Jun 26

Feng shui for better health

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Feng shui can help you bring harmony into your life and enhance your energy and health.

“Feng shui can help alleviate many health conditions, including insomnia, headaches, hypertension, depression, stress and premenstrual syndrome,” says acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine expert Dr. Qianzhi Wu, vice president of faculty at the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin in Austin, Texas, and past commissioner of the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. These easy fixes will help you balance the energies in three important rooms, to create a healthier home.

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May 15

Feng shui for success?

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After some bad luck in her restaurants in New York, Anita Lo called out the big guns for help – Feng Shui experts.

Looking at the history of the building, compass readings and the owners’ birthdays and names, Ms. Ingber designed a plan for the 45-seat dining room.

There was too much fire in the space, notwithstanding the fire that destroyed the restaurant, Ms. Ingber determined. Ms. Scism had a lot of fire in her, and Ms. Lo had some as well. The cure: round shapes, metal and water. Water is strategically placed in clear, stylish vases. A large, round metal mirror hangs in the front of the restaurant.

Six Chinese luck coins were placed on both sides of the stairs leading from the kitchen to the dining room. And essences were mixed into the paint and in the various spaces.

Three Wu Luo’s, or golden gourds, are scattered in the restaurant, including one in a dark corner of the basement.

And then came the edicts: Don’t place important guests (i.e.: critics) at certain tables. Kitchen meetings should be held in the front of the kitchen. Play piano music to bring in more metal.

The dining room maintained its golden coloring but Ms. Ingber suggested adding red. “Red and yellow do encourage digestion in food,” she noted. Yellow and red panels line one wall and the owners insist there is brilliant red there too, if you look carefully (try under the table).

Finally, Ms. Ingber recommended scrapping the logo. It looked too much like a flame on a log.

Apr 10

Feng shui your garden

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This article describes how to incorporate “Fent Shui” elements to your garden and bring positive energy to your landscape.

Gardens can relax or energize you, depending on their design. Balance your landscape’s energy flow to ensure it will be comfortable and harmonious. The Chinese have used this method of design for many thousands of years. It is called feng shui, pronounced “fung shway.”

Learning the terminology and concepts of feng shui can help one understand this discipline.

Qi (also called ch’i) describes the energy flow that moves over and around objects and people. Too much is not good; too little is bad. Energy can be blocked by walls or trapped in corners, where it becomes stagnant. The objective is for qi to flow gently through openings, not be too aggressive (positive) or too passive (negative). Strive for a perfect balance of the two in your design.

Yin and yang describe the two opposing forces that act on qi. Yin is passive; yang is aggressive. This is the goal of balance to achieve in your garden.

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Feb 28

Medical Qigong

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Medical Qigong is becoming popular in the West, this is partly due to the new awareness on life-work balance and the desire of many to seek a more healthy lifestyle.

It was evening and my 10 week old daughter was starting to cry. Without thinking, I began to rock and sway as I held her. After all, rhythmical, gentle movement is something that we all intuitively do to soothe and calm.

From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Qigong, all of life alternates in rhythmical movement. Within the body the most fundamental rhythm of the heart and lungs forms the basis for our individual life. Within all of nature, we can find a similar, familiar rhythm. The activity of the day quiets at night, and the exuberance of summer is internalized and nurtured during the stillness of winter. All of these fundamental rhythms and movements, both within us and within all of nature, are described as “qi.”

Qi can be translated as energy, influence, vital function and breath. Within nature the transformations of qi can be seen in the cyclical movement of day and night, the phases of the moon, and the changing seasons. Within the body, qi is the energy that allows the functioning of life through warmth, movement, transformation, containment and defense. It is the energy that maintains and safeguards the integrity of the body and mind, containing and preserving what is necessary to our life and repelling what would be harmful to us. The attributes of qi within the body can be seen in the energy, warmth and vital movement of life. From this perspective, all transformations and movements within the body, whether physical or emotional, depend on the correct and balanced movement of the qi.

Medical Qigong is a branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine, like acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Medical Qigong consists of traditional therapeutic exercises used to support the correct movement of qi and address specific health issues. These are relatively simple, gentle exercises that are consist of what are traditionally referred to as the “Three Regulations,” the regulation of the body, breath and mind. Through specific methods of regulating the body, breath and mind we can enter into a rhythm that is in harmony with the greater movements and rhythms of nature. This process can be likened to rocking a baby to calm and settle the little one, helping them to enter into a deep and restorative sleep (at least that’s an analogy that I’ve been thinking about these days).

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Feb 11

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day!

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This year, Chinese New Year is on the same day as Valentine’s Day, which means more reasons to celebrate!

On Feb. 14, a combo plate of Western romance and Eastern traditions will be served as Valentine’s Day coincides with the Chinese New Year.

It’s the Year of the Tiger – deep thinkers, risk-takers, short-fused, hasty decision-makers. One tiger person will probably be spending V-Day in the doghouse (Mr. Woods) along with Brad Pitt, Charlie Sheen and Jon Gosselin. Others, such as the recently engaged Derek Jeter, will probably have romantic t’te-à-t’tes with their fiancees or honeys, and might I suggest a romantic Chinese Valentine-themed dinner for two to celebrate these parallel events.

Coincidentally, Valentine’s Day immortalizes the passions of the heart and the color red, which the Chinese believe is lucky because red symbolizes the fire that wards off evil spirits. So set a red-hot mood – wear something red, make a sanguine tablescape with red roses and matching tablecloth, hang some red lanterns and light scented candles, play traditional Chinese music in the background such as Hong Ting’s soothing and sensual “Lotus Out of Water,” and serve some spicy red-hot food.

On your double A-List (Asian Aphrodisiac), start with the almond, a symbol of fertility back in biblical days. Its heady aroma was thought to elicit passion in women. Samson wooed Delilah with these nuts loaded with vitamin E, magnesium and fiber to boost energy, libido and well-being.

The Romans discovered oysters in the second century A.D. as a high-octane aphrodisiac loaded with zinc, which hikes sperm and testosterone levels, triggering libido. Casanova was said to have consumed 50 raw oysters a day. (That was before cadmium, mercury and PCBs contaminated these bivalves rendering them unappetizing to the health-conscious).

Ginger will heat things up and get the heart racing. Allicin in garlic improves blood flow to essential body parts. Celery contains andresterone, a hormone that gives guys that manly aroma that women go gaga over.

The spear-shaped asparagus packed with potassium and vitamins A, B and C was thought to enhance potency, especially since it increases histamine production that amps up certain pleasure points for everyone.

Ginseng, a root used by the Chinese for centuries, gives stamina and desire a jump-start. Kiwi, mandarin oranges and other fruits packed with vitamin C keep the sex glands well lubricated. Dark, leafy greens give gals hormonal balance, while mustard is thought to stimulate the sex glands and boost desire.

Finally, dark chocolate, a heart-healthy aphrodisiac, contains a substance that affects the romantic wiring in the brain and is a mood elevator.

For an Asian-inspired aphrodisiac in appetizer form, start with a chicken salad with honey roasted almonds, vegetarian lettuce wraps with plenty of garlic and crunchy celery, dumplings dipped in spicy mustard sauce, or dried orange peel and oyster sauce pate (when the oysters come from safe waters).

For main dishes, try almond and cashew chicken, shrimp and scallops with asparagus tips in black bean sauce, Peking duck exuding ginger and garlic from its pores or almond encrusted wild-caught salmon.

Finally, tantalize your tiger’s palate with super dark chocolate – melt, dip, chew, lick. I make my treats with low sugar and fat, which won’t put him to sleep, and high in cocoa content, which tends to make us all amorous and buzzed. Make your own chocolate-dipped fortune cookies and slip in a romantic message customized for your sweetie.

Prepare the meal ahead of time so you’re not wiped out from all the cooking and cleanup. Use the day to pamper yourself; conserve your energy for the passion that awaits. During dinner, limit libations as too much wine or champagne will make him drowsy, not desirous. And the meal itself should be light. Serve small portions of carbs and protein.

My contribution for a lusty sweet ending is an intoxicating chocolate fondue with Chinese fruits and pastries for dipping. Serve with a cup of exhilarating ginseng tea. You can thank me in the morning. Have a healthy, prosperous and amorous New Year!

Feb 07

Sydney is ready for Chinese New Year

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Chinese New Year is celebrated all over the word; in Sydney, Australia, people are getting ready for the Year of the Tiger!

Western China, that is.

The town of Tongliang in the western city-province of Chongqing is virtually unknown outside China, but nationally it’s been famous since the Ming dynasty in the 15th century – for dragon dancing.

Ten times winners of the national dragon dance competition in Beijing, the Tongliang troupe – all amateurs – will be one of the highlights of Sydney’s Chinese New Year Twilight Parade on February 21.

Their yellow dragon will be wriggling and swirling its way from Town Hall to Chinatown in the colourful and noisy parade that also includes stilt walkers, traditional dancers, martial arts experts, spectacular floats and astonishing acrobats.

The acrobats are also from Chongqing.

Boys and girls dedicate their lives to the Chongqing Acrobatic Art troupe at the age of eight and spend three hours a day (rising to 10 when they are adults) training at the troupe’s gymnasium in Chongqing city.

The results, combining gymnastics with juggling and twirling, are breathtaking.

They won’t have scope in the Twilight Parade to show off all their skills, but they’re putting on a full-length, five-act show for two performances at the State Theatre on February 20.

The show tells the famous story of Mulan, the girl who disguises herself as a boy to join the fight against foreign invaders and heroically saves the entire army from destruction.

In western countries, new year celebrations only last for a day, but in China the festivities last for 15 days. The new year period, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important time of year for families and all Chinese try to go home then to meet up again with parents and other relatives.

In Sydney, too, the Chinese New Year Festival lasts just over two weeks, beginning on the evening of February 12 with a launch celebration on the first night of the Chinese markets in Belmore Park, opposite Central station.

Jan 26

Chinese medical doctor in Taiwan was a pioneer

Culture, Traditional Chinese Medicine No Comments »

The story of Chuang Shu-chi, the first female traditional Chinese medical doctor in Taiwan:

The name Chuang Shu-chi might not ring a bell for people in Western countries, but she is a household name in Japan and Taiwan. Without the benefit of a formal medical education, Taipei-born Chuang became the first accredited female doctor in traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan.

When she made the decision to study medicine in Japan in 1954, Chuang could not speak or read Japanese at all. Seven years later, however, she received a Ph.D. degree in medicine from Keio University, Tokyo, eventually becoming a special medical advisor to Empress Michiko of Japan in 1978.

Chuang’s patients have included people from all walks of life at home and abroad. One of her most famous patients was Wang Yung-ching, the late Taiwanese business tycoon and founder of Formosa Plastics Group.

After a long and distinguished career in medicine, the 90-year-old doctor announced her retirement from medical practice on May 8, 2009, in order to enjoy time with her family in her later years.

…

In 1938, the 18-year-old Chuang married Chen You-le through an arranged marriage, but unfortunately her father died of colon cancer in the same year. And misfortunes never come one at a time: her husband died of lung cancer in 1945 while she was carrying a child, and she also contracted malaria, all at the age of 26. Without the head of the household, she had to raise four children, take care of her sick mother and scratch out a living.

The blows of her loved ones’ deaths drove Chuang to study the causes of cancer and devote her life to relieving cancer patients’ pain. In 1950, the Kuomintang government held the first national medical licensing examination for traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan. She received full marks in four subjects and failed only the last – the Constitution of the Republic of China. The review committee decided to make an exception, allowing her to take an oral exam. As a result she became the first accredited female doctor for traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan in 1951

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Jan 22

Chinese medicine – tradition and innovation?

Alternative therapies, Culture, East and West, Traditional Chinese Medicine No Comments »

Although traditional Chinese medicine has a history stretching back thousands of years, there’s room for innovation and adaption:

What is wrong with our medical science, the science of Western medicine as well as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)? Why are doctors at a loss to find cure for more and more diseases and often divided, if not opposed, on their causes? Has modern man reached the limits of his quest for good health and a longer life, or has he reached a new frontier from where science will progress further?

Dr Liu Hequn, an astronomer-turned-registered TCM practitioner (he also holds a degree in modern medicine and a physician’s license), believes in progress, and is probably half a step ahead of others in unraveling some of the above riddles. It would take nothing short of a paradigm shift to reach that new frontier: a return to the practice of classical medicine as well as a “cognitive revolution”, Liu tells China Daily, sitting in his apartment near Beijing’s Olympic Village.

“There is nothing mystic about it, although what my teacher taught may make it appear so.” The teacher he is talking about happened to be an illiterate Taoist master, who in the early 1960s taught him the skills to diagnose a medical condition. The Taoist master, in turn, had learned the skills at Baiyun Guan, or the White Clouds Temple, Beijing’s most famous Taoist facility till the early days of People’s Republic.

The Taoist master must have belonged to the last generation of TCM practitioners, trained in the secret tradition: handing down of knowledge orally. TCM began to be incorporated into the national medical education system in the 1950s. Today, all TCM practitioners have to graduate from medical colleges, where they are also taught the theories of modern medicine.

In 1960, as an eight-year-old. Liu had to undergo some specialist treatment for the injuries he sustained in his arms and legs while learning kungfu. That was how he was taken to his Taoist teacher, who inspired him to become the first person educated in modern science to practice the traditional method of medicine.

This method is different both from modern medicine’s standard diagnosis and that of TCM taught in medical colleges, which to a large extent is based on feeling a patient’s pulse and is seen by Liu as inadequate. In contrast, Liu says, his method is closer to being holistic and true to the philosophy of TCM. It requires a doctor to feel the patient’s body (usually without taking off clothes) to identify not just one or two troubled spots, but, more often than not, also a troubled sub-system connected to a series of related and seemingly unrelated conditions.

“All medical researchers know about some interrelated conditions and symptoms. Only in my research, some connections may at first defy imagination,” Liu says.

Liu can detect a medical condition by feeling a patient’s body with his hands, the unique method of diagnosis his teacher taught him. He started learning and practicing the skill while he was still in primary school, and tried to treat the injuries of his classmates and school friends, who like millions of other urban students, were sent to re-education farms in the early 1970s.

But how can he be so confident about his “hand diagnosis”? Liu says with a smile: “They haven’t created a better substitute yet.” No matter how advanced and precise a medical scanner may be, it can help a doctor perform only one set of scanning operations on a patient. But in his diagnosis, symptoms that doctors give different names to are sometimes related to each other in ways that neither modern medicine nor TCM talks about.

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Dec 23

Happy Winter Solstice

Culture, DAAN, Food No Comments »

Susan Yen L.Ac

A traditional Chinese dish in celebrating the first day of winter is “Tang Yuen”, a dessert with sweet rice (powder) and brown sugar as its main ingredients. Typically, this family oriented dessert is where the kids help with kneading sweet rice dough (mix sweet rice powder and water) and shaping them into bit size snow balls. Throw in the sweet rice snowballs into a pot of boiling water, and when they are done, the little snow balls will bobble about in the pot. The brown sugar is added to the boiled water to taste. For texture and taste variety, grounded black sesame paste or red bean paste are common fillings.

Other than having a legitimate excuse to have a sweet treat, the main ingredients, sweet rice and brown sugar are also a good source of nutrition. The properties of both are warm and neutral and are governed by the spleen/stomach meridians, and thus, after a bowl, one feels warmth from the inside out.

Dec 21

Indigestion remedies

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Christmas and New Year will undoubtly be a time of parties and festivities. Here are some things to consider if you suffer from indigestion.

CHRISTMAS is a time of indulgence. Tempting and luxurious treats make indigestion a common cause over the festive period.

But you need not suffer from a bloated stomach this year. Holland & Barrett has devised the following tips for healthy digestion:

1. Aloe vera is said to soothe the digestive tract to reduce discomfort.

This is most commonly taken as a juice and is popular amongst those who suffer from irritable bowel-type symptoms.

2. Avoid bloating this Christmas by taking a bitter digestive stimulate.

The bitter compounds found in artichoke, dandelion, devil’s claw, goldenseal and juniper help stimulate digestion by increasing saliva production and promoting both stomach acid and digestive enzyme production.

3. Eat your Ps – Papain and bromelain found in papaya and pineapples, respectively, can be used as natural digestive enzymes.

Try taking a supplement containing these ingredients before meals. Do not eat pineapple after a meal as the fruit may ferment and cause indigestion.

4. Essential oils

“Aromatherapy massage sounds unlikely but it’s a great way to treat indigestion,” Heather Hill, an aromatherapist and owner of Euphoria holistic centre in Nottingham, said.

Chamomile, fennel and peppermint oils have calming and anti-inflammatory properties. Mix five drops of any combination with a base of 10ml sweet almond oil and massage this into your stomach. “Follow the movement of food through your digestive system by rubbing your stomach in a clockwise direction from your right hip upwards, to give general relief to the discomfort in your stomach,” Heather added.

5. Ginger – popular for its distinctive flavour in Oriental cooking, ginger’s various health benefits have been especially valued by the Chinese for many thousands of years.

Historically used to treat stomach complaints, clinical trials have revealed that the active constituents of ginger root may have anti-nausea and anti-vomiting effects, which help to re-balance the gastric juices, soothe the stomach and maintain a healthy digestive system.

6. Little, often and slowly

“Going for hours without eating and gorging on a big meal is a recipe for indigestion,” said Sarah Stanner, from the British Nutrition Foundation.

“Aim to eat smaller meals at regular intervals during the day to regulate your stomach acid and keep your digestion ticking over.” Chewing food thoroughly also helps your digestive enzymes work easily.

7. Liquorice sticks – the medicinal use of this perennial herb has a long and varied history. It remains one of the most important and widely used herbs in Chinese medicine.

Liquorice is believed to help protect the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract by increasing the production of mucin – a compound that protects against stomach acid.

8. Plan ahead

Fast-paced, modern lifestyles often mean we grab high-fat snacks and foods in a rush.

But Catherine Collins, a state-registered dietician with the British Dietetic Association, said: “Rich, fatty foods can play havoc with the muscle separating the oesophagus and your stomach.”

Pre-planning by making lunches that contain wholegrain sandwiches, cereal bars and fruit can lead to nutritional benefits, as these foods are believed to contain higher nutritional value than sweets and release energy slowly over a long period of time.

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