Each and every moment presents us with an opportunity and a choice. Life’s very design provides us with constant opportunities to evolve our Selves. Certain choices promote a path towards evolution in what can be perhaps seen as an ascending or upward direction, much as a spiral, or as a basket is woven, ever onwards towards the next tier, one step further along. Other choices lead us in circles, often with a feeling of going nowhere, of being lost, or simply unfulfilled.

There is a thread of consciousness that we are, that each of us is, and that each of us is connected to. At the miracle of birth, we join the mystery of breath, and at the miracle of death, we rejoin the Great Mystery, (and beyond…well, that’s for you and your Self). Between those two bookends we need not feel lost, because the common thread is the marvel of the inhale and exhale of our breath, and it is the choice to ground ourselves in the awareness of this subtle and yet magnificent part of our biology that is perhaps the simplest key to health, happiness, and re-orientation when we find ourselves going in an endless loop of discontent.

Science today tells us that stress kills, and in a society such as ours is today, one organized around an idea of more (more commitments, more deadlines, more debts, more connections, more to-do’s, and always más, más, más!!!), the body reaches a limit, a boiling point, and what steams forth comes as chronic illness, pain syndromes, psychological dis-ease and a perversion of the human spirit. Stress increases the release of stress hormones, and when these act on the body over a prolonged period of time, burnout, chaos, and illness result.

Therefore:

Embrace the mystery of the breath!

With each breath we inhale. There is a short pause. We exhale. There is a short pause. And this marvelous rhythm repeats. Drawing our attention fully and decisively to that cycle, we tap into an opportunity to be our own doctor. A studious attentiveness on the sea of our breath yields neurochemical secretions that counter those stress hormones, providing a brief respite, a balsam for the deep ache that is our dis-orientation. This medicine comes in the form of our body’s own internal pharmacy, our body’s own self-organized divine intelligence, a product of our beautiful dance with the Master.

Many have found that, with dedication, as one comes to know their breath through ever deeper study, chronic illness, pain and dis-ease may be reversed, productivity rises, and well-being burgeons. This is one of the reasons for the spread of such practices to the global West en-masse after several thousand years (and one of the reasons Google execs pay employees to meditate).

Try it! Sit, stand or lie down quietly and close your eyes. Bring all of your awareness to your breath, feeling the sensation of air entering, being sustained by, and then leaving your body. Feel the transition between the top or bottom of the breath (the “pause”). Just watch. Do this for a few moments. Then check in with your body. Feel the difference from when you started. Via this mechanism humans have learned to control their heart rate and rhythm, lower blood pressure, even begin to manage blood sugar. They have learned to counteract pain, raise body temperature, achieve great insights through the quiet contemplation of their natural connection to breath. A simple search of the Literature (and even several documentary films) demonstrates much telling research regarding the subject matter.

Our breath is not only a means, but a relationship, and it is our direct connection to the cosmos. As we inhale, we take into our body the sighs of our Mother Earth, and as we exhale, She takes in our gift for her (we know much of this mutualistic cycle as photosynthesis and cellular respiration).

The mystery deepens.

Imagine a world where we routinely made the awareness of our breath a part of our daily rhythm, for even 10 minutes a day! Firming ourselves in such a routine, we find a sense of true justice, we find that all piddly power schemes crumble, that true, authentic power is in the silence of the present moment, that humility is reached through non-striving, and that achievement is centered between the two lobes of our breath, at the altar of the heart.

Choose breath, and breathe…

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(Come join us for 30 minutes of mindfulness meditation every Monday evening from 6:45p (sharp) – 7:15pm at Bright Life Art Studio, 114 E Coal Ave. Suggested donation $3-5. July 8th class cancelled.)

For most of us, dieting doesn’t work. Whether you want to change your figure, your ethic, or your palate, most of us grasp on for a while, find ourselves grappling with the edge of the wagon, and soon find ourselves staring at the back of it. Feel like you’ve fallen off…again?

Does it feel like you’ve tried every diet? Keto, paleo, name brand diets, paid membership club diets, calorie, carb, and/or portion counting only to finally toss it to the wind in a feeling of shame, defeat, self-loathing, all surrounded by the short-lived orgasmic joy of the rebound? Then, of course, the fallout from that feast. Maybe you feel, too, like the scales can just never be balanced, like there can be no equilibrium.

Ok. What if we break this down into smaller reference frames? What if instead of looking at the diet itself as a matter of success and failure, what if we instead look at the perceived struggle as a blessed opportunity for us to learn to enjoy our food with a fervor? What if we parse this apart and focus on each moment as an opportunity to succeed, as an opportunity to sponge up every drop of feeling, of sensation, and presence with every single morsel of that meal? What if the goal of this isn’t succeeding in some diet as though we were perpetually on the edge of a cliff doomed for failure, but instead were atop a beautiful vista taking in the glory of this present moment?

This is the idea behind both mindful and intuitive eating. Forget the diet. Forget the guilt, the shame, the failure. Embrace now, right now. (Let’s get present here.)

Pause. Ask yourself, what do I really want to eat? The first step to becoming an intuitive eater is giving yourself unconditional permission to eat. The body must learn to trust you again, in that you won’t deprive it through austere and often neglectful dieting. How can you re-establish trust again with your body, which is your birthright? Promise yourself that you will never go on another diet again!

Why do we eat? Survival (biological hunger), emotion or stress eating, boredom, social eating, and simply eating because food is in front of us. There is such an abundance of food in our culture! The second step is learning to honor your biological hunger and thus feel your fullness. Let your body’s biological cues be your compass. Many dieters have lost touch with the orientation of their tummy compass – the physical sensation of what true hunger and fullness feels like in their own body – because they have learned to heed external (ie. diet) rules for eating rather than feeling and trusting internal cues.

When one begins this journey, one needs to become hyper-aware of what both physical hunger and fullness feels like in their own body. This vigilance is necessary because we’re constantly being told what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat instead of feeling it for ourselves. Since early childhood there has been external cueing (a parent or guardian) setting this stage for us, as in “finish your food,”or “you’ve had enough.” So we’ve learned to internalize external cues for feeding instead of feeling our own internal cues as a guide.

The last step is honoring your well-being with gentle nutrition, and this step needs to arrive gently, without our forcing it. To get from step two to step three, we must adjust our relationship to eating into one that is not only appreciative but attentive of both food and process. This is an act of mindfulness with our food. In other words, pay attention to how you’re eating as you’re doing so! The first two steps are not so much about what you are eating, but about why and how you are eating. Once we begin to cultivate paying attention, we will begin to naturally gravitate towards foods that help us feel more clarity with our internal compass of hunger and satiety, and our body’s internal wisdom will again take over. Once again, we can take life’s reigns in our hands and feel some direction and focus in our lives, rather than perpetually obsessing over food, dieting, and woulda-coulda-shoulda! Bon Appetit!

An excellent resource is Intuitive Eating, by Tribole and Resch.

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May is the month of mothers, and what better way to celebrate than a brief discussion about how we can support ourselves in being healthier, happier women? (Men, you may learn something here!)

Mothering, whether it be to a child (or other family members!), or as general creativity, can be an all-consuming task. The “reproductive years” can be an extremely busy and stressful time, as we are often trying to “do it all”. We are often busy with education, building a career, relationships, having and raising kids, and running the household. How does one get a minute to oneself? The result of so much activity in this stage of life can be overwhelming stress, often impacting a woman’s hormonal, menstrual and reproductive health.

With respect to mothering in the biological sense, this is all consuming. From difficulties with fertility to unexpected surprises, the burden (and joy) of growing and carrying a baby, to the uncertainty of due dates, and finally the postpartum period which no book, friendly advice or medical provider can ever prepare one for…the work never ends!

Then, when the reproductive years start to wane, and perimenopause, then later menopause sets in, it rarely comes without a mega rollercoaster of hormonal fluctuations. From a Chinese medicine perspective this manifests as a type of Kidney Yin Deficiency with Deficiency Heat, whose symptoms include hot flashes, insomnia, restlessness, night sweats and irritability. All of these symptoms are natural, and are the body’s expression of going through a major womanly rite of passage. Unfortunately, for many women it feels the opposite of natural, and is merely an uncomfortable and sometimes embarrassing burden.

Almost every continent has plants and herbs that local people use, and have used for hundreds to thousands of years to support women’s health; in Thailand, an herb known as Pueraria Mirifica; in the South we hear of Maca root; black cohosh is popular here in the west; Chasteberry or Vitex grows abundantly in the Mediterranean; in China, Rehmannia root is often used as are many other native Chinese herbs. All of these herbs (to name just a few) contain a relatively high amount of phytoestrogens, or plant hormones. These chemicals can provide our body some extra pep, as the levels of estrogen and progesterone fluctuate throughout the female life cycle.

Let’s briefly explore the difference between using a plant sterol (or phytoestrogen) to balance out hormonal issues, compared with the mammalian version of estrogens, as used in conventional hormone replacement therapy. With the use of mammalian hormones, which are much more potent than their plant counterparts, results are often dramatic, often too dramatic. Thus, getting the right dosage can be tricky, and may require more intense medical management.

It is important to understand that the body has two different estrogen receptors: alpha and beta. The mammalian hormones in hormone replacement therapy bind to the alpha estrogen receptors, and thus need to be monitored closely since they may act also as a growth hormone. This poses the risk of causing unwanted tissue growth, including a higher risk for breast tumors. The wonderful thing about phyto plant hormones is that they bind to the beta estrogen receptors. This also elicits estrogenic effects, however, without acting as a growth hormone. Hence, less monitoring and testing is required to avoid unwanted tissue growth.

These phytoestrogens also have adaptogenic properties, meaning they help your body adapt when the body needs to maintain balance. From a Chinese medicine perspective they can simultaneously tonify conditions of deficiency, and mitigate conditions of excess. In other words, if you have too much estrogen relative to progesterone, the phytoestrogen will protect your tissue from overstimulation. If you don’t have enough estrogen relative to progesterone, it will make your tissue feel like there is enough.

A word of caution: Before ordering any herbs off of the internet, it is strongly recommended to work with a natural medicine practitioner, or someone who specializes in herbal medicine. Not all herbal supplements on the market are created equal; in fact many of them do not contain the amounts or types of herbs claimed on the bottle. A qualified practitioner can recommend the best quality brands of herbs and supplements. Another resource is consumerlab.com, which is a third party company that tests supplements. If you are someone who takes a lot of supplements, do check out this website to make sure you are taking a quality brand.

Happy Mother’s Day and Beyond!

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Food is medicine.

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine said it best, “Let thy food be thy medicine, and let thy medicine be thy food.” In our era of caloric abundance, it becomes easy to choose from a large variety of food items, types, and flavors. There are so many options to choose from (and, unfortunately, so many of these come with long-term detrimental consequences for health), that one often feels lost as to the best course of action. What we put into our bodies, has suddenly become so complicated, even at times dangerous. Meat and dairy items are largely laced with pharmacologically-active antibiotics, steroids and hormones. Non-organic fruits and vegetables have been genetically-modified, doused with herbicides, fungicides. How do all of these chemicals affect our own body’s chemistry, especially if we are taking medications ourselves? (And, no, your doctor doesn’t check interactions between your prescribed drugs and the pharmaceuticals given to the animals you just ate for dinner, many of which are still pharmacologically active!)

Eat wisely. Eat simply.

Diet really doesn’t have to be that complicated! The author, Michael Pollan sums it up nicely, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Another way of terming this is a “plant-based Diet.” This may sound incredibly simplistic, but long-term evidence suggests this really is the best way to eat. According to Dr. Valter Longo, the director of the Longevity Institute of USC, a plant-based diet can reduce the risk factors for aging and diseases. This conclusion is based on looking at the diets of people worldwide, over the long-term. The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine also strongly endorses this evidence-based approach, with a scathing review of both the mainstream medical approach to dieting, as well as fad dieting, the latter of which preys upon consumer confusion and desperation in an effort to make profits over socially-responsible achievements.

So what does a plant-based diet look like? Avoid animal sources for food, and focus on plant sources for food. What’s also important is to focus on quality sources of nutrients, and the right type of nutrients. One way to know you’re getting the right mix-up of plant-based nutrients is to look at the ANDI table (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) of foods, a clever table designed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman (author of “The end of diabetes”). This table is based on his equation: H=N/C (Health = Nutrients/Calories). In this equation-based table, you can see the foods that have the best ratio of micro-to-macronutrient profiles. When we eat a diet high in micronutrients compared to macronutrients, for all intents and purposes, we are guaranteed adequate amounts of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, while gleaning plenty of healthy carbohydrates and proteins, as well as the right type of fats. This not only protects the heart and blood vessels, but also decreases the insulin resistance and lowers blood sugars, all effectively working for you as your food-based medicine to counteract chronic illness such as diabetes, high blood pressure, vascular disease, etc.

In the interest of keeping the above simple, follow the adage “eat the rainbow”. Eating a variety of colors from plant sources ensures that you are both maximizing your intake of high nutrient density foods and getting a wider profile of essential life-sustaining building blocks to help stave off diseases of deficiency and of excess. The standard american diet (S.A.D.) does just the opposite – it is making us sick, promoting chronic illness, and it does so by promoting diseases of micronutrient deficiency and by promoting diseases of macronutrient (carbohydrate, fat, protein) excess. You are what you eat. Eat unadultured foods in their natural state, which means avoiding foods that contain added ingredients (this largely rules out commercial meat and dairy products, shelf-stable foods, and foods with labels that contain more than a few familiar ingredients). If in need of a quick diet to follow, consider the Mediterranean diet, a simple, plant-based diet that would have us eat the rainbow and largely avoid processed foods.

If you eat meat, do so medicinally.

In Chinese medicine, meat is used in dietary therapy to build blood & qi (vital energy) in certain conditions of deficiency.  Diet, according to the ancient Chinese medical perspective, would have us eat meat sparingly, and when medically necessary. This plant-based, low meat diet also parallels the profound results of the long-term and notorious China study.

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As Winter transitions to Spring, an inner spring cleaning is good to promote resilience after a difficult period of short days, long nights, bitter cold, and relative hibernation. To aid in our body’s adjustment, Oriental medicine has practical wisdom for us.

Spring is a time of new beginnings, seen as seedlings, bright budding greens, upward reaching towards the sun. This is the proverbial wood element in Chinese medicine, and the first element in the five phase cycle of this tradition. The liver organ system is aligned with wood element, and thus a Spring cleaning of one’s body necessitates supporting this energy system.

Wind is a component of wood energy, and as the high desert winds blow across the land, internal wind can stir up such things as allergies, skin ailments, autoimmune disease, and a general restlessness. This is a classic manifestation of a lack of harmony in the liver organ system. The liver stores excess. Whether food, drink, chemicals, or emotions. As the body comes out of its relative winter hibernation, “residues” have built up in the body from a general lack of movement; a lack of purifying sunlight; the excesses of food, drink, and drugs (whether prescription – often used more in winter months – or recreational). When the liver is overburdened, it’s role in digestion is compromised, leading to blood pressure and/or blood sugar imbalances, constipation, anger, and often fueling a sense of a loss of self-control. This makes perfect sense: the body is coming out of winter from a cold start, and trying its best to re-calibrate and warm itself to the growing freedom of lengthening days and increased movement in general.

With respect to foods that can nourish the liver and aid in Spring cleaning, plant-based foods are warranted. As plants reach for sunlight they charge themselves with vital energy that embodies the spring season, and this naturally imparts a dynamic movement into the liver organ system. This aids in reharmonizing the body with nature’s shifts, while thus supporting the liver. Leafy green vegetables are good for sweeping the liver…envision all the chlorophyll from sun-thirsty plants imparting their solaceus nourishment to your body, sun-charged and ready for waking up sluggish digestion. Sour foods are likewise supportive; such foods include lemons, pickles, plain yogurts sauerkrauts, kombucha tea, and sourdough breads. Serendipitously, these also support a healthy gut microbiome (good intestinal bacteria), thus cleansing and renewing our digestive system.

In the spirit of spring cleaning, now is an auspicious time to do a “cleanse”, whether this means taking several days to load up on veggie soups (light on the digestive system, rich in a plant base), perhaps extra green salads, or you might commit to a more formal herbal or fasting cleanse. A “fasting-mimicking diet” is a more practical way to cleanse if you’re concerned about trying to fit your cleanse into a busy routine. Alongside this, and in accordance with increasing bodily movement, drink plenty of water to flush out any blockages.

And don’t forget to move! What do animals do when they awaken? Yawn, stretch, move. As we reach for the sun from a long winter, take time to walk, breathe deep, stretch, perhaps take a yoga class, do some zumba, dance, or get onto some of Gallup’s beautiful trails.

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In February we celebrate the energy of love, with Valentine’s Day, smack dab in the middle of the month. And what an auspicious time to celebrate this, amidst the social storm that is affecting so many of us! With such powerful energies of division and disharmony at the forefront of the national political narrative this winter, let’s take a humble and sweet moment to step beyond division, and beyond the walls of rigid sociopolitical constructs. Instead, let’s take a moment this February, with love, to greet our neighbors, not fear them; to be One human family, not Other. To be friends. To break bread. Let’s celebrate the dedication pouring forth from so many of our community members.

This can be seen in the dedication of those who keep working as the federal system shuts down, those whose livelihood won’t make it to their pockets for the remaining duration of this uncertain period and yet who nevertheless dutifully carry out their obligations of service, demonstrating their human spirit by participating in unity, community, and small but powerful acts of harmony.

Whether we are in Washington DC or here in humble McKinley Co, our standing firm at our posts is an expression of a deeper layer of the multifaceted people that we are…and that at the core we are all simply wanting to love one another and to be loved. Again, what an auspicious time, as the red and pink hearts of affection and connection start to appear each February on windows, on desks, and in mailboxes. These are symbolic of none other than love, whose energy is both expansive and warming, and stands alongside the expression of spring’s coming and hope’s ripening.

How do we nourish ourselves in this time of continued dedication and service, even when many of us aren’t being reimbursed for our services? (After all, money is simply another form of energy, and when energy exchange becomes a one way street, even if only temporarily, we will find ourselves depleted.) In these times of seemingly giving and not receiving, Chinese Medicine would have us nourish the Heart organ system, which governs things such as love and communion, and is ruled by the element of fire. Interestingly, bitter flavored foods nourish the Heart organ system. (Perhaps this makes sense. For the fullest experience of sweet, you need to understand that of bitter.)

Two excellent and fitting bitters for February that you might consider enjoying, and that nourish the Heart organ, are the bitter flavors of dark chocolate and coffee. Enjoy them! However, do consume these in moderation, given that both dark chocolate and coffee can over-stimulate the Heart organ system if over-consumed. Additionally, if you find yourself over-stimulated, taking some quiet time for mindful reflection on your relationships with yourself and others can act in parallel to nourish this organ system, as well as provide insight into our troubled times.

Similarly, another way to take care of ourselves in these challenging times is through consuming items that are of a more fiery nature (fire being ruler of the Heart). Foods with such properties include ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cherries, basil, and rosemary. So if you’re contemplating a treatie for your sweetie, consider something like dark chocolate covered cherries, or sweet-and-savory rosemary ginger scones.

When we take steps to care for ourselves in these uncertain times rife with often difficult change, we can more sustainably continue our service to one another. When we then take steps to serve one another, we choose to evolve the human race in a direction that upholds union, harmony, and friendship. Thus, we take steps to co-create a better future for the generations to come. So, do take time to enjoy some of the flavors that can help you stay on the half-full side, rather than the half-empty.

Regardless of your politic, your party, your identity, we’re all striving to love our neighbor, thus honoring this month that is ruled by love. And in honoring love, we honor one another as equals.

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The holiday season is such a joy, with time focused on family, the hearth, and indulgences, all with underlying spiritual tones of promise and renewal. Unfortunately for many of us, the seasonal spike of celebration can also leave us feeling sluggish and heavy with excess. How can we come back into balance after overindulgence, and resolutely take a leap forward into a better 2019?

A fantastic way to counteract the post-holiday lull is to temporarily moderate caloric intake as well as to add more movement into your daily routine. Here are a few ideas that might help you feel a little clearer after the quintessential holiday binge.

Our ancestors naturally went through periods of feast and famine, one beautifully balancing the other. Feast might come during times of celebration or abundance. Famine came when food was scarce (with people perhaps fasting during ceremonial observances). However, too much of either feast or famine can be dangerous (moderation being the needed mantra of our times). The holiday season, with its blessed excesses can, in this sense, be a curse if not properly balanced.

Intermittent fasting is a hot topic right now in the field of both pop-Western and mainstream alternative medicine. With intermittent fasting, a person can engage in a “mini-fast” that allows for all the known health benefits of a bonafide fast, though in a shorter period of time, while also minimizing hunger pains, irritability, cravings, and cutting caloric intake so as to kindle digestive fire. It simply entails not eating for greater than 12 hours at regular intervals. An easy way to do this is to eat dinner around 6-7pm and then not eat again until at least 6-7am the next morning. This means absolutely no snacking after dinner. The next step up on the rung of commitment might be to not eat from dinner the night before (6-7pm) until lunch of the next day (say, noon). That would be approximately 16 hours of rest for your over-taxed digestive system.

Similarly, our ancestors moved their bodies much more than we do today. It’s telling that many of our modern diseases are fueled by inactivity. Perhaps a movement parallel to the above dietary tweak would be something like high intensity interval training (HIIT). With a HIIT protocol, a person briefly will engage in repeated, intense, brief bouts of exercise followed by intervals of less intense exercise in order to attain many of the benefits of longer workouts. This could be as simple as power walking for 2 minutes followed by walking at a normal pace for 5 minutes and repeating for a total of a half hour daily. Of course this is one of countless examples. Another way to restore more vibrancy to the body after the holidays could be to commit to a 5 minute morning wake-up stretching routine, and a 5 minute end-of-work-day stretching routine to help clear your mind and ease stress from your body upon arriving home.

Disclaimer: If you have have diabetes or a host of other metabolic disorders, you will want to consult your physician before attempting a dietary shift. Something like calorie restriction is only one of many ways to come back into balance after periods of excess.

New years resolutions, whether for weight loss, diet, or exercise, require a conscious act of will. In Chinese medicine, the willpower to follow through over the long-haul to achieve a desired end is ruled by the kidney organ network. How, then, can we then nourish this kidney network in order to strengthen our resolve? Deficiencies in this network are resolved through healthy movement, a light and clean diet, and stress reduction. With this last piece, commit to taking a few moments out of each day to appreciate your self and your hard work. Savor reading a few pages from a novel, sipping a special cup of coffee or tea, or taking some quiet time to simply sit and contemplate the present moment, ignoring the to-do list for just a few minutes. You owe it to yourself! Happy new year!

For over 2500 years, Oriental Medicine (OM) has utilized acupuncture and herbalism to stimulate and supplement the body’s innate pharmacopoeia in order to resolve internal imbalances in the body.

OM is founded upon a deep study of life lived amongst the raw elements – earth, water, wind, fire – and how these forces influenced health or dis-ease in the population. Is the nature of the ailment hot or cold, damp or dry, excess or deficient? The person’s state of being is interwoven into their surroundings.

By focusing on treating the person, rather than merely a disease, OM truly is holistic. Clearly, symptom relief is a crucial aim in this – and all – medicines. However, were we to neglect to address the underlying causes fueling an ailment, we would fail to prevent its return, as though we had topped the weed and left the roots to later grow (and likely with redoubled efforts!). We will then want to explore those areas in our lives which are out of balance, in order to address wellness throughout the entirety of the person (this would be the “whole” of the “holistic” approach).

A key principle of wellness in this elemental tradition is the practice of living harmoniously with nature. To live thus is to keep dis-ease at bay. Should we stray too far, our body will receive signals that may serve to reorient us back into equilibrium. This innate wisdom, if necessary, will communicate to us via symptoms of disease, which may serve to act as a compass if we are attentive and are decisive in correcting our imbalances. In this way, dis-ease and wellness juxtapose as powerful teachers for us in life. Our bodies know how to heal. We have within us innate and powerful healing systems that just need the right stimulus at the right time to activate. OM thus serves as a compass bearing us towards harmony.

How can we apply these principles to everyday life to achieve, or maintain optimal health? According to OM we must adjust our health hygiene to match seasonal rhythms. The resilient person instills changes in her lifestyle in tandem with those of the seasons and/or surrounding environments. Let’s take a look, for example, at sleep. Living in harmony with nature would dictate that in the darker months, we would want to go to bed ideally an hour earlier, though even half an hour earlier is still beneficial. If we pause and tune-in to our bodies, most of us will naturally feel moved to go to bed earlier in these times. By doing this, we invest in our wellness bank account, which later pays off with interest in the form of health, yielding a happier state of being as the holidays wax and then wane. So lets shoot for the proverbial 8-to-9-hours-a-day of sleep.

Another example of adhering to natural rhythms is modifying what we eat as the seasons shift. With colder weather, we may wish to put a focus on eating warming foods, replacing that raw salad with a hot veggie stew, perhaps throwing in some warming herbs such as curry, fresh grated ginger, scallions, garlic, (some chili peppers if you dare), and some coconut milk. All of these foods are considered warming in OM. Ginger, being a well-known anti-inflammatory in western herbology, also happens to support the lungs and stomach (in OM) during the cold months as everyone around us is getting sick. When we adapt our eating to the season’s colder shifts by incorporating warming foods, then we are increasing our internal resilience, which means stronger immunity, and increased stress-tolerance.

Through a simple study of our surroundings, and an attentiveness to our body, Oriental wisdom has much to teach us. Through helping us to adapt our daily routine, we take simple steps to approach a harmony with the changing of seasons – an important step in overall wellness.

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The Five Methods of Acupuncture

In Chapter 25 of Chinese medicine’s oldest surviving text, The Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Internal Medicine, the famous Yellow Emperor asks the wise Qibo to tell him about acupuncture methods. He requests of Qibo: “What I intend is to alleviate the pain of the patients…can you tell me what method of acupuncture should be applied?” [1]  Qibo then describes five acupuncture methods.

Before describing the five methods, he expresses to the Yellow Emperor that most people only care about “their meal only,” perhaps implying that they do not take the time to really understand all the ingredients that make up the meal.[2] He says that these five methods are available for everyone to utilize but most people do not take the time to understand them. This is a fitting metaphor for modern day approach, of the majority, to the study of the The Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Internal Medicine. In many cases, people do not approach it at all; perhaps because they think it is too tedious to read, too vague to be applied practically, and in some cases, too difficult to interpret a direct meaning. When Qibo comments that most people only care about “their meal,” or what is directly in front of them, it can be likened to the metaphor of most people taking “the path of least resistance.” Trying to interpret the Nei Jing in the 21^st century is like taking the road less traveled, or seeking out a hidden road, without a clear roadmap. The response that Qibo gives is simple yet extremely profound, especially when applied to the Nei Jing’s place in TCM. TCM does not place much, if any emphasis on studying the wisdom in this classic, for precisely the reasons I describe above.

Qibo continues his discourse by offering a description of each of the five methods of acupuncture. The first method he offers is to: “Concentrate the attention.”[3] He elaborates on this principle by expressing that the correct method of “pricking” can only be determined after all relevant data has been ascertained. The practitioner must be able to concentrate full attention when determining if the patient’s viscera is presenting sthenia (excessive vital force), or asthenia (weakness) & the quality of the “nine sub-parts of the pulse.”[4] He explains that the concentration must become refined enough to allow the practitioner to drown out distractions such as noise, or other people who might be observing the treatment. Qibo also emphasizes that the practitioner should never rely on outer observations of the patient only, but must focus on pulse examination.

Qibo says that it is imperative to have a mature sense of the patient’s ailment. Additionally, he comments on the importance of being able to develop a sense of the channel energy and how it moves, describing this perception as being important in determining the appropriate time to needle. When the channel energy is in the right place, the practitioner must not delay the opportunity to needle, but be diligent in applying theneedle appropriately. He says, “Pricking is easy in purging but difficult in invigorating.”[5] If someone is suffering from an asthenic disease, it is better to needle gently, but if someone is suffering from a sthenic ailment, it is appropriate to needle without hesitation. Once the needle has been applied, it is important for the practitioner to concentrate when twisting the needle; it will ensure that “the pricking is clean and smooth.”[6] Concentration will expand a practitioner’s ability to sense any movement or changes in the channel energy. Qibo also says, “One must pay attention to the breathing of the patient and examine the expected energy change.”[7] His extensive elaboration on the first acupuncture method is appropriate given that concentration is a skill that does not come effortlessly; it can be intense and require a lot of work to develop. “When twisting the needle, one must be very careful as if he is standing on the edge of an abyss, and be very concentrative as if holding a fierce tiger. In a word, one should concentrate his (her) mind, and not be disturbed by other things.”[8] Concentration can be difficult to master because there are so many things to get distracted by, yet it is only through concentration and focus that the practitioner can develop the subtly of perception needed in order to observe the movement of channel energy. While it may not be necessary for everyone to master the art of concentration, it seems like a basic tenet in delivering an optimal treatment.

The second acupuncture method he presents, refers to taking “care of the body.”[9] While it is not clear to me if Qibo is speaking of the practitioner or patient’s body, I prefer to interpret it as both. The body is the where all the organ officials live and should be cared for in such a way as to honor the material/non-material beings that inhabit it.

The third principle addressed is: “Knowing the actual property of the medicine.”[10] My understanding of this statement boils down to the practitioner’s attainment and study of a solid repertoire of knowledge of the properties of herbs and acupuncture points, channels, and the importance of having a firm grasp of the underlying theories surrounding their use.

The fourth property is stated as “preparing different sizes of stone needles to meet the need of treating various diseases.”[11] The fourth method is fairly self-explanatory in that a practitioner must be prepared for the treatment of different conditions by having a variety of needles available to work with. In other words, “No one needle size fits all.”

In his fifth and final statement about acupuncture methods, Qibo describes: “Knowing the diagnostic method for the viscera, blood, and energy.”[12] This statement refersto the aforementioned importance of knowing the appropriate methods for determining and diagnosing the states of the patient’s viscera and pulses.

Qibo explains that all the methods have their strengths. It falls to discretion of the practitioner as to which situations he/she wishes to apply the five methods of acupuncture in. He emphasizes that there is nothing “mysterious” about these methods, and if a practitioner simply applies the yin yang laws of nature, then he/she will achieve unique clinical results.

[1] Wu Liansheng and Wu Qi, Yellow Emperors Canon of Internal Medicine (Beijing: China Science and Technology Press, 1997) 143.

[2] Wu 136

[3] Wu 136

[4] Wu 137

[5]  Wu 137

[6]  Wu 137

[7]  Wu 137

[8]  Wu, 138

[9]  Wu 137

[10]  Wu 137

[11] Wu 137

[12] Wu 137

What is Qi?

What exactly is qi? In Chinese culture, qi is a commonly used word that is understood within the context of Chinese culture, where it originated. In a Chinese medical context there are many different types of qi. What happens when we take a word, or rather, a concept and try and translate it in an entirely different cultural context? Lost in translation, or confusion!

In this post I will explore the question of “what is qi?” Let’s look at it from a few different angles.

Qi as biological or metabolic energy: In Chinese characters, the character for qi is made up of two different meanings. The lower part of the character is the character for rice that is cooking. The upper part of the character is a picture of steam rising. So we can translate this as the steam that rises up from the rice that is cooking. We can also think of this as vapor.

Let’s consider this character’s meaning in the simple equation of:

Food (rice) + air (steam) = energy

We need food and oxygen to create biological energy.

And what type of energy? Why, metabolic energy of course. Voila! This is the energy that fuels our biological being day in and day out. It’s the energy our cells use to perform all of the miraculous and calculated tasks second by second to ensure our survival. It is the energy our brain uses to make calculated decisions. It is our primal instincts in action, our animated force. It drives us every second.

Qi as breath or air: without the ability to take in oxygen, you would not be reading this right now. Air is a requirement for human life. Air is our animating life force. This is a concept which spans across cultures. In the Yogic tradition the equivalent word of qi is called prana. The ancient yogis spend hours, years, experimenting with ways to maximize prana, or vital life force. One of the ways they worked toward optimization is through breathing techniques. The vedic word for this is Prana Yama, which basically means breath work. They discovered that by maximizing the amount of oxygen they were able to take in, and by manipulating the breath, they could drastically increase their life force. To understand how our breathing effects our being lets considered what happens when our breathing becomes restricted? What happens with anxiety? Usually people who feel anxiety report shortness of breath, or a restricted feeling in there chest, or the inability to take in a full, deep breath. What happens when we get stressed, angry or feel grief. One of our bodies’ first responses is a change in the breath. When our ability to take in oxygen is altered we feel worse. So in Chinese medicine when we are talking about qi we are to a certain extent referring to your capacity to breath rhythmic full and deep, satisfying breaths. To a certain extent, the way you breath tells the story of your state of health. So when an acupuncturist is assessing your qi, through various methods of assessment such as pulse taking, some of what we are feeling is the rhythm of your pulse, which is regulated by your breathing rhythm and depth. Your capacity to take in oxygen.

Qi as a state of being: Have you ever had anyone tell you that you had good energy, or a good vibe? Likewise, if you hang around enough acupuncturists you may here that you have good qi. So what exactly does that mean? It is a feeling

Qi as an intelligent life force: Now let’s look at qi from a more philosophical viewpoint. Let us consider what the force is that allows a woman to grow a baby inside her body in about 9 months? What is the force that causes the earth to spin in space. The force that drives a mother to defy the will of gravity so that she can lift a car off of her child? What is it that inspires explorers to venture in the wild unknown to discover something new? My simple answer, which is really only a tiny piece of the pie is that it is the will to live, or the will to survive, and thrive. When we analyze this will at a micro level we see that the will to survive is programmed into every single cell. It is in the double-helix of our DNA.