Self Healing Tips

January Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.

When our economy plummeted, the mainstream finally had a realization – we need change.  Many people were saying this for some time.  Now that we have become this unpopular in the eyes of other nations, now that we are this much struggling in our own financial crisis, now that we are this dire for a revolution, we have finally elected for change.  The nature of the earth, human beings, and the universe is change.  It is only through resisting change that we incur national problems, housing market collapses, and personal illness. 

April Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.

While winter was a time of storage and consolidation, in Spring the energy of Wood emerges.  Spring brings a sprouting, blooming, warming, and expanding.  It is the time of birth and rebirth.  In the next day or two, find a tree somewhere in your immediate environment where you can witness the progress of Spring.  You might see a few light green baby leaves bursting out of the branches.  Soon, there will be many more tiny leaves, and the first ones will grow bigger and darker. 

What part of you, what aspect of your life, wants to grow and evolve from a bare branch into a mature wonder?  Every couple of days for the month of April, go check out your tree; then nurture the part of you that comes up and says “that’s like me.”  Go with the energy of what is new in your life.  If there is nothing, take some time this month to seek out new things that you may have been curious about.  Spring is the time to renew and reinvent.

Because the inward energy of Winter is all about consolidation and storage, sometimes the oppositional energy of Spring – the outward expansion and cleansing – seems difficult.  We often get stuck, which leads to irritability and anger.  Instead of resisting the obstacles, try to breathe into them.  Spring is the best time to cleanse the body, to free up space and energy so that you can go with what is new in your life.

August Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.


It is now August. The fall clothing catalogs have arrived. The back-to-school sales are on. Even our big heat wave has taken a breather. Whoever decided that August was the start of autumn had it slightly askew, by my book. I'm certainly not knocking being prepared, but it's not quite time to stop the big summer growth spurt just yet. If you're anything like me, you're still doing some expanding. Hey, it is only August, after all. The beach is still beckoning; the bees are still buzzing; the sunlight still lasts until almost 8 o'clock in the evening. It feels to me like not just my heart, but also the hearts of so many amazing people around me, are really blooming wide open this summer. So let's keep celebrating, loving, and softening for at least another 31 days.

October Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.

It's October. The days are now shorter than they've been in quite awhile. We are about to turn the clocks back and welcome even earlier nightfall. The earth's yang energy is moving inward. Our tai qi and yoga practices are becoming deeper and more internal. Our meditations are plunging into the depths. The cool crisp air and the autumn winds are here, and they are very drying in nature. We are craving more sleep, as well as more nourishing and warmer foods which also cleanse the Lung and Large Intestine.

March Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.

Spring into a New State of Wellness

March is here, and the calendar tells us that means Winter is handing over its mittens for the raincoat of Spring's arrival. Although we have jasmine flowers and roses blooming all throughout the Winter here in Los Angeles, the way of nature tells us that Spring's energy is an explosive burst not unlike a two-year-old's temper tantrum in the weeks before she starts talking. After the introspective stillness of Winter's influence, we awake into Spring replete with energy, ready to grow and change, eager to become and try new things. If not honored, this Spring energy will get stuck and become stagnant, leading to feelings of anger and frustration, becoming like a tree trying to grow inside a box. For nature, Spring is the birth of the new year that began its conception on the Winter Solstice. Winter becomes Spring officially on the Vernal equinox, which occurs this year on March 20th.

May Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.

In May, flowers bloom, weather warms up, and Spring expands its long, outstretched arms toward Summer. The peak of this season has arrived. If you haven't already been inspired, now is the time to clean out those cupboards and create space for new things to enter your life. If you did that weeks ago, you may already be nurturing the new – a class you wanted to try, a recipe, a trip planned to somewhere you've never been. Some of us find ourselves able to take advantage of slashed prices and great deals to seize new opportunities this Spring. Others of us find ourselves stuck, wanting to flow and expand, yet feeling our wallets, worlds, even our hopes a little, contracting.

September Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa

September is a magical time in our year.  It marks a time of transition from the Earth element of late summer into the Metal element of Autumn.  Through this transition, both elements are activating and strengthening themselves, and in doing so, they are both revealing their vulnerabilities along the way.  The Earth element is about stability, centering and connection.  It deals with the Spleen and Stomach as the center of all experience and the foundation of all energy in the body.  These are the main processing nexus of the entire human organism.  The Metal element is all about order, organization, and inspiration.  It also deals with releasing old materials, through the CO2 we exhale from the LU, as well as the solid waste we release throug

December Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.

"The Master travels all day without leaving home"
- Tao Te Ching

The recent holiday allowed many of us Angelinos to travel out of the LA area. If you're like me and found yourself in a colder, more northern climate, you may have been shocked by the different energy of the season. Winter is coming. Though in the West we make peace with our own Winter climate, facing fires, winds, and heat, it serves us well to modify our behavior in alignment with the grosser energy shifts of more northern, colder climates. Let the recent fires remind us to tend to and take care of the Water element within this Winter. Too much expenditure of Yang in the Water season, when we should be cultivating Yin, leads to dry conditions and Empty Fire. This is what we see in the environment around us.

April Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.


Spring is here, and the most important element of good health is to go with the flow. There are limitless ways of doing this. With tai chi and yoga practice, we get the body's chi and blood flowing. As the chi moves, we relax. We experience the ease of being in the flow of things. There is less struggle, frustration, stress and resistance in general. We can thank the Liver and the healthy flow of Wood energy for this delicious feeling in our lives. Remember - the most important thing you can do for your Liver is just to relax. Relax. Relax...

July Self-Healing Tips

Written by Julie Festa, L.Ac.

July brings us into the peak of summer. With the long hot days and relatively short hot nights, our bodies need the balance of yin in order to thrive in the summer season. Summer is the time of the Fire element, whose organs include the Heart, Small Intestine, Pericardium, and Triple Burner. The Pericardium is also known as the Heart Wrapper or Heart Protector. In Chinese medicine, the Pericardium plays an important role in maintaining heart health and soothing the spirit.

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