Alyssa Chavez [00:00:02]:
Hello, my friend, and welcome back to the Endo Belly Girl podcast. Today we are going to be continuing our series all about fertility. And I have a special guest on for you today who is going to be talking about a topic that I think is so interesting and fascinating. It's something that I've experienced myself but am not an expert in. So I wanted to bring on somebody who can talk about it from that perspective, somebody who's really studied. And that perspective is traditional chinese medicine, including acupuncture.
Allison Locke [00:00:36]:
Right.
Alyssa Chavez [00:00:37]:
So I have a guest for you today. Her name is Alison Locke. She is an acupuncturist as well as an integrative health practitioner. She's based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, and she is a fellow of the Acupuncture and TCM board of Reproductive Medicine and a member of the Obstetrical Acupuncture association. She's had extensive additional training in fertility and reproductive health, as well as personal experience with endometriosis. She's super passionate about treating hormonal imbalances, chronic pelvic pain, and endometriosis symptoms, and she works with her patients on that all the time. She also has recently developed an online course called Endometriosis University where she shares all kinds of wonderful information. I'm going to let her tell you more about that a little bit later today, but I'm super excited to dive into this topic.
Alyssa Chavez [00:01:31]:
There's so much to say and so much benefit that we can all get from the world of acupuncture and traditional chinese medicine. So I'm super excited to dive in and share that with all of you today. So I will let Alison take it away. All right. Hello, Alison. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm super excited to chat with you. I know you have so much information to share with all of us, so thank you so much for being here today.
Allison Locke [00:02:03]:
Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited, too.
Alyssa Chavez [00:02:06]:
Good, good. Yeah. Well, I would love if you can start off by telling us a little bit about yourself, what you do, how you came to be doing what you're doing, so we can just get to know you a little bit.
Allison Locke [00:02:20]:
Yeah. So I'm Allison. I'm an acupuncturist and integrative health practitioner based out of Vancouver. So my practice is there. I also do a little bit of virtual stuff, too, so I kind of see patients from all over, but I've been in the field for about ten ish years now, and I was originally an art slash architecture school dropout and just stumbled into the world of chinese medicine. Medicine. And I have been kind of in love with it ever since. So it was kind of just, you know, a very random kind of story where I just picked up a book about chinese medicine one day, fell in love with it, and decided that's what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
Allison Locke [00:03:01]:
And that was over ten years ago now.
Alyssa Chavez [00:03:04]:
I love that. That is super cool. And you have a history with endometriosis as well, right? Mm hmm.
Allison Locke [00:03:13]:
I do. So, yeah. That's also kind of a funny story because I started specializing in kind of, like, fertility and reproductive health as soon as I graduated. Like, I was always really interested in it because, I mean, chinese medicine, just the way that they view hormones and the menstrual cycle and stuff was just so interesting and so different than anything I had ever, I don't know, experienced or heard about before. And so when I graduated, I specialized, or I started worked in a clinic that sort of specialized more in fertility and reproductive health. So I had a ton of mentorships, and I learned more about it, and I just realized, wow, this is such a vast amount of information that more people need to know about. And I've just been kind of in love with hormones and, you know, since then. But a few years into my practice is when I was actually diagnosed with endometriosis myself.
Allison Locke [00:04:06]:
So I was diagnosed with basically a disease that I treat every day in clinic. So it was kind of bittersweet in that I knew so much about it already.
Alyssa Chavez [00:04:16]:
Yeah.
Allison Locke [00:04:17]:
But it was also just, like, difficult to deal with because I almost knew too much at the same time. And I definitely knew way more than my doctors did. So much help from the start, which I think a lot of people with endometriosis can relate to that kind of story, but, yeah. So I just kind of found myself in the midst of figuring out what to do about endometriosis. Yeah.
Alyssa Chavez [00:04:42]:
Yeah. So it's so interesting how that happens. Right. It's. I'm a big believer in that we kind of just end up where we're meant to be.
Allison Locke [00:04:51]:
Right.
Alyssa Chavez [00:04:52]:
You feel so much towards certain certain things, certain people, certain whatever. And it's so funny how often in life things work out like that.
Allison Locke [00:05:02]:
I was just telling alison right before.
Alyssa Chavez [00:05:04]:
We started this, it's so fortuitous that we ended up doing this interview today, because it's, you know, this is a topic I've been wanting to talk about for a while. I have some personal experience with not doing acupuncture, but, you know, being a, you know, getting acupuncture done, what am I trying to say here? And, you know, thank you. That's a better way to say it. And, you know, have had wonderful experiences myself. And so I've been wanting to share this with people, but I also just recently have had people asking me about like, oh, what are your thoughts on acupuncture? And I'm like, oh, it's great. And I know someone who can tell you a whole lot more about it than I can. So just stay tuned for this episode. So, yeah, it's funny how that happens, but I'm glad that you not glad that you had an endometriosis diagnosis, but glad that you had already learned so much and I'm sure have learned a lot more even since then.
Alyssa Chavez [00:05:58]:
Share with all of us. So let's dive into that a little bit today. Now, in case anybody is kind of brand new to this whole world in general, I would love if you can start off just by filling us in a little bit on what acupuncture is and as well as traditional chinese medicine, because I know that that's a big part of what you do as well, just for anybody who is not really familiar with that terminology.
Allison Locke [00:06:22]:
Yeah, definitely. So TCM, or traditional chinese medicine is like the big umbrella. And acupuncture is one of the modalities under TCM, under the umbrella. And there's other things, things like mock Sebastian chinese herbal therapy, diet, lifestyle things. All of these are under the umbrella of TCM. And so basically, it's an over 2000 year old medicine, and it really values balance and living in accordance with nature. We really believe that what happens inside of our bodies is a microcosm of what's happening in the world. And so there's different elements like metal and wood and water.
Allison Locke [00:06:59]:
And these different elements correspond to different organ systems. And then when these organ systems are out of balance, they create specific symptoms. And chinese medicine and acupuncture specifically, like acupuncture is really the key is like, we really want healthy qi and blood to be moving through the meridians, through your body. Whenever there's something that's stuck or deficient, it's going to cause some issues. And so we're kind of trained to recognize the imbalances and then ways that we can kind of support and bring the body back into balance.
Alyssa Chavez [00:07:29]:
Nice. Yeah, that was a wonderful description. See, much better job than I, than I would have done in describing how all of that works. Love that. I love how you talk about all the different modalities involved in that as well, because people think of acupuncture as just being, you know, having the little needles put in your body, but there's a lot more to it than that, right?
Allison Locke [00:07:49]:
Absolutely. Yeah. It's a really vast, complex medicine.
Alyssa Chavez [00:07:52]:
Yeah, I know. There's a lot to learn there. Yes, definitely the schooling behind that. I know. I actually know somebody who went through that a few years back, and so I kind of watched him go through the whole process. And it's a lot. It's.
Allison Locke [00:08:06]:
Oh, it's intense. Yeah, it's about three to five years, continuous schooling, lots of board exams. It's. Yeah, it definitely weeds out a lot of people that probably don't have the passion and drive for it. It's a tough.
Alyssa Chavez [00:08:20]:
Absolutely. Yeah. It's no weekend certification, for sure. All right. And since we're really here, so this episode is part of a series that we're doing on fertility for the month of April, which is infertility awareness month. And so I would love. Well, first of all, because, of course, we are focusing on endometriosis as well. We're going to kind of talk about all of it today, but I want to kind of take it one step at a time.
Alyssa Chavez [00:08:49]:
So we're building the journey, so to speak, as we go along here. So I would love if you can actually start off by sharing with us from that TCM perspective what infertility actually is and how you kind of view infertility through that lens, because I think that's super interesting in and of itself.
Allison Locke [00:09:08]:
Yeah, definitely. So it's basically chinese medicine has a very different diagnostic process because in western medicine, you have your singular diagnosis, like infertility or, or headaches or insomnia. But in chinese medicine, one illness can have a bunch of different types of imbalances. For example, like a headache can be cheese stagnation, or it can be a blood deficiency or liver yang rising. And then subtle differences in these symptoms and what's going on in the body will point us towards the TCM diagnosis. And so the same goes for fertility. So the organ systems that are involved a lot with fertility are the kidney, liver and spleen. And these aren't exactly like the western kidney, liver and spleen.
Allison Locke [00:09:54]:
And I'm always careful with explaining that because if I tell someone they've got liver qi stagnation, I'm not necessarily telling them that there's something wrong with their liver. Because in chinese medicine, it's kind of more of like a philosophical. Kind of like poetic. Not exactly liver organ system. It's a bit. It's a bit different, but basically those are a few of the main organ systems that, when they become imbalanced, can definitely affect your fertility. And then there's also things like your chi and blood need to flow really smoothly because there's a lot of, like, action and things that need to take place in order for conception to occur. Like ovulation is a very moving event, like fertilization, implantation.
Allison Locke [00:10:31]:
All that requires, like, lots of continuous good blood circulation and qi circulation. And then for fertility, there's also yin and yang. Those are two of the main kind of components where a lot of TCM is based off of. So yin is like the juicy fluids and stuff, and that needs to be in abundance. And then there also needs to be enough yang warmth for a warm womb, for good strength and stuff, for fertilization to have that energy. So there's a lot of different kinds of fertility patterns that we can kind of see in chinese medicine. So there's like, for example, you could have kidney yang deficiency, where we really need to boost that fire and that yang in order for fertility to kind of be, you know, effective. Or sometimes there's chi and blood stagnation when we really do need to do a lot of moving because things are stuck.
Allison Locke [00:11:23]:
Or maybe there's, like, liver blood or spleen chi deficiency, and we need to do a lot of boosting. So there's lots of different kinds of patterns that go along with fertility. And it really depends on how the infertility is kind of presenting in my patients. So there's a lot of different symptoms that will kind of point us towards that. And I'm always using kind of the clues from the whole body, like how you digest food, how you sleep, what your energy levels are. Like. All of these are kind of giving me clues, especially, like, your period, too. Like, is it regular? Do you have PM's symptoms? Is it clotty? Is it heavy? Is there pain? All of these are kind of giving us details and clues about what pattern it is and so how we can kind of bring about balance into the body.
Alyssa Chavez [00:12:10]:
Yeah, super cool. And I love the way that you're talking about how. How different it can present itself in different people. I think that's something that's really key. It's something that I talk a lot about, too, even though in the modality that I work in, because no two bodies are alike, right? Yeah, even people are, you know, let's say two people even. Both have endometriosis and are struggling with infertility. It doesn't mean that you're going to address it in exactly the same way. It's about kind of zooming out and looking at the full picture, the full body, what's going on, you know, with all the different symptoms and things that you're experiencing, how your body is functioning as a whole.
Alyssa Chavez [00:12:49]:
And so I love that you're, you're looking at it from that perspective. I think that that is really key for a lot of people, is that that individuality piece of it, figuring out how your unique body works. And I know, I find that super fascinating. I know that that's something that you talk about a lot as well. So love that. Now, for somebody who has endometriosis, let's even, we'll come back to the fertility piece of that in a moment. But just for endometriosis in and of itself, can you share a little bit about how TCM would approach that? And of course, like you already mentioned, it's going to be individual to an extent, but I'm sure that there are certain patterns and things that you might look for along the way or certain, certain things that you might think about if it's, you know, if, you know, somebody has an endometriosis diagnosis. Can you talk us through that a little bit and what that looks like?
Allison Locke [00:13:44]:
Yeah, definitely. So I kind of like to explain it to my patients in a couple of different ways. So the first way that I often use, and I kind of do this first to kind of help my patients make sense of it, but I like to explain it, like, kind of in using western terminology, too. So I'll kind of tell them. Acupuncture is really great for helping to relax the nervous system. It sends the message to the brain to release pain relieving neurotransmitters. It reduces inflammation by helping the body promote anti inflammatory cytokines. It modulates the immune system and improves blood circulation.
Allison Locke [00:14:18]:
These are all kind of the mechanisms, based on scientific research, of how we know acupuncture works in the body physiologically. These are the mechanisms of how it helps with endometriosis. Among all the other conditions acupuncture is really great for. But then there's also, like, the TCM way of explaining things. So in endometriosis, and this is kind of, you can kind of understand this in a sense that there's, like a lot of chi and blood stagnation or a lot of stagnation in general, because with Endo, there's tissue that is outside of the uterus that shouldn't be there. So there's things that are stuck. It's, like, impairing, you know, healthy chi and blood circulation. And when things are stuck in chinese medicine, it always creates pain.
Allison Locke [00:15:00]:
And so we're always trying to move a lot of that stuck chi and blood when it comes to endometriosis. And then I also see a lot of underlying deficiency when it comes to endo. Like, there's always kind of, like, the acute pattern of, yes, there's a lot of chi and blood stagnation, and that's causing a lot of the pain and, um, like, the sharp nerve pain or, like, the achy cramps or maybe a lot of, like, the heavy, clotty periods. We can kind of attribute that to a lot of stagnation. But then I also find that there's a lot of underlying deficiency on top of that that has kind of resulted in this chi in blood stagnation. Because in chinese medicine, we're always asking ourselves, why, like, why is there dampness? Why is this chi stuck? And we can kind of bring it back to an endometriosis. I see a lot of yang deficiency or a lot of chi and blood deficiency. And so when things are deficient, that can also create a lot of stuck energy, too.
Allison Locke [00:15:55]:
So I'm always looking at kind of based on my patient's constitution and how their patterns are kind of, and symptoms are talking to me, like, what exactly is the root of it? So how can we support that while simultaneously helping to treat the current symptoms, too?
Alyssa Chavez [00:16:10]:
Love that. Yeah. So, so much packed into that.
Allison Locke [00:16:13]:
But, yeah, there's a lot.
Alyssa Chavez [00:16:16]:
Thank you for sharing all that. Super interesting. I I'm fascinated by just that, that lens of looking at endometriosis, and it makes a lot of sense, right. Because even just visually, when I think of endometriosis, I think of things being kind of stuck and stagnant. Like, I know I was one of many people who, when I went in for my endometriosis surgery, actually had a lot of organs physically stuck together.
Allison Locke [00:16:42]:
Right.
Alyssa Chavez [00:16:43]:
That's kind of a clear physical sign of that stagnation, much less the actual endometriosis lesions. If you've got endometriomas going on in there, like, it's that blood that's literally just sitting in your body and not flowing and moving the way that it should. So I think that perspective, I think the TCM perspective is really interesting. Just in general. I've always been kind of fascinated by it, but it just makes a lot of sense to me with endometriosis, because it's like there's a very clear connection there. So, yeah, I love that. Now, looking for somebody who might be struggling with fertility in particular, how would you think of approaching that from, again, that TCM perspective, whether somebody is looking to get pregnant naturally and or, you know, might be even looking into doing some reproductive assistance, like IVF or something like that? Because I know that TCM can be super supportive in that as well, if that's the route that you are deciding to go. So I was wondering if you can talk us through both of those situations a little bit and how you would approach each of those.
Allison Locke [00:17:56]:
Yeah, so no matter how my patients are planning on getting pregnant, the focus with chinese medicine is always, like, really supporting healthy blood circulation. That's definitely a number one thing, because that's really how the ovaries get all of their nutrient and oxygen rich blood that they need to create the healthiest cells as possible, and supporting healthy egg quality and reducing inflammation, which is definitely the number one detriment to egg quality. So there's a lot of different things that we're kind of focusing on. And I get this question a lot from my patients. Like, if they had been trying naturally and now they're starting to do IUI or IVF, they're often asking me, so how does a treatment change if I'm doing this or that? And honestly, on the chinese medicine point, it doesn't really change a lot because we're already always working on the same thing. Like, I'm always working on that blood circulation, that nervous system relaxation to help reduce stress, I'm helping to balance the hormones. I want to really regulate ovulation. So it's a nice strong ovulation.
Allison Locke [00:18:57]:
So no matter what my patients are kind of going through, like, I'm always looking at their TCM diagnosis, and that honestly doesn't change no matter what they're doing. If it's IUI or IVF, if they've got stuck chi, then I'm moving that stuck chi. So it really, it doesn't change too much for chinese medicine. And research shows that chinese medicine, in conjunction with IVF, improves IVF results by about 30%. So it is really huge. So we can't really underestimate that, like, blood circulation can help the medications do better with IVF. That kind of makes a lot of sense if you're thinking about how the medications can kind of get to the ovaries to stimulate those follicles and do what they need to do. And then I'm also always, always looking like, if we're doing any kind of assisted reproductive technology or even trying naturally.
Allison Locke [00:19:41]:
Like, I'm always making diet and lifestyle recommendations. I'm always thinking about supplements. I'm really looking at the whole body and everything that the person is doing. I might be looking at, like, gut health or do we really need to work on that nervous system stress reduction piece? Is there something underlying that I'm kind of questioning? And maybe we need to do some, like, functional lab testing to kind of dig deeper into things. Like, I'm always kind of utilizing both my TCM, kind of holistic brain, but also, like, I have. I do a little bit of functional medicine, integrative practice, too. So I'm trying to, like, always balance the both of, like, what can I use for my patients? That's going to be the best of both of these two different worlds, so we can kind of get the best results possible.
Alyssa Chavez [00:20:25]:
Nice. That's very cool. I love that you're kind of blending those pieces together because it can all be so powerful. Right?
Allison Locke [00:20:33]:
Yeah, there's benefits to both.
Alyssa Chavez [00:20:35]:
Yeah, totally.
Allison Locke [00:20:36]:
There's.
Alyssa Chavez [00:20:37]:
I. I'm a big fan of kind of taking the best from. From all the worlds. Right. There's. There's so many things, and as we all are, I think, fairly well aware of.
Allison Locke [00:20:47]:
Right.
Alyssa Chavez [00:20:47]:
Endometriosis is complex.
Allison Locke [00:20:49]:
Right.
Alyssa Chavez [00:20:49]:
And fertility can be complex as well. So sometimes it can be really a matter of looking at it from all the different perspectives and kind of bringing in the pieces that are going to best support that unique individual based on what they need. So sometimes it may be that the TCM might be the most beneficial. Sometimes, you know, it might be that with a little bit of the, you know, gut health work and nutrition and all the things. So I think that's really cool that you're blending all of that together. That's pretty awesome.
Allison Locke [00:21:20]:
Yeah, definitely. Because at the end of the day, my. My goal is always the same as my patient's goal. Like, if that's having a healthy baby, having painful, painless periods, like, whatever the goal is, however we can reach there, utilizing whatever tools is necessary that's going to, yeah, help them get there is definitely my goal. And if it's also just, like, improving quality of life, like, that's also a really important consideration, because sometimes for my endo patients, that does mean going on, like, hormonal therapy or getting surgery, which is totally not TCM, but if that's what's going to improve their quality of life the best. Like, I'm all for it, so I have no biases against whatever is going to, like, help my patients reach their goals and also just, like, feel the best as possible.
Alyssa Chavez [00:22:05]:
Nice. Same. I'm totally in that same boat with you. Right?
Allison Locke [00:22:09]:
Yeah.
Alyssa Chavez [00:22:10]:
It's about how that individual can be best supported.
Allison Locke [00:22:13]:
Exactly. Beautiful.
Alyssa Chavez [00:22:15]:
You know, I was wondering, too, Allison, if you can share with us a little bit. So just, again, for somebody who might not be super familiar with acupuncture, in particular, that piece of it, because I know I hear this from people sometimes who, you know, have never done it before, I've never experienced it and maybe are a little leery because they hear that there's needles involved, and that sounds scary. I know. This was even my experience the first time I went in for an acupuncture appointment, and I had sought it out. So I actually had a friend locally who also is an acupuncturist who specializes in fertility and women's reproductive health and all the things. Very good at what she does. And I wanted to go and see her and see how all of this worked. But I remember going into it kind of feeling a little bit uneasy, like.
Allison Locke [00:23:04]:
I don't love anybody.
Alyssa Chavez [00:23:05]:
There's going to be a lot of them put in my body, so. But I personally, I found it to be actually a very relaxing experience. Right. And ended up going back for quite some time. And, you know, I always left those sessions feeling so much better than when I went in in so many different ways. But I was wondering how you would kind of describe that experience to somebody who, you know, hasn't done it before, doesn't really know what that's like, and might have a little bit of that uneasiness about the actual needles going into their body, how is that different than, you know, a needle for a blood test or something like that? And also, even if you can share a little bit with us about kind of how you go about placing the. Is needles even the right word for acupuncture?
Allison Locke [00:23:55]:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, they are. They are still technically needles, way different than the type of needles that most people are used to. But yes, they are still needles. So that's actually a really great question because I get that a lot. And I feel like each patient that tells me, like, I just want you to know, like, I'm nervous about neEdles. Like, I'm a little bit needle phobic. I'm.
Allison Locke [00:24:14]:
And they honestly, like, I feel like a lot of people think that they're the OnLy one that are coming to acupuncture but are a little bit afraid of needles. And I honestly, I hear it all the time, and it's always okay. Like I told you, totally get it. No one wants to get stuck with needles. Like, that's never, like, you don't go to an acupuncturist because getting stuck with needles is fun. You go because it works. It feels great afterwards. Like, and even during the session, like, I have some patients that tell me, like, without fail, they're not nappers, but they'll always fall asleep during acupuncture.
Allison Locke [00:24:45]:
Or that, like, acupuncture is the only time where they, like, actually feel, like, truly rested. And so it really, really does just, like, really help kind of force your body out of that chronic, chronic flight or flight mode and into parasympathetic mode. But, yeah, this is a super common thing. And I am honestly, I, I call myself a very gentle needle earth because I myself am very sensitive when it comes to acupuncture needles. So I know how it feels when some of them don't, like, are, it's never, like, painful with acupuncture, but it can just be, like, a little bit of a weird sensation or a slightly uncomfortable sensation at first for some points. So I'm always super gentle with all my patients who are, who are kind of coming to me a little bit nervous about needles. I'll always, like, ask them, like, if there's any parts of their body that they would really like me to avoid or if they're parts that, areas of their body that they're more nervous about. But acupuncture needles are very, very different than type of needles that you're used to because they're not like those hypodermic needles where they're, you can, like, fit fluids in them.
Allison Locke [00:25:45]:
Like, they're as thin as a strand of hair. They're super flexible. It's really a really safe practice. It's really hard for acupuncture to actually be dangerous. You'd have to try really hard to really not know what you're doing. So it isn't very safe. And I'll always, like, walk my patients through. I'll, like, you know, do one point, kind of explain exactly what it's going to feel like and just kind of go from there.
Allison Locke [00:26:06]:
And about 99% of the time after I do the very first point, they're like, oh, that's it. Like, it's always so much more of a bigger deal in your head than how it actually is in the appointment. And honestly, like, if I have a few patients who are like, you know, I just can't do the needles. I just can't do it. I can't relax. It's not my favorite thing. And totally fair. That's absolutely fine.
Allison Locke [00:26:27]:
There's so many other things that we can do. We can do some chinese herbs, we can do some supplements. We can do other kind of diet lifestyle modifications. Like acupuncture is just one small piece of what I do, and there's so much more that we can kind of do to help kind of get your health on the right track.
Alyssa Chavez [00:26:41]:
Nice. Yeah, I know. That was definitely, my experience was like, okay, I don't know about this. And then as soon as the first needle went, I was like, oh, that was like nothing.
Allison Locke [00:26:49]:
Yeah. It's more psychological than I think how it actually is.
Alyssa Chavez [00:26:54]:
Absolutely. I totally agree. And I know one thing that I've always found really interesting is, and I very much have not studied the science behind this. Or maybe science is the wrong word, the energy behind this, or maybe a blend of both the way that you have, but even the way that you're placing the needles in each individual body, I know it's different, of course, based on symptoms and things like that, but I know there's, like, the meridians involved, and I just. I find that super interesting. I was wondering if you can just tell us a little bit about that. I know it's a huge topic to cover. So, again, you spent years studying that, but maybe just a little kind of introduction to that.
Allison Locke [00:27:37]:
Totally, yeah, because I do get that a lot, actually. Like, I'll do a point on someone's leg or foot, and they'll be like, how does that help with my hormones? Like, how is that going to help with my fertility? I don't understand. And so, yeah, so, basically, with acupuncture, there's a bunch of different meridians, and they flow from your fingertips to your inside of your body, and then from your toes to your body. There's points in the head and the shoulders and the ears. Like, pretty much everywhere in the body, there's different acupuncture points, and each one has, like, a different creates, like, a different physiological response in the body. So I'm choosing the point based on your specific symptoms and your goals, where you are in your menstrual cycle. Like, there's a lot of thought that kind of goes into it. I do a lot of, like, wrist and ankle points because I do a lot of what you kind of call in chinese medicine, like, extraordinary vessel work.
Allison Locke [00:28:26]:
And so these are specific vessels and meridians that I work with a lot, that deal a lot with, like, complex things like, fertility and hormones. And so opening those channels, there are a lot on the wrist and the ankle. Then I'll also do a lot of, like, local points on the belly, definitely, which obviously help with improving blood circulation to ovaries and stuff like that. But you kind of have to think of it as kind of like, if you're picturing, like, the nerves in the body, they come from the spine, and then they go everywhere else in the body. And so if we're stimulating kind of that distal part of the nerve, we're. We are activating the entire nerve as it goes into the spine and communicates with the central nervous system. So acupuncture meridians are similar as then if we're kind of stimulating one part of the meridian, it will have a whole effect on that whole meridian and that organ system. So, like, the liver, if we're doing some liver cheese stagnation, moving and stuff, or fertility or endo, the liver meridian kind of goes into the belly but also goes down the leg.
Allison Locke [00:29:25]:
So that's why I'm doing a lot of, like, leg and foot points, because there's a lot of really great liver points there that I like to use. Very cool.
Alyssa Chavez [00:29:31]:
Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.
Allison Locke [00:29:33]:
So fascinating.
Alyssa Chavez [00:29:34]:
That's like a whole world you could dive into in yourself. I find that super interesting. Now, of course, your best bet if you're really interested in this world and you want to experience TCM and acupuncture and all the things for yourself. Of course, going to a licensed acupuncture who has the training, like yourself, if you are local to your area or somebody who might be specialized in the area that you're living, if you're not in Vancouver, is always going to be your best bet so that you're getting that expertise and that hands on approach, although I know you said you do some work virtually as well, you know, obviously, you wouldn't be able to do the actual acupuncture needles.
Allison Locke [00:30:18]:
Everything but the needles, but everything else.
Alyssa Chavez [00:30:20]:
There'S a lot of other powerful tools. So we'll have you share in a little bit how people can contact you if they might be interested in that. But for somebody who's kind of just thinking about this and might just want to take some first steps to see what this is all about at home, is there anything that you would recommend as kind of a starting point or things that you can do on your own at home?
Allison Locke [00:30:43]:
Yeah, definitely. So, I mean, I feel like I can't answer this question without bringing it back to, like, the foundations and like, the absolute basics, because I feel like there are, people overlook the basics and the foundations as if, oh, they're not going to be powerful enough. Like, they're not going to be enough to actually change anything or do anything. But I find that there's a lot of gaps that people have in some of these kind of, like, foundational pillars of health that really make a huge difference in the long term. So the things I'm looking at are diet, exercise, stress, and sleep. And so these four things definitely need to be dialed down before we're starting to implement anything more complex. And so that looks like, are you eating a healthy diet that, you know, is focusing on not a ton of inflammatory foods or helping to reduce inflammation, but we're also keeping your blood sugar stable, which is also really important to help control daily levels of inflammation and then exercise. Are you getting, like, regular movement? Are we doing a little bit of cardio, a little bit of strength training? Those things are both really great for your hormones and for general health and fertility and then stress.
Allison Locke [00:31:47]:
People really underestimate the stress component. And I don't mean this as in, like, oh, of course, like, you know, you're not conceiving because you're too stressed. Like, that's such a simplified kind of way to put it. But that isn't actually quite accurate. But it's more of, like, I feel like a lot of us are just operating. We're just used to operating out of, like, chronic stress mode. We're just go, go, go hustling all day, and then maybe we'll relax a bit on the weekend. But that's really not how our nervous systems are really optimized.
Allison Locke [00:32:17]:
We really need to do something relaxing each day. We need to go to bed at a decent time. We need to have good sleep, hygiene. We need to, you know, make sure that we're sending the message to our nervous system that the environment is safe to make a baby. And I think that's a really important kind of component to it. So the basics, 100%. We need to, you know, get pretty down. But then there's also some, like, cool TCM things that I love recommending to my fertility patients.
Allison Locke [00:32:44]:
Like, one is paying attention to the temperature of your food. Like, are you eating enough warm food and drinks? Because if you're eating a bunch of cold, raw things, even if it's like salads and smoothies, things we can kind of consider healthy, they're kind of putting out in chinese medicine what we call your digestive fires. Like, we kind of see our digestive system as like a furnace. And so if we're putting too much cold, raw things, we are putting out the fires and we're impairing your digestion, you're not going to be absorbing enough good nutrients. And it could be something that could potentially lead to, you know, that kidney Yang deficiency that we talked about earlier where, you know, your digestive system fires are putting out your kidney fires, which are really important for fertility. So I feel like that's something that's often overlooked and then some other basic things of kind of just pay attention to the basic day and night. Chinese medicine is all about living in accordance with nature. So are you going to bed when it's dark out? Are you waking up when it's light out? Like, these are really basic things, but things that can have such a huge impact on your circadian rhythm, which has an impact on your nervous system and your adrenals and your endocrine system, everything is such a domino effect and everything impacts and affects each other.
Allison Locke [00:33:57]:
So those things like that I find are really important.
Alyssa Chavez [00:34:00]:
Yeah, totally agree on all of that. Yeah, the basics. Yeah, that's something that I talk about all the time as well, because it sounds cool to do all these fancy things like, I'm going to acupuncture and I'm doing these. Taking these herbs and these supplements and this gut healing protocol and all of that can be really beneficial, but it doesn't bypass the diet that you're eating and your movement and your sleep and these foundational things that really should be a starting point for everybody if that's something that you're not already doing in your life.
Allison Locke [00:34:38]:
So, yeah, thank you for that. Of course.
Alyssa Chavez [00:34:41]:
Love it. All right. Is there anything else that we missed today that you would really like to share and add to this conversation?
Allison Locke [00:34:50]:
Oh, I think that kind of covers it. Yeah, I think we did. We did a lot of. A lot of TCM talk today. We did.
Alyssa Chavez [00:34:59]:
We covered a lot of topics. I think there's a lot of wonderful little nuggets in here for everybody. Well, then, Allison, I would love if you can share a little bit more about what you do, how you work with people, and how we can find you and connect with you if you'd like to learn more.
Allison Locke [00:35:19]:
Yeah. So I'm accepting new patients in my in person practice in Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia. And then I also do have a virtual kind of health coaching practice. Space is very limited, so I do kind of book out a bit in advance. But if that is something you're interested in, it is a possibility. But then I also have some online resources. I've got my period university course I launched last year, which basically just teaches you everything about your period and how to fix common period issues. And then I also just recently, last week launched my endometriosis university course, which is very specific to endo and the, you know, how to get diagnosed, how to navigate it, diet, lifestyle, everything you need to know about surgery, like all those basics and important things.
Allison Locke [00:36:06]:
Basically how I treat endometriosis in all my patients. So there's those resources that are available, too.
Alyssa Chavez [00:36:13]:
Nice. Very cool. And you have. Can we find you on your website, Instagram?
Allison Locke [00:36:19]:
Oh, yes.
Alyssa Chavez [00:36:19]:
What are the links? Share this in the show notes as well, just in case anybody wants to write it down as they're listening or something.
Allison Locke [00:36:26]:
Yeah. So my Instagram handle is sea of chi healing. Yeah, that's my handle on Instagram and TikTok. And then my website is cfchealing.com. Perfect.
Alyssa Chavez [00:36:36]:
And I will link to those in the show notes as well. So you can find Allison. Go say hi to her. Send her a little message. Tell her you enjoyed listening to this episode. She's got so many fun resources and great information. So please go check her out and connect with her there. All right, Allison.
Alyssa Chavez [00:36:56]:
Well, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so happy that you were able to, we were able to connect and, you know, have a little chat here today for everybody. I think this is going to be super beneficial. And now if anybody asks me all about acupuncture and TCM, I will know right where to send them.
Allison Locke [00:37:16]:
Of course.
Alyssa Chavez [00:37:17]:
Yeah. Thank you so, so much for being here today.
Allison Locke [00:37:20]:
Thank you so much, Eliza.
Alyssa Chavez [00:37:22]:
All right, have a wonderful day, everybody.