Regain & Maintain Your Health
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The Tao of Health
Teahouse Experiences
Conscious Connections
Preventing Illness With a Strong Immune System
A couple of viruses have been going around our community lately. Did you ever wonder why, when a virus starts ‘going around’ not everyone ‘catches’ (or gets caught by) it? Why some people get sick while others don’t?
Who Gets Sick and Who Doesn’t
I would say the people who don’t get sick when something is ‘going around’ are the ones whose Immune Systems are in better shape.
The Immune System has everything to do with whether or not viruses or bacteria that infect your body actually make you sick, or whether they’re killed off by the antibodies the Immune System musters for battle.
Throughout human history there have been people who have been exposed to diseases, like bubonic plague for instance, and didn’t get infected. These were the people who took care of the others who did suffer from the plague.
And while there has been research showing that the ability to fend off some diseases is influenced by genetics, at the same time, the role a strong Immune System plays in ensuring good health cannot be overlooked.
If you have a healthy Immune System, you’re much less likely, not guaranteed, but much less likely to be infected by the germs we share the planet with that can make us sick.
Building & Maintaining a Healthy Immune System
From an Oriental medical perspective — and I make this distinction because the thinking is quite different between East and West on the issue of immune function — your Immune System comes primarily from the energy or Chi of the Lungs and Kidneys. And based on this way of thinking, what you do to keep your Immune System strong is you build strength in the Lungs and Kidneys.
By strengthening these two organ systems they’re better able to join energetically to provide you with the immune function that helps ward off viruses and bacteria which can make you sick.
How We Live Affects Our Health
As I mentioned, there are people who inherited genes that allow them to truthfully say: “I never get sick.” But that’s not most of us — and unfortunately, with all of the cultural and environmental challenges ‘going around’ today, fewer and fewer people will be able to make that claim over time.
Stress Undermines the Immune System. It’s essential to recognize that acute and chronic levels of stress suppress the vitality and function of the Immune System. This happens because ongoing stress causes tension along the body’s energy channels which causes them to ‘tighten’ and restrict the amount of energy or Chi flowing to the organs.
Remember: The organs supporting the vitality and strength of the Immune System are the Lungs and Kidneys.
Fortunately there are a number of things you can do to manage and recover from the impact stress has on your organs, and as a result, on your health.
Diet & Nutrition. One place you can begin to control the effects stress has on your health is to improve your diet. A healthy diet delivers the energy or Chi the organs need to be vibrant and healthy.
It’s a relatively simple formula: a healthy diet helps to improve health.
On the other hand, if on top of all the events in your life that cause you stress you add a poor diet ... that’s like being in the desert with no food and no water — not a good situation to be in.
Getting Back to the ‘Oasis’
So if you find yourself in the (metaphorical) ‘desert’ and running out of energy, the first thing to do is: Reorient yourself so you can find your way back to the ‘oasis’ where you can recover and refocus.
The first step is simple: Begin moving in the right direction. Take small steps. Begin by improving your diet. Begin by adding Oriental Medicine to your health care — the herbs, the acupuncture — whatever you can add-in ... do it ... start improving your situation.
Practice Chi Kung and do some whenever you can. That’s what I tell people who are learning Chi Kung ... and those who know some Chi Kung exercises but don’t find time to enjoy them. Just do a little bit each day. Do some breathing, do some stretching. Start wherever you can.
Start feeling ‘good’ because feeling good is a good habit leading to a stronger Immune System and good health.
Summer Solstice: Being in Rhythm With the Season
Summer Solstice marks the time of year when the sun is closest to the earth, when days are long and temperatures rising.
From our Western, astronomical point-of-view, June 21st marks the first day of Summer. And since we’re cultivating an understanding of ‘seasonal energy’ or ‘Chi,’ now is a good time to point out that ‘energetically’ — as Eastern thinking goes — the Summer Solstice marks the mid-point of Summer rather than its beginning.
Whether or not this idea seems a bit unusual, just for the sake of exploration let’s consider what it might mean if Summer Solstice does mark the midpoint of Summer rather than its beginning.
What difference would it make in your life: besides being just a day on the calendar reminding us to wash the deck furniture and get ready for vacation?
Seasons Affect Your Organ-ization
We all know that each season of the year has its own unique characteristics and requirements.
In our minds, we know we need to change our wardrobes; that different kinds of events find their way into our schedules; and (to some extent) we change our diet and the food we eat. At the same time, your body is making its own adjustments.
According to the 5 Element Theory used in Oriental Medicine, the major organ systems in your body also change with the seasons. Each season a specific organ system goes into ‘energetic overdrive”: Heart in Summer; Spleen/Pancreas in late-Summer; Lungs in Autumn; Kidneys in Winter; and Liver in Spring.
Getting Organ-ized
If you’re trying to manage your health in accordance with these natural rhythms, then finding out that Summer Solstice marks the midpoint of Summer, rather than its beginning, could be a problem.
It means that right now we’re way further into the ‘Fire’ energy of Summer then you thought, and you probably have not been making the necessary ‘lifestyle’ adjustments your body needs to stay ‘balanced in Summer. These adjustments are needed to offset the stresses Summer places on the Heart, and by association, the Kidneys.
And when we add another consideration to the equation — the unfolding effects of climate change and how that seems to be associated with the seasonal energy changing even earlier than in previous years — this information takes on a ‘Darwinian’ dimension. It shows you how you can ‘adapt’ to global changes in a healthy way.
Knowing Is Technology
Did the ancient Chinese think and act ‘seasonally’? Of course they did; they had to. They didn’t have any choice. They had no on-demand electrical lighting, no refrigeration for their food, or air-conditioning to keep cool in Summer. When it was dark, it was dark; when it was cold, it was cold. Knowing how to be in synch with the energetics of the season was their technology.
In the 21st century we have astounding technologies which enable us to disregard natural cycles and their rhythms. And to the extent we’ve lost that rhythm, to that extent we’re out of balance. And when you’re out of balance you stumble, and too much stumbling leads to falling down.
Increasingly that’s what’s happening to the general level of health these days; it’s falling down.
Uplifting Health
The message I want to end on is an uplifting one. Today we can enjoy the benefits of both Western and Eastern technology: the technical accomplishments of Western science and the intuitive ‘knowing’ of Oriental Medicine.
As we see it at BIOM, the goal of healthy living is reached when we balance both approaches and thereby live a balanced life.
Happy Summer.
Headaches and Stress
Is everything going on in the world these days giving you a headache? If so, you’re not the only one because this is National Headache Awareness Week.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that too many people today are suffering with all sorts of headaches. According to the National Institutes of Health the most common type of headache is a tension headache, which they say is often related to stress, depression or anxiety.
And why is there so much tension these days? I suppose everyone has their own answer to that question, but one thing is for sure: we’re all being affected.
The Stress Factor
Stress is a huge factor in peoples’ lives today; a trigger for headaches, and a catalyst for many other chronic illnesses. And how stress affects your health depends on how you respond to it.
We experience ‘global’ stress, like the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, the conflict in the Middle East, the war in Afghanistan. And we feel it ‘locally’ in countless ways: driving in traffic, shopping in a crowded store, people we run into who are having a bad day, and the list goes on. Each of us has our own unique brew of stress to contend with and manage.
A Simple Step
We’re not the first generation to live in ‘exciting’ times. Thousands of years ago Chinese Taoists counseled people living in stressful times who wanted peace in their lives to “Lay low.”
In those days that often meant retreating to the mountains. An option that we, in the 21st century, don’t find that appealing. So what to do? One simple step is to read “Hope For The Flowers” to get some inspiration and a fresh perspective for getting down and away from the ‘caterpillar pillar.’
What Do You Say?
Being able to talk in a healthy way — not in a blaming, ranting way — about what’s causing your stress is a huge advantage to you. Talking in a realistic way about your stress enables you to grapple with what’s causing it and figure out ways to diffuse it.
It’s healthy to talk about what’s stressing you out, even if you don’t see any way to change things. Noticing the patterns in your life that feed your stress is an important step toward understanding how to defuse the situations that cause it.
Those of you who come to BIOM for treatment know how much value I place on taking the time to talk about what’s going on. This kind of conversation helps me with a diagnosis, and perhaps creates for you an opportunity for healthy insight.
So who to talk to? Doctors and therapists are an obvious place to begin the conversation. Friends and family are an option too: provided the relationship is a ‘trusting’ one and your friend or family member is not too stressed
More Balance — Less Stress
When your body’s energy or Chi is balanced you have less stress. The body naturally can process a certain amount of stress when it’s balanced. That’s what a healthy nervous system is designed to do.
Imagine a wetland - like those along the Gulf Coast or anywhere else: as long as it’s healthy it can handle a certain amount of toxicity or storm intensity, but only up to the point where it’s overwhelmed. So too, your body can only tolerate a certain amount of stress, and beyond that point health begins to deteriorate.
The body is analogous to Nature because it is Nature - from it and of it.
Staying Sane In A Crazy World
So in a crazy world, how do you stay sane? ‘Breathe ... Consciously.’ This is what I call ‘foundational’ Chi Kung.
Take some minutes each day to breathe slowly and deeply, and pretty soon you’ll be saying to yourself: “I don’t feel as stressed out as I used to.”
And when you know how to avoid or minimize stress, you’ll be able to ‘celebrate’ National Headache Awareness Week next year ... because you won’t have any.