The Art & Practice Blog
Why Do Italian Men Grow Mustaches…?
An old Italian joke goes: Why do Italian men grow mustaches? A: So that they can look like their mothers. Hehehe... Things are usually humorous only when they hold a certain truth and, boy, do I understand such a truth. Having Italian heritage on my father's side...
Naturopathic Summer Read: Cutting For Stone
While suffering through the damp, dark remaining months of 2nd year of naturopathic medical school, camped out in middle-of-nowhere North York, I began to have intense emotional cravings for summer. In Canada, summer is a cherished season. When it hits, we live it...
At What Level Do You Experience Life?
India's homeopathic hero, R. Sankaran, developed a theory for dosing homeopathic remedies. Homeopathic remedies are substances that are highly diluted. It is thought that the more diluted the remedy the more potent the dose, because of the remedy's ability to...
Cuba Libre
Canada is an interesting country. The people are careful in our friendliness and things are often left to understanding and not words. Kind gestures extend as part of conscious guilt and an aversion to making waves: please, thank you, sorry, sorry, sorry. A kind...
The “Grain-Free and Carefree” Cookie
The recipe for these Celiac-friendly cookies were given to me by a neighbour, a fellow artist, who fell in love with naturopathic medicine after visiting a naturopath for treatment for her Crohn's Disease. She shared with my family this recipe for dairy and gluten...
The Seven A’s of Healing
As soon as exams screamed to a halt, I embarked on my summer reading list starting with When the Body Says No, by Canadian author and medical doctor, Gabor Maté. This book explores the mind-body connection, the relationship between stress, especially due to familial...
Channel Your Inner Diva
It's time to talk about everybody's favourite health topic: menstruation! My own personal story begins when I made the big switch from pads to tampons after joining the high school swim team and starting a part time job as a lifeguard. I started wearing tampons...
Put Down Those Glasses of Milk!
In North American society, we are conditioned to believe that we should consume 1200-1500mg of calcium a day in order to prevent osteoporosis in our later years. Parents feel they are unfit if they do not forcefeed their children 3 servings of dairy products (almost...
Algunos Recuerdos
Some photographic memories from Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. 2009.
OSCE II… In Review
Monday, April 23, a date that has been haunting me for the past few months, marked the day that I embarked on my second Objective Structured Clinical Examination: The OSCE. Having swallowed 400mg of GABA (an inhibitory neurotransmitter, which shuts off the fight or...
The Liebster Award
So I'm suprised and happy to say that if tomorrow's OSCE II goes horribly awry at least I can consider blog writing as a second career choice! I have been given my first blog award: The Liebster Award! The Liebster Award is given by fellow bloggers to blogs who have...
Learning to Let Go: Why I Don’t Bother Memorizing the Actions Anymore
At CCNM we have an quarterly exam in Point Location, or acupuncture. The exam consists of memorizing all of the points on two or more acupuncture channels (usually around 60-70 different points), along with the underlying anatomy, contraindications and the depth and...
The Quickest Art History Lesson Ever
J recently posted this cute and hilarious picture on my Facebook wall. I'm sure it pretty much sums up a 4 year degree in Art History (without the tedious readings and essays) in one quick glance, not that I have a degree in Art History but, you know... I decided...
The NADA Protocol: mejor que nada!
The NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association) protocol for addictions recovery and detoxification consists of 5 acupuncture points on each ear. Developed by Michael Smith, it has been implemented in North America in various detoxification and addictions...
The Ecology of the Body: Extracting One Part from the Whole
Did you know that women who have a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) can suffer from lack of creativity and a decrease in overall motivation after the organ has been removed? According to Ayurveda, the uterus is an extremely Pitta organ. As an organ, it holds an...
“Eat Me”
In Alice's world there was a pill to make you smaller and another to make you taller. In the world we live, however, we have pills that cover us for virtually everything - even racism. My pharmacology group recently presented an article on how blood pressure...
Painting
Resist the urge to play music, to instead settle on silence, the only sound being the bristle of brush strokes on dollarstore canvas board (you buy paint supplies on a student budget, after all). You hope one day to be able to afford Series 3 colours like aquamarine....
Poetry Slam Semi-Finals
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my second Toronto Poetry Slam at the The Drake Hotel on Queen West West. 12 poets went head-to-head in a spoken word competition. This weekend were the semi-finals (the finals are on April 20th at The Royal). The feature...
Saturday Morning Yoga
The Many Uses of Castor Oil
Castor oil is one of the best kept secrets of naturopathic medicine. Taken from the bean of the castor plant, this oil is rich in ricinoleic acid, an important active constituent that makes castor oil so special. The oil was originally ingested as a laxative....