DaBōK Acupuncture & TCM

07/02/2026

New on the blog: If you're going through IVF, you may know the feeling of your body becoming a list of numbers (follicle counts, hormone levels, scan dates...). The numbers matter. But they measure only a fraction of what your body is doing. In this post, I share how Traditional Chinese Medicine sees fertility: not as a single event, but as months of quiet preparation. I also offer five simple ways to support that work in the months before conception.

Read it here:

How Traditional Chinese Medicine supports fertility and IVF: what the research shows, the 90-day preparation window, and practical guidance from a registered TCM practitioner in Acton, Ontario.

05/03/2026

Mental Health Week begins May 4.
A small offering before the week unfolds. Three slow rounds of breath, nothing else asked of you in this moment.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, spring is the season of the Wood element, governed by the Liver. It is the season most tied to mood, frustration, and emotional movement. When that movement is rough or rising too quickly, one of the first things the body does is hold its breath without knowing it. The chest tightens. The shoulders rise. We sigh more often than we notice.
Breathing is the gentlest way back. A long exhale, in particular, signals the nervous system that it is safe to soften.
If this week finds you holding more than the usual, you are not alone. The body is moving through a real seasonal transition right now, and the small, embodied things matter more than they seem to.
Read the full piece on the spring transition. Link in the comments below.
Take care of yourself.
Ariel

05/03/2026

05/03/2026

04/08/2026

Ever wondered what Qi actually is? Think of your body as an electric motor. It needs power, the right wiring, and a smart controller to run well. Qi is all three working together - the vital force, the pathways it travels, and the intelligence that keeps everything in balance. When one breaks down, the whole system feels it. This is how Traditional Chinese Medicine and modern science are describing the same body, just in different languages. Explore the full analogy:

A patient once asked me, halfway through a treatment, “So is Qi just… energy? Like calories?”

01/26/2026

Did you know that what happens at your skin doesn’t always stay at the skin?

A recent study tracked where tattoo ink goes in the body and found it can influence immune activity deeper inside. In my new post, I link this research to Wei Qi (defensive energy) and how the body’s surface can affect what happens internally.

https://www.dabok.ca/blog/blog-post-title-two-t5my5-k4xmd-67jzh-xtsdt

11/02/2025

Many people find themselves waking around 2–3 a.m. and wonder why. From a modern perspective, this may relate to early-morning cortisol rhythms, while in Traditional Chinese and East Asian medicine, it reflects the Liver’s time of renewal. Understanding both views helps explain how stress, emotions, and daily habits influence sleep.

Recently, a patient mentioned that their doctor explained their nightly 2-4 a.m. awakenings were linked to cortisol production, the body’s stress hormone that starts rising before dawn. That idea fascinated me because, i...

09/08/2025

A Guide to Preserving What Science Calls Resilience and TCM Calls Yuan Qi!

This post explores how modern science’s idea of physiological resilience connects with TCM’s yuan qi, and offers simple autumn tips to protect and preserve your vital energy.

The other day, I came across a fascinating article in Popular Mechanics about human life expectancy and the concept of physiological resilience. The scientists behind the study suggested that our bodies have an upper lim...

07/29/2025

Why do we say boiling blood or call someone big-livered in Korean?
Our bodies don't just feel emotions. They speak them.

Read here: https://dabok.ca/blog/f/anatomy-in-a-linguist%E2%80%99s-eyes-from-%E2%80%9Cboiling-blood%E2%80%9D-to-a-%E2%80%9Cbig-live

How Organs Become Metaphors Across Language, Culture, and Emotion