Yangsheng
-
The Best Zhou 粥 (Congee) to Support the Spleen and Fuel your Neigong
One of the most important texts for Chinese Medicine, the Huangdi Neijing 黄帝内经, lists the well-known “evils” or environmental factors which can cause us harm along with the organ system most susceptible to each: 藏所惡：心惡熱，肺惡寒，肝惡風，脾惡濕，腎惡燥，是謂五惡。 The hidden evils are: heat in the heart, cold in the lungs, wind in the liver, dampness in the spleen, and dryness in the kidneys. These are the five evils. In addition to climatic factors, modern sedentary lifestyle paired with the greasy, fried, sugary and processed foods so prevalent in modern society make so many people susceptible to excess dampness, and this is especially harmful to the spleen system. A healthy spleen system is foundational…
-
Winter Wellness
Winter is characterized by the Chinese word cáng 藏 which means “to store/conceal/hide.” It’s the time for hiding out and laying low. Nature is dormant and hibernating. Yin is dominant and at its peak. Yang is completely concealed, hidden inside. Winter corresponds to the Water phase (shuǐ 水) and the kidneys. It is also recommended that one does not overexert oneself. It’s good to exercise, but not to the point of excess where one is pouring sweat. Foods, medicines, and therapies such as sauna that promote excessive sweating are not recommended at this time as too much yang qi can be lost. It is best to moderate sexual activity in…
-
Autumn Wellness: Pear Soup 梨水
One of my favorite snacks (or healthy dessert) in autumn is what we refer to at home as “pear water.” A better title might be Pear and Yin’er Soup. It is an excellent medicinal food for autumn wellness as it combines several ingredients that are widely acknowledged as some of the best foods to eat during this time of year — offering the (much needed in autumn) moistening and yin nourishing support to the lungs. The result is delicious! Ingredients and their medicinal properties: Continue Reading…
-
Autumn Wellness
Autumn is a time of gathering and harvesting. Animals run around collecting food, and plants collect and condense nutrients into seeds. Yang qi was rising and flourishing in spring and summer–vaporizing the yin water in the environment to create moisture, and now it retreats inward into “storage mode,” resulting in cooler and dryer conditions. Yang begins to give way to yin. Autumn corresponds to the Metal phase (jin 金) and the lungs. As a result, we want to focus on diet and lifestyle habits that promote moistening, support the lungs, and nourish yin. Sour tasting foods astringe and nourish the lungs, while pungent tasting foods disperse and purge. It’s best…
-
Prepare for Winter in the Summer
There is a saying in Chinese medicine: winter diseases are best treated in the summer “dong bing xia zhi” 冬病夏治. Traditional Chinese health practices are attentive to the interconnections between humans and the cycles of nature. Here, the notion is that disharmonies which tend to present themselves in the winter, especially in those who have a tendency towards yang deficiency, are best dealt with by taking preventative measures in the late summer, particularly a special period referred to as San Fu Tian 三伏天 (sometimes translated as the “dog days of summer”). San Fu Tian, which occurres in three phases that span around forty days, is the optimum time for growth…
-
What is Yijinjing 易筋經?
Yijinjing 易筋经/易筋經 refers to a collection of methods of powerful Chinese neigong 内功 (“internal skill”). Legend has it that it originated from the Indian monk Bodhidharma (Damo 达摩) who came to China and founded Chan 禅 Buddhism (the form of Buddhism which later became known as Zen in Japan) at the Shaolin Temple. In fact, neigong containing the Yijinjing principles and signature movements can be found throughout China within various traditions. The word Yijinjing consists of three Chinese characters: Yi 易: The character’s two components are 日 “sun” and 勿 “not.” The sun represents constancy, it was the most constant thing in one’s visible surroundings. Putting the two characters together,…
-
Mountains and Rivers of the Human Body
The Chinese saw the universe as unfolding from the Unity of the Dao into the multiplicity of diverse processes and objects that we see around us. This unfolding was understood and expressed through various organizing principles including Yin and Yang, the Five Phases (“Five Elements”), and the trigrams and hexagrams of the Yijing, among others. These universal patterns were seen as operating throughout nature, at all scales, so the idea of macrocosmic and microcosmic correlation was natural. As above, so below. This so-called “correlative cosmology” lead way to the idea that the human body is a miniature cosmos, because indeed, the patterns of natural expression found in the universe at…
