice turned 20 years old. This episode started off as a retrospective on lessons learned in these two decades as a self-employed Licensed Acupuncturist, herbalist, and coach. While it starts with the role of a clinician and the nature of healing, it explores issues that parents, givers, and people who care about what they do may well relate to, like: If you'll never know it all, when is enough enough? How healing happens -- and who is responsible The work that happens before showing up for work Detaching the ego from outcomes, even when you care How...
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The Hormone Balance Pyramid
A Healthy Curiosity
Moving from overwhelm to a more healthy life is often about small steps. One such step can be embracing the philosophy of seeing how so many things can be connected. Approaching symptoms we're experiencing through the lens of the mind-body connection can help us do things like calm down our nervous system and reduce stress while still doing everything we need to do in our lives. Ali Damron, a colleague in the Chinese Medicine field, joins this conversation to dig into this philosophy of connectedness, particularly with regard to hormone balancing. When we attune to the part our hormones play...
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Care and Feeding of Your Microbiome
A Healthy Curiosity
Taking steps in the direction of better health is a multi-faceted process. Not only do we have to take care of ourselves, but we also have to take care of the trillions of microbes that call our bodies home. Rooted in the Earth element of Chinese Medicine, the ecosystem of our bodies is integral to our health in a variety of different ways from our ability to produce energy to feeling grounded and centered. Dr. Chris Damman joins us in this conversation to geek out on where the science of the microbiome verifies aspects of Chinese Medicine. On Today’s Episode of A Healthy Curiosity: ...
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Questions from the Treatment Room, Answered
A Healthy Curiosity
This season of the podcast has focused a lot on demystifying different aspects of Chinese Medicine. From acupressure to qi gong, we've spoken with experts to dig into the details of how these practices can help us move toward better health. In this conversation, we're exploring some of the most common questions from patients in the clinic in an asynchronous q+a session. These questions cover a broad range from the concrete, tactical side to the more theoretical side to help gain a deeper understanding for how the practice of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine works. On Today’s Solo...
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Self-healing with Acupressure: There’s an App for That
A Healthy Curiosity
A consistent theme in this show is empowering you to embody self-respect through daily actions; to take small steps in the direction of better. The body is always seeking balance and homeostasis through its own intelligence and there are usually actions we can take to help support that process. One such way is using points on the body to take care of yourself through acupressure. Katie Pedrick, L.Ac. joins us for this conversation to unpack some of the self-care possibilities that come from putting your own hands on your body. As another proponent of empowering you to support your body's...
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Immunity, Digestion, Focus and Relaxation Practices
A Healthy Curiosity
Whether dealing with a COVID infection or just moving through life, a lot of us may be hitting energetic walls these days. In times like this, employing methods rooted in Chinese Medicine, like qi gong, can be very powerful in taking care of ourselves. Dr. Juli Kramer has practiced and studied qi gong intensely for years and she joins us in this conversation to discuss building strength through the gentle movements of qi gong. In addition to the value of using both yin and yang practices in our wellness efforts, she shares how clearing stagnation in different parts of the body helps to avoid...
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Why Acupuncture is the Best for Musculoskeletal Pain
A Healthy Curiosity
What do you do when your back hurts, or when your neck and shoulders get tight and sore? Acupuncture is a potent medicine for joint pain, muscle pain, and nerve pain that provides an immediate relaxing, anti-inflammatory effect in a way that other healing modalities can’t. A growing body of research shows that acupuncture is a potent medicine for joint pain, muscle pain, , , as well as chronic conditions like . But people often try it only after drugs, physical therapy, chiropractic, massage and aren’t yielding optimal results. In this episode, Licensed Acupuncturist and host Brodie Welch...
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Move Your Stuck Qi with Breathwork
A Healthy Curiosity
Chances are, if you're checking out this episode, you're looking for tools and techniques to help tune into yourself and be a better self-healer. You're probably also aware that the things we do every day can make a massive difference in how we feel as opposed to only finding healing in a bottle. In this conversation, Amy Kuretsky, L.Ac. joins us to examine the deceptively simple, yet powerful technique of breathwork. As a broad term, breathwork is about simply bringing some intention to how you are using or manipulating your breath to reach specific outcomes such as regulating energy,...
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Deep Listening, Gifts of Winter, Overcoming low motivation
A Healthy Curiosity
Winter is cold, dark, slow time of year, and since we’re a part of nature, it’s easy for us to feel the same way: sluggish and more inclined to hibernate than to get things done. This most yin of seasons is necessary to balance the yang of life, and we ignore its gifts at our peril. In this episode, we examine how we can embrace the yin nature of winter, along with: The connection between slowness, empathy, and connection What winter is about according to Chinese Medicine How qi gong can make you a better listener Why doing less is seasonally appropriate How to overcome winter’s...
info_outlineThe hormonal shifts women experience later in life, namely perimenopause and menopause, aren't talked about very often. This lack of education and awareness can lead to women feeling out of control and confused when their bodies start changing, sliding away from things they used to be able to count on.
Dr. Amy Zahm has helped many women navigate these shifts in identity and she brings a lot of useful wisdom to this conversation around the benefits that Chinese Medicine can have for women going through menopause and perimenopause. Rather than a medicalized condition that needs treating, she encourages us to view these reorganizations as part. of the natural, beautiful progression of yin and yang in the body.
On Today’s Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:
- Why play is so crucial and some ideas for getting started
- What perimenopause is and what the signs of it are
- The Chinese Medicine perspective on how different times in life are for different purposes
- Why finding ways to slow down is often so critical in responding to signals from our bodies
- How even taking a 60 second breathing break can help you start downregulating the nervous system
Dr. Amy Zahm is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine who has been practicing in rural NE Oregon for sixteen years. Amy specializes in women's health, mental and emotional health, chronic illness and pain management. She has a particular love for using the principles of Chinese Medicine to help women of all ages navigate the transitional periods of their lives with more ease and grace than our society generally allows. In addition to serving Wallowa county, she will soon be expanding her practice to include telehealth. Look for Ground and Sky: Chinese and Functional Medicine for Women’s Health at groundandskyhealth.com. Staying connected In addition to attending acupuncture school at SWAC in Albuquerque at the same time, she and I shared a massage therapy space back in the day.
Links:
The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine
Lillian Bridges - Lotus Institute
Institute for Traditional Medicine
Connect With Dr. Amy Zahm:
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Learn more about working with Brodie
Use code "friendofthepod" for 20% off the 12 Treasures Qi Gong course or the Breathing Bundle collection!