Pacific College of Health and Science

It truly takes a village for our award-winning academic department to deliver the world-class holistic and integrative healthcare education our students deserve. Here at Pacific College, we pride ourselves on building the finest team of over 200 highly credentialed faculty members to lead and structure our programs in acupuncture, massage, holistic nursing, and more. We want to thank our dedicated staff for guiding the next generation of natural healthcare providers at a time when the world needs it the most! Show some love for the Pacific College Faculty! #pacificcollege #pacificpeople #staffappreciation #staffappreciationpost #facultyappreciation #holistichealth #alternativehealth #alternativemedicine #integrativemedicine #complementarymedicine #acupuncturists #massagetherapistsrock #collegestaff #collegefaculty

"Watch your mind next time you experience happiness and see what is happening. You will discover that your mind becomes quiet, and its constant chatter stops for a while. In this situation, happiness emerges into your awareness." #PacificCollege #Wellness #Health #Medicine #Wellbeing #HealthAndWellness #AlternativeMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticLiving #HolisticHealth #AlternativeHealth #HealthyLife #HealthyLifestyle #HolisticHealth #InstaHealth #Happiness #HuntForHappinessWeek

Caroline E. Ortiz, MS, MPH, RN, NC-BC, an associate professor teaching in Pacific College’s Holistic Nursing program, was featured by Minority Nurse Magazine on January 15th’s article, Studying the Traditional Healing Practices of Mexican-American Women. You can read the article here:

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." -Martin Luther King Jr. #PacificCollege #MLKDay #MartinLutherKingJrDay

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) is now Pacific College of Health and Science! Watch this video to hear President Jack Miller address the reasoning behind the name change, and the vision for the college's future. #PacificCollege #NewName #SameValues #ExpandedVision #IntegrativeMedicine

National Massage Therapy Awareness Week is October 25-31 2020. Sponsored by the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), this week is designed to raise public awareness of the benefits of therapeutic massage and encourage people to take the extra time to care for their health through massage. Popular among all age groups, massage is effective for relaxation and stress reduction, as well as medical reasons, including muscle soreness/stiffness/spasms, injury, headaches, pa...in reduction, blood and lymph circulation and improved immune system function. Massage has been shown to reduce blood pressure and heart rate and increase endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. Doctors are now prescribing massage to their patients, and sports teams are hiring massage therapists as well. A growing number of businesses and organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice, are also offering massage in the workplace to decrease job stress and increase productivity. Massage is more than a relaxing recreational activity studies show that it can also aid serious ailments like cancer and chronic pain. The benefits of massage can range from physical, emotional, and mental this type of therapy can even improve mental illnesses like anxiety or eating disorders. National Massage Therapy Awareness Week is an attempt to alert the public to the benefits and availability of massage therapy; it’s an effort to encourage massage not only as a treatment, but as a healthy habit. From allergies to posture improvement, massage can provide a wide range of relief. The Touch Research Institute has conducted over 90 clinical studies on the beneficial effects of massage therapy. These studies have proven massage therapy’s effectiveness in the relief of not only chronic pain, but also juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, labor pain, fibromyalgia, and back pain. #PacificCollege #Medicine #Wellness #Health #Medicine #Wellbeing #Massage #HealthAndWellness #AlternativeMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticLiving #HolisticHealth #AlternativeHealth #HealthyLife #HealthyLifestyle #HolisticHealth #InstaHealth #Massage #MassageTherapy #NationalMassageTherapyWeek #MassageTherapyAwarenessWeek

This nutrient-dense tonic is recommended in Traditional Chinese Medicine to help promote vitality, immunity, and healthy circulation in winter. Licensed Acupuncturist Snow Xia L.Ac., says "It is light with a mildly sweet flavor, the perfect thing to serve at the end of dinner on a cold night." Enjoy!

Most of us spend the majority of our days on our phones, computers, tablets, and in front of our TVs. We also spend the majority of our days sitting or reclining, whether in our cars, at our desks, or on our couches. Yoga can alleviate the stress, anxiety, and aches and pains that come with the digital age. #PacificCollege #YogaTeacher #Yoga #Fitness #Meditation #Yogi #Namaste #YogaLife #YogaInspiration #Health #Peace #Workout #Mindfulness #YogaEverywhere #YogaPractice #YogaTeacher #Lifestyle #Healing #YogaLove #Fit #Wellness #HealthAndWellness #Wellbeing #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticMedicine #HealthyLife #HealthyLifestyle #HealthyLiving #HolisticHealing #HolisticHealth #HolisticLiving #InstaHealth #MentalHealth

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Liver is the organ responsible for the smooth flow of emotions as well as Qi and blood. It is the organ that is most affected by excess stress or emotions. Check out these simple tips for everyday liver health. #PacificCollege #Wellness #Health #Medicine #Wellbeing #HealthAndWellness #AlternativeMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticLiving #HolisticHealth #AlternativeHealth #HealthyLife #HealthyLifestyle #HolisticHealth #InstaHealth #TraditionalChineseMedicine #TCM #ChineseMedicine

The tried and tested ancient Chinese preparations coupled with acupuncture offer promise in treating the root causes of osteoporosis and bone disease, providing a beneficial environment to the body and enhancing bone health. #PacificCollege #WorldOsteoporosisDay #Wellness #Health #Medicine #Wellbeing #AlternativeMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticHealth #AlternativeHealth #HolisticHealth #InstaHealth #Acupunture #TCM #TraditionalChineseMedicine #ChineseMedicine

In the last decade, research has begun to clarify how gua sha works. Gua sha’s therapeutic petechiae represents blood cells that have extravasated in the capillary bed, and measure as a significant increase in surface microperfusion. As this blood is reabsorbed, the breakdown of hemoglobin upregulates HO-1, CO, biliverdin and bilirubin, which are anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective. Studies show the anti-inflammatory effect of gua sha has a therapeutic impact in inflammatory... conditions, such as active chronic hepatitis, where liver inflammation indicates organ breakdown that over time can lead to premature death. The physiology of HO-1 may also explain gua sha’s anti-inflammatory effect in other responsive clinical conditions, such as fever, cough, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, mastitis, gastritis, musculoskeletal and other painful conditions presenting as neck pain, back pain, migraine, postherpetic neuralgia, and others. #PacificCollege #Medicine #Wellness #Health #Medicine #Wellbeing #HealthAndWellness #AlternativeMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticLiving #HolisticHealth #AlternativeHealth #HealthyLife #HealthyLifestyle #HolisticHealth #InstaHealth #Massage #MassageTherapy #GuaSha

One of the best things about working collaboratively with people who bring different skillsets and backgrounds to the table is learning from their experience. Collaborating with team members or even different teams should be thought of as a learning experience, and you should try to make the most of it. #PacificCollege #PacificPeople #Collaboration

Shout out to Pacific College alumna Gianna De La Torre, LAc, who was recently published on goop! Overcoming First-Time Acupuncture Fears discusses Gianna's integrative approach, which has opened acupuncture up for people who thought they would never be able to handle it. #PacificCollege #PacificPeople #Acupuncture #TCM #TraditionalChineseMedicine #ChineseMedicine #AlternativeHealth #AlternativeMedicine #ChineseMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticMedicine #Health #HealthAndWellness #Holistic #HolisticHealing #HolisticHealth #HolisticLiving #InstaHealth #AcupunctureLife #IntegrativeHealth

Simply put, Quantum Qi is a process that allows your life force, or ‘qi’, to move freely throughout your bodybringing the mind, body, and spirit into balance for vibrant health. Quantum Qi is meant to allow you to activate your cellular intelligence. Feel present in your body. We usually live our lives from the neck up, meaning, we are usually in our heads. The idea is to give the mind its right place as co-pilot, while accessing your body’s innate intelligence for healing.... Every human being has this ‘body intelligence’it’s a natural ability, and its power to heal is profound. So how do we achieve a state of Quantum Qi? The first step is to turn your awareness low in your bodyif you are in a chair right now, acknowledge how your legs feel in that chair; how your feet feel on the floor. If you practice and play with what this feels like in your body, you will become quicker to identify with your body (vs. your head), and closer to activating your body’s intelligence, allowing your body to do what it’s designed to dothrive. The second piece to this is breaththink of qigong: it’s a therapeutic system of breathing focused on how healing breath can be for the human body. In Chinese medicine, one of the ways we replenish our qi is through breath. Try a very simple qigong breath: breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. This activates the two central channels in our body, which then gives access to all the channels in our body. The third step is a softening of your body in such a way that the energy that you unstuck in your breathing has a place to go. So what does this mean? Softening your body allows this stuck energy to either be released from your energetic field, or to transform. We are not used to having the body be soft. We are used to it being tense or constricted. You might need to play with this process to get used to the feeling. What does a soft body feel like to you? A softened body is relaxed and conforms to what is around it. Imagine lying on a couch. With a soft body, you will fill the contours of the couch. With a rigid, tense body, you won’t. #PacificCollege

Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! Today we honor Native Americans and commemorate their shared history and culture. Since 1991, dozens of cities, several universities, and a few states have adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday that celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans. Why replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day? For starters, activists have long argued that holidays, statues, and other memorials to Columbus sanitize his actionswhich include the enslavement of Native Americanswhile giving him credit for discovering a place where people already lived. #PacificCollege

It is important to take care of your mental wellbeing, whether you suffer from a clinically diagnosed disorder or are simply experiencing stress. Stress is at the root of many if not most of our modern ailments, yet as a culture, we find it difficult to separate ourselves from the stress in our lives. Stress may be manifested physically as the result of too much to do, not enough sleep, a poor diet or the effects of illness. But stress often exhibits itself mentally as a resu...lt of worry, grief or trauma. Most stress accumulates subtly through daily strain, causing increases in blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, metabolism and blood flow to your muscles. The constant reactions your body produces can threaten mental health by contributing to the out of control feelings associated with stress. Oriental medicine eases accumulated stress through exercise, meditation and massage. Acupressure is especially effective in relieving stress. The ability to regularly relax and focus on the self cannot be underestimated in terms of how it affects mental health. Acupuncture treatments can help restore balance and thus protect health by identifying each individual’s unique energy profile to identify weak spots where to offer support in order to restore balance. As the heavy feelings of stress are relieved, people may feel more confidence in their ability to cope with unpleasant aspects of their lives and make necessary changes. Good mental health is fundamental to overall health and is essential to personal wellbeing and the ability to lead a healthy, balanced, and productive life. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s report on mental health, more than half of all Americans with a severe mental illness fail to seek treatment. Yet overall quality of life is greatly improved when a person with a mental health problem gets an early diagnosis and receives appropriate treatment. A healthy mind will benefit you physically, and vice versa, whether you suffer from a major depressive disorder, one sign/symptom of depression, an anxiety symptom, or general stress. Oriental medicine can help you on the path toward balancing your physical and mental wellbeing.

Breast cancer currently affects about one in eight women in the United States. In 2020, an estimated 276,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women throughout the U.S. The good news is that, there are over 3.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Women with breast cancer can suffer from depression, anxiety, and stress, which can result in a decreased in natural killer (NK) cells. A drop in NK cell activity has been linked to... increased tumor development. Massage therapy has been shown to offer a number of benefits for breast cancer patients. Performed by a skilled and qualified therapist, the immediate benefits of massage therapy for breast cancer patients include reduced stress and anxiety. Long-term massage effects include reduced depression and hostility and increased urinary dopamine, serotonin values, NK cell number, and lymphocytes. Massage can also enhance one’s feeling of well-being. It can stimulate the nerve endings in the skin, release endorphins (the feel good hormone) and inhibit the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline. In a study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, the Touch Research Institute found that massage therapy reduced anxiety and depression. It also improved immune function, including increased NK cell number in breast cancer patients. Additionally, breast cancer patients have improved immune functions following massage therapy. Another study found that therapeutic massage reduced cancer pain perception by an average of 60 percent, decreased anxiety by 24 percent and enhanced relaxation by 58 percent. A Touch Research Institute study involving 20 children with leukemia found that daily massages by their parents increased the children’s white blood cell and neutrophil counts (neutrophils form a primary defense against bacterial infection). #PacificCollege #Medicine #Wellness #Health #Medicine #Wellbeing #HealthAndWellness #AlternativeMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticLiving #HolisticHealth #AlternativeHealth #HealthyLife #HealthyLifestyle #HolisticHealth #InstaHealth #Massage #MassageTherapy #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

Acupuncture for children is becoming an increasingly common treatment for headaches, stomachaches, back pain, depression, and many other frequent health concerns. Acupuncture is an alternative therapy that involves puncturing the skin with very fine needles in specific areas of the body. The therapy is based on the theory that a specific form of energy flows throughout the body and travels in channels known as meridians. This energy is referred to as qi. When qi is unable to ...flow freely throughout the body, many forms of illness are thought to occur as a direct result. Acupuncture is believed to restore the flow of qi and once those energy flows have been restored, it is believed that good health will return. Acupuncture for children has helped with a wide range of ailments, from headaches to the effects of ADHD, and is a safe alternative to pharmaceuticals that many parents do not want their children taking. Increasingly more parents are turning to acupuncture as an effective and necessary method of reestablishing and maintaining health within their children’s constitution. #PacificCollege #Acupuncture #TCM #TraditionalChineseMedicine #ChineseMedicine #AlternativeHealth #AlternativeMedicine #ChineseMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticMedicine #Health #HealthAndWellness #Holistic #HolisticHealing #HolisticHealth #HolisticLiving #InstaHealth #AcupunctureLife #ChildHealthDay

Breast cancer is the number-one cancer plague to women worldwide. Fortunately, there are a number of steps you can take to prevent breast cancer. First off, eat more fish, a vital source of cancer-inhibiting omega-3 fatty acids. But avoid fish with high mercury content like tuna, tilefish, swordfish, shark, king mackerel, red snapper, moonfish and orange roughly. Next, eat organics. If you can’t find or afford organic, cut back on ‘regular’ sources of saturated fat and animal... protein-like grain-fed beef, chickens raised in cages. Avoid margarine, which is made from hydrogenated oil and rich in trans-fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. Use olive oil instead. Another food to avoid is cow’s milk. Needless to say, reduce or eliminate alcohol in any form. And, of course, don’t smoke or use tobacco products. Don’t forget to exercise! Regular exercise may reduce your risk of one of the most common types of breast cancer (breast carcinoma in situ, which is confined to the milk glands) by as much as 35 percent. Limit your use of push-up bras. Restrictive bras prevent the lymph system from filtering out toxins. Never wear a bra for more than twelve hours a day and avoid bras that leave red marks or indentations near the bra line. Get limited, healthful doses of sunlight or take a supplement that provides vitamin D. Vitamin D’s metabolites may reduce breast cancer risk. And ask your doctor about the risks of taking hormones. Taking oral contraceptives and estrogen are both correlated with breast cancer. #PacificCollege #Wellness #Health #Medicine #Wellbeing #HealthAndWellness #AlternativeMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #HolisticLiving #HolisticHealth #AlternativeHealth #HealthCoach #HealthyLife #HealthyLifestyle #HolisticHealth #InstaHealth #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

Pacific Symposium 2020 registration is open! Yes, it will be online this year: the safety of our community comes first. Check out the schedule and exhibit hall information at https://bit.ly/3ijLM9r Join us to reconnect with the community and enjoy a variety of engaging lectures, exhibitor deals, and fun surprises! All the courses will be live with downloadable certificates. Exhibit halls will be open to all! #PacificCollege #PacificPeople #PacificSymposium2020 #TCM #TraditionalChineseMedicine #ChineseMedicine #Medicine #Healthcare #Health #IntegrativeMedicine #AlternativeMedicine #CAM