The Chinese characters for Yin and Yang are related to the image of a hill with one side dark and the other sunlit. Thus the character for yin indicates the shady side of a hill whilst the character for Yang indicates the sunny side of a hill. By extension they therefore also indicate darkness and light or shady and bright.

The earliest origin of Yin-Yang phenomena must have derived from the peasants’ observation of the cyclical alternation of day and night. Thus day corresponds to Yang and night to Yin. By extension, Yang to activity and rest to Yin. This observation of the continuous alternation of every phenomenon between two cyclical poles, one corresponding to light, Sun, brightness and activity (Yang), the other corresponding to darkness, Moon, shade and rest (Yin). From this point of view, Yin and Yang are two stages of a cyclical movement, one constantly changing into another, such as the day giving way to the night and night giving way to day.

Yin and Yang are essentially an expression of a duality in time, Every phenomenon in the universe alternates through a cyclical movement of peaks and bases, and the alternation of Yin and Yang is the motive force of it’s change and development. Day changes into night, summer into winter, growth into death and so on. The development of all phenomena in the universe is the result of the interplay of two opposite stages, symbolized by Yin and Yang, and every phenomenon contains within itself both aspects of different degrees of manifestation. The day belongs to Yang but after it reaches its peak at midday, the yin within it gradually begins to unfold and manifest. Thus each phenomenon may belong to a Yang stage or a Yin state but always contains the seed of the opposite stage within itself.

Everything goes through phases of a cycle and in so doing, its form also changes. Yang symbolizes the more immaterial, rarefied states of matter, whereas Yin symbolizes the more material, dense states of matter. Although everything contains Yin and Yang, these are never present in static 50:50 proportion, but in a dynamic and constantly changing balance. For example, the human body’s temperature is nearly constant within a very narrow range. This is not the result of a static situation, but of a dynamic balance of many opposing forces. 

Because Yin and Yang are in a constant state of dynamic balance, which is maintained by a continuous adjustment of their relative levels, when either Yin or Yang are out of balance, each can affect the other by changing their proportions to achieve a new balance. Besides the normal state of balance of Yin and Yang there are four possible states of imbalance: Excess of Yin, Excess of Yang, Deficiency of Yin, and Deficiency of Yang.

Astrology is one of those secret pleasures that everyone reads but not everyone wants to admit to.  At one point or another most of us have peeked at the back of a magazine or a newspaper to plunge ourselves in to the love lust advice of the planetary seers.  You don’t have to believe in everything that is said about astrology to have a healthy curiosity into what the Chinese once used as a form of divinity.  

Western astrology, today, lends itself to giving life advice to those who want to know what will be of their careers, relationships, and money.  We don’t tend to use it as often to predict health or disease but believe it or not, astrology in ancient China used to do just that. 

Astrology was once an integral part of each person’s life predictions (and in many places it still is) that included their health. Chinese astrology, however, does not have so much to do with Scorpio in your 7th house as it does to inspect the balance of your five elements as they were at the place and time of your birth and how these elements continue to support or drain you over the course of your life.

As such, each person has a certain amount of fire, wood, water, metal and earth that are calculated in relationship with each other in your chart.  Depending on which elements were in most abundance or deficiency would determine the type of person you would become and where your weakness in health, wealth and fortune would lie.  It could also determine what kinds of challenges you would face when the year of the Fire Dragon was in rotation and how it influenced your sign (the rat, the pig, the horse etc...) as well as how it affected the balance of your elements.  The Chinese astrology charts have what are called the 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches.  One stem and one branch were combined each year to reflect the influence of both heaven and earth.  These combinations are what would rule each year and thus be used to make predictions on health by the influences of these stems and branches on the person’s elements.  

As with any astrology, there are many calculations that go into each person’s chart.  The most fascinating, as it relates to health, is to be able to look at a person’s elemental chart and understand from birth the weaknesses and strengths of that persons’ constitution and with that knowledge be able to understand how to boost that person’s health to both nourish and protect from elements that were not beneficial.  In a chart, beyond looking at the influences of the elements, they would also look at the 10 pillars which are basically looking at how the stems and branches will combine in future years so that you can plan on how you need to add or subtract certain aspects of your environment to help keep you healthy.  

I have been blessed with the ability to study Chinese Astrology and from time to time I will do someone’s chart for fun.  I have chosen not to use Chinese astrology for my patients for a number of reasons.  There is an old tale that says that a person who connects with the divine and uses the divine in their earthly life has to then give up one aspect of their earthly life as an exchange.  After all, one can not live between two worlds at once.  As such, those “seers” may inadvertently give up their ability to physically see, may give up all personal relationships, or ties with family.  It is not given as a choice but just starts to happen and the reality is, I love my life and all the things in it.  I am ok not seeing into the future if it means I get to live my life on earth in the present.  

One thing I have learned in my many years of study in astrology, however, is that we are influenced by so many factors in our environment.  Some of them we can see, some of them we can't; some of them we have control over, some of them we don’t.  Whatever the circumstances, just remember that humanity is the child of heaven and earth.  We are connected to what we eat, what we touch, who we know, and where we were born.  It is important to connect to those factors, understand who you are and live your life fully and with consciousness.  

I recently gave a lecture to a group of physicians, and in preparation for this lecture I was told that I shouldn’t use the words qi, or yin and yang.  I was told that the doctors would not appreciate this terminology and that they wouldn’t understand what those words meant. I must admit that I was a bit taken back by this request, considering that I am an acupuncturist who practices the ancient art of Chinese medicine where these terms are the lifeblood of everything we base our diagnostics on.  I really sat and thought about what sorts of terms I would use to replace these integral terms that are inseparable from the medicine itself.  My conclusion...I wasn’t going to substitute anything, I was going to use the terms just as they were. 

I wasn’t trying to form some grass roots movement to rebel against the machine or anything with such a dramatic flair. Instead, I came to the conclusion that the parts that make up the medicine and its theories of healing were the medicine itself.  Removing the engine from a car leaves the shell of the car but the life of that car would be gone.  The car could look good from the outside and to anyone passing by but the car would be unmoving, and in terms of our definition for the uses and values of a car it would be nothing more than a glorified hunk of junk.  

So what is so wrong with ancient medicine that makes it need to change?  The reality is that Chinese medicine has been evolving with the times for thousands of years.  Just like any evolutionary process, the parts that didn’t work didn’t stick around and the parts that had value remained as part of the practice.  I think it is important to remember that Chinese medicine treats the individual and not the disease.  In focusing on this aspect, the medicine has to be constantly evolving with each person, with each practitioner, with each new introduction to disease.  The concepts of qi, yin and yang are not static but rather definitions of what we consider ever moving and changing aspects of the body, life and the atmosphere. 

I think it is important to recognize that Chinese medicine is as modern as any medicine we practice today.  There are historical aspects of the medicine that we study and that continue to influence how the medicine is practiced but having history does not make it antiquated. Our modern medicine has loads of history and has been utilized in the same methods to teach and educate the practitioners of today.  The history of medicine helps us to grow in our knowledge of disease but the education of our practitioners is what influences how we treat the people who come to see us for healing, health, and wellness.

The terminology of qi, yin and yang may be a foreign concept to a lot of people.  It is human nature to reject or be afraid of what we don’t understand.  However, to honor the other side of human nature, which is to explore and discover, I hope the concept of trying something “new” can be entertained without immediately trying to change it into something that we find more familiar.   Enjoy the process, explore the unknown side of Eastern medicine and decide for yourself if it captures your senses.  It may be old in theory but I can assure you that it is very much alive in our modern times.  

I have recently been taking an herbal coarse and we were discussing plants, as they are in their basic form, and the instructor made a point to say that the healing properties of an herb depends upon a its own home, the sun exposure, the climate with it’s seasonal variances, the microbial milieu that it lives in, and the pests that may help it to flourish or die.  I thought, yeah ok, that makes perfect sense.  Then he goes on to talk about the concepts of holism.  He mentions that holism is when everything is connected and there are no breaks in the system.  This, too, makes perfect sense to me as this is the concept by which Chinese medicine is based upon, and our whole channel system is dependent on the linking and interlinking of the body’s physiology, thoughts, beliefs, and environment.  However, it occurs to me that we rarely think of ourselves in the same way that we think of the things that grow around us.  Somehow, as we have developed these amazing minds of ours, we seem to feel that we are immune to our environment, how we grow, and what kind of an effect our surroundings truly have on us.

It made me say, hmmmmmm.  What if we thought of ourselves as plants or flowers?  Bear with me, I know this is a little woo woo in thought, but seriously, what if we thought of ourselves this way?  Would you expect a budding poppy flower to thrive on Cheetos? Would you ever water your plants with soda?  If you put your plant in your office where you sit all day long every day, would it survive even if you gave it good clean water?  Would we expect our roses to bloom in winter?

Even the most inexperienced of gardeners would tell you that these ideas would be preposterous, so then why do we feel like we can live in ways that contradict the very idea of allowing us to grow as the happy plants we want to be?  I can assure you, that I too am guilty of feeding my “self plant” some not so great items and there are times when I don’t give my plant it’s proper rest, but I never really thought about what that would look like if I were trying to grow myself from scratch.  

We all get caught up in our lives and we put ourselves last on the list of importance.  We equally live each and every day without really thinking about how this Monday is going to add up to 650,000 Mondays from now.   

From the outside, watching a plant grow we all know that it is very affected by it’s environment.  It must have sunshine, good amounts of water, and stay free of pests (disease).  So if we were going to grow ourselves from a seedling what are the basic components we would need to have a flourishing plant?

As a human plant we need nutrition, movement, herbs, sleep, exposure to fresh air, sunshine and breath.  How many of these do you get on a DAILY basis?  What is stopping you from making the choices to feed and nourish your “self plant”?

This is normally the part of my writing where I would give you profound and worldly advice on how to grow a better plant, how to live a better life etc... but instead I think you should take a simple moment to reflect on how you are living your life, if you are satisfied with your health and your ability to stay healthy over time, and what you might do differently.  Perhaps this is just a moment to connect with your plant self and ask yourself what you think you need to have a happier and more fulfilled life.  We all know that disease is not fulfilling, that is not rocket science.  We all struggle with how to stay afloat in our daily lives, but this is just a friendly reminder that the life you live is the life of your choosing.  If your plant needs more sunshine, more fresh air, more water, and better soil, perhaps this is the day to give it all the nourishment it needs and feel satisfied that you have made a choice to be a better plant for today.

On my morning walks with my dog, I usually tune in to some of my favorite podcasts.  One of my absolute favorites is a podcast via the beloved NPR called Radiolab.  For those of you who are not familiar with this awesome show, it is a show that is light hearted in nature, that focuses on topics of science using an artistic thread to intertwine valuable knowledge with human curiosity.

That said, there is a topic that I happened upon while perusing their website that was titled “Poop the Magic Gut Cure”. Naturally, I had to cater to my own curiosities (lets me honest, who isn’t always fascinated by poop!?) and what I found was both inspiring as well as slightly, well, gross.  

In short, there is a rampant intestinal infection that the first world has been facing in the last 5-10 years that is resistant to all types of antibiotic treatment.  This infection is called C-diff, short for Clostridium difficile.   It kills somewhere around 14,00 people per year in the US.  14,000!!!! This part of the story is not really new news.  Americans have been facing all sorts of antibiotic resistant treatments in the past years as the increase in antibiotic use goes up as well as our use of antibacterial everything.  It was what the doctors decided to do to treat the C-diff that became downright awesome.  They decided to do fecal transplants.  That’s right, FECAL TRANSPLANTS!

A fecal transplant is when they take the healthy and thriving feces from one very “regular” individual and put it into the gut of a person affected by C-diff.  In doing so they are repopulating the gut with the healthy bacteria necessary to reactivate the body’s ability to fight the bacteria.  Wow.

I must admit that I am very impressed with Western science to go so far as to try something that would normally be, uh, poo pooed.  Western medicine, in todays age, is about isolation, sterilization, and treating disease with a very methodical approach.  While I am certain this has a time and a place, putting one person’s poop into another person just didn’t seem to fit the bill.  

That said, it had incredible results.  In fact, it worked so well in the trials that it was deemed unethical to withhold the treatment from all the other patients.  

Everything about this treatment really had me interested until they got to the part where they referenced an old Chinese medical procedure (which was basically the earliest version of this treatment protocol) that they called “Drinking the Yellow Soup”. Gag.  I can’t say that I felt like I would ever ever ever recommend that to any of my own patients but here is what I would do.  I would recommend the following to help keep you and your loved ones from having to go through what these poor souls had to.

1. Take your probiotics and eat your fermented vegetables.  Doing so will keep the flora and fauna of your gut nice and healthy so you do not become susceptible to such bacterial invasions.
2. Do not use antibacterial anything!!! Wash your hands like a normal person after the bathroom, before meals, after having contact with large groups of people (like the subway) or after being around someone sick.  Don’t get weird about it.  You have an immune system for a reason so give it the opportunity to work.  Let your kids eat some cat food and dirt.  They will thank you later.
3. Do not drink anything called “Yellow Soup”.  

If you are interested in reading the articles here they are.  Enjoy!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/health/disgusting-maybe-but-treatment-works-study-finds.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&adxnnlx=1358521287-HC2YZxFHRwFoEOYXoFqjkw

http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blogland/2013/jan/22/poop-magic-gut-cure/?utm_source=local&utm_media=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostviewed

It is not shocking information to know that Chinese medicine is a mind, body, and spirit practice that focuses on the integration of all aspects of our lives.  Cognitively, we all understand this but how can we see this in our body?  How does our mind and our “spirit” play a physical role in our health. When we say that everything is connected in Chinese medicine we do not necessarily mean in theory, we mean in actuality.  

Spider veins are the perfect example of the physical presence of an emotional or spiritual imbalance. The body, in its infinite wisdoms, creates spider veins, known as Luo vessels in Chinese medicine, in order to keep harmful emotions away from the vital organs.  When we have an emotion that is overactive in the body it can cause physical harm just as much as keep us mentally unstable.  In many circumstances, we have a difficult time dealing with these great surges of emotion whether it be from trauma, internal strife, or some other occurrence.  In such cases, if we do not have the ability to deal with that emotion or set of emotions at the time it comes up for us, then our body attempts to store it in a place that will not damage the internal mechanics of the body.  In doing so, the body creates these little vessel ‘closets’ where it deposits our unaddressed emotions close to the surface of the skin. 

It is said that memory is stored in the blood.  Our little pockets of blood vessels that lay visible to us, yet just out of reach of complete resolve, store these memories of emotional turmoil in latency until we find ourselves ready to resolve and let go of them.  Some of us never get to the point where we are able to deal with our past traumas, some of us do.

Emotions are what we live and grow by, they are how we charge our perceptions as we develop our emotional selves, and how we relate to others in our social environment. Emotions are not blocks in our happiness but often lead us to define our social picture, and to reevalute the way we think about circumstances. 

As we honor our emotions we give rise for the circulation of the body to be free flowing.  If you find yourself with spider veins and varicosities, this is just your body’s way of trying to release old and stagnant emotions that no longer serve you.  Take some time to think about what may need to be released and then find an acupuncturist that can help you get rid of the physical side of these blockages.  Upon release old things may come up ,but use these old historical emotional sites as guidance to help you find a clear path to the future.

The concept of healing has been around as long as man and has been practiced by Shamans, religious leaders, energetic workers, witches, scholars and now doctors. The question remains, what is it that we are healing?

The ultimate practice of acupuncture is to elicit a healing response within the patient.  There is the belief that acupuncture does not actually heal anything but rather it catalyzes a response that transforms the state of disease into the state of healing.  It is amovement of our internal landscape that creates a flow toward homeostasis.  Healing itself occurs in the individual.  Healing is an internal provocation, a decision, a personal request that we make upon ourselves.

It is said that there are no incurable diseases, only incurable people. This idea relates to the idea that the state of mind that gets us into disease is not the same state of mind that helps us to heal. As such, acupuncture and the practice of acupuncture is about treating the individual, not the disease. The relationship between patient and practitioner transcends symptomology and focuses on where did disease (dis-ease) begin for the patient? What influences were present when they began to feel ill. Is it environmental, is it internal strife, is it passed down from their ancestors?

Acupuncture, as it is practiced today, invites us to embark on a small trek through the ages to amalgamate our current ideas of health with that of the sages from 5000 years ago. Seeking acupuncture to help with what ails us promotes the idea of exploring foreign concepts of healing and in some ways about stretching our perception of health.  Some of it will be interesting, some of it may challenge your individual beliefs about medicine and disease. Whatever it may be, we are here to explore the many ways that we as practitioners may be of service to our patients to help them and health in their journey of life.

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself” - Chinese Proverb

Dieting is no easy subject to talk about.  On one hand, dieting is what most people consider to be their new years resolution to loose those unwanted 10, 20, 30 pounds that stand in the way of their ideal beach bodies.  On the other hand, dieting is thought of as an absolute necessity to deal with the catastrophic obesity that has oppressed our nation.  I believe, however, that dieting does not address either of these problems.

Learning to eat is something we are taught as children the same way we are taught to tie our shoes, brush our teeth, and wash our clothes.  Eating is both a relationship and a skill.  Instead of food being something to celebrate, being something to nourish us and something we find great pleasure in, it has been morphed and shaped into some sort of demon that we all fear and don’t know how to relate to.

Dieting, in it’s essence, implies that we must take things away and restrict our body’s intake in order to create the reaction of the metabolism to burn up the waste of our body because it cannot get enough nourishment from what we take in.  To many programs it has become a simple numbers game.  However, to anyone who has ever tried dieting, it is anything BUT numbers.  It becomes the battle of the wills to control our hunger, our desires, and to change our relationship with the things that we use to numb our pain.

If you are struggling with your weight and you are having the feelings of desperation to improve your life, get healthy, and feel better about who you are, dieting is not the way to go.  Dieting does not teach you good eating habits, it only teaches you how to restrict, feel guilty about what you should or should not be eating and what is “good” and “bad” food.

It is important to understand that the food we eat is what becomes us.  We are literally what we eat.  The very cells of our body, the tissues, the muscles, our blood etc...are all manufactured from the foods we eat.  When we decide to change our food or our relationship to food we are really trying to make a transformation within ourselves.  We are attempting, at a fundamental level, to transform ourselves from one thing to another.  We are looking to go from one state of mind to another.  It is an incredible and very inspiring task that ends up becoming rather defeatist and daunting because we often need some re-education in order to make that process happen.  In our attempts to re-educate ourselves we seek out education in the form of dieting which does not help us to transform our skill set or our relationship to food.  It only redirects things temporarily but eventually we wind up traveling the same path we started on.

If you are looking for true transformation of self through food there are two recommendations I can give to you.  The first is that we have to redevelop our relationship with food.  I will leave it up to you to decide what you are comfortable with but if the problem is severe then perhaps seeking out therapy or support groups are appropriate.  If you are not in a severe place where you are using food as a drug, then perhaps studying other cultures and their relationship to food can help give you some new perspective of eating and how food can play a different role in your life.  

The second thing we can do is to seek re-education from a professional who is trained in the benefits of food and healthy eating.  I recommend going to someone who has a holistic and integrative approach to food.  Just seeking out a dietician can be rather clinical so perhaps a nutritionist with a background in integrative nutrition who can help you with understanding food, how to mix foods, what foods will nourish the different aspects of your person etc...  Find someone who is excited about food, who loves food and who has a wonderful relationship with food so they can share recipes and cooking tips with you.

I hope your continued journey with food becomes something that brings enlightenment, pleasure and opportunity to your life with the possibility that you can find true transformation of self in the process.  Be kind, patient and loving to yourself as there will be bumps along the way.  Enjoy the process of discovery and may your path be filled with surprises and fun!  Bon Appetit!

Castor oil packs make a regular appearance in home remedies for all sorts of maladies.  As far as I can tell they aren’t particularly controversial as they are fairly benign in their use and don’t seem to offend any particular medical order. As such, they are readily used and in fact, something I often recommend to my patients.  Castor oil packs are typically prescribed to anyone who has any sort of digestive issues, menstrual issues, and muscle or joint pain.

 They are applied as follows:

-1 wool flannel saturated with castor oil
-applied over affected area
-wrapped with clear plastic saran wrap to keep in place
-hot water bottle in a towel placed over the castor oil pack for one hour
-repeated each day for time given by healthcare practitioner

The castor oil pack is intended to draw stagnant blood and fluids to the surface where the body can naturally remove them and regenerate the area with fresh blood and fluids to help induce a healing response. Heat, in general, will create circulation to an area but the castor oil itself has a lot of medicinal properties that perpetuate the healing process further than what heat could do on its own.

Castor oil is made from the seeds of castor plants that contain the substance ricinoleic acid. This substance is a strong anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-bacterial as well as anti-inflammatory agent. This alone is what has lead it to be a major tool used as far back as the 1500’s for things such as parasites, worms, fungal growths, digestive problems, as well as for joint and muscle pains. Castor oil has been used to break calcifications in the gall bladder and kidneys, to break up stagnation in the uterus, to break up fatty deposits, remove accumulations in the joints etc... It plays a major role in things that individuals can safely do at home to help themselves heal and to work on maladies that have been bothering them for long periods of time.

Just as in other treatments in Chinese medicine, using castor oil packs helps the body to heal and to find a state of equilibrium. Castor oil is not a miracle wonder but rather a strong and effective way to foster healing and transform stagnation we have in our bodies. Take a gander and dive into the wonders of Castor oil. It is a fun remedy to explore with and a great way to take part in your own healing process.

Picked garlic have tremendous antimicrobial properties.

Method:

• Peel garlic
• Place the garlic in a jar all the way to the top
• Fill the jar 1/2 to 1/3 of the way full with honey
• Fill the remainder of the jar with apple cider vinegar
• Put the lid on and shake it well; shake the jar every day to mix the ingredients
• Instructions:
• No refrigeration necessary and the colors WILL change.
• Make one jar per member of the family.
• Prepare in August/September about 1 month before cold and flu season begins.

Usage:
Small child: eat 1/2 a pickled clove a day
Average child: eat 1 clove a day
Additionally one can drink the “juice” every day for a boost during cold and flu season
Additionally, during cold and flu season, put a pot of the thyme steam on the table for the family to breath while eating dinner (put for at least 5 minutes).

Credit: Katja Swift from Commonwealth Herbs for the recipe