How often should you get acupuncture? We explore seasonal maintenance, active treatment, chronic care, and acupuncture as a deeper practice of cultivation. Learn how regular acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can support health over time.
Tremella (snow fungus) is a traditional Chinese medicinal food used to nourish yin, generate fluids and moisten dryness, especially in the Lung and Stomach. At Ritual Health Acupuncture & Herbalism in Berkeley and the East Bay, we draw on acupuncture, herbal medicine and Chinese food therapy to understand each patient’s underlying pattern; here we look at Tremella’s traditional uses, seasonal relevance, modern research and simple preparation in the home kitchen.
Learn how to use Fu Ling (Poria), a traditional Chinese medicinal food, in everyday cooking. Anne Shelton Crute and Adam Okerblom of Ritual Health explain its traditional use for dampness, digestion, and fluid metabolism, with simple instructions for adding Fu Ling to rice, soups, beans, and other foods.
Ghost Month arrives as yang begins to withdraw and yin returns. An acupuncturist’s perspective on hungry ghosts, seasonal qi, autumn, offerings, and the practice of allowing what is complete to be complete.
In classical Chinese medicine, autumn begins weeks before the equinox. Learn how the qi nodes Lìqiū, Chǔshǔ and Báilù describe the seasonal shift, what it means for your health, and how we work with these changes through acupuncture and yangsheng.
Qing is one of the most beautiful concepts in Chinese medicine: a quality of clarity that belongs as much to the physiology as to the mind. Berkeley acupuncturist Anne Shelton Crute explores what it means to cultivate clarity through food, season, perception, and our relationship with the world.
Shen is routinely translated as “spirit” or “heart-mind,” but neither captures its meaning in classical Chinese medicine. Berkeley acupuncturist Anne Shelton Crute looks more closely at the Heart, shen, and what is lost when distinct Chinese medical concepts are collapsed into familiar Western categories.
A look at Summer Begins (Lixia), the seventh solar qi node in the classical East Asian calendar, and what early summer reveals about yangsheng, food, and the outward movement of life.
Most of us are not coordinated in time. We organize our lives by obligation, convenience, and weather. But in the classical Chinese medical view, time is not abstract. It is structured.
The Fire Element possesses qualities that express in the world around us and within our own dimensions at all times. The therapeutic functions of the Fire Element are vital to the practice of Tibetan Medicine.
The famous Daoist alchemist and physician, Ge Hong (283-343 CE), recommended meditating on the qi of the morning sun to enhance health and vitality. What a perfect practice for the spring season of the Yang Fire Horse Year!
Dr. Adam Okerblom had the wonderful experience of teaching Tibetan Medicine theory and methods to the acupuncture doctoral students at Yo San University in February 2026.
How often should you get acupuncture? We explore seasonal maintenance, active treatment, chronic care, and acupuncture as a deeper practice of cultivation. Learn how regular acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can support health over time.
Tremella (snow fungus) is a traditional Chinese medicinal food used to nourish yin, generate fluids and moisten dryness, especially in the Lung and Stomach. At Ritual Health Acupuncture & Herbalism in Berkeley and the East Bay, we draw on acupuncture, herbal medicine and Chinese food therapy to understand each patient’s underlying pattern; here we look at Tremella’s traditional uses, seasonal relevance, modern research and simple preparation in the home kitchen.
Learn how to use Fu Ling (Poria), a traditional Chinese medicinal food, in everyday cooking. Anne Shelton Crute and Adam Okerblom of Ritual Health explain its traditional use for dampness, digestion, and fluid metabolism, with simple instructions for adding Fu Ling to rice, soups, beans, and other foods.
Ghost Month arrives as yang begins to withdraw and yin returns. An acupuncturist’s perspective on hungry ghosts, seasonal qi, autumn, offerings, and the practice of allowing what is complete to be complete.
In classical Chinese medicine, autumn begins weeks before the equinox. Learn how the qi nodes Lìqiū, Chǔshǔ and Báilù describe the seasonal shift, what it means for your health, and how we work with these changes through acupuncture and yangsheng.
Qing is one of the most beautiful concepts in Chinese medicine: a quality of clarity that belongs as much to the physiology as to the mind. Berkeley acupuncturist Anne Shelton Crute explores what it means to cultivate clarity through food, season, perception, and our relationship with the world.
Shen is routinely translated as “spirit” or “heart-mind,” but neither captures its meaning in classical Chinese medicine. Berkeley acupuncturist Anne Shelton Crute looks more closely at the Heart, shen, and what is lost when distinct Chinese medical concepts are collapsed into familiar Western categories.
A look at Summer Begins (Lixia), the seventh solar qi node in the classical East Asian calendar, and what early summer reveals about yangsheng, food, and the outward movement of life.
Most of us are not coordinated in time. We organize our lives by obligation, convenience, and weather. But in the classical Chinese medical view, time is not abstract. It is structured.
A practical look at how to read the quality of a day using the Chinese almanac (Tong Shu), including destroy days, lunar mansions, and hexagrams.
The Fire Element possesses qualities that express in the world around us and within our own dimensions at all times. The therapeutic functions of the Fire Element are vital to the practice of Tibetan Medicine.
The famous Daoist alchemist and physician, Ge Hong (283-343 CE), recommended meditating on the qi of the morning sun to enhance health and vitality. What a perfect practice for the spring season of the Yang Fire Horse Year!
What the Yang Fire Horse Year means in Chinese astrology and how to act with courage, clarity, and purpose in 2026.
Dr. Adam Okerblom had the wonderful experience of teaching Tibetan Medicine theory and methods to the acupuncture doctoral students at Yo San University in February 2026.