Clark Mollenhoff

Clark Mollenhoff holds a Masters Degree in Acupuncture from The Maryland University of Integrative Health, formally known as Tai Sophia Institute and is licensed by the state of Maryland. He also teaches Yoga Nidra, and meditation and draws upon these practices in the treatment room.

Healing is not about returning to some previous state of health. It is about moving forward to a deeper more balanced and peaceful way of being in the world. Its about moving through an experience of pain and learning from that pain how to live well. Whether the pain is physical, emotional, or spiritual it contains a lesson. What does our pain or illness teach us about our lives? What does it tell us about the choices we are making? Are we courageous enough to recognize how we generate our symptoms? Illnesses happen in stages. As they progress the symptoms usually become more noticeable. You don’t just wake up one day and have high blood pressure, or a stomach ulcer, yet we tend to wait until we develop this level of pathology before we notice or admit there is a problem. Unfortunately once it gets to this level we are very sick, and have to go through very expensive, and invasive medical visits, or we become dependent on life long prescription drugs.

Long before we reach this state the body will attempt to warn us with more minor symptoms. Unfortunately we commonly learn to ignore or cover up these symptoms one way or another. At this early stage all the body is saying is “I need more sleep”, “ I’m not happy with the food I’ve been getting”, “ I need more water”, “ I need more exercise or less”, “I’ve had too much alcohol recently”. We are extremely practiced at shrugging these messages off or not even noticing them in the first place. Not to mention our culture often praises this mentality as strength, or toughness. When these minor symptoms are ignored the environment begins to shift in the body to a state that is conducive to disease. This is where illness begins. The body wants to be healthy, but it becomes unable to perform optimally. This causes a gradual breakdown that is not always observable. Blood and lymph flow is impeded, tissues do not regenerate as quickly, cells become dehydrated. You can be sure our bodies will let us know this is occurring.

If you begin to pay attention you will notice that when your under more stress at work, or you enjoying yourself a bit too much, or your not getting the rest and food you need you will typi