Welcome to my blog!

I'm an acupuncturist, teacher, fertility specialist, patient centered advocate, mom, activist and more! This blog is a place for me to write down the things on my mind, the things I discuss over and over, and the things I find helpful, interesting, and inspiring all in the hope that someone else out there, maybe YOU, will find some of these things to be helpful, interesting and inspiring too. I love learning, I love sharing, and I am passionate about helping others lead more balanced, fertile, and healthy lives - while trying to do the same myself. So here goes... The Blogging Life...

4.29.2007

On Health & Wellness


I'd like to share a little analogy I came up with to explain some basic concepts of Holistic wellness and disease/illness prevention. I call it my Piggy Bank Analogy and it goes something like this:

There are certain elements in the human body that are necessary to keep it running smoothly. Qi, blood, yin & yang... I could write pages discussing each one in depth, but for the sake of this posting I'll just say qi is the energy of the body, blood is the nutrients, yin the coolant and yang the fuel/heat. You can group them all together and think of them as though they are the currency or money of the body. Every function requires you to have enough of them...just like in life you need to have enough money in your bank account.

Just like a bank account, your bodies' balance of currency (qi, blood, yin & yang) depend on a few things. They are:

#1 Your starting balance--in your body that translates to your genetics and constitution. Some of us are blessed with high starting amounts (or great genetics/constitutions). When this is the case we develop at a healthy rate, are healthy children without many allergies or illnesses, reach puberty at a normal age and have a healthy sex drive. When the starting balance is low development may be delayed, allergies, asthma and colds may be common, puberty may be late and sex drive may be low. There is nothing you can do about your "starting balance" besides conserve it. You cannot go back in time and get more. You can do things to make sure you pass on a good starting balance to your children.

#2 Your income--the only way we make more qi, blood, yin and yang (which is everything our bodies need to get and stay healthy) is through our diet/digestion and our breathing/respiration! That's right eating/digestion & breathing/respiration are the ONLY ways we make more income. You can imagine then, how important it is to not only eat and breathe right, but to make sure our digestive and respiratory health is at their primes. (Look for future blogs with more details on how this can be done).

#3 Your budget--everything else we do falls under budget. Stress, emotions, sleep, exercise, stillness relaxation, work, schedules, sexual activity ALL these and more effect how much you conserve or use of your income and starting balance. And, just like your actual bank account, if you spend more than you make, you will draw on your balance and eventually you will run into trouble (illness & disease).

I hope you will think about this analogy and look at your own life and see what areas you could improve on. Could you eat better, breathe more deeply, sleep better, deal with old emotional baggage, reduce stress, take time to relax, exercise more? Don't be overwhelmed if you could improve them all (most of us could). Rather, TRUST that when you improve one area, your whole account will benefit. Start with one and go from there.

2 comments:

melange76 said...

That is such an easy way to look at your health! And strangely enough, we're a society that gets into much financial trouble (spending more than we have), and likewise are not a healthy society (again, spending more than we have). Coincidence? I don't think so ... but I never thought of it like that before.

Betsy said...

I just heard on the radio today that the Baby Boomers are obese, where their parents had complications from smoking. Kind of like transferring bad debt, no?

I wonder what the "financial" health burden our generation will be strapped with from our folks? My guess is that we will all have bad eyes & ears from the information age.

Anyways, I keep referring your services to friends who don't live in MN.....so keep writing. Your practice reaches so many people because of your passion for in the field of TCM!!! You're amazing.