DAAN Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture

Susan Yen, L.aC

Now days, you’d be hard pressed to find someone without any stiff muscles in the neck and shoulder area, since the upper back is one of the common places where we carry stress. Whether at home or in the office, we increasingly spend more time hunching over the computer screen, and this helps to stiffen up the upper back muscles even more.

Stretching is by far the most direct and fastest way to relieve such tension because it allows the fatigued muscles to take a break from being in a certain position for a long period of time. Here are some easy stretches to relieve upper-mid back tension.

• Drape over the exercise ball on your back with both feet firmly on the ground. Look up with arms out wide. Hold for 5-10 reps of deep breathing.
• For those who are at the office, plant both feet firmly on the ground and your back snugly against the back rest. Slowly raise your head and look up at the ceiling. Hold for 5-10 reps of deep breathing. (If you have the space, stretch out your arms.)
• Lie on the floor with your feet propped up onto the wall, look up and hold for 5-10 reps of deep breathing.
• For those who absolutely have no time to take a break, get a menthol cone and rub it along the sore spots around the neck and shoulders.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is used as a therapy in treating H1N1.

Children suffering A(H1N1) influenza could benefit from taking Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Beijing traditional Chinese medicine bureau said.

Tu Zhitao, vice-director of the bureau, claimed that children sickened with the flu should be cured within three days.

“Some children will be cured with only one dose (of No 2 Cold Medicine), while others might need two,” Tu said.

An increasing number of medical schools in the US are exposing students to the theory and practice of alternative (including traditional Chinese) therapies:

Future doctors and nurses are learning about acupuncture and herbs along with anatomy and physiology at a growing number of medical schools. It’s another example of how alternative medicine has become mainstream. And it’s often done with Uncle Sam’s help.

The government has spent more than $22 million to help medical and nursing schools start teaching about alternative medicine — lesson plans that some critics say are biased toward unproven remedies.

Additional tax money has been spent to recruit and train young doctors to do research in this field, launching some into careers as alternative medicine providers.

Doctors need to know about popular remedies so they can discuss them nonjudgmentally and give competent advice, the government says, and many universities and medical groups agree.

“Patients are using these things” whether doctors think they should or should not, and safety is a big concern, said Dr. Victor Sierpina, an acupuncturist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston who heads a group of academics who favor such training.

Susan Yen L.Ac

Sugar

With obesity rate on the rise, sugar is inching closer towards to being a member of the “public health enemy #1 club”.From a TCM perspective, there’s ying and yang as well as pros and cons
to all things in the planet. In terms of medicinal use and nutritional value, brown sugar has its merits.

During the winter months, ginger tea (combination of ginger juice, brown sugar and hot water) is one of the easiest ways to fend off chills. There are also records of ginger tea being used to relieve hangover. The reason behind this is both the temperature and the properties of ginger tea has a warming effect that helps to settle down upset stomach. In addition, brown sugar offers fuel for mental energy to help clear the head.

Other than ingesting sugar, one can use it as a facial wash exfoliant. And for the handy man in your house, after tooling around in the garage, instead of reaching for the soap first, use sugar to soak up the grease and grime all over your hand, then wash it all off
with soap and water.

Between late September to January, when temperature and humidity begin to drop, one is susceptible to an overall feeling of dryness in the nasal passages, throat, and skin. For some people, drinking that extra glass of water doesn’t seem to do much in getting rid of the dryness. In Traditional Chinese medicine, this is explained by the Five Element theory. As autumn arrives, mother earth is ready to harvest all of its crops by lowering the temperature and the humidity in the air. With this overall drying effect, the respiratory system is the most sensitive to this change. Thus, dry throat, dry cough, and dryness in the nasal passage are common complaints during this season.

Loquat (found in products like Fei Yi Chin Pai Yi Kaw), Lo Han Guo, and pear are fruits commonly consumed in this time of the year to lubricate one’s respiratory system. These fruits are in season, and according to its herbal properties, they all correspond with the “lung channel” in the acupuncture meridian theory.

With the meridian theory and autumn in mind, herbs like American ginseng and Frittillariae (Chuan Bei Mu) are also great choices for this time of the year. For these two herbs, we recommend they be made into an herbal tea (by simply mixing it with hot water) and can be drunk through out the whole day.

Since this overall dryness is what we are trying to avoid (especially in this season), foods that are barbecued, fried, and seasoned with hot spices are not recommended. For those who cannot live without these types of food, instant herbal teas like Xia Sang Ju Natural Herbal Beverage and Ban Lan Gen instant herbal tea are used to “put out the heat” in these potentially drying foods.

Living in accordance with the seasons is one of the main principles in Traditional Chinese medicine. It is how we achieve harmony and wisdom from nature. Often times we are so caught up in this fast paced world that we forget we are still a part of nature. Listen to your body, and open up to what mother nature offers.

Chinese herbs can detox your body and enhance your health

DETOXING has become the buzzword of the 21st century, with stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow leading the rush to try new ways of removing chemical nasties from the body.

When the Academy Award winner stepped on to the red carpet for a New York film premiere in 2004 sporting strange circular bruises on her back, it emerged the marks resulted from cupping, an ancient form of traditional Chinese medicine thought to play a role in helping the body rid itself of toxins.