Not so rude [Spring] awakening
Seeing the events happening around us so far this year, I keep thinking there must be a kinder, gentler way to bring the change we need to thrive on this planet.
Luckily there are philosophies and tools of Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM) to give hope, inspiration and guidance. 2025 is the year of the Wood Snake. The Snake is known for its adaptability, flexibility, wisdom and ability to shed its skin. Some snakes are known for their poison and, interestingly enough, their medicine too. Remembering the essence of the snake and being able to transform the snake’s poison into medicine can be our saving grace leading to advances and breakthroughs as well as overcoming the toxicity and destruction that a Snake year can bring.
Technically Spring began on February 4th. The energy of Spring is to grow and the sprout growing from the seed, trying to push to the light is the perfect image to understand what the possibilities are for ourselves. The emotion that this sprout needs to grow is one of anger and frustration. The obstacles to our growth can seem really huge and scary. If we give into this fear we may wilt and never find the light. Alternatively, if we don’t see a way to the light, the anger can build up so much that it becomes explosive and completely destroys the sprout, the obstacle or both.
Creativity, curiosity, playfulness and a snake trait, adaptability, are great companions in helping frustration to be productive. Being in this state, I might ask questions like "how can we get around or through this obstacle without hurting ourselves or something/someone else?" "What if we try this instead?" "What could be a fun way to do this?" "What can I change or shed to make this feel better?"
The formation and the intention of the Spring Awakening Group Acupuncture and Therapy Series, a collaboration with therapist Darci Walker, Psyd. and myself, was born out of creativity meeting frustration: The frustration in that seeking or providing exclusive one-on-one care forgets one major asset in our healing processes - each other. And, the creative curiosity in seeing what happens when we bring therapy and acupuncture together in a group setting.
What we are seeing is that in a group we learn from and heal one another. When we combine therapy and acupuncture we are experiencing emotional awareness in the body and seeing and feeling our physical and emotional selves becoming “unstuck”. Metaphorically we are connecting our minds to our bodies and, in this group setting, we are connecting our self to others, creating a sense of belonging and community. Combined we are transforming the poisons of the Snake into medicine for our lives and finding ways to be gentler and kinder to ourselves and each other.
In our current 4 session seasonal series, the group will be limited to seven participants so that a nurturing community can form, allowing us to talk openly as we experience the acupuncture and support our own journey of sprouting and awakening.
