Ep. 23: Lunar Acupuncture: Harnessing the Power of the Moon for Healing, with Dr. Michelle Hamilton

00:00 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Welcome to Notes from Your Acupuncturist, the podcast for anyone who's interested in acupuncture, complementary medicine, holistic health, and self-care. I'm your host, Alexa Bradley-Hulsey. If you enjoy this show, you can help other people discover it by leaving a rating or a review, by following or subscribing on your favorite podcast listening app, or simply by telling someone about it. And if you'd like to support this show financially, you can become a paid subscriber on Substack for just a few dollars a month. Just head over to Substack.com and search notes from your acupuncturist or click the link in the show notes. And one more thing before we get started, just a disclaimer that this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical care from a qualified healthcare provider. Okay, on with the show. Hello and welcome to Notes from Your Acupuncturist. I'm Alexa and my guest today is licensed acupuncturist Dr. Michelle Hamilton. Michelle has been practicing for 14 years and is the owner of the Zen Den, a hybrid community style acupuncture clinic and healing center in San Luis Obispo, California. They offer sliding scale and membership based community acupuncture plus private acupuncture, massage and group healing offerings like breathwork classes, acupuncture moon circles and acupuncture sound bath. This place sounds wonderful. Michelle has developed a unique approach to practice based on cycles of the moon, which she calls lunar acupuncture. And that is what we are going to talk about today. I am so excited. Michelle, welcome.

01:46 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Hi, Alexa. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

01:54 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Absolutely. I'm so excited that you're here. So I'm really excited because I love learning new techniques and new stuff that I can start trying out right away in the clinic. Before we dive in, I want to start by talking kind of high level about how people can use these theories and practices that you're going to tell us about because we have both acupuncturists and non acupuncturists as listeners of the show. And if you're one of our licensed acupuncturist listeners, that's great. You'll learn ideas and techniques you can start using right away. And at the end, Michelle's going to share more about a course that she has developed where you can really dive into this topic. If you're a non acupuncturist listener, you too will learn some techniques that you can use on yourself for self care. But please do not needle yourself. There are many other ways to use the acupuncture points that don't involve needles. So Michelle, why don't we start there for listeners who are not licensed acupuncturists? What are some of the ways that they can apply these practices of lunar acupuncture that don't involve needles? 

02:55 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Alexa, I'm so glad that you're mentioning this and mentioning it first, because yeah, we absolutely don't want people needling themselves or needling friends that they don't know what they're doing. You know, you're not licensed for a reason. Right. Yeah, so there is so much you can do to stimulate acupuncture points. You know, you can apply I work a lot with essential oils. I do this practice called aroma point where you select an oil based on the energetic properties of the oil and you pair it with a similar point that has similar energetics. So you do this by just applying a diluted amount of the oil to your fingers and then putting it right on the point and holding it there for maybe 30 seconds. That's a great way to stimulate a point to facilitate change in the body and to change your energy immediately. Essential oils are great at that. Other things you can do, you can, you know, of course, acupressure. That's just applying pressure to the point. I like to do a lot of work with tuning forks with sound as well. This is a non-needle technique that you can use. You can get a tuning fork activated and then place it right on the acupuncture point. That's a very powerful way to stimulate a point. You can also, I mean, a lot of my work is with crystals as well. You can also use crystals. You can put them on the points. You can put them on your body. Honestly, I think just putting your intention into a point, you know, there's not a lot of studies on this, but there's been studies about intention and about visualizing, right? They've done studies where you visualize contracting a muscle over 12 weeks and they've, studies have shown that there's actually muscle growth that happens from doing that. Really? Yes. So just with your intention on these points in your meditation, putting your energy there, putting your focus there is really powerful as well. So there's so much you can do. You don't need to be an acupuncturist to utilize the power of acupuncture.

05:05 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yeah, I love that. That concept of intention and visualizing, that's actually what I used to do when I was learning the acupuncture points when I was in school. I would visualize energy flowing through the meridians and where is each point and can I feel chi at that point? And sometimes I could, and I still do that to this day, actually. That is one of my self-care practices. I think of it as just acupressure without actual pressure, acupuncture without needles. That is a powerful technique. So I love that you mentioned it.

05:42 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Yeah. I mean, where intention goes, energy flows. Is that what you're saying? So yeah, we can intentionally activate the energy around these points through meditation, through intention. Yeah. 

05:54 Alexa Bradley Hulsey

It's interesting that you mentioned crystals too. So do you have patients who bring crystals and place crystals on their bodies during acupuncture?

06:04 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Yeah, absolutely. I do too. I've got patients that are always like toting their crystals around or they have them in their bra. They seem almost like allies that they're working with at that time. And then I have crystals in my practice. I have them all on the wall and sometimes I'll select one based on the energetics of my intention and just place it on their body, just to amplify the energy of the treatment that I'm providing. Yeah. There's so many tools out there. We get so TCM focused in school. And I find the longer I've been practicing 14 years now, the longer I've practiced, the more open I am to different modalities and to evolving my practice so that it not only is like in alignment with me and what I believe and what I feel like works clinically and privately, but also revolutionizing it in a way that it works for our modern culture. There's something to be said about really empowering your patients to say, there's things that you can do on your own. We're co-creating your healing right now. We're creating your healing path together and there's things that you can do to stimulate your own healing at home on your own. Yeah.

07:28 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

I love that. I love that. Yeah. So we've established now there are a variety of tools you can use to safely apply these techniques. So I would love to hear the story now of how you develop this practice of lunar acupuncture. 

07:35 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Right. Yeah. So I, my background is in TCM as we know. I'm a traditionally trained acupuncturist and after about eight years of practice, I decided to open up a community clinic. That's a whole other story for another day, but in the practice of practicing community style, I'm sure as you know, Alexa, I started to see a high volume of patients and now we're at the point we see like a hundred to 150 come through our doors a week. Right. So that is a lot of patients. That is a lot of energy. That's a lot of data as well. So when you start seeing this high volume of patients, you start to see these trends. Right. And I started to see, you know, I'd have like a week straight where everyone is all having similar ailments. Right. Like no one could sleep this week or like everyone was just like losing their marbles that week or everyone was having relationship problems. And it was, yes, it got to a point where you're just like, what is up? You know? And at the time I was a non-astrologer. I wasn't, I didn't consider myself an astrologist at the time. I was a little skeptical actually of astrology, more science based. And at the time my front desk manager was an astrologer. So it got to the point where one day I was like, what is up? And she's like, well duh, Mercury's in retrograde or something. And I'm like, what do you, what do you mean by that? And she started to teach me astrology and it got to the point where every morning I would come in and it would be like, you know, like state of the union. I'd be like, so what's up today? Like tell me what's going on astrologically. That way I can prepare for what's going to come through my doors. Okay. So that's just kind of where it started. And then, you know, I took my knowledge of TCM and I was like, okay, if, if this is what's going to be going on astrologically, what points would I use to help harmonize the energy that's at play? Right. Because one of the key, one of the key fundamentals of TCM is that we're interconnected to our environment and to the seasons. And so this is, this is making sense to me, you know? So why wouldn't I select certain acupuncture points based on astrology that is at play? So then I, astrology is really complex too. It's like TCM. It's like, everyone's like, oh, explain to me what that point does. You're like, well, how much time do I got? Exactly. What's going on with my kidneys? You know, it's like, ah. So yeah, I started to study it a lot on my own and I really got into the moon because the moon was something that was a really good entry point for us astrologists to start studying. It was easy to explain to my patients because we can all see the moon. We all understand the moon. We all have this common knowledge of like the full moon time. Everything gets a little crazy. Like we all agree on that on some level and we're not sure why, right? So that was like a good entry point to talk about the lunar cycles with my patients and help explain why I'm selecting these points. Yeah. So, yeah. So that's kind of how it came to be. And then I just started to write everything down. You know, I started to be like, okay, this is what I'm seeing in the clinic. These are the points that I'm using when the moon's here. This is what I like to use. And I started to get really good results. I started to notice that things that weren't shifting all of a sudden started to shift with the lunar energy and not against it essentially.

11:33 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yeah. I think it's so interesting that you mentioned our connection to nature and the world around us and the seasons and all of that. That is really emphasized in our education and how we practice. But I don't remember seeing as much emphasis on our connection to the cycles of the moon. Say in comparison to the cycles of the season. I mean, every acupuncturist really learns how the cycles of the seasons affect the five phases and then affect the body. But I don't remember learning much about the cycles of the moon other than its connection to the menstrual cycle. But other than that, I just feel like it's not really talked about and taught in Chinese medicine. 

12:19 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Yeah. Yeah. And that's really what I found, you know, because when I started to see these trends, I mean, what do we do? We go to the internet, we go to our books, right? And I'm like, what's out there? And I couldn't find a whole lot. I mean, there's Chinese astrology, right? But there was not a lot specifically about the lunar cycles, you know? And I'm seeing this like severe connection, like not only with our menstrual cycles, like the moon cycle is 28 days, the menstrual cycle is 28 days. There's 12 zodiac signs, there's 12 meridians, you know? So it's like, this is lining up for me. Like someone else has to be feeling this. Wow. Yeah. So there was a big gap there, you know? And there's part of you that's like, you know, you get prompted and you get, you know, I look at it as like these shoulder taps from the universe that are like, there's something here, like, go check this out, you know? And so I've just been following it and really loving it. And you know, throughout the course that I've created, I've also created a community of minded acupuncturists where we have live calls once a month and we really get to all put our heads together and talk about what's going on in our clinic and what points would be of benefit, what essential oils we're telling our patients to work with, what crystals. It's really, really cool to develop this new branch of Chinese medicine that I think is really going to benefit our culture today.

13:46 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yeah. And you're doing it in such a collaborative way.

13:48 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

I love that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're just, this is such an amazing time to practice Chinese medicine because we're also connected now through social media and the internet. We really have an awesome opportunity to revolutionize our practice, our practices and the practice of TCM to all put our heads together. I mean, you look back to 3000 years ago, you know, someone would find out a point, does something, write it down, and then the next generation would come and, you know, So it's like we have this awesome opportunity to really change the way that TCM is practiced and evolve the medicine in a way that can service our culture as it is.

14:34 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yeah. Absolutely. I love that. Well, let's get into talking about the phases of the moon. So you mentioned like the full moon and people feeling more agitated. People report to me that they can't sleep during the full moon. So yeah, that's a common one. Yeah. So let's talk about the phases of the moon and maybe talk, touch on like the Chinese medicine perspective on each phase and then how do we see that manifesting in the body? 

14:54 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. So we'll start with the full moon. The full moon is, I think, the most obvious one and that's the one we're most familiar with. And I think that's in all field, the medicine. My dad is a dentist and it's funny because when I was talking to him about some of these theories, he's like, oh yeah, everyone has toothaches around the full moon. I get tons of emergency calls. I was like, oh, now you tell me. But what I was finding in my practice is this amplification of negative symptoms around the full moon and a lot of insomnia, a lot of anxiety. And a lot of this is because the full moon is the time when young energy is at its peak. And all the energy also comes up to our head at that time. So that's why we can get a little crazy. And get toothaches. You can get toothaches, right? The moon is representative of our emotional body as well. So that's why emotions kind of tend to come to a head, literally, or tend to arise at that time. So a lot of what I do in clinical practice around that time is I want to anchor that yang and I want to ground. So I'm going to be using points that do that. Points like anmian, kidney one, kidney three, kidney six, right? Those are all points that would bring the energy down. I also use essential oils that are extremely grounding as well. So things like vetiver, I really like. That is like my number one grounding oil. I also like lavender at that time because it nourishes the yin. And it's very calming and helps clear heat at that time. Ah, yeah. So that's, you know, in a nutshell, what I'm trying to do around the full moon. I'm also selecting points based on their constitution, based on what we're working with. But, you know, anytime I build a treatment plan or an acupuncture treatment, I'm always thinking about where's the moon? I want to always going to put a couple of points in there that are going to work with that energy as well. 

17:13 Alexa Bradley Hulsey

So if you're safe, say if you're treating someone for, say, shoulder pain, you're going to you're going to craft a treatment that is targeted towards their shoulder pain. And then you'll also add some additional needles or crystals or oils or whatever that then corresponds with whatever phase of the moon that we're in.

17:38 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Yes, yes. I look at it like putting a… do you remember that movie The Rocketeer? Yes! Okay. This is like going way back. Oh, I love it. It was like this way. You know that like power pack? Yeah! That's how I look at utilizing lunar acupuncture. It's just putting a power pack on your treatments, right? Especially anything emotional, right? Because the emotions are directly related to the moon. The moon is directly related to our subconscious as well. So even with or, you know, let's say you have shoulder pain, there's some subconscious beliefs around that. Absolutely. That are manifesting that shoulder pain. So let's work with that right now. That is at its peak. So let's shift that. Let's change that. Let's take a look at that because it's it's multi-layer. It's not it's not all about, oh, here's the trigger point for your shoulder. Let's put a needle in it. Right. There's so much more going on. Yeah. So I think we have an excellent opportunity as acupuncturists to utilize this approach and be, you know, multi-dimensional healers. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So that's that's the full moon. That's the full moon. Yeah, I want to I'm not candid there. So let's go to the new moon. Right. So every two weeks, you've got a full moon. Two weeks later, you've got a new moon. Okay. So new moon is the opposite. So that is the peak of yin. Right. So at this time, what I want to do is I want to work on tonifying chi, moving chi and tonifying yang. Right. New moon is also the time where we plant seeds and intentions. So I do that a lot in my that's more of like my moon circle work and even my own ritual practice. So some of the points that I would use during that time would be like stomach 36, ren 4, do 20, get that energy back up to balance that up. You want to do things like clary sage. I really like because I look at that as it's the great clarifier. It's about clarifying what we want to manifest and what our goals are and what our higher purpose is, this kind of thing.

19:55 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

So take a look at during that time. And so that's a time of planting seeds and intentions.

20:00 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

So yeah, yeah. That is time for planting seeds and intentions. And this is such a powerful tool in my business as well. Like I thought about that. So yes, I really started to work with the moon with my business goals. Right. So I started it created this framework to create intentions and goals and to manifest them. So every two weeks we've got the new moon. A time that I take a look at, okay, what do I want to accomplish the next 30 days? What are my goals in my business? How many new patients do I want? What do I want my revenue to be? Whatever it is, I'm planting those seeds, right? Because that is the most in time. Right. So that is the time to plant the seeds. And then we start to nurture it. Right. We start to build Chi. We start to build blood. We start to build young as we move into the full moon. Right. And at the full moon, what we do is we release. We make room for new blessings to come in for our goals to be achieved. Right. So at the full moon, that's when I'm looking at what needs to go. Right. Yeah. Like what isn't working? What's in the way? What are the blockages? Where am I wasting my energy? Who do I need to forgive? That's a big one. Right. Because those resentments that we hold on to can block us from achieving what it is that we want to achieve or manifest in our lives. So, yeah, I mean, there's lots of different ways to work with the moon. That's kind of how I've been using it in my my business.

21:34 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

I guess. Yeah. And do you so to keep track of the phases of the moon, how do you do that? Do you have like a written journal? Do you have do you do have a calendar that you consult and meditate upon? I'm curious to just hear like, how do you incorporate this into your? Daily life, like just your awareness, because I think I think that some people and I include myself in this, like unless I happen to be outside at night and see the moon. I don't necessarily know what phase of the moon we're in. 

21:59 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Right, for sure. Well, I do have a calendar, I have a lunar calendar, I have one on the wall at my clinic and one at the wall in my office at home. It's also on my calendar on my phone. So like it's always it's around me all the time. So that's kind of how I work with it. But I mean, there's something interesting because I look at times in my life where I've actually been really aware of the moon and it's usually times when I'm not doing that well. Oh, interesting. Yeah, it's like this these periods where I've gone through like this dark night of the soul. Right. There's something really beautiful about those times because it seems to crack you open. And I don't want to call it a level of desperation, but it's a level of openness to receive. Right. And those are times when I've been like, OK, like what's going on with the moon or what's going on with astrology? Or like that's when you start to be like searching for answers, for guidance, for why is life the way it is right now? You know, and is it going to get better? Right. So that's kind of when I tend to notice that I'm very connected to the moon and I see it as an ally. You know, there's something really comforting about the moon and it's it really reinforces this aspect of change and seasons in our life. You know, the moon every 28 days, it's going to it's going to go through a whole cycle. And so are we. Right. We're always moving. We're always moving through our phases. And so wherever you're at right now, it's not going to be there forever. It's going to change. So, yeah, I mean, there's so many tools online to like you can get auto emails from different astrologers, you know, telling you what's going on with the moon. It's like anything else. If you put your attention on it and track it, it's a really powerful tool.

24:02 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of times, especially when when life is challenging, we can feel such a loss of control. And and it's not that this is helping people have more control, but it's more about understanding the invisible forces that we that are out of control, out of our control and how they're going to play out in our lives. And maybe maybe people can take some comfort in that. As you said, the moon is very comforting, some comfort in knowing that, you know, all of this energy swirling around us, like not everything may be challenging or difficult in life is because of something that we've done to make it happen.

24:50 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

You know, there are there are forces. Yeah. And, you know, not everything negative or challenging is bad. You know, like a lot of my work around the full moon is like, yeah, these negative emotions usually come up to rise. I noticed, too, that any problem I have in my relationship all of a sudden is at its head during the full moon. And I'm like, this has got to change. This is horrible. I'm not tolerating this. You know, and it's like, yeah, maybe that's an amplified emotion of what's really going on. Very similar like PMS. Right. But but that there's truth to that, you know, there's truth to that emotion and it's coming up to the surface so I can alchemize it. So maybe I need to set a boundary. Maybe I need to have a conversation. It's not negative that I'm experienced that emotion. It's more about flagging it for me so I can do something about it.

25:42 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Right. Yeah. This reminds me of something that one of my teachers said in school and we were talking about the menstrual cycle and the food changes that people tend to experience during the menstrual cycle. And for a lot of people, the during the menses, which corresponds to the to yen and the new moon and darkness, like during the menses, some of these feelings of depression often come up, feelings of sadness and grief. And she was talking about how that can feel very chaotic. It can just feel like, where is this coming from? I don't feel like myself because I'm so depressed during my period or around my period. When in reality that that those feelings are already existing within you, they're not coming out of nowhere. They are just, like you said, being amplified based on this cycle, this point in the cycle. And so this is the opportunity then for you to acknowledge these emotions and recognize them and get curious about their place in your life and why you're feeling them. And as you said, then it's an opportunity to alchemize and do something about that or also just an opportunity to feel it, just feel those feelings and understand that they're part of you.

27:07 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

And like you said, they're not negative. Yeah, I love that. I mean, I really think it's time to change the language around the premenstrual woman, how she's crazy. Right. Yes, please. Can we change that language? I don't think she's crazy. I think she's an oracle. Yes. I think she may have some knowledge that we need to listen to. And yeah, maybe her delivery isn't all that smooth, you know, because what she's hearing in her head is like an air horn.

27:40 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

But if we can bring that energy down, if we can anchor and ground into that energy at the time, then maybe there's some good insights there. So we've talked about the full moon and the new moon.

27:54 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

And so then what do we do about these transitional phases of the moon when the moon is waxing and waning and moving from full yang to full yin? What's happening in those times? Gosh, I mean, it's like the world of yin and yang can be divided a million times. Right. So yeah, those are transitional times. And I go into that more in my course because it's a little bit more complex. But yeah, when yang is at its peak and then it starts shifting into yin. So there's different things that you can do to facilitate that transition. Same thing with the new moon at the peak of the yin, it starts becoming a little more yang. So there's different points you can use. There's different oils. It gets a bit more complicated, but there's eight phases of the moon and each phase, I've got a different treatment strategy. But I always feel like it's best just let's start with the full moon, new moon. Like, let's get that down. Yes.

28:55 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Do you feel like there are certain phases of the lunar cycle where you tend to see more stagnation, like people getting stuck physically or emotionally?

29:11 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Yeah, I mean, that would be around the new moon. That's kind of the peak of yin and darkness and planting seeds. And you think of like excess yin, you know, which is really, really rare. But that's like an excess of fluid and dampness and bogged down. That's when we need to start shifting into taking action. So that's when I would see that around the new moon. That's also when we're supposed to be planting seeds and thinking about what we want to manifest. And that's kind of like the first step into going into more of a yang state. Right. Yin is like nurturing and planting and getting darker and getting darker and getting darker. Well, some people get stuck there. Yes. And that's called depression. Yes, absolutely. So you really want to start moving up on the energetic scale, you know, once you reach the bottom of that. And some people, there's a little hitch in that mechanism. And that's what I would call depression. Right. Like even anger is actually a higher vibration than shame and depression. So even if you can move towards like, I'm mad at the way things are like, good, that's good.

30:19 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

We're moving in the right direction. Yes. Then we can take some action. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, are there certain tongue or pulse patterns that you see at certain phases of the moon? And, you know, for our non acupuncturist listeners, tongue and pulse are two of our diagnostic techniques. We feel the pulse and different pulse positions correspond to different meridians and different levels of the pulse, corresponding levels of disease in the body. And then the tongue is kind of a map of our internal organs.

30:53 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Do you ever see the faces of the lunar cycles showing up in that way? That's really interesting. And I would love to do a deep dive in that, because, no, I haven't really explored that because I work in a community clinic. I don't look at tongues every single time, so I'm not tracking it. But I would assume, you know, from what I gather from their symptoms, that it would become a more amplified version of what they already are. So if they have, you know, the liver section of their tongue is red and the tip is red, it's going to be more red around the full moon is what I would guess. But if anyone wants to figure that out, contact me and let me know, because I would love to know that. 

31:28 Alexa Bradley Hulsey

That's a question for your community gathering. Y'all can talk about that next time we get together. Yeah, great. So you mentioned astrology too, and you incorporate astrology with this practice of lunar acupuncture. And you mentioned there are the 12 zodiac signs and the 12 meridians. I'm curious to hear more about that. Like, what are the correspondences there and how do you incorporate that aspect of it as well?

32:04 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Right, right. So I started to see some overlap between the zodiac signs and the meridians. So I found where they directly lined up. And so there are certain times when I've discovered if the moon is in a specific zodiac sign, that that affected that meridian is going to be affected as well. Does that make sense? OK, can you give an example? Sure. So we've got like a full moon and Aquarius. The meridian associated with that is gallbladder. So five days before the full moon and five days after, I start to see more sciatica. I started to see neck and shoulder pain. I start to see migraines. I start to see people with an inability to make decisions in their lives. A lack of courage, a lack of will. All these things that we see with the gallbladder meridian, I start to see those kind of come up to the surface a little bit. And that also lets me know what meridian I want to add into my point selection as well. And we get into this in our live calls because every month we're talking about what meridian has affected this month and what points would be of best service to treat these energetic shifts that we're seeing. So, yeah, that's been really fascinating and really fun to work with. And I mean, it's no accident that there's 12 zodiac signs and 12 meridians. It's like, you can't make this stuff up. Right. That's a little bit of a… Yeah, I'd never even thought about that connection between the zodiac signs and the 12 meridians. Yeah. Yeah. 

33:30 Alexa Bradley Hulsey

So, yeah, for our listeners, so we have 12, what we call the primary meridians. And these are the meridians that we use most often in acupuncture. And there's a lot of other meridians besides the 12 primary meridians. Oh, my gosh. So many. But these are the ones, these are the meridians where the points are. And so these are the ones that we're using every day in our clinics and interacting with. And then we also have another set of meridians called the eight extraordinary meridians. So are there correspondences there between the eight extras and either the phases of the lunar cycle or astrological connections with the eight extras? 

34:18 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And that's part of what I'm developing right now is like, how many layers can you go with this? It's really exciting.

34:34 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yeah, very cool. I love it. So you talk about specific treatment principles at each lunar phase. And you mentioned some points that you use. Do you recommend other practices like maybe breathwork or movement like qigong or tai qi or other types of practices for your patients during specific phases of the moon? 

34:52 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Absolutely. Yeah. And that's something that I don't consider myself an expert in. So actually, in my course, I brought in two Kundalini practitioners that I love, and they go over breathwork practices to use, crystal selection, different qigong exercises that you can do. Yeah. I mean, the sky's the limit when you're working with an energy like that.

35:27 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

There's so many different modalities that you can incorporate. And when you're treating someone, like what's a typical treatment plan? If you really want to focus on things, think of something like regulating a patient's menstrual cycles, where it's something that's really connected to the lunar cycle, do you recommend that patients come in at a certain frequency or maybe for a certain number of lunar cycles? What do you typically recommend to patients? 

35:59 Dr. Michelle Hamilton

Oh, that's interesting. For menstrual cycles, I always recommend they come in at least once a week, and we kind of follow their menstrual cycle, where they're at, track it, and then select points supporting on where they are at in their menstrual cycle. And then I'll just weave in some points based on the position of the moon, just to connect them more to nature. As women, we're very connected to nature, connect them to the energetics of the collective and kind of harmonize that balance as well. So their treatment plan is still very much their treatment plan, but much like we would select points based on what season it is, I'm also weaving in points on where the moon is at the time. So you mentioned how you have used this practice for yourself and for your business. Do you have any examples of how you've seen this really benefit patients? Yes. I mean, what I found throughout my practice is the second I started paying attention to the moon and selecting points based on where the lunar cycle was, it started to amplify the treatments. And I think amplify the outcome of the treatments, I should say. And I think the reason why that may be is because I believe strongly in our intention. I remember when I was in school, when I was in acupuncture school, I was very stressed out trying to learn all the points. It was towards the end of my time there. And I don't know if anyone else felt that way, but I kind of felt like I still don't really know what I'm doing. No, I definitely didn't feel that way. I was like, I am about to graduate and get a piece of paper that says I know how to do this. I'm like, I'm not sure. I know what I'm doing. I remember my supervisor was very sweet and she listened to me and she's like, well, you know, the points don't really matter. And, excuse me. I'm like, I've got a stack of note cards, like the height of me that says they do. I've been banging my head against the wall trying to learn all these points. And she said, you know, what matters is your intention. And I was like, well, shoot, man, I just wasted a hundred grand on learning all these points. I could have just showed up with the intention, you know, but I think it is important to have the knowledge base. Absolutely. It's like an artist. You need to know the technical skills of how to use the paintbrush and what colors to use. And then you can use your intuition and just let it rip on the canvas. And I think what she said was really powerful to me because it was like, yeah, sometimes we don't know what the best point is, but if we get clear on our intention, things seem to line up. Right. So in working with the moon, it helped me amplify my intention with the patient and be able to have a conversation with the patient that strengthened their responsibility in creating the intention for the treatment as well. Because all of a sudden I could have a conversation about this is what's going on with the moon. It's full. You need to forgive. You need to release something that's blocking you right now. All of a sudden, their mind starts spinning and they start going, oh, shoot, OK, well, what do I need to let go of? Like, how can I take responsibility for my own healing here? Which is a lot more powerful than saying, you know, your kidney young is deficient and that's why you have diarrhea. Like, what do I do with that? Right. Exactly. Because there's no power there because they didn't study TCM. But there is this piece where you are inviting them into their healing, I think, which is really powerful. And I mean, there's greater forces at play. There's there's energy from the moon around us and from from the environment and from the seasons. And why not utilize those in our treatment space?

40:05 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

And it's so accessible to everyone. Everyone can go outside and look at the moon.

40:10 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Yeah, it's right there. And, you know, patients love to start following up themselves. They'll come in and they'll say, like, I noticed this is going on. What does that mean for our points? You know, so it's a great way to have a conversation and feel more empowered in your healing process.

40:27 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

And it also makes me think, too, you mentioned earlier, it's like the moon. I don't know if these were the exact words you use, but like the moon being your friend. And as I think that practitioners, too, can can have that mindset of like the moon being your friend and your assistant and helping guide you in your treatment and like that feeling of I don't quite know what the heck I'm doing. You know, as a practitioner, if you if you're if you're stumped with a patient, well, maybe just treat them based on the moon cycle and yeah, yeah, and see what happens as opposed to trying to craft the perfect treatment. And I pick out just the right points and, you know, do all of this. And it also makes me think like sometimes a patient's picture is so complicated, like they have so much going on. Oh, yeah. And if we try to try to pile on needles on top of needles, it's going to just be confusing and scatter their chi. But maybe we could start with just thinking, OK, where are we in the moon cycle? And so how can we sort of get this patient's energy lined up with the moon cycle and just start there? It seems like it could be a good starting place for a practitioner as well.

41:43 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, TCM, you know, there's lots of debates on this, but it is an energetic medicine, you know, and there there is a level of simplicity when it comes to energy medicine. Yes, you can only direct it so many ways, right? You're like, am I moving the energy up? Am I moving it down? And I adding more? Am I decreasing it? Like, am I circulating it? There's only so much you can do. And when you have the moon as your guide, it just makes it really clear. It's like, oh, I want to bring it down. I want to move it up. I want to tonify it. You know, so it's a great, great way for beginning practitioners to feel to really simplify some of our treatments. It doesn't have to be complicated.

42:23 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yes. Yeah, love that. And something else you teach in your course is you teach people how to lead a moon circle, which I'm very intrigued. So what is a moon circle and what happens during a moon circle?

42:39 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Well, what happens in a moon circle stays in a moon. OK, fair enough. I had to circle. I'm going to circle can be whatever you want, really. Cool. But I mean, by definition, it's a gathering around the you know, where the moon is with with shared intention. So what I like to do is put out an invite, tell my patients that want to gather around the next full moon or the next new moon. And I have a community clinic, so I've got the space. And so we all come in. If it's a full moon, I'll take them through a ceremony where I'll take them through a guided meditation, get their nervous system in a soothed and receptive state. And then I like to do a combination of journal work, visualization. So around, for instance, for around the full moon, it's about forgiving and releasing. Right. So I'll have people journal about things they want to release, things people they want to forgive on a piece of paper will come up, will burn it, you know, and release it. These things like these rituals in our life, you know, they seem silly or witchy or whatever, but they're really powerful. And that goes back to intention as well. When you do something like burning a piece of paper, you're not just burning that piece of paper, you're changing the energetic charge that you have around those things and around those words. It's really powerful. So we'll do that. I'll I'll needle everyone just because I'm an acupuncturist. But you don't have to be an acupuncturist to have a moon circle. You can invite your girlfriends over and be like, this is what we're doing tonight, you guys. And then I'll go into the energetics of the moon and the zodiac sign and different things that we can do to work with the energy at that time. And then I always like to do some kind of visualization as well and then close out the ceremony. The New Moon ceremonies are more about planting seeds and making goals and things like that and manifesting what we desire. Everything we manifest, we manifest with emotion. That's that's how we that's how we create things. And so with the moon, we've got this opportunity because the moon amplifies our emotion. So we also have an opportunity to amplify our ability to manifest. So it comes back to our jetpack, right, that rocketeer. If we put that on our emotions during the full moon or during the New Moon, we have an opportunity to manifest faster in our lives. Yeah, it's cool. Beautiful. Well, tell people about the course that you teach on lunar acupuncture. Yeah, yeah. So the course that I teach, it's called Lunar Acupuncture. It consists of eight modules, video modules where I take you through and teach you everything that I know and everything that I've learned about utilizing the moon cycles in clinical practice. We talk about point selection. We talk about zodiac signs and the meridians. We talk about utilizing essential oils and crystals. I have two guest speakers that come on there. Tiffany Carroll, she's a mentor of mine. She does. She taught me everything I know about essential oils. She's also an acupuncturist. So we talk about the energetics of the oils. I've got John and Natalie of Let's Get Tuned. They come and they talk about sound and they talk about breathwork. And then we also with when you purchase the course, you're also purchasing access to our live calls that we have every month that I host where we talk about the position of the moon and the zodiac signs and different points that would be a benefit, what's showing up in our practices, things like that. And it's just been a beautiful offering. We've got a really cool group together. I love meeting with them every month. It's so nice to feel connected to other acupuncturists. It's isolating work that we do, especially where I live. I live in a small town in California. And, you know, when you're in school, you're rubbing elbows with like minded acupuncturists all the time. And then all of a sudden you get out of school and you're competing against these people and no one wants to talk to you. You know, so we still really need each other, especially if we want to to grow our medicine. It's in our best benefit to work together. So it's just so cool to have a group of like minded acupuncturists and healers that we can connect and talk about what's going on.

47:25 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yeah, I love that. I love that. So it's a it's a course and it's and it's a community.

47:30 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

And it's a community. Yeah. So the course is open now. You can join. I've got a discount code for everyone listening to this podcast. It's called The Code is Notes from the Moon. Love that. And you get it. I'm feeling very inspired today. Eighty dollars off course enrollment and there'll be links and everything you need in the notes. Yes, of course.

47:59 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

Yes, absolutely. And then I also just quickly want to mention your other course, too, because you have a course for acupuncturists about community acupuncture. And I'm a community acupuncturist myself. And I've interviewed a number of other community acupuncturists on the show. I always love talking to people who are working to make this medicine more affordable and accessible. So tell us quickly about your community acupuncture course.

48:26 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Sure. Yeah, I have my other course is community acupuncture school. It's a 30 day course designed to get you to open your dream clinic in 30 days. I go through it again. It's self-led video modules, two live calls and one one hour coaching session with me. If you really want to fast track yourself to opening either a community clinic, a hybrid clinic or even just hosting community events like I do, it's an excellent resource for that. I share things that I have learned and mistakes that I have made. So really shorten the learning curve. And I also share all my like patient forms and things and like treatment plan forms. And I have a menu and I go over I've got some neat pricing strategies like a membership that I share with you as well. So really fast track your way to success. And we need more acupunctures out there providing affordable and accessible acupuncture. I really think it's the wave of the future. I think it's I just think it's it's a win win for everybody. And I'm excited to to help other acupunctures open clinics that they want to open.

49:38 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

That's awesome. I'm so excited that you're doing that. Well, before we wrap up, is there anything else that you would like to add? That's it. I just want to say thank you for having me, Alexa. I have so enjoyed this conversation. So if people are interested in working with you or learning from you, where can they find you?

50:00 Dr. Michelle Hamilton 

Well, I have a website that hosts all my course offerings and anything new. I'm very creative. I'm always creating more stuff. So that's Dr. Michelle Hamilton dot com. You can go on there. I'm also pretty active on Instagram. Dr. Underscore, I think, is what it is. Michelle Hamilton, that'll be linked in the notes as well. And, you know, shoot me a message or DM me. I love to talk to people. Yes. I love to connect.

50:24 Alexa Bradley Hulsey 

I love to collaborate. Like, let's do this. Great. I love it. I love it. Well, we'll put all this, like you said, in the show notes. Michelle, this has been so enlightening and inspiring. I've just so enjoyed this conversation. Thank you so much for joining me today. Yeah. Thank you for being so open and curious. I love it. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Notes from Your Acupuncturist. If you liked what you heard, please follow this show, leave a rating or review or just tell someone about it. And if you want to join the conversation, you can subscribe to Notes from Your Acupuncturist on Substack, where you can comment, ask questions, participate in discussion threads, watch videos and read more of my reflections on acupuncture and healing. Huge thanks, as always, to our paid subscribers. Huge thanks, as always, to our paid subscribers for helping keep this work sustainable. You too can become a paid subscriber for just a few dollars a month. Just head over to Substack.com and search Notes from Your Acupuncturist or click the link in the show notes. Until next time, this is Alexa Bradley-Hulsey, your acupuncturist, signing off with love and gratitude.