Ear seeds are like time-release acupuncture. Small black seeds from the Vaccaria plant are secured in the ear with a piece of adhesive tape over specific acupuncture points. The seeds stimulate the point by exerting mild pressure. The patient can rub or press on them for an added effect. They stay in the ear for 2 days up to a week.

Ear seeds are especially effective for addiction, mood disorders, obesity and pain.

auricular magnetic therapy: involves taping magnetic balls or pellets to auricular acupoints.

auricular massage: involves pinching, pressing, or rotating all or part of the ear.

auricular moxibustion: thread incense moxibustion, a variation of direct moxabustion on the acupoints on the auricle .

auricular reflexology: reflexology of the ear.

Cupping is primarily used when the Qi is inhibited at certain points, or when Qi stagnation needs to be drawn to the surface of the body from deep within. Cups are sometimes placed over an acupuncture needle that has been inserted. Moving or sliding cupping, which is a variation, may also be performed.

Pursuing the goal of life-long wellness requires us to adjust and match our nutritional intake according to our age group. Every food possesses unique properties with specific nutritional value. Some foods are blood builders, others are brain foods, and yet others are muscle foods while the rest may be energy foods. It is in our best interest to have a wide selection and keep rotating our choices for the sake of variety.

To stay healthy, you should eat according to your age and physical needs. A diet that does not provide adequate nutrition to support the physical demands made on it, or is in excess of what the body needs, is harmful and could lead to serious health problems. Eating three meals a day at fixed times, in moderation, and with lots of variety is recommended.

These recommendations are a simplified list that you can use in conjunction with other modalities such as acupuncture and exercise. These are simple guidelines and by no means complete. 

DIETS 

For serious health problems doing a good juice fast can do wonders. Drinking 8 to 12 cups of fresh juice every day floods your body with vital nutrients that your body is probably lacking. Twelve cups of fresh carrot juice contains all the vitamins and minerals a body needs with the exception of Vitamin D which we receive from sunshine and Vitamin B12 which is produced by bacteria. Though generally unnecessary for fasts of up to a month, Vitamin D and B12 may be supplemented during a juice fast if one is concerned.

1. If drank fresh, the juice is full of live enzymes, virtually no chemical reaction takes place in the body without enzymes.

2. Unlike coming out from a packet, the juice is fresh and not pasteurized. Pasteurization many have its conveniences but it has resulted in nutritionally dead foods.

3. You consume more vegetables by drinking than by eating. As you probably have experienced, it's not always possible to eat as many vegetables as you would like. Drinking fresh vegetable juice helps take care of this problem.

4. Digestion and assimilation of the vegetable nutrients is much easier. Your body is in fact, like a juicer. When you eat a celery, your body will digest the celery by extracting the juice to get the nutrition. The fiber is eliminated via the colon and bowel movements. However, if you juice, you have already extracted the juice for the body thus making it easier for your assimilation. Nevertheless, it's still important to eat whole vegetables and fruits because you need some amount of fiber as well.

5. Fasting gives your digestive system a rest. Since fresh fruit and vegetable juices require little digestion, and are quickly assimilated from the upper digestive tract, most of the 10% of bodily energy normally involved in your mastication, assimilation, digestion, and elimination is freed up. The end ? You feel a sense of renewed energy after the fast.

6. A fast helps to also break down toxic materials - fat, abnormal cells and tumors-and releases diseased tissues and their cellular products into the circulation for elimination.

7. In addition, new cell growth during fasting is stimulated and accelerated as the required proteins are re-synthesized from decomposed cells (during autolysis). Your serum albumin reading - blood-protein level - remains constant and normal throughout your fast, as your body very smartly uses protein and other stored nutrients where needed.

8. Juice fasting is a much gentler process of detoxification as compared to water fasting. For a juice fast, a broad variety of fruits and vegetables should be used in combination and that is necessary to enhance health during the fast. In this manner, the body still gets its daily calories from the easily-digested juices as compared to the more extreme water fast. Thus, the release of toxins from the fat cells in a juice fast is much more gentle and gradual.