Articles

Please enjoy the hundreds of articles that Dr. Borten has written over the past 20+ years. There’s something for everyone, including explorations of spirituality, learning from the natural world, exercise and stretching, nutrition, psychology, posture, breathing, pain management, Eastern medicine and philosophy, and much more.

(Originally published as a four part series of articles for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) Part One Recently, I saw the movie, Limitless, about an author with writer’s block and little in the way of personality or potential. He discovers a drug that allows him…

(Originally published as a newsletter for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) Last month, I wrote about how visualizing a desired outcome can enhance our chances of achieving that outcome. It’s practiced all the time in sports, with athletes creating mental movies of themselves performing at…

(Originally published as a newsletter for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) I discovered skateboarding as a young teenager, when the sport was experiencing something of a renaissance with the advent of wide, contoured wooden skateboards. I felt an excitement about it that I hadn’t experienced…

(Originally published as an eight part series for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) Part One Readers familiar with my articles might have been surprised by my recent article on trigger points, since it dealt strictly with a physical disorder, rather than the broader psychological and…

Written with Briana Borten Figuring out your needs is a worthwhile process if you strive to have a lasting, harmonious, and fulfilling relationship. Why have a needs list for your relationship? Not knowing your needs is like going into a Safeway without a shopping list….

Spring is the season ruled by the Wood Element in Chinese philosophy, so it’s a good time to talk about the lessons and challenges this element presents. In The Obstacle Course, I wrote about Wood’s quality of flexibility and how this virtue can enable us…

Note: This article was originally published in 2007, but we wanted to share it again for all our new readers as food for thought while we prepare for another long holiday weekend. The medicine I prescribe most in my practice is water. There are plenty…

(Originally published as a five part series of newsletters for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa)   Part One Over the past two millennia, Chinese medicine has seen the development of several different schools of thought, each championed by certain scholars. For instance, there is the…

(Originally published as a three part series of newsletters for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) The overweight problem in America isn’t news to anyone. It gets a huge amount of media attention. The main concern voiced by the medical community is that being overweight or…

(Originally published as a newsletter for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) Most of the fats we eat are subject to a constant process of breakdown called oxidation. When fats become oxidized we call them “rancid.” A 2007 Israeli study stated that oxidation of fats is…

(Originally published as a three part series of newsletters for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) When it comes down to it, a great portion of our efforts are in some way motivated by a desire to keep living – to survive. To this end, life…

(Originally published as a newsletter for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) As the days get darker and wetter here in the Pacific Northwest, the number of melancholy patients in my practice ramps up. Interestingly, the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health featured…

Bitterness is a taste most of us try to avoid. Expressions such as “bitter enemies” and “a bitter pill to swallow ” show how averse we are to this flavor. We greatly prefer the other three primary flavors – nearly everything Americans eat is a…

While we’ve all heard the recommendation to drink eight to twelve glasses of water a day, many of us think of it as a vague goal that we’re not especially compelled to go for. As a doctor, I’ve had the opportunity to ask a great…

(Originally appeared in the November 2012 newsletter of The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) Written with Briana Borten There are several simple daily practices recommended in Ayurvedic medicine for maintaining health. One of the most valuable of these routines, especially during cold and flu season, is…

This article originally appeared in About Face Magazine, Issue 07 Treating pain is one my specialties. I don’t prescribe pain drugs and I don’t accept insurance. People pay me cash out of their pockets, which means I have to get the job done well and…

I’ve come to the realization that a 60 minute facial is just not for me. No surprises here, since I am very impatient when it comes to many things in life. Waiting in line for anything drives me crazy…I’ll chalk this up to the many years living…

New research in the field of mental health finds evidence that a grateful heart is a happy heart. I guess I’m jaded enough to roll my eyes at the notion of “just be grateful for what you have, dammit!” But I can commit to trying…

One of the things I love…is this transition time of year where we change from one season to the next.  I lived in San Francisco for 5 years and never saw the difference from one season to another.  Love San Francisco but the consistent weather…