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April Self-Healing Tips —Traditional Chinese Medicine

written by: Julie Festa, L.Ac.

Spring is here, and the most important element of good health is to go with the flow. There are limitless ways of doing this. With tai chi and yoga practice, we get the body’s chi and blood flowing. As the chi moves, we relax. We experience the ease of being in the flow of things. There is less struggle, frustration, stress and resistance in general. We can thank the Liver and the healthy flow of Wood energy for this delicious feeling in our lives. Remember – the most important thing you can do for your Liver is just to relax. Relax. Relax…

Easier said than done? Some of us might say so. That may be where these self-healing tips come in. Maybe just the word “relax” makes you tense up. “But I AM relaxing!!” you may cry. This is where some dietary changes may help support your process. The two simplest dietary things you can do to support your Liver in the spring are to eat less, and to eat plenty of steamed or lightly sautéed dark leafy greens.

Broccoli Rabe with Green Onions – While this simple recipe hails from my Italian grandmother’s mother, it is a perfect Chinese nutritional recipe for the Spring. The deep emerald green of broccoli rabe is said to nourish the soul through the eyes. This is so because of the connection of the eyes to the Liver. The Liver houses the universal soul, or the hun, as it is called in Chinese. The bitterness also helps to move stagnant Liver chi and blood, and to clear pathogenic heat. Nourish your soul and move your chi and clear heat all in one bite? Wait – it gets even better. When you add those green onions into the mix, you get the pungent flavor. Pungent foods also move the chi, and green onions in particular help to relieve exterior wind. As the Spring is considered the windy season in Chinese medicine, and as wind can wreak havoc on the Liver, this recipe is a simple, tasty can’t-go-wrong suggestion for Spring.

Ingredients and cooking instructions – 1 bunch broccoli rabe, 4-5 green onions, 2-3 tbsp. olive oil, pinch of sea salt(optional) – Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan, then add the onions. Let cook on med heat for 2-3 minutes, then add the washed broccoli rabe. Add salt a few minutes after adding greens (optional). Cook until green are tender and deeply emerald in color.

Liver 1 is called “Great Esteem” or Dadun. The point is located ¼ inch beside the lower corner of the nail bed of the first, or big, toe, on the side closest to the second toe. This point is the Wood point of the Liver meridian. The point is considered a rooting point – very important in yoga and tai chi in terms of rooting the body into the earth. For Wood energy in the body to be healthy, it is important that we can root our energy into the earth properly. It’s like plugging ourselves in to the energy outlet of the universe. The energy of Wood is growth, both upward and outward. If Wood is not properly rooted, it cannot stay grounded and connected enough to grow.

To treat the point, simply press against the point with a gentle rubbing motion towards the tip of the toe several times. You will be able to feel when the point becomes activated. Feel free to do this on both sides. Notice if you feel anything different in you stances afterward, or possibly in your vision.

LR 1 regulates menses, resolves damp-heat, promotes the smooth flow of liver chi, opens the spirit portals, and restores consciousness. Most importantly, it treats difficulty in relationship to growth. If you find yourself hitting walls in your growth process, coming up against a stuck feeling, or a feeling of frustration, this point will allow you to root into the earth and into the present moment more deeply. This can actually help us to get unstuck and to get us back into the flow of things. The idea is to sink when we most want to fight or struggle or run away. Just relax, sink, and root into the present moment; come back to your connection to the earth, and re-align with your connection to your true self. All of the energy you need is here waiting for you.

TAI CHI TIPS
SLOW AND FAST

By Peter Gamble Robinson

There are many different tools we can use to help us work on our Tai Chi, but today I want to focus on just two: moving very slowly or very quickly through the sets - two tools which are extremely valuable in helping us to diagnose weaknesses in our form.

SLOW:
Moving slowly through the form helps to point out weaknesses in posture and technique. Often during Tai Chi, when we experience an uncomfortable or unstable position, we subconsciously speed up in order to “get through” it. By resisting this urge, and slowing down it’s as if we’re focusing a spotlight on these problem areas. Our extremely slow movements will allow us to “listen” to our balance, and feel the exact moments that it starts to falter, and by making slight adjustments, and through repeated drilling, we will eventually create stability in even the most difficult of movements.

FAST:
Doing the form quickly helps us to feel the flow of the movements more clearly, seeing how the energy of one movement evolves into the next. When doing this exercise, we’re looking for two things: 1) places where movements start to “collapse” losing their richness, and 2) places where we pause, hesitate, or stop, (losing the flow).

Our normal Tai Chi pace allows us time to remember what is coming next, or to “feel” our way through difficult movements. This exercise removes this crutch. Weaknesses in knowledge will manifest themselves as pauses.

Another cause for pauses is that we learn the sets in sections and sometimes subconsciously think of pauses as happening between these sections. In slow movement, these pauses will barely be noticeable. In fast movement, they become quickly apparent when our flow suddenly grinds to a halt.

Fast and Slow are both diagnostic tools. They help us to see where the weaknesses are. But the cure for the ills of form is always the same: drilling, drilling, drilling. Once we know what the problem is, the answer is to work on those parts again and again until the problem disappears. It may not happen the first time, or even the tenth time, but with patience and repetition, your form will develop a deeper richness, integrity, and flow.