Essence & Qi

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Relieve Infant Colic with Massage

Studies support the benefits of massage for colicky infants, stimulating melatonin secretion and rest-activity rhythms in full-term infants: to quote, "massage therapy by mothers in the perinatal period serves as a strong time cue, enhancing coordination of the developing circadian system with environmental cues." In essence, massage helped relax infants and urge them to sleep, observing the natural circadian rhythms.

Read more…

What is Quantum Qi and How Does it Heal?

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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 .

             Want to Shed Some Pounds? Give Acupuncture a Go! In our fast-paced society, it sometimes seems hard to find time to eat at all. However, the fact of the matter is that we often eat too much and gain unwanted weight. So, what’s the best way to shed those unwanted pounds? A healthy diet combined with physical activity would most likely be the number one approach to solving the problem. Sure, a restrictive diet can work for a specific amount of time, but drastic diets often backfire. Eastern medicine offers an alternative method to help those who are trying to slim down: acupuncture. Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that entails the insertion of very fine needles at specific locations in the body to treat and prevent different types of medical conditions. Acupuncture focuses on bringing back balance to the body and treating the root cause of a problem. Combining this form of alternative medicine with exercise can have tremendous results in the race to lose weight. You may have read about acupuncture for weight loss from us before. Acupuncture helps a person lose body fat by reducing appetite and thus reducing the calorie consumption by the body. On the other hand, it increases the metabolic rate of the body and aids in burning more calories. Acupuncture also stimulates the release of endorphins that help to reduce the body fat and insulin levels. Ear acupuncture, known as auricular acupuncture, is most commonly used for weight loss. Contact the PCOM acupuncture clinic to schedule your first treatment and begin your journey to weight loss!

Want to Shed Some Pounds? Give Acupuncture a Go!

In our fast-paced society, it sometimes seems hard to find time to eat at all. However, the fact of the matter is that we often eat too much and gain unwanted weight. So, what’s the best way to shed those unwanted pounds? A healthy diet combined with physical activity would most likely be the number one approach to solving the problem. Sure, a restrictive diet can work for a specific amount of time, but drastic diets often backfire.

Eastern medicine offers an alternative method to help those who are trying to slim down: acupuncture. Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that entails the insertion of very fine needles at specific locations in the body to treat and prevent different types of medical conditions. Acupuncture focuses on bringing back balance to the body and treating the root cause of a problem. Combining this form of alternative medicine with exercise can have tremendous results in the race to lose weight.

You may have read about acupuncture for weight loss from us before. Acupuncture helps a person lose body fat by reducing appetite and thus reducing the calorie consumption by the body. On the other hand, it increases the metabolic rate of the body and aids in burning more calories. Acupuncture also stimulates the release of endorphins that help to reduce the body fat and insulin levels.

Ear acupuncture, known as auricular acupuncture, is most commonly used for weight loss.

Contact the PCOM acupuncture clinic to schedule your first treatment and begin your journey to weight loss!

It’s the Friday Wrap Up!

Oriental medicine in the news this week:

It’s the Friday Wrap Up!

Oriental medicine in the news this week:

Happy Chinese New Year! Welcome, Year of the Wood Horse The Year of the Horse has arrived! On January 31, 2014, the Chinese New Year celebration began, complete with gorgeous hanging lanterns, traditional lion dances, and incredible firecrackers. In essence, Chinese New Year is about spending time with family, gift-giving, and the much-anticipated holiday feast. The history of Chinese New Year spurs from legends that have been passed down over centuries about a mythical lion-like beast that preyed on villagers. This beast was known as “Nian,” which in Chinese is translated to “year.” Legend has it that a wise man told the villagers that the only way to conquer the evil Nian was to make loud noises with drums and firecrackers and hang red paper cutouts and scrolls on their doors as Nian was scared of the color red. The villagers did just as the wise man said and the beast was defeated. Each year, the Chinese celebrate the passing of the Nian and welcome a new beginning. It’s because of this myth that the color red and fireworks are still widely used as traditional New Year’s décor. The Chinese Lunar New Year is the longest chronological record in history. The beginning of each year is determined by the cycles of the moon, thus the beginning of the year can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. It takes 60 years to complete a full cycle, and each cycle is broken up into five smaller cycles of 12 years each. Each of the 12 years is named after a specific animal. According to ancient myth, Lord Buddha summoned all the animals of the world to come and bid him farewell before he left earth. Only twelve animals came, so he named a year after each one as a reward. The Chinese believe that the animal ruling each specific year has a profound influence on the personality of those born in that year. 2014 marks the Year of the Horse, the sixth animal in the 12-year cycle. People born in 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, and 2014 are Horses. According to the Chinese Zodiac, Horses are excellent communicators and it is often left up to them to communicate an issue within their community. They are natural mediators, and they enjoy being in the limelight. It’s important for those under this zodiac sign to develop a way to express themselves, whether it’s a form of art, writing, or speech. Horses love their freedom and self-expression. Horses are kind by nature, clever, cheerful, and talkative. Because the horse is associated with the Earth element, people born under this sign can also be stubborn. Horse people enjoy the finer things in life and must work harder than most to save money and avoid being wasteful. Despite this, Horse people are often associated with luck and are thought to lead charmed lives. With their sunny outlook and vivacious personality, Horses are loved by many and are often the life of the party. The horse has been venerated in China because important battles were won due to the power of the horse. The year of the Horse also symbolizes the seventh earthly branch in Chinese medicine and is associated with June, the fifth lunar month—and the sign of Gemini, the Horse’s Western astrological counterpart. According to Chinese astrology, Horse years are considered fortunate and active. Chinese astrologers anticipate big changes around the world in 2014, from the appearance of innovative new ideas to changes in policy or lifestyle norms. However, in China, people don’t just celebrate the New Year if it pertains to their zodiac animal—the Chinese New Year is a major public holiday, and its traditions trace back more than 4,000 years. There is much preparation that goes into this celebration each year. Cleaning house is one of the most customary ways to ring in the New Year. The Chinese believe a thorough house cleaning (including repainting doors and window panes) will sweep away any traces of bad luck that may have accumulated over the past year. After the cleaning, people will decorate the house to welcome new beginnings. The majority of the New Year decorations are red and the most popular decorations are upside down fu, dui lian, lanterns, year paint, and papercutting. In addition to good luck and fresh starts, the Chinese New Year is a time to be with family and friends (another reason to clean the home before the guests arrive!). The Chinese New Year is about reconciliation. Making peace and casting aside old grudges is paramount to beginning anew. The New Year is considered the ideal time to dismiss resentment and feelings of ill will.  Families unite over dinner, which is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying various good wishes. Some of the delicacies include prawns for happiness and fish dishes to bring good luck and prosperity. After the New Year’s Eve stroke of midnight, fireworks are launched to celebrate the coming New Year. Like the color red, fireworks are also a symbol of driving away evil, traced back to the legend of “Nian.” It is believed that the person who launches the first fireworks will have good luck. Regardless of how each person honors and celebrates the New Year, the goal is unanimous: to have a fortuitous and happy year. The Chinese New Year is truly an illumination of the rich traditions and values of Chinese culture. Now it is time to honor the past and ring in the Year of the Horse. Gung Hay Fat Choy! Best wishes and congratulations! Have a prosperous and good year!  

Happy Chinese New Year !

Welcome, Year of the Wood Horse


The Year of the Horse has arrived! On January 31 , 2014, the Chinese New Year celebration began, complete with gorgeous hanging lanterns, traditional lion dances, and incredible firecrackers. In essence, Chinese New Year is about spending time with family, gift-giving, and the much-anticipated holiday feast.

The history of Chinese New Year spurs from legends that have been passed down over centuries about a mythical lion-like beast that preyed on villagers. This beast was known as “Nian,” which in Chinese is translated to “year.” Legend has it that a wise man told the villagers that the only way to conquer the evil Nian was to make loud noises with drums and firecrackers and hang red paper cutouts and scrolls on their doors as Nian was scared of the color red. The villagers did just as the wise man said and the beast was defeated. Each year, the Chinese celebrate the passing of the Nian and welcome a new beginning. It’s because of this myth that the color red and fireworks are still widely used as traditional New Year’s décor.

The Chinese Lunar New Year is the longest chronological record in history. The beginning of each year is determined by the cycles of the moon, thus the beginning of the year can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. It takes 60 years to complete a full cycle, and each cycle is broken up into five smaller cycles of 12 years each.

Each of the 12 years is named after a specific animal. According to ancient myth, Lord Buddha summoned all the animals of the world to come and bid him farewell before he left earth. Only twelve animals came, so he named a year after each one as a reward. The Chinese believe that the animal ruling each specific year has a profound influence on the personality of those born in that year.

2014 marks the Year of the Horse, the sixth animal in the 12-year cycle. People born in 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, and 2014 are Horses. According to the Chinese Zodiac, Horses are excellent communicators and it is often left up to them to communicate an issue within their community. They are natural mediators, and they enjoy being in the limelight. It’s important for those under this zodiac sign to develop a way to express themselves, whether it’s a form of art, writing, or speech. Horses love their freedom and self-expression.

Horses are kind by nature, clever, cheerful, and talkative. Because the horse is associated with the Earth element, people born under this sign can also be stubborn. Horse people enjoy the finer things in life and must work harder than most to save money and avoid being wasteful. Despite this, Horse people are often associated with luck and are thought to lead charmed lives. With their sunny outlook and vivacious personality, Horses are loved by many and are often the life of the party. The horse has been venerated in China because important battles were won due to the power of the horse.

The year of the Horse also symbolizes the seventh earthly branch in Chinese medicine and is associated with June, the fifth lunar month—and the sign of Gemini, the Horse’s Western astrological counterpart. According to Chinese astrology, Horse years are considered fortunate and active. Chinese astrologers anticipate big changes around the world in 2014, from the appearance of innovative new ideas to changes in policy or lifestyle norms.

However, in China, people don’t just celebrate the New Year if it pertains to their zodiac animal—the Chinese New Year is a major public holiday, and its traditions trace back more than 4,000 years. There is much preparation that goes into this celebration each year. Cleaning house is one of the most customary ways to ring in the New Year. The Chinese believe a thorough house cleaning (including repainting doors and window panes) will sweep away any traces of bad luck that may have accumulated over the past year. After the cleaning, people will decorate the house to welcome new beginnings. The majority of the New Year decorations are red and the most popular decorations are upside down fu, dui lian, lanterns, year paint, and papercutting.

In addition to good luck and fresh starts, the Chinese New Year is a time to be with family and friends (another reason to clean the home before the guests arrive!). The Chinese New Year is about reconciliation. Making peace and casting aside old grudges is paramount to beginning anew. The New Year is considered the ideal time to dismiss resentment and feelings of ill will.

Families unite over dinner, which is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying various good wishes. Some of the delicacies include prawns for happiness and fish dishes to bring good luck and prosperity. After the New Year’s Eve stroke of midnight, fireworks are launched to celebrate the coming New Year. Like the color red, fireworks are also a symbol of driving away evil, traced back to the legend of “Nian.” It is believed that the person who launches the first fireworks will have good luck.

Regardless of how each person honors and celebrates the New Year, the goal is unanimous: to have a fortuitous and happy year. The Chinese New Year is truly an illumination of the rich traditions and values of Chinese culture. Now it is time to honor the past and ring in the Year of the Horse. Gung Hay Fat Choy! Best wishes and congratulations! Have a prosperous and good year!

From The PCOM Classroom to The Land Of Oz

On Tuesday, January 28 th , PCOM San Diego alumnus Dr. Daniel Hsu (pronounced “shoe”), owner of New York AcuHealth, a successful acupuncture clinic in New York City, made his seventh appearance on The. Dr. Oz Show. Hsu has made numerous television appearances on the national level including: CBS’s Early Show, NBC’s Today Show, Over the Hump, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and of course, The Dr. Oz Show.

Hsu is a prominent and reoccurring guest on Dr. Oz’s program having appeared six times. His presence on the show has created a national awareness of the practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and has shed light on various forms of the medicine including acupuncture, cupping, and herbal treatment. On Tuesday, Dr. Hsu discussed the use of Chinese herbs to treat chronic pain.

When describing his experience as a student at PCOM, Hsu said, “I think PCOM stands out as having some of the very best administration, faculty, and staff. The fact that the college has three vibrant campuses, of which each could be a great acupuncture college by itself, speaks to the success of the school and its graduates. If I could do it all over again, I would still choose PCOM.”

In a statement about his work as a licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac.), he explained, “ Being a practitioner of TCM and especially having gone through the D.A.O.M. program at PCOM San Diego has really given me an appreciation of the power of natural healing. Acupuncture and herbal medicine has helped to bring wellness and healing to countless patients yearning for help,” Hsu said.

“It gives me joy every time someone tells me how much acupuncture or herbs have eased their suffering. I give tremendous credit to people such as Jack Miller (L.Ac. and President of PCOM) who has helped to advance the profession by providing a fertile academic environment.”

Through his passion for treating his patients at New York AcuHealth and his graciousness to share his knowledge with the world on programs such as The Dr. Oz Show, Dr. Daniel Hsu is spreading the message of Chinese medicine and is ensuring its practice for years to come.

If you were unable to catch Dr. Hsu’s appearance on Tuesday, visit http://www.doctoroz.com/episodes to watch episodes that you may have missed and re-visit any episodes that you would like to see again.

It’s the Friday Wrap-Up!

OM in the news this week. Check it out!