May 2023 Newsletter

Team Updates

Two therapists recently joined Vitality:

Marie Ingouf, Registered Massage Therapist

Marie graduated from the Vancouver College of Massage Therapy in 2019 and is training in Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation. She focuses on treating headaches, migraines, impingement syndromes, TMJ, chronic pain and stress, and mobility issues. She is also a yoga and fitness enthusiast!

Read Marie's Bio

Yink Chutarrat, Registered Acupuncturist & TCM Practitioner

After an impressive nursing career in Thailand, Yink shifted careers, graduating from the 5-year of Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) program at Oshio College of Acupuncture and Herbology in Victoria, and became a Registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner (R.TCM.P) and Acupuncturist (R.Ac). She's also fluent in three languages and an awesome cook of Thai food!

Read Yink's Bio

Traditional Chinese Medicine for Anxiety

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, with this year's official focus on Anxiety. According to 2019 WHO statistics, 302 million people were living with anxiety disorder including 58 million children and adolescents.

As human beings, we live in a very busy life and emotional ups and downs are normal for everyone. The feeling of anxiety is one of the normal reactions to stress. Therefore, it is a natural component of our lives.

In fact, stress could be beneficial to our personal development. For example, some amount of stress can cause physical and mental responses that result in better performance in difficult circumstances. However, if anxiety becomes excessive and unmanageable in daily life, then it becomes a disabling disorder.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine Approach

Anxiety is a modern medical term that does not have an exact equivalent definition in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) concepts. Nevertheless, two Chinese ancient diseases that closely resemble anxiety are:

1. Fear and Feeling discomfort in the chest (Jing Ji); and
2. Panic Throbbing (Jing Chong)

The main contributing causes of anxiety are (1) too much emotional stress; (2) constitution; (3) irregular diet; (4) loss of blood; and (5) overwork.

TCM treatment approaches focus on holistic care, with the treatment based on the primary cause of anxiety.

For example, if a strong constitution patient has severe symptoms, he/she may require an herbal prescription and strong acupuncture treatment to calm the mind first, and then elimination of the pathogenic factors such as heat or phlegm, as well as dietary modification to eliminate heat such as spicy or pungent food; or eliminate a phlegm contributing diet such as greasy and heavy food.

On the other hand, if a weak constitution patient with chronic blood loss has chronic symptoms, he/she would require a gentler approach. The patient may be treated for the root cause with gentle acupuncture and blood tonic herbal tea to calm the mind, and foods such as peach kernel, pistachios and walnut may be added to the diet.

It is advisable that the patient should try to maintain work-life balance and manage emotional stress with exercises such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong and/or Yoga, as well as balancing work time with adequate rest time. If the symptoms become severe, the patient should seek professional help. Acupuncture and TCM treatments include a variety of modalities and tools to help you calm anxiety and reach your physical and emotional health goals.

Interested in learning more?

Book a free 20 minute consultation with Yink Chutarrat, our newest team member and Registered TCM Practitioner and Acupuncturist.

Book Consultation

Gift Certificates for Good Health

It's not too late for Mothers Day this weekend! Or why not gift a massage to the man in your life for Mens Health Month or Fathers Day in May?

PRINTED GIFT CERTIFICATES
Download, print-at-home and phone us at 250.370.1020 for an authorization code using Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

Download Gift Certificate

DIGITAL GIFT CERTIFICATES
Simply create and login to a JaneApp account:

Create Digital Gift Certificate

Therapists Wanted

As always, we on the lookout for registered massage, acupuncture, athletic therapy and osteopathic practitioners to join our team.

Vitality is a great place to start a new practice or build on a continuing practice. If you know of any recent graduates or anyone in your circle looking to make a move to Victoria, please pass along our jobs page:

Work at Vitality