At the two and a half year mark of running Acknowledge Wellness and creating this business, I have stumbled upon figuring out what ties the offerings I have with understanding how people approach the multiple dimensions that my business entails.
When I started Acknowledge Wellness LLC back in December 2020, I was in the process of finishing my last quarter of my master's degree in Acupuncture and a Certificate in Chinese Herbal Medicine. At that time, all I knew was that I was going to start to share my offerings slowly as I was recovering from burnout from school and the start of what would be almost a two year severe flare-up of fibromyalgia.
The first offerings were two tea blends that I had shared with many classmates and friends - The Stress Ease Tea Blend and the Eye Support Tea Blend. When the pandemic started earlier that year, all of our classes and clinic shifts moved to online. The only time I left my house was to go to the grocery store or to Bastyr Center for Natural Health as my work study job at the Chinese Herbal Medicine Dispensary filling prescription orders from all over the United States due to many smaller dispensaries shutting down.
In my herbal training at that time and observing what was shifting and changing around me with so many unknowns about the world along with seeing many people's health shift dramatically within a matter of weeks to months, I started making simple herbal formulas for myself and those around me in accordance to Chinese Medicine theory.
At that same time, I was also doing a Yoga Teacher Training course through Susanna Barkataki from June 2020 to January 2021 when I launched Acknowledge Wellness LLC. In combination with the weekly meetings we were having and the herbal tea blends that I was making, these were the rituals that helped ground me during this time.
The continual practice of sitting with tea and herbs for me has been something I've done since I was a child and in these recent years of developing my business, I've been realizing that the offerings I share from 1:1 herbal consultations, seasonal offerings, herbal bath consultations, the products in our online shop, the restorative justice values we hold and the variety of professional skills that I have from education, social work and as a Chinese Medicine practitioner all weave together for me the ideas of ritual and the power of ritual.
Often times when I work with patients or those who have participated in any of our offerings, the themes of ritual show up whether that the herbal preparations became a part of their wellness practices and they felt more grounded and connected to themselves and the earth.
Sometimes when we design our business and for me my business and medical practice, we may have ideas of what to create without always having the glue of knowing what brings these pieces together. I think for me, this was what I have been trying to figure out this entire time as there are so many skills that I've acquired over the years. I may not have specific niches but I do hold a wealth of experience in many areas and the theme that ties everything together is using ritual as a wellness practice.
When I sit with patients and we collaborate together on their treatment plan, for me this is very much a ritual. When I collaborate with Linda Lopes and Christine GHill for Seasonal Drumming and Tea Meditation and Tea and Tarot, it is very much also a practice in ritual. When I write, share resources or provide new offerings, it is a ritual of creation and shared collective well-being.
The ways we use ritual in our lives may differ for each of us and they can be extremely profound. As we write more about ritual and how it can be used for wellness practices, we will also are curious to know what your rituals are that help you feel grounded. If you want to share in the comments below, we would love to hear from you.
May your rituals bring more space for your health and wellness,
Carolyn
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