What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is the placement of single-use, fine steel needles at specific locations throughout the body to elicit several self-healing mechanisms.  Acupuncture is the most popular therapy of a system called Traditional Chinese Medicine, which has consistently been practiced for a majority of human civilization over the last 5000 years. The tools of conventional medicine, primarily drugs and surgery, seek to suppress symptoms with less regard for their effects on the rest of the person, treating a person like a car with interchangeable parts. Traditional Chinese Medicine sees a person as an integrated whole and under the influence of every aspect of life; including physical health, mental wellbeing, environment, nutrition and lifestyle. A person is seen as an ecosystem where each of the interdependent climates must be simultaneously researched and cared for.

How Does Acupuncture Work?

Where there is stagnation there is disease. This classic Chinese saying points to the body’s need for open and clear channels to deliver nutrients and dispose of waste. If either input or output is compromised then problems arise. Acupuncture is traditionally explained as regulating the proper flow of Qi (pronounced chee) or vital energy to areas of the body with a stagnation in its flow. Simply, acupuncture allows for this flow to be restored and the many systems of the body to once again work in harmony.

For many, it helps to understand the ability of acupuncture to regulate the flow of blood. In the blood is your water, oxygen, medicine, hormones and your food. If an organ or part of the body is starved of these resources then disease arises. And similar problems occur if dead blood cells, toxic chemicals, or other inflammatory waste products aren’t properly eliminated. The proper manipulation of your blood’s delivery system with acupuncture results in the body self-treating its many health concerns. With the added benefits of acupuncture, the body’s resources for fighting these issues are put into effect more rapidly and with more effectiveness than if left to its own devices. Studies confirm acupuncture’s effects on dilating blood vessels and reducing inflammation, thus restoring proper blood flow.

Acupuncture also causes the release of the body’s powerful chemicals to alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, lift the mood and promote relaxation. This can rapidly change the course of acute problems such as pain or anxiety. 

Chronic cases of pain as well as many internal disorders can remain unchanged due to a number of different reasons, including nerves not working properly anymore. “Sick” nerves lose their ability to tell the brain where bodily resources are needed. This is the perfect recipe for chronic disease, which can last indefinitely. Chronic disease can be simply viewed as the body getting good at being sick. The use of acupuncture allows nerve pathways to be re-stimulated and, over time, “train” them to act appropriately, turning around deficient function and improving one’s ability to heal.

What Can Acupuncture Treat?

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine encompass a whole system of medicine that may address most any medical concern. Acupuncture is designed to promote healing and improve function, which is crucial to heal any issue. Many conditions are well known for their response to acupuncture, and the list gets longer every year, including the following:

• Addiction & Withdrawal
• Allergies
• Anxiety & Depression
• Arthritis
• Attention Deficit
• Autoimmune Disorders
• Cancer
• Chronic Fatigue
• Cold & Flu
• Cough & Asthma
• Diabetes
• Digestive & Bowel Disorders
• Ear, Nose & Throat Disorders
• Fibromyalgia
• Heart Disease
• Infertility
• Men’s Health
• Pain
• Pediatric Disorders
• Pregnancy
• Skin Conditions
• Sleep Disorders
• Urinary Disorders
• Weight Control
• Women’s Health

How Many Treatments are Needed?

Acupuncture and all the other modalities that make up the Chinese medical system are prescribed on an individual basis. This means that each person is assessed uniquely and what might make sense for one person may be very inappropriate for another. This holds true for treatment plans. Generally, newer and smaller issues can be addressed in a few treatments over several days or weeks. While many chronic or severe concerns can require much longer treatment courses lasting months or longer. Each new patient receives a full medical review and a custom treatment plan. However, nothing in Chinese medicine is set in stone. A treatment plan is a best guess based on both the condition being treated and the experience of the practitioner. Each visit may offer new insights and an opportunity to update any aspect of the therapies chosen or the frequency of their use.

Does Acupuncture Have Side Effects?

One of the major advantages of acupuncture and Chinese medicine is the lack of serious side effects. The most common side effects of acupuncture are bruising or a light-headed feeling, while a large majority of patients report a sense of calm and wellbeing. If you have specific questions you are welcome to contact us at any time before or after you become a patient.

People usually find psychotherapy when their old ways of coping no longer work and they get stuck in dysfunctional patterns or relationships. Therapy is a place where you can increase insight into those patterns, develop new tools and have more fulfilling relationships. Breanna Moskovitz, LMFT is a multi-faceted practitioner who believes in meeting people where they are at, and building on the strengths and resources that you already possess. It is possible to find joy in the darkest of places. Click here to find out more about Breanna and to schedule an appointment.

What is Chinese Herbal Medicine?

When we consume anything – be it a food, a drug, or an herb – the body is affected. The professional preparation and combination of natural substances is what enables Chinese Herbal Medicine to hold such an important place in the system of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Natural substances offer the patient the ability to treat themselves at home. If acupuncture is the physical therapy that accesses the body from the outside, herbal therapy allows chemical and physical changes to take place internally, offering direct access to the bodily systems that need attention. At New Harmony Health these two therapies are often used simultaneously, serving as a powerful one-two punch of modern Chinese medical care. New Harmony Health carries hundreds of different patent pills, single herbs, tinctures and topical products. Pills, tinctures and topicals offer convenient methods to take this medicine; and the single herbs allow the practitioner the utmost control in treatment by customizing herbal combinations.

How Does Chinese Herbal Medicine Work?

The thousands of natural substances that make up Chinese Herbal Medicine all differ in their inherent taste, temperature and areas of activity within the body. When skillfully combined there’s almost no part of the body an herbal formula cannot influence. Each herb is categorized according to its primary function when consumed. Some categories include clearing heat, expelling pathogens, draining fluid, warming the interior, generating blood, and many others. Herbs are typically combined into formulas and since the first Chinese herbal body of work was compiled around 260 B.C. there have been many popular practitioners and schools of thought in how to best use these herbal combinations.

Why are Chinese Herbs Prescribed?

Herbal medicine’s advantage over the use of acupuncture is its frequency of use. Several times a day a customized blend of herbs are consumed by a patient to address a wide variety of concerns. Another advantage is the medicine’s ability to supplement what might be lacking in the body. Acupuncture and other physical therapies help do this as well through the improvement of organ function but literally putting strong substances in the body can be seen as the quickest way to add nutrients where there may be a lack. The practice of Herbal medicine is so important that a majority of medical treatments in China have always been initiated by herbal therapy. Acupuncture was often used when herbs didn’t do the job on their own. Today, both acupuncture and herbs are used simultaneously by almost all our patients for the quickest road to improvement.

How Long Do I Need Herbal Medicine?

Like many of our therapies, the use of herbs can be used only once or can be taken for months or years if there is a chronic problem. And like all our therapies, you may evaluate your treatment plan with your practitioner at any time. Your treatment plan and your herbal therapy are each customized to address the unique person with their unique condition. Your practitioner will setup regular intervals to evaluate your herbal therapy and frequency of use.

Where Do Herbs Come From?

New Harmony Health sources our herbs from several reputable American Companies who get most of their high quality herbs from China and Taiwan. With safety testing and species authentication, our herbs share the same rigorous evaluation as those at top Chinese and American hospitals.

Do Chinese Herbs Have Side Effects?

As with anything administered by mouth there may be the occasional change in digestion. Complaints are uncommon and largely addressed by a change in dosage. We are always available to help address questions or concerns of any kind and invite inquiries before or after you become our patient. Your comfort is our biggest priority.

What Can Chinese Herbs Treat?

Given the variety of substances numbering in the thousands, herbal formulas have been constructed as a response to disorders spanning the history of our civilization. Modern disorders like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and irritable bowel sydrome join a very long list of issues historically treated with herbal medicine such as digestive disorders, allergies, and infectious diseases. Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and the other modalities that make up the system of Traditional Chinese Medicine serve to treat the whole body. New Harmony Health has specialities we are more known for like women’s health, natural pediatrics, integrative oncology, and pain relief; but New Harmony Health is a family practice, using herbal medicine as a natural response to almost any known condition.

Hippocrates is widely considered the father of modern medicine and famously said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Predating even Hippocrates is the Chinese medical study of nutrition to promote healing for specific diseases. Much more than quantifying food by its calorie and nutrient content is the idea that both food and herbal medicine have therapeutic actions due to their inherent taste and temperature, alongside which organ systems are activated upon eating them. Every New Harmony Health patient receives basic nutritional advice. For those that need deeper guidance we offer Clinical Nutrition Consultations after a patient has recorded their eating habits and preferences so that our practitioner can devise a healing menu that is both effective for the given condition and integrates easily with any person’s schedule.

Innovative Acupuncture

Acupuncture Injection Therapy (AIT), also referred to as Biopuncture, is the combined stimulation of acupuncture points with a physical needle and a chemical nutrient. Injection therapies have existed for decades. In the 1950s, Chinese acupuncturists began to use fine hypodermic needles to inject sterile liquid medicines. Today, these natural injectable medicines include single herb extracts, ultra-low dose herbal formulas, saline, homeopathics, vitamins and minerals. The theory and practice of acupuncture remains the same but with an updated use of tools. 

I received my first acupuncture injection therapy and stepped off the table for the first time in 30 years pain free!

Synergistic Effects

With AIT, traditional acupuncture now benefits from the synergistic effects of an injected nutrient which is left at the acupuncture point to prolong the effects. Given that the medicine is locally injected it can treat an area much stronger and quicker than waiting for foods and medicines alone to first pass through the digestion. Conventional medicine uses drugs to suppress symptoms. AIT’s combined herb-needle therapy is designed to stimulate the immune system and improve the body’s many healing processes. AIT shares these qualities with acupuncture and the other tools used in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Thanks to its unique qualities AIT has seen a global rise in popularity. It is prescribed especially for the following conditions and many others:

• Pain disorders, headaches, neuropathy
• Chronic fatigue, weight management
• Digestive & urogenital disorders
• Allergies & respiratory problems
• Scar revision & facial rejuvenation

I’ve been so impressed. I have significant scarring from surgeries. After just a few treatments the scars are significantly smoother and my mobility has greatly improved.

I feel like I have a new lease on life. I can’t stop telling people about this therapy.

What Happens During An AIT Treatment?

A consultation always precedes a treatment to clarify the treatment’s focus and its use alongside other tools like traditional acupuncture or herbal supplements. The first treatment starts with a quick allergy test on the skin to ensure the medicine is compatible. The practitioner then chooses acupuncture points to inject and the patient rests for about 30 minutes as the body incorporates the medicine. Like acupuncture, the injection needles used are small and there may be a small “pinch” sensation if anything is felt at all. Your practitioner will design a treatment frequency specific for you with periods of re-evaluation.

Like any modality used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the practitioner is just as important as the tool being used. At New Harmony Health we take care to forge a trusting partnership with our patients and make the necessary recommendations for treatment. When it comes to responding to your concerns, tools like AIT will be discussed among all appropriate factors to improve your symptoms and your life, including nutrition, movement and stress management.

Foundational Medicine

People often find themselves living and behaving in patterns that create stress and disease. Improper thoughts, foods or actions can create a wide range of symptoms. The physical and energetic medicine of acupuncture and Chinese herbs has provided the way to overcome these challenges for thousands of years.

Chinese medical energy healing has been studied for 5,000 years in China and is called InfiniChi at New Harmony Health. InfiniChi comes from the 38 generations of healers in the renowned Ni family, who certified Jason Moskovitz as a practitioner. InfiniChi serves as the energetic foundation for all modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, including acupuncture, herbal medicine and tuina bodywork.

I really love this. I could feel the energy vibrating and moving up and down my body.

Essential Energy

In Chinese medicine, the power of the body’s healing systems is accessed by a transfer of energy. This is often done with tools like acupuncture needles, food or herbs. InfiniChi is a practice of medical energy healing that focuses solely on this transfer of energy where the practitioner is the therapeutic tool. It is a non-touch therapy where a practitioner reads and manipulates the internal and external energies of a patient to bring about healing and balance. Areas of weakness are strengthened and areas too excessive are gently purged. This is done by reception and emission of qi (energy) from the practitioner. You can feel the invisible energy yourself when you hold your hand over an ice cube or a lit candle.

InfiniChi shares the same scope of practice as acupuncture and herbal medicine but works especially well for the following:

• chronic pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia
• depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia
• headache, tremors
• upset stomach, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome
• pre-menstrual disorder, moodiness, cramps

Astonishing. So subtle. I released tears and grief I didn’t know were still there.

A lovely experience. I felt lifted in every way.

What Happens During An InfiniChi Treatment?

First, a consultation will inform the InfiniChi practitioner of the treatment focus. Then, either lying down or sitting, the patient is instructed to breathe calmly and relax. The practitioner takes an initial reading of energies in order to assess areas of imbalance. From this point, a host of qi manipulation techniques are performed as the practitioner’s hands move around the patient while making the necessary adjustments. There may also be the use of light massage, acupressure, or guided visualization to further direct the flow of energy. The patient may experience deep relaxation, temperature changes, numbness, tingling, light-headedness, emotions, or body movement. It’s also normal to experience no physical sensation during the treatment. The InfiniChi practitioner customizes each 30-minute session and the treatment frequency to meet the unique needs of the patient.

This was a soothing, relaxing experience. I could feel the flow of energy in my arms, legs, and stomach. I saw bright light several times, something I’ve never experienced before.

The real power of InfiniChi comes from two places: a trusting patient-practitioner relationship and the training of the practitioner. A skilled therapist’s intentions will be aligned with the patient’s. Together they will literally think, feel, and relax their way to meeting a healing objective. These kinds of interactions already take place when you receive a New Harmony Health acupuncture treatment. What makes InfiniChi unique is the sole focus on this more subtle energy, allowing a very special experience to take place.

InfiniChi perfectly supplements other Chinese medical treatments, ensuring that your wellness goals are effectively met. Its ease of administration makes it ideal for those sensitive to needles or herbal medicine, and its portability allows anyone to be treated, including those with mobility issues.

Very calming and nurturing. I felt like I was floating.

Distance Healing for You and Your Animals

InfiniChi can be accessed from anywhere. If a visit to our clinic is not available InfiniChi is still an option for you or your pets.  Animal treatments are only done through distance healing. A short consultation is conducted through phone or email and treatments are received from the comfort of your own space. Just like the near-instant energy transmission of cell phones or radios; the living body has the ability to emit and receive energy for health and healing over great distances.

It is incredible what Jason can do from many miles away.  I can feel the treatment as I head into a state of deep relaxation.

Jason has treated 3 of our pets. We had a dog with mouth cancer. The oncologist said it was the first time he had ever seen the tumor disappear.

We invite you to contact us to make an appointment or ask any questions.

In the Chinese medical system taichi, qigong and meditation are crucial tools to enable healing of both the body and the mind. Practicing physical postures can strengthen the body and heal disease. Breathing techniques can enhance the delivery of life-giving oxygen to the farthest reaches of the body. Cultivating one’s intent and a mindful lifestyle serve to give everyone a clearer focus for healing or personal growth. We often prescribe patient-specific exercises and may offer classes and community resources.

Each human is a small representation of the nature surrounding us. The changes on earth mimic those within the body, represented by the elements wood, fire, earth, metal and water. These represent stages of physical, mental and emotional development as well as personality types, each of us containing all of these elements in differing quantities. Holding a mirror up to your nature can offer a deeper understanding of your gifts and challenges. Working with a coach can enhance this process, offering exercises – both mental and physical – to strengthen areas of weakness and express gifts that may be hidden from one’s life. A deeper perspective on one’s makeup allows a fuller expression of one’s life, bringing each of us ever closer to living our passion and using every opportunity for personal growth.

When acupuncture requires supplementation, Chinese bodywork can serve as the key to unlock physical healing. Larger networks of soft tissue can be manipulated with several tools like cupping (a suction therapy), guasha (a scraping technique) and the hands (as in acupressure). Safe for kids and adults, the duration and strength of each bodywork treatment can be altered to match the tolerance of each person and the needs of their condition.