Sunnyside Acupuncture

06/02/2026

You can’t biohack your way into sustainable energy.

In Chinese medicine, energy isn’t built through hacks or trends- it’s built through consistency and how well the body is generating, transforming, and regulating Qi.

Good sleep doesn’t automatically equal energy. Coffee doesn’t automatically equal depletion. It’s never one factor. It’s the overall state of Qi (and all its forms) in the system.

When Qi is being properly generated and regulated, energy feels steady. When the system is strained, even “good habits” don’t feel like enough.

We’re living in a pace that often exceeds the body’s ability to restore what it’s expending mentally, physically, and emotionally- which is why depletion is so common today.

In Chinese medicine, energy support is less about optimization and more about regulation: are we allowing the body to replenish what it is constantly being asked to use?

The most effective shift is not adding more, but removing what is continuously pulling from the system.

05/28/2026

Get your tickets for the House-Raising Hootenanny! You can bid on an acupuncture package to our clinic and lots of other amazing things. Let’s raise some money for an amazing organization in our community!

The countdown is ON!

We are just TWO WEEKS away from the House Raising Hootenanny and we cannot wait to celebrate with this incredible community! Get ready for:
✨ Live music
🐂 Mechanical bull riding
🍴 Delicious BBQ from Backwater BBQ
🎁 Silent auction fun
❤️ A whole lot of community spirit

Every dollar raised helps Habitat Winona build safe, affordable housing for local families.

Mark your calendars, grab your boots, and get ready for a night of fun with purpose! Purchase your tickets at: bit.ly/houseraisinghootenanny2026

05/28/2026

Caffeine is false Qi.

In Chinese medicine, stimulants don’t truly create energy- they temporarily mobilize what is already there. Helpful at times? Absolutely. But long term, constantly relying on stimulation instead of restoration can slowly chip away at our deeper reserves.

That being said, I also believe we need to be realistic and kind to ourselves. We all move through different seasons of life.

Right now, I’m a mom of two (one under a year old) and yes, I still have a cup of coffee most mornings. My goal isn’t perfection. It’s awareness. Making sure I’m not relying on stimulants all day long, and supporting my body in other ways so I’m not constantly borrowing my Qi from tomorrow.

Chinese medicine isn’t about rigid restriction. It’s about understanding what supports the body long term and what slowly depletes it over time.

I’ll share some of the things I personally use to support steadier energy soon 🤍

05/06/2026

A quick scheduling update from Sunnyside Acupuncture 🌞

We will be closed Sunday 5/10 for Mother’s Day and Sunday 5/17 while I take a little time away for my birthday.

If you normally book on Sundays, feel free to reach out and we’ll do our best to find another appointment time that works for you. Otherwise, we’ll be back Sunday 5/24.

Thank you so much for your understanding and support 💛

04/27/2026

A lot of modern medicine didn’t come out of nowhere…
it came from plants.

Willow bark is a great example.
Traditionally, it wasn’t used on its own. It was part of formulas, combined with other herbs to balance its effects and match what was going on in the body.
Modern pharmacology took that same plant, identified one of its active compounds (salicin), and refined it into Aspirin- a concentrated, standardized version.

That shift matters.

When you isolate and concentrate one compound:
• you get something powerful and predictable
• but you also lose the buffering, balancing, and multi-layered effects of the whole plant and formula

And this isn’t just about willow bark.
To this day, pharmaceutical research continues to study herbs from cultures all over the world- isolating compounds, refining them, and using them in a different context than they were originally practiced.

Same source.
Different philosophy.
•Whole systems, patterns, relationships
•Isolated compounds, targeted effects

Both have value, but they’re not the same thing

(Please excuse my pinyin pronunciation. It’s been a few years since taking courses in classical Mandarin. 😅)

04/22/2026

Bronze began to be widely used in ancient China during the Shang dynasty (~1600–1046 BCE), and some of the earliest and most refined objects cast were not weapons-but bells.

These bronze bells (bianzhong 編鐘) were not just instruments. They were tools of governance, ritual, and cosmology. Sound was used to mark time, structure ceremony, and organize social order. When a bell was struck, it wasn’t just heard- it aligned the environment.
This reflects the same system that shaped Chinese medicine.

Within this framework, sound, body, and nature were never separate. The Five Phases and the Five Sounds (Wu Yin 五音) describe movement- rising, expanding, centering, contracting, descending. Not fixed frequencies, but patterns of transformation.
Each tone was understood as a quality of change.
Today, we sometimes map these sounds onto Hertz
D, G, C, A, E
as a way to explore them through modern ears. But this is an interpretive bridge, not the original system. Ancient Chinese acoustics were based on relational pitch (lü-lǜ 律呂)(yin tone and yang tone), not absolute frequency.

Still, the intention carries through.

We can use sound today the same way:
not just to hear-but to feel direction, movement, and resonance within the body.

Because what those bells organized externally;
rhythm, order, coherence-
we are still trying to cultivate internally.

The art history and TCM nerd in me unite.

Painting: Rice Locust Red Dragonfly Pinks Chinese Bell Flowers' created in 1788 by Kitagawa Utamaro

04/08/2026

Less is more. Wiggle your toes into some soil. Be weird. Laugh with a friend. Breathe fresh air. Drink warm water. Set screen limits.

04/08/2026

Evil Bone Water (Zheng Gu Shui) is a type of Dit Da Jow, a traditional Chinese liniment with centuries of use for bruises, sprains, strains, and stubborn aches.

Beyond the usual musculoskeletal benefits, it’s surprisingly versatile- great for even post-epidural soreness, certain reproductive discomforts, nausea, and chest congestion, or bug bites. In the video, I spritz it on my wrist for carpal tunnel relief.

This specific company has a fantastic podcast episode about their product, featured on the Qiological Podcast- 10/10 recommend listening if you haven’t caught it yet! They produce a high quality product and these special edition mini 2oz bottles are SO cute.

I carry it in clinic intentionally because when it’s the right fit, it really works!! Find me carrying one of these in my bag wherever I go.

04/01/2026

Honoring this stunning piece painted by my grandfather, now hanging at Sunnyside 🤍
It captures the Minnesota River here in southern MN and brings me so much joy every time I see it. I hope it does the same for you.

Using my favorite set from Love Cupping. If you’ve been wanting to buy a cupping set, you can use code “Sunnyside15” for a little discount at checkout when you order one from them.
🤍🤍🤍🤍