Diagnoses Are Powerful. Caution.

A medical diagnosis, like asthma, has a whole set of symptomology, expectations, medical implications, prognoses, fears, and limitations attached to it.

But perhaps you can refer to “asthma” as “shortness of breath”.

Your experience as “shortness of breath” is more descriptive in nature and has less of a “charge” to it than an official diagnosis.

I understand that asthma as a diagnosis may be important in some instances but you can be open to the idea that detaching from a diagnosis may bring new perceptions and less limiting ways of seeing your health… and yourself.

Identifying yourself with that diagnosis or your stories can hold you back from transforming it.

Here are 3 ways to detach the story and your identity from (health) problems:

1. A Single Experience In This Time & Space. You can refer to physical discomforts as a single experience in this particular space and time, unrelated to the past or the future.

2. Avoid reiterating or re-telling the story behind the (health) problems. Overtime, people attach themselves to the stories related to their problems.  Our identity and sense of who we are becomes intertwined with this problem.  Once you can let that go, you can begin to perceive your situation with more levity.

3. Notice what is different. If you can stop measuring the pain or discomfort today compared to how it was yesterday,  and just notice how you feel right now (uncompared to your previous experience of the pain or problem), you may notice something different.   The key is to focus on what’s different, not the same.

From a western understanding, stress induces stress hormones which have a negative impact on the skin, thereby creating breakouts, acne, blemishes, or a ruddy appearance on the face.

From a Chinese Medicine point of view, stress creates havoc in the body as well. When Qi (energy) flows smoothly throughout the body, it nourishes the skin and creates a healthy glow.

However, when stress obstructs this smooth flow of Qi (energy), it cannot reach internally to all the internal organs and externally to your skin.  After all, the biggest organ in the body is the skin.

After a long period of stress, doesn’t your skin appear stressed too?  Doesn’t it look dull and malnourished?  That’s exactly what stress does to your skin.

By minimizing stress, you allow the natural ability of your skin, tissue and cells to heal because there is a free flow of Qi and circulation to your skin.

People often fragment their bodies, minds, and spirits.  They don’t see them as one unifying system.

In Chinese Medicine and all holistic medicines, all three are intimately connected.  Acupuncture and  herbs treat the mind by treating the body, and vice versa.   All three operate as one.

Here are 3 simple concepts to show you how to unify your body, mind, and spirit.

1. Consider The Consequences. When you make an intellectual decision, consider the consequences for your body and spirit.  Your mind is limitless, bound by nothing except your own beliefs.  However, your body is bound by limitations. Yes, you can push your body but it really does have limits.   You may recognize this concept when you get sick after too many weeks of overworking.

2.  Acknowledge That It Exists On All Levels. Emotional or spiritual blocks often show up as problems in the body.  Patients who are experiencing grief are often vulnerable to chronic colds, flus, and bronchitis.   Is it a coincidence?  No.  The emotion of grief is particularly related to the Lungs in Chinese Medicine.  What occurs in the emotions, spirit, or mind, occurs in the body as well.

3.  Convey Information To All Three. People often try to make changes in their lives by reciting affirmations or goals intellectually in their minds.  However, it’s essential to also convey these messages to your spirit and kinesthetically into the body in order to fully actualize your goals and desires.  Remember to engage all three: body, mind, and spirit.

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They both need the digestive system to work optimally!

So how can you promote better digestion? Minimize sweets and dairy.

In Western Medicine, if that food item doesn’t give you a stomach ache, then you’re ok.  But not so much in Chinese Medicine.  The effects of foods can be subtle and it can accumulate.

In Chinese Medicine, dairy and sweets make it hard on the digestive system, especially over time.

These foods make digestion less efficient and more sluggish.

And when that happens, the digestive system is not functioning properly, and then excess weight, sagging dull skin, or even cellulite can show up.

So here are some good reasons to eat less dairy and less sugar:

1. Improve Your Health

2. Lose Weight

3. Cosmetic Reasons… Having Radiant Beautiful Skin!

One of the Chinese Medicine keys to health and beauty is protecting and optimizing your digestive system. Chinese Medicine has gives us jewels for healthy living that has stood the test of time (4,000 years).

But here’s a hidden secret!… The digestive system is the key to exterior beauty… the glow and suppleness of your skin. What you take in reflects on what appears on your skin.

Tip: Avoid greasy foods & processed foods … unless you want that showing up on your skin.

The concept of balance is a key principle in Chinese Medicine. But unfortunately, I have bad news for you.  Finding balance is an ongoing process.

You will never “finally” arrive at balance and stay there.  It is a constant fluctuating dynamic, which requires you to constantly find your center.

Nature is inherently balanced. That is why many people go out to nature to re-center, rejuvenate, or just to get away from their normal life. Unlike nature, humans need to seek balance.

We often don’t pay attention until things are WAY out of balance.   But it’s not good to wait until things reach an extreme.  Imbalances take time to develop and accumulate before they show up as  physical problems.

Here are 8 simple questions to ask yourself to see what aspects of your life are imbalanced.

Physical

• Are you exhausted because you push your physical body too much? (Over-exercising is not good either.)
• Or do you you not exercise at all?

Emotional

• Are you emotionally cut off and feel very little emotions?
• Or, are you emotionally overly sensitive and too emotionally responsive to everything and everyone around you?

Mental

• Are you needing constant intellectual stimulation (i.e., reading books, watching TV, constant internet usage, overthinking, continual mental input, etc.)?
• Or, do you avoid any form of mental or intellectual stimulation?

Spiritual

• Are you cut off from your spiritual center, no longer in touch with who you are and what your purpose is?
• Or, do you pay attention only to spiritual matters and not much else in other aspects of your life (such as your physical body or matters of the mind)?

Master this concept of balance and you will gain an insight for harmonious living, which will always serve you.

Then, once you can identify where you are off balance in your life, find a remedy and return yourself back to the center.

Poop. No one likes to talk about poop, but it’s so important.  In ancient times, the Chinese Medicine doctors used to examine the stools of the emperors to detect if he had potential health problems.

In Chinese Medicine, if your bowel movements aren’t normal and regular, you’ve got a problem. When your body cannot eliminate daily toxins, it can lead to health problems and worse yet, it may be showing up on your face.  After all, toxins can affect your body’s largest organ – your skin.

How do you best protect and optimize your digestive system? Make sure your bowel movements are regular.

Here are 2 great tips for that:

1. Eat half of a small (cooked) beet.  Preferably organic.

2. Drink green tea.

(The beet may turn your urine or bowel movements slightly red but that’s to be expected from eating beets.)

Consider the possible limitations of cosmetic creams, lotions, and topicals? They only cover the superficial layers of the skin.  Can they go deeper?  Possibly, but how deep can it go?

If the deeper layers of skin are unhealthy and lacking proper nutrients, wouldn’t that impact the outermost layers on the skin surface?  But if the deeper skin layers are healthy, they can generate beautiful and glowing skin on the outside. Working on the inside affects the outside.

Acupuncture is one way to nourish the deeper layers of skin and facial muscles, it brings out a natural healthy glow on the surface.

But the most important thing is to make sure your insides are healthy.  If the inside is healthy, your outside will reflect beauty. Eat well, exercise, and find peace and contentment in your heart.

In the yin and yang symbol, notice that the image shows a small dot of darkness within the white light and the a dot of white light within the darkness.

What this means…

In your deepest despair, it will be difficult to feel hope.  And yet, inherent in the darkness is light, though often it is barely perceptible.  But search for it.  It is there.

In your grandest moments where you feel successful, invincible, and on top of the world, you will tend to overlook any  possibilities of a downfall, which is actually inevitable.

All of the universe ebbs and flows in the up and down cycle in the the yin and yang. You will never be completely on the up cycle or the down cycle forever.

Remember that in the height or depth of your experiences lies the potential for the opposite.

Clients who want to lose weight often ask me, “What’s the one food item that will help me lose weight?”

Well, there isn’t one.  And it’s a fallacy to think that there is one.

But if there really is one, then it’s probably quite unhealthy to eat that one food item predominantly.  While you may lose weight, it’s a very unbalanced way to eat and not healthy for you.

Similarly, it would be ridiculous to say that a millionaire got rich because of that 1 share of stock he purchased.  More likely is that the millionaire got there through his mindset and a long-term strategy to become rich.  He probably worked towards that for at least 1 year (probably more) and put in a lot of time towards that goal.

Or let me phrase this in another way…

Let’s say if you ate ice cream just once, could it add 20 lbs to your frame?   Probably unlikely.  But let’s say you were really stressed and you needed some comfort food, and you had ice cream daily for 6 months, could that potentially add 20 lbs to your weight?  Probably.

It is the long-term habits that ultimately create the big problems and therefore takes a bigger effort to undo them… because those patterns are stuck in our bodies and stuck in our mindsets too.

It’s the American illusion that a magic bullet can quickly fix a big problem.  I wish that were true.  But it’s not.

Here are 5 mindset tips to help you stick to your goal:

1. Adopt a  positive and firm mindset to tackle your problem.

2. Have a iron will to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and beyond any obstacles (that are absolutely sure to arise).

3. Accept that it will take work, time, and perseverance. Dedicate yourself to this for at least 6-12 months.

4. Look inside to see the real emotional undercurrent beneath the weight issue that’s keeping you stuck.

5. Tackling big problems require support.  Getting support from people, systems, or programs can change the way you see yourself and your ultimate goal.  I can guarantee you that millionaires had a support structure and specific strategies somewhere in their plan.

Now set up a plan and go for it.  You can do it!