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Acupuncture Benefits · Building the Best You

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So acupuncture is thousand-year-old medicine and it's part of traditional Chinese medicine.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: So that's like the broad umbrella and acupuncture lays under that, and it is a means of helping the body get back to balance, which means health.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: In Chinese medicine, any symptom that we have is saying that the body is out of balance.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: So acupuncture uses needles on specific points in the body to help the body resolve symptoms and get back to that equilibrium where we're in perfect health.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: The way that the medicine works is that the practitioner will really talk to the person about everything going on in terms of their physical, mental and even spiritual health, and we use all those facts as clues to help us get to a diagnosis and then we choose the points that are appropriate to help the person heal.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the House of Germar podcast, where wellness starts within.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: The House of Germar is a lifestyle brand, empowering women to live all in through interior design and personal wellness.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: We are a destination for women ready to reimagine what is possible, empowering women to live all in through interior design and personal wellness.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: We are a destination for women ready to reimagine what is possible in their homes and lives and then create it.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: We are honored to have you join us on our mission to empower 1 million women to live all in.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: I am your host, jean Collins, and I invite you to become inspired by this week's guest.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: And I invite you to become inspired by this week's guest.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the House of Gerber podcast, where wellness starts within.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, and this week we're going to be talking acupuncture, something I find so fascinating, and I've done it before, so it is such an interesting field.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: So our guest today is Erica Prince-Bensour.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's a lot folks, but Erica Prince has a company called Prince Acupuncture and I am so excited to talk about her career journey, what acupuncture even is, what it does, how she helps her clients, because it is an ancient art, but it is something that can be really, really helpful and can help a lot of people with pain and stress management.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: So, erica, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to be a guest on the show and welcome.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I'm thrilled to talk about what I do because it's really changed my life in so many ways, and I aspire to change the lives of women, especially women and men, of course through this medicine and through my business and helping others.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: So here we are.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I can feel your passion, and so thank you for bringing that to the table.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I always like to start out by asking my guests about their career journeys because, as I say, things are not linear, and I think it's always inspiring and inspirational for people to hear how you got to having a career which you're so passionate about, which you so love and that fuels you on so many levels every day.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: So would you mind sharing with everybody what's your background?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: How in the world did you end up becoming an acupuncturist?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Because that's not exactly, at 15, what you say you wanna do in life Definitely not.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I don't even think I knew about acupuncture or the word when I was 15, although I'm sure I could have benefited from treatment at that age.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: So my background was not acupuncture.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: However, I grew up in the world of ballet and I was.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I danced every day.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I was in a ballet company, growing up in a modern company, so that was really like what I did and where my heart was and where my body was.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I also danced in college, decided not to major in that, but it was really my identity was looped up in dance, and I ended up following the path of business, because, of course, that is very practical and you will get a job if you go to, if you major in business and marketing, which I did.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: So right out of school.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I moved to New York City pretty quickly with a PR agency and we worked with startup companies a lot of health care, a lot of technology, and I was pretty happy doing that.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I was, you know, getting to live in the big city and learning a new skill and working with really exciting clients.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: But along the way of this path I had a knee injury and I was young, I was healthy from what I thought, and all of a sudden it's like I couldn't walk.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I woke up with this like searing pain in both knees and it was awful I lived in this fifth story, walk up as you do right out of college.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: So of course you need to be mobile.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: In Manhattan and through this journey of pain I saw so many different orthopedic doctors you know the top sports doctors who really said, okay, we don't know what's going on.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Take painkillers, take anti-inflammatories and go to PT, which I did religiously.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: I was really good at taking the painkillers.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I think they were like it was like high strength Advil.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: It wasn't anything crazy, but you know I needed something to help me get through the day.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I went to physical therapy and not a lot changed and not a lot changed in terms of pain, but my life totally changed.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: I could no longer take dance class.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I was like very active.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I loved to go to the gym and just be out in the world with my body and through movement and it really stopped me in my tracks.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: So I was anxious, depressed, all the things, understandably, and my mom actually suggested go try acupuncture.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: And this wasn't in our family vocabulary, you know, we just went to the regular Western doctor when something went wrong and really after the first session, during the first session, I knew that something would change and I knew that she could help me Like it was really the first time that anyone listened to the full story of what was going on.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: It wasn't, like you know, check out my knee, look at it and treat that just look at me as an injury.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: She asked everything going on, from sleep to energy, to diet, my cycle, obviously in addition to my knee.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: If you've been to acupuncture you know it's like so many questions and you're wondering how is this all connected?
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: But it was the first time that I felt seen within this injury that I had and it actually got me out of a lot of pain.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: After the first session Continued to go, I continued to be more interested in the medicine and that, you know, sparked my desire to go to grad school eventually.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I stayed in PR for a while I think eight years.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I had a like relatively long career in that you know, before I decided to go to grad school, but that I knew that was like the end goal.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: When you made that shift.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: What did your family say to that?
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Because that's a big change in life and, by the way, acupuncture is not traditional Western medicine.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: It's a little on the let's call it woo, woo.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It's not.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It's science based, but it's a little like it's a little out there.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: It's not as mainstream.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what did?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: What did your family say about that?
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, I remember very clearly.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I was walking down the street talking to my mom on the phone and she's like, yeah, it was like I dropped the bomb.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Like why can you go be a doctor?
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Like there's another way you can do this.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: And I got them on board.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I remember they came to like the open house at the school.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: I went to school in New York City because I was still working in marketing, so I had to stay there.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: They started to see the light and understand like why I was so attracted to this.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: But it was hard for them to, you know, think this is where what I was going to do, because it was such a big change.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It's expensive, it's three years, it's full time, nothing is guaranteed when you leave, you know when you graduate.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: So it was surprising.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah Well, and it takes you down a whole new path, a whole new career path, a whole new friend path, a whole new journey.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I felt like I was living in two lives, because I was working in a PR firm with clients and talking the talk that way and going to business meetings, and then I was going to grad school on the side where we were talking about chi and blood and acupuncture points and doing meditation Like it couldn't have been more disparate.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Totally yeah.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: It was hard to merge those two parts of me.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Eventually I did, but it was a lot.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: It was also like some of the best years of my life, of like being immersed in school and a new language and way of looking at the world and looking at your body.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: So I think of those days with a lot of like happiness and fondness.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: That's special.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: And then, when you got out, did you start working for yourself right away or did you work for somebody else?
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I did not.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I, luckily, I had an internship with a community, a fantastic community clinic in New York City called Olo Acupuncture.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: So I interviewed with them right away.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: So I got a job in this clinic right away and it was fantastic because I was treating up to four patients in an hour, every 15 minutes, yes, so you do not have time to hesitate.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: You really had to like be on top of it, listen, treat well and quickly and like have this very efficient, smart approach to your treatment.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: It kind of put me in the fire right away and I still thank that job.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I stayed there for about five years while I was building my own practice, because it made me a lot into the clinician that I am today.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I was also working in marketing, by the way.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: So I had I was I had a double life for a long time.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I was working in a with marketing to like pay the bills more as an acupuncturist and then kind of dreaming with my own practice as well.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: So it was burning the midnight oil, as you know, in a lot of ways.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: But a lot of times people do that and when people ask me, sometimes you know how do you make a career shift?
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it is the way that you did and it's finding that thing and making it what you're doing on the side until it becomes large enough that that you can make that shift.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: But at least you feel like there's because I think you can probably relate to this A lot of people say when they find that other thing, they're so drawn to that other thing that it's hard to stay in your current life when you can see that other thing out there.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: You just have to give it some time and some flow until you can then move into it.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: But having that direction is really inspiring, for sure.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: I love the way they talk about that Like you still need to keep one foot in the door of like I don't know reality, but like the bills and making your life move forward and funding what you love in a lot of ways so you can have the means to like transition into it.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: So it takes so much dedication to like doing it, because it's easy to give up as well, even if you love it.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: It is Now.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Was it scary to go and start your own practice?
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's a lot.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I was so ready, but it was.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: You were.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: I was ready, but it was also scary.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I did quit the marketing job and I was like okay, now it's time, you know, getting your office and, I think, putting myself out there publicly and promoting myself was very hard, Even though that was my background.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: It's very different to promote yourself.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Isn't that funny how that works.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: You're like, oh wait, I can promote anybody else any day, but then when I have to promote myself, it's a whole different deal, definitely.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: It's so vulnerable.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: It really is.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a very different experience.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and finding your voice, what you stand for, what you want to communicate is a lot.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I did it eventually.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: You know it worked and I built a thriving practice in New York City with a lot of work and networking and time, but it happened to much and now you have an office outside of New York City, is that?
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: correct.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: So after giving birth to my son, who's three now, my husband and I decided it was like time, it was time to move out of New York.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I'd been living there for almost 20 years.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: It was my home.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know greener pastures call it, I guess.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: So I'm in Westchester, Pennsylvania suburb of Philadelphia.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: It's beautiful, it's my family's here.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: So we have a lot of support and Did it feel like you were starting over all over again, moving a business right, Because your clients aren't following you to Pennsylvania.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: No, I wish they would take the Amtrak and get their breath here, not reality.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: It was very humbling.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: It was so humbling because I'd been busy.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I had like people who knew me, who sought me out for appointments, and now I'm like I'm the new person on the block and no one knows me from.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know anyone else, right?
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, yeah, it was.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: It was tough just to see like my books being really slow and having to put out all the feelers again and I'm continuing to do it, my business.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Now I've been in practice for about two years and it's definitely, you know, you see the flow and the growth and we're getting there, but it takes time and patience and all the things.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely does.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a process.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: It doesn't happen right away.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: No it doesn't.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: How have you found?
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: How's the community out there?
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: What's their receptivity to acupuncture?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Because it's very different.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: In a city things are, I don't want to say very hip and modern, but they are.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: People are much more receptive to alternative ways of healing.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: In New York City it's very progressive.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: So have you had to struggle with that by moving outside?
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: of the city I have I've certainly noticed a change in people's knowledge of acupuncture and what it is.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: In New York it felt like everyone had an acupuncturist or it's just a normal thing that you do for your self-care and here it's not so much.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: I think people more education needs to be done.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I need to talk to people more about what it is and the benefits.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: So I'm really working hard on that to get over that hump.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: So people then want to come see me.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's always a subset of people who know about it and they love it and those are people.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: But in order to grow, it's really about education and meeting the right people who want to hear that.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Getting the word out.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: So you mentioned what is acupuncture?
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: All right, so for the listeners who don't know, what acupuncture is let's do some education.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: What is acupuncture?
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, so acupuncture is thousand-year-old medicine and it's part of traditional Chinese medicine.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: So that's like the broad umbrella and acupuncture lays under that, and it is a means of helping the body get back to balance, which means health In Chinese medicine.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Anything, any symptom that we have is saying that the body is out of balance.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: So acupuncture uses needles on specific points in the body to help the body resolve symptoms and get back to that equilibrium where we're in perfect health.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: The way that the medicine works is that the practitioner will really talk to the person about everything going on in terms of their physical, mental and even spiritual health, and we use all those facts as clues to help us get to a diagnosis and then we choose the points that are appropriate to help the person heal.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: So it's like this.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: It's almost not.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's a very much of an art and a science, because it's very specific and it is a true medicine art and a science, because it's very specific and it is a true medicine.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: You also have to think more about the flow of the person, what they're like taking all these other subjective pieces to make a diagnosis that fits them.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: So it's really like it can be so simple yet complex at the same time, if that makes sense.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: It does, because everybody's different complex at the same time.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: That makes sense.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: It does, because everybody's different.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Everyone's energy is different also, and how everybody is built is different and everyone's lifestyle is unique and the impact of those things on a person are unique.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: For sure, like if someone came to me say I had three people that came in with heartburn, the treatment would most likely be totally different for each person based on all of the things that you just mentioned their exact symptoms.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: The exams of like pulse is a big exam looking at the person's tongue, examining their body, I would most likely choose different point prescriptions and modalities for each of those people.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: How long do people normally work with you, like from a period of time, because nothing is a quick fix, although I have found with acupuncture you kind of immediately start to feel better.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: But that doesn't mean that it's like a one session or a two session thing.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Usually people feel good getting off the table but we want the results to last.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: So typically with a chronic condition I would say come in once a week for four to six weeks, and of course this is very general.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: And then after that we'll reevaluate and try to stretch out like come every two weeks, come every three weeks, come for maintenance.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: So the idea is acupuncture is cumulative and each treatment builds on top of the next one, so you get more results each time and it lasts longer.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: So we just want that built.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: So I always tell people like consistency is so important because we can really make a lasting change that way, instead of like it's never.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Nothing is one and done.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: No-transcript, because we think about the body as this whole system and all the symptoms fit together as one story or one piece of the person.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: We can use acupuncture to help them balance, kind of whatever the diagnosis is, whatever the symptoms are.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: So that said, big reasons people come in are pain and injury.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I think people kind of probably know that in the wider world if we can help with any type of injury.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Also, women's health and fertility is a big one.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: You probably know women who have gone to acupuncture to help with their fertility during their IVF.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and acupuncture can make such a huge difference.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I believe the statistic is anyone going through IVF acupuncture can make it about 30% more effective.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: So that's like a massive change in terms of efficacy.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: That's a big jump.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: And then a lot of mental health conditions too anxiety, depression, insomnia, stress.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I see a lot of that.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: So let's pause there for a second.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: How do you help someone with that?
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Because those are areas that I would never think to send someone to see an acupuncturist for that.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good question.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Well, acupuncture helps the nervous system go into the rest and digest mode.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: So oftentimes we're in that fight or flight, like going a mile a minute, having to do so many things in your day and we can't just drop down into our body.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: You really can't fight acupuncture.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: You can't fight the needles.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: It really automatically helps your nervous system calm down.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Then the treatment will release endorphins which are like the feel-good hormone, lower cortisol in the body, which is the stress hormone which we don't want a lot of.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: So it really does make these very palatable or measurable changes within our nervous system, in our body with a single treatment.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: So no matter what someone comes in for, really they almost are always like oh, I am just so relaxed you know.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: So then if we, really focus on it, you can make a big change.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: That's so fascinating because I would not think of acupuncture to help with stress, for example, or insomnia.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, insomnia is a big one.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: I see a lot of people with insomnia.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: You do, you do and you help people with their insomnia.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: I do?
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, of course, we're looking at lifestyle too.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So it's again like if I give you the best treatment in the world, obviously, if you're doing something outside of here and scrolling through Instagram until 3 am, like all right, there's only so much I can do, but oftentimes it gives you know a lot of lifestyle recommendations, dietary recommendations for people to how they can support what we're doing in the treatment room.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Right, it's much more holistic Sure.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Can you practice it on yourself?
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I needle myself quite often.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to lie.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I do receive acupuncture like a proper treatment and diagnosis from like in another practice from somebody else.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: But if I have a sore muscle I'll needle it.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Every so often I needle my face a lot for facial acupuncture, ooh talk to us about that.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: What is that about?
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: I?
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: love facial acupuncture.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I've never even heard of that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: It's awesome.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: So we use really tiny needles.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: They're like so overall, needles and acupuncture are really really, really thin, like hair thin, but the needles that I'm like, I'm looking at them, they're on my counter over here.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I wish I could show you.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: They're tiny, they're little guys.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: You hardly feel them when you put them in your face or, yeah, patient's face, and the idea is they create micro traumas in the skin.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: That then rebuilds collagen.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: So we're really like restructuring the skin.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It also helps to like move out any sort of puffiness or lymph, helps to sculpt, gets rid of tiny wrinkles and any lines.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: It's great.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: So I have a whole team here.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: So you put all the needles in and then what?
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Someone just sits there with the needles in.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: You can sit, but I have them laying down on like a heated table, okay, and it also includes a regular acupuncture treatment.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: So I'll treat whatever's going on internally.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: So say you come and you say I have horrible digestive issues.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: We're also doing a facial.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Oftentimes they're interconnected, like if you're not digesting things, you might have acne or redness congestion.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: So it's really this holistic treatment.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: It's not just like the cosmetic piece Treating someone as a whole and I'm like locally on the face and it fits together for like a piece, treating someone as a whole Yep, and I'm like locally on the face, and it fits together for like a long lasting change or improvement.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but back to the treatment, which is the best part.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're laying on the table, acupuncture treatment and then the face, and I can send you pictures, show you pictures.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I would love that.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then I put an LED light over top, so they lay there for like half an hour and then, once I take out the needles, I do facial gua sha and massage and facial cupping.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: So that helps like really like cement in the treatment and sculpt and like move out any sort of like puffiness or stagnation or tension in the face.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: And then, okay, I am so I am so bummed that you live in Pennsylvania.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I know, I was just going to say if you're only closer, we could do this.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: That is so cool.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: I would love to see pictures of that.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: We'll interweave it into the video.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: It would be really great actually, if you have pictures to send us.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Wow, so a normal acupuncture treatment for pain, let's say, is it half an hour?
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Is that how long people sit there with the?
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: needles in.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, about half an hour, like I would say it takes.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: By the time they're on the table, you know, examination let's say like 15 minutes for the treatment, as I'm putting everything in and making sure it's like an amazing session and treatment for them and then they rest for about 20 to 30 minutes, and often with pain, I will use other modalities.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: After I take the needles out, I'll do tuina massage, which is Chinese medical massage, cupping maybe gua sha, which is like a scraping massage.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: There's a similar technique in physical therapy, so it's not too far off.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Right, maybe those are the main ones in terms of pain, so it's always like multi-layered approach.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Right, okay, and so this is a very tactical question.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: But I'm curious so the needles go in.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: The needles go in.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: They're not connected to each other, correct?
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: And is there any sort of vibrating thing that happens, or electrical stimulus that happens, or just the needles, in certain points, do all the work themselves?
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: The needles in the points do all the work themselves.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: You could use like electrical stimulation there's.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: You know there are machines for that.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: It's kind of like a TENS machine that connects to the points.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I sometimes incorporate that I find that people aren't as comfortable.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: It works.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: It's not my favorite because I know the needles work on their own, Like I don't need all the extras.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: The points themselves that I think they're a hundred.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I should know the exact number I believe 178 acupuncture points in the body and then extra points and then points in the ears.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: There are all these different points and they've done a lot of studies and they're actually near, they're closer to nerve endings in the body.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: There's more, I guess, your own electrical stimulation near those points.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: They're active in a way, so the person will often feel more sensation near those points.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: They're active in a way, so the person will often feel more sensation on those points, Like it could be tingly, it could be warm, it could just feel like movement in the area.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: The sensations around the points can be different for everyone but almost always you feel just something is shifting in the body Right, which is fun as you're resting, you know, just to be aware of the flow of what's happening.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: That things are happening just because you have some needles in, you Do the needles hurt.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: They should not hurt upon entry.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: If the practitioner is good at what they're doing, they should be easy, painless.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: You feel a little like I mean it is a needle, but it shouldn't be like a big sensation, right.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: But when you treat tight muscles, for instance with pain, that's when there's more sensation the muscle might.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: There's different ways of needling that the muscle can release or help it to let go, and that can be more sensation but not necessarily like pain.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: So I find, with most of my guests who are interested in things like this, there's a lot of continual learning, because things evolve, even though acupuncture is ancient.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: So talk to me about what you do about continual learning, especially since you focus on a very holistic way of healing.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: How do you decide what you want to learn next?
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness it's.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: The options are endless.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, I feel like my curiosity for everything is like too much because I can't keep up to get to everything.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I have done continuous education like since I graduated.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: I first I went there's so many different styles of acupuncture so I tried to like learn about different styles with different teachers that I really respected and knew about.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: And then recently I've been delving into more to fertility and women's health.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: I'm very, very passionate about helping women feel whole, feel supported, feel good inside their bodies.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: After giving birth, I was rocked.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: I was like what is happening here, who?
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: After giving birth, I was rocked.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I was like what is happening here?
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Who am I?
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: I'm straight, yeah, and it really made it clear that I wanted to especially focus on supporting women and we need you know, we need a village for all the things to help us get through life and achieve in life and be good moms and be good entrepreneurs and be good wives or whatever we want to be.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, that's been dictating my path of continuous education lately.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: And that's a good one.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: But you're right, there is so much out there it does become overwhelming it does, yeah, yeah.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: And now of course, I weave in like business courses and just I'm taking out a class on AI to learn a little bit more, like there's always something in that realm.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Always Right.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah Right, oh yeah.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Help you thrive.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Oh always, there's always stuff on business, yeah.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: A few courses I need to like really jump into that.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I've subscribed Right, I've purchased and I need to finish them.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: You know into that.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: I've subscribed, right, I've purchased and I need to finish them.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: You know, find the time, yeah, right, well, it's that whole working in the business and working on the business.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: It's like you need to be.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: You need to be doing both all the time, all the time.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, mastering social media, and that's a job all inside itself.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Trying to get the word out about what you do and build a business and build a reputation.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: That is a job all by itself.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Yes for sure.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love what I do, so it's always fun to take another class to sharpen my skills and have more knowledge, yeah, so talk to us.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: I'm always so curious about what other people do for wellness for themselves.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: So what is your wellness routine?
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: What do you do to keep yourself healthy mentally, physically?
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: You look fabulous, by the way, so whatever it is you're doing works, and there's always this juggle as working moms and entrepreneurs right, there's that juggle that is forever present.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: So, if you're willing to share a little bit about what do you do to keep wellness for yourself, what do you do?
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Thank you for asking that.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: I've had to give some things away, since I have a toddler and he is busy and he doesn't sleep as great as I would like.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: I had to let go of a lot of some of my wellness routine, but with that in mind, it's still critical to me that I have a handful of practices that I do if it's every day or every week that keep me balanced and keep me feeling like myself.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Number one is prioritizing sleep, even though I don't have a toddler that sleeps through the night all the time, going to bed early and like making a space that is like a place where my body wants to rest.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Number two is exercise.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: I love to exercise as a former dancer, like it's a part of my life but if my body doesn't move and I don't sweat, it all goes downhill, you know mental health mental health.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: In a way, that's what I feel like.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: So yep, yep, sneaking in, no matter what.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: That's big.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: I always wow.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: I'm like I do a lot of things, actually Prioritize a whole food diet where I'm cooking as much as I can, not eating processed things, yep, and also with Chinese medicine.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: It's a lot about living with the season, so that's one thing I wanted to mention too.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, interesting.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: What is that?
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Talk to me about that.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know what that is.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: We think about the body.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: We have five elements in the body.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: They're all associated with a season and nature externally.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: So what's going on inside reflects outside.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: So right now we're actually in the fifth season, which is the transitional period between summer and fall.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: It's called late summer and that's associated with the earth element.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: So right now we're kind of we're moving away from the hot, like go, go, go days of summer, coming to our center, Like think about earth, it's like in the middle of everything and kind of creating that stillness for the fall, the harvest ahead.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: So we're really kind of gathering our energy, eating, nurturing, nourishing foods, slowing down.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: And then there are organs associated with that, there are food groups that are associated with that, different movements.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: So when we think about our bodies this way, how we're not just like this body moving through the world, we're a part of everything around us, it kind of puts things in perspective and I do like to think about that a lot and even with my family, like my husband and I I always fill them in I'm like, okay, here we are, we're in the earth season, we're going to eat more, you know orange foods and cook things more and not eat watermelon every day, whatever it is.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: But it makes sense in terms of health.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: I've never thought of it that way, but I totally see it Like I see.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: I just see it also in.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: You know, we don't have as much daylight like that's changing every night.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Lately I've been like, oh my goodness, I can't believe it's 7.15 and it's already starting to get dark and there is this transition and this change as to how your body responds to that and it's such an interesting thing.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: I'd never thought about that, but it is very.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: I can see how it's all connected and the importance of changing some of your routine and changing your food to accommodate some of those changes that are going on outside, to ensure that you still have energy, that you still get enough sleep, that all of those things still keep happening.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's such a great way to word it Like we're accommodating, we're just shifting things a little bit so we're in alignment, and it's not when we do things that are disparate with the world around us.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: It just doesn't work for our systems, or or it may for a little.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: It may for, you know, our younger years or whatever it is, and then we can hit a wall, and that's when, like, illness really shows up, is when we're not living in that balanced state of life or caring for ourself in like a very subtle way that can make such a big difference.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Well, and I love it, and you're living.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: You're living what you believe and you clearly are very passionate about it and you are fully embracing and fully living the values of the medicine and the values of that culture and the values of the wisdom which I think is so important, and I find at least I'm fortunate that most of the people that I interact with are doing that, and I think that's so important to just point out for women that are looking for career change or people that feel lost or struggled.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: That is part of it.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Whatever you choose, you want to be fully in and it's mentally, emotionally, physically, like it needs to feed your soul and feed your life.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: When you're thinking about change Because I'm asked a lot of times to talk about career change, because I've done that twice and I think you bring up a really good point and you are living proof of fully embracing that change in your life and making it.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Your entire identity is about that way of life and that lifestyle and that wellness within lifestyle.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Definitely, and I think you know, when you work with clients too, they can tell if you like believe it or like really embrace it, and that's how you can help people, because you do inspire them by the way that you talk about things, or you have a lot of knowledge about it, or you can kind of walk the talk and if, if it's just superficial, it's not really going to get you that far.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: So I think that's definitely something to think about with career changes like be passionate, want to, like breathe it as much as you can, and then that will really catapult you to being in a place that makes you happy and where you can serve other people too.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: Fully immerse it.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, have you found that your friend group has changed?
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously you had to move out of New York City and out to the suburbs, but you know you're making 180 degree shift from PR to, you know not, Western medicine, to acupuncture.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Have you found that your friend group has changed?
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: I mean I've still kept my friends that were always my friends, but it absolutely shifted, I think, my priorities with what I wanted to have in my relationships, what was important to me.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: I think shifting to study a medicine that is kind of being in integrity with your body and what you need made me feel like my friendships and my relationships had to be also in integrity with what I need, like not selling yourself out for like a shiny, I don't know new friend who's not really reliable, like they have to be real and also some.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: I love making friends with people within my industry so we can really get nerdy.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah Right, you want deeper.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: You want deeper connections because that's what you're focusing on.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: You're looking at a deeper way of living, and so you want connections that are deeper, and I have found that are you're the collection of the five people you spend the most time with, and when you become an entrepreneur and you are fully engrossed in your career and what you're doing and you're passionate about wellness, you know you need to be feeding that with five people that are aligned.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Even though your spouse might not be 100% aligned, because there's lots of that, but you know, everybody has a role.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: But you have to find more people that are kind of all in to that spiritual, full body wellness as part of your tribe.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and people that understand I don't know if you've had this experience people that understand the challenges of being a female entrepreneur and juggling running a business with being a mom, because that's a whole unique set of circumstances that not everyone can relate to if they don't have that.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, and I've been lucky to find those people you know, over the course of my transition into this career.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Like anything, it takes time, but once you find them, it's gold, because it really helps you be more like yourself all the time.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: I got very lucky with that.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: That is good.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: That is good.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: So what's on your bucket list?
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: What are some things that you want to do personally and professionally in the future?
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: So many things.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: I am in the midst of launching a corporate wellness program with a massage therapist here, so we want to create like the ultimate spa within someone's organization and bring in.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: We've done this before and now we're kind of formalizing it.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Bring in little ear acupuncture treatments and massage, and we have different practitioners that would also be involved, like a sound bath or yoga or whatever movement.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: We're working on launching that and bringing it locally here.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: So that's one which is very exciting for me.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: And personally, I'm all about travel, so anything that takes me on a trip having a young child makes it a little bit harder, but I'm dying to go to Europe this year and visit friends that live there.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: Good yeah.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: And personally, I am always trying to deepen my meditation and like spiritual practice, like meditation and just being with myself, because life is so fast and every new year's, every birthday, I'm like, okay, this is the year where I'm going to like meditate twice a day and really focus within, but I'm getting there.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: It's always an aspiration, so it's hard.
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: it's hard to be in a business and you have a three-year-old and you sit down, you're like, okay, now's my time.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: And then you know, three minutes later, there's, there's the window, goes out the window.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what type of meditation do you try, because there's a lot out there?
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: I try just to.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: That's a good question too.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: There's so many.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I like seated breathing, because I love to move and it's hard for me to focus, yeah, so it's like the ultimate challenge of just being still, and I find that that gives me so much peace and clarity once I commit to it.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Go for you.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Meditation is tough, I have, I do it and I do it, you know, almost every day.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: But it has been.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: It has been a journey to to get there and I can feel people when they say I just can't meditate and it's.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: I've found that part of it is changing your mindset about what your expectation is from meditation and this concept of you know me thinking that my brain is going to turn off is just not realistic.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: Like that is just not how my brain works, you know.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: So that can't be the goal.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: And once I shifted my goal of understanding or the role that meditation was going to have in my life, then it became a whole lot easier.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Like you said, it's just me spending time inward, with my body and with myself and the thoughts have.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: I'm less attached to the thoughts, but the thoughts still come, but I'm just not as attached to them, and that to me, feels very peaceful and feels like some success and a win, at least for me.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: I'm keeping that in mind, as I like enter and I told myself after a podcast recording I'm going to meditate.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: So there you go, I will, there you go, there you go, and I also.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: I'm less critical, you know.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: It's like, oh, you're supposed to do for 20 minutes, and in the beginning I was like, oh, my goodness, like, at eight minutes, my mind, like I'm just like, oh, I have to, you know, to go do this or whatever something happens.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: And so I'm like you know what, hey, eight minutes was eight minutes, or if it's five minutes or three minutes, that's more than nothing.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: So finding the wins in just the smaller time period I also felt has helped me a bit.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: I've got a long way to go, though, like you, I've got a long way.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: We all do.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: We have our lives.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: All the tweaks.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: Exactly, yes, exactly.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: So I always ask all my guests to recommend a book that has been impactful for them, either from their personal wellness, their career journey or their life journey, that they think someone should read, because I have learned so much from books and find that books are so powerful.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: So if there was a book that you would recommend, what would it be?
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Ah, it's such a hard question because I love to read.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: I'm always reading something.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: My first gut answer when I thought about this it's called Polishing the Mirror and it's by Ram Dass and I never really knew about him until a couple of years ago and it's pretty much a practical guide on how to live in the moment and be of service to others.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: It's pretty much a practical guide on how to live in the moment and be of service to others and it's so humorous and touching and introduces so many different experiences and ideas that it just kind of caught me.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: And I've since then read so many of his books and I feel like any teacher or any book that's helping you step into the world with love and service is like a win.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: So that's my recommendation.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: And I have not read that one, so I will link it in the show notes, I will buy it, I will read it and I will comment and tell people how it is, because I learned from the recommendations that all of my podcast guests give.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: I would say two out of three times I've read the book, but I get so excited when someone recommends a book that I haven't read.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm happy that it's new to you too.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, so thank you so much.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: So, before we go, is there anything that I didn't ask you that you want to share about your business, your life, the importance of acupuncture, anything I didn't ask that you think is really important for people to know?
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe just the messages.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: There are steps you can take to feel better, like no one should walk through life feeling like they're sick or they're tired or they're not their best selves.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: If that's you, it may not be acupuncture.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: That's the modality for you, but try to find a good professional that can give you holistic care, that can listen to everything going on and help you get a better picture of your health, because we deserve to feel good, we deserve to be energized and supported.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: So maybe it's acupuncture or another modality, but, yeah, get the help.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: That is such a good message to end on.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Everyone deserves to feel good, thank you.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much much, erica, for being a guest.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: I actually and I've done acupuncture before, but I actually learned so much because I haven't done it in a while.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: I learned so much and if I am ever anywhere near you in pennsylvania, I am coming for your facial acupuncture treatment because that sounds addicting and fabulous and and something I would really If ever back.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: I will be back in Europe practicing soon, so I will keep you posted.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: Definitely let me know.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: I would 100% make trips into the city to do that and try that.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: So thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: I know you're so busy with your practice.
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: So thank you for joining, thank you for educating us and thank you for inspiring us, and we will talk soon.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: Have a great day, thank you, bye.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us for another episode of the House of Jermar podcast, where wellness starts within.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: We appreciate you being a part of our community and hope you felt inspired and motivated by our guest.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: If you enjoyed this episode, please write us a review and share it with friends.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: Building our reach on YouTube and Apple podcasts will help us get closer to our mission to empower 1 million women to live all in.
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: You can also follow us on Instagram at House of Jermar and sign up to be a part of our monthly inspiration newsletter through our website, houseofjermarcom.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: If you or someone you know would be a good guest on the show, please reach out to us at podcast at houseofgermarcom.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: This has been a House of Germar production with your host, jean Collins.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining our house.