Welcome to Shenandoah Health Associates!
157 Creekside Lane, Winchester, VA
We are a dedicated and seasoned group of holisitic practitioners working in a collaborative manner to provide comprehensive natural medicine treatments to help our patients/clients renew themselves. Our services include natural health care therapies such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, health education and many other complementary therapies. These therapies can be coordinated in a program or done individually. In our collective experience, we have found that natural medicine can lead to improved health, happiness and well being. By understanding how to nurture and renew ourselves through natural medicine, we become empowered to heal from within and restore our true nature. We believe that the process of restoring balance or creating 'healthy shen' is at the heart of all healing. Come explore our services, meet our practitioners and learn what complimentary and alternative medicine may do for you. Remember to check our calendar for ongoing classses, programs, and seminars. We look forward to serving you!
What is a Healthy Shen?
The central concepts of traditional Chinese medicine differ from Western pathological categories of disease, and a familiarity with its unique vocabulary is a stepping-stone to the theoretical framework within which health and disease are understood. The human body is perceived as a microcosm, a universe in miniature. Just as Nature includes air, sea, and land, so the body is a matrix comprised of Qi (pronounced "chee"), Moisture, Blood, Jing, and Shen – the five body constituents.
The symbol for "Shen" is thought to reflect the "spirit, the vital principle, the divine...." In Oriental medicine, Shen is responsible for perception, sensation, expression, and self-awareness. Shen is said to be the driving energy behind activities that take place in the mental, spiritual or creative planes. Healthy Shen is observed in the luminosity and clarity of the eyes and complexion. The dispostion is bright and a spiritual radiance is observed. In the presence of shen harmony, there is connection and awareness, wisdom and vitality, flexibility and unity. Life will be guided from the heart where shen resides and expressed in all its uniqueness, creativity and individuality resulting in a life "well lived."
We are located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, a peaceful area with mountain views that seem to inspire a sense of harmony and tranquility. It is a place that we believe allows people to set themselves on the path to healthy Shen. The word shen is itself Incorporated into the name of our valley: Shenandoah, a Native American Indian word meaning "Daughter of the Stars."
Daughter of the Stars....the ancient legend...
After the Great Spirit had made the world, the morning stars came together on the shores of a quiet silver lake bordered with blue mountains, the most beautiful place they could see. Hovering above the quiet waters and lighting the mountain tops with their robes of fire, the stars sang their songs of joy and pledged to gather here every thousand years. One time when the stars were singing, there came a mighty crashing!! A great rock in the mountain wall tore asunder, and through the deep opening the lake waters began to pour out and rush to the sea. As time passed the stars looked over the earth for another place to meet. They finally agreed upon a lovely valley through which a winding river ran. Suddenly the stars realized that this valley had been the bed of their beautiful lake and the blue mountains around it were the same ones upon which they had cast their robes of light in ages past. The stars were so joyous they placed the brightest jewels from their crowns in the river where they still lie and sparkle. And ever since that day, the river and its valley have been called............Shenandoah, Daughter of the Stars.