Anu Sahgal - Vitalize Acupuncture

03/04/2022

Stop the de-regulation of Acupuncture and TCM in Ontario.

11/04/2020

Feeling blue? Take charge of your health and mood to avoid feelings of despair!

With shorter days, along with all the restrictions on what one can do because of the pandemic, stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression are all on the rise.

If you know of anyone who suffers from Seasonal Affective Depression or has the blues because of Covid, here are some tips to help -

1. Get outdoors for some time every day. Dress for the weather so the experience is enjoyable! Get some fresh air and Vitamin D, expand your lungs and invigorate your circulation.
2. Exercise Regularly. Have a routine, be accountable, document your progress. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which are the “feel good hormones”. Exercising helps you stay in shape, clears your head, and improves your mood.
3. Eat according to your constitution and the weather. As the days get colder, warm broths and stews and curries are more nourishing to the body. Avoid foods that make you feel lethargic or bloated. When you feel overly tired and full, it is more difficult to motivate yourself to do anything.
4. Do things that make you happy - whether it is calling a friend, dancing, playing an instrument, reading or doing a creative project.
5. Be social! We are all social beings and our souls really respond to a good chat or laugh with a friend.
6. Seek therapy if you are in despair. After all, they are the specialists and have the tool sets to help you through a crisis.
7. Try acupuncture! Acupuncture therapy works wonders at balancing your body, relaxing the mind and the muscles, giving a sensation of calm and ease. Acupuncture points are chosen according to your symptoms to give you the best relief.
8. Herbal medicine can be quite effective. Ideally, you should get a proper diagnosis from a TCM Practitioner to check what herbs are right for you. A TCM Practitioner focuses on balancing the energetic and nutritive processes in the body. A TCM Practitioner would suggest a formula which may include herbs like Bupleurum root, Chinese Date, Sour jujube to help with the stress and calm the anxiety.��Feel free to ping me if you have any questions surrounding acupuncture and herbal medicine to help with stress, anxiety, depression or mood disorders.

10/20/2020

I love learning new techniques and methodologies to improve my skill set and service offering. I just completed another course on treating menstrual health issues using acupuncture and herbal medicine. What a natural way to help balance the body!

Acupuncture and herbal medicine is a very natural way of helping regulate periods. It can help address any discomfort such as difficult flow, bloating, digestive issues, pain, cramping, mood swings, night sweats, migraines or hormonal imbalances. It is also very effective in treating infertility and menopausal issues.

It never fails to surprise me when young girls at the age of 16 are prescribed birth control pills to regulate their cycles. Birth control pills are essentially hormone therapy, and it is of no surprise to me then that more and more people are having difficulty conceiving naturally.

Acupuncture is natural, safe and effective and has no side-effects. Results can be felt immediately; such as pain relief, feeling more relaxed, and experiencing a lighter mood. A series of treatments are needed for helping rebalance and providing long term relief for any problem.

I hope to increase the awareness of acupuncture and natural medicine. Please help me by sharing this in conversation with those who may benefit. Thank you!

10/08/2020

Treat the ankle to treat the wrist. This is one of the wisdoms of Balance method acupuncture.

I have been treating a lady who broke her wrist this year and when her cast was removed, her arm was completely immobile. Every movement hurt and physical therapies were extremely painful. This is when Balance method acupuncture helped her a lot!

Acupuncture needles were inserted in the balancing channels on her foot and ankle; and cupping and mobilization was done on the forearm, wrist and hand. We have restored almost 85% of mobility in 12 sessions, and in addition, given her hope and calmed her anxiety.

I learnt this form of acupuncture from my teacher, world renowned Dr Richard Tan and I thank him for his teachings every day.

If you have a persistent problem that you can not overcome, try Balance method acupuncture and be amazed at the results.

09/29/2020

Please sign this petition to have Public Service Health Care Plan cover acupuncture provided by Registered Acupuncturists. Currently, the plan is outdated for Acupuncture and only covers acupuncture if provided by a Physician. Acupuncture has been a regulated profession in BC since 1996, and in Ontario since 2013. Alberta, Quebec, New Foundland have also regulated acupuncture. It is in the best interest for all of us to have coverage for regulated professions.

Public Service Health Care Plan should cover Acupuncture by an Acupuncturist not just MDs!. 465 signatures are still needed!

09/18/2020

Acupuncture can work miracles 👼🧚‍♀️

Did you know that Acupuncture and Herbal medicine treatments can be used to help restore fertility? These treatments help target the root cause of infertility like stress, hormonal imbalance and constitutional weakness. Treatments can also address issues with the menstrual cycle including amenorrhea (no periods), dysmenorrhea (painful periods), menorrhagia (abnormal heavy bleeding), metrorrhagia (erratic bleeding).

Acupuncture treatments can help balance hormones, regulate the menstrual cycle, promote ovulation, and increase chances of implantation on the uterine wall.

Here is a link to a research study that shows how the combination of acupuncture with herbal medicine helped women who were experiencing infertility because of anovulation. https://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Continuing-Education-News/2037-acupuncture-restores-fertility-with-herbs-confirmed

In my practice, not only do I use acupuncture and herbal medicine to help women with fertility; but I also help support them if they decide to go for assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as IVF and IUI.

I find it especially rewarding to help bring little baby miracles into this world!

08/11/2020

Is your face mask causing you TMJ? Here are some tips to alleviate the pain.

In my acupuncture practice, I have noticed that more people are experiencing intense jaw pain and ear pain since they started wearing face masks. In some areas of work, people have to wear a mask for many hours at a stretch. Unfortunately, not all masks are custom made to our faces, and they can either pull on ears, or ride up into the eyes. People are keeping their jaws clenched. Reading with a mask can be difficult and people are using entire head and neck movements to look down and read.

If you are experiencing jaw tension or ear pain, try the following:

1. Do some jaw opening exercises - open your mouth wide and hold it open for a couple of seconds while massaging your jaw. Repeat this exercise 4-5 times.
2. Practice smiling to reduce the tension in the jaw. You can massage your cheeks as you smile. Repeat 4-5 times.
3. Place your hands where the lower lobes of your ears connect with your face. Massage the muscle there as you open and close your jaw.
4. Hold your ears and massage behind the ear - where the cartilage meets the head. This can help alleviate any strain caused by the face masks.

If the pain is debilitating, seek professional help! Acupuncture, Massage, Physio can all help with TMJ dysfunction.

05/28/2020

With the heat wave that has been here this past week, I prepared some tips on how to prevent and treat a heatstroke. It seems like the weather may be getting cooler anyway! For future heat waves, here are some tips 😀

A Chinese Medicine perspective on how to prevent and treat a heat stroke during the heat wave!

05/27/2020

Good news .. The Ministry of Health and my College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncturists of Ontario has now allowed us to open doors to clients and treat them in person. Clients will be asked to answer a Covid questionnaire, wear a mask and wash or sanitize their hands. I will also be ensuring that the treatment area is cleaned even more thoroughly, and will wear a mask. Please contact me directly if you are in need of a treatment.

Directive 2 Amendment – Non-Essential Services May Restart
Dear Member,

The Chief Medical Officer of Health has amended Directive 2 to state that Health Care Providers, which includes members of this College, may gradually restart non-essential and elective services. This amendment is effective immediately. Members need to review the amended Directive 2 to ensure compliance. The amended Directive 2 comes with several conditions that members must meet before they resume their in-person practice. We provide a high-level overview below:

Members must comply with the requirements set out in COVID-19 Operational Requirements: Health Sector Restart (May 26, 2020 or as current). This is a Ministry document that covers requirements for risk assessments, hierarchy of hazard controls, screening, health human resources, critical supplies and equipment, infection control and more.
Members should use telemedicine or virtual care where possible and appropriate to avoid having patients physically come to the clinic.
Members must be able to source personal protective equipment (PPE) through their regular supply chain. If you are experiencing difficulty sourcing PPE, the Government has made available a directory of PPE suppliers.
The amended Directive 2 states that healthcare providers are in the best position to determine which services should resume in person, and which should resume virtually. However, members should consider the following when making this determination:

Your own ability to resume services at this time.
The need to minimize harm to patients.
The need to treat all patients with the same clinical needs equally.
The need to ensure that those who continue to be burdened by the limited capacity of the health care system have their health monitored, receive appropriate care, and be re-evaluated for emergent activities should they require them.
Along with the Ministry’s COVID-19 Operational Requirements: Health Sector Restart document, the College has made available the Return to Practice – One Page Summary, to help members return to work safely. The College will be reviewing the Ministry recommendations and issuing a more detailed guidance document shortly, and will continue to work on materials to help members minimize the risk of infection in their practice. The College is interested in member’s feedback on guidance documents so that we can better prepare members to deal with this challenge.

If there are any inconsistencies between College documents and the requirements set out in the amended Directive 2 and the COVID-19 Operational Requirements: Health Sector Restart document, members should rely on the documents issued by the Ministry.

Please see below for links to documents members are required to follow at this time.

Directive 2

COVID-19 Operational Requirements: Health Sector Restart (May 26, 2020 or as current)

Return to Practice Guidance – One Page Summary

Regulating the Practice of TCM to Serve and Protect the Public

05/22/2020

Detox with dandelions! Not only are dandelions beautiful, the entire plant is used in Chinese Herbal Medicine to detoxify and clear heat from the body. The herb has a cooling action and it targets the Liver and Stomach meridians in the body. It can be used in salads, soups, and tea as food or for its medicinal properties. Because of its detoxifying and cooling properties, it is used to treat initial stages of abscesses and breast nodules. Dandelion tea can treat hot painful urinary disroders. It helps treat jaundice, and clears heat and redness from the eyes. It can also be used to improve breast milk production.
We have fields of dandelions here and they are so beautiful. Here is a picture of my dog Joey, enjoying himself in the dandelion field!

05/13/2020

Experiencing itchiness in eyes? Are your eyes red, itchy, gritty because of allergies? Here are some acupressure points to help alleviate symptoms. Acupuncture is much more effective as we can target all the points at the same time, and are able to initiate a neuro-hormonal response. However, you can still do self care with acupressure techniques.

05/12/2020

Seasonal Allergies - massage these acupressure points for relief!
Spring is here, and that means green grass and beautiful flowers. Unfortunately for some, it also means allergens! Here are some acupressure points to clear nasal congestion and regulate your immune system. Acupressure is a simple massage technique. Press on each point in circular motions 10-15 times. Repeat as needed throughout the day.