Current/Upcoming Community News/Events

So what do the NE Patriots and Acupuncture have in common: 1. Many of the players receive acupuncture to improve their sportsmanship and manage their injuries; 2. Beating the Patriots this weekend will be like trying to find a ‘needle’ in a haystack!; 3. Just like Vegas has their betting lines, Acupuncture has their own lines also known as meridians! Therefore, if your body is your home, then as the Under Armour ad says, “We will protect this house!”

As of April 1st, 2012, MWC is no longer accepting credit cards. Due to increased merchant fees and recent issues with PCI compliance/local credit card fraud, we respect our clients too much and will begin to accept checks and cash only. For those of you who utilize your Health Care Saving Accounts, we will continue to give you a receipt with the insurance codes on them for you to submit directly to your insurance company for reimbursement. Thank you in advance for your understanding and we look forward to your continued patronage for health and wellness!

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – ‘Closing Time’, Semisonic

This is the song that keeps playing in my head this morning. In fact, it woke me up.

Almost five years ago, I met my business partner and we ventured onto a path to create an out-patient pediatric therapy facility together. We had visions of large sensory gyms, helping families find the answers they were seeking, empowering our community through education, and truly integrating children’s therapies. I had a place to do research on sensory integration and pediatric acupuncture, a place to add to my list of things I had created as an accomplished woman. But no matter what insurances you may have or knowledgeable advisors may be there to help, one can not change the course of one’s path.

It became clear after I hit bottom at the beginning of this year, that I needed to really evaluate my life and what my priorities are. I had defined myself by my career for so long that in the process, had overlooked the most important success to date: my family. My son who craves attention and Star Wars, my daughter who dances in a tutu to Beastie Boys and Lady Gaga, and my husband who truly is my best friend and co-pilot on this flight of life. And where I was investing the most of my energy was not yielding the return I really needed. Again, it became clear.

So I began the painstaking process of ending a partnership and focusing on what was most meaningful and what most defined who I am. Painstaking doesn’t even begin to describe the past three months and it’s not quite over. But what is over is my physical time at the space I created with positivity and excitement. And I wish that space only success and prosperity in the future.

So today is a day that will define me in many ways. I have a lot to accomplish today and I am going to try to keep my focus but I accept that there will be tears along the way. I have support today that I am so grateful for and too many future opportunities available to count! I am truly thankful for all abundance and know I am safe and secure in this life.

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”  Perfectly poignant…don’t you think?

It has been a while since I have posted a blog post because life has been busy! We moved the Center to 14A Winthrop Street in Marlborough at the beginning of March and had our Ribbon Cutting ceremony shortly after, thanks to the ladies at the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Nancy Stevens! We have been sighted at the Heritage Festival and the Biz2Biz Showcase recently! And now, you can find Julie lecturing on the Basics of Acupuncture, Acupressure, and Traditional Chinese Medicine tomorrow night through the Assabet After Dark Continuing Education program located at the Assabet Valley Regional High School in Marlborough! We are busy and growing so come check us out!

Julie is busy!!

She is lecturing at Assabet After Dark Adult Continuing Education in October, for CTI/Daycare/preschool providers in September and October, and doing Learning at Lunch educational experiences for Doble Engineering! Catch her lectures on Adult/Pediatric Acupuncture and Sensory Integration/Processing disorders near you! You can reach us at www.MarlboroughWellnessCenter.com through the contact us page!

With the love of summer, it’s sun vibrancy and outdoor activities, we must not forget the environmental dangers our bodies face this time of year.  According to  Traditional Chinese Medicine, summer-heat pathogens may invade the body during the hot humid weather, often at the end of summer. These symptoms of high fever, copious sweating, irritability, headache, dizziness and thirst can be seen.  This type of disease has a rapid onset and digestive symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or lack of appetite may also occur.  Careful consideration must be taken in preventing an attack by keeping the right Qi of the body strong by limiting hard physical labor during the extremely hot weather.  

    If one is attacked by these summer-heat pathogens, traditional Chinese herbal medicine offers various herbal teas to cool the body and rebuild fluids lost through sweating.  Bai Hu Tang or White Tiger decoction, which is taken as a warm tea, is one such formula that addresses the symptoms of summer-heat.  This formula contains 4 ingredients including licorice root.  If the body’s qi is weak, ginseng may be added.  The dampness of the humid summer may also invade with the heat leading to sensations of heavy body and scanty urine whereby other herbs can be added to the above formula.    

    Additionally, further care can be taken by consuming cool natured foods that will help to resolve summer-heat symptoms.  Watermelon fruit (xi gua) is sweet, bland and cold, thus will help resolve summer-heat symptoms of intense thirst and difficult urination.  Just simply eat watermelon or drink 100-300mls of its juice and its efficacy will be immediately apparent.  Summer is here!  Enjoy its fruits but do so with your health in mind!

 

 

 

~ That our very own Jodi Eldridge was the featured massage therapist at the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce’s PGO Golf tournament in early June?

~ That Diana Fernandes, acupuncturist/herbalist, was featured on a discussion panel on Health and Wellness at the Townsend Senior Center in May?

~ That Jenn Smith is expecting a baby boy in the beginning of July?

~ That Julie Dalbec and Diana Fernandes will be starting the acupuncture program at the Framingham Union Hospital Cancer Center in the upcoming months?

~ That we donated more than 20 full bags of canned food to the Marlborough Food Pantry in April as part of our philanthropic efforts in the community?

KEEP AN EYE ON THE MARLBOROUGH WELLNESS CENTER BECAUSE WE ARE BUSY!

 

(Cooking Light magazine, December 2008) 

Mayo:

1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1 garlic clove

 

Chicken:

1/4 egg substitute

3 tablespoons hot sauce (such as Tabasco)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 1/2 ounces baked tortilla chips (about 6 cups)

2 tablespoons olive oil

 

Remaining Ingredients:

4 (2 ounce) Kaiser rolls, split

12 (1/8 inch thick) red onion slices

4 lettuce leaves

 

1. To prepare the mayo, combine the first 4 ingredients.

 

2. To prepare the chicken, combine the egg substitute, hot sauce, oregano, and salt into a large zip-top plastic bag. Cut the chicken breast halves in half horizontally to form 4 cutlets. Add chicken to the bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 2 hours or up to 8 hours, turning the bag occasionally.

3. Place tortilla chips in a food processor; process 1 minute or until ground. Place ground chips in a shallow dish.

 

4. Working with one cutlet at a time, remove chicken from marinade, allowing excess to drip off. Coat chicken completely in chips. Set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken and chips.

5. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned and done. Spread mayo evenly over cut sides of rolls. Layer bottom half of each roll with 3 onion slices, 1 lettuce leaf, and 1 chicken cutlet; top with top half of rolls.

Yields: 4 servings (1 sandwich).

 

Especially in these troubled economic times, we must keep ourselves healthy, balanced, and focused on the positive future! Massage and Acupuncture can assist with achieving that balance but what can we do on a daily basis? To slow your pulse, lower your blood pressure, and tame tension your in no time, Woodson Merrill, ma (the source: unleash your natural energy, power up your health, and feel 10 years younger; Parenting magazine, October 2008) suggests the following exercise:

 

1.     Sit up straight, shoulders back.

2.     Inhale slowly and deeply to the count of four, filling your belly with air.

3.     Hold for one count.

4.     Exhale slowly and completely, to the count of six. Allow your shoulders to relax (but don’t let them slump forward).

5.     Pause for one count. Repeat four times.

6.     Enjoy a moment of nirvana before jumping back into the fray.

 

Did you know that…

400 = number of times kids laugh each day

15 = the daily chuckle count for adults….

We need to laugh it up more often!

 

The season full of “fun and sun” are upon us but so are the unfortunate sunburns and bug bites! Have you wondered what natural remedies are in your home to cure the complaints? Here are a few for sunburns:

1. Apply undiluted apple cider vinegar to sunburn by cottenball..

2. Apply mayonnaise as a skin cream to sunburn.

 3. Apply peanut oil to sunburned area(s).

 4. Apply thin slices of cold cucumbers, apples, or potato directly to the skin.

 5 Apply cold, plain yogurt then rinse with cool water.

Our contemporary contribution for bug repellent is DEET (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), a powerful insecticide found in over 400 repellents.  DEET can peel paint, damage rayon and spandex, and melt plastic.  Up to 56 percent of DEET applied to the skin enters the bloodstream, and reactions to it include skin rashes, lethargy, muscle spasms, nausea, and irritability. It’s hardly worth using DEET to deter insects unless you’re someplace with high rates of insect-borne disease or you experience severe allergic reactions to bites and stings. (www.naturodoc.com)

There are natural alternatives to DEET, made primarily from plant essential oils, which can protect you in less threatening circumstances.  Look for products containing any of the following: lavender, eucalyptus citriodera, litsea cubeba, geranium, rosemary, peppermint, cedar, and/or tea tree oil. For more information on properties of essential oils, go to www.crescentmooncreations.biz and click on “Learn About-Plant Oils” button.

 

Not only does massage make you feel great, massage is a wonderful addition to your approach to golf. Massage will help relax and tone muscles, increase flexibility, rejuvenate and increase muscle sensory mechanisms.  All of this adds up to better balance and body awareness, key factors in playing good golf.

Massage is beneficial for lots of reasons, but the most important one is circulation. Several massage strokes increase the movement of blood and lymph.  If a muscle is stiff because of a long day on the course, getting oxygenated blood to the area improves the condition rapidly. Massage can help relax muscles and return them to normal health and physical condition. With your golf muscles relaxed they will function efficiently, reducing the risk of “strain,” and producing consistently better shots. Massage can also relieve pain, due to its encouragement of endorphin release, especially if it is caused by muscle tension.

Post-round massage increases circulation in the muscle tissues, helping to prevent build-up of harmful “fatigue” products resulting from strenuous exercise and competition. So when you are ready to take your golfing performance to a new level.

Has been put on hold for a moment of time but since we are never too old to learn, please check out the Assabet Valley Center for Community Education’s Assabet After Dark program! Every season, John MacKenzie and his staff compile an amazing array of class topics and adult learning modules to interest anyone! The program is located at the located at the Assabet Valley Technical High School in Marlborough, MA and you can receive their class catalog by mail (if you don’t already) by calling 508-485-9430 or by going to their website at www.AssabetAfterDark.com to see what interests you! Guaranteed you will find something to enlighten your mind this year!

The Marlborough Wellness Center is located at 331 Boston Post Road East, Ste. 7, and provides a place for medical wellness and education.  We believe that there are two worlds: one with experts who fix people, and the other world of wellness that educates and empowers them to fix themselves. It is here where you will find professional practitioners who can meet all your health and medical needs. Jodi Eldridge, Jennifer Smith, and Joyce Clancy, our licensed massage therapists, are going strong! Julie Dalbec, a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, continues to focus her practice in the areas of Japanese style, non-insertive pediatric acupuncture techniques and women’s health issues. Diana Fernandes, MAOM, Lic.Ac., also a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, has written the focus article on summer heat for us! Our monthly community education series titled “Alternatively Speaking” has gone on hiatus but community education is never too far away and we are never too old to learn something new! Take a moment to look into the Center! We offer a variety of treatments that can be found on our new and improved website and active blog at www.MarlboroughWellnessCenter.com!

In the beginning of October, I was the instructor of the Introduction to Acupuncture, Acupressure and Chinese Medicine class which them morphed into the “Acupuncture Hands-On Experience” class a week later! The students who attended were amazing and quite interested in learning as much as they could! So, keep your eyes open for the Spring catalog in your mailbox for more opportunities to learn about these fascinating topics! You aren’t going to want to miss them!

WOW! I was scheduled to be on the Hank Stolz show on WCRN 830 today at 2:50pm! Not knowing what to expect, I called early, waited on the line, and suddenly, Hank was talking to me! VERY COOL! To start, Hank was very professional and asked very complimentary questions about acupuncture and how I got into it. He even asked about the concept of “preventative” medicine and how our culture is accepting it slowly. We talked about the painless needles, the sterile needles, and when to contact an acupuncturist! Needless to say, the Hank Stolz Experience was exactly that…a fabulous experience on the radio! Thank you Hank and thank you WCRN!

Come join us as the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Nancy Stevens help us cut the proverbial red ribbon at the Marlborough Wellness Center! We will be celebrating the event at 331 Boston Post Road East, Ste. 7 in Marlborough at 4:00pm. Food and healthy herbal-themed drinks will be provided! Come one, come all and meet the staff of the Center!

The Marlborough Wellness Center Presents The “Alternatively Speaking” Series on

Western Herbs In your own Backyard
Part One: History and Harvest

Have you ever wondered what the difference between Western Herbology and other herbal medicines is? Have you ever asked yourself what that “weed” was in your backyard, as you pulled it from the ground? This presentation will open your eyes to a world that is right underneath your feet! You will learn about the history of Western herbs while highlighting a few common herbs for you to harvest yourself!

The evening’s presentor, Leanne L. Dias, is an Energy Medicine Practitioner, Intuitive Counselor, and an herbalist at heart. She became a Reiki Master in 2000, and her practice has evolved to working primarily with the chakra system. She is currently working part time as a school nurse in Natick.

Date: April 15th, 2008
Place: “60Nobscot”, 60 Nobscot Road, Sudbury, MA 01776; www.60nobscot.com
Time: 7:00 – 8:00pm
RSVP: to Leanne Dias at 774-279-0985, by April 11th, 2008!

Western Herbs In your own Backyard
Part Two: The Garden Tour

So now that you have the basic information about Western herbal medicine from Part One of the series, it is time to take a walk! This is your opportunity to find out what really grows in your backyard and how you can use it for health and healing!

The evening’s presentor, Leanne L. Dias, is an Energy Medicine Practitioner, Intuitive Counselor, and an herbalist at heart. She became a Reiki Master in 2000, and her practice has evolved to working primarily with the chakra system. She is currently working part time as a school nurse in Natick.

Date: May 13th, 2008
Place: “60Nobscot”, 60 Nobscot Road, Sudbury, MA 01776; www.60nobscot.com
Time: 5:00 – 7:00pm, to maximize the sunlight!
RSVP: to Leanne Dias at 774-279-0985, by May 9th, 2008!

Food will be provided! Come one, Come all! Bring a friend!

I created a speaking series to answer the call for more education in the community about alternative medicine and practices! So many people I have come in contact with would ask me “Is acupuncture good for this?” or “What is feng shui?” or “Have you ever heard of Reiki?”

So I formally introduce the “Alternatively Speaking” series!

PLACE: “60Nobscot” woodworking studio, 60 Nobscot, Sudbury, MA, 01776.

TIME: always from 7:00-8:30pm, unless otherwise posted.

DATE: usually every 2nd Tuesday of every month, barring any unforseen circumstance. I will always blog the details a few weeks in advance.

DETAILS: Food will always be provided and currently the classes are all FREE! So come and learn about topics you have always wanted more information on in a no-pressure, no-gimmick environment!