Happy Lunar New Year!How is 2021 going for you? Have you made time for rest and reflection? Or do you already wish you had a do-over for your New Year’s Resolutions? If so, you’re in luck!
Not only is every moment a chance for a new beginning, February 12 is the start of the Lunar New Year. Because it starts with the second new moon after Winter Solstice, it begins on a different date every year between January 21 and February 20.
It’s not part of the Chinese Lunar New Year to make resolutions, but Chinese astrology encourages reflection. Chinese astrology has a lot of symbolism and is used more to explore your inner nature and unconscious instincts. It’s often used to help reflect on how to navigate your inner life and relationships.
Year of the Metal OxThe Chinese zodiac has 12 years in its cycle, each one represented by an animal, which interacts with the cycle of the 5 elements – a key concept from Taoism. 2021 is the Year of the Metal Ox, the second animal in the cycle. The story goes that the Emperor called all the animals to travel across China to him and their order would determine their place on the calendar. With his hardworking nature and spiritual dedication, the Ox was in front. But the Rat hitched a ride and as the Ox was swimming across the river, the bold and clever Rat jumped off and landed first. (This is why 2020 was the Year of the Rat – which seems kinda fitting, huh!)
Astrologers say that people born in the Year of the Ox are grounded, hardworking, and calm. While Ox are known for their slow and steady discipline to slog through the mud and till the fields, their dedication to spirituality and personal responsibility results in graceful transformation. Ox are slow and peaceful, but they are also powerful, have stamina, and take care to pace themselves and not overwork or exhaust their energy so they can continue to sow the seeds of change at every season.
In Chinese astrology, the Metal Ox is known to restore order and bring about harmonious changes through honesty, cooperation, and a calm methodical approach. The weight of this responsibility can feel heavy and requires patience. But the Ox’s fair and reliable nature and ability to align with the rhythms of nature can be trusted to prepare the soil for ideas, intentions, and visions that will flourish and improve circumstances for many over time.
Commit to Creating the Experience You Want to HaveThe Chinese do not traditionally make New Year’s Resolutions, however they do celebrate the transition from winter to spring. It is a good time to reflect and plant the “new idea seeds” that will sprout in spring. You can start by asking yourself: How do I make time and space to bring out my best sense of reflection? What is the new direction and experience I want to have?
If you’re having trouble, maybe it’s time to take a lesson from the Ox. Take a moment to both ground yourself and connect with your spiritual nature. Ask yourself:
- What challenges can I turn into opportunities?
- How can I align myself with my natural rhythms?
- What kind of new foundation do I want to build? Where do I want to be more consistent?
- Where can I be more patient and where could I use more stamina to follow through on my commitments?
- How do I want to prepare my fields for prosperity?
- How can I pace myself so that I can enjoy the work as well as the harvest?
If your intentions and resolutions include improving your health and well-being in 2021, get in touch to schedule an acupuncture appointment for immune boosting, pain relief, or stress reduction.
If you want to explore how to accomplish more of what you want in 2021, while aligning with natural rhythms and pacing yourself so you can enjoy both the journey and the harvest, please join us for our Goals from the Inside Out workshop coming up in 2 weeks (details below).
Upcoming Events
- Do you struggle with New Year’s resolutions?
- Do you abandon your goals too early?
- Once you reach your goal, do you often still feel unsatisfied?
- Do you want a more imaginative path to happiness and success, that supports evolution and growth along the way?
In this workshop we’ll help you tap into wisdom that allows you to have the experience you want to have, no matter what is going on around us. Once you start to see this for yourself, you will re-discover how to effortlessly access natural peace of mind, connection, and joy at any moment!
We will also share a new way to set goals that balances your head and your heart. You’ll stop making the journey about achieving something through force of will. You will naturally begin experiencing the ease of accomplishing, all while enjoying the journey!
More information and register to save your spot at https://insideoutgoals.eventbrite.com
Save the date for the Next Design Retreat
A Virtual Zoom Retreat
After a successful inaugural Online Design Retreat last October, we’re planning to do it again this March. We’ve known this work is so powerful and were thrilled at how well we were able to do it virtually. The participants have been telling us how life changing it was for them, so I wanted to let you know the dates as soon as we set them.
Check out what the design retreat is all about on my events page.
Further information and the link to register coming soon. Let Christina know if you have questions or are interested.
Growing More Peaceful Membership Community Weekly Virtual Zoom ConversationTuesdays 4pm – 5pm PST every week
If you like the idea of quieting the noise in your head, come join us this and every Tuesday afternoon for a zoom conversation where we take a breather from all the noise and make room to grow more peaceful, even now:
Here’s some of what people have been telling us they get from the sessions:
- “I felt so grounded after listening last Tuesday. My mind was quiet. I was relieved. Body and mind at peace.”
- “For me, these meetings reinforce that concept of quieting the intellect/monkey mind and waiting to hear the whisper of one’s inner wisdom/common sense. I learn this again and again, and yet it is not the first place I turn, so obviously I need the repetition of the lesson!”
- “The meetings also give me a sense of community, a feeling of unity of purpose that lingers after the close of the hour. “
We’re so confident in how helpful this conversation is that the first month is FREE, so you can come check it out without any pressure. Click this link to our event page for all the information about the community and the link to register.
Visionary Vibes Time!
A Sound and Yoga Journey with Jules via Zoom
Sunday, February 21 from 4:30 – 6PM PST
February brings us a big dose of the progressive, humanitarian energy as 6 planets (yes SIX) gather in the visionary sign of Aquarius! The last time so many planets were in Aquarius was February of 1962. What a wonderful opportunity to take the lessons collectively learned and see how we can experience and even improve upon them as individuals.
“Take a little trip… take a little trip… take a little trip with…” Sound Healer Jules Sears (also Thrive’s Office Manager) and Yogini Elise Collins as they create a wonderful blend of vibrational healing and restorative yoga that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home wherever you are in the world!
More info and to reserve your spot at Eventbrite or Facebook.com/events
Busy ScheduleIn the new year, there’s always a renewed interest in health and a lot of patients making appointments, but this year the schedule is even more full. We think there’s several reasons, including: 1) we have less appointments because of C-19 cleaning/distancing and 2) patients are loving the new online booking system and booking more appointments further out.
We’re so grateful to be helping so many people get the new year off to a healthy start, and we want to make sure you have all the info to get the appointments you want.
We’re always reviewing the schedule and adjusting so that everyone can get the appointments they need. As we saw the schedule getting more full we started seeing less new patients each week to make room for existing patients to make follow up appointments. But still some patients are surprised they can’t get last minute appointments at their preferred times.
Booking Your Appointments:We’re recommending people schedule their appointments further out, especially if you have certain times you like (ie: if it is in the late afternoon and evening or a set time each week). The easiest way to do this is to hop on our new online booking system and make some appointments https://thrive-acupuncture.janeapp.com/login. If you have any trouble or want our help, please call or email us.
Waitlist:The new online booking system even has a waitlist feature where you can add your name for a specific day with times that work for you. Jules can also use it on her end and add your name if you let her know. Then we’ll contact you if anything opens up. It’s been working out really well and we’ve been able to get a lot of people in for an appointment from the waitlist
Thanks to everyone who has been cancelling as soon as they know their schedule has changed because that’s what allows us to accommodate patients on the waitlist!
What We’re Treating In The Clinic—AllergiesThe best time to treat allergies with acupuncture, herbs, diet, and lifestyle modifications is right now–before spring allergy season hits full strength. This year people have been motivated to keep their respiratory systems strong and get ahead of their allergies. And some patients started to feel a few of their symptoms pop up early when the warm weather brought on some early blossoms.
Acupuncture and herbs are great at preventing allergies, reducing symptoms, and helping you reduce your medications. There’s also lots of truly effective self care that you can do. I suffered from respiratory and immune system imbalances, including allergies, so I have all sorts of tools in my tool-belt to share with you. And I love helping people get their respiratory system back in balance and get their life back!
Established patients can make an appointment at our new online booking site. You were emailed a personal link in December to set up your profile and use this site in an email titled “Welcome to Thrive Acupuncture and Wellness”. Everyone has been loving the new site, but if you need any help or want the welcome link again, let us know. You’re also always welcome to call or email us to make an appointment.
New patients need to call or email us to set up their first appointment because there is just too much information we need to share with you.
Insurance changes for 2021Did you see our previous newsletters outlining the insurance changes happening in our office in 2021? The short summary is that we’re going Out of Network with all insurances. If you’re not sure if this will affect you, take a look at all the details here and let us know if you have any questions.
The effective date for being Out of Network with Blue Shield is April 1, 2021. For those who have Blue Shield policies with In Network coverage in our office, you can use your In Network benefits until March 31, 2021.
The effective date for being Out of Network with Sutter and United is March 11, 2021. For those who have Sutter and United policies with In Network coverage in our office, you can use your In Network benefits until March 10, 2021.
Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy New Year)!
Christina Ness-Hawks, LAc
