by Claire | Apr 21, 2009 | acupuncture channels, healing, pain, points, soreness
If you want to learn TCM in a way where you can use right away, and get results right away, the best path is to learn about the channels. There are twelve main channels connecting to organs, and many sub channels. They form a web that covers the entire human being, from the core to skin and hair. Whenever an organ has problems, it manifests on the web as if lights light up. Correlating points will have discomfort, for example pain, soreness or numbness. But there are more than three hundred sixty points altogethers. Memorizing them seems a daunting task. Actually to resolve common illnesses, just knowing twenty some points can be amazingly effective.
For example on the stomach channel there are four points often used. For acute stomachache and chronic stomachache, massaging the Liang2Qiu1 point (ST34) can stop the pain immediately. If the pain is lower than the stomach more in the small intestine area, massage the xia4ju4xu1 point (ST39). If the pain is above the stomach and below the chest, massage zu2san1li3 (ST36). If it is chronic stomach and intestine pain, massage feng1long2 (ST40).
The important thing is, only when the point is uncomfortable and you massage the point until the discomfort is gone, the treatment is effective. If the point is not sensitive, there could be three reasons. One, you did not correctly locate the point. Two, the illness does not match this point. Three, qi and blood are too weak that it cannot reach this point on the leg. Both the sensation of pain and soreness means the channel is still flowing, but there is stagnation or blockage in this point so the flow is not well. Soreness usually means qi and blood is weak, need tonifying, therefore one cannot use strong force. Pain means there is qi and blood there but is blocked. Qi and blood is trying hard to open the blockage, therefore using stronger force in massage can help this effort.
Learning TCM, it’s best to learn something and be able to use it right away and see results immediately. Because the human body is complex and there are so many points and channels, if you waste your attention on things you don’t understand, you cannot use and wouldn’t understand it. It’s like carrying around a bunch of tools that you don’t know how to use. It’s much more effective to know the few tools you have well. Knowing these few points deeper will help you understand other points later. This is why TCM is best taught through apprenticeship and not in class with books. In a working clinic, you get an intuitive sense of how the environment and season change also is part of the whole picture as well. And you learn how your experienced teacher intuitively use points rather than through known knowledge.
by Claire | Feb 28, 2009 | acupuncture channels, herbal food, Lose weight, points
I have a number of very good friends who are overweight, and it’s affecting their heart health. This worries me quite a bit since they are all such wonderful people, and I want them to be well, happy and energetic, and be around for a long time. So one of my first priorities on this Chinese Medicine study research is to find ways they could use in regaining wellness and vitality. Here I have translated some very useful information especially with their common symptoms in mind, and hope many can find this process useful.
We gain weight not from absorbing too much nutrients. We gain weight from absorbing garbage that could not be processed out of our body. The more we couldn’t process our food, the more starved our body feels and need more food to get the needed nutrients. The more garbage our body accumulate, the more blockages, and our elimination process weaken more. Because it’s garbage not nutrients we are accumulating, we would gain excess fat instead of getting more energy and stronger. This is why overweight people tend to have less energy and get fatigued faster. The more blockages and stagnation also cause more illnesses. This lessening of function of our organs forms a vicious cycle.
The best way to lose weight is to improve our nutrients absorbing function and get rid of garbage efficiently. The organ that breaks down food and turns it into energy and nutrients is our spleen. Then it stores the energy and nutrients in our muscles. Our muscles act as our storage unit until the organs need the nutrients and energy. But when the spleen functions low, has little or no energy, it half breaks down food or not at all. Then these half or not broken down food becomes garbage that doesn’t move or contribute to the rest of our body. They become excess fat that actually blocks flow and causes illness. Because spleen governs muscles, weak spleen also causes lack of muscle tone.
In order to burn the excess fat, it takes extra nutrients and energy. It’s like a factory full of half done and not assembled products that tie up its cash flow, it takes more labor, energy and cash to sort them through and finish them and move them out. This is why the starvation weight loss technique always rebounds. It burns up existing muscles, and with it stored nutrients and energy so organs get weak. But it doesn’t produce the extra nutrients and energy needed to process the fat. This can weaken and harm our vital organs such as our heart. With it we may experience more loss of muscle tone, skin elasticity and general energy level.
An even worse situation is when people take weight loss medication that increases their metabolism. In this case it is as if not only the half done products are moved out but the factory itself is being sold off cheap as well. It could result in thyroid disorders and heart muscle damages, worst it could even cause kidney failure.
Losing extra weight is a self-healing, caring, loving and joyous process. It should be a process where all or our vital organs work better so we feel well and more energetic. We can start this process by eating food that heals our spleen such as a porridge of three herbal grains: huai2shan1yao4, yi4mi3 and qian4shi2 (all three could be found in common Chinese Medicine stores. This is a great combination meal that can be taken every day for a long time). Avoid any over processed food including rice and bread. We can eat as much energy rich organic food such as beef, lamb, eggs, salt water fish and nuts, and fresh, in season, local vegetables and fruits. Avoid pork, chicken, fresh water fish, any sugary food and cold, refrigerated food and drinks.
If you are the kind of person who loves meat or nuts, sometimes it could be your body’s way of telling you that you are lacking major nutrients. You don’t need to control yourself too much as long as you chew two big hawthorn pills (this can be found in all Chinese herb stores) afterwards to aid the breaking down of the meat so they don’t become more garbage.
With this method you will feel more energetic all the time, your body producing more qi and blood to activate the organ restoration and the garbage cleaning process. At first you may experience a weight gain. Do not be discouraged. This is your body producing more qi and blood to store in your muscles and giving you more muscle tone. Other people may say you look thinner because you are more solid.
This time we can massage and hit a few spleen points on our lower leg to wake up our spleen. The more sensitive the points, the more time and focus we need to give them. It’s good to start with twenty minutes after each meal. With more nutrients absorbed, we will naturally feel our energy shift. Our body would want to move more. This would be the right time to add on more exercise. Depending on each individual’s condition, we can start with gentle exercises such as slow walking and taichi.
To avoid snacking sugar rich processed food, we can carry some Chinese red dates, dried gui4yuan2 (both can be found in all Chinese grocery stores) and some nuts. The two dried fruits both help increase our blood and qi while reducing garbage in our body.
If our elimination process is slow, blocked and weak, we can take two kinds of herbs, one to help cleansing, another to aid our energy and qi during the cleanse, such as shi2 quan2 da4 bu3 wan2 or bu3 zhong1 yi4 qi4. Both can be found at any Chinese herb store. These herbs can increase the power of the cleansing while not hurting our stomach and spleen functions. To keep the out and in process balanced also helps the cycle.
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