When you combine nicotine with the flavour of tobacco smoke and the oral satisfaction of a cigarette, you get an addiction that is very difficult to break. However, acupuncture treatment tends to transform the taste of tobacco into a bad experience, making smoking cessation less difficult. It also alleviates nervousness, agitation, and other signs of mental distress. This calming effect makes smoking cessation less stressful. After one or two treatments, nicotine cravings are sharply reduced. After four or five treatments spread over a two-week period, most will have quit or drastically cut down on the number of cigarettes smoked daily.

Product Review:
Every Woman’s One Daily 55+ Multivitamin by New Chapter® is certified organic and offers eight fermented B Vitamins, fermented Vitamins D3, C and E, clinical strength Astaxanthin harvested from organic Algae, and Aloe. This multivitamin is whole-food fermented, Iron-free, and gentle on your stomach. The combination of vitamins and minerals in Every Woman’s One Daily 55+ Multivitamin offer a range of support for women 55+, including healthy mood and brain function, eye and bone health, healthy digestive function, blood pressure, natural energy production, and healthy immune function. Also available, created specifically for Men – Every Man’s One Daily Multivitamin.

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the risk factors for heart disease. You can help control or reduce hypertension with diet, exercise, weight, salt reduction, limiting alcohol & caffeine, not smoking and managing stress. Many doctors include deep breathing and meditation in a stress management plan. Qigong and Reiki are excellent tools for stress reduction. Slow, deep breathing and meditation are foundational to the practice of Qigong and the deep meditative state experienced while receiving Reiki brings deep relaxation, calm and peace to the body/mind. February is Heart Month in Canada. What better time to do something new for your heart?!

February 23. Coldest Night of the Year! Fundraiser Walk. The Comox Valley Transition Society and Dawn to Dawn are teaming up for our second annual Coldest Night of the Year Walk to end homelessness. This family event will take place in downtown Courtenay. For event details or to volunteer, walk by yourself, join a team or start a team at CNOY.org/location/comoxvalley

Research shows that on a conventional and scientific level that we can communicate with trees. To communicate with a tree, using your hands, connect with its energy field. With your heart ask permission to spend time with it. Place your hands on the tree, smell, feel and touch it’s leaves. Stand and hug or sit with your back against it’s trunk. Sit quiet and connect with the spirit within you. Ask a question and breathe in your answer. Thank the tree before leaving. This takes practise but overtime your communication will intensify.

Thinking about some resolutions for the New Year? Quitting smoking may be the most important change you can make to improve your health. There are numerous immediate benefits to quitting smoking including reducing your blood pressure and heart rate, improving your sense of taste and smell, and improving your circulation, making it easier to exercise. With every year that you are smoke free, your risk of stroke and lung cancer decreases. After 15 years, your risk of a heart attack is the same as someone who has never smoked. (source: www.quitnow.ca). Talk to your healthcare professional today about quitting. It’s never too late!

There are athletes and non-athletic types alike who consume kombucha regularly, not only for improved digestion and energy, but because they find it supports their mobility and speeds their exercise recovery. Many lab studies have confirmed that properly brewed kombucha contains several specific constituents that can directly improve joint health. Among these important substances, we find glucuronic acid, which is a detoxification agent otherwise only found in a healthy liver. Additionally, kombucha contains tissue-rebuilding enzymes such as chondroitin sulphate, heparin, hyaluronan, mucoitin sulphate, and the more well-known glucosamine, which is a primary building block of tendons, ligaments, and cartilage.

IMS stands for “intramuscular stimulation“ and refers to the insertion of a fine needle (such as an acupuncture needle) into muscle tissue to release shortened muscle fibers. It can also be called trigger point or functional dry needling. Some physiotherapists and other health care practitioners utilize this technique to decrease tension in muscles that may be compressing nerves, restricting joint mobility, or otherwise causing pain and irritability. IMS can be extremely effective in the treatment of various conditions from headaches to tennis elbow to low back pain. When combined with the appropriate exercises it can provide long lasting results.