Shuāngjiàng 霜降 marks the mature arrival of yīn qì 陰氣 and the honest beginning of Winter’s descent. The illusion of Summer is gone. What remains is presence, rest, and reflection. Warmth matters now. Stillness is power. Let your evenings stretch long and slow. Let your food cook deep. Let yourself trust the quiet.
Read more →Perimenopause brings irregular cycles, broken sleep, heat, and new anxiety, often together. Here is how biomedicine and Chinese medicine each describe the transition, what working with Root & Branch involves, and a short guided EFT tapping video for managing stress.
Read more →Hánlù 寒露 marks the final retreat of yáng qì 陽氣 and the deepening of stillness
Read more →This is not stillness, but a poised turning. Nature leans toward inwardness, and so should we. Refine routines, nourish gently, walk more slowly. The season tilts toward rest. Let your conduct follow the descent. Let balance become your teacher.
Read more →Most of what people believe about hormone therapy traces to one study from 2002, and the women in it were mostly in their sixties. Dr. Olivia Rudio sorts out what that study did and didn't show, what the risks actually are, and what Chinese herbal medicine offers alongside it.
Read more →The air cools, mornings are damp with dew, and activity begins to soften. This is a time for preservation—of energy, fluids, and focus. Slow down. Eat warm foods. Let stillness shape your days as Autumn deepens.
Read more →Erin was dealing with hot flashes that were keeping her from sleeping and made her feel irritable and uncomfortable all the time. Chinese medicine stepped in to make things better.
Read more →Summer lingers, but the energy begins to descend. This qi node invites steadiness—ease back into routine, nourish with warm foods, and make gentle space for change.
Read more →Human life runs in certain cycles. 7 years for women and 8 years for men. Learn more about the classical aspects of aging and life stage management for women here.
Read more →Choosing the right foods for yourself is a dynamic process that lives at the intersection between appetite, season, constitution, age, and desire. Learn more about making choices that will benefit you as you age.
Read more →Hánlù 寒露 marks the final retreat of yáng qì 陽氣 and the deepening of stillness
Read more →This is not stillness, but a poised turning. Nature leans toward inwardness, and so should we. Refine routines, nourish gently, walk more slowly. The season tilts toward rest. Let your conduct follow the descent. Let balance become your teacher.
Read more →The air cools, mornings are damp with dew, and activity begins to soften. This is a time for preservation—of energy, fluids, and focus. Slow down. Eat warm foods. Let stillness shape your days as Autumn deepens.
Read more →Summer lingers, but the energy begins to descend. This qi node invites steadiness—ease back into routine, nourish with warm foods, and make gentle space for change.
Read more →As autumn quietly begins, Lìqiū marks the rise of Yin and the first inward turn of the year. This essay explores the subtle wisdom of seasonal restraint, the risks of lingering summer heat, and how to align with the cycle through reflection, refinement, and gentle shifts in daily conduct.
Read more →As summer peaks, Yang Qi resists its own decline—burning hotter, pushing harder, and tipping into what classical medicine calls pernicious Yang . This essay explores how to recognize that excess in the world and within ourselves—and how to respond with stillness, cooling nourishment, and the wisdom of knowing when to let go.
Read more →Xiǎoshǔ marks the arrival of summer’s heat in earnest—still building, not yet peaking. The yang qi is fully extended, but the body begins to show the first signs of needing shade and rest.
Read more →Yang Qi is in charge again and it is moving and shaking the things around it. But Yang’s hand can be a bit heavy. Learn more about using Yang qi to your advantage during this season and how it can impact your health for the rest of the year.
Read more →You’ve been conserving, planning, and preparing all year. Now it is time to DO!
Read more →We are mid-way through the first moon of Summer and the Yang qi is driving the creation summer fruits and vegetables. It is inspiring movement and activity in people and helping all of us to feel progressive and productive.
Read more →Human life runs in certain cycles. 7 years for women and 8 years for men. Learn more about the classical aspects of aging and life stage management for women here.
Read more →Bowel movements are one of the most reliable diagnostic signals the body produces, and most adults have never been told what to look for. Chinese medicine has been paying close attention to stool for two thousand years. Here is the physiology of a good one, and what it means when things are off.
Read more →Digestion is the root of virtually all other human physiologic processes. Learn about how Chinese medicine thinks about and works with the natural strength of your digestion to maximize outcomes and power a healthy life.
Read more →A diagnosis of deficiency in Chinese medicine is not as dramatic as it sounds. Metabolic resources are assigned in bodies to meet daily demands and sometimes those resources are insufficient. This piece explains what deficiency means clinically, how it develops, and how treatment rebuilds capacity over time.
Read more →In Chinese medicine, jīng 精 is your essence—your inherited strength, your reserves, and your potential. This post explores how jīng shapes health across a lifetime, its connection to modern ideas like genetics and epigenetics, and how everyday choices can help preserve and cultivate this vital foundation.
Read more →In Chinese medicine, wèi qì 衛氣 is your body’s protective barrier—the aspect of qì that guards against external disruption. This post explores how wèi qì functions, where it comes from in classical texts, and how it connects to—but differs from—modern ideas of immunity and resilience.
Read more →Dampness in Chinese medicine isn’t just a symptom—it’s a pattern with personality. It slows, sticks, and sometimes overstays its welcome. But it’s also essential to life. In this post, we explore what dampness really is, where it comes from, and how to live in better relationship with it.
Read more →In Chinese medicine, heat is both essential and potentially disruptive. It fuels life processes like digestion and circulation, but when excessive or misplaced, it can lead to inflammation, agitation, or dryness. This post explores how heat functions in the body, where it comes from, and how to bring it back into balance.
Read more →In Chinese medicine, we don’t treat diseases by name—we treat patterns. This post explores the meaning of bìng jīng 病經 (the channel of disease) and bìng yīn 病因 (its root cause), offering insight into how practitioners understand illness as a dynamic process, not a fixed label.
Read more →Perimenopause brings irregular cycles, broken sleep, heat, and new anxiety, often together. Here is how biomedicine and Chinese medicine each describe the transition, what working with Root & Branch involves, and a short guided EFT tapping video for managing stress.
Read more →Choosing the right foods for yourself is a dynamic process that lives at the intersection between appetite, season, constitution, age, and desire. Learn more about making choices that will benefit you as you age.
Read more →Modern wellness advice often treats appetite as a problem to manage. In Chinese medicine, regular morning hunger is a sign that digestion is working, and breakfast is the meal that sets the metabolic tone for the day. Skipping it asks the body to run on stores that should have been replenished.
Read more →Learn about ways to maximize your digestive strength by being mindful of how much cold and raw food you are eating.
Read more →As winter settles in, many bodies feel colder, stiffer, and more fatigued. Foot baths, moxa, and hot packs offer an easy way to restore warmth, improve circulation, support digestion, and make the season easier to move through.
Read more →In Chinese medicine, cold can quietly weaken the body over time—especially when it enters through the feet. This post explores why walking barefoot on cold floors might leave you feeling more drained than refreshed, and how small changes in daily habits can help support warmth, circulation, and overall balance.
Read more →In Chinese medicine, digestion depends on warmth. Cold drinks—especially when habitual—can slow and weaken that process. This post explores why iced beverages may undermine digestive health, when they might be appropriate, and how small shifts toward warmth can support energy, comfort, and long-term balance without giving up enjoyment entirely.
Read more →In Chinese medicine, sleep isn’t just rest — it’s restoration. This post explores how bedtime can serve as a boundary, not just a stop button, and offers simple, nourishing practices to support the body’s natural descent into yīn 陰 . Better sleep starts with honoring the transition into night.
Read more →How to treat seasonal allergies with traditional Chinese medicine.
Read more →Erin was dealing with hot flashes that were keeping her from sleeping and made her feel irritable and uncomfortable all the time. Chinese medicine stepped in to make things better.
Read more →Wendy was gaining weight, especially in her middle, and all the old tricks weren’t making a difference. Chinese medicine offered some insight into what she could do differently to feel good in her body again.
Read more →Bill came in with chronic constipation, sometimes going three or four days without a bowel movement. Nothing he’d tried worked. With acupuncture and herbs, we helped his body regain rhythm and ease. Within a few weeks, his digestion was regular again and with it, his comfort, clarity, and mood.
Read more →After years of unpredictable digestion and no real answers, Josh L. came to Root and Branch looking for something different. What changed everything? A custom herbal formula tailored to his body—and a treatment plan that listened. This is the story of how his gut finally started to settle.
Read more →Erin came to the clinic after months of insomnia. She’d cleaned up her sleep hygiene, but still woke night after night. With acupuncture and herbs, we helped her body remember how to stay asleep — not by forcing it, but by restoring the rhythms that allow real rest to return.
Read more →Catching every cold that comes around? Chinese medicine looks beyond immunity to the deeper question of constitutional strength and how to rebuild it.
Read more →Susan came in with sharp, radiating leg pain that made walking, sitting, and sleeping difficult. Acupuncture gave her targeted relief, while herbs supported deeper healing. With regular care, her pain eased — and she got her rhythm back. “I’m not adjusting anymore,” she said. “I’m just living.”
Read more →For years, Meena R. lived around her period—severe cramps, heavy bleeding, and exhaustion that took over every month. At Root and Branch, custom herbal formulas and targeted acupuncture helped her cycle shift, gently and powerfully. This is the story of how she stopped bracing for pain—and started feeling in control.
Read more →Jamal came in with years of sinus congestion and facial pressure. Mornings were foggy, breathing was difficult, and nothing seemed to help long term. With acupuncture and herbs, we helped him clear the deeper root — restoring flow, easing pressure, and helping him finally breathe (and think) clearly again.
Read more →Months after a mild case of COVID, Thomas K. still wasn’t himself—fatigue, brain fog, and unrest that wouldn’t let go. At Root and Branch, a custom herbal formula and targeted acupuncture helped his system reset. This is the story of what it’s like to finally begin coming back to life.
Read more →Hánlù 寒露 marks the final retreat of yáng qì 陽氣 and the deepening of stillness
Read more →This is not stillness, but a poised turning. Nature leans toward inwardness, and so should we. Refine routines, nourish gently, walk more slowly. The season tilts toward rest. Let your conduct follow the descent. Let balance become your teacher.
Read more →The air cools, mornings are damp with dew, and activity begins to soften. This is a time for preservation—of energy, fluids, and focus. Slow down. Eat warm foods. Let stillness shape your days as Autumn deepens.
Read more →Summer lingers, but the energy begins to descend. This qi node invites steadiness—ease back into routine, nourish with warm foods, and make gentle space for change.
Read more →As autumn quietly begins, Lìqiū marks the rise of Yin and the first inward turn of the year. This essay explores the subtle wisdom of seasonal restraint, the risks of lingering summer heat, and how to align with the cycle through reflection, refinement, and gentle shifts in daily conduct.
Read more →As summer peaks, Yang Qi resists its own decline—burning hotter, pushing harder, and tipping into what classical medicine calls pernicious Yang . This essay explores how to recognize that excess in the world and within ourselves—and how to respond with stillness, cooling nourishment, and the wisdom of knowing when to let go.
Read more →Xiǎoshǔ marks the arrival of summer’s heat in earnest—still building, not yet peaking. The yang qi is fully extended, but the body begins to show the first signs of needing shade and rest.
Read more →Yang Qi is in charge again and it is moving and shaking the things around it. But Yang’s hand can be a bit heavy. Learn more about using Yang qi to your advantage during this season and how it can impact your health for the rest of the year.
Read more →You’ve been conserving, planning, and preparing all year. Now it is time to DO!
Read more →We are mid-way through the first moon of Summer and the Yang qi is driving the creation summer fruits and vegetables. It is inspiring movement and activity in people and helping all of us to feel progressive and productive.
Read more →Sleep is more than a score. When devices misread the body, and we start trusting numbers over how we feel, we risk outsourcing our well-being to systems designed to serve shareholders, not health.
Read more →Digital ads and social media may be loud, but they rarely bring people through the door. For small clinics like ours, word of mouth is everything. When you share your experience, you help us survive—and you help others find care that really makes a difference.
Read more →Many people are surprised to learn how much Chinese medicine can treat. At Root and Branch, we support everything from chronic issues to acute illnesses, stress to digestion. We may not be primary care on paper—but we’re here to be your first call when something’s not right.
Read more →Listen in as Travis Kern talks with Stacey Whitcomb, host of the acusprout podcast, about founding Root & Branch and its mission to provide herbs for practitioners all across the country.
Read more →A message from practitioner Travis Kern, LAc about the intersection between Covid-19 and natural remedies marketed as preventative or curative: There are a lot of people out there promising a lot of things. Health and illness prevention have gotten political in a lot of corners. But you can navigate this situation to the best outcomes for you and your family.
Read more →Everything I have seen in my short but lively career as a Chinese medicine practitioner suggests that most of the negative experiences we associate with the aging process need not come to pass . But in order to understand how our experience may differ from the common definition of aging, we must look at why suffering is a possibility as we age. Once we understand the problem, then we may understan
Read more →There are a lot of inflammatory ways that we discuss health and well-being. This food is poison, that activity will kill you! Have you heard about such and such causes cancer?! The thing is, there are a lot of things out there that are less than helpful for optimal living but when the language gets too loud, too bombastic, and too crass, it often becomes misleading and then it makes it difficult t
Read more →Cooking herbs together allows their individual natures and flavors to blend together and enhance or subdue one another. This alchemy is the real power of Chinese herbal medicine and is almost entirely missing in most practitioner’s granule formulas. Remember that 汤 “tāng” means “soup” in mandarin and just like your chicken soup is not just the flavor or chicken and onion and celery but the marriag
Read more →Chinese medicine doesn’t treat “energy” the way modern wellness often suggests. It’s not about fixing parts or channeling light—it’s about observing change, movement, and relationship within a world we’re inseparably part of.
Read more →
