April 5th, 2011. "Clear and Bright ", the 5th small Spring season arrives

      "Clear and Bright"(Qing Ming in Chinese Pin Yin) is the 5th Spring season and the 2nd warm season of the year. Just like its name, this season is bright and clear, the gloomy feeling from winter has left us, key is blue and earth is awaking, trees and even some flowers start to bloom, and the temperature will continue rising. And this is the golden time for farmers to plant new seeds, and for people to plant new trees.


      As both the "heaven energy" (temperature) and "earth energy"(rising energy) is at a new level, we people fit in as well. By this season, the spring rising energy has reached a very high level, and you may notice there are more angry people around you. This is the result of extreme high liver energy. Liver is considered as "wood"(tree) in the 5-element system, and "wood" feeds "fire", which is the heart. The last thing we want in this season is the "double-fire" of liver and heart, because this can cause high blood pressure, and for those who are already dealing with high blood pressure this will be the risky time.


      Good news is, if there is YIN, then there must be YANG to balance it. If we know what may cause trouble, there will be solutions. The term "high blood pressure" or "hypertension" is one of the most used terms in our life. We all know the symptoms and possible damages it can cause to the body. But according to TCM, the cause of hypertension varies. The pathology is comprehensive. Therefore in order to treat it effectively, we must figure out the closest cause first. The general reasons for hypertension include aging, emotion imbalance, long term energy over-spending, and wrong diet. And common hypertension types include:

1. Low in Yin energy causing weak-hyper Yang energy: Headache, dizziness, tinnitus，blurry vision, insomnia or dreamy, sore lower back and knees, red face, numbness. This is usually caused by chronic emotional stress and imbalanced diet. Work on balancing and easing the emotional condition and use Chrysanthemum tea as simple food remedy.
2. Yin energy weakened in Liver and Kidney: Dizziness with blurry vision, dry eyes, tinnitus or deafness, sore and weak lower back and knees, heels pain. This is usually caused by aging and energy overspent. Use honey as simple food remedy.
3. Low in both Yin and Yang energy: Vertigo, pale and dull face, heat rush, short-breathed, sore and weak lower back and knees，frequent micturition during sleep or retain fluid (water swollen). 

Therefore TCM does not support the idea of depending on medications. Instead, use the medication for temporary or emergency conditions to earn more time and opportunities to treat the root causes. The treatment for hypertension must be comprehensive, which should not only include physical manipulation but also emotional adjustments. TCM believes that emotions play big roles in the cause of hypertension. This can be verified as the blood pressure rises fast when people are experiencing extreme emotions, such as anger, happiness,fear or sadness. Therefore besides necessary medical treatments, adjusting the emotional condition is the other kind of essential treatment. But this has to be done by the patients themselves, under proper instructions by the therapists of course. Tai Chi or Qi Gong is always the first choices for inner energy balancing exercises. If doing regular exercises, choose mild ones like jogging or walking. Avoid intense competitive sports to prevent over-excited emotions. Avoid weight lifting to prevent possible risks from breath-holding. Try to develop a steady, regular and mild eating pattern, no devouring (in any sense).


      The name "Clear and Bright" (Qing Ming) also refers to the traditional Chinese Qing Ming Festival, or "All souls day".  This is the time to remember the dead and the dearly departed. More important, it is a period to honor and to pay respect to one's deceased ancestors and family members. Because it reinforces the ethic of filial piety, Qing Ming is a major Chinese festival. This festival falls in early spring, on the 106th day after the winter solstice. It is a "spring" festival, and it is an occasion for the whole family to leave the home and to sweep the graves of their ancestors. Chinese being practical people this sweeping of the graves is given an extended period, that is, usually 10 days before and after Qing Ming day. In some area it may last one month long. As the rising warm air meets the cold air more often, there will also be some raining or misty days during the "clear and bright". The sentimental people walk in the light rain toward cemetery to see their long-lost loved ones, this makes another typical "Qing Ming" picture. As the famous Chinese poem said:

Drizzling rain falls like tears on the Qing Ming Mourning Day;

The mourners' heart is breaking on their way.

Where can a winehouse be found to drown the sadness?

A cowherd points to Almond Flower Village in the distance.

      Interestingly, several things people do the most during the season and festival benefit the health as well. One is kowtow, meaning you kneel and bow so low as to have your head touching the ground. This is the act of deep respect. Meanwhile this movement allows you to move many joints and muscles in your body that you usually do not exercise. This movement is also a "energy-directing" exercise of Taoist Qi Gong, It's proven to increase the energy and blood flow in the body to prevent angiosclerosis, hypertension and stroke. However, this works the best as preventive exercise and if you already have hypertension this may NOT be the best move for you. The other one, believe or not, is sobbing, or crying. If I mention the word "catharsis" then this may seem to make more sense to you.  Crying is believed to be a great method of releasing the "trapped" liver energy as TCM believes liver is connected with eyes and tear. It can be considered as detoxing, especially liver toxin. For those who are under lots of pressure everyday, man or woman, crying can be a very good way for you to release the tension and prevent any further blockage in the body. If you are lucky enough to have some very understanding family member, friends or even therapists around you, they are your best support.

      As the universe is getting "clear and bright", accept the universal energy and make yourself clear and bright as well.

Regarding Sleep Apnea & more

      The main symptom of sleep apnea is the abnormal pause in breathing. It can last a few seconds to minutes and sadly some will even suffocate and die from it. People who suffer from sleep apnea usually have no problem falling asleep, but they snore loudly and during snoring sleep apnea may occur. They can be woke up often by suffocation but fall back to asleep, then wake again and fall asleep again...Others may see them as having a deep and nice sleep but themselves will feel the opposite. In a long run this can cause chronic fatigue and low energy in day time. Some may even fall asleep while driving. 

      However, most of us do snore sometime and that is considered normal. Normal snoring is different from the symptom of sleep apnea. Many of us who snore do not suffer from sleep apnea, but some who suffers from it may not snore. Therefore make sure to seek medical professionals for diagnosis. 

      According to TCM theory. when human falls asleep, some body functional forces/energy stop working, the "spirit" (the force that controls the immaterial aspects of human being is called "spirit" by TCM. Roughly, it can be considered as brain and heart functions) will hide back in the liver and get rest. Meanwhile the "soul" (the force that controls the physical functions of human being, such as breath, senses, evacuation, ect. is called "soul" in TCM. Roughly it can be considered as the spinal functions) will start working, and "soul" is stored in the lungs. Healthy people has normal lungs function during sleep. But snoring indicates the malfunction of the lungs and also can be seen as low in "soul" energy. Many patients had operation to treat the symptoms, disregarding the result, we are not in favor of any unnecessary operations or surgeries. 

      The "branch" cause for snoring is the swollen in throat structures; The "root" cause is because excessive fluid (phlegm) is blocking the throat, trachea,bronchus or even alveolus, therefore interfering the normal oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange process. When awake, one can manually cough out the phlegm, but not while asleep. 

      Some suggestions for these people includes: Lite dinner: Don't eat too much, avoid salty and greasy food. Eat more whole food; And white radish: Drink white radish soup or simply eat it raw with the skin.This will help with eliminating phlegm. 

      The other deeper cause for snoring and sleep apnea is hyperlipemia (high cholesterol or blood fat,and fatty liver). This requires longer and more systematic treatments. Avoiding too much fat and cholesterol is necessary but not quite enough. Improving the body digestive system function is more important for one to break down and burn the fat.

      The key is to increase the temperature of small intestine. This is the essential condition for the digestive enzyme to fully function. Drink no cold drinks especially during meal. Also the TCM believes fruits are cold in nature and can cause negative effects to some patients, therefore our opinion is for those who are high in blood fat should avoid fruits, again, you may not agree with this point and it's up to you to interpret. If you like tea, avoid green tea but drink more red or black tea. You can add a little bit of salt but no milk. Also eat less deep-fried food,but more roasted or baked food (especially grain products) instead. These all will help with transforming the blood fat.

      One simply herbal/food remedy is orange vessels.You can easily collect them from oranges, dry them and then make your "orange vessels tea", this is a very effective remedy for lowing blood fat or cholesterol.

March 21st, 2011. "Spring equinox ", the 4th small Spring season arrives

      Many of us know "Spring equinox" as the "Beginning of the Spring". Actually this season is more like the "middle point" of the spring, as spring began 2 seasons ago already.However it is not wrong to see it as the beginning as on this day we are having equal day and night, and from this day on we will have longer day time. This is also the beginning of the warm season (the last one was the wind season). 
      
       Warm season will be much more pleasant than the wind season which just left us. The temperature will be going up from now on. But as being the first small season in the warm season, the temperature will not be very stable and we will be still having cold-hot mix weathers. As the season itself is a Yin-Yang balanced state, we need to work on our body energy to be Yin-Yang balanced too. The mixed weather will also affect our body energy to be unstable. Therefore losing the inner energy balance is the may issue. So the health exercise for this season will be focusing on balance the body energy. After all, traditional Chinese medicine believes that the ultimate way to stay healthy is to keep the balance of the inner Yin and Yang energy. When the balance is lost people will move into the so called "subhealth" condition and eventually become sick.


       Naturally, you may be able to guess the rules for eating already, and that is to stay balanced too. Meaning you should avoid foods that are too strong in nature such as spicy and cold. Or if you really cannot resist some great but strong food, make sure balance them. For example, when eating cold food like fish, shrimp, crab and other seafood, add some hot food like ginger, scallion and garlic; And when eating spicy food make sure to drink some mild or cool tea such as chrysanthemum and green tea. Still, avoid sour, take sweetness but increase a little bit of spiciness for this season.


      So the key word for this season is "balance". Emotionally is the same. Try to stay on a mild and balanced emotional state without being extreme on any emotion. (Not speaking that we are still under the Liver season.) This is easy to say but hard to do, again, working on self-observation and cultivation become essential. Whenever there is a nice day, step out, go to parks and gardens to enjoy and appreciate the reborn of life. Dress wise, keep the lower body warmer than the upper but of course stay warm in general but do make reasonable adjustment according to weather changes. Possibly when doing exercise, working on sweating the lower body (legs and feet), this will release the harmful leftover cold from the past winter.


      Several common symptoms in the season include:
      
      1.Early morning diarrhea: This is a sign/result of low in Yang energy. If the patients also tend to feel cold and the lower body even being cold, they can use some ginger tea in the morning or ginger chicken soup to warm up the internal energy.


      2. Acute abdominal, stomach ache or diarrhea: This usually happens to people who are weak in stomach/spleen system. It's a result of liver energy unbalance and most likely is caused by harmful wind and cold. Therefore avoid wind and drink and eat warm.


      3.Common cold and flu: These guys never miss anything and they are always around us. We have been talking about them all the time but in this particulate season, the best way to avoid them is to exercise outside when there are good days to maintain a strong immune system.

March 6th, 2011. "Insects awaken", the 3rd small Spring season arrives PART 2

 1.Low in Yin：Skinny, palm and the bottom of the feet tend to get warm easy, feeling irritated easy, sleep less, dry feces, dark yellow urine, low tolerance for heat, like cold food and drink.

    

          Health tips: 

• Mental cultivation:These type of people tend to be very irritable and easy to get frustrated or angry.  This is a result of low in Yin energy, which causes the "fire" to bother the mind. These people need to do more mental cultivation, such as meditation or Qi Gong. Work on self disciplines and learn to calm down. Do not attend too much competitive sports or activities. 
• Environment: If possible be at beach, forest of mountain area in spring and summer to balance the Yin Yang energy. 
• Food: Take more lite food such as sticky rice, sesame, honey, dairy, tofu, fish, and vegetables. Avoid dry, spicy food.
• Exercise: avoid heavy exercises,  focus on balancing the kidney and liver energy, Tai Chi is the recommended activity.

2. Low in Yang: Pale and puffy, hands and feet are usually cold, urine is thin and long, don't like cold, like warm.

         

          Health tips: 

• Mental cultivation:This type of people tends to be depressed easily and has lots of fear and sadness. To adjust that, try to socialize and do more joyful activities.
• Environment: These type of people cannot adjust or tolerant the weather too well. Try to stay in warmer place in winter and preserve extra Yang energy (heat) in spring and summer. Be in the sun more whenever possible and avoid air conditioner. 
• Food: Take food that nourishes the Yang energy such as lamb, chicken or even deer meat. And if possible, consult an herbalist for herbal remedies for strengthening the Yang energy.
• Exercise: Try to do exercise in all seasons to strengthen the Yang energy. Best activities include "sunlight shower" and "air shower".

3.Blood Stasis: Face and lip color tends to be darker, dry skin, and dark circle around the eyes. 

          

          Health tips: 

• Mental cultivation:This type of people tend to have emotional "blockages", therefore it's very important for these people to be more optimistic. Good mood makes the energy and blood run better and smoother. This will make the energy in all meridians runs better thus change the blood stasis condition. Conversely, anguish and depression will make the stasis condition more severe.
• Food: Take more food that increase the blood and energy flow such as black bean, rape plant, mushroom and vinegar. Also hawthorn and peanut rice soup if possible.
• Exercise: Do more exercises that benefit heart and blood vessels such as jogging, dancing, and Tai Chi. If possible seek medical massage therapy that helps with meridians and whole body blood flow.

4.Phlegmatic Dampness: Over weighted, with loose fat on the body, likes to eat fat and sweet food, easily gets tired and hard to move around.

          Health tips: 

• Environment: Avoid damp environment, and be extra cautious during damp seasons. 
• Food: Take food that strengthens the spleen energy and dissolve the phlegm such as white radish, purple haricot, horsebean,onion,  dried purple seaweed, water chestnut, dates, pearl barley and small red beans. Avoid fat, food that are too rich, sodas, and alcohol. And don't eat too much per meal. 
• Exercise: These type of people tends to be overweight and easy to get tired. Best exercises include walking, slow running, dancing and some ball sports. But make sure to be persistent.  Increase the intensity gradually and this will make the loose muscle structure tight and health.

After all, no matter which type of condition are you, as long as you have faith in yourself, and do the right things, everyone is able to improve their body and health condition, and live the best out of their life.    

March 6th, 2011. "Insects awaken", the 3rd small Spring season arrives PART 1

    Ancient people believed that thunder and lightning would sink into the earth in autumn. When the farming season arrives, the hoe hits the ground, thunder and lightning would wake up and rush up to the sky. All animals and insects in hibernation would wake up with the sound. Therefore, this season is named as "insects awaken".


   The thunder and lightning may not be in the earth, but they do will show up soon in the sky. But what really wakes up the animals and insects is not the sound of the thunder, but the rise of the earth temperature instead. Farmers believe that if the thunder shows up on or after the "insects awaken" day, it will be a good year. Instead, if thunder appears early, it indicates that the coming year will be too rainy. 
   
    You may not have to worry about farming too much, but as usual, we do need to care about how to preserve our health and fit into the universal energy movement. First of all, this will be the last wind season and wind will give its "best" before it leaves. When wind flows it also carries lot of  virus around. Therefore this is also a high season for flu and other epidemics. Again, don't be fooled by the possible high temperature, make sure still stay warm and covered.


    There are general rules and individual rules for different situations. Galen of Pergamon came up with the body fluid theory to categorize human beings into four types:  blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Ivan Pavlov developed his theory about human being as phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine, and melancholic. The ancient Chinese divided human beings into the five elements as metal, tree(wood), water fire and earth, and each element also has 5 different levels, so the total number becomes 25, AKA the "Yin-Yang 25-type". Here we can see both West and East had noticed the difference and similarity of human beings. However, western medicine has not yet had any clear theory or directions about how to preserve health or heal certain sicknesses for each individual type of human. On the other hands, luckily the ancient Chinese did come up with several documents about what the western world was missing. 


    Here I'm pasting the original text about the theory in Chinese, if you happen to study Chinese culture and can understand, great. If not, don't worry. Although the texts are long and different, the points are the same. All they are describing are how different location, environment,climate,and food can affect human beings,how to preserve health, how to identify sickness according to these elements and how to treat them. Also they had an agreement that human body type and quality are the main reasons for different sicknesses and disease. Therefore how to improve or even change body quality becomes the main point:

• 《素问·异法方宜论》指出：“东西南北中五方由于地域环境气候不同，居民生活习惯不同，所形成不同的体质，易患不同的病症，因此治法随之而异。”
• 《格致余论》：“凡人之形，长不及短，大不及小，肥不及瘦，人之色，白不及黑，嫩不及苍，薄不及厚。而况肥人多湿，瘦人多火；白者肺气虚，黑者肾不足。形色既殊，脏腑亦异，外证虽同，治法迥别也”。
• 《医理辑要·锦囊觉后篇》：“要知易风为病者，表气素虚；易寒为病者，阳气素弱；易热为病者，阴气素衰；易伤食者，脾胃必亏；易老伤者，中气必损”。

    The good news is that it has been proven that human body quality and type can be changed. Even under fixed external conditions, as long as we put the right effort with positive attitudes, everyone is able to preserve and improve their health.
    
    Here we will be talking about the key points for this season (or in general) base on 4 main imbalanced body types: Low in Yin, Low in Yang, Blood Stasis, and Phlegmatic Dampness. You may not belong to any of these types, that's good, keep up with the good life. If you find you may fit into one or more type below, try to follow the tips and we wish you the best to improve your health condition!


                                                                                                                            (to be continued)