Dr Abbie Acupuncture

If you follow isfat you’ll understand why this account is one of my favourites. It feels like one of the few corners of the internet where moving your body isn’t for the sake of anything other than for yourself and the “benefits”.

The ultra fit influencers, the effortless runners, the 19 year olds doing burpees before breakfast… hard I cannot relate or even feel inspired.

Don’t worry, this isn’t about to become a running series or some surprise fitfluencer account. I have a severe lack of enthusiasm for sweating, exercise, and anything with the word “core” in it. My name might be Dr Abbie, but nobody call me “Abs”. That’s abuse to my face.

The grumpiness? Probably a lot of Liver Qi. The puffing? Potentially Lung Qi. The commentary? Entirely expected if you can understand any of my bitching.

This video is three minutes long. The actual “run” lasted about five minutes, and I’m using the word run very generously. It also took me two weeks to edit because apparently I needed that long to recover emotionally from watching it back.

If you’re trying to build the habit of moving your body, you’re probably not going to love every minute of it. Some days it’s just putting your shoes on and getting out the door. That’s still a win. My professional advice is - a s**t workout is better than no attempt.

Now tell me… what actually gives you endorphins? Because this still feels like a very elaborate punishment.

Watch until the end for the Chinese medicine reason I’m making myself do it.

Will you be watching for Tea or Truth in my docuseries?

Literally for me the day I went to post this was when the audit dropped - and tried to claim that my online presentation was not deemed or was being assessed for “practitioner professional” and the lovely bullying followers of mine had FINALLY succeeded in targeting the internet reluctant big brother Dr Nick to play my reel game.

(As literally behind the scenes we were complaining and avoiding responsibilities 😂😂). Guys these reels were pretty accurate to our feels at the time 😂😂


ps. Comment below if you want Dr Nick to run a regular pop up at Zhong Centre Melbourne Skin & Health - he only charges Bitcoin now apparently

This whole audit saga being ‘partly’ resolved has me more pi**ed off than relieved, and if you’ve been here a while, knocked my confidence of how I share information with my personality.
Pi**ed off bc registered, qualified, insured practitioners in Australia are out here triple-checking every word, every caption, every tiny bit of personality in case it sounds too “claimy” or too human, while social media is absolutely flooded with unqualified wellness gurus, misinformation, fear-based nonsense and confident bulls**t being pushed by the algorithm like it’s public health education. 

And that is the part that does my head in — the people who are actually trained, accountable and professionally verified and insured to the eyeballs are made to feel like they have to speak in dead, beige, health-jargon robot language, while the internet rewards the loudest, most unregulated voices in the room. People deserve informed choice, but how are they meant to get that when the qualified people are strangled to speak normally and the bulls**t is dancing on reels with trending audio?

I’m still being ‘watched’, for now (hello algorithm engagement), and I only know how to communicate complex and most importantly nuanced health and TCM systems in pop culture references and with swearing, because I know - that’s how you speak and understand too. Its too fu8king hard to re-wire my literal personality to bore you and myself to death with beige bulls**t that both YOU and I have no interest in engaging in for more then 2 seconds. 

So, yeah. That’s where it is today. I’m still grumpy at grifters getting all the goods, and the trained professionals being limited in all that they could share and articulate. 

Thank you for coming to my ted (rant) talk. 

When I ask you to poke your tongue out in clinic, this is exactly the energy I’m looking for. 😝 10/10 seal. Excellent presentation! Take notes every body!

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the tongue can give us clues about what’s happening internally. It’s one of the tools we use alongside questioning, pulse, symptoms, history and clinical assessment.

Two things we may observe from the tongue include:

Tongue colour, which can help us understand patterns relating to heat, cold, circulation or deficiency from a TCM perspective.

Tongue coating, which can give clues around digestion, fluid metabolism and how the body may be processing food, stress or internal load.

No, I am not diagnosing you from a tongue selfie in the DMs. Don’t be weird. Book an appointment like a civilised adult. And I can let you know in person what your tongue is telling me about you.

Are you curious as to how TCM sees period and period issues? Wanna know why Chinese medicine has such amazing feedback for period pain and fertility??

Let me give you a mini lesson on the view point and philosophy on periods and hormones according to TCM - and REAL implementable actions you can do for yourself to manage period pain at home.

As always, my need for external validation like a millennial boy band member is strong - so let me know if you want more long format “lectures” like this or more short, sharp and sassy sound bites for our attention fried brains.

Is it the facial face version of inception over here?

This lights up my Xin and Shen so much. Xin is the TCM concept of the Heart system, which houses joy, personality, and what you’re naturally drawn to. Shen is your spirit, your expression, your connection to self.

What do you mean flavour flav is a TCM lesson? How could that possibly have anything to do with Chinese medicine?

In uncertain times, your Liver which governs frustration, perception, and your sense of direction can become dry and out of balance. When that happens, you try to control everything around you. You become hyper-fixated, and your focus shifts toward what’s wrong instead of what’s working.

The Liver also opens into the eyes. So if you’re constantly on your phone, scrolling, trying to feel some sense of control, you’re feeding that imbalance. The algorithm then keeps giving you more of the same, and you end up stuck in it.

Neurologically and in Chinese medicine, where you place your attention matters. If you actively choose to focus on something lighter, something that makes you laugh, something that gives you a small dopamine hit, it shifts your system. It supports your Xin, which then supports your Shen. That’s what helps you show up brighter in your life.

TCM would call this a simple life hack to support mood, reduce anxiety, and pull you out of a doom-scrolling spiral.

Another way to help the Liver relax is through your eyes. If you feel stuck in your phone, look up. Move your gaze around the room. Let your eyes shift focus, then see if you can put your phone down.

However, I will be deep in the internet searching all things related to Flavour Flav’s donation list for Girls Got Game weekend because this is the happiest part of the internet for me this week.

If you’ve found anything I’ve missed list it below, I need it.the Flavor Tea 🫖

Beyoncé said she works non-stop but has she tried not checking reels between two acupuncture patients?
The discipline. The sacrifice. The heroism. You’re welcome.