Jan Bull 

February 12, 2020

Qi Gong are gentle exercises which combine rhythmic movement and breathing.   I do Qi Gong every day and it keeps my low back condition at bay. I haven't had a full out cold in years.  Below are links to some of my favorite routines.  It has changed my life. My commitment to myself is at least  7 minutes. Mediatative movement like Qi Gong helps reduce stress, decrease depression, and remove areas of stagnation in the body and mind which can lead to pain through stretching and bringing in oxygen to the body (Payne, 2013). 

• 20 Minute Morning routine (Free):   boosts immunity and help with seasonal allergies and energy

• 20 Minute Evening Routine (Free) for de-stressing or chillin for Evening and Sleep

• Seated QiGong (Free)-      Perfect at the office, pregnancy, or after a long day on your feet

• TMJ QiGong and General Head Relief (Free)

• Pregnancy Yoga Series week by week (Free)

• Haola Sound QiGong for deep inner healing (Free):  "Ha" is the sound of the heart in Chinese Medicine. Sound is vibration and can also be releasing and healing.  Haola means "doing well and getting better."  Even if you don't feel this, saying it slowly changes our relationship with our pain, our anxiety, our illness as the deep vibration of healing speaks to the inner most part of us.   Give it a try.  It is playful and joyful...you can't help yourself.

• Qigong Resources for Women: Radiate Lotus ($20) & Medical Qigong ($20) ! (Daisy Lee):  These are specific for YOU women! I  highly recommend these. I have not seen much just for  us! :

• Jan's Videos:

Scholarly Reference: Payne, P., & Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2013). Meditative movement for depression and anxiety. Frontiers in psychiatry, 4, 71.

May 01, 2020

Many of us, ok probably most of us, have some difficult areas in the realm of sexuality that come from our upbringing, societal taboos, relationship and life trauma, Religion, and all of it. For wonderful online workshops on healing our relationship with Sexuality and becoming more fully conscious and alive in life, I highly recommend Shakti Shiva Academy. I've taken many courses with them and admire their sensitivity, integrity in facilitating this work and leading students through to amazing new places of awakening.

Current courses being offered include (Recordings of online classes are always available).

May 14: Basic Sexual Shadow Workshop (7 weeks) click here to read more and register: BSSW

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July 2020 Full 9 month Sexual Shadow Workshop & Integration: click here to read more: SSW&I

February 01, 2020

With permission from and huge gratitude to Kathleen Hanagan, Psychotherapist, I offer her two beautiful practices for keeping and deepening the connection with your beloveds whether a partner, a child, a parent or friend. 

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In the flurry of doing life, and children, and work, it can s easy to loose connection with each other. This is a wonderful short 20 minute practice to add in as many times as you can.  Ask each other and mirror: What is true? What are you curious about? What are you peeved/angry about?  What do you wish? What are you grateful for? 

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See: Day to day Check in for more directions

If you need a more lengthy dialogue about something..that should be a separate discussion:  Diologue it !

May 27, 2019

Parenting is one of the harder things we do in life.  Bonnie Compton has some wonderful advise in her book on navigating these tricky waters.  She also does coaching.  Awesome help!!! You aren't alone.   See here!

May 05, 2018

Meditation has been a more challenging practice for me so I find guided meditations to be very helpful.  I often listen to them before bed.  You can experiment with finding many of these online now.  Everyone prefers a the voice of a particular speaker so I encourage you to experiment.  I like Tara Brach.

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Loving kindess Meditation:  Brain research finds this kind of meditation to change the brain in ways the improve wellness (Tania Singer)

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Relaxing into Sleep (Tara Brach)

May 05, 2018

I have osteoporosis.  And, so far I have avoided taking western medications.  Bone remodeling is a complex metabolic processes and ever more players are being found to be involved. How we address this complex metabolic dance , exacerbated by a loss of estrogen after menopause and will require substantial more research to better understand. A multifaceted approach seems like a plausible approach to fully addressing this complexity.  Below is a poster case-study about my journey and some of the research about this area.

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In addition to regular acupuncture and Qi Gong, Some resources I have found useful to guide my lifestyle changes include:

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The Whole-Body Approach to Osteoporosis: How to Improve Bone Strength and Reduce Your Fracture Risk (The New Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series)

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Yoga for Osteoporosis: The Complete Guide

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References:

Bull, Jan.  Poster: Integrative medicine approaches to osteoporosis. 2017. Unpublished. 

Bull, Jan.  Case study paper:  Integrative medicine approaches to osteoporosis, Unpublished.

October 15, 2018

Nutritional advice for various conditions from a Chinese medicine perspective.  Interested in a quick Spleen Qi Soup recipe?  Click here.

May 28, 2018

My 80 year old mother had a quick and relatively comfortable death. And that was her wish. But what if I hadn’t known I could say “no, do not rush her back to the hospital” when called in the early morning because my mom’s vitals had declined alarmingly?  Because of my professional background, I knew about palliative and hospice care.  I knew about the course of death and I had just read the research about the current lack of palliative support for patients with COPD and other less well recognized chronic diseases.  I knew to ask for hospice or for a social worker or for palliative care---none of which was offered to me at the hospital or the rehab facility. 

I would like to help step into this void and help provide patients and families this guidance. I offer the following list of suggestions to improve support for individuals with chronic, life-threatening disease.  Some of these suggestions are also mentioned in the 2011 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded JAMA report Care at the Close of Life: Evidence and Experience (McPhee, S., 2011).  This book covers it all, and I wish I had known about this resource before my mom’s death so I could have shown it to her physician.  My recent experience reveals that we have a very long way to go in helping “patients live well until they die.” 

In addition, we need to start having conversations earlier with our families about our wishes at this precious moment in life. Many conversations!   Often the patient nearing the end of life knows and is comfortable with what they wish, but sometimes the whole family is not on board!  That can take time. Five Wishes provides a nice format for thinking about what you wish and communicating it with your family (See link below).  In addition, the Conversation Project has tool kits and materials for having this conversation. 

Another very helpful and beautiful book is called Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the presence of Death by Joan Halifax.

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Reference:

McPhee S. Care at the Close of Life: Evidence and Experience. McGraw-Hill; 2011.

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March 16, 2018

Compassion and Wellness:  March 16, 2018: 2018 Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care, Boston, MA (slides here)

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