Fall & Chinese Medicine

“Are you ready to feel better?”

I ask this question during most of my patient sessions. It's a nice way to mark the transition between talking through the intake and beginning to place the needles, but it's also to activate the power of setting an intention towards healing. When we set an intention we are aiming to transform something.

Transformation is a big concept in Chinese medicine. The theory is that we use heat or internal fire to break something down and make it into something usable, therefore increasing its value to our body and our life. Sounds a little like the alchemists process of turning lead into gold doesn't it? (If you didn't see my last letter talking about alchemy amidst concussion you can catch up here.)

Transformation can happen during daily processes such as eating and learning, but can also apply to bigger changes such as seasonal and life transitions. Simplified we're talking about “before” and “after”, something I feel very close to lately! For the past two years my husband and I have been working on a house renovation where he and I are doing much of the renovating ourselves. My phone is full of photos showing the old and the new, but I sometimes have trouble sharing such an overly-simplified two-step end-product when all along the way there are all these little moments of transformation that feel important and beautiful. 

And they are important! When looking at your finished room you don't immediately notice which parts were original and which are add-ons – the parts are incorporated into each other. The room likely holds both lead and gold but they are supporting and complimenting each other into a well-functioning finished product. This is the equivalent of health in Chinese medicine, technically described as the seamless interaction of yin and yang. If, when you look at the room, you see “symptoms” such as peeling paint or a leaky pipe that is a sign that yin and yang are starting to separate and a repair is needed.

We can use this analogy for our physical symptoms too. In Chinese medicine very few disease processes are sudden onset. The paint doesn't peel at step 1. Most of the time there is a long-term pattern of imbalance that our body has managed behind the scenes for a long time until we finally experience pain or poor blood work – let's say that's step 6. Most of us want to immediately return to step 5 where we were still “managing”. This is a valid option. It's also a valid option to take a pain-reliever, which is the equivalent of painting over the peeling paint – it hides the problem for a while but does not reverse the disease process. Sometimes we have to do all of these things at once until we can find the resources and clarity to truly heal. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine has the special ability to not only offer pain relief but also to help re-structure your particular imbalance into something healthier. For some situations it can give you the resources to transform into a much truer state of health.

So, you're standing in chaos, piles of building blocks all around: what do you do?

Well here's the thing: During a reno (or life), things can be messy even when things are going well. – the mess, the dust (oh the DUST), the complete chaos is CORRECT for certain periods of time and when we're in that process all we have are building blocks. As we move further into the process, we decide which blocks to use and how to assemble them and eventually get to that finished product. It would be ridiculous to only pay attention to steps one and ten – the eight others in between MATTER. 

Fall in Chinese medicine is one of those eight that really really matter. 

Whether we are looking at the autumn of the year or of our life cycle, it's a time where things aren't terrible yet, but we can see the harder, colder time is coming. If you haven't already built your shelter or otherwise prepared for the cold, it's time to do it now. Cold times generally go better if you prepare for them!

Things to remember now: 

The fall (year or life) is GORGEOUS. Having come through a few fires, we're familiar with transformation, and we may even have a few nuggets of gold. God willing there's a decent amount of time before winter, and we can still prepare our bodies and minds for that time. 

Fall in Chinese medicine is associated with the lung so a lot of us are more vulnerable to catching colds now – if you tend to get sick easily and don't have a protocol to take at the first sign of a cold (or better yet a protocol for prevention) please please book a session.

The lung in Chinese medicine is associated with grief, and so many of us are tuned in to our particular and shared losses. While it is important to follow the cycle of grief as it comes up for you, it can also be helpful to know that you may not have done anything in particular to trigger it, and that it will cycle out again too. If you feel stuck or hopeless in your grieving, please please book a session - acupuncture and herbs can be so helpful when we are healing our hearts.

In a similar way to my renovation before and afters I've had some trouble sharing the before and afters I've taken of my first microneedling patients. First, I seem to be a terrible portrait photographer despite all efforts at improvement. But second and more importantly, these simplified shots don't tell the whole story. What I've seen in myself and my clients is that there is a new underlying sense of confidence and ease that comes with microneedling and other types of facial treatments. Small building blocks of compliments from friends plus changes to how we view ourselves in the mirror catalyze into how we see ourselves in the world. And in the same way that a finished construction product doesn't always show it's parts, a well-aging face is less about wrinkles, hyperpigmentation and the expressions of our pain and suffering because those pieces of lead are more incorporated into a whole that also encompasses our laugh lines and our nuggets of gold. What I once chalked up to a vanity project feels substantially valuable. 

Transitions are hard and true transformations are even more difficult. Over here in reno-land we have various projects all along the path of steps 0 through 9, but we are rounding the corner into step 7 on a major project. Much like the aging process, going through a reno is hard and we are constantly confronted with our weak spots. But our energy and work are incorporated into the finished projects, and the reactions of our friends brings a good dose of confidence to it. Little by little things feel lined with gold and that has made steps 2 through 9 feel really really worth it.