Integrative Healing & Joyful Balance with Eastern Medicine

This episode dives into the intersection of Eastern and Western medicine through a lively discussion with acupuncturist and herbalist Molly Dyer. We explore the holistic approach to healing, the importance of understanding emotional connections to physical health, and how to foster balance in our lives through both medicine and movement. 
• Understanding the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western medicine 
• The role of emotional health in physical healing 
• The philosophy behind the practice name "Light and Dark" 
• Importance of individualized herbal prescriptions 
• Benefits of integrating creative outlets, like dance, into wellness routines 
• Encouragement to seek holistic care as a means to address complex health issues 
• Insights into the healing connection between gut health and skin conditions 
• Emphasizing the significance of balance in life and wellness practices

www.LightandDarkAcu.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Exploring Eastern and Western Medicine
• 11:55 The World of Herbal Dermatology
• 22:45 Holistic Herbal Dermatology Training Benefits
• 31:34 Finding Balance in Work and Joy

Transcript

Granddaughter Crow: 0:00

Welcome to Belief, being and Beyond with your host, granddaughter Crow. Hi everybody, granddaughter Crow here for yet another episode of Belief, being and Beyond. As you know, I love to bring different belief systems to the table, ask those questions that we might be afraid to ask for the listening audience, as well as understand that different belief systems constitute. To ask for the listening audience, as well as understand that different belief systems constitutes how we behave in the world, our beingness. But there's always something more. There's always something beyond, and today I have a wonderful guest. We are going to be looking at more Eastern medicine. I'm really excited about bringing Molly to the table.

Granddaughter Crow: 0:56

Let me give you a little bit of insight about Molly. So Molly Dyer is a licensed acupuncturist and is the founder of Light and Dark Acupuncture and Apothecary and Tappy Feet. We'll get into that. She blends deep healing with hands-on care, balancing classic wisdom with modern herbal approaches. That sounds like something that we really need. Certified by the International Traditional Chinese Dermatology Association, itcmda right, she specializes, obviously you can tell I'm very comfortable with my friend Molly. She specializes in treating acne, eczema and psoriasis, among a lot of other skin conditions, through traditional Chinese medicine Chinese medicine. She also holds an international certificate in traditional Chinese medicine pediatrics, which allows her to provide expert dermatological care for all ages, as well as through Tappy Feet yes, tappy Feet. She connects adults through joy, laughter, movement and creativity in her tap dancing classes. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to what me and my husband call Miracle Molly. Say hi to everyone, molly, hi, thanks for having me here. Oh gosh, I've been looking forward to it. I've known you for forever.

Molly Dyer LAc: 2:30

How many years? 15 years? How many years? Well, yeah, probably 15, because we met right after, I think, or?

Granddaughter Crow: 2:48

right before I started acupuncture school and I'm going on a 10 year career in acupuncture now and acupuncture school was four years long. So, yes, right at 15 or so. I love it, I absolutely love it. So in our discussion I'd kind of like to ask very general questions and I'll just be honest. You know there's a lot of strangeness in our atmosphere. I'll call it to you know whether it's economic, social, social justice, lack of social justice, all of that. But there's also concerns within the medical industry and pharmaceuticals and insurance. We won't go there, but we all know what we're talking about. And yet that's all Western medicine and you know Western medicine and you know Eastern medicine. Can you give us a little bit of a breakdown about your thoughts on each one and when to use each one, or what that looks like?

Molly Dyer LAc: 3:44

and when to use each one or what that looks like. Yeah, I mean, you know I'm not a doctor, but my dad is a doctor. So when you say I know Western medicine, I know it because I grew up around it. I've used it my whole life. I have good doctors and I discuss my health with them openly. I've had not good doctors before too, right?

Molly Dyer LAc: 4:10

So I think, and then, and I think that Western medicine is something that's really good to be used, you know, when there is sort of an emergency or something that really requires medication, and one of the things I love about Eastern medicine is that there are sometimes there's the possibility that you don't have to take a medication for something because it's not going to ruin your life to try an alternative medicine option for that particular disorder, whatever it may be. And in those cases, eastern medicine is great because it can sometimes keep you off of having to go on more medications which you know. Eventually, when you're on several medications, you may have interactions between those medications or they may cause different side effects. So I think that one of the best times to use Eastern medicine is when you can safely do so without putting yourself at risk. It's not required that you go to the Western medication for life-sustaining reasons. I love it.

Granddaughter Crow: 5:19

So you kind of do a blend of both.

Molly Dyer LAc: 5:22

So you kind of do a blend of both. Well, no, I don't practice Western medicine.

Granddaughter Crow: 5:27

No, I mean the way that you approach. Is recommended to kind of do a blend of both?

Molly Dyer LAc: 5:33

Yeah, okay. Well, you know, I've got kind of a diverse group of people that come into me. I've got some people that really try to avoid going to the doctor and a lot of times I can help them. Most of the time those are people who have a chronic disorder, and it's true that chronic disorders there's not. There's not as many good solutions in Western medicine for chronic disease. And if they're avoiding going to the doctor, there are a few times where I wish they would go because I kind of want to know what the diagnosis would be, because it does inform me from an Eastern medicine perspective. But you know, I will let a person know if I think that that might be the best possibility, especially if I see something that I call a red flag, where it's like this is an emergency referral, you need to go to the doctor now. Then I do, I send them that way. But I also have a lot of people that just work integratively between coming to see me and going to their regular doctor. So I get a little bit of you know.

Granddaughter Crow: 6:44

I love it, I absolutely love it, and I agree I mean going to like. In my experience, going to a western doctor, it's kind of like. They're like there's a problem, here's a solution, and it has side effects. But when I go, and whether I'm with my husband or have been on a visit with just us two due to my menopause or whatever these types of things you're like looking at my tongue and you're listening and you're like oh well, how are your feet? And I'm like, no, I'm telling you. I'm like breaking into cold sweats and you're like well, are you drinking dark liquids? Like maybe you know. I'm just like so you look at it from like a totally like different lens of the holistic, as though I'm one body moving together, which I suppose I am, and I really appreciate that. What do you have to say about that?

Molly Dyer LAc: 7:41

Yeah, I mean you're describing something that my clients say to me a lot, which is like I feel heard when I come here. We get to sit down and talk. It's not a rush, I'm not. I'm not accepting insurance in my client, which has its pros and cons, but the pros are I don't have to be on this strict, you know, quick timeline of seeing people every 15 or 20 minutes, which I don't suppose every doctor is on, but many are.

Molly Dyer LAc: 8:12

And you're describing also this holistic way that we practice in Eastern medicine, which is just what makes it the most beautiful way of practicing medicine. It's. You know, we do look at the body, mind and spirit and how they connect. In fact, I've worked with recently the child whose mother was like you know, you're saying that these two things are connected. I've always thought they were connected and doctors just they don't believe they're connected. And sure enough, there's a link. I mean we're very good at finding how things are connected in Eastern medicine.

Molly Dyer LAc: 8:58

So you know, we do practice from a holistic mindset and we use a whole different diagnostic system, which is why it's so helpful, because a lot of times people have gone to the doctor and the doctor continues to either say I don't know what it is. Or you've done all the tests and you test great for everything, but you still have symptoms. And so they don't know. You know, they give you maybe a diagnosis, like you know IBS, ibs, sorry, ibs is a diagnosis sometimes when there's no diagnosis to be had, you know. And so in that situation, you know, I think Eastern medicine is really helpful because I kind of think of those people as people who have fallen through the cracks, like Western medicine have no answers for them and they don't know how to help them. But I have a different diagnostic technique I'm going to use to diagnose what the imbalance is that's occurring.

Molly Dyer LAc: 10:00

And so I might catch something that Western medicine didn't catch using that diagnostic system of look at somebody I'm looking at.

Granddaughter Crow: 10:26

Oh, your emotions are down. Is that due to your thoughts or is it due to your lack of chemical imbalance in your body? Yeah, all of that, so I can dig it. So here's a question for you why did you name your practice Light and Dark, Acupuncture and apothecary?

Molly Dyer LAc: 10:44

So it's sort of the conglomeration of a few things, and the first one is that my birthday is the winter solstice and many years ago a wise woman I know named Granddaughter Crow told me that businesses also have a birth chart and that if I want to choose a very special day for my business to be born, then I can make it intentional what day I birth my business by making a very specific action on that day. So I purchased my LLC on the summer solstice. So that's one of the reasons it's light and dark acupuncture.

Granddaughter Crow: 11:28

And.

Molly Dyer LAc: 11:28

I did that to provide balance and in Chinese medicine we're always talking about the balance between yin and yang. I say yang. That's how we learned it in Chinese medicine school. I know most people say yin and yang, but at any rate, we're always looking at the balance between yin and yang, which you know are opposing forces which are both necessary and required.

Molly Dyer LAc: 11:55

I think I think your audience will understand if I say I'm a Sagittarius and I historically was very much a silver lining person Like I. I like being happy, I like helping people feel hopeful and I'm really good at that. But I was not automatically very good at sitting with pain, with painful moments and challenge, and a lot of the medicine that I practice is doing just that. So, yeah, I had to get much better at it and I think at the time that I went to acupuncture school I was dating and then married my partner, who is very good at sitting with challenge in a person's condition or in their spirit, and I feel like through her and through acupuncture school, I learned so much about being present with the darker. You know, harder, tougher times that we go through, and I think that they're just as important as you've written many books about. They're just as important as the times where we feel hopeful and light, and you know so, light and dark acupuncture. My saying is it's not love and light acupuncture, it's light and dark acupuncture for a reason.

Granddaughter Crow: 13:25

I love that because it's just like the day and the night, the winter and the summer solstice. It's the balance of the yin and the yang and I think that, again, from my shamanistic point of view, imbalance causes discomfort and disease. Balance is good, so it's a very basic thing. Disease balance is good, so it's a very basic thing. And so I want to. I want to make sure that we take time to talk about your focus, which is dermatology, and how you got there, but I also okay, it's a little intimidating.

Granddaughter Crow: 13:57

I'm granddaughter crow author blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah. If I were to walk into an herb or to an herb shop or a kiosk or an apothecary, I'd feel kind of intimidated because I'd be like well, I got a headache, what do I do? You know? Are you going to give me, like lemon root? Or you know, I mean what? Can you kind of take the, the, the intimidation factor off, so that people feel a little bit more equipped to know what to say or to understand play by play? What does it look like in most apothecaries or in yours or your herb kiosk?

Molly Dyer LAc: 14:42

Yeah, so my, my apothecary is actually not open to the public. It's by appointment only, um, which I don't know. It might not be that way forever, but um, the reason it's by appointment only right now is that I prescribe every herb that goes out the door here. So I do that because I think that people sometimes pick up the wrong thing, like they don't understand. Like there are, you know, maybe, five different diagnoses that you could have for acne in Chinese medicine and you read online that such and such herb is good for acne and you go and pick it up and you're so excited but, like, that's not the right herb for your acne. So what you need in that situation is for someone to diagnose you and prescribe you the correct herb for that condition.

Molly Dyer LAc: 15:36

Now there's lots of herbal medicine you can do at home. That's easy and fun and experimental and okay to do at home. But when it comes to more severe conditions, you may as well hire somebody who's studied herbs, you know. So I guess I would say, in terms of feeling intimidated, like please, don't. Like, please, just say what it is you need, because that's what I did my training to be able to help you with. You know, like I hope you'll come to me and say, honestly, I'm really embarrassed to say this, but I have this weird symptom that everyone doesn't take seriously, and I just want to tell you what it is. And and like everything means, something in Chinese medicine there's no, there's no, that doesn't exist. It's like, if you noticed it, it exists. Like I had a person say it's weird, when I run I hear it clicking in my right ear and it's like that. Okay, what does that mean? That means some like hardened crystals in the right ear. That means some, um, you know, lack of flow through the right ear. I have herbs that guide to the right ear, so you know, um, I guess what I would say is first of all, don't be intimidated to hire an herbalist, even if you know some about herbs, because how you practice with herbs at home is different than how you might take herbs for a specific condition. And then, um, to understand what it looks like, um, I can speak from my own clinic. I can't really speak for all the other herbalists out there.

Molly Dyer LAc: 17:13

I imagine that if you're somewhere else in the world watching this and you were to go to an herbalist in your community, it would be something kind of similar to what I'm about to describe, but maybe slightly different. So for me I like to speak with people on the phone first, because usually herbal therapy requires more consistency than people realize. Or they have questions about what it's going to cost, or or I need to make sure that they can take the herbs that I'm going to be prescribing before I even bring them in and, you know, get started with them. I don't see the point of pulling them in here for an hour-long appointment or 90-minute appointment and then they, you know, can't take the herbs you know. So I try to kind of figure that stuff out in a phone call. That's free.

Molly Dyer LAc: 18:07

I do free phone consults and then, after we've done the free phone consult, I make a recommendation for how often I'd like to see them and for how long, and we set up their initial session and the initial session they come in and we just talk about their whole health history and what's going on. And because I specialize in dermatology, I always take photos so that I've got some before photos that I can compare with some after photos after we've been treating it for a while. And then, you know, I'm also an acupuncturist, so some people opt to do acupuncture alongside their herbal therapy and some people opt for just an herbal consultation. So if we did an herbal consultation we'd just be chatting the whole time, but if we did acupuncture, they would rest and lay there with the acupuncture needles for a while while I put together their herbs. I love that, either with acupuncture needles or not, and and I go make their herbal formula.

Granddaughter Crow: 19:33

I love that, and so you guys check out Molly online lightanddarkacucom. So that's light L-I-G-H-T and A-N-D, dark D-A-R-K-A-C-Ucom. You also follow molly on social media at that same address light and dark acu. Um, you're enjoying the belief being and beyond podcast and would like to support it. I'm on patreon. Just go to patreon granddaughter crow or you can find it at granddaughtercrowcom. Thank you so much. So you right now serve like the Denver metro area here in Colorado? Is that correct? That's right, yeah, but would you ever like mail outside of Colorado? Or is that something where it's just you're here and you need to see us?

Molly Dyer LAc: 20:30

So my license covers me treating only in Colorado. So I don't work with people outside of Colorado and I do sometimes ship herbs to other areas in Colorado. Actually, there is a rule that says that if you establish care with me in Colorado, that then you can come to me. Care with me in Colorado, that then you can come to me. So so I do have a couple clients who have come to me first in Colorado and then live elsewhere. But yeah, so I do ship herbs sometimes.

Granddaughter Crow: 21:03

I love that. I love that and I love what you have to say. So you've been doing this for a decade after school and you are very. What I love about Molly is she's very approachable, I mean as well as serious and yet lighthearted. So she takes everything that you say and she considers it, and that's what I love about the light and dark. So just recently you decided that your passion is a little bit more in the dermatology or dermatological. I mean, how do you say that?

Molly Dyer LAc: 21:45

Yeah, that's right, you said it right Dermatology, herbalism, yeah.

Granddaughter Crow: 21:51

Yeah, and so give us a couple of. You know why I moved to this specialty and you know like, what, what, what makes you so excited about that aspect?

Molly Dyer LAc: 22:02

Yeah, Well, my my partner loves to tease me because I long ago stopped doing very much to care for my skin at all, and I'm going to say that right up front, because it is actually part of why I am so passionate about this. One of the things that was just really overwhelming to me was, like there's all kinds of bad things in cosmetics and I just I stopped wearing makeup. Now I don't have a problem with anyone wearing makeup, wearing makeup Now I don't have a problem with anyone wearing makeup but I wanted the most natural options. You know, for me, like that's what I wanted. So that's one reason that I was interested in dermatology, but I would say I stumbled upon it a little bit. There's a really well-known Chinese dermatologist, dermatology herbalist, who teaches a really advanced course on dermatology herbalism and allows you to get certified with the International Traditional Chinese Medicine Dermatology Association after you take his course. And I took his course because I happened to pop on to one webinar where he was describing different skin conditions and I thought it might be interesting, because I treat a lot of children and a lot of children have eczema and I knew he was going to go over eczema, so I thought this might be really good for my practice. So I hopped on that webinar and my gosh, I mean it blew my mind Like it was. It was watching complete, like just completely red, dry, flaking skin become completely normal and you could see it in the photos. And so to watch that big change and to know that I already use herbs, I already know how to use herbs I could do that too. That was something that sort of enticed me to take his bigger course. And when I went to his bigger course, one of the big lessons that I learned is, I think, like an herbalist, everything that came out of his mouth I already understood it, Like it was like my language, and I don't remember. I don't have a great memory. I don't remember anything except for herbs. I remember herbs. Like I remember like every detail about every little herb that he said like this herb is really good for folliculitis, or this combo of herbs is really good for folliculitis, Like I remember that I'm like, oh, that person has folliculitis. I better put in Lian Chao and Jin Yan Hua, you know. So it just that's how my brain works and I realized like this is kind of my gift, and so I would say that's. That's one reason I got really excited about it and it was for me very satisfying because visually I can see how much impact I've created, Right, you realize, like if I'm treating anxiety or digestion or pain, like it's all just coming from a person's perspective, mostly subjective information about how well we've done. But when I, when I clear someone's skin, like I can see how well we've done, so that's really satisfying, you know. So those are some reasons, but getting into it and doing his training, One of the reasons I got became really passionate about it is because there's just One of the reasons I became really passionate about it is because there's a lack of great options in Western dermatology.

Molly Dyer LAc: 25:37

There's just a huge lack of great pharmaceuticals for skin conditions. Most skin conditions end up with a need for antibiotics or steroids. In some cases those can clear a skin condition. In some cases they can make it worse, such as in the example of topical steroid withdrawal, which is an awful thing for people to experience. It's really truly. It's like hell on earth for these people that experience topical steroid withdrawal and then, you know, or some, sometimes it just sort of covers it like a bandaid and then it just comes back if you stop taking the meds, you know, and there's just a lot of cases of people falling through the cracks, like I mentioned before. So I found passion for helping a group of people that I know. There are just a ton of sort of falling through the cracks because they're just not great options. So that's another reason that I got into it.

Molly Dyer LAc: 26:39

And I would say maybe the third reason is because I'm just so passionate about herbs. So you know, I like acupuncture, I've always liked acupuncture. It's fun, but it doesn't do the same thing for me as building an herbal formula, you know which is just. That's my creative genius.

Granddaughter Crow: 26:57

Yeah, I absolutely love that. So I have an odd question, sideball. Okay, so since acupuncture and herbalist and Eastern medicine just in a blanket kind of looks at a holistic side of a person, then would it be safe to say that somebody comes in for eczema, acne, and you give them a formula and then they come back and report not only that it's clearing up, but the other positive changes have happened, maybe digestively or lack of fog brain, am I reaching or am I being?

Molly Dyer LAc: 27:40

psychic, so definitely like logical, logical yeah.

Molly Dyer LAc: 27:49

There's like a definite connection between the gut and the skin and actually one of the reasons I love herbal, the Chinese herbal medicine, like specifically Chinese herbal medicine, is because of the long history of using herbs for dermatological issues and other issues and other issues, and there were concepts that were written in a book. That's almost I mean, it's probably 2100 years ago, so over 2000 years ago. There was a book written that talked about the basics of yin and yang and how, and in that book they talked about how the skin reflects the inside of the body and it does. It tells me everything I need to know. That was another reason I took his training. I thought, oh, this will help my diagnostics. You know, like, if I can see something on the skin and I'm not 100 percent sure what the diagnosis is, then that might help me confirm what's going on with a person is, then that might help me confirm what's going on with a person. Oh my gosh, did it ever? Like I really really understand now what the skin is telling me, probably have better skin diagnostic skills than I do pulse taking skills as a Chinese medicine practitioner, probably. And so that is the kind of thing that you know is is very common where you'll see somebody with sleep challenges and the herbal formulas that we formulate are for their skin but their sleep clears up.

Molly Dyer LAc: 29:27

Actually, it's intentional because when someone comes in, I ask them about their skin and I take photos of it. But I ask them about all these different systems, their digestion, their sleep. You know their heat level, or do they sweat? Do they not sweat? And where I identify imbalances, I add herbs for those things, because those imbalances are related to why their skin is showing up the way it's showing up. So it's on purpose. And really, as we go through the course of treatment, I adjust the formula several times, either to sort of keep the skin guessing so that it doesn't get used to the herbs you know, or to sort of help the change, the phase of healing that the person is in, so that the herbal formula needs to reflect what phase of healing the person is in. And so, as I go about making those tweaks and adjustments, I'm always asking, like you know, did this mess with your bowels? Like, did this, you know, impact your sleep or anything like that? And I put in herbs to balance whatever is out of balance if it's, if it's necessary.

Granddaughter Crow: 30:45

I absolutely love it. So you guys check out if you are here in the Denver metro area and she really her office is in her clinic is pretty close to DIA. So if you want to fly in to Denver, Colorado, look up lightanddarkacucom and book with Molly on the phone and then go and see her. It will be a delight. So let's shift gears, twirl around, skirt over. I don't know how to introduce this Tappyfeet, mytappyfeetcom. What are you doing? What are you teaching?

Molly Dyer LAc: 31:25

Okay, tappyfeet is my just side business, passion. It's my joy. I teach only adult tap dance classes and it's called Tappy Feet and everyone thinks it's kids because it's called Tappy Feet, but it's because as adults we just really have to get out of our heads and forget about stuff for a minute and just have a good time and connect with our own joy and connect with other people and move our bodies. And Tappy Feet is adult tap dance classes. We have beginner, intermediate and advanced classes and we have so much fun and the classes have been growing and growing and growing. And somebody said to me the other day she said, molly, I just love coming in here because there are so many, these classes are getting so big, this is needed. And just to hear her say it like that, these classes are so fun because there's so many people and it's so obvious that we need this. So, yeah, tappy Feet is just a really good time, is what it is, and I've got an excellent community of tap dancers who are just some of my favorite people on earth. They're just all so sweet and we go in there, we dance, we have a good time, we try to grow also and learn, you know, and build skills and we nerd out about Black history, because tap history is Black history and we love to hear about, you know, famous tap masters in history who really made an impact in the field of tap dance.

Molly Dyer LAc: 33:11

Including this particular Black History Month, I've really been focusing on women of color because, like, really what what happened in tap history is a lot of women ended up in the chorus line, so they weren't the stars of the shows, but a lot of them were really really very good at what they do and but their talent was sort of passed over because it was a male dominated field, which is so funny, because right now we might think it's a female dominated field, but it's. It was a male dominated field dance, dance, I think in general well, I guess you can't say that for all styles of dance, but definitely tap dance and so this particular year, for Black History Month, I've been highlighting Black women who were famous tap dancers in history. So that's a fun thing that we do together. Yeah, it's just a ton of fun. I absolutely love that.

Granddaughter Crow: 34:13

So tap dancing, like when you were little, did you get into it? How did you decide on it? Because that's such a unique like. I mean. You said that you know tappy feet. People think children and I'm like inner child. This is for your inner child, absolutely. Your body needs to be over 21, but your inner child needs to be about four. So can you tell us how did you get into tap dancing and a little bit more about where you found it?

Molly Dyer LAc: 34:43

I think I tap danced one semester when I was in like sixth grade or something, yeah that's it.

Molly Dyer LAc: 34:50

And then I just I was just taking like a dance class, you know like a combo dance class, which is really common. But I didn't get into tap dance right away. I was a percussionist in high school and I played, I played drums in the drum line and I played piano. I played piano all growing up and so when I went to college I decided to major in theater and I wanted to be a triple threat. A triple threat is where you're a really good singer, a really good actor and a really good dancer. Yeah, and I was not a triple threat at all.

Molly Dyer LAc: 35:32

I don't, I don't even I'm. It was really not the right field for me. It was. It was an excellent experience. I learned a lot and it got me introduced to tap dance. So the place where I went to college in Gunnison, colorado, they had something called the Gunnison Arts Center there and I did a lot of like just you know, community theater through them and I did a lot of like just you know, community theater through them and I also took a lot of dance classes. And it was not long after starting tap and becoming really, really obsessed with it that I started teaching tap to little kids, because I'm a percussionist and it just made sense. You know your body is it's tap dance is aesthetically pleasing. You know you watch a tap dancer and you're watching how they perform, but also it's rhythmically pleasing and as a tap dancer, it's aesthetically challenging and rhythmically challenging, and so that's kind of a fun thing to teach yourself to both think about how you look and also how you sound at the same time.

Granddaughter Crow: 36:47

I love that. I absolutely love that, and that also, you guys, gives a really good work-life balance yin and yang, day and night. Day you do dermatology or biology and night you put on your tap shoes and you give us a show and teach others how to have fun.

Molly Dyer LAc: 37:08

I love that, I will say, as I've been in this career for a long time and gotten busier and busier, I grew a lot for a long time. I grew and grew and grew and then I just was tired. I was doing way too much. So I started doing less and I really appreciated doing less and I did less and less and less and every single time I did one less thing I felt better and Tappy Feet was never on the chopping block because that gives me energy, because having a good time doing something I love, it gives me energy.

Molly Dyer LAc: 37:53

So I still I work long, long days because I'm here till late for people who need after work hours on Tuesday, thursday and Friday. But I teach dance on Monday and Wednesday, so I come home even later on Monday and Wednesday. So, but it's never been on the chopping block because I don't. I don't need less of that in my life, I need more of it. Sometimes I think maybe I could fill one more class and maybe I could teach one more class. And then my partner says with what time? When would you teach another class? But I need more of it in my life. It's just really positive and fun.

Granddaughter Crow: 38:36

I love that, so I'm about ready to ask you if there's anything else that you want to say.

Granddaughter Crow: 38:42

But while you're thinking about that, people, this is a really good reminder that a lot of times in our lives, we think that more is better and more accomplishes. More brings us more, whatever, but sometimes less is more. And so when you think about what you are spending your resources on not just money, but your time, your thoughts, your heart is it giving back to you, does it make you happy, does it bring you energy, or are you just overexpending because of the narrative that do more, do more, do more? So thank you for that reminder. So, molly, is there anything else that you just want to share with the listening audience?

Molly Dyer LAc: 39:36

yeah, I want to respond to what you just said and I have one other thing that I could share real quick and that is um, we live in a very adrenaline based society and learning eastern medicine is all about learning how you balance, you know, the active side of your nervous system with the restful side of your nervous system, in order to promote better resilience in your body. And so it, for me, has been this long lesson in how do I do less, because all I've been doing my whole life is more and more and more and more. Some of that is being a Sagittarian and some of that is just being an American. You know an American, a member of my community, and you know somebody who likes to help people. I always take on more and more and more, and I have been clearing out space in my life and it has been the biggest gift. In fact, I didn't even ask for it. A few times, something happened where I all of a sudden had more space and I realized, wow, this is great. Like I'm going to keep doing this on purpose, you know. So, yes, I think that's a big one.

Molly Dyer LAc: 40:55

And the only other thing I wanted to add is why you might be interested in purchasing herbs through an herbalist versus something you can find like a supplement in the grocery store. Yeah, and especially through a Chinese herbalist. So actually in the US herbs are regulated as a food supplement and in China they're regulated as a pharmaceutical. So they're actually tested and have much higher compliance for their or much more rigorous testing for their good manufacturing practices that they have to follow in China than here in the US, just because of the way that they regulate herbs over there and they're a huge exporter of herbs. So they have to be very careful about the quality of their herbs. So they're very high quality.

Molly Dyer LAc: 41:53

And the other reason is, you know, if you hire an herbalist you know we talked about you know an herbalist will help get the right herb for you.

Molly Dyer LAc: 42:03

And one of the things we do as we go along the process is we tweak that formula based on where you're at so that it'll continue to work well. So that it'll continue to work well. So I would say sometimes, like there's little things that you can pick up an herb at the grocery store for, but when you have a more complex disorder you're going to get, you're going to save money by hiring somebody who knows what they're doing. Hopefully, long-term you're going to have less side effects because you're working with a professional, and long term you're going to have um, you know, better, better end results, because you're working with somebody who diagnosed you and chose the right herbal formula.

Molly Dyer LAc: 42:48

So, yeah, one of the biggest takeaways I wanted to say was that it's not always important to hire a herbalist for every, every single little thing, but there are some scenarios where it's really good to hire a herbalist because you're going to save your money and you're going to get better results and you're going to, you know, get a better, have a better um opportunity to heal. So that's my, that's my feedback, that's my two cents.

Granddaughter Crow: 43:18

I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. So, molly, thank you so much for bringing us beyond in our thinking about medicine, as well as balance within our self, within our life, etc. I just really appreciate you being here on the show.

Molly Dyer LAc: 43:42

I really appreciate you too, yay.

Granddaughter Crow: 43:45

So, thank you everyone. Thanks for tuning in yet again to another episode of Belief, being and Beyond. Like subscribe, hit all the bells and whistles so that you don't miss an episode, please. If there is somebody who's like, oh well, I kind of want to know about herbs, send this to them. Send this to them. We bring you a plethora of different belief systems and approaches to life and I ask the questions for you. If you have a specific topic or question that you want me to ask for you, text the show, scroll down. If you're listening to this on a podcast, if you're on YouTube, just comment, but scroll down. Text the show. I will get your text. Won't know your phone number. I'll know your vicinity. Won't know your name, so you can be anonymous or you can be my new best friend. So anyway, thank you everyone. I love you. See you on the flippity flip.