Last fall, I had the great pleasure of creating the Post-Partum Wisdom Summit, where I interviewed 20 practitioners in various specialties (food allergies in breastfeeding, new fatherhood, specific post-partum foods, occupational and pelvic floor therapy, hilot post-partum healing, new motherhood identity, advocacy, etc.) whose expertise can help mothers and fathers navigate the often-unfamiliar terrain of new parenthood. Among them was Dr. Diana Barnes, editor and contributing author of Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan and past president of Postpartum Support International.
That experience left me wondering: If more people truly understood the complexities of postpartum mental health—and postpartum psychosis in particular—might the response to the recent Clancy case have been different? Perhaps we would be having more thoughtful conversations about what this mother and her family are going through.
18 mins: differentiations between post-partum and differing diagnoses.
26 minutes: post-partum psychosis.
31 minutes: criminal homicide.
The key is understanding that the law and medicine can view psychosis very differently. Under the M’Naghten Rule, the legal question centers on whether a person understood the nature of the act or knew it was wrong. Clinically, however, psychosis involves an impaired ability to determine what is real. This is where, as Dr. Barnes says, “law and science run up against each other all the time.”
For those who may not fully understand what it’s like to give birth and care for a baby during that first year—while knowing something isn’t right, but not knowing what it is or where to turn—thank you for opening your mind and heart to understanding this experience through those eyes.
In early Fall, I had the pleasure of visiting Barcelona and taking a trip to Montserrat. It means, “serrated mountain” in Catalan and its massive mountain range is spell bounding. It attracts various people: some come to escape the city, attend religious pilgrimages, metaphysical pursuits, and others want to know what exactly is the “spiritual heart of Catalonia”. Montserrat houses the La Morenata, the Black Madonna, and high on the mountain sits the 11th Century Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey.
My time there was stepping into a vortex away, miles and miles above sea level.
When I first get there, the mountains are foreign. Vocabulary I cannot use and a part of me holds back. Bulbous peaks like alien guardians or monsters loom above the villages and feel intrusive, scary.
Yet looking at the intricacies of the architecture miles and miles above sea level, the passion for the Divine by the Moors, Persians, and Romans is inescapable.
The feat to build seems impossible, but yet. And yet.
In the air, no static or stickiness lingers.
The smell of sun on rocks, earth and metal
meld crisp and clean the higher I go.
At each hour after midnight, the monastery bells ring.
Low and full, the sound flies off stone from each direction,
an echo hangs in the air.
Then a new bell rings overlapping the first,
creating a rhythm.
Soon, with each new bell- the knocking is so loud,
At Boundless Well-Being, we utilize the combination of Chinese Medicine, Bio-Energetics and Functional Medicine. We primarily focus on Internal Medicine and Autoimmune cases. We currently treat and have treated the following conditions in adults, children and infants.
Note: Every interested patient is required to have a 15 minute Discovery Call to ensure your symptoms and goals align with recommended protocols.
Osteoarthritis: Low back pain, Knee Pain, Shoulder Pain
Post-Partum Symptoms and Guidance: Breast Cystitis, Breastmilk quantity, Cesarean scar, Mood, Thyroid, exhaustion/low energy, Eczema, How to optimize this time for your health
When I was delivering my babies, there was very little out there for post-partum women. My mission and passion project for the last 16 years has been to learn through my initial struggles as a new mom and discover the most effective ways to rebuild and heal the post-partum body and mind. Having worked full-time, part-time and been a stay at home mom, I’ve grown from the lessons each phase has taught me and want to share these tools and strategies.
I now weave Chinese Medicine, Bio-Energetics, Natural Functional Medicine and Nutrition into a clinical practice focused on present day health concerns. In 2020, new research came out stating that during post-partum, underlying autoimmune and inflammatory processes coupled with a lack of sleep and stress can impact the immune system creating systemic dysregulation throughout the body. New research reveals 1 in 5 women suffer from health conditions not previously treated during post-partum.
It made me overjoyed to see that post-partum issues were not simply getting attention for depression or anxiety but also for the misalignment of the entire physical and mental connection. It confirms what I have been treating in new moms for over a decade: autoimmune imbalances, thyroid deficiencies, and chronic low vitality. As Chinese Medicine always addresses the two halves as one whole, it was a beautiful validation of what this chapter is for women: it’s a definitive moment. It’s the transition from maiden to mother both mentally and physically and with it an evolution of a woman’s identity; one that should be celebrated and honored by both the mother herself, and other women.
Yet, I had a question. Why weren’t there more resources for new mothers during the post-partum time?
I realized we were all saying the words, “Motherhood is a precious time” yet no one was treating mothers as precious. We expect them to bounce back after 6 weeks of post-natal time and/or resume their lives as though they don’t need extra time to heal despite little sleep and minimal guidance as to how to replenish their body’s stores naturally and comprehensively. No one was talking about preserving a woman’s reserves so she can fully be the sun to her family’s planets and ensure that one day she can flow into menopause carrying health and vitality. Somehow with the onset of modern medicine, as amazing as it can be, we’ve been deprogrammed of intuition. Women are pushing through rather than pausing to heal. And we’re doing this because we don’t have the support systems and the mentors to guide us otherwise.
I wrote a program because I know new mothers don’t have the bandwidth to read a book. Having something they can watch or listen to while breastfeeding or resting from a cesarean, or driving a baby for an hour just to get time to think, allows for the most direct connection between empowering information and a new mother. I felt a great need to do this to address the physical, mental and emotional aspects of post-partum and help relinquish new mothers from the anguish of wasted years looking for answers. I also wrote it so women can have the health for the next chapter of their health cycle: menopause. In short, I wrote what I wish I had 16 years ago. Why suffer needlessly?
My hope is that by giving these tools to today’s moms, they will help be a compass for their bodies and minds to heal during post-partum. Having a whole woman back after delivering children allows her partner and their children to evolve together. This is the ultimate gift.
Having three girls of my own, I want them to walk into motherhood and beyond with wisdom and confidence knowing they have more guidance than their mother ever did.
Eric Achtyes, Sarah A. Keaton, LeAnn Smart, Amanda R. Burmeister, Patrick L. Heilman, Stanislaw Krzyzanowski, Madhavi Nagalla, Gilles J. Guillemin, Martha L. Escobar Galvis, Chai K. Lim, Maria Muzik, Teodor T. Postolache, Richard Leach, Lena Brundin (2020). Inflammation and kynurenine pathway dysregulation in post-partum women with severe and suicidal depression, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity,. Science Direct, 83, 239-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.10.017.
Irwin, M. (2019). Sleep and inflammation: Partners in sickness and in health. Nature, 19(November 2019), 239-247. https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41577-019-0190-z
If you’ve never felt well, it’s hard to discern the difference between feeling better and feeling well.
This is not a judgment, it’s a fact.
Feeling Better means your symptoms are better handled than they were before, but your symptoms may still come and go. Usually, when taking a synthetic drug or an aggregate of chemicals, your pains are lessened or feel as though they’ve completely gone away. Lab numbers stay within the range of “normal”. You are able to function and do what you need to do, and maybe even what you want to do, some of the time. The body’s nervous system is detoured from its natural rhythm and follows that of the chemical/pharmaceutical. When your body has had immense physical trauma, surgery, infection, or is unable to produce enough of its own resources to heal itself, addressing this with acute, aggressive means is absolutely necessary. Sometimes the body needs a complete reset or the condition has deteriorated to the point where this type of treatment is essential for a brief or even longer period of time.
Feeling Wellmeans you feel all of the above, and also have the ability to stay in a state of alignment not just sometimes, but CONSISTENTLY. Feeling well allows your body’s nervous system to avoid detours and continue on its natural rhythm of healing. Feeling well is a mentality that acknowledges the connection between your physical and emotional state as emotions affect, and are many times, the root of disease. It is most beneficial to support the body using non-synthetic, natural resources that metabolize and absorb more effectively than synthetic drugs or vitamins. These resources include whole food supplements, medicinal herbs, homeopathic remedies, and probiotics – all from high quality sources. Additionally, therapies such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, yoga, physical therapy, and resistance training can play a vital role. This approach goes beyond alleviating symptoms; it fosters overall well-being and vitality.
Being well is making the choice every day to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually stay aligned using the tools you know will help you achieve this. As we’re all human, many days we choose to feel well but not Be Well.
you’re still dreaming but feel the morning hovering above you. Opening of doors, water splashing, the squeaks from a drawer until the warm breath of a child is so close to your face.
You breathe her in. And with it another chance.
Time to walk out
into it.
Those brief moments in bed are the Alpha state, 7-12Hz, a space where creativity is heightened. Research shows emotions associated with Alpha encompass love, awe, gratitude, hope, inspiration, pride, serenity.
Reach out if you’d like to learn how to increase the Alpha state throughout the day. I’ll be teaching a series of meditation classes to new parents in March.
Hu X, Yu J, Song M, Yu C, Wang F, Sun P, Wang D, Zhang D. EEG Correlates of Ten Positive Emotions. Front Hum Neurosci. 2017 Jan 26;11:26. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00026. PMID: 28184194; PMCID: PMC5266691.
When people ask, “Why this medicine?” I answer, “Because medicine isn’t a singular endeavor.”
Tuning in, all colors and all volumes on every radio station are on at once. And yet with pause, very clearly, there plays one message at a time.
This is the frequency of healing.
Curiosity and hope lead me here. Spirituality confirms it.
I had been studying international relations, inundated in the historical arguments of men. So ecstatic to effect real change yet so bored.
I take from books in one hand and listen to the Divine in the other. How they interplay in our tissues, our interstitial fluids, our blood astound each time.
Studying in Shanghai, I did Tai Qi for the first time. And when I felt the energy ball between my hands, the wonder of childhood rushed back in. I no longer needed to participate solely on a material plane.
The tools are simply one of many: words, meditation, food, movement, needles, herbs, supplements, MRI’s, pharmacology.
What’s invisible to the eye and felt in the bones confirms the how.
(A Response to the Asian American violence in our country)
I got used to feeling part of the group; maybe a little shorter than the rest with black hair and almond eyes, but for a period, the introduction and acceptance of different cultures entered the mainstream and discriminatory language was policed by political correctness. Being different was cool. And in the 00’s and 10’s, I believed the word “exotic” meant alluring not kinky and “brown is beautiful” was positive, body affirming, and real. Discerning these definitions from the past, I thought, was evolution.
Growing up in a Southeast beach town whose roots were farmland only two and a half decades before I was born, many times me and my family stuck out like the brown kernel in a box of white rice. We were easily spotted at the park, the grocery store, and the beach. I grew up in a Filipino home with highly educated parents guided by their strong internal compasses. I would never change my upbringing as being different meant embracing two cultures as well as the struggles that go along with it.
Last week, I asked my mother if she had taken her usual evening beach stroll.
“Oh no. Oh no. I can’t do that anymore. All of us older people can’t do that anymore. We are all scared someone might hurt us.”
I froze.
I felt the stings I had long buried from the 80’s and early 90’s; the wounds I thought had scabbed over were now being pulled and prodded with the pointed actions of countless individuals singling out Asians all around the country. Every Asian immigrant kid no matter what ethnicity, is an easy target. And as much as their parents want to preserve their unique culture, all the kids I knew felt a need to assimilate. No matter how well intentioned the questions are: Why do your eyes slant like that? Do you live on top of a trash heap? (Probably after watching documentary videos of the poorest areas of Asia), What is that smell in the kitchen? As a kid, another’s ignorance can feel like a tidal wave of criticism.
Amidst the shocking anti-Asian violence and ignorance sweeping the country today, I once again hear very clearly what my father said when I was a child.
“No matter what you learn in your head, the degrees you attain, the status you earn, others will first see and judge you from what you look like. This is why it is so important for you to know who you are and where you come from.”
His words spurned weeks of waking up at 3am thinking about the social constructs of our society and the overall consensus of pandemic resentment and anger towards Asians. My first instinct was to blame the verbiage of the past administration but then recognized a pattern. It seems by default, humans immediately blame without pause similar to the same individuals I was angry towards who quickly misdirected their fury. I thought of our response to the French’s lack of support during the the Iraq war and our need to change French fries into “Freedom fries”. Although we are fighting a virus and not another country, judging someone’s nationality/ethnicity echoes a similar sentiment regarding HR 908, the bill passed by Congress to eradicate the term “Chinese Virus” because of the undeniable attacks on Asians. The added distinction is that Asians are easier to identify in a crowd.
Confusing an entire race of human beings with the actions of foreign governments is wrong. It is not one and the same.
It’s inspired me to look at my life and my children’s lives in full context, knowing we were born after many of the fights were fought for us. However, today, as Asian Americans of varying ethnicities are being savagely assaulted and when two days ago yet another Filipino American woman in NYC was beat and hospitalized for being in the “wrong country”, I knew the chapter, The Model Minority had long ended.
I fully acknowledge a lack of mental health support or the failings of the incarceration system or even genetics may have played a hand in these attacks. But in the end, there are NO excuses. People have been killed. Others have been severely hurt. Needless suffering abounds. Quite frankly, whether it’s happening directly in a community or not, many in the Asian populace are apprehensive to downright scared.
I can’t help but think their actions may point to what was never healed from the past and is now being stirred in a cauldron so quickly, the settled debris can only rise.
Now is the time to filter what’s been released, to fully identify it for what it was and may still be. We are in a remarkable place in history, where Asian Americans have a platform to highlight the inequalities and years of discrimination our ancestors once swallowed.
Today we walk on the shoulders of what past generations have built. The difference is all Asian Americans can now speak openly about their own wounds, anger and resentment. Without repression, we create an outlet for healing.
My hope is that the Asian community is supported by other allies in all communities to end the current violence and misdirected rhetoric towards Asian Americans.
Acute medical treatment + Chinese Medicine theory = Acknowledgement of the physical, emotional and spiritual body.
Acupressure & Kids
A quick overview of acupressure points for inpatient and at home use.
Check out http://peaceoutportal.org and go to the Meditation Garden to learn more about Acupressure and how it can help children. The interactive learning site introduces kids to different healthy modalities. In addition to their online website, the organization has opened the Benjamin Goldberg Playroom on the oncology unit of the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters in Norfolk, Va.
I’ve attached the video above for easier accessibility. The video was lovingly made with two of my daughters, Sophie and Suzanne. Suzanne was so relaxed after the session she fell asleep. I had to tap her head on Bai Hui, (DU 20– A point midline between the ears on top of the head to wake her up. It’s a great point to revitalize and raise Qi.)
Words 