The following is a transcript of this episode. It has been edited for clarity.
Intro: Even if you’re not so sure about having a bunch of needles stuck in your skin, you may still be intrigued by the concept of acupuncture. On this episode, New York acupuncturist Dr. Danielle Solomon tells us how this ancient practice can help to alleviate some common midlife ailments, prevent disease and possibly serve as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy. We also learn how traditional Chinese medicine views the mind-body connection. We discover what chi is and how balancing it can improve our health and vitality, and we find out what acupuncture facial rejuvenation is—you know you want to stick around for that one. Welcome to More Beautiful, the podcast for women rewriting the midlife playbook. I’m Maryann LoRusso, and I invite you to join me and a guest each week as we strive for a life that’s more adventurous, more fulfilling, and more beautiful than ever before.
Maryann: Welcome back to the More Beautiful podcast. I’m here with Dr. Danielle Solomon, a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine who has a practice in New York City called Acupuncture in Tribeca. Hi, Dr. Solomon, thank you so much for joining us.
Danielle: Hi, how are you?
Maryann: I’m good, thank you. I’m really excited to talk to you today about acupuncture because I know it can help so many people, particularly women in midlife. And as many people might know, acupuncture is a part of the ancient practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Can you tell us exactly what acupuncture is and how it works?
Danielle: Yes, absolutely. At a very basic level, acupuncture is the insertion of very thin, disposable, one-time use needles that go just beneath the surface of the skin. So, the needles are hair-thin, and the patient can expect to feel some heaviness, dullness or aching at the point. And usually, that’s about it. Most people feel very relaxed, and they even fall asleep during treatment. So with acupuncture theory, what we’re doing is we’re working with the channels and the meridians in the body. And there’s 12 regular channels, and then some extra channels, and hundreds of acupuncture points located along these channels. They’re connecting all over the body, from the head down to the feet, from the feet up to the arm, and they’re connecting all the different meridians. You can almost think of these channels like a subway system. So when you go into the subway, you’re underground, everything is moving, everything is great. But then if something happens, there’s some sort of disruption, everything stops. So you can kind of think of these meridians in the same way. So we’re looking at the meridians and diagnosing what’s happening and treating it. In traditional Chinese medicine, I specifically practice Zàng Fǔ theory, which very simply means organ pattern identification. So that means I look at the tongue, take the pulse, do a comprehensive health history, look at any Western medical information we might need to incorporate, and come up with a Chinese medical diagnosis. This isn’t a Western medical diagnosis, it’s a Chinese medical diagnosis.
Maryann: And can you explain how those two things are different, for people who may not know?
Danielle: For example, in Chinese medicine, we might say someone has liver chi (qi) stagnation. And there’s no correlation to that Western medicine. You’re not going to go to your primary care doctor and have them say, you know, we have some liver chi stagnation here. And even when we talk about the organs, there are some similarities, but the [approaches] are really different. It is a different system of medicine.
Maryann: Right. Just to go back for a second, can you tell us exactly what chi is? Because we hear that word a lot in Eastern medicine.
Danielle: Chi is definitely the basis of Chinese medicine. Chi is life force, it’s energy, it’s that which animates us. This is all obviously pre-scientific, originating back in 4000 BC with Traditional Chinese Medicine, and this can range from the material to the materials. So, everything from a tree to the earth to the non-materials such as light or nerve impulses or emotions. And then there’s of course a scientific definition of chi as well, right? Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It’s in the form, it’s constantly moving, and then we can kind of think of the Yin or Yang. If you think of the inner Yin and Yang symbol, they’re moving, and they’re constantly in flux. Yin within Yang, Yang within Yin, and they’re constantly looking for balance. So it’s that chi, you know, looking for equilibrium in constant flux and movement.
Maryann: And how does that energy with the chi get disrupted or unbalanced in the first place?
Danielle: Chi has a lot of functions. It’s protecting the body, it’s warming the body, cooling the body, holding organs, transporting, defending strength, stagnation and growth. And a lot of what we’re doing in Chinese medicine is balancing the chi, keeping it moving and preventing it from being stagnant. Chi gets disrupted by all the different things that we know about. We would think about diet, we would think about lifestyle, we would think about stress, not sleeping enough, we’d think about exercising either too much or too little. Overwork, burnout, adrenal exhaustion, emotional exhaustion, toxic situations, which drain the chi, toxic people. And then there’s also external pathogens as well—a cold, a flu. All of that can disrupt and effect the chi.
Maryann: And we feel it on a visceral level. Even if we don’t know what chi is, or know what to call it, we know when we’re imbalanced, right?
Danielle: Exactly. And that’s when you should start thinking, OK, what’s up? You know, what do I need to do? Do I need to start maybe, you know, having some warm teas? Do I need some hot soup? Do I need to sleep more instead of going out? You know, what are the things I need to do when the chi starts to get disrupted? Like, how can we interrupt that process of going in the wrong direction?
Maryann: It’s not like chi knocks on your door and says, listen, I’m imbalanced. You get symptoms, right? Like, you get inflammation, or as you said, you get stressed, or you can’t sleep. A million things can start happening. So tell us, Dr. Solomon, who is the ideal candidate for acupuncture? When do you know it might be good for you to try it?
Danielle: I always say the ideal patient for acupuncture is someone who’s open to being responsible for their health. Someone who’s willing to work on their diet, willing to work on lifestyle changes, taking herbs, coming for acupuncture, building and balancing the chi in their body. You’re working in partnership. I mean, we definitely say there’s the rare cases where you wouldn’t recommend acupuncture for someone; for instance, if they have a rare bleeding disorder such as hemophilia, or if they’re on a lot of blood thinners…So then in that case, acupuncture might not be for you. Other than that, in most cases it’s completely fine. Even women who are pregnant can safely get acupuncture. There’s of course points you’re avoiding, and we know what those points are. But acupuncture can even bring on labor, we can use acupuncture to turn the fetus, and we can use acupuncture for morning sickness.
Maryann: That’s amazing.
Danielle: Yeah, it is. Absolutely.
Maryann: And as we said, acupuncture can help with so many different symptoms and ailments, including those that many women experience during perimenopause and menopause. So generally speaking, how does Traditional Chinese Medicine view this life transition that we women go through? Is it something that’s addressed?
Danielle: So yes, in Chinese medicine and theory of Chinese medicine, we have seven year cycles. These are Jing cycles. And these cycles are seen as an opportunity and a gift, and are actually called the three golden opportunities. And those are menses, postpartum and perimenopause. So at these times, you have the ability to rebuild your body and sort of reset. So this is a great opportunity that women have during these three times. And during the seven year cycles, you know, we start zero to six. This is the Jing cycle, you know, you’re inheriting the DNA from your parents, and then you have the seven to 13, which is the wood phase, you’re strengthening the kidneys, working with self worth. 14 to 20 is your cycle, menses. 21 to 27, the Earth phase, you’re dealing with hormones, sexuality. 28 to 34 is children, postpartum. So it keeps going from here. 35 to 41, early menopause. And, you know, the body is slowing down here. And so you’re also thinking about, well, what do I need to do, but it’s an opportunity for reflection, it’s an opportunity for refinement. And then everything you did with your body over the past 40 years, you know, the diet, lifestyle, exercise, how were you nourishing your body? And then where did that bring you to at this point?
Maryann: It’s so cool and fascinating that in Eastern medicine, all of these life phases are seen as, like you said, opportunities…to embrace the next season of our life. Unlike in western medicine, where we’re always treating things as ailments, which is so unfortunate for women.
Danielle: Yeah, I agree with you. I remember even growing up, you know, hearing about your menstrual cycle as the quote unquote “the curse.” No, that’s terrible, right, I mean, this is a beautiful time. You know, it’s your opportunity at some point to have a child, and it isn’t a curse. But I think that it’s important to sort of see the gifts in each one of these phases of our life and then be able to embrace it. You know, it just brings us to the next place. And I love the idea that it is a reset and an opportunity to make yourself stronger.
Maryann: Right, right. Eastern cultures don’t seem to view menopause as a kind of “your-life-is-over” line in the sand. They look at it as the next phase, a time when you’re going to do other things, different things, but it’s going to be just as amazing.
Danielle: Exactly, exactly. There’s a saying in Chinese medicine that when you’re born you have 0% wisdom and 100% Jing, which is life energy. And then as you age, this starts to flip, right, your wisdom grows and the Jing declines. But as you get into these later years, you have so much wisdom that you built over the course of a lifetime, you have so much to share. This is your time to give back, this is your time to mentor others. You have so much to give during this time.
Maryann: Again, it’s about balance, right? Yeah, balancing those two. That’s so cool.
So, we’re gonna go down some of the most common ailments of perimenopause and menopause that acupuncture can help with. And I know Dr. Solomon sees patients with many of these symptoms, so she’s going to tell us what she can do for each of them. Can we start with hot flashes and night sweats? Because I know that’s something that a lot of women are dealing with.
Danielle: Yes, absolutely. I think that the biggest misconception I see is that people come in believing they have to suffer through menopause, or that there’s nothing they can do. Or they come in and say, well, yeah, I’m having hot flashes, so I guess that’s how it is. And, you know, maybe this is more of a Western belief. But, you know, it absolutely does not have to be that way. And it’s not even normal, necessarily. There’s so much we can do when you’re dealing with hot flashes and hormonal imbalances. I mean, this is what Chinese medicine is really great at, right? Regulation, bringing things back into balance and bringing the body back into a homeostasis.
Maryann: Right. So if a woman does come to you and says, I’m suffering, I can’t sleep at night, I’ve got these hot flashes or night sweats, how would you apply the acupuncture? What parts of a body would you target?
Danielle: So, in Ttraditional Chinese Medicine, when we’re dealing with menopause, most often we’re looking at the kidneys. You know, we’re looking at kidney in deficiency. So that would look like hot flashes, night sweats, emotional imbalance, sleep disturbance, poor memory, headache, possibly dryness, and they would all fall into this pattern. But a very important part of Chinese medicine is when someone comes in, like I mentioned before, we look at the tongue, we feel the pulse, and we look at all the symptoms and we come up with a Chinese medicine diagnosis…We would have to come up with the pattern diagnosis, and then that’s how we treat specifically. So that’s why we would choose certain points on the foot, because maybe they’re on the kidney channel, or a point in the arm, because it’s on the heart channel. And there’s you know, there’s different disorders within the whole category of perimenopause and menopause. The liver is involved, the heart, specifically liver Yin, blood deficiency, liver Yang rising, kidney and heart not communicating. I mean, I know all of these probably sound a little bit foreign, right?
Maryann: It does make sense, though.
Danielle: Yeah. Again, when I’m mentioning these organs, you know, it’s not exactly the same as in Western medicine. So if I say there’s liver chi stagnation, you don’t need to go, oh, my God, what’s happened to my liver? You know, it’s different.
Maryann: Right. Well, does this tie into toxins in the body? Because a lot of times when we have hormonal imbalance, there’s excess hormones circulating throughout the body, right? That’s where the liver comes in. Does acupuncture help to eliminate those toxins?
Danielle: Absolutely. And like I mentioned, a lot of what we’re doing in Chinese medicine is moving the chi, moving the fluids, moving the blood, moving the toxins. And then we can also be integrating in herbs, potentially, and dietary therapy that would also help this process as well. And they become a big part of the whole treatment plan. It’s not just the acupuncture, it’s also all the other pieces as well, and exercise.
Maryann: Right. And when you said fluid, I thought about bloating, which is another symptom, especially of estrogen dominance in perimenopause. So can it help to get rid of bloating?
Danielle: Yeah. Absolutely. If that’s part of the pattern, then we’re going to be treating that as well. In Chinese medicine, bloating would have to do with the spleen transforming and transporting the fluids. So we would look at what’s happening there and treat that as well.
Maryann: What about stuff related to the brain, like mood changes, memory problems, brain fog?
Danielle: Yeah. So, you know, we’re also looking at the kidney Yin and the essence. And that also has to do with the brain and the marrow. It’s affecting poor memory, it’s affecting confusion. It also may manifest as low back pain, aching joints. So this is how we’re able to treat and also work with osteoporosis, which women often have in menopause or perimenopause. So yeah, we’re specifically treating the kidney essence in that case. Absolutely, with herbs with acupuncture, dietary therapy, there’s a lot we can do.
Maryann: And it’s so complicated, right? Because even the signs of perimenopause, I mean, they’re so linked and interwoven with the signs of aging. Our bones are getting older, our cartilage is wearing out. I mean, there’s just so many things to kind of pick apart, right?
Danielle: Well, it’s a puzzle, it’s definitely a puzzle. Someone comes in, and you put together all the pieces, figure out where everything is heading. And a lot of acupuncture is, you know, kind of retraining the body to do what you want it to do. Your body’s doing this, no, we want your body to do that. So let’s sort of work backwards and, you know, try and get it going in the right direction.
Maryann: What about headaches? That’s another common symptom. Does that tie into the brain stuff, or can there be other causes for headaches?
Danielle: Yeah, I mean, absolutely. Headaches can be a result of the liver. It can also have to do with an imbalance with the blood, if there’s blood deficiency. And as we all know, during menopause, the hormones are shifting, decreasing, so that can affect everything. It affects your mood, it affects the way you sleep, it could lead to headaches as well. So we’d really want to move that energy out and move it through, and then things start rebalancing.
Maryann: Yeah, speaking of sleep, a lot of us are having problems with that, too. Can acupuncture address that specifically? Again, it’s probably tied into other things, right?
Danielle: Yeah. I mean, you know, I have patients that come in that are just coming for insomnia. Then we’re definitely looking at lifestyle as well. Are you using a tablet at night? Is it too much screen time? Are you having coffee late in the day? And also a lot of women with menopause also don’t realize, you know, having wine at night, having coffee at night…Maybe in your younger years you could do this, but because things change so much, all of a sudden you become intolerant to that, and you’re not able to have a coffee at four o’clock, you’re not able to have wine at 10 o’clock without affecting your sleep. So you really do have to integrate in those lifestyle issues as well to kind of—again, it’s a puzzle—pull it apart and figure out, you know, what’s out of balance, why you’re having the insomnia.
Maryann: Yes, sadly, the wine thing is true. [Laughs]
Danielle: [Laughs] Yeah, I know.
Maryann: I can’t even enjoy one glass anymore. It’s so sad. But what is your view on HRT (hormone replacement therapy)? Can acupuncture be an alternative for some women who can’t or don’t want to try HRT?
Danielle: So yes, I mean, this is definitely possible. You definitely want to be integrating in some herbal medicine here, you absolutely want a comprehensive treatment plan to mediate this, but there have been a bunch of clinical trials, and they’ve shown enormous effectiveness of Chinese medicine for people who are not wanting to do hormone replacement therapy. And that’s a conversation you’re having with your GYN, and you really have to look at the possible side effects of hormone related replacement therapy to see if it’s really a fit for you, with your family history, with possible side effects. Certain studies have shown an increase in breast cancer, possible heart problems, stroke, blood clots, so you know, when you’re making these decisions, you would want to consider all that. And the fact of the matter is, you can use Chinese medicine as a replacement, you know?
Maryann: That’s good to know.
Danielle: You’re causing no harm.
Maryann: Are there other very common physical issues that come up in women in this age group that you see a lot and are able to help with?
Danielle: You know, I think we talked a little bit about osteoarthritis, which is a big deal. As women age, we really want to work with our bones and keep them strong, and our balance. And digestive upset is also common, you know. When the hormones change, everything shifts a bit, but the truth is, with some herbs, with the acupuncture, we’re able to really bring that back into balance. In addition, I think, what a lot of women don’t talk about too, you know, there’s vaginal dryness. It affects your sex life, it affects your relationships. So, you know, Chinese medicine is also working with all the fluids in the body to help rebalance. And there’s a lot we can do with that as well.
Maryann: Right. And we touched on this a little bit, but what about emotional imbalances, like stress, depression, anxiety. Can it help with that?
Danielle: So, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, there is no separation between the mind and body. It’s not mind-body connection, it’s the same. They’re all together in the same pattern. So depression, anxiety, fear, it would be under a different pattern diagnosis. And there would probably be physical manifestations as well, whether it’s digestive upset, sleep disturbance, along with the anxiety, along with the depression. So, again, we find the pattern and we treat that. So you know, another big thing that’s happening is stress hormones and your cortisol levels, right, which definitely wreak havoc in your body. And something acupuncture is really great at is addressing this sort of fight or flight response in your body. So I mean, historically, 100 years ago, if you’re out in the woods and you’re running from a bear, all of your hormones are dumped into your body so you can have almost this superhuman power to move and to run and maybe act in a way you wouldn’t normally be able to act. But unfortunately, what we have today is people are not typically running from bears.
Maryann: Not everybody. There was a guy in Golden Gate Park who had to run from a coyote the other day, but not bears. [Laughs]
Danielle: [Laughs] Him for sure. But luckily now we’re not running from bears. But what we are having is people have a lot of stress at work, people have stress at home, they have stress with their kids, and all these different things, but the body doesn’t notice the difference. The hormones are still dumped into the body in the same way. And then over time, this can lead to chronic degenerative disease. That’s when we see inflammation, when we see autoimmune disorders, so this is something we definitely want to work with. And we want to sort of reframe, and have the body destress. I mean, a lot of times after people are getting acupuncture, they’re like, oh, I can’t believe how relaxed I feel, I went home and I slept, or I had energy. You know, it’s bringing about what needs to happen. One thing with Western medicine, you take a pharmaceutical, it goes in one direction. It’s not balancing, you’re raising or you’re lowering. Acupuncture can balance, and herbal medicine as well.
Maryann: Right, yeah. And regarding those Western prescriptions, you know, I feel like Western medicine also is very reactive in a way. And I’m not saying it’s not amazing. I mean, we can do surgery, we can fix so many serious medical issues with Western medicine, but it’s not very focused on preventative medicine, right? Is there a way that acupuncture can prevent disease? Or is it just about treating symptoms?
Danielle: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know what, this is where I think acupuncture does best. So when I have patients that are coming in for maintenance care and it’s part of their lifestyle, you’re almost treating something before it becomes a disorder. So you’re building the immune system, you’re balancing the nervous system, you’re working with adrenal exhaustion. You’re heading things off before they go in the wrong direction. Back to Yin and Yang, everything is in constant movement, and you want to help that balance happen. So this is the most effective if someone is really using acupuncture as part of a healthy lifestyle in addition to other things. It’s really setting you up, for example, to perhaps not have hot flashes during menopause, right? You’re already treating it before you’re there. You know, the body is balanced. It’s not going to manifest that way.
Maryann: Right. Oh, that’s so great. And you know, I feel like people I know seem to be discovering and embracing Eastern and integrative medicine. Do you see that? And why do you think that’s happening? Do you think there’s this sudden awareness or just more education? I mean, what do you think?
Danielle: I think all of it. I think that, you know, it’s happening because people are realizing there’s a better path to health. There’s a different direction for longevity, and it’s not necessarily taking a medication every time there’s an imbalance. That, unfortunately, can become a rabbit hole. You’re on many medications, and all of a sudden, there’s a side effect and you’re on another medication. Then there’s another side effect. And, you know, that’s really what you want to ideally avoid. But I’m also a huge believer in integrative medicine. I practice integrative medicine. When I have a patient that comes in and they don’t have a primary care doctor, I give them the name of a different primary care doctor, because we all need to be working together. And Western medicine has enormous benefits. There’s lab work and tests, diagnostics, there’s emergency medicine, and there’s also times when people might need a medication. And that’s OK. You know what, if we’re also working with acupuncture, perhaps there’s a disorder that starts and the body just isn’t able to kind of naturally balance it out on its own. So you can add in a medication and then use acupuncture and possibly herbs and diet to help change the pattern in the body. Once the patterns change, potentially you’re able to decrease or go off that medication—in conjunction working with a primary care doctor, of course—and, you know, that’s amazing. That’s integrative medicine, that’s working together for the best benefit of the patient.
Maryann: By the way, I’m so glad somebody has a list of primary care physicians. I wish I were in New York to get your list, because no one I know can seem to find one. Is there a shortage?
Danielle: Yeah, probably.
Maryann: Yeah. But regarding the medications, what you’re saying resonates with me. I was at one of my doctors the other day, and she asked me, as they all do, what medications are you on? And when I said none, she looked at me like I was an alien. Like, really? That’s incredible. You’re 53 and you’re not on any medications. And she said that most women in midlife are on an average of three medications, which I find shocking. That’s a lot.
Danielle: It is shocking. And again, this brings us back to acupuncture being used as preventive medicine. The unfortunate thing about medicine is that it is very strong. If you look at herbal medicine, there’s categories, right? So you have nourishing herbs—you can think of maybe chamomile, right, it’s more like food. Ginger. Very nourishing, very easy on the body. Then you go up one step and you have tonifying herbs. Then you go up and you have stimulating and sedating herbs. And then you have toxic herbs. But when you have a medication, what you’re doing is you’re going around more like stimulating or sedating and starting there. So it’s strong. It’s very strong in your body, and it’s not gently nourishing the body back. That’s not what it’s doing. That’s OK. It can still be very helpful and necessary at times. It’s just realizing, hey, let’s do everything we can on the other side with diet, with acupuncture, with some herbs, to change the pattern.
Maryann: Yeah, and I think that’s also why it’s important to get blood tests regularly, because you can see when you’re pre-something. Like, pre-diabetic. And you can kind of tackle those problems before they become disease, right?
Danielle: Absolutely, absolutely. That’s what’s so great about Western medicine: getting the blood work, seeing where everything is at. Or someone comes in and they’re fatigued. Can I treat that as fatigue? Of course I can. But if someone comes in with their lab work and we know where the levels are exactly, we have a lot more information to work with.
Maryann: How would you suggest a woman work with her OB-GYN or her other doctor to incorporate Chinese medicine into her healthcare regimen, especially if she’s experiencing some of the symptoms we talked about?
Danielle: So yeah, I would love to see more collaboration with OB-GYNs and acupuncturists. Not to say that it’s not happening at all, but I think it’s sad when women perhaps do go to the GYN and they’re just not given the other options. So, you know, menses, irregular cycle, OK, here’s the pill, let’s start on the pill. And then, for example, they’re on the pill for many years, they go off to get pregnant, and they find they’re having trouble getting pregnant. Well, we never dealt with the pattern that led to the mense irregularity to begin with. So now we have to backtrack and rebalance the body with an easier balance in the beginning. I think we really need education. I think there’s absolutely some MDs that do know about the benefits of acupuncture, and then in other cases, I think we need more collaboration so they really understand that it can treat fibroids, it can treat painful menses, it can treat cysts, it can treat fertility and polycystic ovaries. And menopause.
Maryann: Right, so it might be just worth mentioning to your doctor, hey, would acupuncture be something I should try? Right, just to see what they say? And if not, maybe it’s time to do your own research and find another doctor, maybe?
Danielle: Exactly, exactly.
Maryann: Right. [Laughs] So we’re going to move away from the hormonal stuff, and I want to talk about beauty with you for a little bit, because I noticed on your website that you do something called the acupuncture facial rejuvenation or the acupuncture face lift. Tell us what that is. I’m very intrigued.
Danielle: So, I love doing acupuncture facial rejuvenation. In my younger years, when I first started studying it, I probably wasn’t as interested. And the older I got, the more value I saw.
Maryann: [Laughs] I wonder why.
Danielle: [Laughs] But the results are amazing, and what’s even better is that when we are doing facial rejuvenation, we’re also treating the whole body. We’re not just treating the face, we are also balancing the hormones and dealing with the underlying disturbances. When you’re healthier, your face is going to look better. A very real part of aging is the way we look. It changes, right? Fine lines and wrinkles, the skin texture, changes in hormone levels, maybe the hair gets a little thinner, maybe there’s weight gain. You know, it can be tough. And of course everyone wants to, ideally, age gracefully. The good news is that there is a lot you can do. And I know for a lot of my patients that come in and choose this option over some other options, whether it’s fillers or botox…I think people maybe spend a lot of time and energy avoiding these toxins, whether they’re in their food or in the environment or in the air or the water, so then to be adding it…
Maryann: Right, and spend hundreds of dollars to be adding it. [Laughs]
Danielle: [Laughs] Exactly, exactly. Maybe not the best option.
Maryann: Right. Or I should say, thousands of dollars in some cases. But, how does it work? Are you just basically increasing blood flow under the skin, or…? What’s taking place?
Danielle: So, what we’re doing is we’re working with the muscles in the face and the muscles in the head. We’re working on lifting and firming and toning the skin, and then we’re using incredibly tiny intradermal needles along fine lines and wrinkles. We’re working to brighten the face, and we’re also increasing collagen production as well while we’re doing this. I also integrate other modalities as well, such as facial gua sha and light therapy, so they’re all working with the acupuncture for this regeneration.
Maryann: Oh, what’s the first one you said? Can you tell us what that is?
Danielle: Gua sha is part of traditional Chinese medicine, it’s in the scope of traditional Chinese medicine, but body gua sha is different from facial gua sha. So body gua sha…for example, if you have neck pain, you could use it on your neck, but you would be using it at a bit of a different strength than you would on the face. And there’s different gua sha tools, and so they have the stone ones, and there’s different shapes. The traditional gua sha shape is actually a horn, but that one you would not use on the face. And body gua sha, you know, you’re actually looking for a reaction in the skin. You’re looking to create a redness to get the blood and the circulation moving again. But that is not what you’re doing with facial gua sha. With facial gua sha, it is a firm pressure, but much more gentle. You’re not leaving a mark, but it is this combination of stretching and this directional pressure that increases the collagen production, increases the Yin flow, increases circulation. It’s lifting, plumping, and sculpting the skin.
Maryann: Wow. And it seems too good to be true to do this at home. I mean, do you need a professional to do it for you for best results?
Danielle: With facial gua sha, no, but with my patients who do go through treatment, I just kind of give them a quick little tutorial, showing them in the mirror the direction you want to go in, how much pressure. And, you know, you absolutely can do it at home. At the same time, you should find out how to do it.
Maryann: OK. Well, if you have a particular brand of one of those that you recommend, let me know and I’ll put it in the show notes for our listeners.
Danielle: OK, absolutely.
Maryann: And I will vouch for Dr. Solomon’s skin. Danielle, your skin is gorgeous, so whatever you’re doing we want to just do it repeatedly. [Laughs]
Danielle: Thank you. You know what, something else that I love is light therapy. And I don’t know how much you know about light therapy, but I’m a huge fan of light therapy. Light therapy is specific wavelengths of light energy, and it targets the tissues and has a therapeutic effect. So, these are penetrating wavelengths that increase the production of ATP, and it’s basically transferring energy to the cells. This was originally developed by NASA, actually, and it’s supposed to be used for astronauts while they’re in outer space. And then they found that there are all these other benefits, and you can use red light and yellow light and blue light. It can be used for fine lines and wrinkles, it can be used for acne, it can be used for muscle pain. So I’m using it across the board. I’m definitely using it with my facial rejuvenation patients, and also with my patients that have pain. You know, and acne.
Maryann: That’s pretty promising. And no one can tell you what you’re doing is not rocket science, because it is.
Danielle: [Laughs] I know, right?
Maryann: I think that’s also cool because, you know, there are so many of us who don’t want to go and get surgical procedures. And these Eastern methods seem so much easier to just tolerate and incorporate into your life.
Danielle: I mean, I think a big part is incorporating into your life, yeah, making it part of your health routine, which isn’t one thing. There are a lot of amazing modalities, you know, there’s chiropractic, there’s massage therapy, there’s sound therapy, there’s stone medicine. It’s all good, and it’s all worth looking at.
Maryann: So keep an open mind, right?
Danielle: Yeah, absolutely.
Maryann: Well, Dr. Solomon, thank you so much. This was so enjoyable and I learned so much. I’m going to be in New York this fall, and I kind of see needles in my face in my future, so you might be hearing from me.
Danielle: Yeah, you have to come by. Thank you so much for having me on and really bringing to light all the benefits of Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
Maryann: Yes, and there are so many. Tell us where we can reach you online, if our listeners want to find out more information.
Danielle: I’m at www.acupunctureintribeca.com. Instagram, @acupunctureintribeca.
Maryann: All right, great. Have a great day.
