“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. ” ~ Thomas Edison I have been in practice for well over ten years now and have learned so much about health, people, patterns and the human body. When I was a student I was intrigued by so many of the concepts and mysteries of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I was fascinated with every facet of it. How could a person be diagnosed by changes in the pulse, tongue and complexion? How could personality traits indicate with great accuracy the type of illness a person would be susceptible to? There were so many questions and mystery. I was in awe of it all. As the years went by and I treated more and more people, I began to really understand TCM. It was not magical or mysterious, it was based on concrete observable patterns. Yes, the tongue does reflect the health with great accuracy. The tongue is an extension of the esophagus which connects to the stomach. Inflammation and acidity that originate in the stomach will show on the tongue. It’s not a mystery just simple observation; like paleness under the eyelid when a person is anemic. If you see hundreds of tongues, after awhile you see patterns. The part reflects the whole. TCM diagnosis and treatment is the culmination of 2000 years of careful observation and recognition of patterns in the body. The tongue is only one method of ‘reading’ the body. The pulse, complexion, voice, body type, hair...
As often as I encourage people to practice meditation, qi gong, or mindfulness I am met with “How do you do that?” I usually respond, “Oh, just check YouTube, there are tons of guided meditations.” I had a look around and while there are many videos some of them can get a little complicated. I think a practice should be simple then we are more likely to practice it regularly. Well, I grabbed a microphone, danced around, then recorded a very simple meditation that anyone can do. I had office and desk workers in mind so you can do this in the middle of your work day. Try it out, let me know what you think! ~Think...
There are many sources of stress in life now days. When I read the Chinese Medicine classics they talk about stress in a relevant way but there are many lifestyle factors that we have today then didn’t exist in 2000BC. Today I am sure it is safe to say that we have more choices than ever before. What should you eat? what car do you want? where do you want to live? what do you want to do? what kind of lifestyle you want? and on and on These choices, studies show, can cause an enormous amount of stress. In a book called The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz the author shows that having too many choices can cause serious pressure and stress. This pressure, according to the psychologist, can lead to clinical depression, overwhelm, anxiety, and the inability to make any decisions at all. The main idea is having more choice leads to less happiness and life fulfillment. This concept can easily apply to our health. A quick google search will show the multitude of diets, exercise plans, and therapies available. I get concerned thinking about the aging Baby Boomers, who have never really thought much about their health, hitting this mass of information and trying to weed through it all. How do you chose which ‘Plan’ is right for you? My advice is to chose 1 idea or plan and try it for a predetermined amount of time. Stick to it for the whole amount of time that you decided on. Don’t worry if it’s not the ‘best’ choice just pick one...
