Shannon Larson, Registered Acupuncturist
Shannon Larson Acupuncture
Trained to work with a wide variety of conditions, Registered Acupuncturist Shannon Larson specializes in women's health, with a focus on fertility and pregnancy. Shannon's presentation centered on a well-known troublemaker from which no human being is immune: stress.
Banton Medical Dictionary defines stress as:
Any factor that threatens the health of the body or has an adverse effect on its functioning , such as injury, disease, or worry. The existence of one form of stress tends to diminish resistance to other forms. Constant stress bring about changes in the balance of hormones in the body.
To understand stress and its treatment from an acupuncture and Chinese Medicine perspective, it's worth beginning with Yin & Yang 101. Yin and Yang represent balance, with Yin referring to body fluid, blood and a generally cooling effect, while Yang is warm and maintains the smooth flow of Qi (essential vitality or energy) throughout the body's meridians (channels that may, in Western Medicine, correspond to fasciae, which are the many connective tissues surrounding muscles, blood vessels and nerves.)
The liver conducts Qi's movement throughout the body. When we're unusually anxious or out of sorts, this critical organ is unable to do its job properly and then ... Houston, we have a problem:
Liver Qi stagnation -- aka, STRESS.
Symptoms of liver Qi stagnation include pain along sides of the body, depression, mood swings, inappropriate anger, abdominal discomfort, churning sensation in stomach, and a host of others.
Acupuncture alleviates liver Qi stagnations not only by moving blood but also moving Qi (i.e. releasing the dam). Points are chosen based on the affected meridian pathways and tailored to each individual's physical response to stress. The goal? Balance the yin relative to the yang and move Qi, thus bringing the body back into balance.
Shannon stresses, however, that no ethical practitioner wants to keep her patients forever. The obective is to bring patients back to a state of balance and easy self-maintenance.Prevention works too, so Shannon encourages us to eat whole, organic food, regularly and in healthy quantities (i.e. 80% full). Exercise (20 minutes, 3 to 5 times a week), meditation/deep breathing (20 minutes a day), and sleep also help keep us balanced and thereby healthy.
Shannon practices Wednesdays and Thursdays at:
Alchemy and Elixir Health Group
#320 - 1026 Davie Street, Vancouver
On Tuesdays and Fridays:
Bonn Chiropractic
3-1238 Homer St, Vancouver
Contact Shannon today to find out how acupuncture can bring you relief from pain, discomfort or stress.
Shannon Larson Acupuncture: Using an age-old medicine to cure today's modern pains.
shannonlarsoshannonlarson@gmail.com
website: vancouvertcm.com
cel: 778 233 0074
30 October 2010
This Week's Presenter Is...
Christine Turner, Travel Agent
The Frugal Traveller
Our gadget-loving travel agent Christine Turner of The Frugal Travelers drew upon her visual savvy as she treated us to a slideshow featuring, among other tempting sights, images of tropical wedding destinations.
Christine, who herself tied the knot in Varadero, Cuba, dispelled the myth that destination weddings are more expensive than locally planned celebrations. On the contrary, destination weddings can save couples an average of $15,000.
The average cost of a wedding in Canada, once you've factored in expenses for a banquet dinner, flowers, cake, photography, DJ, ceremony and venue rental costs, can be upwards of $20,000. By comparison, the cost of a Mexican resort wedding event can be as little as $5,000, and with Christine sourcing out the best possible package deals, destination weddings can be an excellent value, even considering travel costs.
Another advantage? Because the celebration is spread out over several days, couples can spend more quality time with their guests.
All-inclusive Luxury
You don't have to be engaged to take advantage of the many luxury travel deals accessible to Christine. Packages can include such pluses as "no wrist bands" classification (nice not to stand out like day-glo signage when you're out and about) and an English-speaking staff. Often you'll have a choice of several upscale restaurants, and if they do require reservations and no seats are available, you'll be given a pager so you can enjoy a pre-dinner drink as you wait for notification. 24 hour room service may also be available.
What's the deal with travel insurance?
Many of us may assume - erroneously, as it turns out - that the travel insurance policies provided by our credit card plans are more comprehensive than may be the case. Trip delay insurance can be particularly tricky. For instance, while your policy may (or may not) cover rebooking due to flight delays, it won't cover missed flights for other reasons, e.g. your shuttle bus breaks down en route to the airport. To learn more, please read Christine's informative blog post, To Insure or Not to Insure ... Travel Insurance & Credit Cards. Given that trip delay insurance can be purchased for as little as $7 a day, it's an option worth considering.
Ready for a vacation? Contact Christine today and put her expertise to work for you.
Travel better. Spend less.
1 866 988 5283
christine@thefrugaltravelers.com
www.thefrugaltravelers.com
blog.thefrugaltravelers.com
The Frugal Traveller
Our gadget-loving travel agent Christine Turner of The Frugal Travelers drew upon her visual savvy as she treated us to a slideshow featuring, among other tempting sights, images of tropical wedding destinations.
Christine, who herself tied the knot in Varadero, Cuba, dispelled the myth that destination weddings are more expensive than locally planned celebrations. On the contrary, destination weddings can save couples an average of $15,000.
The average cost of a wedding in Canada, once you've factored in expenses for a banquet dinner, flowers, cake, photography, DJ, ceremony and venue rental costs, can be upwards of $20,000. By comparison, the cost of a Mexican resort wedding event can be as little as $5,000, and with Christine sourcing out the best possible package deals, destination weddings can be an excellent value, even considering travel costs.
Another advantage? Because the celebration is spread out over several days, couples can spend more quality time with their guests.
All-inclusive Luxury
You don't have to be engaged to take advantage of the many luxury travel deals accessible to Christine. Packages can include such pluses as "no wrist bands" classification (nice not to stand out like day-glo signage when you're out and about) and an English-speaking staff. Often you'll have a choice of several upscale restaurants, and if they do require reservations and no seats are available, you'll be given a pager so you can enjoy a pre-dinner drink as you wait for notification. 24 hour room service may also be available.
What's the deal with travel insurance?
Many of us may assume - erroneously, as it turns out - that the travel insurance policies provided by our credit card plans are more comprehensive than may be the case. Trip delay insurance can be particularly tricky. For instance, while your policy may (or may not) cover rebooking due to flight delays, it won't cover missed flights for other reasons, e.g. your shuttle bus breaks down en route to the airport. To learn more, please read Christine's informative blog post, To Insure or Not to Insure ... Travel Insurance & Credit Cards. Given that trip delay insurance can be purchased for as little as $7 a day, it's an option worth considering.
Ready for a vacation? Contact Christine today and put her expertise to work for you.
Travel better. Spend less.
1 866 988 5283
christine@thefrugaltravelers.com
www.thefrugaltravelers.com
blog.thefrugaltravelers.com
07 October 2010
This Week's Presenter Is...
Rachel von Sturmer, Insurance Advisor
True Benefits Financial
True Benefits is an independent life and health insurance brokerage. As its founder and principal, Rachel works hard to find her clients the best coverage and pricing from over 25 top Canadian insurers. Committed to sustainability, True Benefits goes paperless where possible, buys recycled office products such as stationery and cards, offsets their carbon footprint, and has a company SMART car.
Services include: Customized insurance recommendations may include Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, Employee Benefit Plans (5 - 150 employees), Health Trusts for Self-Employed Persons, Individual Health and Dental Plans, or Mortgage Insurance.
This week Rachel focused on the services she offers in her capacity as a Life & Health Insurance Advisor specializing in employee benefits. Because small businesses often find employee benefits unaffordable, Rachel brought to our attention the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan, which is pooled and flexible (you can choose types of coverage rather than having to buy a packaged plan), thereby being a more realistic choice for many small businesses. The Chambers Plan also offers guaranteed renewable coverage. Visit chambergroup.ca for further information, or contact Rachel to see if the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan is right for your business.
Phone: 604.872.2866
Fax: 1.866.385.2002
Email: rachel@truebenefits.ca
Website: truebenefits.ca
Blog: truebenefits.typepad.com
True Benefits Financial
True Benefits is an independent life and health insurance brokerage. As its founder and principal, Rachel works hard to find her clients the best coverage and pricing from over 25 top Canadian insurers. Committed to sustainability, True Benefits goes paperless where possible, buys recycled office products such as stationery and cards, offsets their carbon footprint, and has a company SMART car.
Services include: Customized insurance recommendations may include Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, Employee Benefit Plans (5 - 150 employees), Health Trusts for Self-Employed Persons, Individual Health and Dental Plans, or Mortgage Insurance.
This week Rachel focused on the services she offers in her capacity as a Life & Health Insurance Advisor specializing in employee benefits. Because small businesses often find employee benefits unaffordable, Rachel brought to our attention the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan, which is pooled and flexible (you can choose types of coverage rather than having to buy a packaged plan), thereby being a more realistic choice for many small businesses. The Chambers Plan also offers guaranteed renewable coverage. Visit chambergroup.ca for further information, or contact Rachel to see if the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan is right for your business.
Phone: 604.872.2866
Fax: 1.866.385.2002
Email: rachel@truebenefits.ca
Website: truebenefits.ca
Blog: truebenefits.typepad.com
06 October 2010
3 Steps to Writing The Perfect Blog Post
If you are like me, you usually watch a movie, read a good book or listen to a song and then move on. You either find it trash or memorable. There is once in a blue moon though when you find a really great movie and you can identify with all the characters, you may even remember some of the things that they said for years to come. The one thing that makes that book, movie, or song really great is that it told a good story.
If there is one thing that catches people's attention these days is a good story. It usually has something that people can relate to on some level, that may be going on in their own lives at that particular moment. The same might go for someone who is reading your blog or listening to your 60 second infomercial in BNI.
There are three single most important things that are good to do when sitting down to start blogging:
1. Tell a story - stories stick like peanut butter for the brain. It is one way people with an active imagination can relate to the scenario as well. The best way to be a good story teller is to start reading and do it every day. It’s amazing how much context you can give your posts when you incorporate funny stories, insightful anecdotes and timely real-world news.
2. Have a Beginning a Middle and a memorable end - if you look back to the days when your parents read to you at bedtime, those stories always were perfectly constructed for a small mind with no attention span, engaged the reader and had a nice moral ending. I am not saying that everytime you sit down it must be a cliff hanger, or you have to turn into the next Mark Twain. Take the blog post and break it up so that these three rules apply and you are golden.
3. Contain me, me , me - my husband is right, it is all about me, but don't you notice that the stories that have the most impact involve the writer doing something wrong, or learning a lesson. Most blogs don't publish their misgivings or mistakes as it makes bad PR, but there is a way to wrap that story up with a good moral at the end on how you learned your lesson and you learned it well.
If there is one thing that catches people's attention these days is a good story. It usually has something that people can relate to on some level, that may be going on in their own lives at that particular moment. The same might go for someone who is reading your blog or listening to your 60 second infomercial in BNI.
There are three single most important things that are good to do when sitting down to start blogging:
1. Tell a story - stories stick like peanut butter for the brain. It is one way people with an active imagination can relate to the scenario as well. The best way to be a good story teller is to start reading and do it every day. It’s amazing how much context you can give your posts when you incorporate funny stories, insightful anecdotes and timely real-world news.
2. Have a Beginning a Middle and a memorable end - if you look back to the days when your parents read to you at bedtime, those stories always were perfectly constructed for a small mind with no attention span, engaged the reader and had a nice moral ending. I am not saying that everytime you sit down it must be a cliff hanger, or you have to turn into the next Mark Twain. Take the blog post and break it up so that these three rules apply and you are golden.
3. Contain me, me , me - my husband is right, it is all about me, but don't you notice that the stories that have the most impact involve the writer doing something wrong, or learning a lesson. Most blogs don't publish their misgivings or mistakes as it makes bad PR, but there is a way to wrap that story up with a good moral at the end on how you learned your lesson and you learned it well.
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