The bedroom is an important component of your health and well-being. It could be beneficial to arrange it according to feng shui principles:

"Feng Shui experts believe that the positioning of your bed has a great effect on your well being. As far as possible the bed should be located against a solid wall (inside looking out), with your headboard to your favourable direction. They also believe you should locate your bed sector where there is a good mountain of stars!

However large or small a bedroom is, it should be a room concerned with moods. You must be able to fall asleep easily so invest in soft carpeting, scrumptious amounts of soft cushions and fabrics.

Choose colours and patterns that you love. Remember that soft colours will create a comforting and restful room."

Driven by the escalating cost of some herbs, harvesting is damaging some fragile environmental areas:

" Yushu and its neighbouring Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture claim the best aweto worms in the country, and as such bear witness to the worst devastation of mountain slopes where it is supposed to grow.

Every year, from April to June, more than 100,000 diggers swarm to the meadows there for the golden collecting season. Eyes peeled to hunt the "soft gold," this digging army leaves behind it slopes peppered with numerous holes that disturb the fragile vegetation of the plateau, where soil can take 10,000 years to become one centimetre thick.

"You didn't see so many people digging here years ago," says Lamo. "Local people have always dug for chongcao traditionally, but not on such a massive scale."

The driving force behind the digging craze is money, says Qiuying Lanze, an official working for the prefecture government of Yushu.

His remark is backed up by Jin Xingqi, an aweto worm dealer based in Xining, the capital of Qinghai. In the 1970s, the government-set purchase price for aweto worms was only 21 yuan (US$2.50) per kilogram, but the price has been soaring since the early 1990s, he says, to 42,000 yuan (US$5,060) per kilogram this year for top- grade herbs. In coastal cities in East China and Southeast Asia, Jin says, it can cost 4,000 yuan (US$481) more."

Some helpful tips for arranging your children's rooms to help them study and achieve:

“Practical, real-world uses of Feng Shui include setting up a child’s room so that he or she is certain to succeed,” said Olmstead. “It’s not necessary to hang crystals and use a compass to make Feng Shui work for you,” she adds. “Simple, common sense changes are all part of contemporary Feng Shui.”

Another article about the growing acceptance of herbal treatments:

"Chen is one of a growing number of practitioners, many of them Chinese, who are treating illness with herbal medicine, a centuries-old system that focuses on naturally strengthening the body as a whole to fight disease.

In Hawaii, where herbalists ran prosperous practices a century before anyone had ever heard of managed care or preferred providers, nontraditional treatments were widely accepted, especially in Asian communities. Now, a growing number of people of all ethnicities are using herbal medicines, creating brisk business for Hawaii's herbalists and helping to dispel criticism that alternative medicine is offbeat and ineffective."

Some studies indicate acupuncture may be successful in treating carpal tunnel:

"Cohen said some studies show laser acupuncture or yoga may help in cases of carpal tunnel by reducing pain and improving grip strength."

Some herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine can boost athletic performance, according to this article from the Singapore Straits Times:

"Ms Zhang, who is a member of the Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Association, feels that local athletes would do well to ignore old wives' tales but pay heed to some of the plant extracts and herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, which has a history that is centuries old.

She says: 'Some traditional Chinese remedies can boost an athlete's sports performance and enhance his overall well-being."

An innovative treatment for allergies using acupuncture points:

"Dr. Crandall says, "The point of this treatment is not treat the organ like the skin that's showing the symptom but rather treat the part of the nervous system that's causing the reaction to begin with."

"We're going to stimulate your acupuncture points now in your wrist and your feet."

Dr. Crandall says massaging the points stabilizes the treatment.

"What we're doing is going into the nervous system from the deepest level, the energy of the body, allowing a balancing affect to happen there so there is no longer a reaction in the rest of the body."

In a growing trend, health insureance companies are covering alternative treatments:

"Oxford members also receive discounts ranging from 15 percent to 25 percent for some complementary and alternative medicine services, Muney added. Acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga and nutrition services that are part of a credentialed network are among those eligible."

An herbal wonderland in South Korea, dedicated to soothing your senses and enjoying the benefits of herbs:

"Defined as a plant or part of a plant valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities, herbs incorporate any plant useful to man. In fact, although the word ``herb’’ is Western, Koreans have also been using herbs for thousands of years. Any plant used in Oriental medicine, including ginseng, or in traditional cooking such as spices or teas, can be categorized as a herb. There are around 3,000 kinds of herbs used around the world and surely it’s impossible to find a culture that doesn’t use them.

Aroma Herb Land opened two years ago aiming to be a kind of herb multiplex where one can experience herbs with all the senses."

A man in Korea who ate a prized 150 year old ginseng plant must pay compensation to the owner of the plant.

New York's Chinatown suffered a severe blow from 9/11.:

"This neighborhood, which bills itself as the most populous Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere, still is struggling to regain its footing after suffering a combination punch that cost it thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in revenues. First came the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which paralyzed local business and led to a steep decline in tourism. Then last year's outbreak of SARS - severe acute respiratory syndrome - spread fear here despite the fact that the disease originated thousands of miles away in China.

"Business has not come back yet to where it was," said Andy Liu, owner of a large gift and souvenir shop on Mott Street, Chinatown's main shopping and dining street. "The tourists are scared. They don't think it's safe."

More western doctors are recommending acupuncture for fertility treatments. And there is evidence it works.

A warning from Prof. Edzard Ernst, chair of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School at the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth in England about websites promoting alternative treatments to replace western treatments:

" In a survey Ernst conducted of 2,600 patients who had been prescribed a blood-thinning drug, he found that 9 percent were also taking a herbal medicine that could interfere with the effectiveness of the conventional drug. But the majority of them had not told their doctors about the herbal medication.

Ernst believes complementary therapies have a place alongside conventional treatments but that more research and scientific evidence is needed "

DAAN encourages you to ALWAYS check with your physician before taking any Chinese medicine treatment.

Article about cupping, a traditional Chinese medicine treatment:

"Either energy or blood is stuck in that area causing the discomfort. The cup is put on, causing suction in the area to pull out whatever is stuck in there, bring it to the surface, so fresh energy or blood can flow in the area and heal it," Nirenberg said. "

Acupuncture is an increasingly popular treatment for many in western countries. Good background about some of the theories of traditional Chinese medicine:

" "We treat according to a pattern of symptoms and disharmony. It is a completely different approach. The body and mind are interconnected and therefore just treating a problem in isolation won't fix the underlying cause" explained Mitchell."

The Aimin Weight-Loss Clinic in Tianjin, China is acheiving dramatic results treating obese children with a combination of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine treatments:

"Traditional Chinese therapies are routine. Treatment at Aimin typically includes daily acupuncture sessions in which hair-thin needles are strategically inserted into chubby stomachs and thighs to suppress appetite and improve metabolism. (It's not for everyone; Feldman, who only partakes occasionally, says, "It hurts. You should hear people, screaming like dogs.") Patients also have herbal patches taped to their ears to help reduce hunger. And they receive up to six varieties of medication, according to individual need. "These include vitamins and minerals, and traditional Chinese medicine," says Liu, who declines to detail the exact ingredients. "It's not like Western medicine where you can say what it is and what it does."

Fascinating article about Hakka women in China with an interesting perspective on traditional healing and health:

"Some women folk also acted as mediums in the villages. One of them is Tan Siew Mee, 65, from Kampung Chui Chak in Hilir Perak.

Her clientele consists mainly of young children suffering from a culturally specific condition called haak geng or “soul loss” and patients suffering from a serious illness known in Cantonese as chu mao tan, which is characterised by very high body temperature. "