Dear Friends,

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", could well describe how many people are feeling this spring. This spring of hope amidst such economic, political, and environmental fears.

Southside Shiatsu would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to appreciate shiatsu and all that it has to offer in the face of such uncertainty. Many of you have taken advantage of the sliding fee scale that is offered as a way of having it make sense in your budget. Others have discovered that they can get it covered with their health insurance flex spending accounts. If you have such a health insurance plan all you have to do is get a receipt from me to turn in and it's covered. In other words, let me know how we can make this work financially, and we will.

I recently joined the Board of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia (AOBTA) as the Legislative Co-Chair. This entails working on legislation in the State of Minnesota that will help to professionalize and standardize the work that we do as well as working to ensure that modalities such as Shiatsu are included in the vision of Universal Health Care Reform. This is challenging and exciting work and an important part of making alternative health care affordable. Please feel free to contact me with suggestions and questions regarding this work.

Southside Shiatsu is about to launch a website with the help of my dear friend Stefan. Keep your eyes out for www.southsideshiatsu.com, it will be up and running before July.

It's spring. Time to take care of that Liver and Gallbladder. As temperatures heat up, it can cause a lot of irritability and getting 'hot under the collar'. Eat those spring greens, those bitter, cooling spring greens: lettuce; kale; chard. A nice cup of chamomile tea before bed can help to calm that liver fire. Dandelion as well is a great ally as well as burdock, both of which you will probably find growing outside your front door. When you dig them up to get rid of those 'weeds' throw them (the whole plant) in the pot after washing them well and make a nice blood cleansing infusion. Meditate on the color green. Oh, and of course there is a lot shiatsu can do to move that stagnant liver qi or to tone down those liver yang rising headaches that are famous in spring.

Southside Shiatsu continues to offer unique deals. If your body is telling you it's that time again to get some work done, let me know and we'll go from the basis of what you can afford.

In health,

David Miller

Southside Shiatsu

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Many are my friends