Following the lead

It strikes me how modern Chinese medicine has lost touch with many basics concepts. A major departure is in the way it deals with qi stagnation and it's resultant heat. Modern CM looks to move qi and clear heat. However, if one looks to the body's ecological response as a clue, a different treatment option becomes apparent. The issue is in the confusion of the response as the pathology. Here, heat resulting from the stagnation is not the pathogen. It is the body's attempt to rid the stagnation. It does this by mobilizing it's yang/wei qi to break open stagnant areas/blockages. When the stagnation is too great, or the yang/wei qi insufficient, heat becomes trapped and manifests. From this explanation, it should become clear that when one moves the qi and clears the heat, what is really being cleared is the body's yang qi. Instead, if one looks to assist the bodymind in rectifying the qi stagnation and heat, one should add some more yang/wei qi to disperse the stagnation. Once the stagnation is cleared, the heat resolves through its movement.

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Sleep Your Way To Being Thin

A very interesting discussion by my teacher Jeffrey Yuen related decreased metabolism (and metabolic issues) and lack of sleep. The idea is that we are highly affected by seasonal/climactic factors and the amount of light that our eyes pick up (i.e., BL 1 and activation of wei qi). The more light our eyes pick up, the more our body thinks it's summer all the time (ie, lots of yang energy). Due to technology, we live with light most of the time, albeit artificial light in our homes, workplace, etc. The body' natural mechanism is that it wants to consume more carbs/sugar/fruits because the more the body can take in, it can store it as energy for the winter. However, winter never truly comes for us anymore because of artificial heating and lighting. So, we keep consuming sugar/carbs. The excess sugar stimulates fat and cholesterol accumulation, and leads to imbalances like diabetes and arteriosclerosis because our bodies are not following the cyclical nature of sunlight and seasonal influences. One major treatment is to increase sleeping. Without sleep, we lose/consume jing-essence faster. Taxation occurs. So, there is a cyclical relationship between our eyes (BL 1 and wei qi) and metabolism. The remedy is to synchronize our days with lighting, relaxing/resting once the sun goes down. Wei qi needs to go inwards to support the Kidneys at night. Sleep!