Acupuncture with Olya

11/09/2025

As I get ready to open my acupuncture clinic, some mornings I wake up feeling like, “What if I can’t do this? What if it doesn’t go as planned?”

Sometimes the weight of everything just feels heavy. I wish someone could just say, “I believe in you.”

But I’m learning that the support I really need starts inside me.
When doubt shows up, I take a breath and tell myself:

“Olya, I believe in you. Even if it doesn’t go perfectly, I’m still with you.”

Healing isn’t about being fearless; it’s about staying with yourself, even when things feel messy.

Being strong but also letting yourself receive support when you need it that’s the same balance I aim for in acupuncture and in life.

We’re human. We wobble. And that’s okay. 🌱

11/06/2025

The spot is filled.

10/26/2025

💛 I want to help you.

In difficult moments, reach out to people. It’s often through them that we find most of the answers to what’s happening during life’s highs and lows.

I understand: not everyone has a reliable, close person to trust in the most important moments. If you find yourself facing challenges alone, acupuncture and I can support you.

Sometimes, all you need is silence and reassurance to hear, “I see you, and you will be okay.”

Along my journey, I’ve collected precious little stones, and now I place them along yours.

10/22/2025

Sadness is the connective tissue of the soul.
It’s what helps us heal, restore, and mend.
When someone says, “Don’t be sad,” I sigh and ask:
— Why not?

Why is it okay to feel joy, anger, or empathy but not sadness?

Being sad is so natural, so peaceful.
Sadness has an important purpose.
It whispers: “Stop for a moment. Be with yourself. Wrap up in a blanket. Pour some tea. Let’s sit with that deep wound you carry it needs care and attention.”

If we keep rushing and pushing sadness away, our emotional wounds never truly heal.
It’s like breaking your leg and hoping it will mend while you’re out dancing and watching movies.

Sadness, like pain, asks us to pause and gently cradle what’s hurting.

Don’t say “don’t be sad.”
Just bring a sad soul some tea and a warm blanket. 🍵🩵

Autumn is the season of sadness — in Chinese medicine, it’s the time for reflection and release.” 🍂

10/17/2025

Why Choose Me as Your Acupuncturist

1) My experience with pain.
I have lived through pain — seven long years of it. I know its language, its silence, its weight. That experience allows me to meet my patients not just with knowledge, but with true understanding.

2) My resilience.
If you become my patient, I will not let you give up on yourself or your healing. We will search for answers together, and I will be by your side through every stage of recovery. I am on your team.

3) My empathy.
I feel people deeply — sometimes even from the next room. It is both my blessing and my burden. But it means that I see you, I hear you, and I care.

10/07/2025

⚽ Intention Matters — On the Field and in the Clinic 🌿

I was at a soccer match with my son, watching the players move the ball with one goal in mind: to win. It may seem simple, but their focus and intention were unmistakable.

It made me think about acupuncture. When we treat a patient, intention matters just as much as skill.

Your intention to be healed, and my intention to help you heal, both matter.

Healing, in any form, is as much about mindful presence and conscious intention as it is about technique.

09/27/2025

One of the strongest foundations of health is honesty.
Even small compromises with the truth affect the body. When you stay silent just to please someone, tension appears. When you agree to something that goes against you, headaches or fatigue often follow.

09/23/2025

Often, we carry from childhood the habit of feeling responsible for other people’s emotions.
Maybe your aunt scolded you for being joyful while your mother was sick. Or your father’s bad mood meant you had to walk on eggshells. You learn: “I can’t be myself if someone in the house is suffering.”

So you become the one who constantly scans the room, adjusts, and serves the emotion that will keep everyone safe. As a child, this was a survival strategy. But as adults, we keep living this way at the cost of our own energy and authenticity.

This sensitivity can be a gift in my professional life: I choose to be attuned and emotionally present with my patients. But in my personal life, I return the responsibility for feelings back to the people who carry them.

This autumn, I’m choosing to release the old pattern of constantly adjusting to others. Like trees letting go of their leaves, I let go of what no longer serves me so I can breathe more freely and simply be myself.

09/20/2025

Many people grow up with the illusion of omnipotence: the belief that everything depends solely on themselves. No other factors, no circumstances just the individual. When things go wrong, it is seen as a failure of effort. No mitigating factors, no allowance for limits.

This mindset reinforces the illusion of control: every success or failure is assumed to result from personal effort alone. Powerlessness is not permitted. To feel powerless is seen as being a burden and therefore guilty or ‘bad.’

Yet life shows that power and powerlessness are inseparable.

Acknowledging what lies beyond our control is not weakness it is the beginning of true strength. When helplessness is denied, we remain trapped in the illusion of control. But once we accept that some things are beyond us, we discover a different kind of strength—the ability to live our own life fully and authentically.

09/17/2025

✨ Wisdom Bits from a dear patient ✨

I’m reminding myself today:
• We are our thoughts.
• I can choose judgment and anger, or compassion and kindness.
• When people act negatively – LET THEM. They’re simply trying to make sense of their own lives, as we all are.

🌿 Accept people as they are.
🌿 Beyond self-care, think less of yourself and more of others – you’ll find greater happiness.
🌿 All we truly have is now.
🌿 A beautiful day begins with a beautiful mindset.

🪞 Gentle reminders:
• Don’t look back unless that’s where you plan to go.
• Overthinking kills happiness.
• Talk about visions, not just goals.
• Strive for clarity: write before you speak.

⚖️ In difficult interactions:
• Argue with a fool, and you have two fools.
• You can’t fix ignorance, and you don’t have to.
• Don’t say a word.
• Never answer defensively.
• Simply say: “I’m not comfortable.”

And always remember:
Create distance – mentally and emotionally – from those who don’t contribute to growth, for yourself or for them. 💛

09/16/2025

Seven years ago on this day, I landed in Toronto, Canada with two children and three suitcases, ready to begin a new life. In a place, where I knew no single person.

Many people asked me why—after all, in Ukraine I had everything: a successful business, a home, a big family, and the freedom to travel.

But I felt the war coming. I had seen the bombing of my city ten years earlier, and the fear never left me. Call it intuition or collective unconsciousness—either way, I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t feel safe, and I wanted to protect my sons. Men are the first to die in war, and I refused to let that be their fate.

So I changed my country, my profession, and even the sea I live beside. And now, I truly love this Vancouver island I call home.

There’s a line from the movie Brooklyn that feels as if it was written for me:

“You’ll feel so homesick that you’ll want to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it… except endure it. And one day, the sun will come out—you might not even notice right away, but you’ll realize that this is where your life is.”

09/14/2025

Starting November 20th, I will be practicing exclusively at Victoria Healing Space, located at 661 Burnside Road East.
You can book your appointments at the new location https://victoriahealing.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/1

Since this is a new clinic, all returning patients will need to create a new account when booking. However, you do not need to book an initial treatment again — you can continue with your usual follow-up sessions.

Please note: the clinic is on the second floor and, unfortunately, there is no elevator. If you require wheelchair access, please let me know and I’ll be glad to refer you to a colleague who practices in an accessible space.

Acupuncture is a gentle, time-honored therapy rooted in Chinese medicine. Very thin, sterile needles are placed at specific points on the body to restore balance in the flow of Qi (energy), improve circulation, and support the body’s natural healing processes. Because body, mind, and spirit are in...