Today, we are proud to host Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) alumna Aimee Raupp! Aimee’s new book Yes, You Can Get Pregnant: Natural Ways to Improve Your Fertility Now and into Your 40s (Demos Health) just hit shelves on May 28 ^th .

Aimee sat down with PCOM to explain what inspired her book, how Chinese medicine is so incredible for fertility patients, and why this is her passion.

Thanks so much for joining us, Aimee! We couldn’t be more proud of your success in sharing this ancient medicine and its benefits.

Can you tell us about your background and how you came to this profession?

As a neurobiology research scientist in my twenties, I began experiencing personal health issues. Frustrated by Western medicine’s inability to provide answers and unable to find relief, I sought solutions from Eastern medicine. I began acupuncture treatment and discovered how a mind-body-nutrition approach was key to overcoming illness and maintaining good long-term health. Inspired by my personal experience, I enrolled at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and since, have dedicated my life to the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine ever since.

What inspired you to focus on fertility in your acupuncture practice and to write Yes, You Can Get Pregnant ?

In all honesty, fertility clients started coming to me. I never had the intention of having a completely fertility focused practice. My ultimate goal is to help my patients and readers restore the presence of their optimal health. When I assist them in doing that, their fertility thrives.

Writing Yes, You Can Get Pregnant stemmed from my ultimate goal to help patients restore their optimal health—and when a women is in optimal health—mentally, emotionally, physically and nutritionally—she should be able to get pregnant, even in her 40s.

What are 3 things you wish everyone knew about Chinese medicine?

1. The mental/emotional correlation to all disharmony in the body and how clearly tied our emotional states are to disease and its manifestations.

2. That it is first and foremost a preventative disease and by incorporating the theories of Chinese medicine into one’s life, you can bring balance and optimal health so that disease doesn’t manifest in the first place.

3. How intense the education is for practitioners of Chinese medicine.

What kind of patients do you frequently work with in your clinic? Can you tell us a little bit about ‘a day in the life’ of your practice?

As my practice has developed, I do tend to treat more fertility related issues (male and female) than anything else. However, I do have a subset of my patient population that comes in for other health related issues or for just general wellness.  I definitely see myself as a general practitioner with a focus on women’s health and wellness.

A ‘day in the life’ of my practice usually consists of me first meditating and grounding myself before going to work. I open myself up to the healing medium that my patients need and deserve. I usually see about 15 patients per day, where I am doing a detailed intake, along with tongue and pulse and what my patients often refer to as their ‘therapy session’. I believe that the emotional component is imperative to address when dealing with any health related issue. So, each and every one of my patients has their ‘therapy’ time with me during their treatments.

How do you feel Yes, You Can Get Pregnant stands out from other holistic fertility books? We’d love to hear what’s unique about your approach.

My approach is that this is a lifestyle, not a 3-month program to follow so one can get pregnant. My goal is to empower my readers with the tools that will help them change their health and improve their fertility, not just to be able to get pregnant, but to maintain their optimal health throughout their pregnancy so that they birth healthy children.

Yes, You Can Get Pregnant is a lifestyle program that addresses not just diet, but how we can live more in accord with nature and how we can stay emotionally and spiritually balanced and live with joy, peace, and courage. My end goal is healthy women who have healthy pregnancies who then raise children in that same healthy environment.

Can you tell us where and when we can find your book?

It is available at online retailers: Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well as in bookstores.

Get your own copy today!

AMAZON

BARNES AND NOBLE

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May 6th-12th is a special week. Why? It’s “National Nurses Week” and we couldn’t be more excited! In honor of this weekly celebration, we thought it smart to write a blog about holistic nursing. What is holistic nursing, you might ask. Read on and let us fill you in…

Just like East Asian medicine, holistic nursing focuses on the wholeness of the patient. This nursing specialty is concerned with the integration of a person’s mind, body, and spirit with their environment.

When treating the physiological, psychological, and spiritual needs of their patients, holistic nurses may integrate alternative modalities into Western treatment plans. This integration does not undermine conventional medicine, but complements, enriches, and broadens the scope of nursing practice and ensures that patients have the opportunity to reach their full healing potential.

Becoming a holistic nurse requires a person to incorporate self-care, responsibility, spirituality, and reflection into their lives. This powerful combination results in a greater awareness of the interconnectedness with the self, others, nature, and spirit. It is this awareness that enhances and facilitates the healing process that a patient undergoes with holistic nursing.

The holistic nurse is a strong symbol of healing and health in the medicine world.

Fun Fact: Florence Nightingale is considered to be one of the first holistic nurses. She was the founder of modern nursing and set an example of compassion, commitment to patient care, and diligent and thoughtful hospital administration.

PCOM Fun Fact: Did you know that our PCOM New York campus offers a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (with an emphasis in holistic nursing) ? If that isn’t news enough, our nursing program has advanced to candidacy for ACEN accreditation. Read more about it here!

We would like to thank ALL of the nurses out there for your compassion and selflessness. You know how to keep us going, literally! Happy Nurses Week!

-PCOM

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This week we are excited to announce two incredible milestones for our PCOM NY Nursing Program. Read below and celebrate our good news with us!

We’d also like to give a huge shout-out to our hardworking, dedicated faculty and staff who helped us with these wonderful achievements! We could not have done it without you, and the future for PCOM grads is especially bright because of the passion and support of the PCOM community.

PCOM New York Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Advances to Candidacy for ACEN Accreditation

We are thrilled to announce that the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BS Completion Program) is now a candidate for accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). The ACEN is responsible for accrediting nursing education programs, and achieving ACEN candidacy is a significant milestone in the evolution of the Nursing Program and PCOM.

PCOM New York Campus Director Malcolm Youngren says, “I’m very excited about this candidacy, which recognizes the quality of the program, teaching, and clinical experiences that PCOM New York works so hard to achieve.” Not only is accreditation candidacy a reflection of the quality of the program… READ MORE

Pacific College and SUNY Sullivan Announce Articulation Agreement

SUNY Sullivan students can earn BS in Nursing with an emphasis in Holistic Nursing at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM)-New York

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine’s Campus Director, Malcolm Youngren and SUNY Sullivan Vice President for Academic Affairs, Robert Schultz announce the establishment of an articulation agreement, which will allow SUNY Sullivan nursing graduates to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing… READ MORE

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If you’ve turned on your T.V. in the past couple of weeks, then there’s no doubt that you have seen snow, athletes, and medals. The Sochi Olympics are in full force and Olympians are some of the most elite athletes in the world.

Of course, these athletes stay in tiptop shape through intense training and strict diets, but some of them have found an extra edge—-they use East Asian medicine to maintain their health and stamina. Whether a slopestyle competitor from Canada or a high jumper from London, Olympians turn to holistic medicine to achieve an ideal level of fitness.

Take a look at this list of five Olympic athletes (past and present) who choose acupuncture to go for the gold:

Mark Mcmorris-

Mcmorris is this year’s slopestyle bronze medalist. In the weeks leading up to Sochi, he broke a rib at the X-games. In an attempt to alleviate his pain, Mcmorris began receiving acupuncture treatments. Through a steady regime of acupuncture, pool training, gym training, and massages, he was able to recuperate and get to a point where only hard landings caused him discomfort.

Dee Dee Trotter-

Trotter competed in the 2012 Olympics and walked away with a bronze medal for the 400-meter run. A true believer in acupuncture, she brought her hometown acupuncturist along with her while competing for an Olympic medal.

Yin Jian-

In 2008, Jian won China’s first Olympic sailing gold medal. As a competitive windsurfer, she has experienced a number of injuries that have affected her waist, shoulder, legs and feet. Every night after racing in the Olympic games, Jian would have acupuncture and massage treatments for muscle tension and strains.

Amy Acuff-

The London Olympics marked Acuff’s fifth year as a USA high jump competitor in the Olympics. Not only is she a talented athlete, she is also a licensed acupuncturist in Austin, Texas. Acuff credits acupuncture for helping her with injury prevention and recovery.

Daniel Kowalski -

Having received gold, silver, and bronze medals in swimming, Kowalski is an acupuncture enthusiast. He says acupuncture has worked magic on his body, sleep habits, and overall well-being. Hear about his experience in his own words: Kowalski explains the integration of Chinese medicine into his athletic regimen in this video .

Acupuncture and athletes go together like peas and carrots! If you want to learn more about acupuncture and other forms of East Asian medicine, visit our website or check out our YouTube channel .

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What is Quantum Qi? Simply put, it is a process that allows your life force, or ‘qi’, to move freely throughout your body—bringing the mind, body, and spirit into balance for vibrant health. The principles behind Quantum Qi are akin to acupuncture, but the process is more similar to Qi Gong.

Quantum Qi is meant to allow you to activate your cellular intelligence. Feel present in your body. We usually live our lives “from the neck up”, meaning, we are usually in our heads. The idea is to give the mind it’s right place as co-pilot, while accessing your body’s innate intelligence for healing. Every human being has this ‘body intelligence’—it’s a natural ability, and its power to heal is profound.

There are many ways in which we disconnect form our body—an excess of emotion, trauma, and pain can make us live in our head. Emotions are of course normal, but when they brim over or become stuck and overwhelming, we attempt to problem-solve the emotion with our thoughts, resulting in that ‘living in your head’ lifestyle. Other factors that can cause us to disconnect with our body are toxins, stress, and a fight or flight approach to life.

Almost everyone defaults to a stress response at some point, but the key is to be conscious of this in order to maintain relaxation as the proper default mode. If we are always in a stress response—the fight or flight response, we cannot heal. Constant stress means that our bodies are tense keeping our body’s ability to heal in a choke-hold.  Being in a state of Quantum Qi does the opposite supporting proper flow and health. Turning our awareness to our body is the first step to activating the body intelligence.

The first step is to turn your awareness low in your body—if you are in a chair right now, acknowledge how your legs feel in that chair. How your feet feel on the floor. If you practice and play with what this feels like in your body, you will become quicker to identify with your body (vs. your head), and closer to activating your body’s intelligence, allowing your body to do what it’s designed to do—thrive.

The second piece to this is breath—think of Qi Gong: it’s a therapeutic system of breathing focused on how healing breath can be for the human body. In Chinese medicine, one of the ways we replenish our qi is through breath. Try a very simple Qi Gong breath. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. This activates the two central channels in our body, which then gives access to all the channels in our body.

This allows your internal energy to move, but to release excess. Ideally, you want to achieve almost a wind sound on your exhale. The reason we want to pick up the intensity with this type of breathing and the strong exhale through the mouth is that it will create a bellows-like effect within your body. You aren’t just circulating your own qi, you are unfixing energy that no longer serves your system (emotional trauma, inflammation, and anything that doesn’t allow for homeostasis in the body), and allowing it to be released.

The third step is a softening of your body in such a way that the energy that you “unstuck” in your breathing has a place to go. So what does this mean? Softening your body allows this “stuck” energy to either be released from your energetic field, or to transform. We are not used to having the body be soft. We are used to it being tense or constricted. You might need to play with this process to get used to the feeling. What does a soft body feel like to you? A softened body is relaxed and conforms to what is around it. Imagine lying on a couch. With a soft body, you will fill the contours of the couch. With a rigid, tense body, you won’t.

There are upwards of 50 different chemicals that are released when we are in a stress response, and this cascade of chemicals can break down the body over time. These three steps train the body to have a completely different response to stress—one that is not harmful over time, and actually promotes health and vibrancy. At its heart, Quantum Qi is about training the body to do what it does best; to perform at its full potential. In the words of a Chinese medicine master,  Qi activates the “place within where the most powerful medicine is stored.”

Quantum Qi is a technique that anyone can do regardless of current physical shape or health. This technique is complimentary to holistic health practices such as acupuncture or massage because it is derived from the same Chinese medicine principles of energy flow and balance.

In her upcoming Quantum Qi course, Laurie Morse, LAc teaches the following:

• Immediately applicable tips on how to engage Quantum Qi
• Accessible ways to explain and teach Quantum Qi to your patients
• Ways to practice Quantum Qi anywhere, even in public crowded spaces
• How to use Quantum Qi Healing to release and recover from trauma
• Simple ways to incorporate this into an acupuncture or massage treatment
• The ongoing profound benefits of this ancient technique

Find out more about Laurie Morse and her Quantum Qi teachings here .

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Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love, but it doesn’t have to focus solely on romantic love. Today is a day to cherish friends, family—and you . You spend a lot of time caring for others. Today, don’t forget to show yourself some appreciation, too!

Check out our collection of do-it-yourself crafts that are sure to inspire. Cultivate that feel-good feeling that you deserve:

Dreamcatchers are beautiful, easy to hang in any room, and remind you to never give you up your personal goals. Remember, “if you build it, they will come”—whatever your goal is, set the intention for success with this pretty craft:

We know you’re a healer at heart—and that means you probably have some pretty neat healing supplies (such as herbs, formulas, or even natural teas or crystals) that you want to store well. Getting organized will invigorate you and de-crease stress, we promise! These homemade apothecary jars are as lovely as they are versatile:

Soft lighting can make you feel instantly soothed. What could be better than lighting that’s tailored to you? These gorgeous paper lanterns are easy to make and can be designed with images that are personal to you: from hearts or trees to Chinese symbols or names—give it a try!

Selfies are all the rage, but these tips take photographing yourself to the next level. With these simple instructions , you can create playful, unique, and beautiful portraits of yourself. Try it for fun, or to take your website or business profile to the next level! Remember, it’s all about you :

Cold weather has its merits but chapped skin isn’t one of them. Take care of yourself and feel your best with this homemade natural lip scrub . Named one of the top 10 DIY lip products, we think it’s worth giving a try!

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