Update on the Healing of a Broken Heart

I have been giving Qigong treatments.  Sometimes I have a rather remarkable experience happen during the treatment and sometimes the patients do.  But often, some of the most memorable and amazing things happen after the treatment.

In one of my first Qigong sessions with a volunteer patient, a friend of mine brought another woman with her to get a Qigong treatment.  This woman was suffering from deep sadness, having lost her true love a year ago with a sudden heart attack.  She was having a difficult time getting over the loss of having him in her life and that feeling of love she had come to expect.

The Qigong treatment, for me, was very powerful and I could feel her husband's presence in the room. During the treatment, I could also see valentines flowing with the energy to her heart while I worked on the pain in her heart.  I wrote about this experience in a prior blog; it was very powerful to me.  But for her, she didn't feel much during the treatment, which rather amazed me and also made me kind of sad.

But I recently heard from my friend with an update of how this woman is doing.  My friend reported how this woman started to feel different the very next day!   The first change she noticed was that she no longer felt the need to sit and cry.  She also didn't feel that constant hurt in her chest and that unbearable sadness that use to be so overwhelming.  She was starting to heal.

After a few more weeks, she even started to become more excited about life. She shared with my friend how she now could feel the presence of her former spouse around her at different times.  She no longer felt alone. She even started to dream again.

My friend said this woman now considers herself to be healed, and after just that one Qigong treatment!

Pretty cool, huh?
I was so delighted to hear this update.

Update on the Healing of a Broken Heart

What are the Benefits of Qigong?

The goal of Qigong is to improve the balance and flow of energy between the body, mind, and spirit.  As the energy and flow improves, a person can start to see as well as feel changes in not only their body, but also their mind and spirit as well.

So what can a person expect to feel when they start to either do Qigong exercises or start having Qigong medical treatments? 

These are just some of the benefits and changes a person will start to feel in their life when they start to balance their energy and improve the energy flow with Qigong:

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MIND

• Easier to come up with solutions or see things more clearly
• Become more motivated
• Have a better memory
• Easier to make decisions &/or the decisions are more sound
• Ability to control emotions
• No longer sad or depressed or afraid
• Feel more peace and harmony and balanced.  Feel an inner glow.
• Seem to have greater insights and understanding

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BODY

• Feel less pain or even no pain
• Mobility is improved
• Feel less stressed out
• Find it easier to breathe
• Feel energized and not as fatigued
• Experience more meaningful sex

CHANGES IN THE SPIRIT

• Feel more connected to life, nature, other people
• Feel more love, both the ability to give love and receive love 
• Experience richer and deeper meditations, dreams, as well as insights
• Seem to understand people’s motives & behaviors more clearly
• Have more spiritual experiences with what you feel as the Divine
• Feel a greater sense of personal power and strength 

I have heard these reports of changes from many of my volunteer patients.  I'm now going to start collecting more of this type of data so I can better report and quantify the outcomes and changes being experienced.

What are the Benefits of Qigong?

Learning to Feel & Experience the Subtle Energy of Qi

Qigong is about using and directing the subtle energy called Qi (chee) through focused intention.   Most of us in the Acupuncture school I attend have been raised and educated in the West so even knowing about Qi is something some of us may have never even heard about before going to Acupuncture school. 

One of the first things our instructor had us do was to partner with a fellow student, stand face to face, and with our outstretched hand, approach the other person until we felt what she described as their energy field.  At first, most of us didn’t feel anything. We then started to focus and then repeated this process over again until we did feel a change when our hand slowly approached the other person’s body.  

We could feel the change of energy as our outstretched hand slowly approached their body.  Sometimes it was a few inches from their body.  Sometimes it was several inches from their body.  Sometimes it was even a few feet from their body.

We then switched partners and repeated the process until we felt the energy field around this person’s body, and then again would switch partners. 

We did this for over an hour and by the end of this experience, we were all excited how we were starting to pick up on different people’s energy field.

In our next exercise, our instructor had us partner with someone new, stand face to face, and have one person be the “receiver” and the other person be the “sender”. The receiver would stand with their eyes closed and the receiver would stand with their hand outstretched and concentrate on a specific color, such as “red.” 

As the sender thought and visualized their chosen color, the sender then focused SENDING this color to the receiver.  The receiver would then state what color he/she was receiving.  

At first this felt like guesswork, but as we continued this process, ALL of us began being correct in what color the sender was sending.  ALL of us!

What I learned on my very first day of Qigong training was

• yes, there is an energy field around the body and you can even feel it, and
• yes, you can focus your mind to send colors and even receive the color message

For me, even on that very first day of Qigong training, I walked away totally amazed.  I am a nurse and didn't even know about people's energy fields around their body.  I had heard of auras but had discounted them as not being real because I had never seen or felt them.

But all of this changed during this very first class, especially after one of my fellow students visualized sending me a color and I said "I see pink, but that perfume or lotion on your hand is a bit overbearing!" And she said, “I don’t have any lotion on my hands nor do I even wear perfume.  I was sending you pink roses in my visualization!”

The steps our instructor took on the first day of our day-long class are things probably most people would be able to do if they took the time and effort to experience it.  Feeling a person's energy field, and then practicing sending and receiving colors is a good initial step to learn about this subtle energy we call Qi (chee). 

Learning to Feel & Experience the Subtle Energy of Qi

Emotions Can Stagnate Qi Energy Flow

I had an interesting experience while giving a Qigong treatment to a man that had a great deal of financial stress and insecurity in his life. While I worked on his third chakra (which is the one most associated with emotions) I could feel his solar plexus change temperatures quickly and dramatically, depending on his current emotional state. 

For example, when this man became anxious and started to ruminate about all of the things he was afraid of (losing his job, having no money, becoming homeless, having no shoes, getting cracked feet, etc) the temperature in his third chakra and around his solar plexus would get hotter and hotter.  When this man became calm and got control over of his fears, the temperature in his third chakra and around his solar plexus would return to normal.  

I had not felt such a dramatic and swift change of energy stagnation being created in real time.  He turned on and off his fears almost as if he was able to flip a switch. This was such an intense demonstration of how quickly behavior and thoughts impact and change the energy flow in the body. When that Qi energy flow stagnates, it creates an abundance of heat in the specific parts of the body that are most associated with that specific emotion. Fear, for example, often causes Qi energy to get stuck in the kidneys and the third chakra.  Continual fear can lead to even more chronic stagnation creating problems in the joints and bones.   

Emotions really do affect the flow of Qi in the body.  Fear, grief, sadness, worry, anger - these are all emotions that can stagnate the flow of Qi.  When Qi stagnates, it also means blood gets stagnant, too (where the Qi goes, the blood follows).  When blood stagnates, this means oxygen and nutrients aren't getting to where they need to be and when this happens, a person will at first not feel well, then may feel pain, and then may even get worse, creating disease.  

Qigong can be an affective tool to help get and keep your Qi flowing and get you back to being and feeling balanced.  Qigong can even assist a person with chronic emotional problems, but chronic emotional problems will require more than just one Qigong treatment.  It will also require multiple treatments, engaging in Qigong exercises, and learning some new behaviors.  The goal will be to help prevent that stagnation from continually being recreated by that emotion and learning how to get the body back into harmony and balance. 

Emotions Can Stagnate Qi Energy Flow

Moving Subtle Energy (Qi) Can Create Some Amazing Sensory Experiences

During my first acupuncture experience, I had a rather incredible experience.  I could “see” people in the room and felt like I was in an huge operating theater with many people looking and observing me.  I reported this to the Acupuncturist.  She quietly left the room, returned, and that sensation of being the center of attention ended. She shared how she usually asks for help before a treatment but didn't expect a crowd.  She then began my treatment.

In subsequent acupuncture treatments I have had other sensory experiences, too.  For example, after the first acupuncture needle was placed, I started to feel liquid starting to move and drip in the back of my throat.  I could feel a "drip, drip, drip" creating the need to swallow.  Since this sensation started every time the first acupuncture needle was place in my body, I started to realize this sensation was the subtle energy (Qi, Chi, Chee) starting to move and flow.  This was a physical sensation to a subtle energy experience; the placement of an acupuncture needle.

At other times during an acupuncture treatment, I would see different colors dancing and moving in my mind.  Other times, I saw images and events playing out, almost as if I were in a waking dream.  Other times I felt as if I were in a conversation with an unseen person.  There was even an episode when I saw my dead parents and grandparents, and eventually saw an old Chinese Master assisting with my treatment.

Acupuncture turned into an amazing adventure for me and I wanted to know WHY I was having these incredible experiences during a medical procedure.    

I enrolled in Chinese Medicine school and learned there are additional types of energy work available in addition to acupuncture that works on the subtle energy of the body; Qi-Gong and Tui Na.  I learned these treatments also created similar sensations and experiences, too. The sensations didn't just happen with acupuncture.

So why do these sensory experiences happen with energy work?  Why do they happen during Acupuncture, Qi-gong, or Tui Na?

What I have concluded is because energy work actually does move the subtle energy within the body.  When energy moves, it will have an affect on the physical body. Moving energy creates and causes some type of physical reaction. Remember physics?  Every action creates a reaction.  There is always a cause and an affect.  For example, subtle energy moves blood. Blood moves and engages the nerves and neurons in the body. Nerves and neurons trigger and create sensations. Sensations become interpreted by the mind and when all five senses in the body becoming engaged, well, that will create quite the physical sensation and experience.

Sometimes a person will see things, feel things, hear things, or even taste or smell things during an energy work treatment.  I have concluded that when a person has these sensations during a treatment, it is a good sign.  It means the subtle energy is moving.  It means blood is moving.  It means nerves are engaged.  It also means the person is sensitive enough to pick up and experience what is going on in and around their body.  They are tuned in.  

Energy work uses and directs subtle energy to help balance the body, mind, and spirit, and this may produce some fabulous and amazing sensations!  It is VERY cool!  

Moving Subtle Energy (Qi) Can Create Some Amazing Sensory Experiences

Nourishing the Kidneys

A friend of mine has been going through a difficult time in her life for a few years, after having lost her job and only able to find occasional temporary employment slightly above minimum wage.  My friend is in her 60’s, has been in the technical field most of her working life, and had been used to making a lot more money before being laid off.  Needless to say, it has been very tough for her for the last few years.

These types of pressures and this type of continual fear of not knowing what is going to happen next, wears down a person and in particular, it wears down the kidneys. According to Chinese Medicine, the kidneys are the organ associated with fear and when someone is living with fear, their kidneys wear down.  In Chinese Medicine, it is the kidneys which are the main organ associated with the bones, so when the kidneys are impacted, a person will also experience problems and pain in their joints, including lower back pain.

It was the lower back pain that brought my friend to get a Qigong treatment.  In addition to her lower back pain, she also has pain in her hips and in her knees.

During her Qigong assessment, I could indeed feel that her kidneys were burned out and this was a factor in causing her lower back pain and pain in her hips and knees.   Her kidneys were dry and they felt absolutely burned out.  All those years of financial strain and fear of trying to avoid being forced out of her apartment had consumed almost all the energy in kidneys.  Having no energy in her kidneys meant she also didn't have energy to put lubrication in her joints, thereby causing her joints to also be dry and painful.

During her Qigong treatment I focused on rebuilding the energy in her kidneys. I spent a LOT of time infusing Qi into her kidneys.  Eventually I could see her kidneys start to fill up with the Qi energy and eventually they seemed to come back to life.

I then focused on getting her kidneys to fire and function correctly.  I also focused on having the kidneys distribute lubricant to each and every joint in her body as if they were each immersed in synovial fluid.

I then focused on helping her kidneys become better at sending her mind messages of what they needed, like “I need more water, make her thirsty” and “I need potassium, have her eat some broccoli or a banana!”  I wanted that connection between her kidneys and her mind to be strengthened so her kidneys could send messages on what they needed and her body would respond and provide that continual healing.  I wanted her to become balanced and more harmonized.  

At the end of the treatment we shared the impressions we each had during the Qigong treatment. She said she “saw” water starting to flow through her body as if the water was being used to clean out the grime and gunk from within her.  

She then said she felt as if she was being filled up with water and it got to the point where she was floating and bobbing in a large pool of calm clear water. She said she felt totally relaxed and safe while bobbing in that calm water.   

She also shared how here she felt like her right leg, the one which had been bothering her, had been stretched and it no longer felt shorter than her other leg.  It felt good.

She also shared how she still had the lower back pain, but it wasn’t as intense as when she first arrived.
  

She will be coming back in a few weeks for another Qigong treatment and we'll get an update on her progress.

Nourishing the Kidneys

Treating a Black Cloud

One of my friends shared how she felt like she had a black cloud over her head and volunteered to have a Qigong treatment to see if we could change that feeling and sensation.

She lay on the Qigong table, face up, and closed her eyes.  I began by first grounding myself, then her, and then aligning myself with my friend's energy.  After I did this, I could feel the presence of three other people in the room, who I assume were her Spiritual Guides.  I then did my Qigong assessment by feeling her energy field and I could feel heat on the left side of her body, the left side of her head, her left lung, and heat in both sides of her upper abdomen.  It felt like energy in those areas of heat was stuck and causing her that feeling of discomfort.

I began the Qigong to clear some of this stagnant energy.  I started to purge the stuck energy in her right lung, and then went to her left lung.  In her left lung, I had a very hard time clearing and cleansing the black "fog" I could "see" within her lung.  After many, many minutes of purging, sponging, and "sucking out that blackness," I discovered a small, and what had been hidden, little clump of what looked like black charcoal. It reminded me of a little piece of burned firewood. I know the image in my mind was but a representation of what I was sensing, but that was the image my mind translated so I could understand what was there. I had no idea what it was really representing.

Eventually I was able to metaphorically bring that little piece of charcoal out of her lungs and was then able to focus on refilling the Qi energy into her lungs.  Her left lung, however, was taking a VERY long time to fill with Qi.  I could see the Qi energy immediately becoming absorbed and soaked into the lung tissue as if it were in desperate need, almost as if it were a dry sponge. Eventually, the lungs became full and I was able to move on to another part of the Qigong treatment plan.  

Next I began what is called the "13 ghost point treatment" which is a treatment protocol to help emotions.   There wasn't anything unusual about this treatment except I could feel her body deeply relax.  

During one of the 13 ghost point treatment protocols, I focused on building up her energy via SP 1 and then UB 62 (which are located on the feet) and I once again had another visual come to my mind.  I now saw her legs as if they were filled now little tiny pebbles of gravel, something you would use when you are repotting flowers.  The gravel is put in a potting plant to provide a means of drainage so water doesn't pool and damage the plant.  With this visual I knew we were creating a method for my friend to process and drain unwanted thoughts or emotions from her body that could otherwise become stagnant and contribute to making her ill or produce a black cloud of sadness.  Her body was using the Qigong as a tool to help her create a long term solution to promote continued healing. 

At the end of the Qigong treatment, I saw her three Spiritual Guides acknowledge the treatment was a success.  I then saw each one go up to her head, one at a time, and gently kiss her good-bye.   The first kissed each of her closed eyes.  The second kissed her forehead.  The third kissed the top of her head.  They then disappeared.

I aroused my volunteer patient and we shared our experiences.  She acknowledged the  "black cloud" was gone and she felt much better.  I shared what I had seen during her treatment, including seeing her three Spiritual Guides.

She will be returning in a couple of weeks for another treatment and we will see what happens next.

Treating a Black Cloud

Chinese Medicine & Treating the Whole Person

I have worked in health care my entire life, and because I'm no longer a spring chicken, that means it has been a good LONG time.  But recently I’ve gone back to college to learn about Chinese Medicine.  Chinese Medicine is very different from Western Medicine.  It’s not only the language that is different, but how the human body is viewed. It has been a tough transition but there are a couple of aspects in this new paradigm I just love.  For example, I love how Chinese Medicine looks at a patient as a whole person.  I mean, everything is inter-related and important when it comes to health.  In Chinese Medicine you assess and treat the whole person and with this focus, you treat more than just an organ.

Let me give you an example.  

If I go to see my Western Medicine doctor because I have a cold, my doctor will primarily ask me only things related to my lungs. The entire focus of this visit will be on whether or not to give me antibiotics.  She doesn’t ask me anything about what I’ve been eating.  She doesn't ask me about how I feel or my emotional state.  She doesn’t inquire about my sleep habits or family life, or the type of work I do. The focus is strictly on "is this a bacterium or virus?" Her desire is to quickly diagnose, give me the right medication, and get me out the door.

But,

If I were to go to a Chinese Doctor (an Acupuncturist) with my cold, I would be asked more than just the state of my lungs. I would be asked about how and when I became ill and to describe it in detail.  I would be asked if I am feeling hot or cold.  I would also be asked about sweating and chills, along with questions about my cough, sputum, and tongue. I would be asked about what I was eating and drinking, when I sleep, and for how long. I would be asked about my exercise habits, my emotional well being, and if I was grieving.  I would be asked about my environment at home and where I work to discover if it is damp or dry, if it is air conditioned, or has blowing air.  There would be a myriad of other questions asked that would seem to have little to do with a virus, but in Chinese Medicine, all of these factors are important.  The focus at my Chinese Medicine doctor will be on assessing all the relationships in my whole body that could be impacting and playing a role in this cold.  After that, the focus will be on getting me to feel better NOW, and then getting me on a path to sustain harmony and balance.  

In my Western Medicine medical experience, I would probably have left the doctors office with a prescription for a cough medicine and still probably felt pretty crappy.  I would probably think of myself as a victim with little control over my health.  

In my Chinese Medicine medical experience, I would leave feeling somewhat better because I would have received an acupuncture or moxibustion treatment.  I may have a prescription for some herbs, a recommendation for different foods to now be included in my diet that could help my lungs (like chicken soups with marrow and probably some persimmons).  I would perhaps be given some new movements or  exercises to do which would help strengthen my lungs (with posture and deep breaths).  I would have been advised on some meditation or visualization practices to help me guide my internal energies (qi/chee) to tonify my heart and lungs.  It may also have had the opportunity to talk about some sadness I was feeling because my Acupuncturist would know how sensitive the lungs are to grief and would have encouraged me to purge these feelings of grief. I would leave the Chinese Doctor's office feeling empowered because I would probably have new ways to help me take charge of returning to a state of balance and well being.  

I think there is merit in both Western and Chinese Medicine systems, but the thing I like most about Chinese Medicine is the broader focus on a person's whole being.   I like how a patient is more than just a failed body part or two.  

I also like the way Chinese Medicine practitioners will partner with a patient to help guide them back into balance and alignment.  This can help a person feel empowered and in charge of their own state of wellness. I like that. I think this is what we are missing in Western Medicine and desperately need.

Chinese Medicine & Treating the Whole Person

Healing a Broken Heart

I had a volunteer patient come to my home for a Qigong treatment.  I asked her if there was anything in particular she wanted me to focus on in with her healing treatment.   She shared how her husband had suddenly died about a year ago and she was still very broken hearted over this experience.  She loved him very much and he had been her best friend.  She had been sad a long time.

I had her lay down on the table and during the assessment phase of the treatment, I did indeed feel heat surrounding her heart, which can be a symptom of sorrow and pain. I started to share what I was assessing but I felt someone in the room with us.  I stopped, looked around, but no one was there.

I continued on with the assessment and once again had that same feeling return. I again stopped and looked around.  No one was there.  

Chills then came running through my body as if to validate there was another energy and presence with us.  

I said to her, "it feels like your husband is here with us."

Blue birds came flying past the window and calling out, and then I had chills once again go down my spine.  Then a strong warm feeling of comfort enveloped me and a message popped into my mind that it indeed was her husband who was in the room with us.  

I once again shared that I felt a presence that seemed to be her husband. She said "No, he is gone.  I know he is not around."  So I started the Qigong medical treatment.

I cleared some of the stagnant energy and feelings within her heart and then went on to the next step, which is to direct and focus Qi energy into the heart to help tonify it.  As I started this process, I started to see pink, red, and white valentine hearts starting to move with this focused energy.  These valentines and hearts seemed to be enveloping the directed Qi energy and encapsulating it with love while it was moving towards her heart.

More and more valentines came pouring in and now started to spill out and around her heart.  It started to cover much of her body and was now covering her body, the table, and started to pile up on the floor.  I knew her husband was sending these valentines as if to share his love with her.  He wanted desperately to comfort her. 

After the treatment, I shared what I had sensed and seen during her treatment.  She did not believe the message could be from her husband.  She also did not see or feel the valentines and did not share what I had experienced during this treatment.  At the end of the treatment, she felt good as well as relaxed, but not much more.

She then said "Perhaps the valentines are from my preschoolers.  I am a teacher."

She then went on to say the preschoolers had been her primary source of comfort since her husband died and they did make cutout out objects of paper in school.  Perhaps the image was a representation of her preschoolers.

I have no doubt at all her husband was present in that room and trying to send her a message.  I feel regret the message was not received or translated in a way she could accept and receive.  

This experience for me was so profound and the feelings so intense the experience still lingers with me. My volunteer patient seemed to have a nice and relaxing treatment, but nothing remarkable as far as I know.    

Even now, when I go into my Qigong treatment room, I can still feel those unclaimed valentines still scattered on the floor.  I am still hopeful she will come to accept and feel gift of healing and the love that was being poured within her heart.    

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Healing a Broken Heart

Qigong Is the Practice of Cultivating and Using Life Force Energy

Qigong is the practice of using and directing life force energy.

• QI = Life force energy
• Gong = Skill and cultivation

There are different types of Qigong.   Martial Arts Qigong which uses life force energy for fighting.  Spiritual Qigong which uses life force energy for spiritual development and spiritual growth.  Medical Qigong which uses life force energy for healing and medicinal affects.

Our bodies are designed for self-healing and Qigong is a tool that can help with your self healing.

Qigong provides a method to help you maintain your bodies’ health and when it gets out of balance or when you experience disease or pain, you can go to a Qigong practitioner to help purge pathogens and toxins from your body, help you tonify and strengthen your body’s functions, as well as help circulate and balance your body’s energy.

How does Qigong work?
Qi is bioelectrical energy and your body is a living electromagnetic field. The cells in your body are almost like machines, driven by energy. Qigong is a method that reduces the resistance in the channels within your body and allows an increase in your bioelectrical or magnetic field.

Sometimes a person goes to a Medical Qigong practitioner to help you heal and strengthen your body. The practitioner is usually able to identify and sense the areas in your body that may be blocked. The practitioner helps to purge and cleanse those areas and then direct and move energy to those areas to help them heal.

However, usually if the condition is of a chronic nature, it will take multiple treatments to help reverse the affects of that long-term disease and stagnation. In addition to the Qigong treatments given by a practitioner, you will need to take responsibility and commit to making some life changes to help your body heal and stay on the path for healing. Often this means engaging in daily Qigong exercises and eating foods that are known to help improve your body’s balance. Qigong exercises help keep things circulating and keep things in balance and there will be certain foods prescribed that are known to help keep certain organs functioning as they should.

Qigong Is the Practice of Cultivating and Using Life Force Energy

An Experience in Healing

In Acupuncture school, part of the program includes being in the clinic and caring for patients. This semester I am signed up for the evening Qigong clinic, so once a week after my regular work in an office, I go the night clinic to provide Qigong treatments to patients who are willing to have an acupuncture student be their caregiver.

If there are no patients, we sometimes practice Qigong treatments on each other. This week there there were not enough patients to go around, so I volunteered to be the patient because I had one doozey of a headache and no matter what I had done over the last 3 days to try and relieve the pain, it still lingered. It was becoming disabling and I rated it about an 8 on the pain scale (migraines I usually rate as a 10).

My fellow student, who is also a fellow nurse, led me into her treatment room. I laid down on my back, closed my eyes, and she then started the Qigong treatment.  She followed the usual protocol but then seemed to stay at my head, focusing and directing energy into my head.  I could feel her hands on my head with her hands spread across my scalp on specific energy points on my head. I started to feel the energy change in my head and my throat and could actual feel the Qi moving.

She stayed in this position at my head for a long, long time, and then moved to my feet. At my feet she began to touch the pressure points on my feet that are associated with the head.  I knew these were the points our instructor had directed her to focus her attention on and direct energy into those points.  But with this awareness, I came to realize it felt as if there was someone still at my head and directing energy there. I could feel their fingers on my head and I continued to sense the healing energy being directed into my head from someone perched there.

I thought we were alone in the room, so I opened my eyes to see who was now at my perched and continually to hold my head. There wasn't anyone there, but I continued to feel that same pressure being applied to 10 different points surrounding my skull. I closed my eyes again and just assumed this was additional unseen help being provided for this healing.

My fellow student finished the treatment and I told her my headache was now a "2". I then shared my experience of feeling the treatment on my head continue, as if someone was there. She related how she felt like she should have stayed at my head as if this is what my body needed, but she knew she had to follow the protocol of the instructor so changed and started working on my feet.

We discussed how part of using and directing energy to heal is being sensitive to listen to what the patient’s body needs and is trying to communicate to the practitioner. Listening to those messages is an art of the healing process. The better practitioners learn to listen to those communications and act on those impressions. A big part of Qigong is learning to recognize the messages and to trust your impressions.

We both left the treatment room and by the time I walked out the door, my headache was totally gone. I was absolutely amazed.

This experience felt rather remarkable to me. It also was a great lesson on the power of healing energy. It was also a good reminder to trust impressions which can guide you to improve the healing experience for a patient.

An Experience in Healing

Metal Becomes Water

In Chinese Medicine, one of the foundations is understanding the 5 Elements Theory. The 5 elements include Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal. The 5 elements can be places in a cycle to help understand the connection and relationship of all the relationships. It is this relationship that is used to help a practitioner translate how the organs relate to each other in the human body.

One of the relationships is called the “Generating Cycle” and it connects the five elements together in a circle. In this model,

• Wood is the fuel of Fire
• Fire creates ashes that become Earth
• Earth yields metal ore
• From the refinement of metal (water boiling) we get steam
• Water becomes wood which grows

Each of these are easy to understand except how metal becomes water. Every student struggles with this one.   How does metal become water????

At a workshop, Dr. Suzanne Friendman explained the history of where this concept originated:

“In ancient days, water was thought to come from metal. Now days we know this is not true, but long ago people would see condensation forming on their swords or metal cups and believe that water could come from metal”.

Ah hah!

It wasn’t until after she explained the roots of how this concept originated that it made sense to me how metal fit into this generating cycle; condensation appearing on metal.

Metal Becomes Water

Healing and the Mind - The Mystery of Qi (Chi)

A friend sent me this information about a visit Bill Moyers took to China where he was exposed to Chinese Medicine.


Amazing video of a Qigong Master using Qi.

Healing and the Mind - The Mystery of Qi (Chi)

Protecting Your Personal Energy when Interacting with Draining People or Situations

I went to a Qigong workshop and learned a nifty trick I wish I knew when I first became a nurse.  I, along with many nurses, ended getting burned out and ended up leaving the profession.  I was at my limit in how much caring and giving I could do.  I had no more energy left so switched careers.

I was not aware there were ways to safeguard your own personal energy and keep others from sucking you dry.  But in the Qigong training, protecting your own energy is considered step number uno.  Qigong caregivers learn how to protect themselves before they interact with patients.

Here is a modified version of the exercise we learned to keep our own energy safe and secure.  It iss called the “Column of Light” preparation exercise.

Column of Light
1. Stand with the left and right pinkies touching and the left and right thumbs touching.  The hands are held in front of the lower abdomen.
2. Energetically sink and root your energy into the earth.  Visualize yourself sinking into the earth’s core as all stress melts out of the body deep into the earth.
3. Once you are rooted, visualize a column of energy or light coming up from the earth and surrounding you completely.
4. While surrounded by the column, see yourself growing so tall that your head reaches the stars and the column of light that surrounds you ascends and connects to the heavens above.
5. Sink your focus back down and root your energy into your abdomen.  At this point you are surrounded by a column of dense energy (or Qi) that strengthens you and acts as a boundary between the earth and heaven to prevent the patient’s energy (or Qi) from invading your own tissues.
6. Next, expand the column of light around you as if it were a bubble around you.  This bubble will be your portable protection as you interact with patients or those who may be drains on your energy.  You are now secure in a bubble of protective energy.

You may release the bubble of energy by taking some deep focused releasing breaths and / or brushing your shoulders and abdomen with your hands and visualizing the stuff you may have picked up from day, along with the bubble, being released and cleaned along with returning and being reabsorbed by the earth.

Or the process can be automatically relaxed and the energy released with sleep (unless you visualize the continuation of the bubble while you sleep).

You can do this little visualization each day as well as several times through the day as needed.  In fact for Qigong, the recommendation is to do this exercise before each and every patient (along with some visualization for the treatment room).

What is so cool about this process is how you can also use it for every day interactions, too. For example,  I tried this exercise the other day prior to going to one of my dreaded meetings at work, so before going to the office I did this column of light visualization.  When I got home later that day, I was surprised how much energy I had and how I wasn't drained.  This exercise worked even for my everyday office interactions.

You may want to also try it for yourself and see if it changes how you feel that day.  If you feel better, try making it part of your daily routine and see if things start to improve even more..

(Special thanks to Dr. Suzanne Friedman who taught this visualization exercise to our class).

Protecting Your Personal Energy when Interacting with Draining People or Situations

The Human Body is Microcosm of the Universe

Chinese Medicine views the human body as if it is a microcosm of the universe.  What is happening outside our body affects inside our body.

In Chinese Medicine, everything is connected and has a relationship to everything else.  The earth, water, wind, fire, and metal are a part of nature.  They are also a part of ourselves.  We observe the affects these elements have on each other and based on these observations, we can understand how these elements interact within ourselves.

The Human Body is Microcosm of the Universe

Food Flavors are Part of Good Health

In Chinese Medicine, food is often considered medicine.  Food is the primary means of providing us with the energy and a key source to help our bodies function correctly.

What I find rather interesting in the Chinese medicine way of thinking is that even the flavors of the foods are important in considering a prescription for good health.

There are five different flavors identified as having different purposes in maintaining and contributing to ones health.

• Sour
• Bitter
• Sweet
• Pungent
• Salty

Each of these different flavors have different functions in contributing to balancing or providing good health.

Sour flavor, for example, is an astringent and can generate liquid. You use this flavor when there is a fluid deficiency.

The bitter flavor is used for purging or reducing excess.  It is indicated for fever or when there is damp retention, like edema.

The sweet flavor is for relaxing, toning, and harmonizing.  It is used if there is a deficiency pattern and is also used to help relieve pain as well as calm the mind.

The pungent flavor helps stimulate digestion and gets things moving.  This flavor is used for phlegm as well as to stimulate Qi, get food to move, as well as help blood stagnation.

Salty flavors are used to soften and is used to help goiters, cysts, lymph nodes, and abdominal masses.

I find this aspect of food flavors being part of maintaining good health rather fascinating

Food Flavors are Part of Good Health

Possible Radiation Fallout?

Concerned about possible nuclear radiation fall out?
You can eat food high in iodine, such as:
Seaweed.
and
Shitake mushrooms
and
Fish.

All of these are high in iodine.

Possible Radiation Fallout?

Asthma, Coughing, Skin, and Hair Problems Can be from Grief

In Chinese Medicine, each major organ has an emotional component as part of the organ.  The lungs emotional component is associated with grief and sadness.  If you have unresolved sadness (such as when someone has died or if you were part of very sexual assault) your body can respond with symptoms of asthma, respiratory problems, skin problems, as well as problems with your hair.  In Chinese Medicine, all of these symptoms are associated with lung problems and one of the key reasons for this can be unresolved grief and sadness.

These symptoms are associated with Qi stagnation in the lungs.  There are ways to help you resolve the stuck Qi; acupuncture, Qigong, herbs, and diet can all help get the Qi to flow again.  Some of this you can do on your own, but you may want to see a professional to assist you if the problem is long term or chronic.

Sometimes you don’t even know why you have Qi (chee) that is stuck.  You are only aware you are having problems such as a cough that won't go away, or that you keep getting colds, or you have asthma and problems breathing.  Or you may have noticed you now have eczema, a skin rash on your body that is new and nothing seems to help it go away.  Or maybe you have noticed you are losing more hair than normal and you are leaving the bathroom with a carpet of hair on the floor after you brush your long locks.  All of these can be symptoms of “lung Qi stagnation”.

I know, because this is what I had.

For example, I had several colds, including pneumonia. I’ve also had a new rash and I noticed when I washed my hair I had more and more hair stuck in the comb rather than still on my head. I was starting to think this was part of aging, but then I took a Qigong class and discovered my symptoms were from a different cause.

After going through the various Qigong exercises in class, our instructor warned us this intense process may have allowed some unprocessed emotions to surface.  It did.

That night  I dreamed my mother was being killed and when I woke up, I knew I must have some unresolved sadness and grief surrounding my mother’s death.  My mother died shortly after I had her placed in skilled nursing facility and with her death came lots of guilt and grief.  I didn't expect this to be my issue and source of sadness affecting my lungs and stagnating my lung Qi, but there it was, staring me in the face and now I knew these problems were from this unresolved issue.

Because our bodies are designed to self heal, there are ways to use information like this to help heal.  I was now aware my symptoms were related to my grief which caused my Qi to get stuck and stagnate in my lungs.

To get the Qi to move, there are certain foods to help move the lung Qi.  There are also herbs and exercises as well as sounds to help get the Qi to move.

Foods that can help the lungs and Qi move are broccoli, citrus, pears, pork apples, and even coffee. Peppermint is also good for the lungs as well ginger.  There are also some movements and sounds that can help move the lung Qi and get it moving, including the sound of “SSS” as well as the sound of “SHH”.  These sounds are proven to open up the lungs and relieve phlegm and well as help dispel grief.

If you also have lung Qi stagnation, you may also want to try some self healing methods to get your Qi moving, too.  If your sadness and grief are long term and you have had long standing lung problems, skin, and/or hair problems, you may also want to consider seeing a professional Acupuncturist, Qigong Therapist, and/or Grief Counselor.

Chronic coughing, eczema, and hair falling out just aren't all that fun.  It also doesn't seem to go away on its own. You have to help your body heal, resolve your sadness, and get your Qi flowing back to normal.

You will be able to FEEL the difference even before you SEE the difference.  The healing can be that quick.

Asthma, Coughing, Skin, and Hair Problems Can be from Grief

Benefits of Medical Qigong

Qigong is one of the main branches in traditional Chinese medicine.  Qigong is also used in the practice of martial arts and spiritual development.  Qigong is not a religion, only a tool that uses the life force energy of the body and environment to help bring desired and focused results. As a result, Qigong is used in different disciplines.

Qi (pronounced chee) is bioelectricity.  It is also known as the life force energy of all living things.    Qigong uses this life force energy in three different types of Qigong categories:  

• Martial Qigong, the study of using the life force energy to defend, fight, and disarm your opponent. 
• Spiritual Qigong, the study using meditative internal visualization of the life force energy for spiritual for growth and development
• Medical Qigong, the study for health and healing, specifically designed for medicinal affects

Qigong is composed of three aspects to promote vitality by gently stretching and moving the body to dissolve energy flow blockages.  These components include

1. Physical exercise
2. Meditation and visualization
3. Breathing exercises

The goals of Medical Qigong practices are

• to balance and harmonize the yin (blood, body fluids, and quiescent) and the yang (metabolic functions of Qi activity) of the body.  
• to harmonize the body and mind with your environment.

According to Suzanne B Friedman, the author of “Heal Yourself with Qigong” many clinical studies have concluded that Qigong has a positive effect on various health problems, including:

• High Blood Pressure 
• Mortality and stroke
• Levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) called anti-aging enzyme
• Sex hormone levels
• Cardiovascular functions
• Cancer
• Senility
• Bone density
• Endocrine gland function
• Asthma
• Immune function
• Cholesterol levels

Qigong is different than regular exercise.  Qigong cultivates posture, breath, and focused intention to partner with your life force energies to purge, strengthen, and regulate balances in your body.  It is simple, but also very effective.

The practice of Qigong can help you improve your health.  Often, the results can be rather remarkable and astonishing.

Benefits of Medical Qigong

QiGong

One of the things I like about Chinese Medicine is that it is non-linear. There is no separation between the mind, the body, and the spirit. Emotions are stored in the organs and with this concept, can be a contributing factor to disease and how a disease is presented. This is so very different from Western medicine. In the West we often look at diseases in silos. “I can only deal with things from the neck up” is what you may hear from your Ear/Nose/Throat (ENT) doctor. “I don’t do anything with women’s organs” is what you may hear from a Family Practitioner. We tend to specialize in organs or specific locations in the body.

In Chinese Medicine, organs are not broken out and silo’d. Each patient is seen as a whole and every symptom, no matter what part of the body, mind, or spirit, is included in the assessment, the diagnosis, and treatment plan.

One of my next classes in Chinese Medicine will be a QiGong class taught by Suzanne Friedman. She is an expert in QiGong. She says that QiGong uses the energy fields of the body to help purge, strengthen, and balance a person. I like that.

The healing objectives of QIGong are:

• To eliminate the pathogenic factors, such as the accumulation of emotions, or factors from the environment, or an invasion of cold, damp, heat, or dryness.
• To increase or decrease a person Qi to counteract the deficient or excess conditions in the body
• To regulate and balance yin and yang energy and bring the body back into internal harmony.

These are the texts we will be using in this class (should you want to follow along).

• "Medical Qigong Exercise Prescriptions: A Self-Healing Guide for Patients & Practitioners" by Suzanne Friedman.
• "The Yijing Medical Qigong System" by Suzanne Friedman
• "Heal Yourself With Qigong: Gentle Practices to Increase Energy, Restore Health, and Relax the Mind" by Suzanne Friedman

QiGong is considered one of the branches of Chinese Medicine. The branches I’m studying so far include acupuncture, food (or diet and nutrition), herbs, and movement (QiGong/Exercise).

Pretty exciting stuff.

QiGong

Eating REAL Food is Part of the Chinese Medicine Prescription of Good Health

Since nutrition is one of the five branches of Chinese Medicine, it is something we can’t ignore when you study Chinese Medicine.

I attended a workshop titled, “Eat Real Food; Nutrition in the 21st Century" by Nishanga Bliss, L.A.c. and she reminded us that in Chinese Medicine, good food means food that is not processed, not refined, is eaten in season of your local area, and is NOT filled with hormones and/or chemicals.

Most of us don’t eat this way.

Most of us these days eat prepared food, fast foods, packaged food or junk food, and as a result, our bodies tend to become reservoirs of chemicals, toxins, plastics, poisons, and crud. Over the years, we start to exhibit signs and symptoms of interesting health problems due to eating the way we do. Many of our health problems could be treated, mitigated, or even eliminated if we started to eat REAL food.

To start us on the road to eating REAL food (and hopefully changing some of our bad habits), our instructor, Ms. Bliss, recommended we start with some baby-stepping guidelines to move towards eating REAL FOOD:

• Don't eat packaged food that has over 5 ingredients listed on the label.
• Eat locally produced food. If it is not locally grown, then eat organic.
• If not organic, then eat food from a family farm.
• If not from a family farm, then from a local business.
• If not from a local business, then from the region.
• Go to the Farmers Market before trying the Supermarket. Plan your meals around local ingredients you find at the Farmers Market.

Our instructor then asked if we thought we needed to go to a deeper level of the REAL FOOD process; that of being CLEANSED? (My immediate thought was Oh, NO! Enemas!) But that is not what she had in mind at all.

Cleansing (the Chinese Medicine Way) is to take nutritious REAL food and only consume that food for a period of 3 weeks. The REAL and good food will then start to work its ways through your entire system and go to all your nooks and cranny's (including the mechanisms that take 28 days to get restarted) and pull out the toxins and stuff we don't need or want.

Three weeks of eating REAL and GOOD food will help your system remove the chemicals and junk stuck in your itty bitty tiny weeny cells and purge it out through your gut, your lungs, your sweat, and out through your urine. After a period of 3 weeks, you should look and feel "clean", "different", "better"...and maybe even "new".

Ms Bliss recommends you do this type of diet cleanse each spring or whenever you have two or more of these kind of symptoms over a period of two months.

• Allergies
• Skin rashes or breakouts
• Tight neck and shoulders
• Headaches
• Constipation, loose stools, or both
• Difficulty falling or staying asleep
• PMS
• Menstrual cramps
• Restlessness, irritability, or anger
• Mood swings
• Frequent infections or colds
• Poor memory
• Mental fogginess

Here are the rules for this simple, food-based cleanse of REAL food our instructor recommended:

CHOOSE

• Vegetables. Eat all types as much as you wish. Raw vegetables are more cleansing, cooked ones are more strengthening. People who are robust and those cleansing in warmer climates can choose more raw foods (50% of more). Those who are tired or deficient and those cleansing in cool weather should choose more cooked foods (75% or more).

• Cleansing Vegetables. Eat at least 2 of these per day; avocados, artichokes, asparagus, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, burdock, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chives, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, jicama, kohlrabi, leeks, mushrooms, onions, peppers, rutabaga, radishes, especially daikon and Spanish black radish, sea vegetables, turnips.

• Leafy Greens. All leafy greens, such as arugula, beet, daikon, and turnip greens, dandelion greens, kale, and collard greens, mustard greens, swiss chard, spinach, lettuces of all types, edible flowers.

• Fruit. Choose any fresh or frozen fruit, with an emphasis on seasonal fruits from your area. Try to each twice as many veggies as fruit. No dried or canned fruit.

• Fats and Oils. Choose only expeller-pressed organic olive oil, unrefined coconut oil or ghee for cooking, and organic expeller-pressed flax oil and olive oil for dressings

• Beans. One to three servings of organic lentils, mung beans, chickpeas, or other beans daily. Soak all beans overnight before cooking. Avoid unfermented soy (tofu or soy milk)

• Grains. One to three servings of organic brown rice, wild rice, or quinoa daily, and prepare these by soaking overnight before cooking.

• Animal Foods. Choose from organic or pastured poultry, beef, lamb, or goat, and wild-caught, low mercury seafood only, up to four 2-3 ounce servings per day. One to three organic or pastured eggs daily. Prepare animal products by boiling, baking, roasting, or poaching, or raw(no raw egg whites). No cured, smoked, or preserved meats, but canned salmon and sardines are OK.

• Seasonings. Natural wheat free tamari or shoyu, chickpea miso, raw apple cider or other raw vinegars, fresh lemon juice, celtic sea salt, or other unprocessed salt, fresh or dried organic herbs and spices, raw honey, nutritional yeast.

• Fermented foods. Raw sauerkraut or lacto-fermented pickles, ideally with each meal.

• Beverages. Aim for ½ your body weight in ounces of water a day (avg 8-10 glasses). Choose filtered water, herbal teas, kombucha, beet kvass, freshly pressed vegetable juices or pressed fruit juices diluted with water.

The cleanse should be done over 3 weeks. Our instructor said everyone who does this cleanse ends up feeling better and healthier. Some even lose weight.

Since it will soon be spring, which marks the time for spring cleaning the house, consider cleansing your innards (your body).

Perhaps just eating locally is a good place to start to move you on a path of better health. Or maybe it is choosing to not eat anything packaged with more than 5 ingredients. This can help, too.

If you decide to try the 3 week cleanse, you may discover a new healthy body. Switching over to REAL food can make you feel that different.

Who knows? Maybe a new you is what you are going to find this year. After all, food is a part of our life. We can choose to partner with food that is good for us or partner and hang out with food from the wrong side of the tracks.

This may be the year we decide to start hanging out with food that is REAL and can help us feel better.

Eating REAL Food is Part of the Chinese Medicine Prescription of Good Health

Leave that Fat in Your Dairy!

First off, to my children, I'm sorry.

I learned at our Chinese Medicine nutrition workshop that skim milk is a disgrace (nutiritionally speaking) with all the other milk choices available. Lowfat yogurt should be an embarrassment. And let's not even talk about low fat sour cream!

I became aware during our Chinese Medicine Nutrition workshop that "the previous generation", which is MY generation, did a great disservice to their children (including mine) by having them drink adulterated dairy products. We should have allowed, and encouraged them, to drink WHOLE milk and all the dairy products with all the fat left in them. Also, it would have been better if we allowed them to drink the NON-pasteurized stuff, too, so they could improve their guts anaerobic bacteria. It is also believed that pasteurization has helped produce a generation that is lactose intolerant. But no, we listened to the recommendations at the time and fell into the trap of thinking low fat would be better for us. Now we are learning it was a LIE!!! Yes, a LIE!!

The BEST course would have been letting our kids drink straight from the cow, or at least get milk straight from a local dairy with cows chewing on the grass with music playing around them singing songs (think happy cow).

I can't believe all the things I'm learning that I did wrong! I may need to go to the bar and sulk away with a fat loaded and sugar infested milkshake swirled with lots and lots of vodka to help flush away my new found guilt.

Leave that Fat in Your Dairy!

Food is a Basis for Qi Production

Food is the basis for the production of Qi and blood in your body.

• If no food is eaten for half a day, the Qi is weakened.

• If no food is eaten for a whole day, Qi is depleted.

Food is very important in Chinese Medicine.

Fasting is not seen as being therapeutic.

Food is a Basis for Qi Production

Traditional Foods that Move the Liver Qi

According to my instructor, Liver Qi Stagnation is the most common problem we have in the USA.

Liver Qi stagnation is usually caused by improper food intake, such as eating pre-packaged foods, fast foods, fatty foods, cold, and/or raw foods, or foods that are wrecked (such as being transported long distances or grown with pesticides). In other words, the typical American diet.

The usual symptoms of stagnant liver Qi may include the following:

• Red face, feeling of heat
• Thirst
• Irritability, depression, moodiness, outbursts of anger
• Feeling a lump in the throat
• Hypochondrial/epigastric distention, pain in your sides
• Irregular/heavy periods (in women)
• Premenstrual tension & breast distension (PMS)

Traditional foods that can help move the Liver Qi and keep the Qi from getting stagnant are:

• HERBS AND SPICES (anise, basil, bay, cardamom, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves, cilantro, curry, fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, mint, mustard, nutmeg, oregano, parsley, vanilla)

• BEANS (navy, baby lima, cannellini, and other white beans)

• VEGETABLES (collard greens, green garlic, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, radishes of all types, turnips and their greens, watercress)

• FRUITS (grapefruit, lemon, lime, kumquat, plum, tangerine)

My instructors other recommendations are to eat REAL food. To do this, she recommends the following:

• Eat locally produced food. If it is not locally grown, then eat Organic.
• If not organic, then eat food from a family farm.
• If not from a family farm, then from a local business.
• If not from a local business, then from the region.
• Go to the Farmers Market before trying the Supermarket. Plan your meals around local ingredients you find at the Farmers Market.

Traditional Foods that Move the Liver Qi

Balance a Key For Maintaining Health

Chinese Medicine stresses balance as a key to health. When you are ill, there is a disharmony going on within you. Identifying the cause of the disharmony is important because you can learn how to avoid it, prevent it, or correct it. If you don’t treat the cause of the disease, it is like ”pouring water into a container with a leaky bottom”.

Good health is based on a balance of nutrition, sleep/rest, and exercise. When you are out of balance, you may start to exhibit symptoms in different organs, in your energy level, in your emotional state. Climatic conditions can also cause a disease if there is a relative imbalance between the body’s Qi and an exterior pathogen.

In Western medicine there is emphasis on the external aspect of a disease, such as bacteria and viruses. In Chinese medicine, the emphasis is more on finding out what is out of balance and causing the problem and getting you to return to a state of balance.

So how do you keep from getting sick?

In Chinese Medicine, good health is all about having a balance between exercise, nutrition, and sleep. Diseases may be caused by a weak constitution (what you were born with), or being overworked, or a lack of (or even excessive) exercise. It can also be due to excessive sexual activity (think Charlie Sheen). It can also be related to your diet (of course). In addition, disease can be caused by trauma, poisons & parasites, drugs, and having been given the wrong treatment (woops!). All of these factors can make a person be out of balance and as a result, impact their health.

So when you find your self not feeling well and you are starting to have symptoms, it is your alert that something is out of balance and you can start to look at how to get back in balance. Is my diet out of whack and I have eaten too much fast foods? If so, have a meal filled with nutrients, especially something like soup or warm cooked foods. Is your Qi stagnated? if so, engage in some stretches, exercise, Tai Chi, or Yoga and get the Qi and blood circulating so the nutrients can help combat that new symptom.

Did you know that pain is considered to be a sign of Qi stagnation? It usually says that something is not flowing how and where it should and as a result, fluids are stagnating and are stuck. As a result it hurts. So how do you get unstuck? Acupuncture helps as does movement.

A sore throat can be your alert that your defensive Qi (or defensive mechanism) is weak and you may be inadvertently allowing pathogens into your body. If so, make sure you are drinking enough warm fluids and getting rest You may even decide to take some herbs to help stimulate more of your defensive Qi to be created or get to where it is needed to defend your body.

Chinese medicine looks at everything going on in your life and environment to help assess what imay be out of balance and what needs to be treated or fine tuned. The goal is always to get you back in balance and keep you there.

What I find so fascinating in Chinese medicine is that you can be out of balance in one area and it can show up in unrelated area or organ of your body. For example, if you have unresolved grief, it can show up in your lungs. LUNGS??? Yep. You get symptoms like shortness of breath or even a dry hacking cough if you don't resolve your grief. And if you are a worrier, it knots your Qi and you can have symptoms like fatigue, abdominal distention, constipation, or diarrhea, and even sighing, just from worrying!

Chinese medicine can be pretty interesting.

Balance a Key For Maintaining Health

Sex and Chinese Medicine

In Chinese Medicine class this week, part of the lesson was on how too much sex can cause loss of Jing.

In my spirituality teachings, however, I have been taught that sex is good for you. In fact, sex can prolong life. When sex is combined with love, it can actually create spiritual energy. In addition, sex can be used to clear and align the chakras and can affect the Kundalini.

So as I sat in Chinese Medicine class and listened to this lecture being a bit stunned to hear the Chinese version of sex.

The only thing I can think is they must be talking about sex WITHOUT love. I do agree that sex without love should be limited. Maybe it is that kind that causes a loss of Jing.

Sex and Chinese Medicine

Treating PMS with Chinese Herbs

According to Chinese Medicine, Premenstrual Syndrome, or PMS (as it is known on the street) is due to Qi (chee) being congested. When Qi gets stuck it can produce some common PMS symptoms, such as backache, headaches, cramps, breast tenderness, fatigue, weepiness, depression, and a smidge of irritability (OK....a LOT of irritability.)

Chinese herbs are a great way to help treat these PMS symptoms and the herb that every practitioner seems to recommend is

XIAO YAO SAN

This herb is very effective, safe, and has very few contraindications (if any). For those of us who are novices at this Chinese herb stuff, I was told that not even I could screw it up, so there you have it. It is safe.

The American name for this herb is also called "Happy Pills" or "Happy Tea" because it helps you “go with the flow” and can ease your anxiety. (Several of the students in the class were raving about this herb in class, and to be honest, they seem to be the happiest students in class. I now think the tea they were sipping during the lecture has something to do with their happy mood.)

Anyway,

other names for this herb includes “Easy Wanderer”, “Happy Pills”, “Ramblin Power”, or “Free and Easy Wanderer”. You can even purchase this herb at Whole Foods under one of those American slang names, and since I'm lousy at remembering the proper Chinese names of things, I appreciate the slang to help remind me what the herb is supposed to do.

Even though I am long past the days of PMS possibilities, I'm going to get some of the Xiao Yao San just in case I get a smidge of some MENOPAUSAL IRRITABILITY. I will swallow some of those herbs and go with the flow.

Treating PMS with Chinese Herbs

Options for Painful Menstuation

When I was in my early 30's, I had such severe menstrual cramps I would be in bed for a couple of days each month. Most companies don't like employees to be off sick that much anad it was difficult to work doubled over in pain. I needed a solution to this situation.

After going to my gynecologist, the option provided was either
1) suck it up
2) take pain pills
3) get a hysterectomy

I had tried options 1+2 without much luck so I eventually opted for number 3, the hysterectomy.

Now that I am learning about Chinese Medicine, I can see there was another option; to try acupuncture. An Acupuncturist would have easily diagnosed me with "Liver-Qi or Liver-Blood stagnation", something that can be treated very successfully with acupuncture.

Acupuncture uses all aspects of a woman's menstrual cycle in the assessment and development of any treatment plan. Acupuncture is used to treat menstrual and menopausal problems of all kinds.

If you are having painful periods, experiencing blood clots during menstruation, scanty blood flow, amenhorrhea, PMS, menopausal symptoms, or any problems regulating menstruation, including trying to get pregnant, consider seeing an Acupuncturist. It's an alternative worth exploring.

Options for Painful Menstuation

Chinese Medicine has 3 Areas of Focus

Chinese medicine focuses a lot on acupuncture, nutrition, and herbs. All of these components are used to help a person improve or maintain health.

Acupuncture is good to move energy (like Qi and blood).

Diet and herbs are used to add energy.

Chinese Medicine has 3 Areas of Focus

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen

If you are interested in Chinese cooking or seeing how you can use food to help keep your body healthy, or even use food to help treat common ailments, this Chinese recipe book can help.

The book includes basic information about Chinese Medicine, along with authentic Chinese recipes and a section on how to select which recipe for which medical condition.

I have enjoyed the book and learning about different Chinese herbs and ingredients and learning about different ingredients. Many of the ingredients I had only heard of but had no experience or knowledge in how to cook them or use them. The information about these foreign sounding ingredients was easily explained along with where someone could purchase these items.

My only hesitation in purchasing the book has been the type of book to buy. I bought this as an electronic book for my Kindle and have come to realize this type of book, a reference book, works better in a hard copy format.

In a hard copy you can easily thumb through the pages and go to any section of the book. In an electronic book, such as the Kindle, if you are reading what recipes work best for the common cold, for example, and the book says "Flu Season Soup, go to page 92", you can't flip to page 92. You push a few buttons to get to the "go to section", enter page 92 and it takes the reader back to page 92 of the Kindle. Page 92 of the Kindle for someone like me using a large font so I can see the text, is not the same page as is in the hard copy version.

Needless to say, I still liked the book and would recommend it as a good place to start learning about Chinese ingredients, recipes, and how to use the ingredients in different concoctions to improve ones health.

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen

The Art of Assessment

There is a story about a nurse who was aboard a flight when one of the passengers collapsed with a heart attack. The nurse went into action and started CPR. A physician was also present on the plane, and he too, came forward to help. He stood over the nurse and the collapsed passenger directing the nurse to start an IV in the patient’s arm.

The nurse looked up at the doctor from the CPR kneeling position and said, “do you see any damn IV’s in this airplane?”

She then continued with CPR, helping to save the passengers life. The doctor stood watch providing advice, but he did not know how to do CPR nor administer care without the use of hospital equipment.

To me this story shows how far we have strayed from knowing the basics in our health care world. Some clinicians are unable to help someone, let alone assess and treat them, without the use of sophisticated tools. The art of listening, assessing, and diagnosing with nothing more than the ability to use one’s own senses is becoming a lost skill in Western Medicine.

I think this is why I am so fascinated with learning Chinese Medicine. In these classes, we are learning how different characteristics will manifest a vast array of different characteristics in the patient in areas of the body that in Western medicine we don’t even see as being connected. For example, in Chinese Medicine, the kidney is associated with early gray hair and insomnia means the blood needs to be fortified.

What we are learning in these classes is that it is not just the patient’s complaint and presenting history that are important. We have to look at the entire person, including their emotions, spiritual aspect, climates, tissues, vital substances, sense organs, external manifestations, fluids, odors, colors, tastes, sounds, orifice, time of day, season, as well as environment and history.

None of these observations require any fancy equipment. Everything is done through observation and just listening to the patient. We have to observe the WHOLE patient and not just the complaint point or where it hurts. After all, each organ is associated with different manifests in different locations throughout the body.

I can see this ability to pull all these subtle nuances together and come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan based on just listening and observing is pretty amazing. It is an art.

I feel lucky to be learning how to become a better assessment artist.

The Art of Assessment

Why Food is Important in Chinese Medicine

One of the most surprising things to me about studying Chinese Medicine is that it is not the human heart that is the center of the human body universe. It is the spleen and stomach. The spleen and stomach are organs devoted to transforming food and they are number one when looking at your health.

Because of this, food is one of THE vital components that must be studied in Chinese Medicine. After all, it is food that is one of the ingredients to create Qi (chee), the source energy that governs life itself. Organs connected to the creation of Qi are the center of the human body universe in Chinese Medicine.

In Western Medicine, food is looked at like it is a step child in the health care world. It is almost as if it is just a necessary ingredient, but one that is not THAT important. (Have you ever eaten in a hospital cafeteria? You can see what I mean).

Food in Western Medicine is always broken down to calories, carbohydrates, and fats. There may be a bi-line thrown in with the instruction to "eat more greens" as if that is the panacea to cover good nutrition. But overall, it leaves you with an impression that one food can easily be swapped out with another if you know how to substitute the caloric value, or the fats, or the carbohydrates in the equation. For example, you can maybe swap out a spinach salad for a glass of wine and with a bit of tweaking here and there you may even come up with the same caloric value and then call it "good enough".

This concept of food swapping is not part of the Chinese Medicine's health care process.

In Chinese Medicine, EVERYTHING is seen as having value and has a job to do. One would never consider the organs as being expendable and disposable like we do in Western Medicine. In Chinese Medicine, things are just not seen as chemical compositions; everything is part of FLOW and BALANCE.

The way Chinese Medicine uses food and values food is quite the eye opener for me. Just as every organ has value and a job to do, EVERY food has a specific job to do, too. Even different flavors, and even the color of the food, can play different roles in keeping a body healthy. Even the way you prepare the food can impact the body differently. EVERYTHING about the food is important in Chinese Medicine.

This whole concept surrounding food is causing me to pause. I can no longer think that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie because now, every morsel of food can have a different job to do and can have a different responsibility to keep someone healthy. Food is now medicine!

In Chinese Medicine the spleen and stomach are the center of the human body universe, and because of this, food plays one of the most important roles to maintaining someone's health.

Pretty interesting, huh?

Why Food is Important in Chinese Medicine

Teething Babies, Colic, + Digestion

Gripe Water is the recommended herb for young babies who are teething, according to our instructor. Gripe water contains Xiao Hui Xiang (fennel), ginger, and chamomile. It is used to help teething, colic, and digestive problems in young children.

Xiao Hui Xiang is fennel seed and is known to soothe and warm the digestive track. Sometimes you will see a bowl of fennel at Indian restaurants. Fennel helps move the Qi in the stomach, so next time you see a bowl of it in a restaurant, take a bit and see if it helps relax and soothe your stomach.

Teething Babies, Colic, + Digestion

Jing and Goji Berries

Jing is considered one of the vital substances in Chinese Medicine. The vital substances include blood, body fluids, Qi, shen (or mind), and JING.

Jing is considered Essence and is what you inherited from your parents. It regulates the body's growth and development as well as works to protect the body from harmful factors.

The functions of Essence are:

• growth, reproduction, and development
• producer of marrow
• basis of constitutional strength
• basis for the three treasures - Essence-Qi-Mind

Some say your Essence can not be replenished and you only have what you were born with. Others say it can be replenished, but with difficulty. Goji berries, also known as wolfberries, are a food that some believe may help replace Jing (if it can be replenished). In the USA, goji berries are usually available as dried fruit (around $20/lb...YIKES!!)

Jing and Goji Berries

Treating Colds the Chinese Medicine Way

According to Chinese Medicine, colds are considered a wind attack and can quickly move through the body. You can combat the illness head on with some herbal remedies.

Yin Qiao San for the early onset of a soar throat.

• The formula includes Honeysuckle & Forsythia Powder (san means powder).
• Dose yourself every two hours at the first signs of cold symptoms.

Zinc

• Zinc is a good anti-viral

Ren Shen Bai Du San for long-term colds

• This boots energy and treats the pathogen.

Zhong GenLing for really, really bad colds

• This is an anti-viral.

Can Cao to regulate the cough (use ONLY if you don't have high blood pressure. Contra-indicated for those with hypertension).

How can you prevent a cold?

• Get enough sleep.
• Don't hold onto stress.
• Get physical exercise.
• Eat healthy. Refined sugar, which is so prevalent in the American diet, has a direct negative effect on the immune system. It almost eliminates your ability to fight off infection, so don't eat sugar.
• Vitamin D. Cabbage is good for the immune system. Fermented food is good for the immune system. So eat up!
  

Treating Colds the Chinese Medicine Way

Five Elements in Nature - a Foundation in Chinese Medicine

Chinese medicine has existed for about 5,000 years, before CT scans, before X-Rays, before microscopes. Our instructor kept telling us that if we observe and understand nature, we can translate the same principles into Chinese Medicine. He then went on to share the foundation from which the concepts are built on, known as the five elements of nature.

The elements of nature in many cultures are typically the four elements of fire, earth, water, and wood. Aristotle, Hindu, and Buddhism added a fifth esoteric element, the esoteric aether, but in the Chinese culture, metal is the fifth element.

In Chinese culture, the list of natural elements is and their state of constant interaction and flux with one another is the foundation from which everything is built. The different characteristics, correspondences, and inter-relationships in nature uses the exact same principles to assess the body, diagnose problems, and treat diseases. That is why it is so important to have the foundation of understanding how nature works. You will need that same information to know how the body, disease, and treatment works.

This is known as the Cycle of Mutual Promotion of the Five Elements:

• Water promotes wood.
• Wood promotes fire.
• Fire promotes earth (when burning down wood).
• Earth promotes metal (when burying wood).
• Metal promotes water (when melted by fire).

This is known as the Cycle of Mutual Control of the Five Elements:

• Metal controls (chops) wood but controlled by fire.
• Fire controls metal but controlled by water.
• Water controls fire but controlled by earth.
• Earth controls water but controlled by wood.
• Wood controls earth but controlled by metal.

Here is how these cycles of promotion and control are often depicted:

These same characteristics of the five elements in nature, and their affect on each other, is the same paradigm used in the body. Each of the five elements in nature has a major Yin and Yang organ of the body associated with that element.

• The liver has the same characteristics as wood, growing and unfolding.
• The heart is the same as fire, warming and flaring up.
• The spleen is the same as earth, receiving, transforming and generating.
• The lung is the same as metal, purifying and descending.
• The kidneys are the same as water, nourishing and flowing downward.

As a result, the organs of the body can now be placed and used in the same cycle of of promotion and control used for the elements in nature:

In summary, the promotion works like this:

• Kidney (water) promotes liver (wood).
• Liver (wood) promotes heart (fire).
• Heart (fire) promotes spleen (earth).
• Spleen (earth) promotes lung (metal).
• Lung (metal) promotes kidney (water).

Control of the five vital organs works like this:

• Lung (metal) controls liver (wood) but controlled by heart (fire).
• Heart (fire) controls lung (metal) but controlled by kidney (water).
• Kidney (water) controls heart (fire) but controlled by spleen (earth).
• Spleen (earth) controls kidney (water) but controlled by liver (wood).
• Liver (wood) controls spleen (earth) but controlled by lung (metal).

By applying the law of nature to our body system, Chinese medicine can interpret the symptoms and determine the causes of our health problems. When one organ fails, the symptoms usually show up in another. For example, when the lung energy is weak, the liver energy becomes out of control and develops into headaches or high blood pressure. In this case, treating the lungs is necessary in curing liver-related symptoms.

Chinese Medicine also looks at the orifices and openings in a person's face as if they are mirrors to what is going on in the internal vital organs. By observing the orifices and the tissues of the face, the eyes, tongue, mouth, nose, and ears, you can tell what is going on inside a person's organs.

Chinese Medicine also takes into account each season and climate in their assessment and treatment plans. The reason they do this is because each season can have adverse effects on one of our organs. Seasons can also be used to know when to help nurture and store up certain organs to prepare for oncoming seasons and they often prepare for seasons with the use of nutrition. They have determined the five tastes of sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty can have health promotional effects on the five organs and use this as part of their treatment and prevention of disease process.

In addition, Chinese Medicine recognizes emotions can have damaging effects on our vital organs. Too much sadness, for example, damages our lungs. Over joyfulness can cause heart attacks. Extreme anger hurts our livers. Too much worrying causes indigestion. Extreme frightfulness damages our kidneys. Chinese Medicine takes the different emotions and associates them with certain organs and then back to the initial five main elements found in nature.

Here is a summary of what is used in Chinese Medicine and how it translates to the five elements found in nature:

	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Yin Organ (Zang)	Liver	Heart	Spleen	Lungs	Kidneys
Yang Organ (Fu)	Gall bladder	Small intestine	Stomach	Large intestine	Bladder
Season	Spring	Summer	Late summer	Autumn	Winter
Climate	Wind	Heat	Dampness	Dryness	Cold
Orifice	Eyes	Tongue	Mouth	Nose	Ears
Tissue	Tendons	Blood vessels	Muscles	Skin	Bones
Taste	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Pungent	Salty
Emotion	Anger	Joy	Worry	Grief	Fear

So the reason why our instructor says that if you can understand nature and how the five elements work together, you can understand Chinese Medicine. The five elements are the foundation for understanding the inter-workings and thought process used to assess, diagnose, treat, and prevent problems the Chinese Medicine way.

Five Elements in Nature - a Foundation in Chinese Medicine