Happy Lunar New Year!
How is 2025 going for you? Have you made time for rest and reflection or are you just trying to get through? Do you already wish you had a do-over for your New Year’s fresh start? If so, you’re in luck. Not only is every moment a chance for a new beginning, January 29 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.
And the Lunar New Year kicks off the 15 day celebration of the new year called Spring Festival. You can think of Spring Festival as Christmas, New Years, and Spring Cleaning all rolled into one. It’s a time of celebration, visiting family and friends, gift giving, and preparing for the next year with personal reflection and letting go. While the celebrations start on January 29 this year, the Wood Snake officially emerges on February 3.
It’s not part of the Lunar New Year traditions to make resolutions, but instead Chinese astrology encourages reflection. Chinese astrology has a lot of symbolism and is used 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 Wood Snake
The Chinese zodiac has 12 years in its cycle, each one represented by an animal, which interacts with the cycle of the 5 elements. 2025 is the Year of the Wood Snake, the sixth animal in the cycle
Astrologers say that people born in the Year of the Snake are creative and have a unique balance of intellect and intuition which makes them great strategists. Snakes are known for being tenacious and attaining what they want, but their real power doesn’t come from working diligently, instead it comes from having patience and instincts to easily know when to strike. Snakes are known for quietly illuminating spiritual paths and fostering deep emotional understanding. Snakes often enjoy engaging in a mix of both inward spiritual exploration and striving for outwards success. The snake sheds its skin of the past and has the ability to both shed old belief systems that are no longer serving them and pare down material goods that are causing feelings of chaos and stress.
In Chinse astrology, Wood Snake energy is said to be fiery in nature but that is balanced out with compassion which transforms anger, irritation, and aggression. Last year it may have felt like you went on a wild ride as Dragon energy is impulsive. In order to ride the snake energy smoothly it’s helpful to bring mindfulness, warmth, and connection to interactions with others. Some snakes have venom but adults don’t release it until they are seriously threatened. They know to give warning with a dry non-venomous bite first. Snakes can get caught up in hunger for more and seeking thrills but they get back in balance by remembering to pace themselves, cultivate enjoyment and the appreciation of elegance and art.
Commit to Creating the Experience You Want to Have
Those that celebrate Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival 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 Snake. If you want to avoid the out of balance fiery aggressive snake energy, make sure to start with some compassion for yourself (no shame, no blame) and see what old beliefs you can shed that aren’t serving you. Snakes know how to pace themselves, when to coil up, turn inward and listen to their intuitive instincts, and then when to move forward with a smart plan that allows for transformation and growth.
Ask yourself how can I combine both enjoyment and achievement. Can I listen to both intuition and intellect? What inward reflection brings about compassion and the healthy expression of emotions? How can I cultivate true curiosity and creativity? What action can I take to clean things out and allow room for flexibility so I can achieve my goals with the greatest good for all in mind?
Get Some SupportIf your intentions in 2025 include improving your health and well-being so you can accomplish your goals while enjoying the journey, get in touch to schedule an appointment for acupuncture and herbal medicine that supports pain relief, stress reduction, immune boosting, or finally tackling that health issue that’s holding you back. You can book online or reach out by phone or email.
What We’re Treating In The Clinic
The number one thing we treat in the clinic is back pain. It’s partially because in the US acupuncture is well known for treating back and it’s partially because we’re good at it—with the style of acupuncture we do most people get relief as soon as the treatment starts. And when I say we’re good at it it’s not my ego. I was lucky to be exposed to this style of acupuncture that gets quick relief for pain when I was in school and committed to studying it deeply. I even just did some more continuing education on it this month!
Back pain often flares up during the colder months, whether from old injuries that don’t like the cold, from sitting too much, eating more sugar, or the busy holiday cooking, wrapping, and family time activities. Acupuncture helps ease back tension, improve flexibility, and support long-term healing.
We also have several truly effective topical herbal liniments, balms, creams, and patches. Or we can mix you up a custom herbal formula to treat joint pain and help prevent it from flaring up again.
By improving circulation and calming muscle tension, acupuncture and herbal remedies relieve pain naturally, helping you feel stronger and more supported. Many patients notice symptom relief at the start of the first treatment and overall reduced stiffness and better mobility after just a few treatments.
Types of back pain we commonly help with:
- Sciatica (pain radiating down the leg)
- Lower back stiffness or chronic pain
- Muscle spasms or tension in the back
- Herniated or bulging discs (non-surgical relief)
- Postural pain from long hours sitting or working
If you want support so you can enjoy life again, without your back calling all the shots you can make an appointment at our online Online Booking System or get in touch.
New Product In House
We’re excited that we’re carrying a new product in house. It’s our favorite super effective digestive enzymes. We had them available through our online dispensary, but when you need them to get your digestion back on track you, you need them now. We decided to make it easier on patients because telling them to pick something up in the meantime until they could get the good stuff was a bummer. Plus the stuff they got for “in the meantime” wasn’t nearly as effective.
I often recommend digestive enzymes for a variety of reasons including:
- sluggish digestion
- bloating
- gas
- acid reflux
- slow recovery from a stomach bug
- post viral lingering digestion blahs
- the occasional overindulgence
- difficulty digesting fats
- a flare up of bad breath
- post gallbladder removal
If you’re curious if you could benefit from digestive enzymes and how you should take them, ask us at your next appointment.
Gong Xi Fa Cai! (Happy New Year)!
Christina and Team Thrive
