Desert Health News - January-February 2025

Daily, the phrase “To human is hard” enters my thoughts. This reality becomes even weightier with Oxford Dictionary’s 2024 word of the year, “brain rot,” defined as a “supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially from consuming too much trivial online content.” Just one more complexity to work to ward off as we navigate the new year. As humans, we carry around a lot of baggage: insecurities, assumptions, expectations, old wounds, and now brain rot. We can reduce the list by diving deep and doing some “hard human work” in an attempt to overcome and achieve more balance and peace. Some of the hardest parts of life’s path present themselves when we don’t do the hard human work. Often, we decide to put unaddressed issues on the backburner, and other times we don’t even realize they are there — until they are. Regardless of unaddressed life management, we must feel everything, be vulnerable and love ourselves through all the feelings. Because to be human is to ache with both sorrow and joy. The adage that life is 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows is a good reminder. The more we can accept our messy human lives, the more we can bring kindness to ourselves and others. Choosing to stop fighting who we are helps us grow into who we are fully meant to be. In the poem, “The Guest House,” the ancient poet Rumi wrote: This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Our ability to remain receptive to our ever-changing guest house rests in taking cues from nature. To combat what we perceive as “hard,” we can look for the “soft.” Soft invites acceptance. Pause and take in your environment without reacting to it or looking for short-term gain, which is often not as rewarding as anticipated. We can look at trees that go dormant for long periods of time and appreciate transition, knowing we possess these same tendencies within. Similarly, a wildflower does not bloom every season and does not feel obligated to do so. Recently, the non-vascular, spore-bearing land plant moss provided me with lessons. Moss uses the environment by absorbing C02 and emitting oxygen. It reinforces earth by minimizing erosion and is strong enough to deteriorate stone. In many cultures, moss represents renewal, resilience and the interconnectedness of all living things. What a powerfully light, soft verdant teacher. When challenged with the human experience, try this mantra: “Be soft like moss.” This simple phrase can move us from a state of hard ego-posturing to soft, mindful receptivity, welcoming peace and openness. May our lives be soft like moss as we work hard to be fully human. Jennifer Di Francesco is a wellness explorer and desert adventurist and can be reached at www.coachellabellaboho.com . www.acqpoint.com Shingles is a brutally painful infection from the varicella-zoster virus known as chicken pox. As the acute infection from chicken pox fades, the virus remains dormant in the body, sleeping inside nerve cells. Later in life the virus can reactivate in the form of shingles. The condition is most likely to develop in people with a weakened immune system, those receiving chemotherapy, or those over 50 years old who have been ill, under stress or experienced trauma. When activated, shingles can cause burning, itching, stabbing, shooting or excruciating pain that patients often describe as “zingers.” Then, within a week, a nasty rash may appear as a band of blisters or patches — little bumps filled with milky white pus. The rash is generally on one side of the body as the virus travels along specific nerve roots. It can occur anywhere on the body, but typically wraps around the torso or chest from the back to the breast, on the neck, or above and around the eyes. The varicella-zoster virus is spread through direct skin-to-skin contact with the fluid that oozes from the open blisters. Those with shingles can’t spread the disease to another person, but they can spread the chickenpox virus. In the field of western medicine, shingles is treated with anti-viral medications such as valacyclovir (Valtrex) or acyclovir (Zovirax) and with gabapentin and opioids for nerve pain. When I was studying to become a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), I worked in Guang'anmen Hospital, an intercostal neuralgia clinic in Beijing. There, I treated shingles, or “she chuan chuang,” with treatments dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. In TCM, shingles is treated with acupuncture combined with herbal concoctions. Examples of external herbal applications are Herba Polygoni Perfoliate, an annual flowering plant with anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties and sometimes licorice root. www.DesertHealthNews.com January/February 2025 Continued on page 15 Complementing western medicine with eastern therapies can assist in healing shingles. Appreciating soft features of nature can help soften our mindset and open receptivity. Natural Options The Valley ' s Leading Resource for Health and Wellness 8 Living with Jennifer Di Francesco Wellness Get relief from pain and stress now! Acupuncture • Electro Acupuncture Chiropractic • K-Laser • Cupping Chinese Herbs • Medical Massage Diane Sheppard, PhD, LAc CLINIC DIRECTOR Madeline Flores, LMT, HHP MASSAGE THERAPY CRANIAL SACRAL THERAPY CUPPING For appointments, book online at A cQpoint.com or call 760.345.2200 77682 Country Club Dr., Ste. G • Palm Desert Robert “Buzz” Edelburg, DC CHIROPRACTOR Upcoming Events Dr. Joe Dispenza Chat Groups Small Group Meditations Self-Acupressure 101 Energy Healing with Tracy Smith Call for a schedule of events and to be added to our list. East Meets West in Treating Shingles By Diane Sheppard, PhD, LAc To Human Is Hard