Dr. Xiaolan Zhao, who practices in Toronto, is the city’s most successful Chinese doctor:
“Dr. Xiaolan Zhao asks me to remove my watch so she can feel my kidneys. Not my actual kidneys, but the pressure point in my wrist that is attached to my kidneys.
“After this,” she says, smiling, “I will know everything about you.”
She presses her fingers gently on the inside of my forearm, and moves her fingers up, inspecting my liver, heart and the rest of my insides as well. According to traditional Chinese medicine, all of my organs (and everything else in my body) are connected by a system of meridians. Through the meridians flows a life-giving energy known as Qi (pronounced “Chi”). When the Qi is blocked, health problems occur. According to Chinese medicine, everything bad, from cancer to infertility, is caused by energy blockages. Theoretically, Dr. Zhao, who turns 50 this year, can tell exactly what is going on in my body just from a simple slap on the wrist. I’m understandably skeptical.
“You had a very restless sleep last night,” she says, correctly. (A good guess, I figure. It’s Monday morning and Sunday night insomnia is common.) Then she adds, “And your period. It comes very soon?”
“Tomorrow,” I admit.
She asks to see my tongue.
“You are healthy,” she says. “Maybe a little bloated. Now I will make you tea.”
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