Episode 31: Why You Need Acupuncture In Your Life with Kiya Hunter

Jacqueline Kincer  0:10

Welcome back to Episode 31 of The Breastfeeding Talk Podcast. I’m your host Jacqueline Kincer, IBCLC and I’m super excited for this episode because I’ve wanted to bring her on for a while. And she finally agreed to come on and actually scheduled but I’ve got one of my dear friends Kiya Hunter, and Kiya is a licensed acupuncturist practicing here in Scottsdale, Arizona. So for those of you that don’t live here, I’m so sad that you don’t because she’s just incredible. But Kiya mission really is to help women work with their body’s amazing healing abilities. So they can enjoy an embrace a joyful life. And I have to say that really, it sounds a little cheesy sometimes when you say stuff like that, you know, like I just want you to live to your fullest potential, I want you to thrive. But truly, this is what Kiya helps people do. And just a side note here, I’ve seen Kiya for my own personal health things. And I’ve been blown away at the ease of the treatments I received from her and how life changing they’ve truly been.

And you know, acupuncture is something that even up until this podcast interview, I felt like I still don’t really understand why it works, how it works. And Kiya did a really excellent job of explaining this. So I really wanted her to come on and do this episode for you, the listener, if you’re a professional listening to this, if you are a breastfeeding mom listening to this, if you’re pregnant, and you’re thinking about, you know, looking ahead to your breastfeeding journey, and you’re listening this episode, this episode is really 100% for you. Because if you don’t have an understanding of all of the beautiful and amazing healing modalities available to you out there, when someone tells you like me, if you work with me, I’d say, Oh, well, you know, you’re having this issue. I think acupuncture be really great for you and you’re like, No, I don’t do acupuncture or that doesn’t work. You know, this episode, I hope clears that up for you and can show you how amazing acupuncture can play a role in your life and also help you and your baby with breastfeeding problems. So without further ado, here’s my amazing conversation with Kiya Hunter. Welcome to the podcast Kiya. I’m so excited to have you here. And I would love for you to tell our listeners a bit about you and what you do.

Kiya Hunter  3:11

Thank you for having me, I’m so so excited to be here and share, you know, a different point of view, I think with you and your listeners. I’m mkhaya I am an acupuncturist that specializes in women’s health and pediatrics, which is something you don’t hear too often. But it’s all good stuff.

Jacqueline Kincer  3:32

And yeah, that’s me. Know, you’re amazing. And I’ll just tell the listeners, you know, I met Coyote, through a chiropractor friends of ours that we both kind of worked with, and I, for a long time, it’s I’m always open to things, but I kind of thought, oh, acupuncture, does that really do anything. And I met you when you were still going through school for that, actually. And the first time I ever had a treatment for you was the day that I gave birth to my daughter. So that was really super cool. And now we’ve become friends and I see you on the regular for myself and I send clients to you. And you know, I think I still don’t have a very good understanding of Chinese medicine and acupuncture. And I think that would be true for anyone who’s listening to this episode, unless they’re really well versed with it. So I’d love for you to just like what, what is acupuncture? It’s not. I think we have a good understanding of allopathic medicine and how that works. You know, you have a symptom, you get a prescription or a treatment of some kind or whatever. That’s not really how it works with what you do. So how would you explain to us, you know, the system of healing that you do?

Kiya Hunter  4:47

Yeah, acupuncture is an all inclusive system. So as holistic as it gets, in my opinion, where we look at mind, body, spirit and the environment and To basically balance you based on all of that type of stuff. So Chinese medicine uses nutrition, acupuncture, sometimes massage, cupping, guasha, which is just a skin manipulation techniques, muscle manipulation techniques to help you adapt to your environment as best as possible, possible. It’s almost like reports reprogramming a computer. So the acupuncture needles or taps as I like to call them, because they’re way tinier than any needle your doctor would ever use. They basically tell your brain that there’s a problem in your body that your brain is not taking care of, and get your brain to step up. Its healing potential.

Jacqueline Kincer  5:46

Oh, that is so amazing. And I just, you know, I could say that I feel like I’ve experienced that, you know, with with getting treatments and things. And one of the biggest things that I see when it comes to like breastfeeding moms and babies that I work with is that it’s never like the one problem, like, let’s say, it’s mastitis or whatever, but, but it’s like another, another woman could be going through the same exact problem and not get mastitis. So why does this woman’s body get it? You know, it sounds like you’re working on on something, like a precursor to things? In some ways. Is that right?

Kiya Hunter  6:25

Oh, absolutely. I I’m trying to remember the old saying we have it’s like, it’s like, if someone has back pain in Chinese medicine, there could be 100 different causes to the back pain. So everyone is looked at. It’s such an individualistic lens, gosh, my brain. So yeah, mastitis you can have, one woman can have a different issue than another. So you know, it could be postural muscle tension that causes stagnation. For one woman and other woman, it can be a lack of qi and blood because of a very strenuous delivery and labor. And then some emotional aspects. I mean, there is a huge, huge amount of reasons that we look at in Chinese medicine, where we’re trying to figure out what specifically caused the problem that you’re going through, whether that’s mastitis, low milk production, I mean, even postpartum or trimester issues. There’s a lot to look at.

Jacqueline Kincer  7:27

Yeah, there is and and I think, you know, actually, I had you do some acupuncture, my daughter when she was a baby. And it was, it was very helpful. And I think people think, Okay, well, cool, I’ll do it for myself, but or myself, but when it comes to like kids, or even babies, I think people are like, Oh, don’t be poking my baby with needles. Yet, we have no problem taking them in for their monthly shots. So needles are really not super painful, or anything like that. They can hit a nerve for sure. But literally, but um, you know, I felt it’s not always pleasant, but it’s what needs to happen. You know, and I, you mentioned pediatrics, I’d love to hear you just chat about that. Because, you know, I I saw really amazing things with my daughter and you treating her but just more about pediatrics and what you know, there.

Kiya Hunter  8:21

Yeah, so we’re born so immature. I mean, our our brain isn’t really developed until between 25 and 30 years old. And so when we first come out, I mean, look, look at your baby, they’re pretty helpful. No offense. But so the greatest thing about acupuncture again, is helping the brain figure out what the heck is going on in this world and with the body. So I’ve treated a lot of things from colic to stomach issues, reflux, and even post tongue tie revision, helping the mobility and reduce the baby’s pain. That’s I’m just trying to get the brain to understand what the body needs to do. It’s kind of like a guide. I’m guiding the body and the brain to have a really strong communication platform to where your baby can develop. Just optimally, we want your baby to thrive. And acupuncture is the guide for that.

Jacqueline Kincer  9:14

I love that. I love that because I think that’s this is like a big element that’s missing, you know, when I see mom’s turning to, you know, taking this colic drop tincture thing and, you know, this technique of this and buying a special swaddle or, you know, holding them up right after the feed, so they don’t reflux, and then they’re taking, you know, herbs for milk production and buying a special pump. And it’s not that we don’t need those things, right. I mean, sometimes we need those things, but it’s like, the more we tried to throw it things. The heart it’s almost like it’s harder, right? Like we have to just keep doing more and more and more, but the problem underneath now went away. So we can make things better. But what you’re saying about the brain and its connection throughout the whole body, those things don’t fix that, I guess is what I’m hearing you

Kiya Hunter  10:12

say, right, you’re trying to adapt the baby the best you can. But what I like to do is strengthen you or the baby, to be able to handle whatever the world throws at it. I mean, you can baby the immune system all day long, like we’re currently doing. Or you can strengthen your immune system to be able to handle stuff. You can, you know, adapt your diet, which you may temporarily have to do, but your baby’s digestion still needs to be strengthened in order to handle things down the road. We can’t just call these things we have to prepare ourselves for life. And the more that you can do to stimulate the brain and get it on board and go, Hey, you’re in this body here in this world, and we need to we need to be strong, the better off you’re going to be in the long term.

Jacqueline Kincer  11:02

Would you say that that’s just helping to create resilience, then? Absolutely.

Kiya Hunter  11:09

I think that’s a really great way to describe it, creating resilience. I love that.

Jacqueline Kincer  11:14

I think it’s so important I had, I had a Dr. Liliana Garcia on the podcast several episodes ago, and she talked about her big thing is creating resilience in terms of like mental health. And she’s a sort of a trauma therapist, so that you know that how to, you know, we will always have emotional ups and downs. And so how do we, you know, prepare ourselves so that we can handle those and they don’t make us fall apart. You’re talking about this on on more of the physical plane, but obviously, I’m assuming that also affects, you know, the mental and emotional plane as well.

Kiya Hunter  11:49

Yeah, they’re not separate, you know, they’re they’re one any other, so the more mentally strong you are, the body will follow. And vice versa. And I’m sure everybody here has had some type of pain where they were found it really hard to cope mentally, or mentally, they went through some sort of trauma that even they saw the physical effects in the body. So if we can overall just make us more resilient, both mind both body or spirit, then we’re just going to have a better experience here on this planet.

Jacqueline Kincer  12:18

Hmm, yeah. Yeah, I love that. Because I think that if we’re really honest with ourselves, there’s a lot of us that aren’t having a good experience or on this planet. Know, and that’s really sad, right? I mean, I, and I hear so and it’s always different, right? For everybody. It’s different. I like that what you’re saying it’s so individualized, you know, and I think that’s been the big issue for me, in my work with my practice is been that you know, and just even, and I’m not saying like, you know, if you’re listening to this, like, I’m not saying don’t send me a direct message on Instagram, like, please, please do actually, I love to hear from people all the time. But don’t expect me to be able to answer. You know, if you tell me, Hey, I have my mastitis. What should I do? Well, first of all, I have an online course for that, that will go through every possible thing you could do, and acupuncture is included on there. But um, I don’t I don’t know, I can’t there’s not a one sentence answer. It’s not like, Oh, you have mastitis cool, go buy this? Or do this? Yeah. Because why did you get it and, and, and how bad is it and what, and it looks different for everybody, everybody’s symptoms are different, all these things. And so this, this idea that we can just Google things and read blogs, and watch YouTube videos, and, and whatever, you know, maybe I’m not saying those things aren’t helpful. They are, but it’s never going to be something that takes into account you, and all of your past history, your environments, your circumstances, you know, your, your mental, emotional state, you know, all of that. And so when I work with people, and I go through all this, you know, taking of their history and their baby’s history, and we get into some deeper emotional things, and whatever I know, from working with kayas, she does all that stuff, too. Because we have to, we can’t help you heal something if we don’t know what caused the disruption in the first place. And this is, I just I resonate with a system that you work with so much, because, you know, even though I don’t, I don’t practice Chinese medicine or any of that. It’s like, the best, the best people, the best doctors, the best chiropractors, the best acupuncturist, the best lactation zones. We’re all always going what led to this, right. So I just think that’s, you know, I think, you know, what are some of the things that I could say a couple things that I’ve had clients Express when I you know, if I if I know that I like you know, kaios Lee right person that that can help, you know, so they have these sort of fears, you know, and maybe you could talk about those what are some of the reasons why you see people so resistant to you know, pursuing acupuncture as a way of healing things.

Kiya Hunter  14:57

A lot of people think it’s it’s painful. Which, you know, some, some points might for a quick second be like, Oh, wow, I can feel that, especially if you’re in an inflamed state, but for the most part, you don’t notice them. Some people don’t believe in it, which is so funny because I mean, when you stub your toe, you feel that right to believe that you hit something with your toe. Acupuncture is not different. There’s that mystical aspects that when you google acupuncture, it starts talking about energy. And she, and when you don’t know what that is, you’re like, oh, that sounds kind of woowoo. So a lot of people are apprehensive because of that. She energy to me, like my understanding of it is it’s basically just energy at a physiological level. So your every single cell is done in your body working for you producing energy to make you animated to give you life. And so acupuncture directly affects that your nervous system, your hormones, neurotransmitters, your blood, your lamp, everything that gets your body working. So I know a lot of people are apprehensive. And they’ll be like, Oh, that doesn’t work. I’m like, Have you have you read any studies. So there’s that doubt. And then the the fear around the pain, I think is the biggest thing. It does seem mystical. And I don’t know why I feel like there’s a lot of information out there about it. But maybe just because I’m in that realm, my filters are set to see a lot. It’s actually really relaxing. Most people take a nap when they’re here. And like I say, I treat kids and most of them don’t notice every once in a while I might get a kid, they usually are mad little babies get mad when I like, hold their little arm for that half a second to put a tap in and out. But other than that, I think babies even do better than a lot of adult men, because in their heads, they’re just they’re worried about it. And I honestly, I used to have a huge needle phobia. Like when I had to get stitches, it was like my mom. And I think three other nurses had to hold me down because I was screaming bloody murder. So for me to go from a needle phobia to actually give acupuncture to myself. It’s kind of funny, and it shows you that this isn’t a big deal. And a lot of my I think about 20% of my patients actually do have a needle phobia and another good 40 to even like 60% Like, am I getting my math right there? They they have a fear. I hardly have anyone that comes in here who’s like, yeah, give me the taps. But they know the benefits are so so worth it, that they’ll push through a fear in order to get the results they want. Because most people who come in have tried everything else. And they’re at their wit’s end, and they’re just ready for a healing. And they get that they get a solution, which is so cool. But yeah, fear of pain. And the the woowoo aspect, I think is the two biggest things that keep people away. I don’t know, if you have any other experiences from your patients, any resistance from your clients?

Jacqueline Kincer  18:04

I think that’s I think that’s really true. I think you really hit the nail on the head. And I think the other one is that fear of it not working, that they’re going to spend money on it, and it doesn’t do anything. And I think it ties into the woowoo aspect where they’re like, Yeah, sounds great. But I have to mentally be accepted in my head for it to work kind of a thing. Where it’s like, but you don’t like me, it’s good. You don’t need to believe in it. It works. I mean, obviously, the mind is very powerful, too. So you can you can be mentally resistant to something and not see the results you’re hoping for. But you know, you’ll you’ll see what you want to see in some ways, right? But But I think that what you’re saying is I think that people wait, they wait way too long to go and pursue this healing. They wait until the the pain that they’re experiencing outweighs the fear of the pain of the needles, that they’ll be getting an acupuncture, you know, and that’s, that’s always so sad to me is, you know, finally, finally, I convinced someone to go see you. And now I can give them this podcast episode and go see this is this is why I told you to go see her. But you know, I think that they just they’re not convinced they’re not convinced that’s helpful. And they don’t like you said you have a filter for it. So it’s not something that’s really talked about. You know, it’s not something that’s readily covered by insurance. It’s, you know, but I remember going into Mayo Clinic years ago, not because just because I thought oh, it’s Mayo Clinic, I’ll go get my checkup there. My insurance covers it. And I saw thing about like their cancer center there and that they use acupuncture and they had all of this list of all like studies, you know, on how amazing that was just for, you know, the systems of the body and reducing pain and all of that. So I think when people think of acupuncture, probably the first thing they think of is pain relief. Yeah, even one of my pain doctors that I’ve worked with has said Go get acupuncture. I’m like, okay, like, so I think it’s commonly accepted now and the surgeon Pain Management. But for someone who’s, you know, like a new mom, you know, I’m thinking about even if we want to just start with that, if that’s your entry into acupuncture during pregnancy, how many women experience all sorts of different pains around looking at pelvic pain, just, you know, or the, or the nausea and vomiting and the tiredness and you know, your hormones are changing so quickly and your body’s changing. And then, you know, let’s not even talk about childbirth. But you know, post childbirth, most of them probably wouldn’t want needles while they’re giving birth. But I don’t know I’ve done I would, I would.

Kiya Hunter  20:37

I’ve done it. It’s really cool. Yeah. It’s so funny, when during pregnancy, there’s not a lot of options for women out there as far as morning sickness, pain, like a lot of people don’t want to take medication, which I don’t blame them, like, we don’t know what that’s going to do to your baby. Acupuncture is such a great option because I mean, anything I’ve treated the like burning tongue during pregnancy, like somebody had this burning tongue sensation. And they actually had healed appealed tongue like so when she stuck it out, it was red. And it had these like peeled looking marks on it. And the doctors were like, I don’t know. And she came in, I treated that round ligament I see that all the time. Labor preparation, pain, insomnia, I mean, you just name it. And it’s not. I don’t feel like it’s talked about for pregnancy or postpartum or breastfeeding, or tongue tie revision. It’s it is it’s kind of like this little secret, I guess. That’s It’s so unfortunate, because it gives people solutions. If you’re tired of suffering, or if you don’t know what to do, get off Google and go in and get some acupuncture, you are going to be blown away. But back to like what, you know, people, people with their mind, they have to believe it works. I have the funniest stories that I saw what when I used to see, I used to work in a community pain clinic. And I would have these guys come in, who would sit there and be like, I know acupuncture doesn’t work, but I just thought I’d try it. And so I had one guy who was like, couldn’t lift his shoulder more than like 30 degrees or something. And he’s like, Yeah, I can only get my shoulder to hear it’s like, Okay, give me 10 seconds. So I put a couple acupuncture taps in, and he had full range of motion and he goes, yep, no change. And there was like, it was like, it was literally five to 10 seconds later, his shoulder went from like being able to move 30 degrees to full range of motion without pain. And he didn’t believe it, but you kept coming back. So you must have subconsciously been okay with it. But you don’t need to believe it for it to work. babies. Babies don’t know what’s going on. I treat constipation, colic, reflux, all that stuff in babies, like they don’t know. But anyone who brings their baby into the office for constipation, my goodness, they usually poop by the time they leave. And it’s a really quick appointment to if not, they’re definitely to turn up the office. It’s really funny.

Jacqueline Kincer  23:00

And, and I can attest, I mean, I you know, I haven’t really said a lot about this publicly, just for legal reasons and whatnot. But I was in a very serious motor vehicle accident earlier this year. And I’ve gone through just so many, so many medical issues related to that, and seeing Kaia has been, I could come in and be in a ton of pain and 20 minutes later, it’s gone. And it’s not like it comes back. 20 minutes later, it doesn’t, like you know, and so and it’s not that necessarily you’re one and done either. So I’d actually love for you to talk about that. No, because I don’t want people to think Oh, it’s a one trick pony. I go in, I get some taps. I’m good to go forever. Like, it’s not that it doesn’t work. But sometimes people you need to go. I mean, very often, you need to go more than once. So I’d love for you to chat about that, too. Yeah, it’s

Kiya Hunter  23:52

like medication or vitamins. Right? They don’t you don’t it’s not just one or done. I don’t know if there’s a one or done pill for anything. Be nice, right?

Jacqueline Kincer  23:59

Yeah. Thank you for pointing that out. I wish I know that. Oh, we totally wish like, we want

Kiya Hunter  24:07

the Amazon of medicine. Right? Two days later, we’re done. Can we make that

Jacqueline Kincer  24:11

happen? Oh my gosh,

Kiya Hunter  24:15

like, like, I like that. Now. I’m stuck on that idea. But yeah, that’s just not how the body works. And we have to respect your body. Like if we could snap our fingers and you’d be magically healed forever. Oh, my God, I would do that. I would love to do that for you. But that’s not the case. Because we just have these like, with trillions of neuron connections in our body that have their own experiences and their own translations of the world that we have to work through. So just because you have an injury or maybe a lactation issue, it doesn’t mean that that’s an isolated thing. So there, it’s integrated with a lot of other things and the way your brain understands the world and what else has your brain been through. So actually puncture like anything else in the world, it takes time, I have had people that are like a one hit wonders. And I have what is the number like one and 100 people are like a one hit wonder where they come in with lifelong allergies. And I give them one treatment, and all of a sudden, they’re drinking wine and riding their horse. Literally, this happened to me. Like, yeah, I was allergic to horses and dust. So I drink wine. And I wrote off into the sunset, and my allergies didn’t come back. I’m like, Okay, well see if they ever come back. But for the most part, I know, right? Can we all be like that guy, for the most part, the longer you put something off, the more treatments you’re going to need. So that’s why, you know, you’re, I’m sure you get that frustration where like, just go in. And then it would be a quick and easy thing to do. But a lot of people wait. And then that takes longer. So for for most people, you know, if if it’s something within the first three months, something easy, if you come in within the first three months, you know, maybe 10 treatments or less will take care of it a couple times a week, for anything chronic, it all just depends on you, and what’s going on, if you’ve had this thing for 40 years, we’re gonna be friends for a while. And then the rest of

Jacqueline Kincer  26:11

your life, right? It’s not like you would just go to your physician, your MD and let’s say you have, you know, crazy thyroid issues or or anyone who’s been through fertility, you don’t go and get an injection. And then you just have a baby. Like, that isn’t how it works. And so and people that spend, you know, I mean, I’m sure you can even speak to fertility for sure I have I have several clients, actually, they’ve said that they did all the things, but acupuncture was the thing that got them

Kiya Hunter  26:36

pregnant. Yeah. So one of my mentor, one of my mentors, she says, if you stay with her long enough, like her fertility rates, 100%, which I find amazing. Wow, she’s over 20 years. But yeah, you’re right. I’ve had many people go through multiple rounds of IVF. And acupuncture was the thing that finally got it, got them pregnant. Or I had one case where they adopted a child and then got pregnant after trying for four years. So that was interesting. So you just never know the body, your body is so special and so smart. And it really wants to heal, and it wants to take the time to do those things. And we just have to give it the space and the tools to do that. So everything’s dependent, you’re drinking and doing drugs every day, you’re gonna need a lot more treatments than somebody who eats clean and exercises every

Jacqueline Kincer  27:30

day. You know that that makes so much sense to me. I I’d love for you to share some success stories. You mentioned some about the babies and the constipation. But as far as like, you know, women who are lactating, like what are some things that you could share that you’ve just seen, you know, shift from working with you.

Kiya Hunter  27:51

The cool thing about the lactating is, you can actually feel it within usually about 20 Maybe 40 minutes you’ll feel like that rush that letdown type feeling. So you know, a lot of women who are skeptical that works, but they can they can immediately feel it. So if women are willing to do come in a couple times a week, oh my gosh, like their their breastfeeding journey just gets easier. The stress of it a mental emotional aspect, increased supply, like lack of clogged ducts, happier baby. I mean, just, it’s amazing. And it’s really rewarding to be able to, to get along to where she wants to be. Because I know how frustrating it can be. Yeah, you’re just trying to feed your baby and it’s your you feel like your body’s working against you. And that’s, that’s not okay, we want to be on the same side. We don’t want to, we don’t want to be anti body or anti breastfeeding. We want to, we want to put you guys on the same team.

Jacqueline Kincer  28:53

And I do you see it often where we’re breastfeeding turns into this sort of adversarial thing. Sometimes moms will tell me they interpret it like their baby’s rejecting them or maybe hates breastfeeding. And I’m like, no baby hates breastfeeding. No, like, that is not a thing they are like born to have this drive to, you know, and not that this isn’t all the same, but I might as well make the comparison. It’s like, like, if if sex was painful for you, we would know something was wrong because biologically, we’re designed to reproduce right? Well, breastfeeding is just another part of the reproductive journey. So if we’re, if there’s some sort of aversion to it, either on your part is the mom or the baby’s part, something’s really deeply wrong at a biological level, you know, and that doesn’t mean that breastfeeding can’t work. That doesn’t mean you should give up breastfeeding. It just means that we need to figure out what that is and to correct it. Because otherwise, if we fail, not fail. I don’t like to use that word. But if but if breastfeeding is sabotaged, because there’s some problem there, just because you stopped breastfeeding doesn’t mean that that problem goes away. You know, and whether that is something that later on, like, like a, you know, you’re going to have your second child and you’re having a fertility issue or, or your child grows up and has, you know, some other, you know, issue whatever that may be, you know, we want we want to always just the sooner the better, gosh, people, the sooner the better. I think that’s what Kai is trying to say too, is just, you know, it’s never too late though. So I don’t want people to feel like that. But when you’re when you’re stuck, when you feel like I don’t know what else I could possibly be doing. Maybe this is just the way things are. I would challenge you on that, you know, if you’re listening to this, just it doesn’t have to be this way. You’re not meant to suffer. And I think that acupuncture is just this amazing, powerful tool that I wish people turn to is more of a frontline thing. You know, I’m sure you do.

Kiya Hunter  30:49

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yep. And that’s my bad for not shouting from the rooftops. I will be better about that to serve everybody. But

Jacqueline Kincer  30:59

and this is why I brought you on because I feel like you need to be shouting. Like I just want to advocate for what Kaia does. I don’t care who’s not paying me to be on my podcast is everybody knows, like, I love her dearly. And I’ve seen I’ve experienced what she does. I’ve seen what she does. And it’s like, how do I get more people to understand how important this is. This isn’t like some like, extra optional thing. It’s not like, Oh, I’ll get Botox. Like, it’s not like a it’s not a frills. It’s not extra, it’s not optional. So yeah, I’m gonna say something.

Kiya Hunter  31:32

It’s absolutely necessary. So breastfeeding problems or mastitis, ducks, any of that stuff, like we’ve talked about can be a reflection of other issues. So in Chinese medicine, breast milk is looked at your you have this blood supply that usually goes to the uterus. And then when you’re pregnant, it goes to this placenta. And then after you have your baby, it goes up to the breast and the energy of your body, a little ATP cells, turn that into breast milk. That’s that’s how the Chinese figured this out, you know, 1000s of years ago, before they had modern medicine. So some things that can deplete that your milk supply, our qi and blood energy and blood exhaustion, which can happen from long, exhausting labored in delivery, blood loss during your delivery, or postpartum time, excessive blood loss, sleep deprivation, obviously, we all have a little bit of that for a lot during that postpartum time, and pregnancy time. But if we can get you some more sleep, you know, you can have more energy to produce what you need for your baby, a lack of nutrition, and then some issues that come up during pregnancy, whether that’s lack of nutrition, if you’re vomiting all the time, if you’re bleeding during your pregnancy, all this will, will affect your supply. And then the other thing we look at and Chinese medicine for lactation and mastitis type stuff is stagnation. So when things don’t flow properly, whether usually a structural issue structure, your your, the way your body is, will affect its function. So if you have some sort of stagnation, things aren’t flowing, right, that can cause a lack of lactation like, oh my gosh, breast milk reduction, or it can cause the the mastitis or clogged ducts. So we’re also looking at emotional stress trauma that happens during you know, pregnancy postpartum, and then physical pain and inflammation. And so we’re looking at adjusting those things. And again, getting your brain to resolve those issues in your body. Because no one can heal you but your own brain and your own body. There’s just me and other healers trying to help you be the best you can be. Once we get your brain on board and all that balances out we get good nutrition, maybe some herbs like you know, good to go.

Jacqueline Kincer  33:56

It’s just so simple, right? Like, you know, it really complicated than it is

Kiya Hunter  34:02

like health in general. I feel like we’re really trying to overcomplicate it, but it’s it’s pretty basic. And hopefully no one takes offense because I know I health challenges suck. I’m, I’m with you there. But if we do if we have our foundation laid out really well, just the basics down pretty much we’re good to go. And then we might need a little couple tweaks on that depending on our genetics, but for the most part, it can be very, very simple.

Jacqueline Kincer  34:29

Yeah, yeah. I love that. I feel like it. And I think sometimes we think that when we are experiencing health challenges that we it’s like I don’t know, we’ve been conditioned or programmed to believe that there’s some complicated fix to it. than we think, you know, acupuncture is insanely affordable people like sometimes we don’t realize the the difference in cost because maybe something is covered by your medical insurance, but it could cost you know hundreds or 1000s of dollars or whatever, but you could go another acupuncture doesn’t, you know, cost hundreds of dollars, but it’s like in the grand scheme of things, it’s, it’s much simpler, it’s much more affordable, you’re not getting the side effects, you’re not getting the complications, there’s not the same risks, and all of that. So if we take all of that into account, and we come out with a financial number, we can equate that to. Yeah, acupuncture is a no brainer. Absolutely. And so it just, it always blows my mind when, you know, there’s, there’s just things that we, we try to overcomplicate or we sometimes think that spending more money means a better result. And, and sometimes that’s true, and sometimes it’s not true. You know, I’m sure there’s acupuncturists that charge $1,000 A session, okay, but like, you know, and it’s, I don’t like to make my care inaccessible, either. But I also like to, you know, I provide immense value for the time that I give people and so you know, it’s, I always believe in under sort of under charging and over delivering, and I feel like, you know, anybody who’s a true healer does, but we don’t want to have to make living folks not charity. So, you know, I try to impress upon people, like, look like you will save yourself so much time, and eventually so much money. It may seem like this, you know, investment now, but it isn’t investment. And if you invest in yourself now, like you’re saying, you create that resilience, you know, whether it’s your breastfeeding problems or anything else going forward in your life, you’re going to be so much better equipped to handle it, you’re not going to have the same complications you otherwise would have had you ignored all this stuff. Yeah, that will cause problems down

Kiya Hunter  36:29

the road. But my favorite thing about occupant most people won’t even tell that, you know, they come in for their problem. And a lot of people won’t give me all their medical history because they want to they want to test me this happens all the time. It’s really funny, where they’ll they’ll come in for one thing, I’m like, Okay, anything else? And they’re just like, nope. And then all of a sudden, like, five other symptoms, they were going through result. They’re like, Oh, my, you know, urinary incontinence is gone. And I can feel my toes and fingers again, I’m like, wait, what? Yeah, tell me that. They’re like, yeah, I didn’t want to, I wanted to see if this really worked. So when you get your body and your brain on board with healing, it doesn’t just heal the thing we’re focusing on, it takes care of your whole body, because you are a whole person, you’re not like separate little bits and parts, your whole body works together. And that’s why I think acupuncture is like the most most holistic thing because it gets your entire brain and body on board with just an overall upgrade.

Jacqueline Kincer  37:28

Mm hmm. I love it. I love it. Oh, my goodness, you just have so eloquently explained, you know, so much about the body and the brain and what you do, and I it’s incredible. I mean, I you know, I think there’s a lot of reading between the lines here that listeners can also take away, you know, and just think about themselves and things they’ve experienced over the years and apply what you’re saying to themselves. And I’d love to hear just, you know, is there a final piece of advice or thoughts or, or something that you want to leave listeners with who you know, for our audience here today?

Kiya Hunter  38:09

Yeah, for, you know, like we talked about a little bit earlier, like being able to research is extremely empowering. And I think it’s so, so good and so necessary sometimes. But at some points, it becomes almost like a mental burden. And I see a lot of my patients come in with exhaustion. So a lot of times, I will prescribe you to stop looking at Google, stop googling your symptoms and start enjoying your life. Because you’re going to drive yourself crazy going on these boards trying to figure out what other people did to get success. If you focus on the outcome you want and hire somebody who will provide a solution for you, whether that’s a lactation consultant, an acupuncturist. I mean, just whatever your problem is, write a specialty specialist in that area, you are gonna save yourself so much headache and heartache and stress and just overall have a better experience in life if you just invest in yourself because you are so worth it. You know, you your baby. You guys are so worth it. You don’t need to struggle. You don’t need to have the heartache. Like get off the internet. It’s and live your life.

Jacqueline Kincer  39:22

Oh, I love it. I love it. You and I are just such kindred souls in that respect. Because, you know, I think for me, at least I got into this work because I I had to be the one who was the researcher because there wasn’t someone to help me along my journey. And so then I decided, well, there’s there’s a big gap here and I need to I need to fill it. You know, maybe you felt that way too. Oh, yeah. Because we don’t want other people to go through what we went through. You know, I, I don’t want other people to suffer with and I’ve told the journeys of my two babies on this podcast and how hard that was for me. I don’t want anyone else to have to endure that. That’s why I’m here. I’m not if breastfeeding is going Well for you, and you listen to this podcast because you just love breastfeeding and whatever the reason. But if you’re listening this and you’re really struggling, like, I mean, honestly, I had a woman send me a direct message on Instagram the other day, and she said something about, you know, I, I’m getting the, you know, thanks for all the info you’ve given, I realized my baby has a ton of lip tie, we’re getting it fixed, should I see a lactation consultant before? And I said, Yes. Because what you don’t want is to think one that that procedure is going to fix everything for your baby, it doesn’t it just it just changes the structure. That’s all it does. It doesn’t create function. It doesn’t enable proper breastfeeding and whatever. But to like, the fact that you’re even asking the question, lets me know that you need the help. You need the professional help, like because otherwise you wouldn’t be asking, you know, so if you start to ask yourself this question of, well, how do I fix this? And how do I fix that? It’s a big burden to put that on yourself. Like, it’s not that you can’t figure some things out for yourself. I don’t want to seem disempowering. But at the same time, there’s nothing more empowering than admitting that you don’t know at all that it would be too much for you to even try and know it all. So yeah, there’s people like Kai and I, and many others out there who are here to help you along your journey and make it so much easier. Oh, yeah. I

Kiya Hunter  41:13

mean, I went to school from 18. to No, was it 28, or something like, I went to school for a decade to learn how to help you like it is okay to reach out and ask for help. I do not expect anyone to come into my office, knowing anything about acupuncture, because I spent a long, long time getting this knowledge. So take the pressure off of yourself, people like you’re trying to learn years and years and years and experience, and help yourself within a few hours. And that’s just that’s a lot of expectation on yourself. That’s a lot of pressure.

Jacqueline Kincer  41:47

It is and we don’t need any more of that when we’re new moms, you know,

Kiya Hunter  41:51

enjoy your baby, enjoy your life. Don’t spend time don’t waste time researching. And I’ve only say I’m only saying that because I’ve done that myself. Like, I’ve spent so much time before I got fully medically trained, just researching things because I didn’t feel feel well. And I could have been out there enjoying my life and just had somebody else. kind of silly, but you know, it allows me to say that and help people now. So I’m grateful for the experience. But if you’re not looking for a medical degree, I suggest researching things you want to do and love to do and do them and let somebody else handle all that other stuff.

Jacqueline Kincer  42:26

Huh? Yeah. Why is advice wise advice? Well, thank you so much Kaia for just sharing. Just you know, this sort of piece of yourself with us. And I just You could talk to you forever. And I know I will, but not. So thank you. Again, I just love having you here. And you know, I’m going to link up your information, your website, your social media, all that on the show notes. So for anyone who wants to get in touch with Kaia, to work with her, everything you need to do that is going to be all linked up in the show notes. And, you know, feel free to head over and read those. Absolutely. All right. Thanks for being here. It’s been an immense pleasure to have you on the show today.

Kiya Hunter  43:09

Thank you so much. I’m so grateful for you.