Food for the Winter Solstice Qi Node

It is the winter solstice which, according to Chinese Medicine, is the time to nourish the Qi (Chi) node. This is the time when Yin energy rules.

At the Da Yuana Circle, I attended a lecture on "Nourishing Within" and these foods, along with the recipes and what they are used for, were shared.

The lunch menu included Fish Miso Soup, Boiled Burdock Root and Toasted Walnuts, and Tofu in Beijing Meat Sauce.

FISH HEAD MISO SOUP
Salmon head is wonderfully yang, nourishing, and easy to digest. The potato guards against toxins. The green freshens up the taste. This soup is good for recovering from surgery.

Stock
3 salmon heads, 1 head celery, 1 medium onion, 2 inch rinsed piece of kombu (kelp), sea salt, black sesame oil.

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400. Rinse fish with cold water. Rub heads with black sesame oil and sea salt. Place in hot oven and roast for 1520 min until very aromatic. Place heads in stockpot with vegetables and water to cover (10 cups)a and bring to boil (uncovered) and reduce by boiling to 8 cups (or pressure cook fro 20-30 minutes) then boil uncovered for 10 mins. Strain.

Ingredients
Fish head stock, peeled potatoes, baby red chard, miso, goji berries, and 2 bunches of green onions (greens only).

Preparation
Soak goji in warm water. Boil potatoes in stock until tender. Wash baby greens. Cut green onions into fine slices. Dilute miso with stock. In war bowl arrange raw greens and cooked potatoes. Add creamed miso. Cover in hot stock.

Serve
Garnish with Green onions and goji.

BOILED BURDOCK ROOT AND TOASTED WALNUTS
Burdock and walnut are very concentrated yang. Chew well and feel the Yang be replenished within.

Ingredients
2 c burdock root cut in matchstick style (julienne), 1 c. shelled walnuts, dressing: ½ tsp each: tamari soy sauce, rice vinegar, and black sesame seed oil

Preparation
Wash and cut burdock. Bring a deep pot of salted acidified water to a rapid boil. Add burdock and return to boil. Cook until tender (25-30 min). Drain burdock and set aside. Heat heavy skillet or fry pan. Wash nuts. Over medium heat, toast nuts in dry pan until aromatic. Chop nuts to fine dice. Mix dressing ingredients with a few drops of hot water. Toss burdock and nuts in dressing.

Serve
Serve room temperature as a side dish (1-2 oz).

TOFU IN BEIJING MEAT SAUCE
Ingredients
3 lbs ground pork, barley malt, thick (black) soy, 1 medium onions, 1/3 c. cooked black soy beans 1-2 squares of firm tofu, light sesame oil, green onion (whites only) fresh gingers.

Preparation
Peel and cut onion into fine dice. Heat pan add oil and sauté onions. Add pork and brown meat. Puree beans with stock or water to thick cream. Once meat is brown, add bean puree, malt, and soy sauce. Stir and let simmer 2-4 hours. Refrigerate over night and reheat. Taste for seasoning (should be a bit sweet). Slice green onions for garnish Cut tofu into cubes and heat up in the sauce. Grate ginger (need 1-2 TB grated ginger) and finish the dish with the juice (squeezed).

Serve
Serve hot or room temp. Garnish with fine slices of green onion whites.
Can serve over rice or noodles.

Food for the Winter Solstice Qi Node

When the Acupuncture Experience Changes

I have been having acupuncture treatments as a patient and in all of my treatments I have had some pretty amazing experiences, until today. I have been feeling rather healthy lately but am wrapping up the final series of treatments for my lungs. I lay on the table and Pat, the acupuncturist, placed some needs in my arms and legs as well as turned on an electrical current that was connected to what I call a plastic bag that stays nestled between my scapula's.

Pat left the room and I closed my eyes expecting some visuals to take over. They didn’t. Nothing happened. I just lay there with my eyes closed waiting for some sensations to come to life, or some colors to appear, or people to pop in. Nothing happened.

At the end of the treatment, Pat came in and asked about today’s experience. I related how nothing happened. Her response surprised me.

“Just as everything in nature has an ebb and a flow, or a wax and wane, or a yin and yang, it appears you are now in a time of calm. The drama and energy you experienced during your other treatments appears to now have a new look and experience; an opposite. It appears the energy within you is now expressing itself as rest and relaxation. I see this as a very healthy sign."

Her confidence quickly changed my outlook and I immediately concurred with her assessment. Having the experience change is not necessarily a bad thing. Based on Chinese Medicine and it's basis in nature, it is just part of the change in a cycle.

I love acupuncture!

When the Acupuncture Experience Changes

The Value of Sleep

One third of our life is spent in sleep. Many people try to limit their sleep. Many people use sleep aids to try to help them sleep and lots and lots of people are chronically tired.

Chinese Medicine is very much associated with the cycles of nature. The cycle of the seasons, the moon, and the hours in a day are all significant and contribute to how a person feels as well as their status of health. Because of the longer nights and shorter days during the winter season, there is an awareness of the energy changing not only around a person, but also the energy changes within a person. The Yang energy is lessening right now, and the Yin energy increases. In fact, the peak of Yin energy is at the Winter Solstice.

One of the affects on these changing seasons and change of our internal energy is how it affects our sleep. During this period of time of winter, when the days are shorter and the nights are longer, Chinese Medicine recommends we embrace rest and sleep. In fact, the recommendation would be to go to bed earlier, even as early as 8:00 or 9:00 PM. Why? Because if you allow yourself to give into the natural pull of rest and sleep, you will use that additional time to better regenerate yourself and prepare for what is coming down the road; Spring.

What is regeneration? It is the process of building Qi (or Chi) energy. It is the process of healing. It is the process that allows preparation for what can happen next.

There are 3 cycles of sleep

• 1st Cycle - the time when you leave and purge the day’s activities or plans for tomorrow
• 2nd Cycle - the actual sleep where regeneration occurs
• 3rd Cycle - the time to try and reconnect and wake up

Usually sleep between 1:00 AM – 3:00 AM is the time of actual and deep sleep. Deep sleep is when regeneration happens. You can’t come out of the 2nd cycle of sleep feeling refreshed ; you need to continue on to the 3rd cycle to obtain that feeling of refreshment.

At 3:00 AM, the Yang energy comes back and this is when the shift happens from the 2nd cycle of deep sleep and moves to the 3rd cycle. The 3rd cycle is the time when our cognitive starts to come back.

Many people who have trouble sleeping often rely on sleep aids. According to Chinese Medicine Practitioners, sleep aids (sleeping pills) keep a person in the first cycle of sleep and actually prevent a person from moving through to the 2nd cycle. Because of this, the process of regeneration can not and will not occur. The person taking the sleeping aids will continue to feel unrefreshed, continue to be tired, and may even develop chronic illnesses.

What is the recommendation if you are having trouble sleeping? What should you do?

One recommendation is to take time to focus just on sleep. That means, take some time off work and stay home. Be ready to go to sleep when ever you get tired. What this means is that when you feel tired during the day, you go and take a nap. You do this again and again. You do this for several days until you get refreshed.

What this process does is help you get to the point where you can finally get through to the 2nd and 3rd cycle in the sleep cycle process. By getting to these cycles, you can become refreshed. You finally have gone through the regeneration cycle where your needed energy gets rebuilt.

Why is this necessary? Because it takes energy to be even get to sleep. If you are lacking in that regenerative energy, you don't have energy to help you even transition to sleep. This type of process allows you to build up your energy so you can begin to start going to bed and sleeping normally.

Eventually over time (days or weeks) your body will adjust and your sleep rhythm should adjust to a more natural sleep cycle.

There is a reason why one third of your life is spent in sleep. To be honest, it is probably one of the most valuable parts of your day. Sleep is the time you process and purge your thoughts, which can be seen as a way of cleaning and clearing out the day. It is also the time you regenerate needed energy. It is this needed energy that gives you the power you will need to get through the following day.

This regenerated energy is vital to not only keep you healthy, but also to help you heal. You need this energy to keep you running. If you don't get regenerated, you won't be able to function, or at least not function for very long. Also, if you don't get regenerated, symptoms of chronic illness in other areas of your health will start to emerge.

Sleep is important. It is a natural part of our life. Sleep should not be cut short or discounted because you see it is as unproductive. It is probably one of the most valuable tools you have within you and can help you be in harmony and maintain balance in your life. Sleep helps keep you at your peak.

Sleep is a valuable marker of your overall health and is one of the key indicators in Chinese Medicine to evaluate and assess a persons overall health status.

The Value of Sleep

My Next Acupuncture Experience

I returned to visit Pat, my acupuncturist, to continue to have her work on my pleurisy and lung problem. Since my last visit, the coughing is almost gone and what I describe as having several butcher knives stuck between my lung and liver and back is now the size of a paring knife. 

Pat's focus today was to continue to work on restoring balance to my lungs. She began the treatment by having me lay on acupuncture table and then placed what looks like a water bag connected to an electrical machine, wrapped in a moist warm towel. This was placed between my scapula's. Pat then placed a very fine thin needle in my right arm and then another one in my left arm. Next she placed a needle in my for-eye, patted my head, left the room, and closed the door. 

I now was alone lying on the acupuncture with my eyes closed. Immediately I had the impression there was the old Chinese Master, the one who has been present in the last few acupuncture sessions, standing on my left side. But this time I also could feel the presence and “see” two additional men. They were two Asian young men and the impression I had was "these are the Old Master's two assistants". One was standing at my feet and the other was standing at my head. The Old Master must have communicated to them in way that people who know each other well seem to share the same thoughts because I did not see or hear any words. 

I next observed each of these assistants starting to pull energy from me. One was pulling the energy out from my feet and the other was pulling the energy out from my head. It reminded me of a taffy pull; thick bands of energy being pulled out from both ends of my body in a hand over hand motion. I could see them both pulling, and pulling, and then they both started to fold the energy back towards me. Pull, pull, fold, then pull, pull, fold. They repeated this process over and over again. This was a rather odd sensation of energy being pulled out and then folded back in. The assistants continued this process until the Chinese Master nodded and they then in unison stopped. 

Next they started to flipped me up in the air and then flipped me over on my stomach. I was now faced down on the acupuncture table in my minds eye. I was once again flipped up in the air and then again flipped around so I was now faced up. The image I had was like you would flip and toss a pancake in the air. This motion of being flipped over and then over and then over again was repeated several times. With another nod from the Master, these young men uniformly stopped flipping me over and I was now laying face up on the acupuncture table. The assistants stood erect, one at my feet and the other at my head, waiting for another command. I was still. The Master was still. We were all silent. 

 I next had the impression a man entered the room in an old green truck. The Chinese Master and these two young men immediately evaporated and were gone from my mind. I then started to feel the dripping in the back of my throat as if something was now open and was flowing and passing through my throat. I then felt my chest get warm and could feel my bronchial airways open. It was as if I could feel the warmth of the bronchial tree in my chest with a warm glow. I then noticed a man on a far away hill, a man with dark hair and a backpack and he was running toward me, waving, trying to catch me before the treatment ended. 

Pat then walked in the room and the treatment was over. After the treatment Pat commented how good my color was, and I must admit, I felt totally relaxed. I felt whole. I felt balanced. I felt good. I have never had this type of experience with so much movement in an acupuncture treatment before. I have no idea why and how these images were produced nor what they exactly mean. It just feels like whatever happened during the treatment has helped my lungs open up and for me to feel better, which is what acupuncture is about; balance, harmony, and healing.

My Next Acupuncture Experience

What Should We Do Now?

My interest in Acupuncture started the way it does for many middle age women; I was having a health problem and a friend had experienced acupuncture and raved about it. I figured I had nothing to lose.

Even with my very first acupuncture treatment I was amazed how different it was. I was treated like a whole person. The acupuncturist took over an hour to talk with me and wanted to know everything. She was engaged. She listened! I guess that is what surprised me is that she listened.

The next thing that happened was I had an acupuncture treatment and an experience I now call a “waking dream”. It was like opening a door experiencing a totally new world. I could see things happening inside my body that I could only see during an acupuncture treatment. I could even FEEL the energy flowing during these treatments. It was rather incredible and left me wanting more.

This led to searching the Internet for articles, books, classes, any information I could find about whether these experiences were shared by others.

I found a community class on Chinese Medicine and my friend, LazyBuddhist also decided to take the class, too. The community course on Chinese Medicine is now done and LazyBuddhist asked the instructor “What should we do now if we still want to learn and grow in this area?"

Here are the options the instructor gave us:

• You can take QiGong and bodywork classes
• You can attend “Nourishing Within” events taught by Liu Ming and can check it out at www.DayUanCircle.com
• You can pursue a degree in Acupuncture

So if you’re interested in learning more about subtle energy, there are opportunities available. These options are all in the Bay area of CA, but perhaps there maybe some where you live, too.

For me, I’m throwing myself in all of these different options.

What Should We Do Now?

Pneumonia & Pleurisy Acupuncture Treatment

My western doctor said I may have pneumonia, pleurisy, and maybe shingles. It is almost like multiple choice and I can choose my preferred diagnosis. Needless to say, my doctor gave me a course of antibiotics along and a prescription for Darvon.

After not improving with my doctors hit or miss treatment plan, I visited Pat, my acupuncturist, and asked her to do some magic and make me either pain-free or turn me into a non-complainer.

Pat agreed to the challenge.

I lay on the acupuncture table and Pat placed a moist warm wet towel around what looked like a hot water bottle that was connected to some electrical wires and equipment. She then placed two acupuncture needles deep in my left thumb. DEEP! (I think she even twisted and turned them a bit and my thought was “OK, I’ll stop complaining. I get the point!” But I only smiled and said “no, that’s fine. I can take it!”)

Pat left the room and I was alone in the room with my eyes closed.

I immediately had the sensation there was an argument going on over me. I could “feel” and “see” in my mind two Chinese men in an animated argument. One of the men was standing on my left and the other was standing on my right, both facing each other with me laying in the middle. They acted like I wasn’t even present and listening. I watched their animated and forceful conversation, not understanding a word they were speaking, but they were both angry.

After a few minutes Pat returned to the room and asked how I was. I reported there was a fight going on with two Chinese men standing over me. She did not see or hear them, which at first surprised me, but then it made sense. I was the only one watching this in my mind.

Pat’s perception of my report was this was my immune system communicating how it is trying to fight its way back. I could only see it as two Chinese men having an argument in my presence, however.

Pat then made an adjustment on the machine and again left the room. The two Chinese men who had been arguing over my body were now gone. They had immediately vanished! I was now in a state of feeling nothing and hearing nothing. I was alone in the room.

Slowly I could feel a new sensation begin. It felt as is a lotus flower was opening and unfolding on the top of my head, right near my forehead, but on my hair. There were no other sensations but that tingling sensation and the impression it was a lotus flower opening.

Pat returned once again and asked if I could stay for another 10 minutes. I said “of course” and she made another adjustment on the electrical equipment. I immediately felt a change within me and my immediate thought was “this is right…this is what I needed”.

I still had my eyes shut but I could now see a bright vibrant red color. It felt soothing for a few seconds, but I then saw some black strips starting to come up and slash through the bright red comforting color. Those black strips were now becoming more energized and powerful and they started to dominate and take over the red. The red was now gone and the color was all black.

I could also feel some tingling going on in my chin. It almost felt as if there were needles in a half circle below my lower lip sticking in my chin, even though I knew there was nothing there. I could feel my chin tingle with energy.

Pat then walked into the room, and the acupuncture session ended. I shared my experience with Pat who said the lungs and the chin are connected so feeling tingling in my chin was aligned with the work she had been doing on me today.

What puzzles me, however, is there were two different incidences of conflict happening during the treatment. The first was a representation of a conflict going on outside my body and the other was a conflict going on within my body.

It probably means there is relationship between the conflict going on outside of me and what is happening within me. The ability to heal can be affected by what is going on around a person, and perhaps the message from this acupuncture treatment is I need to treat my environment in addition to treating the inner me.

Pneumonia & Pleurisy Acupuncture Treatment

Congee

Our instructor brought in a big pot of goop he called Congee. Some people call it Jook. I had never heard this term before, but it is rice that has been cooked for hours and hours in a lot of water. It looks almost like brown wallpaper paste. The instructor described it as not only food that is good for you, but many consider it to be comfort food.

“Really??! This? Comfort food?” I thought.

We all got in line and he scooped out some of the Congee into a cup with a spoon that would stand upright in this thick goop. He wanted each of us to experience one of the food recommendations that will no doubt be part of the Chinese herbal list of remedies for a healthy body.

My classmates were making those yummmmm and hmmmm sounds with their lips and I was making faces and holding my nose. All I could think was I must be from a different planet because this is not comfort food from where I come from.

Here is the recipe for Congee:

• 6 parts water
  
• 1 part rice (which could be 2/3 cup of rice and 1/3 cup of mungbean)
• You can throw in some protein (like some hard boiled eggs)
• Throw in some shitake mushrooms (because they are especially good for you in the fall, or some onions, garlic, or whatever is in your fridge)
  
• Cook in a crock-pot for 6+ hours.
• Scoop in a bowl, sprinkle with sea salt and black sesame seeds.
  

Enjoy.

Really? Enjoy?

Seeing how several of the students went back for a second helping I couldn’t think how humans can learn to like any food. If they are desperate. Or maybe it is how students (who are better than I) suck up to the instructor.

However, I also know that a person can learn to tune in and be guided by what the body needs. “Hey, I need some water” the body may say.
Or,
“I could sure use some fresh greens!”

I’m trying to learn to listen to this language my body may be telling me so I can be healthy and wise, but last night all I could hear was a loud voice playing in my head saying “girl, that looks and smells like old wallpaper paste and is NOT what I’m craving today.”

Congee

Herbs and Terroir

If you have ever studied wine, or coffee, or tea, you have probably come across a term called “terroir”. It is the term used to denote the special characteristics of the geography, the soil, and the climate has on certain plants. Agricultural sites in the same region share similar soil, weather conditions, and farming techniques, which all contribute to the unique qualities of the crop.

This is part of the reason why if you buy champagne, for example, you are buying a sparkling wine that specifically comes from a region in France. If you buy a San Marzano tomato, it means you are buying a tomato that was exclusively grown around Naples and Mount Vesuvius area. Kona coffee means that a certain percentage of the coffee must come from a coffee bean grown near Kona, Hawaii.

So when our instructor shared that the same herb grown in the USA does not necessarily produce the same results as an herb grown in China, I immediately thought of “terroir”. Here again we were seeing the affects of soil, climate, and geography affecting a plant. And just as these environmental conditions can affect the flavor of a grape, or a tomato, or coffee, I was now learning the same principle holds true for herbs, too.

The same herb grown in both China and the USA, doesn’t necessarily mean both will produce the same results and affect a persons body in the same way!

So it isn't just the flavor of something that is different based on where it is raised. It also means the outcome and the affect on our bodies can even be different!

Kind of amazing, huh?

It reminded me of an experience I had when my pharmacy was giving me the generic brand of migraine medication and I told them I had tried the generic brand and it didn't work. I needed the name brand med. I know that logically and chemically it is the same med, but for whatever reason, the generic brand didn't work. Apparently my body knew the difference. It was as if I was taking the American version of an herb and my body recognized I needed the Chinese version. The chemical was the same, but somehow the results were very different and my body could tell that subtle difference.

Herbs and Terroir

Discovering the Effect of Herbs

According to my instructor, the discovery of how certain herbs impact the body was studied by Buddhist monks thousands and thousands of years ago. These monks were very much in tune with their bodies, their organs, the vital substances and their energy flows. They would consume an herb, begin a meditation, and then carefully observe and monitor the affects of that herb on their body. They would sense, see, feel, observe the different organs, the different vital substances, and all of the effects the herb had throughout their body. 

This makes sense to me. If you have every consumed a food or beverage, such as a caffeinated drink, and then felt your pulse race or your body wake up, you were participating in a type of observation of a chemical compound on your body. I have also experienced acupuncture treatments where I could literally feel the energy starting to move and flow during the treatment. Other treatments I could even “see” what was going on inside your body, so knowing that Buddhist Monks tuned in via a meditation to observe the affects each herb has would be a process the ancients would have tapped into.

Discovering the Effect of Herbs

Welcome to the Q's Acupuncture Blog!

Welcome to my new a-Q-puncture blog.

I am on the downhill side of life (yes, I’m over 50) and decided to jump into a new adventure; to learn acupuncture! Even though I am a nurse by background, acupuncture is like learning a foreign language. It was, after all, developed in CHINA and they don’t speak American…they speak CHINESE, using all sorts of kanji-like characters that don’t look like anything I learned in grammar school (when I had active brain cells).

That is only half the battle. The other half is that I absolutely KNOW I have many brain cells that are dead. Or they are in a state of perpetual slumber. Needless to say, they are NOT going to get up and learn something like Chinese even with promises of exotic herbs that will take them to new heights of ecstasy. Nope. At this point in life they have their own way of giving me the finger and turning over and going back to sleep.

I had to come up with another plan as to how to learn this stuff because some day (if I live that long) I will be required to pass that awful and horrendous licensing exam before I am allowed to stick it to people (aka placing a needle strategically in a meridian point in the body).

So I have come up with another plan. I decided to tell stories about acupuncture to help try and set things within my memory banks. After all, a good story is kind of like hearing gossip…you get captivated and you remember it, even if it isn’t true.

I recently found a FABULOUS website called Cats TCM Notes, created by an acupuncture student in Austin ,and I thought, isn’t it great how he is helping his fellow students by sharing his class notes and sample tests to help them get through these difficult courses! It was after reading his blog I decided I would come up with my own way of learning … I would find the story behind these foreign sounding herbs, meridian points, or energies so I could remember them. If I couldn’t find REAL stories (because some of them probably don’t exist) I would give myself the freedom to make them up. After all, when you’re old like me, you can bend the truth a bit to survive.

My plan is tell the story behind the story. I’ll try to remember to share if this is a concept that comes from a legitimate source or if it comes from me (at this point I am not legit…I don’t have a license for this stuff).

So, welcome to my a-Q-puncture blog; an experience in learning about a-Q-puncture my way!

Welcome to the Q's Acupuncture Blog!