Ever notice that your usual health problems get worse once school year stress kicks in?
This year, we want to make sure our educators are well taken care of, right from the start. So we’re offering a special for all educators and school staff! This special applies to everyone who works in schools.
Get community acupuncture at the discounted rate of $25 per return visit (or $35 for first visits) for the whole month of September.
Use our online scheduling system to pay online with coupon code TEACH26 or just come into the clinic and pay $25 at the payment station.
We’re excited to offer San Fu Moxibustion this year! San Fu Moxibustion (or Moxa for short) uses hot, warming herbs applied to specific acupuncture points on the back and/or torso during the hottest days of the year to prevent cold, damp diseases in the winter.
The herbs are hot in terms of their medicinal property. You know how ginger and cinnamon are warm, and mint is cool? Herbal medicine uses these properties for health. These particular herbs are not just warm – they’re hot.
Why Use San Fu Moxa?
Do you get colds a lot in the winter? Do your hands and feet feel frozen with just a bit of colder weather? Chinese medicine wants to add warmth to help things flow, and boost the immune system so you can fight off colds.
Acupuncture uses the resources we already have inside of us to heal. Herbal medicine can add resources to the body (or help us get rid of excess, no-longer-useful material built up in the body). San Fu is a way to use the power of herbs for health, without drinking bitter teas for months. It provides an annual reset for people who suffer from frequent colds, flu, asthma, or bronchitis, and can improve circulation to hands and feet, by giving the body more internal resources.
Do you have symptoms that tend to be worse in colder weather? Ask your acupuncturist if San Fu Moxa could be helpful.
The dates change each year, because they are based on Daoist cosmology, not the Gregorian calendar.
San Fu is sometimes translated as the “three hidings” since it references three 10-day periods that are predicted to be the hottest days of the year – or what we sometimes call in English “the dog days of summer”. The treatment is given on the first day of each Fu period; so the patient comes in once every 10 days to have the paste taped to points mostly located either on their back or lower legs. Traditional Chinese hospitals are known to have lines out the doors on the Fu days with patients waiting for hours to have their points taped.
We’ll use different points each time. San Fu is most effective when you come in for a treatment on all 4 dates.
What’s In the San Fu Moxa?
We’re using a formula from China Herb Co. which is equal parts Xi Xin (Radix et Rhizoma Asari), Bai Jie Zi (Semen Sinapis), Yan Hu Suo (Rhizoma Corydalis), Lai Fu Zi (Semen Raphani), Xuan Fu Hua (Flos Inulae), and Wu Zhu Yu (Fructus Evodiae). Please do not get San Fu Moxa if you’re allergic to any of these ingredients!
What can I expect at this visit?
This treatment is by appointment only. We’ll be treating people one at a time, using a massage table. Please be on time. Try to wear something that lets you easily expose your back for treatment, so you don’t have to undress.
We’ll locate the points, apply small balls of herbs, and tape them down using Tegaderm bandages. You will get printed aftercare instructions. Within minutes or hours, you may feel irritation, heat, or itching at the points. You can take the herbs off at any time. Don’t force yourself to keep them on if it’s too uncomfortable! Even if you feel nothing, take them off after 6 hours.
A blister may form at each point. Care for this the way you would any blister: cover with a neutral ointment and/or gauze. Some people get permanent or semi-permanent marks. These can be treated with scar strips or other scar treatments.
How much are you charging?
We’re sticking with a $30-$60 sliding scale. 12 hours’ notice is required to cancel or you will be charged a $30 late cancel/no-show fee. (Unless you’re sick. If you are sick, please cancel – no charge.)
Dr. Heidi Lovie, DACM Explains San Fu Moxibustion:
We believe everyone deserves real options for their health. Since opening our doors in 2018, Boston Acupuncture Project (BAP) has given acupuncture to over 1,900 of our neighbors. We keep our sliding scale as low as possible, to make acupuncture more accessible for more people. We work with local organizations and small businesses to bring acupuncture to them.
Celebrate and support community with a contribution to our annual Spring Fundraiser:
Your contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Boston Acupuncture Project is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is to provide affordable and accessible acupuncture in a group setting, Chinese herbal medicine, and other forms of holistic healthcare. By offering relief from pain, stress, and isolation, we aim to contribute to the well-being of individual people, and the strength of our community as a whole.
Your donations support our general operating expenses and community programs.
chat about acupuncture at BAP and answer questions
offer consent forms for a free treatment
keep track of a waiting list, if needed
restock refreshments (at the Birthday Celebration)
show people how to sign up for visits on our website
help Ren clean up at the end of the event
Who can volunteer?
Anyone who is a current or former participant in community acupuncture at BAP is welcome to volunteer! All volunteers get a voucher for a free return treatment on another day.
Where? When?
Boston Acupuncture Project, 74 Fairmount Ave – you know, our usual spot.
Friday, November 14 we need volunteers only from 4:00-6:00 PM.
Saturday, November 29 we need volunteers from 10 AM-2:30 PM.
Helping for one hour is great, you don’t need to stay the entire time.
This month, BAP hosts a fundraiser for the Hyde Park Food Pantry. Join us for community acupuncture on Friday, November 14, 4-6 PM. Click here to save your spot.
Our mission is to provide hunger relief to our neighbors who can’t make ends meet.
During this event, 100% of net proceeds* will be donated to the Hyde Park Food Pantry. Donate directly to the Hyde Park Food Pantry via Venmo or take some time to volunteer! Visit their website for more information: http://www.hydeparkfoodpantry.org/
A poster from the Hyde Park Food Pantry describes needed items including supermarket gift cards and monetary donations made via Venmo to @HydeParkFoodPantry. Checks can be mailed and donations can be dropped off to Hyde Park Food Pantry, 1179 River Street, Hyde Park, MA 02136. Email mdietzel1@gmail.com to coordinate drop offs.
Join us for a live ambient sound bath from certified sound healer Gillian N. Miller of Mindful Mavens while you receive an acupuncture treatment from licensed acupuncturist Ren Pilinger.
Sign up by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025 to make sure this event happens.
Sound has the capacity to shift energy and restore the mind, body, and spirit to a balanced state. Many ancient cultures have used sound as invocations, in ceremony and rituals to offer healing. -Gillian N. Miller, certified sound healer
Doors open at 5:45 PM; sound bath begins at 6:00 PM.
Spread the word about the awesomeness of community acupuncture and meet your neighbors by volunteering with Boston Acupuncture Project (BAP) at Open Streets – Hyde Park.
What will volunteers do?
help Ren set up the tent and table
greet people and talk about acupuncture at BAP
offer consent forms for a free treatment
keep track of a waiting list, if needed
show people how to sign up for visits on our website
help Ren clean up at the end of the event
Who can volunteer?
Anyone who is a current or former participant in community acupuncture at BAP is welcome to volunteer! All volunteers get a voucher for a free return treatment on another day.
Where? When?
Exact location TBA – outside Boston Acupuncture Project, on Sunday, August 10, 2025 from 10:00 AM-3:30 PM.
Helping for one hour is great, you don’t need to stay the entire time.
Boston Acupuncture Project (BAP) is pleased to welcome Lisa Keyes, L.Ac. as a substitute acupuncturist at our Hyde Park clinic. Lisa graduated with a Master of Acupuncture degree from Tai Sophia Institute (now Maryland University of Integrative Health) in 2009. Lisa was licensed and practicing acupuncture in Maryland before moving to Massachusetts.
One of the major reasons she loves acupuncture is the wide variety of issues it can help with, and that multiple health issues can be addressed simultaneously through personalized treatments.
Lisa has had experience treating many conditions, including: digestive issues, migraines & headaches, menstrual issues, insomnia, anxiety, allergies, and sciatica. She also appreciates how Reiki and acupuncture complement each other.
Lisa is not only licensed as an acupuncturist by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, she is also a certified Reiki Level II practitioner and a certified Acupuncture Detox Specialist.
She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in Women’s Studies.
This coming week, Lisa will be treating patients at Boston Acupuncture Project during regular community acupuncture hours on Tuesday, July 29 and Saturday, August 2. Book with Lisa online using our online scheduler.
