Chinese medicine is an ancient practice based around the concepts of energy and balance.
In modern life we’ve lost a lot of our natural rhythms and aren’t as tuned into our body as we could be. Chinese medicine uses lifestyle and nutrition adaptations, together with acupuncture, to help people restore balance, enhance their natural rhythm and re-energise the body to build the health essential for fertility.
The concept of Yin and Yang is at the core of Chinese Medicine and is all about balance. In the simplest of terms, Yang is hot and Ying is cold, like fire and water. Too little water and the fire will get out of control. Too much water and the fire will go out. These 2 energies need to be balanced for us to maintain good health.
In Chinese Medicine, food is medicine. The types of food we eat, the times we eat and even the way we eat all affect our health. All foods contain Yin and Yang properties. Once a practitioner understands your health issues they can recommend foods that will boost either your Ying or your Yang to return balance.
Suspend your Western beliefs with these Chinese Medicine food facts:
1. The stomach doesn’t like lots of fluid, so don’t drink too much with a meal as it subdues the heat that exists in the stomach to process food
2. Eating too many sweet foods or too much dairy creates ‘dampness’ – the build up and stagnation of fluids around the body
3. When we eat is important. Different organs come ‘online’ at different times. The stomach is most energetic between 7am and 9am, then the spleen between 9am and 11am.
Fertility is as much a mental issue as a physical issue – stress, anxiety and low self esteem can all affect fertility.
In Chinise Medicine the belief is that we can’t process thoughts while also processing food.
So it’s important that when you eat you stay focused on your food and not on your concerns.
Jing, put simply, is your lifeforce – the energy that fuels our entire body, and underpins every part of our existence. It’s finite and should be used wisely.
It’s all about balance. Use too much energy without enough rest and your energy levels will suffer. Likewise, getting too much rest can leave you feeling sluggish and lethargic.
Our bodies give us plenty of physical warning signs when things are out of balance and we’re beginning to deplete our energy stores, including:
The key is to pay more attention to these signals, and to be willing to adjust your patterns of behaviour.
Acupuncture is a painless therapy using fine needles and is used together with lifestyle advice to relieve stress, regulate hormones, improve blood flow and ecourage relaxation.
