Gracey Holistic Health

acupuncture

Make your health care work for you

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Think of all of the people who help improve and maintain your health. You may have a primary care physician. But you could also have a nutritionist. And a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. And a personal trainer. And another specialist, perhaps. Each professional in your health care network has a particular background, set of skills, and expertise. When combined together, you receive the best of all worlds.

Holistic medicine isn’t trying to replace your doctor or your routine. It can be integrated into your existing health care routine for a variety of conditions.

For example, your doctor may prescribe medication to reduce the frequency of migraines, while your acupuncturist can help reduce the pain or stop a migraine dead in its tracks. Or your surgeon might fix a broken bone, while your physical therapist helps with mobility and your acupuncturist helps with post-surgery pain and recovery.

Start with the whole picture of your health

It’s important to understand all aspects of a patient’s healthcare network. That’s why when I see a patient for the first time, I make a point to learn their history, including treatments currently being received or prior treatments, medications being taken, and health goals that a patient is working towards.

With that information, I can better understand which services will serve you best. In so doing, I’ll focus on how to build the existing work you’ve received, offer new perspectives to treatment and collaborate, as needed, with your other health care practitioners.

Talk about your treatment plan

Everyone in your healthcare network is working for you. That’s why communicating about the treatments that you are receiving is important. But communication or collaboration can be difficult when not everyone is speaking the same language.

If you are trying to talk with your doctor about acupuncture, you might need to phrase the treatment in Western medical terms. But this can be hard to explain.

That’s why I’m happy to talk with your doctor personally to explain what the treatment is from a biomedical point of view. Because the more that everybody knows, the more that everybody can help you. That’s why integrated, holistic health care can work so well—it’s a patient-centered team approach.

Types of holistic healing services

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In an earlier blog post, I’ve talked about how holistic medicine treats the mind and spirit in addition to the body. I’ve also mentioned how my practice offers acupuncture and other complementary treatments.

But what are these treatments? And how do they work to heal the body in ways that you might be unfamiliar with? Check out the list below to learn more:

Japanese, non-insertive, and auricular acupuncture

These styles of acupuncture differ in the size and shape of the needles, the way the practitioner uses the needles, as well as where the needles are stimulating the body.

  • Japanese acupuncture: The stimulation of acupuncture points throughout the body using thinner needles and a gentler technique with shallow insertion. Needles are generally placed on different points of the body along meridians.
  • Non-insertive (Shakuju Therapy) acupuncture: The stimulation of acupuncture points along the meridians of the body without insertion of the needle into the skin.
  • Auricular acupuncture: The stimulation of acupuncture points on the external ear surface for the treatment of health conditions throughout the body.

Stretching, aromatherapy, essential oils, mindfulness, fitness and dietary consultations

While we don’t necessarily think of stretching or dietary consultations as holistic treatments, there are numerous benefits to these that impact your health beyond your body.

  • Stretching: A natural therapeutic treatment to alleviate muscle or tendon tension. This includes kinesiology taping, which helps provides stability and support to muscles and other soft tissues by microscopically lifting and gently stretching the skin, and correspondingly increasing blood/lymph circulation and reducing inflammation.
  • Essential oils: The use of aromatic plant oils to elicit a certain physiological and psychological reactions from the body.
  • Mindfulness: The practice of being present.
  • Fitness consultations: A service where your physical health is assessed to provide guidance for improving physical fitness, whether it be tai chi or more traditional forms of exercise like jogging to lifting weights.
  • Dietary consultations: A service where your physical health is assessed to provide guidance for improving food choices and eating habits.

Moxibustion, tui na, gua sha, reiki, and cupping

Some holistic healing services are still unfamiliar in the western medicine vocabulary. While less mainstream, many patients have found relief and healing through these techniques.

  • Moxibustion: The process of burning dried mugwort, also known as moxa, on parts of the body or on needles inserted at acupuncture points. The warming and therapeutic properties of moxa is said to strengthen the immune system and to bring more qi (sometimes understood as blood flow) to a bodily area.
  • Tui na: A therapeutic form of massage to knead, roll, press, and rub at meridians, acupressure points, and groups of muscles and nerves.
  • Gua sha: A process to improve circulation by scraping the skin to stimulate microcirculation of the soft tissue
  • Reiki: A technique to regulate the qi in a person’s body by laying hands on the patient.
  • Cupping: The application of cups on the body to create suction and stimulate blood flow.

Integrative medicine and traditional chinese medicine

These holistic healing services are an approach to care, rather than specific healing practices.

  • Integrative medicine: Patient centered healthcare that addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences. Integrative doesn’t necessarily have to mean alternative medicine.
  • Traditional chinese medicine: A way of looking at the body that focuses on improving the amount and circulation of qi (the body’s vital energy) through various techniques.

Get help from Gracey Health

There are many ways to get help and get healthy. Stop in to our Belmont or Brookline offices, and we’re happy to talk about which healing services may be right for you.

Treat yourself this holiday season

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Just because it’s the most wonderful time of the year, doesn’t mean that the holiday season is all holly and lights. Holidays provide an easy way to see how our lives have changed (or haven’t changed) from year to year. They can stir up feelings of sadness, loneliness,  stuckness, and anger. Sometimes, they’re just downright stressful. And that takes a toll on your mental and physical health.

That’s why the greatest gift you can receive this year can’t be wrapped in a bow or put under a tree. But it is one you can give to yourself.

Treat yourself to self-care.

What is self-care?

As we discussed in the last blog post on holistic health, a more comprehensive view of health care should address the whole person – body, mind, and spirit. Self-care is a mode of healing that you can provide to yourself and that can improve your health holistically.

Self-care is about knowing what you need and taking the time to do those things that provide you with meaning, comfort, or joy. It’s about taking care of yourself and being as giving to yourself as you are with others (especially this time of year!). It’s truly about self-empowerment!

Need a list to check twice? Here are some ideas and habits for treating yourself this holiday season.

Start a mindfulness routine

The mental and physical benefits of a mindfulness routine are well documented. New research supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and published in the journal Spine even shows that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can be a cost-effective treatment for chronic low-back pain.

Starting your routine is as easy as taking a deep breath. Then taking another. Then doing that for 1 minute. I teach all my patients a qigong breathing exercise that brings this to light and serves as a reset for all mind-body systems.

If you want to get more serious about mindfulness, there are a lot of really good mindfulness tools out there. Here are just a few:

Choose who you spend time with

You can’t pick your family, but you do hopefully have control over who you spend time with. Take the opportunity to grab a cup of joe or tea with an old friend or go for a walk with a close family member. Perhaps you even choose to spend some quality time with yourself!

Find your escape

This doesn’t have to be to the beaches of Tahiti. Perhaps it’s into a really cute cat video on YouTube or into a good book.

Listen to your body

Sometimes our bodies need rest, sometimes our bodies need movement. Take a moment to reconnect with your body and find out what it needs. A really great workout at the gym or even a 20-minute moderately fast paced walk can be just as rejuvenating as an extra hour of sleep.

And if you feel like you need a little extra help, we’re open for business until December 23rd and reopen December 27th. Acupuncture can help treat stress as well as pain.

But if we don’t see you until the new year, from our practice, happy holidays to you and yours!

Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Robert Gracey

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It was my chronic back pain that introduced me to acupuncture and for that I am thankful. Holistic medicine helped bring my joy in long-distance running back to me, and I’ve now made it my life’s work to help heal those who also suffer and teach those who also want to help heal.

New England School of Acupuncture

Like many Americans, I hadn’t been exposed much to this kind of medicine. Truth be told, I considered many alternative treatments for my back before before turning to acupuncture. But after only a few treatments, my back pain started to subside. And as my sense of peace and clarity increased, I knew this was the right next step in my career.

At the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA) my love for Japanese acupuncture (more on what that means in another blog!) and for Boston grew. After graduation, I joined NESA as a faculty member, teaching students and watching them find the same joy in relieving pain and bringing the peace that I felt when I first began practicing.

Non-insertive acupuncture

I have been practicing acupuncture now for over 13 years, and have had the privilege to study in both Japan and the United States. Part of what makes my practice unique is that I’ve been trained in Shakuju Therapy (SJT), which is a non-insertive form of acupuncture.

I personally remember feeling hesitant about the use of multiple needles and intense stimulation. As I learned more about how acupuncture affects the body, I realized that the same principles of healing could be applied without needing to break the skin. For someone who might have an aversion to needles to begin with, this can be a revolutionary way of understanding acupuncture.

Neighborhood treatment in Belmont and Brookline

Now, 30 years after my back pain subsided, I have been fortunate enough to operate two holistic medicine practices, one in Belmont and the other in Brookline. I have sunk my roots here in the Boston area, and I know no greater pleasure than improving the lives and well-being of those in my community.

Whether you are skeptical about how acupuncture could help you or are hopeful and want to learn more, I am an advocate for your health. The complementary therapies and health coaching I offer work as a system to improve your overall health.

If you have an existing care plan, I can integrate my work to complement what you’re already doing to improve your own well-being. This includes discussing your concerns with your other healthcare providers and helping to explain any possible side effects and interactions of medications to you.

After all, I know holistic medicine helped me, and I believe I can help you the same way.